Young Living Essential Oils, eBay and a Healthy Eating Update

It's another nice day! This week has been the first week it's really felt like spring everyday. And with the time change, it stays lighter outside longer, too. It's been getting us really excited to start spending more time outside and working on outdoor projects. Who else is with me??

In the mean time though - yesterday I spent the day in Bloomington, Illinois for another work conference. This one was more informational than anything. A selection of holistic veterinarians gave presentations about holistic health and Young Living Essential Oils. I haven't had any experience with essential oils before, but I learned a lot about them at the conference.

These oils are derived from natural herbs, and they can assist in numerous health issues. They work both physically and psychologically. Some can have calming properties, some can give you energy, some can give you confidence. Others (peppermint, for example) have heating and cooling properties, and can assist if you're having a fever. Most are so potent, all you need is one drop.

Young Living is the best on the market by far, for essential oils, or so I'm told. Everyone I talked to said that there weren't really any other brands out there that compared. YL's oils are the purest of their kind, and they're selected from the best sources all over the world.

Since Trent and I have started kind of a detox for the past week, I decided to get a couple of oils and try them out. When I got back from the conference I bought a couple of bottles on eBay for cheaper than you can get on the website, so I can't wait to get them and try them out. I decided to try the Lavender and Peppermint to start. Lavender is one of the most versatile oils, and can have different effects depending on where you apply it on the body. It can be calming and relaxing, or it can give you energy. Plus, it smells good! 

Left: Lavender - from here                Right: Peppermint - from here

Peppermint can improve concentration and digestion, and it's very potent, so one drop is definitely all you'd need. I also bought a little sample 1 ml bottle of Valor, and a bottle of Thieves hand soap. They had this soap in the bathroom at the conference, and it smelled so good! The next thing I want to buy is the Thieves household cleaner. I just love that scent. Thieves is a blend of herbs with healing properties, so there are a bunch of hygiene and cleaning products available with this scent. Valor is strengthening and empowering. I'm getting a small sample of this, since I've never smelled it before, but thought it'd be cool to try. 

So crazy to think that these smells can literally change your mood and have an effect on you psychologically. I've never really been into aromatherapy before, but these vets swear by the oils and use them in their practices. They're not only for human use, but can be used for animals, too. I thought about Saleen during some of the talks, and how we can even use the oils to enhance her health and mood. Young Living actually has a whole line of products for pets, which is pretty cool. I'm excited to get my oils in the mail and start using them! 

Speaking of getting things on eBay, I'm continuing to sell old clothes, wallets, etc. on eBay. I've netted about $115 during March alone, but of course with shipping costs, I've only profited about half of that. That's not bad though, considering that's around 20 items that I've sold this month, and if I would have put them in a yard sale, I maybe would've made only 25 cents to $1 for each item. So, it may take a little more work to get each item to the end destination, but I'm also making a few more bucks for each item, too. And I'm slowly but surely cleaning out my closet! And what doesn't sell, we might have a yard sale in the summer, then I'll probably take what's left to Goodwill. I still have yet to sell anything on Threadflip, so I will probably discontinue trying on there and just stick to eBay, which has been 1,000 times more successful for me!

And a little update about our healthy eating cleanse - as you may know, last weekend Trent and I picked up a bunch of healthy foods to start adding to our diets. We've been trying to detox a little, stay away from processed foods a little more and eat more natural and fresh food. Trent has gallstones, but hasn't gone to the doctor yet, and is trying to see what he can do for it naturally and by changing his eating habits first. He has been doing a lot better just by changing his diet, and he feels a lot better, too. I'm proud of him for changing his diet so fast, and we're trying to make it a habit and continue the healthy eating.

Yesterday, Trent sent me these photos during lunch time:

Those are shrimp bites, but it could be worse. It's a lot better than bacon, or those horrible Chef Boyardee cans or frozen burritos he used to eat. Mixed with Bell peppers, avacado, and "veganaise". Ha. It looks like a lot of food to me, but hey, at least it's healthy.

We've both been drinking tea, and Trent hasn't drank any beer in a week. We'll see how it goes with the healthy eating I guess, before seeing a doctor about the gallstones. If they get worse at all, he will have to go to a doctor, but he says that they're a lot better than they were a week ago. Apparently, Trent's sister and mom had both had gallstones, and had to get their gall bladders removed. But they hadn't done anything about it or changed their diets, and Trent's sister even had them for two years before getting something done about it. So, I guess we'll play it by ear! I'm not sure how long they normally last, but I'm hoping he doesn't have any issues by the time the wedding rolls around...