Trying to Catch My Breath (literally)

As I sit with a tube in my mouth and a creative forming cloud of smoke coming out the other end I wonder how odd I must look. The machine I'm currently connected to is called a nebulizer. It is a funny little device that used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs.  Here's a picture of what it looks like (not me of course...stock photography in this case). 

Currently that medicine is Albuterol, which for those of you like me that don't know, albuterol is a bronchodilator that relaxes muscles in the airways and increases air flow to the lungs. I'm doing these treatments because I ended up with bronchitis after I came down with the flu. Trust me, I'd take the flu over bronchitis any day because not being able to breath makes everything HARD, even recovering from being sick. A cough is one thing, but never really catching my breath is another.

I have to admit, not being able to breathe really scared me. I know when you're sick you think about how nice it is when you have good health and I knew eventually this would be over and I'd be better. But so many people suffer from asthma and other issues that makes it hard for them to EVER catch their breathe. Oh how grateful I am to be able to breathe...something I think about often these days. 

It's funny songs like "Every Breathe You Take" and "No Air" always seem to come into my head lately.

And would you believe, I haven't touched Dr. Pepper for the past few weeks...for one the medicine I'm taking makes everything takes weird and I also read how drinking caffeinated drinks shrinks decreases your ability to breath and I'm tired of not breathing. Not sure when I'll be brave enough to tackle Dr. Pepper again, but for now water and rootbeer seem to to curb the need. 

One last thing I do want to say about this experience is that I have a lot of great people in my life that ROCK. My mother-in-law and my friend Amy came and cleaned my kitchen and made sure we had plenty of soup on hand. In fact, Amy even administered a "mustard plaster" on me that at least made me feel like someone was taking care of me. If you don't know what that is, then google it. 

And TWICE my dear friend Andrea McAllister brought me dinner. Although the dinners were a part of my fabulous birthday present (she gave met he gift of "time" by offering to feed my family twice...awesome huh)....they both happened to fall during my being ill and so appreciated. Here's the meal she dropped off last night...yummy enchiladas!

Thanks everyone for your support....I think I finally have caught my breath and I feel better now!

Zarbees Children's Cough Syrup - All Natural Alternative

Recently I was invited to a luncheon to learn more about a new product developed here in Utah. It's called Zarbees Children's Cough Syrup. Wait, it's All Natural, gluten free, soothes sore throats, immune boosting formula, safe for children 12 months and up. You might have even started to see it on the shelves at your local Walgreens stores too! 

Borrowed glam shot of Zarbee's bottles from Lara (thanks)

Zarbee's Cough Syrup contains a blend of special dark honeys, vitamins and immune-bosting ingredients. The ingredients in Zarbee's are all-natural, side-effect-free and proven in clinical trials to be effective at calming coughs and sore throats in children and young adults.

Dr. Zarbock, Pediatrician and Creator

FDA: Absolute ban on cold medicines could do more harm than good for kids

"Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children are still available in your local stores, but some pediatricians are now demanding a recall. Those doctors say the drugs are dangerous for children ages two to six. But the FDA says an immediate ban might do more harm than good. ".

I did not know this was an issue until attending this lunch because my kids are 14 and 15 years old. But I guarantee if they were younger this would be a real problem for me and many of my friends still have children that are affected by this.  But luckily Dr. Zarbock, a Utah based pediatrician, saw an opportunity after learning about a study at Penn State which showed that buckwheat honey was more effective than children's cough syrup. He was lead to develop Zarbees, combining this honey benefit with natural vitamins to aid in the recovery process.

Better Tasting, All Natural Children's Cough Syrup

This is a really short video that sums up most children's take on the medicines we give them.

 

Zarbee's is available in three flavors: 

• Cherry
• Lemon
• Grape

We even gave it a try ourselves! Personally, I have to say that Grape topped my favorite and Lemon my least. Honestly though they add in Vitamin C which gives it a bit of a sour taste and you just can't get away from that, but hey if you like sour then go for Lemon. Cherry wasn't too bad either! 

yes, I'm concentrating on the flavors!

Zarbee's Twitter Nurse

Now one last thing I have to tell you totally impressed me about Zarbee's is that they are offering a Twitter Nurse on staff. For my friends that love to use Twitter, how awesome is it you can send out quick question about your child to the Zarbee's nurse. She's a certified nurse and specializes in pediatric care and tries to tweet back as soon as she can with the best answer she can. You can find her at @zarbeesnurse

More Great Mom Blogs to Stalk

The second reason I love being invited to these luncheons is to network with other great bloggers. The ever popular Elise from Crazy Tales from the Motherboard and Mormon Mommy Blogs and Veronica from Welcome to My Chaos and Local Community Hot Spots. In fact here's a few I think you'd love to check out their blogs.

There were so many great people there that it's hard to feature them all, but here's a few of the fun girls I sat by and visited with the most.

First, jump over and check out my new friend Amy's awesome site, it's called Super Heathy Kids.  She has great suggestions for feeding your kids better and I love how fun her site is, spent a lot of time on there the other night. 

Second, jump over to Amber's Soggy Cherrios blog...one because I think she's fab, she's a Syracuse neighbor and I love that although she owns and professional caterering business, Amberlicious - but that she's trying to constantly find ways to feed her girls better. I know she's always on the look out for very healthy alternatives.

Now the minute Lara sat down next to me, I could tell I was going to like here. Her site has as cute of a name and totally fits here, "Less Cake More Frosting".  She's has a cute "craft" blog like mine, but we're trying to come up with a different label for our blogs! But Lara actually has a son that is constantly suffering at night from coughing and she had great results with Zarbee's....especially the night time formula. Read more about her experience with Zarbees.

Zarbee's were great hosts and sent us each home with a bag of sample Zarbee's cough syrup. But since my kids are over 12 years old I quickly donated my two bottles of cough syrup to friends that had small children that could use it. I'm all about spreading the love and I'd rather this great product was being used by a couple of great families. I'll report back on what they tell me about using it later!

For more information about where you can find Zarbee's yourself, visit their website today. 

Glee Slushee Cupcakes & Birthday Surprise!

Aren't these the cutest ever? I have no idea who came up with the idea, but they were delivered last night to my daughter the day before her 14th birthday by some friends. And being the Glee-k that I am couldn't resist sharing. Glee Slushee Cupcakes...too cute!

First lets talk more about the cupcakes. They're actual yellow cupcakes sitting inside the tops of a plastic cups. they sprinkled colored sugar over the tops to make it look like the famous colored slushees every gets in the face on Glee and then stuck fruit licorice in for straws. Oh and love the labels...so cute!

But here's what happened to my daughter when she opened the front door to her friends....

They "slusheed" her in the face...make sure to not get in her newly washed hair or on her jammies (thanks guys). The sign is of Puck I think was a card. And here are the culprits that brought a little Glee Sunshine to our home last night. 

Ashlyn, Kaylee, Emma, Jazy, Haley 

Happy Birthday Emma...we love you!

Favorite Finds: KMcKay Spool Knock Offs, Slippers, Pinterest

Decorating with Spools

My very talented friend Kristine McKay did one of my most favorite Studio 5 segment to date. She showed some great decorating ideas with SPOOLS. Learn how easy it is to knock off this popular trend seen at stores like Ballard and Pottery Barn.  

On a side note, I watch crafty shows like this and think they're cute, but very seldom feel inspired to recreate them...but not with this one. I'm heading to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to buy the supplies. I especially loved that Kristine posts free downloads for the labels on the spools on her website. 

Felted Crocheted Slippers

I found these one day on Etsy and not many things make me want to crochet, but this gal was selling the pattern for these and I almost bought it. How darling are these cute little slippers? If any of you want to teach me to crochet, I'll buy the pattern for us to use.

Blossom Couture

Have you checked out Heidi Swapp's Blossom Courture flowers! You know me, I love silk, sugar or paper flowers of any type. These are darling and so yummy.

My Latest Addiction: Pinterest

Pinterest is a place to catalog the things you love. 

Pinterest is a social catalog.
Pin things you love.
Follow people with great taste.

 

Let me explain it the way it would make sense to me if I asked someone. Say you're like me, you go to tons of blogs with tons of great ideas. But it's hard to keep track of all those ideas. And being a visual person, I want to see a picture to remind me about why I liked an idea, recipe, project, etc. I use to try and bookmark them, but that doesn't give you a visual reference, but Pinterest does. So now every time I go to a site and find something I want to remember, I just "Pin it" and it not only saves the image to my board (like the one shown above), but it also saves a link to the blog/website.

But quick warning, you cannot sign up to start your own Pinterest site without an invitation from someone that already is on there. You can request one and they add your name to a list, or I can send you one directly if you give me your email. I'm happy to feed a new addiction for all my friends!