Apple Cidar Vinegar Launch

Hello! My name is Stacie and this blog grows from an idea I had a couple years ago to pass on some of the "old-granny" wisdom I've collected from a lifetime of listening with interest to my elderly relatives' home remedies, free fixes and homemade comforts. I figured while I was at it, I might as well chronicle my adventures into other people's old-granny wisdom, since I tend to be more adventurous than wise and you'll surely get a snicker or two.

I've always had a great interest in creating a self-sufficient lifestyle. Trendy descriptions abound, especially right now with the down economy and everyone thinking about procuring their own supplies in an economic crisis. But to me with my business background, "self-sufficient" means being able to maintain an existence where I can feed, clothe, shelter and amuse my family with minimal expense and no unnecessary effort. It's an efficiency thing. My husband and I both like to garden and I like to craft and build things, so making our own stuff is a natural extension of our personalities.

In my utopian dreams, we eat food grown or gathered ourselves, wearing clothing from homespun threads as we gather in the log cabin my husband and I built with our own hands and play chess by the fireside. I sip an herbal tea preparation to alleviate my chronic sinusitis and my husband snacks on dried jerky he made in his smokehouse behind the barn.

 Then I snap back to reality when my iPhone dings to alert me that I have another email promising me FREE CASH NOW!!!! My son texts me that he needs me to go to www.endless-college-tuition-forms.com and fill out something for this semester of college. I throw another load of clothes into the washer while sending my husband a text to remind me to tell our current landlord that the living room heater's temperature control isn't working. He responds that he hasn't heard yet whether his current technical writing contract will be extended into the new year and if not, we'll be moving on to the next city and the next rental property. Oh, and our other son has Boy Scouts tonight at 7 PM, don't forget. I pop two ibuprofen for a budding headache and sit down in front of my computer to check on my Farmville farms before loading up my Android development environment to work on an app I'd intended to launch last month. Reality is very, very far from the dream.

So this blog is my journey from current reality toward the dream where I use all of the off-the-grid skills I've inherited or acquired to make life simpler, cheaper and better for myself and my family. If the fun is in the journey, I've got a lot of fun ahead of me.

Apple Cider Vinegar vs. Sinusitis

I've been having moderate to severe pain in the left side of my face and upper teeth for about two weeks. As I am that person who needs several fillings every six months, I naturally assumed that the pain was the result of a big hole in one of my upper teeth where the filling fell out about six months ago. We adults don't have any medical insurance right now, so we had to come off $217 to get the filling replaced, and bless the wonderful dentist at Hillsdale Dental in Advance for trying a filling rather than the expected root canal -- of which I've had several. He suggested that there may be an infection and an antibiotic could be needed, but we'd wait and see since I'd have to pay cash for it. If it didn't get better, come back in.

The pain decreased significantly and I thought I was in the clear, but it never really went all the way away, and this morning it was pretty bad again. It's mostly up under my cheekbone, but my upper teeth and my temple are affected too and I suspect it's my old friend, acute sinusitis. I decided that before I gave in and begged for an antibiotic, I'd give a couple natural remedies a try.

Two days of apple cider vinegar goodness

The one I've known for years involves boiling water and pouring it hot into a bowl. You then lean over the bowl, put a towel over your head and breathe the steam through your nose to loosen up sinus mucus and reduce swelling. It works well for run-of-the-mill sinus pressure, I promise you. I add a little peppermint tea to mine because you can get it at the local dollar store and it does seem to help. I did that this morning and the wincing pain has dropped back to that "this used to hurt badly" ache that lingers after you've injured yourself.

But this sinus infection is not run-of-the-mill. It's angry gorilla. I'll need a little more than the everyday stuff if I want it to go away for good. My mother-in-law uses a lot of herbal preparations for her health and she recommended apple cider vinegar with water. It's got to be apple cider vinegar. I don't know why, but it does.

Now, I admit, I resisted. Don't be fooled by any assertions that it's not that bad. It is that bad. It's nothing but diluted vinegar, so it tastes like--surprise!--vinegar. But I read several articles on my favorite natural remedy sites that touted 1/4 cup of  apple cider vinegar in 16oz of water over the course of the day to thin mucus and aid the body in destroying the infection.  So, I'm gritting my teeth and bravely trying it.

According to the sources, I need to drink it everyday for several days because the infection has already set in. (They say you can slug it once when you first feel stuffy and it will kill it, but I'm way too late for that.) The first few sips were god-awful, but I think I must be getting used to it because it's bearable now. All I can say is...it better work.