We're Living in a Tutorials World.

Hey Peeps! Queen She known as Me here and this week, I’m chatting about tutorials. Earlier this year I journaled about growing daily; one of the ways to grow is to learn something often, anything. One of my goals is to try and learn something tangible every day; it amazes me how much knowledge I’ve gained on a subject or interest all because I’ve deliberately positioned myself to receive information. And sometimes, it’s fun!

I’m big into video tutorials now. Most evenings when I’m winding down, you’ll catch me on the Tube (YouTube) learning something different, something new. I run into some very interesting ones and I wanted to share five with you. If you have any you want to share, transfer some of that knowledge and drop them in the comments section below. Don’t be stingy now! Here goes.

Coop Can Cook- How to make Hibachi Dinner at Home! For those days when I dream I’m moonlighting as a hibachi chef and I want Japanese...this happens more often than I care to share.

Try Living With Lucie | Refinery29 -5 Days of Calligraphy Hand Lettering -for those days when I want to learn how to make my planner, and scrapbooks dance and come alive!

Lisa Nichols - How To Get Unstuck By Shifting Your Mindset – for those days when I need  financial and personal growth encouragement.  When I want to understand how to transform my dreams into goals, and put my goals into action.

The Domestic Geek - 5 EASY Fruit Sorbets | dairy Free Summer Desserts! – for those days when I want something good, and sweet, and I know it will be as nutritious as it is flavorful.

Carrie Rad - 7 Self Care Hacks that will change Your Life – motivation for when I want to become the best version of myself!

Hacks!

Hello Divas and Gents, Queen She known as Me here, hoping everything is going well for you all!

I’ve been looking at a lot of YouTube videos, and it seems as if every other one is labeled with the word “hack”; life hacks, funny hacks, holy grail hacks, all kinds of hacks!  So.  What exactly is a hack?  The urban definition of hack and the one I’m referring to (don’t go looking at your computers to see if I’ve taken over the world…I haven’t) refers to any trick, shortcut method of doing something, that increases productivity in all walks of life.  

Okay what’s the difference between a hack and a tip?  A tip is advice that’s given on how to do something, a hack is a suggestion for re-purposing things to reach the same conclusions on that something; a tip for making perfectly round pancakes is to make them nice and small, a hack is to use an old ketchup bottle to dispense the mix.  

Now that I have the meaning of it all, I find myself looking for the almighty hacks…all over the internet!  In doing so, I’ve found some neat ones, but none quite as cool as the ones found on this YouTube channel by 5-Minute Crafts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9YMpuLDnwo 42 Holy Grail Hacks that will Save you a fortune

Photo from 5-Minute Crafts

If you got some hacks you want to share, drop some down below in the comments section, we’d love to read them! 

Five New Favs

Hey guys, Queen She known as me here, and The Diva is journaling!  How’s everybody doing this second week of the new year?  I’m cold as heck, as I’m sure most people around, across and about the country are as well; but, I’ve come across a couple of shiny new five-star toys that warm my demeanor very quickly.  Walk with me, and I’ll share.

1. Coconut Activated Charcoal Powder.  I found this on Amazon.  I was looking for something to jumpstart a cleanse prior to me becoming a pescatarian this year (yup I am, but another blog post I promise…soon).  Any who, not only does this product absorbs toxins and toxic residues in the body, but it whitens teeth,  makes a superb addition to facial cleansers and masks, and absorbs odor. Bomb.com

2. Blanket Scarf.  Ooh baby! My secret Santa hooked me up with the most beautiful blanket scarf by Ann Taylor.  I absolutely love scarves; in my closet they have their own space, and every winter you will find me connected ever so close with one.  With this one, I’ve already mastered 5 ways to style it and keep warm.  [Spoiler Alert!!!!! another future blog post!]

3. Hempz Herbal Body Moisturizer. I guess I can chalk it up to old age, but my skin needs more moisturizing these days.  Hempz is enriched with 100% pure natural hemp seed oil, it’s paraben free, gluten free, 100% vegan, yada yada, yada you get the picture; now don’t get me wrong, all of these are great benefits to a good moisturizer, but  I simply love it because it goes on light, but it moisturizes like a heavy lotion. That’s it. Marshalls, and  Ulta have it for $10.99-$12.99, and sometimes at Ulta, it’s buy 1 get 1 50% off.  Now Walgreens, my favorite store, has it for $22.00…..BOOOO Walgreens, you know better...do better! LOL.  It’s good but not that damn good.  Amazon has a great collection too with reasonable prices.

4. Uni-ball Signo. This smooth writing gel pen  is all that.  In order for my writing to be legible… I have to use a fine point pen… I know special kind of person.  The ink is in Prussian Blue, and my pages look like I have the best penmanship ever…LOL.  I don’t, but you can’t tell it.

5. Flairosol 10 oz White Sprayer. Yawl, I done changed the game in twist outs and wash & go’s! LOL.  I saw this on YouTube; the youtuber, Lexis Hair was doing her hair and I noticed the spray bottle had a continuous flow.  Off to Amazon I went, and found it for less than $5.  Now whatever I spray on the strands, like conditioner, or water goes on with an even coverage.  New level of hair styling!  

I Punched Back and Feel Like I Won

Hey guys.  I’ve emerged from deep, deep under the covers where I’ve been buried since Tuesday with guess what?  a cold; honestly it could have been the flu.  In either case I ended up with antibiotics and 500 mg Ibuprofen for my killer body aches and monster headache.

The one thing I wanted to share is the great results I had with doing a detox bath.  I got to a point where the aches subsided and my spirit said “cleanse yourself from these aches; it’s within your reach and means to do so at home.”  Thank God I was obedient, I feel  much better.  Because I’m a newbie to Detox baths of this extent, I went to Youtube and watched a video from FitLifeTV  Yogi Erin Motz had some great ideas and suggestions as well.  

   

What you’ll need:

2 cups of Epsom salt

1 cup of baking soda (yup, pull it out the fridge and put it to work for you)

¼ cup of ginger ( you can use as little or much as you want, depending on your tolerance)

Essential oils: they called for 10 drops of two, Lavender and chamomile.  I only used Lavender oil.  I say it’s your choice.  Different oils have different healing properties, so whichever one suits you, go for it.

Directions:

Shower first.  This bath is for detoxification and relaxation purposes, and to me if you shower first it works better.  Fill your tub with hot water, as hot as you can stand it.  Be careful with this part, because water too hot can cause you become overheated…don’t want that.  Put your ingredients in, stir to help all of them dissolve.  Once it’s full, get in and submerge yourself to your neck.  This video instructs you soak for at least 50 minutes; that’s a long time especially if you are a newbie, so 20 minutes at least is enough to extract toxins, any extra time is when the body will begin to absorb the minerals.  I did 45 minutes, but let me say this, you will sweat your ass off because of the added ginger and it will get hot!

What the bath does:

Epsom Salt and baking soda has sulfate in them; when this is absorbed in the skin, it rids the body of toxins.  The ginger has anti-mucus properties, a natural decongestant and opens the pores.  It also make you sweat, which is good; means your pores are open.  

Afterwards:

At first I felt extremely hot and just wanted to cool off, but as I began to drink PLENTY of water I felt better.  Next time I will drink water before and after, so I can flush out toxins.  I felt a little sick at first when I got out of the tub, so I will definitely modify my next detox bath. Also because my face is where I sweated the most, I immediately did my normal daily face wash routine afterwards, and I could feel the intenseness from the cleanser deep down in my skin, because why? Pores were wide open.

 As with anything, please, please do some research on the ingredients, how they may interact with YOU and if needed consult with your physician before participating in this type of detox, because remember this is a home remedy.  DO NOT do this detox every day; maybe once a week until you can SAFELY make this a part of your personal routine. As I said I will definitely adjust some ingredients, and take some more precautions that I feel suit me.  But in the end, you will punch back at a cold and potentially kick it’s ass like I did.