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Did you know your filling you home with toxic chemicals... | Verna Smoker
It's Friday! So what's with Friday you might ask? 
When hubby and I first got married I did what my mom did. Just like clock work I would clean my house on Friday morning, clean out the refrigerator and go grocery shopping and... in that order. 

My favorite cleaner was Pine-Sol. I absolutely loved the smell and in my opinion the house smelled amazing. Not so with hubby. He asked me several times not to use it because the smell got to him. 

You see, My mom died of breast cancer, my dad passed away with bladder cancer, my hubby had a heart attack and I birthed our second child born with a birth defect. It was high time to make a change.
And then…one day a light bulb went off in my head! Come to find out, hubby was on to something. Research showed me that I was literally poisoning my family. No kidding! I was appalled at what the government allows in our cleaning products, It's sick people! 

Click on the link below and see what I'm talking about in my blog. 

Why clean with essential oils?
Are you concerned that your cleansers aren’t all that clean? Labels of mainstream home products such as hand soaps, spray cleaners, and toothpastes reveal a number of harmful and toxic ingredients. It comes at no surprise that people are turning towards all-natural cleaners such as essential oils for their home cleaning care. 

Why are essential oils good for cleaning?
Aside from their attractive and lovely scents, plant essences are well known for their antimicrobial components. Pure essential oils are incredibly potent, so potent in fact that they can destroy microbes (bacteria, viruses, and fungus) with their unique compounds. Oils with various properties and scents can be combined to make a home cleanser personalized for your exact needs.

What constitutes an essential oil?
Not every essential oil is created equal. If you’re thinking about adding essential oils in your home care routine it’s important to ensure that you are using pure oils, so you get the maximum benefits from the most potent and healthiest plants. 
When purchasing your essential oils, keep these tips in mind:
    •    Always purchase pure oils. There is a BIG difference. That is something I did not know when I first started using oils. The research surprised me!
    •    Scented or perfume oils are not essential oils. 
    •    The only ingredient should be the desired essential oil. 
    •    Avoid preservatives, additives, and synthetic ingredients.

Best essential oils for green cleaning
If you’ve ever made your own cleaning products, its likely that you love that you can get that sparkling clean without dangerous chemicals. You also know that homemade cleaners can smell well…pretty “blah”. Not only do essential oils smell divine, they actually help in elevating your mood and efforts while cleaning.

 Here are some of the top essential oils you need in your home care-cleaning regime:
    •    Lavender – This stress-relieving oil naturally relaxes the nervous system, perfect after a long day at work. It also helps that this oil is a top antiseptic, bactericidal, antiviral, and fungicidal. 
    •    Lemon – Are you feeling down? This essential oil is not only an antimicrobial, bactericide, and antiseptic, it has been shown to improve people’s moods when cleaning.
    •    Peppermint – This revitalizing oil has been shown to enhance work performance and increase alertness, in addition to its antiseptic properties. 
    •    Orange – This refreshing, citrus-based oil is known for it's antibacterial and antifungal properties, which in turn help to make a great degreaser. 
    •    Tea Tree – Looking for something powerful? This oil is strong on its own, but essential oil combinations often benefit from its bactericidal, insecticidal, antiseptic, and antifungal properties.


6 Ways to Clean With Essential Oils
Essential oils offer an all-natural, effective, and safe alternative to harsh chemicals in the home. If you’re committed to better living, read these six tips on incorporating essential oils into your cleaning routine.
    •    Bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens – Some people are hesitant to use essential oils because they don’t think they are powerful enough to tackle tough germs. Wrong! In fact oils such as tea tree, eucalyptus, and oregano have been proven to work against tough viruses like Staphylococcus and Influenza. 
    •    Floors – oils such as lemon are tough competitors in dissolving marks and dirt on both carpets and hardwood floors. 
    •    Furniture – Essential oils are great for gentle and regular cleaning on antiques, sofas, and even mattresses. Safe on all surfaces, feel free to spray pure oils anywhere that needs refreshing.
    •    Outdoors – From pest control to gardening, essential oils can help combat everything from pesky ants to outdoor bubblegum residue.
    •    Kids toys – You can never be too cautious when it comes to your child’s toys. Essential oils help combat bacteria, viruses and odor in a safe and non-toxic way. 
    •    On-the-go – Don’t forget about cleaning on-the-go! Essential oils can be used to create portable wipes and disinfectants, great for use on hands, shopping carts, and other surfaces. 

Essential Oil Recipes
Essential oils are a growing popularity for its home uses in aromatherapy, healthy cooking, oral care, home purification, family wellness, and of course natural cleaning. 
The powerful “clean” scents that you get from conventional cleaners may have your home feeling disinfected, but often comes from a host of toxic chemicals. Pure essential oils are strong and effective against tough bacteria and viruses.

My favorite scent combinations:
    •    Spearmint, lemon, bergamot
    •    Vanilla, lemon, rosemary
    •    Lime, lemon, basil
    •    Lavender, lime
    •    Eucalyptus, rosemary, lavender
    •    Tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus
    •    sandalwood, geranium
    •    Lavender, vanilla, 
    •    Peppermint, vanilla
    •    Orange, clove, cinnamon 

How much to add to a recipe?
For a more gentle scent or for those not concentrated on the properties of the oil, add 5 drops of your essential oil to 3 cups of your cleaning solution. To obtain the cleaning properties of your oil, use between 10 and 20 drops per 3 cups of solution. In some cases, you may want to use a stronger concentration, for uses such as a potpourri or linen spray. In these cases 25 to 40 drops is recommended. You can also feel free to add a few dashes of your essential oil to your sink water, mop water, or even your laundry detergent.

Essential Oils Cleaning Tips
Popular essential oils and their properties:
    •    Lemon – antiviral and antibacterial
    •    Tea Tree – fights germs bacteria and viruses
    •    Rosemary - antibacterial and antiseptic
    •    Orange – great against grease
    •    Lavender – naturally antibacterial
    •    Eucalyptus – natural germicide
    •    Peppermint – antibacterial
    •    Cinnamon – antibacterial and antiseptic
    •    Pine – common cleaner ingredient
    •    Thyme – one of the most powerful against germs

How to clean with essential oils: 
    •    Don’t add your essential oils until you’ve poured the cleaning liquid into the spray bottle. 
    •    Naturally, oils and water do not mix well. Before each use, give your product a healthy shake. 
    •    When possible, store your essential cleaning products in a dark glass bottle. Essential oils have been known to decompose plastics while light can lead to decomposed therapeutic qualities over time.
    •    Essential oils are safe on every surface.
My favorite of all favorites cleaner is...Thieves household Cleaner.
If you haven't tried it yet... let me tell you, I think you will love it as m much as I do.
Purchase all your must have products by saying…Yes to Young Living. Order here

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Have a super blessed week!
Hugs, Vern Smoker

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Meet Verna Smoker

 

The moment we heard the doctor say…


“ITS A BOY”


My husband and I were over the top excited with the birth of our second child.


Those words were music to our ears, UNTIL the music was drowned out by, “Your baby boy has a birth defect, your son is born with spina bifida”. The next few days were a blur of emotions. I was scared, really scared.


I was 22 years old. We were young parents. This was not suppose to happen!


We were told that our baby would need a shunt placed in the ventricles of his brain to relieve the pressure of the spinal fluid on his brain, better known as, hydrocephalus. This was all so foreign and terrifying. Surgery after surgery became our baby’s life.


FEAR, SADNESS, ANGER, DISAPPOINTMENT, GUILT and BLAME on MYSELF became part of my world. Would our baby boy have brain damage? Would he walk? Let alone…live?

Surgeries and long hospital stays all took a toll on my emotional well being.


Instead of being raw and vulnerable with my feelings, I buried them. I was “Super Mom” (or at least that’s what I thought). I learned to wear a mask and I was good at it. I looked the part and I acted the part because I was “Super Mom”. 


However, I pushed my feelings down DEEPI pretended they were not there. This way I DID NOT NEED TO FEEL so deeply. It took awhile to notice, years to be exact, but I was slowly losing control of my emotions. My stress was going through the roof. Panic attacks and depression became real in my life.


Years passed.... 


At the age of 23, our son developed a brain infection which caused him to have colonic status seizures (you know, the kind that do not stop except through medicinal interventions). TERRIFYING to watch!

To top it all off, my husband survived a heart attack (thankfully he is doing well), my mom died of breast cancer, and a few years later my dad died of bladder cancer.


All of this added even MORE STRESS and WORRY.


By Gods grace, and because of our deep faith in HIM, we have and continue to weather the storms. 


Because of the RESEARCH I've done, today, WE DO LIFE differently. We’ve discovered ways to implement and make changes that support our IMMUNE SYSTEMS as well as our EMOTIONAL and BRAIN health. We’ve made changes in the amount of TOXINS that we surround ourselves with. We have become more aware of how “toxic exposure” has an affect on the internal structure of our brain and can trigger both short and long term effects. 


I’ve also found ways to manage my stress level. Those terrifying panic attacks no longer torment me. We have  found the tools we need to live our BEST LIFE, and for that, I am grateful. 


It's our life, and though there are parts of it that we continue to look for solutions in, we will continue to move forward. 


LIFE IS A JOURNEY, and it is BEAUTIFUL. 


If any part of my story connects with your own story I would love to chat and connect with you.



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