Farm Rx Trial Kit and how you can get one....

This cute little box of trial sized products is yours for only $14.99.

Or

Enter my contest to win one for free!

How to enter:

You will get one entry for  each item completed:

1.Subscribe to the blog by entering your email address in the "Follow by Email" and click "Submit".

2. Like   and Follow my Facebook page:   https://www.facebook.com/be.an.avonlady

3. Share my Facebook page on your newsfeed.  https://www.facebook.com/be.an.avonlady

And  you will get 5 Entries if you:

4. Place an order in Campaign 7

5. Refer a new customer  -  you can email or text me your friends name, email or cell phone number with their permission of course, and I will send them the link to the current brochure.

6. Refer a friend  who becomes an Avon Representative  you can email or text me your friends name, email or cell phone number with their permission of course, and I will send them the link to the sign up info.  It is currently free to sign up as an Avon Representative and Avon's " Pathway to Premier" incentive helps you earn up to $3,300 in your first 8 campaigns (Avon’s two-week selling periods) and get you to those Premier Level earnings super-fast with three new bonuses.

Good Luck!

 

Campaign 7 Introducing FarmRX

 

  

I've been using this skin care collection for the past two weeks.  It's  very gentle and moisturizing.  I     really like the Bakuchiol Serum and the Bajuchiol Eye Cream.  It moisturizes with very  well using a very, very small amount.  

I use the Multivitamin Moisture Cream in the day time and the Super Greens Cooling Gel at night.

Self Care Article # 7 Self Care is Self-Compassion

 

Self-Care is Self-Compassion

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.  -Sharon Salzberg 

I hope you have enjoyed this series of blog posts on self-care but more importantly, I hope you have felt the need to start practicing some self-care or adding something new to your self-care habits and routines.  Self-care isn’t just a “one and done” task.  It takes intention and planning and practice. You don’t become proficient or develop mastery in anything without practice.  You may find starting a self-care habit, very challenging because your ”inner critic” keeps telling you that doing things for yourself is “selfish”.  However, self-care is never selfish.  It is what you need to bring your best self to your work, your family and your life.   In my opinion, it’s time to tell your inner critic to get lost. Your inner critic is a jerk and doesn’t want what’s best for you but is only interested in maintaining the status quo.  If you make positive changes, increase your feelings self-worth and sense of well-being, your inner critic just might be out of a job forever. I know you think that you just don’t have time for one more thing but to stay whole and sane until the end of this pandemic, please, please, please, give yourself the gift of compassion and make some room in your busy days for you.  Don’t make it hard.  Incorporate the practices that will help you be who you want to be and do what you want to do.  It will benefit everyone you come in contact with, I promise.  It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  

1. Breathe – easy you’ve been doing it since the day you were born just notice it for a couple minutes.

2. Move your body – walk, run, dance, twist and shout: pick your favorite movement activity.

3. Get outside- just open the door and take a step… TA-DA! You are now outside!

4. Drink your water and eat your veg – no explanation needed.

5. Go to bed!  And Sleep…perchance to dream… and to rebuild your body and refresh your mind.

One final thought from Brene Brown regarding the common characteristics of people who feel a sense of worthiness and keep showing up for life

1) Courage…to be imperfect
2) Compassion…the kind that allows us to be kind to ourselves first.
3) Connection…as a result of authenticity, making a distinction between “who I should be versus who I really am”

 4)  Embrace vulnerability

 

You can see Brene’s TED talk on vulnerability here:  https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability

 

If you need more information or additional resources about any of the self- care posts you can email mail me at joyceqis@gmail.com.

Self Care Article #6 Are you Getting Enough ZZZ's?

 

Are You Getting Enough ZZZZ’s ?

“A well-spent day brings happy sleep.” – Leonardo da Vinci

     The most common answer to the question, “How are you today?” used to be ”fine” but more often than  not, the answer you get now (even before COVID-19) is “tired”!  There are many reasons why people feel tired all the time; poor diet, not enough exercise, dehydration, stress, not enough fresh air and sunlight, and of course not enough sleep.  This could be from staying up too late and that is easily remedied by having a routine bedtime and sticking to it consistently.  However, many people have problems going to sleep once they get in the bed and that can be a much harder problem to solve.  

Well into my 50’s I was a good sleeper, out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow most nights.  I thought that people who said you need less sleep when you get older were kidding.  In a way they were because research demonstrates that our sleep needs remain constant throughout adulthood but changes in the patterns of our sleep – what specialists call "sleep architecture" - occur as we age and this may contribute to sleep problems. Older people spend more time in the lighter stages of sleep than in deep sleep and so even if they get their normal amount of sleep they may not feel rested when they wake up. When I started not sleeping well about 5 years ago I had to do a lot of experimenting to find the things that I could do to help me get a better night’s sleep. Here are some things I found that can help you prepare yourself for sleep:

1. Get some sunshine or bright light every day

2. Get some exercise everyday but not close to bedtime

3. Limit screens (blue light) a couple of hours before your bedtime

4. Relax and clear your mind in the evening (breathe and meditate)

5. Keep your bedroom cool

6. Have a comfortable mattress and pillow

7. Don’t take naps during the day

8. Take a relaxing shower or bath before bed

9. Limit caffeine late in the day

10. Try to sleep and wake at consistent times

Why would you want to go to these lengths and more to improve your sleep, besides being able to say “I’m fine” instead of “I’m tired” when friends ask you “how are you today”?   In addition to nutrition and exercise, sleep is one of the pillars of good health.  Studies have found that poor sleep is linked to weight gain and pre-diabetes, increased inflammation in the body particularly in the digestive tract with a direct link to inflammatory bowel disease. Poor sleep is also linked to depression and higher risk for heart attacks and strokes. Being tired may also reduce your social skills and ability to recognize other people’s emotional expressions. In other words we become two year olds who haven’t had their naps!

Getting enough sleep has positive benefits.  It contributes to brain function including cognition, concentration, productivity, and performance. Those who get adequate sleep tend to eat fewer calories than those who don’t and getting at least 8 hours of sleep can improve your immune function.  Being well rested is also important if you want to maintain positive relationships with family, friends and co-workers.

So if you are tired more than you think you should be, it’s important to your overall health to try to figure out what is going on and find some habits, routines or strategies that will improve your sleep. You may even want to discuss it with your health care professional to rule out anything serious.

Campaign 6 Here is what's new!

The New Brochure

Make up

Jewelry

                                                              Essential Oils

                                                 Home Care Products

Self Care Article # 5 Hydrate and Nourish

 

Hydrate and Nourish

“Eating Well is a Form of Self-Respect.”

    Here’s some advice for eating for good health and well-being that I received back in 1996 that has been proven sound over and over by science and medicine since then:  “Drink more water and eat more veg.”  It makes sense that if the adult body is about 60% water, the body needs to stay hydrated to function at its best.  Water, of course, is the best fluid for hydration.  Other liquids that you drink and some foods also contribute to your fluid intake. For example spinach and watermelon are almost 100% water. If you drink water at meals, when you are thirsty, and eat the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables you are probably staying hydrated.  If you feel tired and/or sluggish you might be getting dehydrated and need to drink more water.  Everyone’s hydration needs are specific to them, so it’s hard to make any recommendations on how much water to drink.  You will have to experiment and find an amount that makes you feel your best.  How much water you need will vary with how much you exercise, how hot and humid the weather is, or if you are sick.   I’m hearing a lot of people talking about eating more while we’re “staying home and attributing it to boredom but maybe they are just thirsty. Here is some advice from the Mayo Clinic for staying hydrated:

“Your fluid intake is probably adequate if:

• You rarely feel thirsty

• Your urine is colorless or light yellow

To prevent dehydration and make sure your body has the fluids it needs, make water your beverage of choice. It's also a good idea to:

• Drink a glass of water with each meal and between each meal.

• Drink water before, during and after exercise.

• Drink water if you're feeling hungry. Thirst is often confused with hunger.”

Although uncommon, it's possible to drink too much water. When your kidneys can't excrete the excess water, the sodium content of your blood is diluted (hyponatremia) — which can be life-threatening. Athletes — especially if they participate in long or intense workouts or endurance events — are at higher risk of hyponatremia. In general, though, drinking too much water is rare in healthy adults who eat an average American diet.

Keeping your body healthy and alive also requires food for fuel.  Fuel for energy for work and play as well as for energy to keep all the body’s systems to doing their work: breathing, digestion, eliminating waste, and thinking.  The average American diet is most deficient in fiber.  The average adult only eats 15 grams of fiber per day. Women need 25 grams of fiber per day, and men need 38 grams per day, according to the Institute of Medicine.  

   Is it a challenge for you to eat all five servings of fruits and vegetables every day? The 1-2-3 approach can help you pack in all your servings — and more — throughout the day. Get six servings by eating:

• 1 serving with breakfast

• 2 with lunch

• 3 with dinner and snacks

Remember that the serving size for fruits and vegetables is about 4 to 6 ounces. However, measurements for one serving can differ depending on the food, such as:

• 1 cup of raw or cooked fruits and vegetables

• ½ cup of legumes

• 3 cups of leafy greens

    To sum up, it’s very important for your health and well-being to make caring for your body a daily self-care habit by staying hydrated and eating fresh whole foods, mostly plants.  Remember the advice a very wise 7 year old gave to me when she overheard an adult conversation about adults being overweight, diabetic and having painful joints.  “I know how people can feel better, Mom….. drink more water and eat more veg.”!

Self Care Article #4 Go Outside

 

Go Outside – Nature and Gratitude

Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction. ~E. O. Wilson

I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal since 2011 after I read “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp.  The format has changed a few times; from a few loose leaf notebook pages to a bound journal.  Currently I’m jotting 3 things I’m grateful for on my daily calendar page.  Looking  back through my pages, I find a lot of the things I’m grateful for  are things I see/hear/feel when I’m outside in nature.  Just a few from my March list:  a cardinal singing in a tree by my garage, a pair of robins by the shrubs, fog over wet fields, sunshine through the trees, rain puddles on the sidewalk, wind trying to blow my scarf off,  squirrels nests high up in bare trees, and the light of a full moon. As you may have figured out from my earlier posts, I grew up in the country and spent a lot of my childhood outside in every season.  When I first started living in a bigger city, I remember sitting in traffic feeling glum then glancing up at the sky. My heart sank when I realized I hadn’t really noticed or looked at the sky in weeks.  I tell this story to illustrate the connection between nature, our well-being, and gratitude.  After that, I started taking notice of the sky, the weather, and the phases of the moon. These were once daily habits of country living but I had soon forgotten them in the shorter horizons of the city. Noticing and being thankful for the cycles of nature increases feelings of hope which are vital to getting through troubled times.  You can believe that if winter turned to spring last year and all the years you can remember, then chances are excellent that spring will arrive again this year even if you get an ice storm in April!

Personal stories aside there is science that is proving that nature, and gratitude play important roles in our physical and mental health. “People have been discussing their profound experiences in nature for the last several hundred years—from Thoreau to John Muir to many other writers,” says University of Utah researcher David Strayer. “Now we are seeing changes in the brain and changes in the body that suggest we are physically and mentally more healthy when we are interacting with nature.”While gratitude and time in nature are each linked individually to increased personal well-being, bringing them together in a practice of gratitude for the gifts of nature and being grateful while in nature may further deepen the benefits of well-being. Here are some of the benefits of practicing gratitude listed in an article on www.positivephsycology.com:

• increased happiness and positive mood

• more satisfaction with life

• less materialistic

• less likely to experience burnout

• better physical health

• better sleep

• less fatigue

• lower levels of cellular inflammation

• greater resiliency

• encourages the development of patience, humility, and wisdom

And here are some of the benefits of spending time in nature:

• Walks in nature help your memory  

• You feel happier  

• Nature can literally heal  

• You can concentrate better  

• It prompts weight loss  

• Your vitamin D supply improves

• Nature limits your stress

• You age less painfully  

• It strengthens your immune system  

• It lightens feelings of depression  

 

I hope all these benefits are enough to convince you to add a gratitude practice and some nature walks to your habits and routines.  If not, take a look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lXYZ6s3Dfk

 

   

Anew Vitamin C Skin Care- A Review

I'm using this exfoliant on my face in the shower on Tuesdays and Thursdays (2 times a week).  You only need a little dab and it goes on better when your skin is wet.  I squeeze a little in my palm amd rub my hands together. This is when you will start to feel the warming sensation.  Then I scrub my face with my palms.  I make sure I scrub dowm my neck and my upper chest.  If I have any left on my hands I use it to scrub my cuticles and my elbows.  Then just the final rinse off.  It's great!  My skin feels soft and creamy smooth.  I use a different exfoliant on Monday and Wednesday and I like it alot but it leaves the skin feeling drier so more moisturizer is required on those days.

 https://www.avon.com/product/anew-vitamin-c-warming-peel-66939?rep=jmahl

Self Care Article #2 Just Breathe

Blog Post – Self Care #2 – Don’t Forget to Breathe!

"Whenever there is a gap between your habits and your goals, your habits will always win."

Self-Care is not getting a massage and a pedicure.  It is practices (habits/routines) that we integrate into our daily lives that contribute to our overall health and well-being.  What I’m going to share is a fast and easy breathing practice that will help you start your day, end your day and calm your day by just taking a pause and doing this little exercise. Teach it to the kids too so that they have a strategy that they can use when they feel strong emotions or just need a break from “too much” going in the environment (noise being a primary sensory overload for some children and adults too.)  It’s called 4-7-8 breathing.  Here are the steps: 

1. Exhale normally

2. Breathe in 4 counts

3. Hold your breath – 7 counts

4. Exhale with a swooshing sound- 8 counts ( a fun thing to do with kids is to push your arms forward when you force the air out of your lungs-make the swooshing sound)

5. Repeat 3-10 times

Here is one more breathing exercise to try.  It’s called Breath Counting.  This one is a bit of a challenge and I would suggest doing it when you are alone and the environment is quiet—maybe sitting on the edge of the bed when you first wake up in the morning.  Here are the directions:

Sit in a comfortable position with the spine straight and head inclined slightly forward. Gently close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then let the breath come naturally without trying to influence it. Ideally it will be quiet and slow, but depth and rhythm may vary.

• To begin the exercise, count “one” to yourself as you exhale.

• The next time you exhale, count “two,” and so on up to “five.”

• Then begin a new cycle, counting “one” on the next exhalation.

Never count higher than “five,” and count only when you exhale. You will know your attention has wandered when you find yourself up to “eight,” “12,” even “19.”  Try to do this for 5 minutes and work up to 10. 

Jot down breathing exercises in your planner/schedule/calendar for starting and ending your day, every day.  Some studies show that it can take up to 6 weeks of practicing before you realize all the health benefits from controlled breathing exercises. If you are interested in more breathing exercises just Google or search You Tube for “breathing exercises”. One of my favorites is Bellows Breathing. It is a stimulating exercise that helps you learn to breath deep from your diaphragm and you may feel energized or less fatigues afterward.  Check out Wim Hof’s breathing technique for improving your immune system.  The best breath book I ever read is “Breathe In Breathe Out” by James E Loehr, Ed.D. and Jeffrey A Migdow, M.D.

Just one last word about a breathing practice, it can also be called meditation which is often the very first practice many experts suggest when starting to make wellness/self-care a part of your daily life. The physical and mental health benefits of meditation are well documented.  The breath counting exercise above is often used as a meditation practice for beginners.

 

Self-Care #3 -- Move Your Body

 

Self-Care # 3

Move Your Body

“When it comes to health and wellness, moving your body regularly is about as close to a magic potion as you can get.”  - adapted from a quote by Nhat Hanh

In an effort to not add additional stress to your life, I’m not going to use the E-word in this post!  However, I cannot stress enough how important it is to move your body in times of stress.  Your best options right now are bending, stretching and walking (outside, by yourself, if possible).   No equipment needed. Some wellness experts recommend that you do some movement before 10 a.m. for maximum benefit.  After you do your wake up breathing practice take note of any place that is stiff or achy. Those would be the places to focus your bending and stretching.  Forward bends, twisting at the waist, shoulder rolls, knee bends, toe raises, and side bends would be appropriate.  If that isn’t enough to get you breathing a little faster and increase your heart rate a little; you can do more repetitions, do them faster, or add some jogging in place.

Throughout your day, take a pause, either at a regular break time or when you are feeling stressed/ overwhelmed.  Do a full body scan to find those stiff and achy parts then bend and stretch again with those spots in mind.  When my 86 year old, active farmer Dad found himself confined to the house and his knees were getting stiff, he did knee bends every morning in front of the kitchen stove while he cooked his breakfast eggs. Find opportunities like that to fit movement into your day.  Here is a personal example:  I’m not bugging my landlord to get my garage door opener fixed because I get some extra movement by getting out of the car to open the garage and the bending and stretching I do to open and close it actually feels good. I’m a farm kid who had to open and shut the gate anytime we left the farm! 

 If you want to include the kids in some movement activities, I recommend Bari Koral’s You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh6hKQmd775g6Nd0xi4lT5_qttNTKRVCq

My daughter, who is a massage therapist, sees a lot of people from 25 year olds to over 60, who have limited range of motion, poor muscle tone, and a lot of pain.  She says a lot of it is preventable if you make it a habit to move your body every day. So get moving! Walk, run, dance, bend, stretch.

 A movement habit to practice whether you are a home child care provider or a parent working from home: get up, get dressed and put on your shoes.  This will help in case you have to deal with an emergency (you have to evacuate your home or the dog escapes) and kitchen accidents (you break a glass, drop a knife or hot liquids).  It also allows you to take advantage of extra minutes that may pop up in your schedule to walk around the block or take the kids to the mailbox or run across the lawn.  All movement counts!  For more information about developing habits like “getting dressed to the shoes” and incorporating daily movement into your schedule here is a website to explore: http://www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/february/ .  This site is about home-organization based on habits and routines. It is based on the book” Side-tracked Home Executives” by Pam Young and Peggy Jones that I recommended in my first post in this series.

Let's Talk Self -Care

      National Self -Care Month is September but I think that we need to talk about it frequently.  I wrote a series of Self-Care articles last year for work and I'm going to publish them here on the blog in hopes of wider circulation.

Here is the first installment.

Self –Care is MORE Important in Times of Stress

SELF-CARE IS GIVING the world the best OF YOU INSTEAD OFWHAT’S LEFT OF YOU. – Katie Reed

• -Katie Reed0 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 4.

In “normal times” self-care is given a lot of lip service by many of us but have we really made it a part of our lives? In other words, is it integrated into our daily, weekly, monthly routines and habits? If it is then we will be ready to roll with whatever life throws at us. If it isn’t, now would be the time to start. Before I talk about specific self-care practices, let’s review those routines and habits.  You know that things go better in your child care day if you have a routine and stick to it.  These routines are set up to teach kids positive habits and it makes them feel safe and secure no matter what else is going on around them.  Same for you.  Once habits and routines are established there is a whole lot of things you don’t have to give much thought to.  For example, the night before our first day of working from home, I thought I didn’t need to lay out my clothes for the next day.  That’s a before bed routine that I’ve carried on since my mother taught it to me when I started school.  The next morning my alarm didn’t go off because I set it wrong and then I couldn’t decide what to wear which seems really stupid because I was just going to my home office in my basement!!!  But I was anxious about the change and how the day would go and between the alarm not going off and being indecisive about what to wear, the day did not get off to the best start because a couple other small things went wrong too.  I made a mess making my morning protein shake and I forgot my glasses upstairs so I was almost late for my first day of working from home!  If I would have stuck to my normal routine, I feel sure the morning would have gotten off to a smoother start with less stress and mess for me!

     What do you use to plan your day?  A calendar, an app on your phone, a to-do list?  Whatever your preferred method, this is where you can start planning and tracking your self-care habits.  I use Google Calendar and a paper calendar/journal too.  My Google Calendar is where I keep all my work appointments, meetings and projects.  My paper calendar is for household organization, family events, activities with friends and hobbies.  My paper calendar has monthly, weekly and daily pages.  Anything from work that affects family/household organization like working out of town or evening meetings gets transferred to the paper calendar.  This is just an example, you will have to find what works best for you.  Before you start putting things in your planner, start making some lists: your morning routine, your evening routine, the things that you do every day, the things that you do weekly or multiple times a week (exercise, grocery shop, laundry, call your Mom, go to church) and things that you do once a month (lunch with a friend, book club meeting, Sunday dinner with your extended family). Add all of these to your planner.  Just an additional note on family and household routines here:  If you are old enough you may remember that your mom or grandmother had a specific day of the week for a major household task; “wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, market on Thursday, clean on Friday, bake on Saturday, rest on Sunday”.  There was a lot of wisdom in that. Setting up your own weekly routine with a focus on one of your major tasks each day can really be a game-changer for your organization and productivity. (If you are interested in learning more about planning and organizing I recommend the book “Side-Tracked Home Executives” by Pam Young and Peggy Jones).

This is going to be a series of articles on specific self-care practices that you can add to your planner.  So grab yours and set up your daily and weekly routines and watch for the next self-care blog post.

February Fragrance-Lyrd Artisan Cherry Vetiver Eau de Parfum

What could be better than cherries in February?  This is a warm and indulgent scent that blends swee cherry with smooth Haitian vetiver.  It also comes in a .3 fluid oz. travel spray to carry in your purse.  I'm looking forward to wearing this fragrance for the month!

 

February Jewelry

Sterling silver elephant necklace that I will be wearing in February!  I have had this for many years and it's one of my favorites.

I thought this was perfect for February a sterling silver with heart and scrollwork.  There are little flowers on the sides that will remind me that spring is coming!  (this is on my right ring finger)

                            This is a sterling silver band with the February birthstone (amethyst).  It's on my left ring finger along with my April birthstone band.  (diamond)