Monday, September 30, 2019

Rainbow and In God We Trust Reminders That I Am Loved

I have had some health issues, some stressful family issues, some home issues, and other stresses in the past few months. I was feeling a bit stressed trying to get my health situation looked at and diagnosed.
I was at a store and it was closing time and I went to look at a new cart of new items and I had already looked at the two but it was now combined into one. I found a penny and a puzzle that is new in the box with rainbow in the title and front of the box. 

Here is a link to the first post about me finding money. 
Here is a link to the first post as to why rainbows are relevant to remind me about my mother. 

It was raining while I was in the store. I left and it had stopped raining. I get to Walmart, I walk in and there is a penny on the floor near the carts. 

I then shopped and at the register, there was a dime on the ground. I took pictures of both since I thought it was so cool as I had already found the one. While I am checking out, the guy in the next self checkout, he saw his change and then walked away, there were three coins there. 

It rained while I was in the store but stopped as I walked out. I drive to home depot and getting out of the car, there is a rainbow directly over the store. It rains while I am in the store for about 45 minutes. I walk out of the store, it stops raining and there was a rainbow over the other side of the sky where my home is located. 

I arrived home and unload the car and I feel the first drops of rain as I am headed into the house. I felt like my mother and my Father in Heaven were trying to tell me that I need to trust in HIM and know that my earthly mother is watching out for me. Three coins and three rainbows in a few hours of time. It really made my day. 

A few other blessings this week are getting my new Birkenstocks, a friend coming and helping me deal with a methane gas issue, and one of my dearest friends gave me a new cell phone! 

I am so grateful to those who are willing to share their time with me. Having a stressful week, and then feeling all this support, made me realize how very blessed I am! 

Have a wonderfully Blessed day! 

Friday, September 27, 2019

Doozy of a Storm Headed My Way

I had a headache start while I was sleeping and woke with a migraine in full force. That is never a good sign. I tried taking something and going back to sleep and just as I got to sleep one of my daughters called and I took another pill and was so close to loosing it with nausea that I climbed back into bed and fell asleep for another hour. I was in bed until 7:20 p.m. and the headache never fully left. It is now 6:30 a.m. and I pray I can sleep some and wake feeling better.

I am guessing we are in for a doozy of a storm in the next two days by how horrible my headache has been. I hope your day was better than mine~ Have a blessed day!

Thursday, September 26, 2019

MRI - Super LONG Day

I had a fall a few months back on an uneven sidewalk. 

When I tripped on the uneven sidewalk, I had my keys in my hands. I threw the keys into the shrubs and caught myself on my right hand and right knee. I felt both my shoulder and him hit super hard on the back of the sockets. I wrenched my back and got a sort of whiplash. I went to my chiropractor and he was able to put several rib back in that were causing some issues. 

I have been having some numbness in my arms and hands and about 8 times a night, I wake with my arms and hands numb and have to roll over and shake my arms. I was finally able to get on the insurance from the place where I fell so I could get some testing done. 

I was able to go get a nerve test on my arms this week and had seen the Dr. a few weeks back. He said he thinks my injury is like a linebacker injury when they hit each other, the shoulders get jarred back into the socket and it can tare the muscles in the shoulder blade area. 

Today, I had my first MRI. Princess Five had one on her left shoulder 3 years ago after her car roll-over. I had one on my right shoulder today. I meet with the surgeon on Monday. I have mixed feelings about this entire thing as some people say they are worse after surgery. Maybe I won't need a surgery hopefully. 

The Dr. said that he thinks that the numbness is coming from the neck. I pray I can start to heal and fine my way back to being a healthy person. 

Have a Blessed Day!

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Princess Five and Hot Corn Flakes in New Jersey

Buenas👋🏻

We were knocking doors this week and we knocked a door, and were waiting, and walking about who was going to talk at that door, and waiting when Someone on the other side punched the door, it was super scary.

Our Tiwi, our driving monitor, has been broken ever since I've been here in Plainfield. We received permission this week to drive to the mission office to have it replaced.

We helped our friend Nelly pack some boxes for 2 hours to send back to her family in Paraguay.

I went on exchanges with Hermana Jones in Perth Amboy (across the bay from Staton Island). It was so fun, we found some junk mail at their chapel addressed to president Nelson, and taught some really good lessons. 


We stopped by some people they are teaching but haven't seen in a while, and when the man got to the door we heard his annoyed mumble behind the door,"Las mormonas", so we weren't expecting much. But, he actually answered the door. When we got into the door there was a steaming bowl of cornflakes on there table. So, we asked them about it , and they said it was good and that we should try it sometime. We asked how their reading was, and they said they hadn't read at all. We showed them the trailer to the new Book of Mormon videos and they really liked it, especially the part where it says, "I will go and do the things which the lord hath commanded." 


We invited them to read the chapter as their commitment, but they started reading it right there, they loved the chapter, and had relaxed a little bit. They lady actually went to the kitchen and made us some hot cornflakes to try, they were pretty good...especially because they added extra sugar to it. They also taught us how to say good bye in a Guatemalan dialect, it was a fun lesson.

After the lesson, it was dark outside, we were walking on the sidewalk and a car with really dim headlights came whipping into their driveway, crashing into trashcans, and almost hitting us as well. We didn't really know how to react we were kind of just like deer in the headlights but luckily the car stopped in time.

That's it for this week! It was a whole adventure!

CuĂ­dense
Hermana Princess Five
Pictures:
Mission Office
Exchanges
Book of mormon videos movie night

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Latest Parasite Update Video - 9-22-19 Hair Products That Help

I haven't posted much about the Horsehair Nematomorpha parasite in about three months due to my fathers health issues. I decided I needed to do an update on symptoms and things I am using to help the symptoms. 

I made a video about it and haven't got any new treatments or cures but I did want to share that I am using psoriasis shampoo which seems to be helping and then I also have been using rosemary conditioner which also seems to be helping keep the parasite down from the hairline where they like to hang out. I bought both items at Walmart in the hair product section.

I have had more serious pin-prick hot poker type of bites or burrows from the parasite and it used to only happen at night but now I get them during the day as well. I have about six projects I am working on currently but hope to be able to get back to researching the parasite and trying new cures. 


I share in the video how I tried a Sulphur ointment for animals IFA on my skin but didn't see results and it was sticky and super stinky. 

I appreciate prayers to help me figure this out as I need to start feeling better and want to help all those also suffering feel better. I am still getting comments on my blog and YouTube daily about people suffering with this or a similar parasite. 

Have a Blessed Day!  

Monday, September 23, 2019

Supporting My Nephew Who is Headed To The Philippines

I made an update video for todays post and my internet is not functioning well again. I got notified that they were upgrading all internet speeds but it seems really slow. It has been uploading for about four hours and it is at 74% and the video is a half hour long. 

It is now 3 a.m. and I have been waiting for hours and I am so tired. It is so frustrating to have such slow internet. I basically just can't do a video and post it the same day unless it is five minutes or less. I just need to let them upload all night like I used to do for years. 

I spent six hours driving today to support my nephew who is leaving as a missionary soon and is headed to the Philippines. Princess One served as a missionary in the Philippines about ten years ago. Here is a post about her coming home, there are several other posts you can search "Philippines" in the search box at the bottom of the home page for more on that.  
I am super tired with all the driving and I didn't have much sleep last night and woke wide awake  in the middle of the night for some reason, so I am headed to bed and will have to post my update video another day and work on uploading my videos early in the day. 

Have a Blessed Day! 


Friday, September 20, 2019

My House Is Going Gluten Free

Over the past five yeas, I have not eaten any gluten on purpose. I have had some accidents where I was told something was gluten free but I don't make any exceptions as I feel horrible and feel like I have been drugged if I eat any gluten. 

I got rid of lots of my food storage items a few years back giving the girls and others my pasta and other gluten / wheat products. Since I still had kids coming home regularly last year I kept a supply of soups, pasta, and other gluten items in the house.

I have been trying to get lots of things done in my house and life recently and decided to really just get everything out of the cupboards that has gluten as I only have the family home about twice a year for holidays so there is no reason for me to keep all those type of things in the house. 




I sorted things into piles for the kids as I had certain things for each girl. Princess Four LOVES buffalo chicken wings and I had several kits to make those. In pulling out all the items with gluten, I ended up with several empty shelves in my cupboards. 


I have a very small amount of cupboards in my kitchen, I have never had an empty cupboard in the entire time we have lived here. I usually have stacked things on top of other things and it was kind of weird for me to have a few empty shelves. I was able to put my paper goods in one shelf that was completely empty and it was really nice to have a spot for those as I usually have them in a tote in the garage or basement. 

I still have lots of things to go through but I was able to get rid of many of my nursing school books and kids tapes this past week and I got rid of several hundred audio books a few weeks back. I am still working on so many things, but it feels good to even get rid of a few things. 


It feels good to get rid of things that I am not able to use and give them to people who will use them. 


Have a blessed day!  

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Where Is The Grumpy Girl - Princess Five Missionary Update


This week we had zone Conference! We talked about the book of Mormon, and wow, it's just the biggest blessing! Sister Staff and I taught a training about member work and, it went pretty well!

We went to a members house this week at about 8 to share a quick thought, and commitment. But the wife wasn't home from work yet so we couldn't go inside. We stayed in the car for the next half an hour to send messages and make some calls. When the wife got home, we started with a prayer, and were ready to share our message, but then the husband asked if we had "un ratito" which is like a very short moment. And then they just surprised us with a second dinner, at 9 night, it was really yummy though, and we got home on time, so it all worked out.


We did a lot of finding this week. To shake things up a bit we even went to Walmart to contact. We asked one of the workers what something cost and it turns out she was a lost member who was baptized in her country, but couldn't find the church in the states, so she hasn't been for 7 years!

We did a lot of finding this week! Even though my companion wasn't feeling well and had a headache. We met a cute older lady named Glory knocking doors, she told us to come back the next day a little earlier. When we went back she was on the porch waiting for her daughter to come pick her up, luckily she was an hour late so we were able to chat with Glory for "un ratitio"... 30 minutes... but she was so cute! While we were talking, she asked us where the grumpy girl from the night before was, so we explained to her how my companion wasn't feeling well, but it was way funny. It kind of helped us realize just how closely people are watching us.

Thank you for all your emails, prayers and support!

CuĂ­dense 
Hermana Princess Five

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Fixing a Problem with Air Conditioning Shutting Off in RV - Travel Trailer Circuit Breaker

Last year when we took my trailer to the lake for our family reunion for a few days, it was one of the hottest weeks of the summer and every few minutes, the air conditioner at the lake would shut off.

When we would flip the circuit, it would turn on again for a few minutes, then it would shut down. Over and over this would happen. At one point, there was a high pitched squeal coming from the circuit and fuse box. It was only once and happened for a few seconds. 

My brothers tested all the circuits and fuses and said they were fine. I looked online at many different YouTube videos about trailers and circuits and found one video of many that said something about a circuit making a similar sound and how they replaced that one circuit and the problem went away. 

I brought the trailer home after the reunion and had to store it offsite so dropped it off at the storage place and didn't worry about it until just before this years reunion at the lake.

Since I had been busy working with my dad and his wife on his health and other household things at their place, I didn't have much time to work on my trailer so my dad said he would pay for someone to fix the problem knowing I don't handle heat well. 

I called a man to fix it and I told him what I thought it was but he focused on the air conditioner. It was an $80 house call plus time so by the time he went through the air conditioner and said it was all working right, he checked the fuses and breakers and said he couldn't figure out what the problem was. I told him about the video I watched and that I thought it was the circuit breaker and he said we should go buy a new one and see if that solves the problem. 

We went to home depot and bought a new circuit for $10 and he put it in buy taking off the two screws holding the front panel on and popped out the circuit and put the new one in. I plugged the trailer in and the air conditioner worked all night. I thought maybe it was the heat and amount of conditioning needed during the heat so I left it on during the day the next day and it worked fine. It wasn't a hot day so I worried a bit about it not working at the lake on a really hot day, but we didn't have any more time to test it. 

We took it to the lake and I was SO happy that the problem with the trailer was a bad circuit breaker and was a $10 fix. Problem was I had to pay for the service man which was $150 so I just wanted to share this with everyone if they have a similar issue with their trailer, motorhome or RV. I have a Nomad Skyline trailer and I don't know that the breakers have ever been replaced. I was SO happy that the trailer worked. It isn't like we use it much, but when we do, it is SO nice to be able to use the air conditioner as it gets super hot quickly in the summer. 

I hope it continues to work well and that this information can help others diagnose their problem quickly. 

Have a Blessed Day! 

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

My First Post Ever was - You are Lucky, No, I am Blessed

In looking at a post to link recently, it has been over nine years since I posted that post. I have been at this a very LONG time and yet there are so many things I think I have posted about and I haven't. I woulnd't have believed back then, that I would have been blogging for so many years. 



It is crazy to think that other than a few internet hiccups or a few sick days, I have posted every weekday for almost ten years. I am a bit stunned with that. It has been a nice journal for our family and I have posted many of our favorite things, but still have many things I have wanted to share, or that I started a part one, and have never finished, and I still have a few files of things I wanted to post about but got so busy with life I never got back to those things. 

I have been on the roof several times in the past few days trying to figure out an issue and am super tired so I am going to leave you with a link to my first post ever. Just know that I still consider myself Blessed in so many ways. I am learning so much, and pray that I can continue doing this for another ten years. 

I am including some pictures from the month of my first post. Here is a link to my first post in April, 2010 called "You are Lucky!" - "No, I am Blessed!"  I hope you enjoy it and have a Blessed day! 

Monday, September 16, 2019

Silver Candy Dish at Thrift Shop for $1.50 - Good Finds

I have fallen asleep at the computer about five times already as I fought sleep all day today. I am going to post a video about a great find and a jewelry sorting video so I can get to bed. 


It has been awhile since I have been this tired. I hope to get a good sleep tonight. 

Have a blessed day!

Friday, September 13, 2019

Getting Peach - Apricot - Plum Nuts Out of The Pits

I have posted in the past about vitamin B-17 being in different types of pits. I realized that I hadn't made a video about the smaller fruit pits so I thought I would make a video to go along with the posts about this. 

I got some peaches from a neighbor who was sick of doing things with them and picked the entire tree and was looking for someone to take some. I gave away several bags to family and friends and decided to dehydrate some of them for the person who gave me the peaches. 

I cut them up and put them onto the dehydrator and then decided to get the nuts out of the pits. They have B-17 vitamin in them and it is hard to find that B vitamin in food as it is mostly only in pits. I have dehydrated and taken apricot pits which I purchased online but I did eat them when I was young. I have eaten plum pits, peach pits, nectarine pits, avocado pits and mango pits. 

All of these pits have the same flavor. Each of them darken in the air, each of them have vitamin B-17, and each of them are really bitter. The more bitter the pit, the more B-17 or Laetrile as it is called scientifically. 

Laetrile is a natural substance and I read a wonderful book about a researcher who studied it and found that it is a needed vitamin. He commented that he doesn't understand why there is so much controversy about it. 

I just know after all the research, books I share about in other posts, taking it for the past ten years or so, I feel BETTER when I take it in small doses every few days. I eat a few pits every three days or so but it would probably be better for me to take one each day but my life is so crazy that it doesn't end up being that way. 

I made a video about how I break open the pits holding them on edge. It is super hard to get the pit out by hitting the top or rounded sides of the pit. If I hold it on edge, as I show in the picture and video, the pressure of the hammer on that joint causes a "popping" sound when it opens. 

Once you hear that popping sound, you can pull the two sides of the shell open like a clam and pull the nut out of the center of the nut. Make sure you do this on cement or another hard surface. It cracks the nut easier and I use a clean hammer and collect the shells in one container and the nut in a smaller container. 

I wash all the nuts several times, and then if you have a dehydrator, you can dry them on the dehydrator between 100 and a 115 degrees for a few days depending on how thick the nuts are. Then, I put them in a container in the fridge until I eat them. 

If you can't dehydrate them, you can put them in the freezer until you can eat them. Or, if you live in dry and hot area, you can dry them on a paper towel on the counter. In other areas, you can dry them on the lowest setting in the oven on a cookie sheet until they are really dry. 

Even when fully dry, I keep them in the fridge just to make sure there is no mildewing or mold growing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 

Have a blessed day!

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Dehydrating Peaches Easiest Fastest Way - Round Not Slices

I have been writing my blog for so many years that I think I have blogged everything I do regularly, and I can't always remember if I have made a YouTube video of things because I didn't start making videos until years later when I had better internet. 

I looked on my youtube channel and found out that I hadn't made a video about dehydrating peaches or nectarines and thought it may be a good thing for me to make a video about because I think many people dehydrate their peaches by making slices that look like a smile over round pieces.

When I first dried bananas, I made perfect little round pieces. I did that only ONE time as it took me forever to flip them over as you need to flip them to make sure that both sides dry. I quickly learned to make the slices length wise making four cuts and flips over about 25 cuts and flips per banana. See my post about that here.  

The same holds true for peaches and other stone fruit. It is much easier to make slices to the sides of the fruit rather than cutting them from the top or bottom as you have pits for the length of the fruit so you will only get hula hoop circles if you cut it that way. 

The other way you could cut it is like a smile slicing from top to bottom and then going in a circle around the pit causing all your pieces to look like smiles or a slice of moon. This would take fifteen or so slices to cut up all the pieces and you would end up with 15 pieces to flip over, also when they dry, they shrink so you would have little peach pieces once dried. You can see what they look like dried like that in the picture above, you can see how small the sliced one dried compared to the larger round pieces. 

My favorite way, is to start on the sides and cut off large round moon slices until you get to the pit and then you will have two or so pieces that are like a hula hoop with a hole in the middle but this way only takes six slices or so and six larger pieces to flip halfway through the dehydration process. 

I have done it this way for years and find it the fastest and easiest way to dry fruit with the best size and dried results. 

I dry them at 115 to 130 degrees for 24 to 36 hours depending on how thick the slices are. I flip them over in the middle of the drying time, and I rotate the trays so they dry evenly. I also use the plastic canvas trays to keep the peaches or nectarines from sticking and I can flip the entire tray at the same time using the canvas trays. Here is a link to the post about making those. 

Have a Blessed Day!

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

I Am A Gringo - Princess Five Mission Update

Hello everyone!

On Monday we went to teach our English class, but because it was labor day, no one had opened the doors of the school where we teach the classes. So we decided to make a make shift class and everyone sat on the front steps of school, it was really fun instead of a normal class we just practiced speaking with them, for our spiritual thought we decided to sing and when we were done a little girl who had come with her family asked if she could perform as well. She sang this cute little song for everyone. It was so cute and genuine, Why can't we all just become as little children?!

On Tuesday we had a wonderful lesson with our friend Tesa! She is so excited to read the Book of Mormon!


Thursday we went to Ellis Island, I was actually able to use some of my Spanish to help an Italian woman from Chile, find her ancestors who came to America. So fun stuff as always. AND I only got a little lost on the way home so I deserve a pat on the back. When we got home we finally went to this sushi place that is like 20 ft. From our front door and it was soooooo super good!

This week sister Staff was sick, so Friday we had to stay inside all day, Saturday she still wasn't feeling to well so we decided to go to Kearny for the day. Sister Staff and sister Zola's companion who also wasn't feeling well that day were able to rest, and sister Zola and I were able to go finding for a couple hours, it was a really fun experience to be back there again. As we were leaving we went to the car. Two other cars parked in front of and behind us. I had maybe 3 inches in front and 6 inches in the back, so with sister Staff in the back, and sister Zola in front, we made a 6 point turn, with the assistance of some by standers saying I should just hit the car.

We had an English class with a man, and when we were done he raised his arms out to his sides and in his very broken English he exclaimed, "I am GRINGO!" it was so funny. 

And then on Sunday, our friend Esa came to Church, and she loved it. The stake relief society president asked me to translate for her, and let me just say it was super rough. Especially when all the women would be talking over each other and having side conversations. It's one thing to understand and another thing to put that understanding into words. But she got the fist of what was going on.

CuĂ­dense,
Hermana Princess Five