Substance of Living

Source You may not have heard of this fairly new type of therapy in the United States by it's scientific name, Ichthyotherapy, but you may have heard of fish pedicures .  That's right!  You actually immerse your feet, hands, or other parts of your body and allow live fish to eat away the dead skin, fungi, and bacteria. The fish used are called Garra rufa, "doctor fish", "nibble fish", or Kangal fish.  The first benefits were observed in Kangal, Turkey. As with everything, there is a positive and negative side. The positive side is that the fish probably do help with some skin conditions.  The nibbling at the skin most likely energizes blood flow to the surface similar to vigorously rubbing the skin.  Pretty cool life experience that can be checked off the bucket list. The negative side poses a couple questions.  How clean is the water - I mean, where do the fish go potty?  If the fish are eating dead cells from one person, can those sa...

Last night, DH and I were talking about cruises, retreats, bed & breakfasts, presidential suites, and how we can take those wonderful places and make them a part of our new home.  It's not like we have a staff of employees or a personal chef to provide us with turn-down sheets and specially made meals or to pack a picnic basket but we should be able to make the ordinary extraordinary. We started bouncing around words and ideas that conjure up feelings of contentment: Aromatherapy, plush bedding, chocolates, fancy soap, luxurious towels, colors on the walls, bird feeders, sounds of the ocean.  Hey!  These are all things we can have at home - and at reasonable prices. A retreat is a place where we go to be pampered, relax and to forget life's stresses.  Why not make our home our retreat?  We can start small by incorporating a few things at a time.  We will find ways around obstacles such as wanting a fireplace when we don't have one or have the space...