Stye love you, little Quasimodo

My poor, adorable, puffy-eyed baby is breaking my heart. Just look at that mug. Harper woke up yesterday morning with the grandpappy of styes. She gets styes easily and often and spreads them from eye to eye, lid to lid, etc. 

Before you judge, I swear I wash her hands. A lot. It doesn't matter though because at two her hands are clean one minute and sticky the next.

In my quest to assuage the mommy-guilt that sweeps through me every time I look at my daughter -- and to ease her discomfort (that cannot feel good), I read that applying a warm compress for 10-15 minutes, 3-4 times per day can help. Hmmm. I can't speak for anyone else, but unless I hog tie my daughter this will never happen. Ever. 

But, I gave it a go anyway.

The screaming started before the washcloth touched her face. She lets me wipe her eye while I am cleaning her face but that's it. I am on the lookout for something natural that will help but haven't found anything practical. 

I suppose I need to follow the advice I always give Harper and use my patience. I know it will clear up in a few days. Until then, my heart will break a little every time I look at her. And, thanks to a heavy dose of insecurity partnered with good-old-fashioned mommy-guilt, I'll abuse myself with the things I imagine people must think about me as a parent. 

Please leave a comment if you have any experience with this that might help. 

Grandma's Pickles

As a stay-at-home mommy, my primary goal is improving my family's well being -- body, mind and spirit. For me, a big part of that means getting back to basics. I use natural remedies when possible, try to steer clear of harmful chemicals and focus on wholesome foods. 

As part of this journey, I started canning. It's hard work but I enjoy it. However, I seem to have a wide learning curve when it comes to preserving foods. Maybe it has something to do with the 2-year-old hanging on my leg? 

Cucumbers are taking over my garden right now so I grabbed a dozen or so and decided to make some sweet refrigerator pickles. I have never made sweet pickles before, so I combed though my grandma's recipe box and found something called Dot's Refrigerator Pickles. The recipe was a list of ingredients with no actual instruction other than to "layer the cukes and onions." So, in my true freeballin' style, I decide to just mix everything up and see what happens. 

When I mixed up the brine, there was only enough for about 1 quart. So, I turned where I always turn in times of need -- Google. I searched sweet refrigerator pickles, clicked on the first link that appealed to me and found the exact. same. recipe. But thankfully with more instruction. 

It is amazing to me that my first click turned out to be my grandma's pickle recipe considering the interenet didn't exist in her lifetime. Although my grandma isn't here to answer my questions directly, I know she helped me along my canning journey from the great beyond.

And good news -- the pickles are delicious. Here is the recipe I used. Remember to increase the amounts as needed.

Do you have any canning tips to pass along? I could sure use them!