Sunday, May 31, 2015

doTerra essential oils ... kicking the flu's butt with the doTerra flubomb

I'm not sure if you've noticed but there hasn't been a Sunday video for a few weeks now for several reasons: I have not been filming (I've lost my filming mojo!) and life got in the way. I explained the reasons in this post and those reasons are still valid. I'm not back into it yet and I'm not sure when I will be.

I've been posting some book related stuff instead, book reviews and new release book promos.

I'm still very much into the girly things and makeup, etc., and I have been posting a few odd makeup posts on my Thursday feature posts but I prefer for those to remain book related, so I've struck on this bright idea that I'll make Sunday my random day where I post life stuff, makeup stuff, and health stuff.

I don't promise that it will be a regular Sunday thing because a girl does need a day off now and then. I'll post when inspiration strikes and there's something interesting to talk about.

I'm going to kick today's post off with a health related post. This past couple of weeks has been rough on us as Steve caught the dreaded flu and was off work for a week.

Living in close quarters with someone who has the flu means that I'm bound to catch it sooner or later even though I've had the flu shot. It didn't save Steve after all, he had the flu shot too. Admittedly, his flu symptoms were not horrible, but it left him feeling drained and tired.


About a day into being sick, my friend Lorraine who is a doTerra essential oils expert and reseller suggested we make up what she calls a flubomb which will take care of the flu and help us recover from it a lot faster.

We were probably a day or so late getting Steve started on it, but we did. I have to say that it helped reduce his flu symptoms a great deal.

A few days ago, I felt that I was on the verge of getting sick with my throat feeling a little scratchy. As a preventive measure, I took a flubomb in the morning and did so for a few mornings. Then, yesterday, I really felt like I was getting sick. I could tell that my nose was getting cloggy and I was going to succumb to the flu.

I started on the flubomb right away and dosed myself with it 4 times a day and miraculously the next day I felt amazing. Like I was never sick or even about to get sick at all. No flu, no symptoms. I felt great.

What is this miracle flubomb, you ask?


Well, it's doTerra essential oils and it's:

  • 4 drops Lemon
  • 2 drops Frankincense
  • 2 drops On Guard
  • 2 drops Tea Tree
  • 2 drops Oregano

... in a capsule, taken with water.

This is a little capsule of miraculous goodness!!

The instructions is to take it 4 times a day, which was what I did the first day I felt I was getting sick, and then to be doubly sure, on the second day, I took it 3 times that day.

I am told that with the essential oils in the flubomb, the oils break down the membrane of the virus, penetrate it and attack / kill it from the inside, thereby stopping it from spreading. I do not know if this is scientifically proven, I only know that it has worked for me and I went from flu symptoms one day, right on the verge of getting very sick to feeling fine the next day and the day after.

Note: doTerra oils are very high quality and I call them "food grade" oils because you can ingest them. I do not recommend trying this with any other brand of oil as I do not know the quality of those oils and how they are produced. Most generic essential oils tend to have a warning to not be ingested or applied directly onto the skin. I would heed this warning. This does not apply to doTerra oils.

I'm a firm believer in the doTerra essential oils anyway, since it has been a tremendous help for me with other ailments, but that's a topic for another post.

I did in the past attempt a rather awkward video explaining an introduction to the doTerra oils, if you've interested in watching it.


Do you use essential oils? If so, did you know about the doTerra oils and how they are such high quality and so pure that you are able to ingest them and gain a great deal of benefits from them? What essential oils do you use?


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Friday, May 29, 2015

Friday On Sale: Summer Fire Box Set by Gennita Low, Teresa Gabelman, Clarissa Wild, et al.

I do love me a good box set, I'm sure I've said this before! This one is another one such box set and holy good value, Batman! It's 99c for over 1,400 pages of sizzling romantic goodness. So, instead of the usual Friday Freebie, you are getting a 99c special box set. I hope you enjoy it, there are some great authors in the list. This is a limited edition box set too, so grab it quick!

Summer Fire


Title:  Summer Fire: Love When It's Hot (Boxed Set) 
Author: Gennita Low, Stacey Mosteller, R.J. Lewis. L. Wilder, Victoria Danann, Kym Grosso, Cat Miller, Mimi Barbour, Clarissa Wild, Teresa Gabelman, Linda Barlow, Helen Scott Taylor, Victoria James, Mona Risk, Patrice Wilton, Joan Reeves, Danielle Jamie, Terri Marie, Lorhainne Eckhart, Brandy L. Rivers, Nicole Blanchard 
Publisher:  dba 7th House Publishing, Imprint of Andromeda LLC 
Publication Date: May 26, 2015 
ISBN: 978-1507060469 
Format: eBook 
Pages: 1464
Genre: 
Contemporary Romance 
Preorder Book at: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Kobo

Website - Goodreads

Twitter Hashtag: #SUMMERFIRE   


Summer Fire 3DCover



Book Description:



21 ALL NEW contemporary romance stories by New York Times, USA Today, and International Bestselling authors.

Limited Time Only!


Love when it’s hot? So do we. 

Especially when we’re writing about gritty alphas, angsty bad boys, sizzling attraction, and unrequited passion. Turn the fan to oscillate, loosen your buttons,  and join us for this groundbreaking bundle of summer tales that are hot hot hot.


1. Gennita Low - Sizzle
2. Stacey Mosteller – Just One Summer
3. R.J. Lewis - Sinful
4. L. Wilder - Summer Storm
5. Victoria Danann – A Season in Gemini
6. Kym Grosso - Solstice Burn
7. Cat Miller – Sun Burnt
8. Mimi Barbour – Big Girls Don’t Cry
9. Clarissa Wild - Killer
10. Teresa Gabelman - Rodeo Romance
11. Helen Scott Taylor - Irish Kisses
12. Victoria James – Sweet Surrender 13. Mona Risk - Husband for a Week
14. Patrice Wilton – A Man for Hire
15. Linda Barlow - My Mile-High Mistake
16. Joan Reeves – Heat Lightning
17. Danielle Jamie – Tan Lines and Salty Kisses
18. Terri Marie - Someone Exactly Like You
19. Lorhainne Eckhart – His Promise
20. Brandy L Rivers - Summer Rhythm
21. Nicole Blanchard - Anchor

Preorder Book at: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Kobo


***


May 24 - 27, 2015

***



Summer Fire Banner



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Thursday, May 28, 2015

New Release: At The Spy's Pleasure (In The Crown's Secret Service #2) by Tina Gabrielle

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At the Spy’s Pleasure
In the Crown’s Secret Service #2
By: Tina Gabrielle
Releasing May 26th, 2015
Entangled: Scandalous

Buy Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Entangled 


Synopsis


Every gentleman has his secrets…

London 1821

After years of marriage to a selfish man who preferred gambling to his young bride, Jane, the widowed countess of Stanwell, now seeks what she was long denied-a satisfying lover. Naturally, a lady needs a list of eligible candidates, which doesn’t include the dangerously handsome (if far too arrogant) Gareth Ramsey…until he steals a sinful kiss from Jane’s all-too-willing lips.

Reputed as an arrogant barrister, Gareth’s real occupation is as a spy in the service of His Majesty, and his suspect is on Jane’s list of possible lovers. With her life in danger, there’s no safer place for Jane than with him-and in his bed. But Jane is as distracting as she is infuriating, and keeping her by his side while he pursues his mission might just endanger them both…



Excerpt

    To Jane’s horror, Gareth Ramsey unfolded the paper and read aloud. “Possible Candidates as Lovers.” For a brief instant his face hardened, then the cool, confident mask descended once again.
    “Are you serious?” Gareth asked, mockingly.
    Never had she been so embarrassed in her life. Not even when she’d tripped after being announced at Lady Tavistock’s ball as a first year debutante.
    But then her humiliation veered into anger. How dare he rip a private document from her hand and then mock her?
    She placed her hands on her hips and lifted her chin. “I am quite serious. I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf.”
    He cocked an eyebrow. “Turn over a new leaf?”
    “Yes.”
    Ignoring her dismay, he glanced at the list. “Simon Marbury is on your list.”
    Jane met his stare. “You cannot possibly criticize the man.”
    Something flickered in his eyes, something dark and unpleasant. “Stay away from him.”
    “You cannot tell me what to do.”
    “The man is a dissolute pleasure seeker.”
    “Half of the gentlemen of my acquaintance match that description.”
    “Your behavior is reckless.”
    Her anger rose a notch. “There’s nothing reckless about my list. To the contrary, it’s very well planned.”
    He looked back at the paper and smiled arrogantly. “If you refuse to come to your senses, then I have just one question for you.”
    “What?”
    “Why am I last on your list?”
    She wanted to laugh. He would have been first, had she dared. “It’s not you,” she lied. Thank heavens she hadn’t written out his full name.
    “I don’t believe you,” he said. “It clearly has my initials.”
    She placed her hands on her hips. “That could stand for anyone.”
    “I’m well versed at reading people. You’re a bad liar.”
    “You’re a conceited fool.”
    His eyes narrowed and for a heartbeat she thought she had gone too far, but then he threw back his head and laughed.
    “You are a handful, Jane. You need a man to keep you in line. A man that can teach you passion, not these fools.” With deliberate movements, he folded the list and slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket. “I do believe I’ll keep this.”
    Reason fled. She threw herself at him, fully intending to strike him and take the list back with physical force.     But as she lunged forward, her heel snagged in the thick carpet. She stumbled, lost her balance, and fell headlong into his solid chest.
    He grunted as she took him by surprise. Strong arms grasped around her waist as they tumbled onto the settee,     Jane sprawled on top of him.
    “Oh!”
    She was aware of every hard inch of him. He was completely unlike any of the popinjays she had put on her list.     He was all male—big, hard, and dangerous. His mouth was mere inches from hers.
    “You needn’t have worked yourself up into such a fury although I must admit I don’t mind. I intended to give the list back to you. I was jesting,” he said.
    His eyes weren’t black, but deep coffee-brown. His lips full and sensual.
    “Oh. I see.” She made no attempt to rise, and he made no effort to assist her to her feet.
    “But I am serious about the character of the men on your list. None of them are appropriate for the position, especially Marbury.”
    “And you know others who are?”
    “Other. And yes.” His eyes raked her face with a sensuality that was unmistakable. She started to rise, but his arms tightened about her, forcing her to remain pressed against him.
    “Then you truly are a fool, Mr. Ramsey. You are the last person I’d want as a lov—”
    He captured her lips in a searing kiss. Drawing her tightly to him, her breasts were crushed against his solid chest. The heat emanated from his body and seeped into hers, flooding her limbs with languid passion. His lips, which had appeared carved of marble, were not cold, hard, or demanding as she had initially thought, but sinfully seductive. He explored her mouth with tantalizing persuasiveness, and coaxed her response like one would stoke a slow burning fire.
    Her eyelids fluttered closed. She grasped his forearms to steady herself, then slid her hands up his arms. His biceps were enormous, rock hard and pulsing with heat. Simon Marbury appeared well built, but she’d suspected his tailor had added padding to his coat to increase the breadth of his shoulders.
    Nothing about Gareth Ramsey was padded or soft. The shock of his muscular frame ran through her body. But instead of fear, his strength and power thrilled her and she wanted to be ravaged by him—to know what it felt like to be fiercely desired by a man.
    She stopped herself just in time. This wasn’t a man she could control. The passion that inched through her veins was as dangerous as it was thrilling, and without a doubt she knew that she wouldn’t be able to have a casual affair with Gareth.
    No. She wanted a lover without complications. A man who would not hurt her.
    With Gareth Ramsey she would get scorched.




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Author Info


auTina Gabrielle, an award-winning author, is an attorney and former mechanical engineer whose love of reading for pleasure helped her get through years of academia. She's the author of adventurous Regency romances In The Barrister's Bed, In The Barrister's Chambers, Lady Of Scandal, and A Perfect Scandal from Kensington Books. "A Spy Unmasked" is the first book in her new Regency romance series, "In The Crown's Secret Service," and will be released from Entangled Publishing on November 10, 2014. "At The Spy's Pleasure" will be available in April 2015. Tina's books have been Barnes & Noble top picks, and her first book, Lady Of Scandal, was nominated as best first historical by Romantic Times Book Reviews.

Author Links:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads




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Buying paper books ... where do you get them?

Recently, I attended a book signing event as did my good friend, Bambi. We both bought books to be signed and this is what I want to talk about ... buying books, hard copy books to be specific.

For the last 15 years, I have been reading eBooks. I started off my eBook reading experience in the year 2000, using a Palm Pilot and buying books from what was then called Peanut Press. They had an eBook format called Palm Media. Peanut Press later became Fictionwise and then were purchased by Barnes & Noble, and then it all went downhill and they eventually shut. Fortunately for me, by then, Amazon and the Amazon Kindle was around and I switched. I haven't looked back since, except when it came to being able to convert my 500+ PDB eBook library to a readable format.

At about the same time, I realised that I had run out of room when it came to hard copy books and I needed to declutter. It was difficult getting rid of all my paper books and I ended up buying eBook versions of all the books I gave away or sold to a used bookstore. I only kept my favorites, collector's editions and signed copies. Today, almost my entire library is made up of just those books - favorites, collector's editions and predominantly signed copies.

But back to the book signing and buying books.

I don't buy many paper books now, but I will buy some if I am attending a book signing and I want to get particular books by a favorite author signed. For the book signing I attended recently, I had a few choices of where I can get my books. From a local bookstore, Amazon, Book Depository or at the book signing where the books were going to be sold by a major local bookseller chain, Dymocks.

After considering all my options, I eventually decided to buy my books from the Book Depository for two reasons, economics and book editions.

Living in Australia, postage is expensive. I could get the books I wanted from Amazon, but the price of shipping would be high.

I could get the book from a local bookseller but the price of the book would be high, not to mention, I might need to go to several bookstores before finding the book or having to ask that they order it in.

I knew the books at the book signing may not be the editions I wanted and they would be expensive, so I skipped that option too, which left me with the Book Depository where the books are reasonably priced and they offer free shipping worldwide. The free shipping worldwide is a huge incentive to buy from them, even if on a per book basis, their books are a little more expensive than Amazon.

Then there is the edition of the books I wanted. There was a particular edition of the book I wanted, a book cover by an arist I liked to match my existing collection, so I wanted to make sure that I got the right edition of the books.

Let me give you a more concrete example. Let's take one of the books I bought: Shield of Winter (Psy/Changeling Series Book 13) by Nalini Singh. I've only included a few of the versions available just to give you an idea of the price and edition variability.

spy1
Paperback
AUD $19.99 (Australian Edition)
USD $7.89 (Amazon)
spy2
Hard Cover
AUD $41.99 (Australian Edition)
USD $16.77 (Amazon)
spy3
Mass Market Paperback
USD $8.08 (Book Depository)
USD $7.99 (Amazon)

The version I wanted was the Mass Market Paperback version as it is the one that I've got in all the other previous books in terms of size and style of book cover design. The local bookstores didn't have the Mass Market Paperback version I wanted, instead they carried either the Paperback or the Hard Cover version.

Then it came down to economics and it was between Amazon and the Book Depository for the version I wanted. The Book Depository was a straight $8.08 for the book including shipping. With Amazon, the book would have come up to about $13 with shipping. Since I was going to be buying another 8 or 9 other books, I wanted the best price I could get for the books. I knew the bookseller at the book signing would not have the version I wanted. As it turned out, the bookseller (1) was not carrying the book I wanted and (2) other books in the same series were selling for about $22 per book.

I know Amazon cops a lot of flack for killing the local bookseller whether they be small (a local mom and pop bookstore) or large (like Barnes & Noble) but for me it's all about the economics and availability of what I want. I wanted a particular version of a book and I wanted it at the best price possible. In this example, it was the Book Depository at $8.08 per book.

Fortunately for me, the book signing allowed me to bring my own books. My friend Bambi was not so fortunate.

Bambi recently attended a book signing for one of her favorite authors. She has a collector's edition of the entire series of books, however, the book signing event would not allow people to bring their own books. You had to buy the books at the event if you want to get the books signed. Talk about a captive audience.

The bookseller at the event was Barnes & Noble. For the book that she was getting signed, they were selling the book for $35. That was their Recommended Retail Price and there was no discounting. You either paid that price or you didn't get a signed book.

I've looked up the book on Amazon and Book Depository and here are the prices that they had listed.

 Amazon
 $25.00
 Book Depository
 $33.31
 Barnes & Noble at the event *
 $35.00
* I tried to look for the book on the B&N website but could not find it listed

They probably have their own reasoning for charging such a high price for the book but I can't think what it would be. It could have been a local franchise of Barnes & Noble or it could be the main Barnes & Noble, I do not know, but as a result of the prices, Bambi spent a lot of money for books she already had because she was not allowed to bring books to the signing.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not against Barnes & Noble as a bookstore and I think that there is a place for a brick and mortar store for many reasons and for many people but for me, I'm voting with my wallet and I'm going where I can find the best deal. My resources are limited and I don't mind that I have to wait up to 10 days or more for the book because I'm not buying the book to read right away. If I want instant gratification with a particular books I'm wanting to read, I hit the Kindle store. There are not 3.38 Million books available for me to one-click and those books are cheaper than the paper versions.

When I told Steve about the $35 per book sales at the book signing event that Bambi attended, he was quite cross. He thought there was no reason for the bookseller to charge so much for the book and that they were taking advantage of their captive audience. Then he went into a rant about why large brick and mortar stores were closing and why Amazon continues to thrive.

I hope I've been able to provide a more rational reason to why I buy from places like Amazon and Book Depository rather than get ranty. For the curious, I buy about 98% of all my eBooks from the Amazon Kindle Store and 98% of all my paper books from the Book Depository.

Where do you buy the books? Are you driven by instant gratification or by economics, or are you willing to pay a premium for your books to continue to support your local mom and pop or Barnes & Noble store?


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