Enlightened by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

I lost my beautiful Mama to ALS just 10 months ago, and the current onslaught of Ice Bucket videos has been a roller coaster of emotions!

My first reaction was sadness, and the urge to resist everything that brought the dreadful ALS to the front of my mind.  My next emotion was skepticism, as I saw no correlation between wet squealing people and a cure for ALS.

But as the viral reaction became impossible to avoid, I suddenly had an epiphany….a lightbulb moment, if you will!  Or, perhaps an "ice bucket" moment to be accurate.  Let me explain….

Mom was a beautiful lady.  She handled the news with grace and dignity, and a strong, faithful inner peace.  But as the days wore on, she also became sad and withdrawn, almost exhibiting a kind of shame over her fate.   She shied away from outings as the awkward stares, the confusion when she spoke, the lack of understanding of ALS - all these things left her feeling uncomfortable and alone.  Speaking, eating, breathing…normal acts that now made her embarrassed and afraid.  She made me promise to keep both friends and relatives away as the disfiguring disease consumed her body.  Her pride was gone and her spirit was broken.  I tried my best to keep that promise.  Turning folks away was hard, but I had agreed, after she promised to attend one last family birthday party and say goodbye in her own way.  It was one of the hardest events I've ever attended, but in the end, it was a huge success.  Here is my wonderful family, celebrating the birth and life of my Mom.

Just 3 months after this outing, Mom left this earth.  Her disfigured face returned to it's beauty as we watched the peace return to her soul.  She left as gently as she had lived.  For that we are forever grateful!  We had great support from the ALS Foundation and Heartsway Hospice, as well as our multitude of friends and family.  Sadly, ALS changed my whole family forever and nothing will ever be the same…..

But back to my enlightenment.  It suddenly dawned on me that the major accomplishment of this crazy Ice Bucket Challenge is awareness.  People are learning about ALS!  They get it!  The donations are fantastic and bring lots of hope, but from my perspective, awareness is the greatest gift that can be given!  May no other victim ever suffer the shame and isolation my Mom endured.  May no other family struggle to explain the devastation ALS can bring.  We all know the words cancer, stroke, diabetes, heart disease.  Thank You ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE for teaching the world about ALS
too!

If you'd like to donate to help ALS families cope with this challenging disease, click here.

Handmade Soap Challenge

Who knew that I'd fall head over heels in love with SOAP?  It was "Love at First Try" when I received a sample of Fresh Snow from RWest Designs.   I couldn't believe the difference I felt over commercial bars and body washes!  They either left me feeling oily or dry, with no in between that just felt Clean.  I knew I'd never go back, so I started a quest to try as many handmade soaps as possible.  I promised a review of my favorites in October, so here we go:

My mission was to fully explore each bar, not just do a quick hand wash test.  I quickly discovered that these long lasting soap bars would take me months to enjoy, so family members from ages 2 to 80 were engaged in my challenge.  My Dad enjoyed washing his hair with one; my little granddaughter needed some skin soothing softness.  I adored the long soaks in the tub with soothing lather and scents.

Bars were sliced into pieces so a full range of opinions could be gathered.  That said, there were NO losers.  Every single bar of soap was a delight to use.  Soap qualities were graded on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest standard.  So here we are to share all our winners with you.  We hope you will try some of these amazing products and find your own favorites.  (Please visit these fine shops by clicking the embedded links)

As you can see, the highest rated soap of all was the aptly named "True Love" by Uber Dreamer Concepts.  The lather is luxurious and leaves the most amazing silky smoothness to your skin.  The scent is simple and clean.  Check out Uber Dreamer, as the research and insight into each product's ingredients is obviously well done.  Additionally, all Uber Dreamer soaps scored highest among Men, so there's a fine gift idea for the Males on your list!

On the subject of gift giving, it's a great idea to keep some extra bars around for last minute gifts.  Who wouldn't love these sweet handmade treasures?  My favorite packaging reflects the simple goodness of all things Handmade.  Tierra Verde won the highest marks for packaging, and her soaps are lovely and diverse.

Our other recommended shops are Soaps that make Scents and Tenth Avenue Soapworks.  I hope you'll check out all of these fine handmade soap shops.  Every single bar was a delight to use and far superior in every way to commercial products.  There are still dozens of soaps in the cabinet to discover, so join us for another edition of our Soap Challenge soon!

Just one more thing...check out that fantastic washcloth in the photos...you can find them at The Needle House!  They are super!