Thursday, May 28, 2015

Don't Let the Opportunity Pass You By



When you are a kid, pictures with your parents are inevitable.  They are around you all the time and even a simple get together can bring the opportunity for a candid snap of you hugging your mother or talking with your father.  As you walk your way into adulthood and have your own family or move away to pursue your life, those candid shots become fewer, and sometimes just stop. Then one day, you are thinking back, realizing that you do not have any photographs of you as an adult with your parents. 

With Father's Day approaching, and Mother's Day just a few weeks past, I started to muse about those precious photographs of children with their parents and realized that I have very few. I have photographs of them, of them with the grandkids, but I want some photographs to put on the family wall to remember them as they are now.

I am not the biggest fan of having my photograph taken, silly, I know, and for the most part, I do not exist in the captured history of my family.  I think memories need a little help sometimes, and photographs are a great way to give them a boost.  In that vein, my goal in the next few months is to take portraits with my parents.  Maybe I'll let the grandkids join in on a few.

If this sounds like a good idea, but you need some help in the photography department, contact me and book a portrait appointment.  I would love to help you capture this memory.

Best wishes,

Sarah McTernen
www.anardentlife.com
sarah@ardentphotography.com
253-376-6141

http://smcternen.etsy.com
http://ardentlife.etsy.com

Friday, May 8, 2015

Green Stuff: Herbal Ointment for Bumps, Bruises, Scrapes and Scratches

 
A long time ago there was a product I used to buy that I used on every boo boo in the house, whether it was the kids or the adults. but as the years went one, this ointment was harder and harder to find.   Me being me, I knew that I could come up with a formula that would work just as well, be homemade, and under my control. 

This is Green Stuff.  Great for bruises, cuts, burns, etc.  It helps injuries heal faster and keeps things from getting infect.  At least in our house it does. 
 
Green Stuff
1 Part Comfrey leaf
1 Part Rosemary leaf
1 Part Calendula flower
½ Part peppermint leaf
-cut very small or whir in a food processor until fine
2 parts comfrey root powder

-Soak above mixture in 2x volume of olive oil for 3-4 weeks.
 
After the oil is finished being infused, strain through fine muslin into a saucepan and add 2oz beeswax per pint of oil heating until beeswax is melted.  This measurement doesn’t have to be exact, but using too little is better than too much.  It will harden as it cools.  Remove from the heat and cool slightly then add a few drops each of grapefruit seed extract and lavender essential oil.  Pour into container and cool.

The first time I made this, I just strained in through a fine mesh strainer, and though that worked, the comfrey root powder still got through so the finished product was a little gritty.

This can be used as a base if you know of other herbs you would like to use.  Customize it to your needs.

Thanks for reading,
Sarah

www.anardentlife.com
http://smcternen.etsy.com
http://ardentlife.etsy.com

*Disclaimer:  I am not a dentist, a doctor, a nurse and I don't play one on TV.  I am just a person who has been studying health, herbs and the like on my own for over twenty years.  Anything I write is my own synthesis of the information I have found.  There may be errors.  There may be things I don't know.  Before trying anything, do your own research.

Monday, May 4, 2015

The World Awaits - Pictures and Poetry


The world awaits
the beginning of the day, lingering
a second to breath
in the sanctity of the sun
rising over a horizon of infinite possibilities

~Sarah McTernen


Thanks for reading,
Sarah
www.anardentlife.com
http://smcternen.etsy.com
http://ardentlife.etsy.com