Natural Flu Prevention

The topic of H1N1 vaccination is hot right now. It seems that lots of people are not sure or have decided not to get it. And I've heard some information that says the flu shot can be ineffective at preventing the flu. So, I have been reading up on some natural flu prevention strategies for our family and thought I'd share some of them with you.


Of course, most of you know about vitamin C, covering coughs and sneezes, proper hand washing and staying home if you're sick. But did you know that vitamin D deficiency is thought to be a reason we get so many colds and flu in the winter? And that supplementing with vitamin D could be a good flu preventive? Here's a video explaining a little about that.
Another thing we are doing this winter is using elderberry. It has been shown to prevent the flu virus from invading cells and replicating. Here and here are some links with information for elderberries.
If you do end up getting sick the homeopathic medicine Oscillococcinum is a popular choice for a lot of people. It is supposed to be taken at the first sign of illness and is said to reduce the duration and severity of flu symptoms.
There are too many things to mention in this article or it would be a mile long. But I will link you to some things so that you can find some information yourself. Two books that are very helpful in finding natural remedies for various diseases are Prescription for Natural Cures and Prescription for Nutritional Healing. They can usually be found in a public library or at Amazon or another bookstore.
A good place to look for vitamins and herbs and such is www.vitacost.com Their prices are low and shipping is one set price.
So, if you've decided against the H1N1 vaccine and even if you haven't these are some things you could try. I am not giving medical advice here. These are just some things we are doing this winter. And you should always do some reading and research things for yourself. So, take care and wash those hands.

Gift Set Giveaway

This month Naturally Comfy will be giving away one of these gift sets. This giveaway is for Naturally Comfy newsletter subscribers. All you have to do to enter is sign up for the Naturally Comfy Newsletter. That's easy enough! The winner will be drawn Friday, November 13, 2009. The winner will pick the set of their choice.

Riley Festival Fun

We spent two days last weekend at a local craft festival. The Riley festival, named for James Whitcomb Riley, is one of our family's favorite things to do in the fall. Riley was the Hoosier Poet who grew up in the town of Greenfield. My kids always save up their money to spend there, although they never spend much. We just enjoy looking around and sampling the food. We usually find a few things we can't live without. The kids also love playing games. We did find a member of TheInCrowdTeam (the Etsy Indiana Street Team) with a booth there. TwoSeaSideBabes has great hats that seemed to be selling well. My granddaughter got her face painted both days we went.





I think my 12 year old has outgrown it, she didn't get hers painted this time. She did like the chili cheese fries though. They were so messy to eat, but great.


We had a worry session on the first day. The wee one kept hearing that this or that car would be towed if not moved and was worried sick that our car would be towed away.

Her mom, my daughter, had to call the friend whose parking lot we were in to reassure her the car was parked legally and was safe.


The second day granddaughter got to get her shape balloon she was so looking forward to.


And wee ones little brother had his own kind of fun. He spent the day in his stroller taking his socks off. He probably didn't even notice all the ladies that kept walking by and mentioning how cold his feet must be. It was chilly and windy but his feet were as warm as toast.

I will leave you with some quotes by James Whitcomb Riley and a bit of trivia.

Continuous, unflagging effort, persistence and determination will win. Let not the man be discouraged who has these.
James Whitcomb Riley

When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.
James Whitcomb Riley

When you awaken some morning and hear that somebody or other has been discovered, you can put it down as a fact that he discovered himself years ago - since that time he has been toiling, working, and striving to make himself worthy of general discovery.
James Whitcomb Riley

Ever wonder where Little Orphan Annie or Raggedy Ann came from? Take a look.

Back to Blogging

Well, school is underway and so is fall. We have spent the month of September getting our school year started and trying to get into a routine again. Now that it's going I can hopefully get back to more regular blogging. I have been working on some fall things for my Etsy shop. I just listed a couple today and will have more later this week.
Don't forget to sign up for the Naturally Comfy Newsletter here. I am planning a giveaway or two in the next few weeks for my newsletter subscribers.
See you next time.

Best Apple Pie Recipe

One of the things I love about fall is picking apples. We visited the orchard on Saturday and got about a bushel of apples. Those apples will be applesauce, pies, crisps, fried apples and I'm hoping some apple butter. My grandson,who is 19 months, was so excited about this apple tree made of wood with holes cut out for their faces. How funny is that?

I am going to give you all the best apple pie recipe. It is from my 30 year old Pillsbury Kitchens Family Cookbook and it's the best recipe I've ever used. So here goes. Just to let you know, I usually use the streusel topping on my pies instead of a top crust but you can do it either way. And of course, it's always better if you use homemade crust but you can use an already made one. I also personally prefer butter to margarine for baking.

Ingredients
9" pie crust
6 cups peeled, sliced apples
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of salt
1 Tablespoon of butter or margarine

Heat oven to 425*F. Prepare pastry. In large bowl, combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt; toss lightly to mix. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with margarine or butter. Cover with top crust (cut slits for escape of steam); seal and flute edge. Bake at 425*F for 40 to 45 minutes or until juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
(If you are using the streusel topping leave out the 1 Tablespoon of butter)

Streusel Topping
3/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine

In small bowl, combine all ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit filling. Bake as directed with the recipe. Cover topping with foil last 10 minutes of baking time if the top browns too quickly.

Here is my pie.

Enjoy your pies. See ya next time.

Naturally Comfy News

What's the latest at Naturally Comfy? I have been trying to improve things in my Etsy shop. Things like pictures, tags, etc. I have also been working on some sleeping masks for the shop.
I am also working on some more small rag quilts. And I will be adding some fall and winter items soon.
I am also signing willing victims up for my Naturally Comfy newsletter. There's a link on the right column up at the top. I will be sending out monthly newsletters that will let you know about sales, (some will be exclusive, newsletter subscriber sales). I will also let you know what's new and what will be coming soon. Included will also be contest and giveaway information.

So, that's what's going on. I will be posting soon about my venture with making some CPSIA tracking labels for my kid's stuff. So, stick around for that, it should be interesting. See you soon.

Homeschool Thursday

Well, we started school this week. We have started out slow, only doing a couple of subjects. Next week we will get more going on. This week though we took our first field trip of the new school year. We went to the zoo. It was a great day, sunny but not too hot. We had a nice time and got some cute pictures. We were able to get a look at the 3 week old giraffe outside with the other giraffes. See the baby over there?

Here's the daddy. Isn't he cute?

We visited the dog shark area, where you can touch the sharks. The kids love that!

The polar bear is one of our favorites too.

We also took in the dolphin show, but I can never get good pictures in there.
We didn't get to all the animals this trip. Next time I guess. I think our next field trip will be the beginning of October. Stay tuned, I'll be posting about it.