A home blessing...a few wee violets...and a lovely bit of sunshine

Now that the virus that Nathan had seems to have left the house (fingers crossed the rest of us have avoided it), it felt right to give our home a bit of a clean and charge it up with a bit of healing energy.

The house has been feeling grimey, furry, cobwebby and generally dirty. I think the murky weird weather has contributed (it has been quite mild and warmish, but just so damp feeling), as well as our woodburner being in use most days. So I decided to get back into a bit of a modified Flylady routine (just the zones, I don't do the daily things she suggests). I have done her programme off and on over the last 7yrs and found it really good when I've been in the groove of it, but easily fall off the wagon.

At the first sign of sunshine (although very windy and pretty cold), I opened the door to air out any lingering dampness  (the windows have started to get condensation in the mornings). The washing was hung out and the dishes all done (still dishwasherless...still zen about it...). While out hanging up the washing, which is positioned in my herb/cottage garden, I gathered up a lovely little handful of sweet violet flowers that I noticed have just started to peek through to join the heartsease violets.

(A few days back I really got a headstart on the deep cleaning - I was doing a bit of phone catch up with my mum and a friend and spent over the 3hrs (!) on the phone, but managed to simultaneously wash the windows, tidy up the bedrooms and living areas, dusted, did the dishes, hung out washing (then got it in again as it started to rain), swept away cobwebs, and scrubbed the kitchen floor around the skirting!)

I then got down to mopping the floors since they were freshly vacuumed. I don't think I have ever bought floor disinfectant and usually just use hot water with a big splash of white vinegar in it (and to be honest, I'm a really hopeless floor mopper and it gets done *really* infrequently). But, it felt like as good a time as any, so I put a splash of Thieves Oil (and a little milk to emulsify the oil so it dispersed into the water rather than settling on top as a glob of oil) into my hot water. I discovered Thieves Oil a few years ago. No idea if it works, but it seems a nice little thing to do.

The story (one version of many) goes that back during one of the plagues throughout history, and there were dying and dead people lying in the streets or in their homes, that a group of thieves would go around and rob the bodies of their possessions. There was wonder how these thieves didn't also die from the disease. The story goes that they rubbed a certain group of herbs over their bodies to ward off illness. The blend used, which contain anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, are Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, Clove, and Cinnamon.

So anyway, it is a lovely aromatic blend. I sometimes use it when I clean the bathroom (I add it to my baking soda bottle), or add a few drops to floor mopping water, and I even like to set a dish of water on my woodburner at night time and drop a few drops into the water to gently infuse the room with its fragrance  (and reputedly sanitise the air).

The recipe I use (and only make up a small amount at a time, so use a 1/2 tsp for my part measure):

3 parts clove oil

3 parts lemon oil

3 parts cinnamon oil

1 part eucalyptus oil

1 part rosemary oil

So, wishing my home and inhabitants good health and good cheer, I was done!