Colonic Massage

It’s been a while since I written about the digestive system, one effective way I’ve found to keep things moving is to do colonic massage. Based on how effective it can be, it’s something I incorporate into my daily lifestyle.

I first wrote about this topic in 2009 and that was on one of my other websites. Once I let that site lapse, I republished the article here.

Memorial Day & Brother ScannCut makes fussy cutting easy

Here in the United States, it’s Memorial Day. Many businesses are closed on this day.  Some will visit graves of those who lost their lives fighting for this country. Others pay tribute in a variety of other ways to; parades, reenactments, visiting special events, etc.,

 

 

Vietnam memorial

A few years ago I shared a lot of Memorial Day facts

I love history. Over the years, I’ve read a lot about this particular holiday. Did you know In 1865, freed slaves took part in a huge celebration in Charleston, South Carolina? The celebration was held at the Washington Race Course now known as Hampton Park.

What’s interesting is that this location had served as a temporary Confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers. Mass graves on the site contained Union soldiers. I found it fascinating that in 1865 freed slaves removed bodies from the mass graves and placed them into individual graves. They also placed a fence around the graveyard, and declared it a union graveyard.

So do stop by if you’re interested in reading additional Memorial Day facts, check out that post… you might learn something new.

Brother ScanNCut and a Memorial Day Card

Today, my daughter and I visited family friends. We had a lovely time with them. To say thanks, my daughter made this lovely card.

BrotherScannCut_Card 3 05.26.14

 

I really love how the Brother ScanNCut handles fussy cutting. It means one less thing that I have to do with my X Acto Knife.

BrotherScannCut_Card 2 05.26.14-

The above picture is a coloring page that I printed and scanned into my Brother. The Brother ScanNCut did an excellent job cutting on the line, don’t you think? I can only show you part of this cards page, since the families information could be seen from the other side.

 

BrotherScannCut_Card 1 05.26.14

My daughter thought it would be a nice touch to add a grill and so I printed an image of a grill that was scanned into the Brother ScannCut. Both pictures were direct cut and my daughter colored the pictures.

Photo Source: Mass Casualties

 

Too many Brothers? I don’t think so!

I guess it’s obvious that I love Brothers.

My most recent purchase was the Brother ScannCut, and a few weeks before I purchased the Brother Designio DZ820E… When it comes to embroidery, you can’t seem to go wrong with Brother. They make some amazing Embroidery machines and their regular “sewing machines” aren’t so bad either. That’s saying a lot coming from a person who was sold on Singer machines for several years. However, I’m open minded and have come to appreciate many of the machines used to make fabric that are made by brother. Whether it is sewing, embroidery or serging, in this house they all are Brother. I still love the sewing machine I learned on, an early 1960 Singer. It’s heavy, stable, and handles anything I toss at it as long as it’s limited to a few stitches. 😉

A new bed for my lovely daughter…

I’m exhausted, around 7:00 a.m. I was outside cutting grass with our manual lawnmower. It’s a nice workout, and something I’ll use when I know I can’t get to the gym. Once the grass was finished, I moved on to the next chore of the day… installing a new bed. Oh joy!

My parents purchased a futon bunk bed for their lovely granddaughter’s birthday. It arrived yesterday, and today my father and I installed it, with a bit of help from my daughter and mom. Six hours later… yes I said, six! It was finally installed. I will say, the directions left a lot to be desired. There were only two pictures and they weren’t the clearest. To further add to the annoyance factor, the sent too many of the wrong bolts, and the diagram picture was labelled incorrectly. Thankfully, I’ve always done well with putting items together and it’s the bed is finally complete and my daughter is sleeping in a brand-new bed.

My daughter’s room was also rearranged, much to her delight, and I must say it looks really nice. Tomorrow, after church, we’ll be doing some fun things for her room. She’s already asked if we could do a few fun crafty projects to make her room look like it’s from a “preteen magazine!” Part of the things she would like to do is make a bedspread for her bed. She’d like it to include machine embroidery. That’s doable! She also mentioned curtains. I told her we could add applique in a funky young theme. Boy did her eyes light up, when I said that. Of course, this will give me another excuse to use my brand new Brother ScanNCut.

In other news…

Yesterday, I had my ScanNCut cut a Dire Wolf. They are featured in the book Game of Thrones. I haven’t watched the series yet, only read the books. I tested out the design on paper. I loved how it turned out. Tomorrow, I’ll turn this into an applique design, but having the Brother ScanNCut, cut it out on fabric.  I’m thinking I’ll apply the Dire Wolf applique onto a pillow. I won’t use my embroidery machine for this task. My regular sewing machine is what’s needed. I’ll use satin stitch to tack the design onto the pillow form.

Still Juicing: Apple lemonade

I’ve been so caught up with machine embroidery and my Brother ScanNCut, that I haven’t been posting anything about juicing or any other food related topic for quite some time. While I haven’t been posting, I’ve been definitely preparing some delicious juice and a variety of tasty raw and cooked meals.

Breville Pineapple apple green juice 2_2.23.14
Recycled photo: Apple lemonade

Earlier today, I made apple lemonade.  I usually add one or two lemons but this time I added three. The tart from the lemons reduced the sweetness of the apples and gave me a lovely sweet/tart blend. I like how it tastes.

Apple lemonade
Recipe Type: Raw Food
Cuisine: Drink
Author: Opal
Prep time:
Total time:
Ingredients
  • 9 apples
  • 3 lemons
Instructions
  1. Was the fruit thoroughly
  2. Cut the apples into the appropriate size for your juicer
  3. Cut unpeeled lemons (if needed) so they can fit into juicer
  4. Slowly feed apples and lemons into the juicer
  5. Server and Enjoy!

 

Brother ScanNCut: Unboxing

Well, look what arrived yesterday!

Unboxing Brother ScanNCut_1.05.20.14
Unboxing Brother ScanNCut

 

It’s my Brother ScanNCut! I have not had a chance to do too much since it’s been busy, but I did at least give a few test cuts. Surprisingly not on fabric, but on paper. Jennifer, I think you’d love some of it’s capabilities.

Unboxing Brother ScanNCut_4.05.20.14
Unboxing Brother ScanNCut

I’m brand-new to electric material/paper cutting machines. I’m finding that I have to actually pay attention to the manual. The Brother ScanNCut can scan images, convert to the proper format and actually cut what it’s scanned. You can also convert images to the appropriate file, load onto USB and upload to your Brother ScanNCut.

Get this… you can actually draw with this machine too! It uses pens, that are inserted into a cartridge that’s similar to an ink cartridge dispenser. I’m looking forward to trying out that feature. There are permanent markers that can be used, along with erasable markers that are great to make seam allowances on fabric.

My daughter seems to enjoy this machine. I cut out a few images that she’s added to her birthday invitation cards. Although her birthday is today, she won’t have a party until next week. I’m looking forward to more time with the Brother ScanNCut and after I’ve used it for a bit, I’ll be sure to post a review.

 

 

Brother Designio DZ820E: Embroidered Pockets

My mother had asked me to dress up one of her plain white skirts. Not surprisingly, she requested that I embroider flowers on the skirt. She loves flowers.  Initially, she wanted the flowers placed near the bottom, but I told her it might appear better if they were embroidered onto the pockets.

The machine embroidery was done on my Brother Designio DZ820E. It’s an upgrade from my old embroidery machine the Brother SE400. I’ve had this machine for almost a month and am really pleased with it thus far. To make it less of a headache, I used a seam ripper to remove the pockets. I hooped the pocket and started embroidering.

Machine Embroidery Roses - 05.20.14
This was a fun machine embroidery project. This design comes from Urban Threads and is called, Parisian Rose.

This above flower simulates a watercolor painting. While stitching, I didn’t like it as much, but once it was finished I liked how it looked.  It was a simple stitch out, only consisting of 9,609 stitches.

Machine Embroidery Roses scrollwork - 05.20.14
I love how this machine embroidered design looks. It’s also from Urban Threads and is called Thorny Tangle.

This was a long stitch out, it took over four hours to complete. It consists of 31,158 stitches. The hardest part for me, is choosing the embroidery thread.

I’ll have to take a picture of how this looks on my mother’s skirt. It really looks nice! Later today, I most likely will be doing some applique with my Brother ScanNCut machine. My Brother ScanNCut is supposed to arrive later today!