Mother's Day

I am not a mother, but I still see the importance of motherhood every day. I teach 5th grade and it is easy to see which children have supportive parents and many of them only have mothers at home. They are the students who finish all their homework, who pay attention during different lessons, who handle struggles in a positive way, who listen, who answer questions, and who aren't afraid to ask questions. These students especially know that when I help them correct their behavior I am really trying to HELP them, not hurt them or make fun of them.

Mothers don't always realize how much their kids are paying attention to them, but they are. You are a huge example for them of how to live! How you handle hardships is how they are going to handle hardships. That can be a scary thought or an empowering one. You have a lot of control. 

I know you are not perfect, my own mother was not perfect, but she did her best. The key to improving is recognizing what you have done wrong or what others have done wrong and making strides to correct them for yourself. Trust me, I am right there with you. I have been on hiatus from blogging for about two years because I realized how many demons I have and couldn't write about how to dance in the rain when they were staring me in the face. I hid from those demons and ignored them. It didn't work, I got worse and now I'm trying to fix them.

Join me in this journey and realize how amazing you are! You can do this. Recognize your strengths, work on your weaknesses and become happier for it. 

Together we'll learn to dance in the rain. 

Wart Removal

About six months ago, I came across a home remedy for wart removal on Pinterest. This was an awesome find because I had a wart on my wrist that I had my dermatologist burn off last November, but it grew back three times the original size! I tried store bought methods like freeze off and acid applications, but they did nothing! So last June, after my wedding, I tried it out! This simple remedy is the only thing that worked so I'm going to tell you the steps to removing stubborn warts! 

Things you'll need:

- medical tape/bandages

- cotton balls/pads

- apple cider vinegar

Step 1:

Take a cotton pad and rip it to the size you'll need to completely cover your wart. 

Step 2:

Soak it in apple cider vinegar. The generic brand will work just find. 

Step 3: 

Place cotton pad over wart and use medical tape to hold it in place. You can use bandaid bandages as well. I just found that it works better if you trap the moisture so it doesn't dry out. 

Step 4:

Go to bed. This is especially important on day 5 because your wart will start to really hurt and sleeping is a great way to ignore the pain. 

Step 5:

Continue this process until your wart turns black, it will take about a week, and then peel off the wart. The roots should all be dead, but I kept applying the apple cider everynight for about a week more and some roots came to the surface around my wart!

June 26: 

This is a picture of the morning after the first application. Notice that it's beginning to turn black. 

June 27 morning:

Day 2! It's getting darker and harder.

June 27 night:

It's getting really dark! I started applying it every night and morning so it would kill the wart faster. It hurt, but I just didn't use that hand for awhile. 

June 29:

It finally became time to peel it off. 

This is right after I cleaned out the pus. You can see other sores popping up. They popped up without me even having the cotton pad on them so I think they were the wart roots surfacing after they died. 

The wound still looked like it had a bunch of roots in there so I applied the apple cider vinegar for a week or so more. 

July 3:

The wounds still looked suspicious so I applied the treatment over the whole area just in case. 

June 4:

I got really tired of applying the treatment so I took one last picture of the area and then let it heal. 

Gross I know, but it did not grow back! Here it is today November 2!

As you can see there is some scaring, but there is no evidence of wart growth! So if you have a stubborn wart, give this a try! It'll only cost you $5!

One Year Ago

There tends to be times in my life when I really look back on the past year. Some people do this at the start of a new year, I suppose I kind of do it then, however, I tend to do it all the time. I'm a person who remembers dates really well and when I approach a memorial date I will think back to a year or more before and how everything is different. It is amazing what happens in a year!

Last year at this time I was beginning to date a guy... I'll just call it as it is - he is a player. I have met bigger players in my time, but he definitely deserves that title. His influence permeated for MONTHS after he physically left. Thinking back, I wish I had seen the signs and taken more precautions rather than letting him in so quickly. You think a girl would learn.

Well, I did. This player's influence eventually lead me to dating the love of my life, Anthony. A man who is everything BUT a player and also happens to be my very best friend.

Dear friends, please learn from my example. Do not kiss on a first meeting. Do not play into their hand. Do not let them make you the bad guy. Do stand up for yourself. Do remember your divine worth.

Do dance in the rain, even if you dance alone.