I can say that I am blessed for not having any health condition. However, I don’t take that blessing for granted, so I do my best to work on preventive measures. I am going to share a couple of things that I have been doing. They worked for me and if you want to try them, they may work for you as well.

I have been making smoothies for over a year and adding few key ingredients, regardless of the flavor that I want for that day. These basic ingredients are: Fresh Ginger, Fresh Turmeric Root, Ground Flaxseed, and Ground Cocoa Nibs.

I read some time ago that most illnesses begin with body inflammation. If we aim to prevent that, chances of getting sick all the time will be reduced. You may want to try this, is delicious. These are some of the benefits, but since they are so many, I recommend that you google each ingredient for more information, you will be as surprised as I was.

Ginger: I use it for its flavor in my meals and my smoothies. However, Ginger is commonly used to treat various types of stomach problems, such as motion sickness, colic, upset stomach, gas, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. Other uses include pain relief from arthritis or muscle soreness, menstrual pain, upper respiratory tract infections, cough, and bronchitis.  For great information about ginger, and its properties, please visit www.webMD.com. Warning, since almost everything have side effect; make sure to Google Ginger for side effects.

Turmeric: Turmeric is a dark yellow and aromatic spice. It is the spice that gives curry its yellow color. The scientific name, Curcumin, is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant. It is now believed that chronic inflammation plays a major role in almost every chronic, disease such as heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and many other conditions. In my opinion, anything that can help us fight mild or chronic inflammation is worth our attention. For more information about this spice please visit: www.huffingtonpost.com/. Warning, since almost everything have side effect; make sure to Google Turmeric side effects as well.

This past spring I had to cut an old tree that was deteriorated to a point of risking falling. After the cut the area was left empty, horrible, and unattractive. I had no idea of what to do to make it look pleasant. 
 
Few weeks after, I was leaving home and noticed that few streets down a neighbor were having his whole house windows replaced. The contractor’s truck was loaded with most of the old windows; however, few still remained on the street. I said to myself, are all these windows going to be dumped in the land field? What can I do with them???  

Well, I drove back to the house and asked the contractor if I could have a couple of the windows. He was more than pleased that someone could use them. I decided to get three. What for? I had no idea. So, I came back home and left them sitting there until some ideas came to my mind. Shortly thereafter, an idea came up and I decided to do something with one of them in the area of my garden, where the tree was. I asked my husband if he could make some sort of stand to hang a window. He surprised me by creating a nice frame. What happened next is crazy. I decided to create a “Garden Room” in that area and called it the Yellow Room.  By the way, I retrieved the two old Adirondack chairs left in the curb for the trash truck to pick-up, from another neighbor who was moving out and left the unwanted furniture as trash. My gardens “Yellow Room” only cost me the can of yellow paint and the few wood scraps used by my husband to build the window frame.  WINNER!  

I have this fountain for many years but it’s been sitting in a corner of my backyard screaming out loud, restore me! Please! Don’t procrastinate any longer!

So, the real story behind it is that it was so ugly that it was giving me zero inspiration for ideas; … that is until this summer. Suddenly, I had this epiphany moment and seriously, went back to look at the ugly duckling again. I said, maybe a good cleaning and perhaps some painting will bring this thing back alive. Well, that’s exactly what I did. I commission my husband to execute my vision. He said, no problem babe. It became his weekend project. The next thing he did, he power washed it thoroughly, we selected earth colors and finally he painted it. While he was doing that, I was looking for a nice home in my garden for it. I finally found one spot, planted some flowers here and there, threw some mulch, purchased few round steps and there you have it, the final product. It was totally worth it, don’t you think? Moral: Let’s stop sending stuff to the land field. Restore Old Things and Re-Use Them Effectively.