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Clever Parents.com
By Melissa Ackerman
Looking down, I notice all the women around me are wearing sweet skinny strapped sandals or fun and sophisticated flip flops, if that’s possible, and their toes are beautifully manicured. Obviously they’re either gifted at polishing toes or they splurge for a regular pedicure. As I admire their beauty, my own toes begin to curl and I slide them under the wide leather strap across my sandals. Luckily there isn’t another strap trapping them out in the open (cue Psycho stabbing music) where everyone can see my feet are completely neglected and UGLY!
How many of us suffer from the neglected ugly toe syndrome? I’ve never felt worthy of regular nail pampering, mani or pedi, so it never crossed my mind when I developed a toenail fungus that such a splurge would be tremendously beneficial. Not only would it feel wonderful to take a few moments off to let someone rub my feet and make them look glamorous but the effect of the fungus would be maintained and kept to a minimum. Then again, I felt too embarrassed to let someone else see or touch my feet. And, since I’m toe polish challenged, they remained a degrading appendage.
Going barefoot or sliding into simple summer shoes, as opposed to those heavy winter shoes and socks, is heavenly and so time friendly. However, without proper care, feet get that seriously neglected appearance. My feet look chalky white around the edges where skin needs to be sloughed off and moisturized and the heals develop their own sole of flaky dried skin. Yuck. Now that I write it down I realize how disgusting my feet really are left unattended.
After visiting the podiatrist, I made the decision that taking time for myself was an important part of keeping my self esteem healthy as well. His response, at seeing the mess I’d made taking care of my nails, was that the quick night before a visit to his office moisturizer was like people who floss the night before going to the dentist after weeks of neglect, he could still tell I was putting my feet last on my list of priorities. My mother suffers from the same toenail fungus but takes care to have a regular pedicure and her toes look well tended and appear healthy. But who listens to their mother first?
It’s just so easy to ignore the feet and hide all the disgrace. Well disgrace no more! Here are a couple of suggestions and products I found that will take moments out of the day and leave your feet feeling heavenly soft with or without the help of a professional. With all those incredible new styles of open toed shoes from gladiator to simple flip flops, it’s personal abuse to constantly cover up to avoid detection. Take care and indulge in the season while keeping your toes healthy too.
One product I found that almost does it all, moisturize and slough off dead skin, easily in the bath or shower is the Awaken Sea Salt Scrub from Arbonne. It healed my super dry cracked hands and feet in one week and left them silky soft after one application. The scent is dreamy and leaves the bathroom smelling like your own personal spa. While searching online I found some other more accessible products to help eliminate the fungus in the nails or at least minimize its effects that can be found at your local drugstore or in your kitchen.
One product to use as a follow up to the scrubs would be Burt’s Bees Peppermint Foot Lotion (www.burtsbees.com) “…makes your toes tingle.” Always follow a scrub with some sort of moisturizer - I sometimes forget and the softness doesn’t last. This is a great natural product easily found at a drugstore, convenience store, or market. At DivineCaroline.com I found a home remedy article for toenail fungus and a link to www.mixingbowl.com where the author provides a myriad of recipes from the home for healthcare and more.
At (http://www.divinecaroline.com/22287/76972-homemade-spa-treatments) I discovered the following treatment:
“To create your own luxe foot treatment, start by peeling a fresh pineapple or kiwi. Rub the fleshy part of the fruit’s skin along the bottom of each foot for five minutes, focusing on your heels, between your toes, and any calluses. Rinse your feet with warm water and towel-dry before finishing with a moisturizing foot lotion to maintain softness.”
Also see www.mixingbowl.com, where KristinaV published her recipe for the above FRUITY FOOT TREATMENT and a recipe for Brown Sugar Body Scrub. Recently I received this forwarded email about Great Home Remedies where they suggested using
“Listerine therapy for toenail fungus: Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerine Mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.”
Try out products you find and let me know how they work for you. Don’t let the summer go without letting your toes get some vitamin D in those hot new gladiator sandals or those sweet strappy shoes and glittery flips! My suggestion is a pedi once a month or two plus a regular at home maintenance treatment and that should keep your feet runway or BBQ friendly.
Online Sites to check out for more fun and ideas:
www.mixingbowl.com
www.burtsbees.com
www.arbonne.com
www.divinecaroline.com
www.homespagoddess.com (The site for women to stay beautiful on a budget.)
www.living.health.com/2008/02/28/at-home-spa-recipes (Vital information with a human touch.)
www.homespa.com
www.glamour.com/beauty/2008/11/13-diy-at-home-spa-tricks#slide=1
http://www.toenailfungus.org/
Melissa is the mother of a six year old little girl, Madeline, and the wife of a former ship captain. She and her family just moved to Maine a year ago from Monterey, CA to experience a change in lifestyle and become middle aged entrepreneurs. After 22 years of teaching, Mel (Melissa) needed more time with her family and so she and a friend started Dancestones.org; the business of giving comfort through Maine’s rolled stones. Reading and Writing are her deepest passions- when she’s not collecting stones in remote areas of Maine!
Amy Lang, MA Birds + Bees + Kids®
In the interest of shameless self promotion - and wanting to make life easier for all of you on the sex talks front, I’m delighted to announce that my books will be available in just a few short weeks!
The first, Birds + Bees + YOUR Kids - A guide to sharing your beliefs about sexuality, love, and relationships is the short cut you’ve been waiting for when it comes to talking to your kids. In just a couple of hours, you will be able to confidently answer just about any question your kids come up with.
The Guide is a series of chapters on different topics related to sex. You read some pearls of wisdom from me and then get to work clarifying your own values and beliefs.
Once you have the answers, then you can give your kids The Ask Anything Journal. This dandy little journal (it even has a flip book!) gives your kids the chance to get their burning questions about just about anything answered without having to stare you in the face.
Easy for them, easy for you. What could be better?
The idea is that you have agreed to answer their questions as honestly as you can and the journal gets passed back and forth from kid to parent.
If you’d like to get a bunch of free gifts when you order your book - please make sure you have signed up for my newsletter. I’m going to have an exclusive offer for my newsletter subscribers.
birdsandbeesandkids.com ©2009 Birds + Bees + Kids® LLC 206-661-2245
About the Author: Through her business, Birds + Bees + Kids, Amy Lang teaches parents how to talk to their children of any age about sex, love and relationships. She has a 16-year history as a Sexual Health Educator, a Masters in Applied Behavioral Science and loves to help people learn about this vital part of parenting.
I heard something recently that just broke my heart.
I did a mini-survey on the results people are getting from their online marketing. And one of the responses I got said:
I don’t have time to write a newsletter and write ebooks to give away. Wish I did! If I had more time, I would get better results for sure.
The reason it broke my heart is because, reading between the lines, I know that this is someone who has a lot to give. And from the sound of it, she’s scrambling in a business structure that saps all her time and energy just taking care of the “day to day.” So her ability to share her gifts is seriously diluted.
And I know she’s not alone.
Those of us in service-based businesses –coaches, consultants, speakers, organizers and the like- are typically passionate about what we do. We have a strong desire to make a contribution and transform lives. Problem is, in our efforts to be of service, we often lose our perspective of the bigger picture – we miss the proverbial forest for the trees.
Getting stuck in a business model that doesn’t allow time to create on-going relationship with your audience means the connection isn’t there when you most need it – when you want them to buy.
And you can’t help them until they buy from you, until they say ‘yes’ to your offers.
Which means they don’t get the results they want (transformation), and you don’t get the results you want (income). Not a happy picture.
So to assist in creating a business structure that allows you the time to truly be of service AND get better results all around, here are 3 simple tips.
1) Designate one day a week for business-building activities. No client appointments allowed! Since I started doing this a year and a half ago (I actually devote two days a week), the results have been amazing. Use the time for marketing, writing, creative day-dreaming, whatever will best give you the momentum to “recharge your batteries” and expand your connection to your audience as a whole.
2) Stop trying to do it all alone. No business can become truly successful as a one-person operation. You have certain gifts, talents and strengths that are important to your business growth. Your main focus should be delivering your services and marketing your services. Everything else –bookkeeping, web maintenance, setting appointments, posting articles, etc.- is sapping your energy and should be outsourced.
3) Draw on the wisdom and support of like-minded mentors and colleagues. Continued learning and masterminding is vital to keeping your energy, creativity and momentum high. I don’t mean to use the learning as a substitute for action. I just know from personal experience how valuable it is to always be working with a mentor, sharing ideas with colleagues and surrounding yourself with other motivated, successful people who can actively support your own progress. (And give you the loving kick in the pants when you need it!)
If impacting lives with your special brand of transformation is your ultimate goal, that can’t happen when you’re too busy with the “day to day” to do the things necessary to create on-going connection with your audience. Remember, you can’t help them until they hire you – and that’s most likely to happen when you take the time to create a business model that gives you room to breathe.
©2009 Helen Graves
Helen Graves, Grand Poohbah of Crackerjack Online Marketing Strategy, shows service-based small business owners how to create stronger connection so you sell more with your product and program promotional campaigns.
Visit www.OnlineLaunchSecrets.com to get a hold of her free online marketing resource, “Make More Sales: How to Create Connection and Desire So Clients Can’t Wait to Buy from You.”