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A Response to “Dogs = Emotional Slavery”

Sunday, November 8th, 2015

Thank you for your blog on dogs.  I didn’t think anyone would have the guts to say what many of us are thinking and afraid to say because all around us are people who are so totally into their dogs it is pathetic, while the rest of the world just shakes its head in disbelief.

My pet peeve is the filth that dogs bring.  We are afraid of rats and talk about the diseases they bring.  It takes over 500 rats to make the kind of ‘shit’ that dogs make with one bowel movement and the smell is awful.  Does the real difference in the way we think about these mammals comes from the fact that we control dogs, but can’t control rats?  It is clearly not cleanliness or the spread of disease.  Dogs are, hands down, able to spread disease much faster and more lethally than can rats.

I’ve also noticed how dogs walk all over the place and when they get home they walk into the house bringing whatever is on their feet and the first thing they do is to shake themselves to get rid of all the ‘stuff’ their hair has collected during their walk.  Dogs themselves aren’t so filthy, they know what to do to keep themselves clean, it is their interaction with owners who either don’t know or don’t care about the negative reaction of their dogs with the rest of society.  What comes off when they shake is amazing.  Check it out and see if some of your diseases haven’t come from your home collecting all of this stuff.

I am so tired to taking other people’s dog shit out of my garden that I would like to outlaw dogs in my neighborhood.

What is most amazing to me is the fact that dog owners take their dogs for a ‘walk’ twice a day – at least.  Actually, they are taking their dogs to the bathroom to pee and shit in another area – at least several blocks away from their own homes and gardens because they don’t want that mess, germs, bacteria and smell close to them.

I’ve seen dog owners take their dogs to other peoples gardens and hold the dogs to pee on the flowers and recent plantings that others have paid for and are taking care of to beautify their homes and neighborhoods. Why do the dog owners do this?  So they don’t have to pick up the filthy shit.  I’ve seen people walking their dogs with bags in their hands to pick up the dog excrement.  Do they use the bags?  Many don’t.  It is mostly for show.  If the dogs have a bowel movement in your garden, the owners can walk away from it and leave it there.  The same thing with the small garden areas around trees, especially if there are plantings around the trees which cover the dogs shit so it isn’t found until they have moved away from what they have turned from a lovely garden into a dog toilet which does not flush.

It is time for this to stop.

I love dogs – but the dog owners are making life impossible.  I read your blog when I had just come in from picking up dog shit off my lawn.

How do we get this to stop?  It is time to stop romanticizing dogs and look at the reality of their lives amongst us.  Particularly,  their owners need to be trained and to understand this is not playtime or snuggle time, but reality time.  The reality here is its not the dogs who are the problem, but their owners.

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

Thanks for the Sandra Bland blog

Monday, July 27th, 2015

It is amazing how little there is about Sandra Bland in the major media outlets.  What is there that I have heard talks about her committing suicide and whatever else negative could be found.

I am sending this list, which I got from the FMF (Feminist Movement Foundation) newsletter.  I think Sandra Bland needs to be put into context.  She is not alone there are others.  That gives a very different picture.

“Less than 24 hours after Bland’s death, 18-year old Kindra Chapman was found dead in a Homewood City, Alabama jail cell one hour after being arrested for allegedly stealing a cell phone. Chapman’s death, also called a suicide by authorities, has spurred the hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody. Two months ago, activists gathered in California to demand justice for Tanisha Anderson, Rekia Boyd, Miriam Carey, Michelle Cusseux, Shelly Frey, Kayla Moore, and Alberta Spruill, all Black women killed at the hands of police violence. Just weeks after this protest, 15-year-old Dajerria Becton was violently attacked by a police officer in McKinney, Texas at a neighborhood pool party.”

Now what do you think of this Sandra Bland incident.  Can you really go back to business as usual with all of this going on?

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Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle CommunityB can contribute to the Bettina Network blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

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Trump, Thurmond, Duke

Saturday, July 11th, 2015

Thank you for the blog on Donald Trump.  I am amazed at how edited the press reporting is on this man and his political machinations.

Too many people are calling this a “Republican” phenomenon.  I want to remind them that Strom Thurmond, in whose shoes Trump is walking politically and otherwise, was a Democrat – remember the famous Dixiecrates?    They found a weak spot in the Republican Party and have been trying to take it over every since only this time with a new name.  Don’t they remind you of the Tea Party? When groups disguise themselves, good investigative reporting would put the story out for all of us to read – an accurate version.

Trump’s politics are the politics of the old South which demanded the raising of the confederate flag and kept it flying for some 50 years under a false guise.  It is also the politics of the early rise of Hitler.  Too stringent for you?  Check out your history and see the parallels.

His is the politics of race and it is becoming race that even Thurmond and Duke didn’t promote.  His racism is taking an issue with emotional appeal and laced with much bigotry and is using that to promote himself.  He may have lost some 500 million, but what is that to a billionaire who is probably going to turn this campaign into lots of money down the road for himself that will make the $500 million look like peanuts.

Hope you title this – Race Politics revisited by Donald Trump.

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The Black Race*

Friday, June 19th, 2015

WOW! Powerful! Thank you! I wanted to respond, but being white, I thought I should keep my mouth shut. Your blog has changed that. I am going to say what I think, wherever I am and let the chips fall where they may. I have been afraid of being called a racist most of my life. Today it really doesn’t matter. I need to be heard.

From your blog – lets start a new race! The Black Race. Since it was your blog I should let you be the charter and first member, however, in my new space I am going to be the charter and first member.

The Black Race is —

A ‘race’ you can’t be born into – you have to elect to join.

Your skin color does not matter nor does your sex.

The major criteria for joining is your need to be with people who understand equality and are equal to you and you and you to them.

A race concerned about this planet and how we take care of it.

A race of people concerned about the food we eat and what is being done to it.

A race of people into which you can put your most cherished foods, holidays, symbols, sayings which were a part of your former ‘race’ and which you want to remember and hang on to – and where others will also celebrate ‘your’ things as their own.

A race of people whose members reach out to one another to mutually be there for those of us having a difficult time getting through this life.

A race of people whose members do not tolerate homelessness.

You may maintain ‘membership’ in the Black Race and any other race you choose at the same time. (added 6/20/2015)

The Black Race has members spread around the globe and are citizens of many countries.  It is not limited to one country.  (added 6/20/2015)

Your name needs to be inscribed in the membership book of The Black Race.  Currently, you can do that by sending an email to bettinanetwork@comcast.net until a separate site is established for The Black Race and then new members would send their names to that new address. (added 6/21/2015)

Only those who sign up to be members of The Black Race are accepted.  No one is automatically a member of the Black Race. (added 6/21/2015)

We need a creed and a membership card. Each person who joins The Black Race should have their own card made up with additional cards to give to their friends, relatives and colleagues.  All are welcome to join the Black Race – and to tell the media and others that you are Black.  Maybe we should have little dinner parties to announce to our friends that we are now Black.

I will start the Black Race Creed:

I, (your name), am a member of the Black Race. If you do harm to one of us you do harm to all of us.

As a member of the Black Race I give up whatever White Privilege I have been given. (added 6/21/2015)

If there is anything you want to add to this definition of the Black Race, please feel free to do so.  If there is anything you want to add to the “Black Race Creed”, please feel free to do that also.

If you want to be public about your membership in the Black Race, send a blog to Bettina’s with your name and reasons for joining.  Come out of the closet all of you Black people.

Does someone want to contribute bumper stickers which read “I am a member of the Black Race” ?

*Ed Note:  Currently, there is no such thing as a Black Race, so this conversation about whether or not Rachel Dolezal is Black or not is a ridiculous conversation.  African Americans also don’t constitute a race of people.  So this initiative to start such a race has a clear field.

And oh, by the way, we have had a couple telephone calls asking us to find out where Rachel Dolezal has her hair done.  Anyone know the answer to that?

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

I Tried Your Liquid Vitamin C….

Friday, August 9th, 2013

It was terrific.  I started using it when I heard about it at a Bettina home.  Liquid C is a little difficult to find, but I discovered it in a Vitamin Shop.  It comes in a bottle – like a milk bottle – and the bottle is covered with an orange plastic wrap.  That was great for me because it says you have to keep the liquid C in a dark place.  I keep mine in the refrigerator and the orange wrap keeps out the light.

I started by pouring a little into a saucer and after a few days I added a Vitamin E capsule to the liquid C.  The combination has been fantastic.  I was beginning to look my age and now I look as young as my daughter – and that is no exaggeration.

I only used the liquid C on my face because that is the only part of me I take care of – you will not bump into me in a gym nor will you find me exercising at home nor walking.  My neighbor, however, goes the entire route.  She watches what she eats, exercises, does all the good things.  She didn’t know about your blog so I introduced her to the blog and to what I learned at a Bettina Home about Liquid C.  My host talked about giving herself an all-over massage with the liquid C – well that is what my neighbor has been doing and she says her energy level is not to be believed.  Her tendency to catch every cold within a mile of her house has also stopped.  She hasn’t had a cold since she started this regimen.

I wanted her to write about her experience herself, but that won’t happen so I will try.  She gives herself an all-over massage with the vitamin C when she gets up in the mornings.  Only recently has she started mixing the C with clipping a capsule of Vitamin E and mixing it with her vitamin C.

She then puts her cotton pajamas back on and goes back to bed – with the C and E all over her body.  I hope she sleeps alone because that could be a small mess.

When she is ready to get up for the day, she rinses herself off in the shower, dresses and is on her way.  No lotion, no make-up, nothing added after the shower.

I wondered about that because I spend lots of money on lotions, but not for my face – I am committed to the Vitamin C with the Vitamin E capsule in the mix.

She looked fine when she started this, but now – after some weeks of this, she looks fantastic.  It is almost enough to make me try the same thing, but my energy level is not up to the daily task and I am not nearly as disciplined as she is – but then I don’t look as put together as she does every single day.

I look forward to your blogs on what you are discovering in the health and beauty section.  I think I have tried everything, but the liquid C was the most outstanding and gave me unbelievable results – so I had to write and tell you about my experience.

Ed. Note:  Thank you for the note.  You might also want to read or re-read the blog on “My Feet and Liquid C” dated Sept. 28, 2011

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

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A Guest Responds – Popcorn and Mosquitos

Sunday, July 28th, 2013

Thank you for the recipe for an exceptional snack.  I tried it and it was sensational.

I had to make two tries before I got it right. The main problem was keeping the popcorn crisp while adding the simple syrup and the chocolate.  I messed up the first try and had soggy popcorn.  The second try it was perfect.  I let the syrup cool a bit before pouring it over the popcorn.  Hot simple syrup right off the stove is guaranteed to give you a mess.  The same thing with the chocolate.  I added heavy cream to the chocolate chips while melting them, stirred the pot until it was all blended and when cooled a bit, added it on top of the simple syrup and the popcorn.  I think the experience of doing this is actually what made it work the second time.  I was too anxious with my first try and thought I knew it all the first time I made this snack.  The blog read like it would be a snap.  Once you figured out how to keep the popcorn crisp through the entire process and into the eating of this snack, it was a snap.  But until then it was a worry.

When I melted the chocolate chips and poured them over the popcorn, it was a bit stiffer then when I added heavy cream to the chocolate while it was melting.  The chocolate, with heavy cream added did not harden on top of the popcorn, which added to the texture and taste of this fantastic snack.  I suspect whichever way you use the chocolate it will be a matter of personal taste.

The snack lasted about two minutes and I made lots for just three people.

My second comment is about mosquitos.  I’ve read lots this season about what to do to fend off mosquito attacks – from staying inside when its dawn and dusk to all kind of remedies.

One I got from a stay in a Bettina home, which I haven’t found on your blog, worked.  It has been tremendous for me and my children.  Vitamin B1.  We take one Vitamin B1 capsule before going out – about 15 minutes to 1/2 hour before going outside and whether its high sun or dawn or dusk we have had no mosquito bites.  According to the breakfast where I picked up this tip, your skin would smell like mosquito repellant even though the only thing you did was to take this one Vitamin B1 tablet.  Sure enough, my skin smells like mosquito repellant.  When I get that odor I know I am good to go outside for several hours.

Hope this helps someone!

Ed. Note:  The blog recipe the guest is referring to is:  An Incredible Snack – Bettina Style, published May 28, 2013 and can be found categorized in Bettina’s Blog under Bettina’s Cookbook

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

More Comments on Marathon Bombing

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

“Thanks for this blog.  And thanks to the reader who responded.  I am sick and tired of the media.  There is nothing on television except the bomber story all day everyday and that has been the way of the media since this happened.

It isn’t as if they have something to say – they basically show they are like sheep – they repeat the same thing all the time on every channel – they have engaged outrageously in reporting rumor.  They are reporting on things which are ridiculous and the most aggrecious is the way they are trying this case in the press without any regard to anybody’s rights.  Are we following them into this ugly new world where no one thinks – no one reads – everyone simply repeats what they hear on the tellie?”

Do we need to send our press people through remedial school to learn about reporting, etc.? Things come to mind like – rush to judgment; laziness; even possibly ignorance; inability to understand the profession they have chosen; no standards.  The shallowness of our media is on display more so than is the Boston Marathon Bombing incident.  This happens everytime anything happens which lets them showboat and in a second there they are.  Or is this how the media management and ownership cuts cost?  They can put their anchors and supporting reporters in front of the camera for days and not pay for programming for days.  This is also attempted mind control and if there is a trial about all of this they have created a foul jury pool.

Ed Note:  This is one of many responses we received along the same lines.  We took out one and put it on the blog as representative of what many said over breakfast or wrote to us.

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

A Reader Comments on Marathon Blog

Sunday, April 21st, 2013

“Thank you so much for the blog on the Boston Marathon.  A lot of us have the same sentiments, but in light of this incredible and overwhelming  public sentiment and outpouring we just didn’t have the guts to come out and talk about our concerns.

 

It is clear to me that one major affect all of this will have will be directly on the gun control issue.  The law enforcements response and the way it was handled has totally buried gun control for at least a decade – Newtown, CT not withstanding.  It has swamped the sentiment that came up during all of the carnage that happened in Connecticut and other places.

That was my first concern and thought.  It is incredible that so few people realize that all of the theatre they were seeing would directly impact gun control.

Keep talking – we are listening!

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

 

 

 

To Sara – Vinegar Pumps

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013

Hi Sara,

Thank you for your telephone call.  It has taken a while for us to research your question, but your question opened other doors and presented information to us we weren’t looking for – so thank you and we enjoyed the research and hope this helps.

You wanted to know about finding “pumps” for your Organic Apple Cider Vinegar bottle as talked about in our blog on “More on Apple Cider Vinegar” published Monday, July 23rd, 2012.

It said “I put the second bottle in the bathroom after I found a pump which fit the top and which made my Apple Cider Vinegar bottle ‘pumpable’ for cosmetic purposes.”

We went back to the person who wrote the blog and found the following:

Such pumps are common.  We found them all over the place.  The person who wrote the blog used to buy lotion which came with a pump.  Since she saves everything she had a supply of the pumps which had been in her lotion bottles which she cleaned, stored and saved.  She told us how excited she was to find a use for the pumps she thought might languish on the shelf for years.  (A true hoarder in the making).  You might look around to see if you have such bottles to use their pumps when they are empty.

Lacking that we went looking other places:

Frontier Co-op has pumps in their catalog – try www.frontiercoop.com

Home Depot has pumps which can be used for all kinds of bottles.

The vinegar we use – Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar with mother, quart size – is 2 centimeters around the top and most pumps will fit  for whichever size vinegar you buy.  We buy the quart size, which is the 2 centimeters (We called Bragg’s to make sure of the size of the mouth of the bottle).

Sometimes you can find a pump which fits the top of the bottle, but which you need to cut because it is too long to fit.  We would suggest you cut the bottom stem on the diagonal.

We also found pumps in CVS, Walgreens and more.  All of them were really inexpensive.

Hope all of the above helps.  If we come across a very elegant pump we will let you know!

In our quest for your pumps we came up with some interesting information.

We found one person, who bought her pumps from Frontier Co-op, who puts a quart-size bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar in her bathroom with a pump, but she also uses a pump on the olive oil mixture we suggested in another blog.  She pumps it out onto her rag to clean her floors.  In addition, she uses the same mixture as a lotion and since she doesn’t get what is in the bottle contaminated because of the pump, she uses the same mixture after her bath and to clean her wood floors.

That sounded a bit much for us, but we pass it along if you want to try this.

The Olive Oil mixture for cleaning floors is – one quart bottle Olive Oil (or whichever size you want to buy); add the juice from one or two organic lemons, depending upon the size of the bottle of Olive Oil; and to this add several drops of essential oil of whatever you like best.  We recommended organic essential oil of lavender because in a house that is a really soothing smell to come home to – you can almost become addicted to the smell.

If you want to also use that recipe for your body lotion, you might want to change the oil – roses, gardenia’s, every kind of flower or mix a couple essential oils as you put in a few drops of each into the bottle.

You can also use this on your hair for a little oil treatment or a bit on your hands after you wash your hair.  However, we prefer sticking to coconut oil for the hair because that seems to help control the curl.  If you have straight hair you might want to change that to the olive oil because it gives some curl – some people would say frizz.

Enjoy!

Call again if you can’t find the pumps.

All of us at Bettina’s

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A Poem from A Bettina Guest

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

“I have really enjoyed, learned from and look forward to reading Bettina Network’s Blog.  My contribution to the blog – as a member of the Bettina Network Community (that’s a great idea and I love it – am I going to get a membership card?) – is the following poem.  I keep it all over my house – on the refrigerator, in the bedroom, in my pocketbook, because I need this kind of reminder and inspiration a lot.  I do often take my environment with all of its goodies for granted.  Hope it helps someone else.”

                     A Thanksgiving Prayer – by Samuel F. Pugh

 Oh, God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry
 When I have work, help me to remember the jobless.
 When I have a warm home, help me to remember the homeless.
 When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer.
 And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency and bestir my compassion.
 Make me concerned enough to help, by word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted.

I found this in a pamphlet put out by the Salesian Missions in New Rochelle, New York

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Walnut Oil on Furniture?

Sunday, December 16th, 2012

copyright 2012 Bettina Network, inc.

From a guest and blog reader:

Thanks for your blog on using Walnut Oil on wood furniture.  I tried it and it works phenomenally!  I used the Olive Oil and Walnut Oil – half and half.  A friend of mine used Walnut Oil straight from the Spectrum bottle.  She loves her way, I love mine.

She uses hers on her wood chopping block and wood bowls she uses for mixing salads.  The Walnut oil dries hard – but you have to let it sit a couple days – and it lasts awhile.  She used to use Mineral Oil and I gave her a hard time about that because Mineral Oil is a petroleum derivative (ed note: from Wikipedia “mineral oil is a liquid by-product of the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline and other petroleum-based products from crude oil.”)and I don’t think it should come in contact with food.  Although with all the medicines made from petroleum derivatives and other things we use coming from distillates of petroleum we should be immune – still, I tried her straight Walnut Oil on my chopping block and it was great.

I used the mixture of Olive and Walnut Oils on my antique wood furniture and the shine is unbelievable.  It also looks as though nothing will penetrate or cause the furniture harm.  I even used it on my grand piano.  I did take an additional step.  After I oiled the furniture – which was rubbing in a half and half mixture with a few drops of an essential oil – I let it sit for a couple  days and then rubbed it again with just Olive Oil.

I did this by accident trying to undo what I thought was a great mistake.  The furniture was very sticky and yukky after oiling it and days later it was still sticky and yukky.  I didn’t know what to do and thought I had ruined my furniture.  I went back to the Olive Oil, rubbed the furniture with Olive Oil on a soft rag and couldn’t believe the results.  The furniture is beautiful.  The shine is incredible and old looking furniture now looks soft and with a beautiful sheen.

I put essential oil in the mixture because I would like my house to have a faint smell of lemon oil and essential oil of lemon does the trick.  I might try organic rose oil next time – even though it is wickedly expensive.  The smell of roses through the house should be great.

What fun to experiment like this.  I lost interest in cleaning and caring for my house.  I have now regained that because it has become a creative endeavor and with the products you are talking about I am not worried about giving myself a serious disease from my cleaning products.  I wouldn’t even let the woman who helps me clean use products she has been using for years.  She thought I was being silly, but has since changed her mind and won’t use anything else.  I am sure the other people she works for are happy with the change.

I don’t know where you get his stuff from but wherever, keep those great tips coming.  I am guessing, from breakfast conversations.

When I stayed at XXXXXXXXXXXX in the Bettina Network we talked about recipes for making banana bread.  I expected to talk about solving the huge problems in the world.  Maybe next time.  My banana bread, however, is great!  Your guests were right about the ingredients making the difference.  I used the same ingredients that I used before that conversation, in the same amounts, but they are now organic and the best I can find and the difference is astounding.  Worth the few extra quarters.  I eat less of it because the taste satisfies and doesn’t leave me craving white sugar, lard and flour.  We didn’t solve the worlds’ problems at the breakfasts I had in the Bettina Network, but the new discoveries around banana bread is a start.  And – my now using Walnut Oil instead of XXXXXXXXXXXXX means a minute amount of petroleum is no longer being used and maybe that is also a different kind of start to solving some of the world’s problem.  Who said to the flower “bloom where you are planted.”

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A Guest Responds to Rice and Kerry

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

I read your blog on the Secretary of State fiasco and I am so glad someone has put out there what is actually happening.   I am especially distressed about what I am seeing in the media and hearing about this Susan Rice thing.  Imagine putting such a lovely young woman through such trials because they need to clear a path for a WUCM member to become Secretary of State.  It is criminal!  Almost reaches the level of Depraved Indifference to who she is – how hard she worked to gain her credentials – how even harder she worked to serve the United States for a lot of years – to serve all of us – and now the reward for her hard work is this treatment which brings to my mind ‘Depraved Indifference. ‘  A legal terms, but fully adequate in this context.  And that legal terms brings Philippa Schuyler – another African American woman – to mind.

If we had a media which published the truth over the decades and generations our ruling White Upper Class Males would not have been able to buy the election for Ronald Reagan – which all of us saw, but none reported.  Now, Republicans are coming to the fore to attempt to insure that their group is not left out of power – not their Republican group, but their WUCM group.  Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party etc. all belong to this group.

The media in Massachusetts is becoming confident and putting its toe in the water and beginning to talk (3:45am Channel 6) about how to persuade Governor Patrick to appoint Scot Brown to the seat that will be vacated by John Kerry when he is appointed Secretary of State.  If that doesn’t confirm your breakfast blog, nothing will.

The media is clearly complicit in all of this and their tom-toms ring out around the world heralding what they are all in agreement with and see as their vested interest to the continued sharing of power.

There was or is a group researching Philippa Schuyler, to keep her memory alive and her accomplishments in front of the public.  I think that is a laudable effort, especially at times like this when one can see similarities.  To put what is happening to Susan Rice in a historical context brings a total different picture to the forefront.

Philippa Schuyler was a young African American woman, killed by what some of us believe was first degree murder i.e. Depraved Indifference.  I’ve heard more than one person lately agreeing with me and I believe some information from the Philippa Schuyler committee also said the same thing.

The parallel to the way Susan Rice’s reputation is being ‘killed’ by a group trying to maintain the WUCM’s control is startling.

With Philippa Schuyler, there was a total ignoring of what happened to her by some and an attempt at public justification by the WUCM.  There was a Congressional Hearing.  No charges were brought even though clearly there should have been charges of Depraved Indifference and the culprits should have been brought to trial, but Congress held a hearing which they thought and apparently accurately so, would defuse any problems from the African American community following her death.  Not a peep since.  Not a peep from the minority and women groups about what is happening to Susan Rice, either.  Does that show how far outside African American women are?  Who are your defenders?

Ms. Rice, apparently,  must be sacrificed so John Kerry can have his day in the sun as Secretary of State?  Where is the African American, Latino American, Women’s groups on what is happening in front of your faces.  The quiet from you is deafening.  Have you not heard – ‘if they come for me in the morning, they will return for you in the afternoon?”  Certainly, an outcry behind what happened to Philippa Schuyler might have changed the world for minorities and especially women – but there was none.

What is interesting about the Philippa Schuyler parallel – Philippa and her father were very conservative in their thinking and writing, except where it came to reporting on events and issues where their main criteria was the truth.  They were conservative to the point of being involved with the then John Birch Society.  That didn’t, however, save Philippa’s life.  Liberal or Conservative doesn’t really matter does it!  Isn’t that what this bit of theatre is saying?  The WUCM Republicans ignore party lines when it comes to some things – and maintaining and increasing the power of two of their own is paramount.  The WUCM Democrats have and will in the future, return the favor.

Philippa drowned and her parents suffered the extreme loss and grief that happens under those circumstances.

Philippa was a great child prodigy and pianist who was outstanding and traveled the world playing concerts on many world stages.  She composed symphonies by the age of six.  If she had lived, I think her journalistic talent would have dwarfed her music.  Some of us believe it was her journalism which caused her death.  But she was both and it took both sides of her to produce the articles she wrote.

She was the only one to stand tall and write the real story of what happened in Africa decades ago in the death of – oh my, was it Lumumba!  Every other journalist got the story wrong, but they were consistent in what they reported.  So their story came from where? to be so consistently wrong?  “Intel?”  Did all of the journalists who engaged in that bit of conspiracy lose their jobs?  Miss promotions? etc. etc.  Maybe they need to step back and take another look at this Susan Rice scenario.

Philippa, who kept her contacts with those low on the economic totem pole, had ways to find the truth and she wrote about what she found and  it was accurate and truth and her parents then had to deal with her death from, what some of us believe was purposefully negligent, – depraved indifference.

How does that relate to Susan Rice?  Yet another African American woman is being slaughtered for things which are minor especially when compared to things the WUCM group has done and suffered no career set-back from.  Yet Ms. Rice is being set-up to lose a possible appointment as Secretary of State because the WUCM group has a member – John Kerry – who wants to be Secretary of State.  And here we also have some Congressional involvement.  Not the Democrats, that would be too clear, but we don’t need to be led to see through a mirror darkly,  we need to see face to face.

Through the mirror darkly we see the Republicans fighting Ms. Rice – White Males all, except for the involvement of the White Woman who looks like a parallel to the African Americans who worked with the KKK.  All helping their brother WUCM members by attempting to take care of two of them – Scot Brown and John Kerry.  I can’t believe how this stuff happens over and over and over again and a story is spun by the media which has nothing to do with reality, but is throwing smoke in your face so your eyes sting and you can’t see what is in front of you – and throwing the work over to the other side so the WUCM can say – see, its not us – bring us that bowl of water so we can wash our hands clean and prove to you we were not involved!  Whose hands are being washed here?  The Republicans?  No – its the good ole Democrat boys looking out for their own.

Thanks again for the breakfast article.  I wish others had the guts to write the truth.  Sitting around Bettina Network breakfast tables I have heard some incredible talk and hope to continue.  It certainly cleared my head and got my thinking straightened out.

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Cleaning Wood Furniture

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012

I read and followed your blog on Cleaning Wood furniture from February, 2010.  If you want to refresh your memory the address is https://www.bettina-network.com/blog/?m=201002 or check on the left side of this page and click on February 2010.  I would like to make a suggestion for change.  We started using your method and got great results.  Recently, we talked to friends of ours who suggested we substitute Walnut Oil for the Olive Oil or add half and half – half Olive Oil to half Walnut Oil and then add the lemongrass oil.

We tried this with a soft cloth on a piece of wood furniture and it worked really great.  We also tried plain Walnut Oil instead of Olive Oil and that worked just as well.

Because I like Walnut Oil better than Olive Oil I think I will continue to use the Walnut Oil for cleaning and polishing wood furniture.  My friend cautioned me against using Walnut Oil because she said it ‘stinks.”  Nothing could stink as badly as the petroleum derivative oils that most use on their wood furniture.  It is amazing what we humans can become accustomed to as normal and refuse to change or find the change inferior.

I tried using lemon juice and that was phenomenal, but I don’t always feel up to squezing a lemon and mixing it with the oils.  Using just a few drops of essential lemongrass oil was simpler.  The essential oil was one addition that I thought was super.

Thanks for your blog.  It causes me to experiment and I have found several new possibilities which are healthier than what I was doing.  This Walnut Oil – Olive Oil – Essential Lemongrass Oil is one of the best I’ve found.  Its quick, easy, much cheaper than the commercial preparations – which I believe are harmful to your health and certainly ruin your hands.  What makes me angry is that I have to pay much money to have my hands and health ruined while they spend my money on marketing to get me to buy an inferior product.  This made my hands soft and beautiful as a result of oiling my furniture – who knew!  It might even mitigate my getting a manicure so often!

If your readers have a hard time finding essential lemongrass oil they might try Frontier Co-op.  Aura Cacia, whose products are offered through Frontier, sells essential lemongrass oil.  Instead of the .5 bottles, you might contact them for 4 ounces, which makes more sense with this use for the essential oil.  I love essential oil of lavendar and maybe one day I will try that when I oil my wood furniture, but for today I will stick with essential lemongrass oil.

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Thanks for your Presidential Post!

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

I would like to add just a couple things, which I think need to be highlighted:

We read lots about minorities playing the “race card.”  No one has said one word about the races taking place today – presidential and otherwise where one person running is blatantly using the ‘race card’ against their opponent.  For example, in Massachusetts Scott Brown is heavily using race in all of his campaign ads and rallies.  So much so that his staff has taken to making tomaawk chops and the supposed Indian war cry at his rallies.  They have picked up what is really being said and they are letting the rest of us know what’s really going on by their actions.

Romney’s campaign is doing the same thing.  It was much discussed after Obama won the presidency that racism would intensify in this country because of his win.  But, no one said why or how and this election cycle we are seeing why and how.  When your opponent is minority or part minority, use the race card to highlight their minority status or do other things to incite the racism which is either active or latent in these United States.  It is how many politicians in the deep south in the 1940’s stayed in office and won office.  They kept their voting populace stirred up over race.

Your breakfasts sound fantastic.  Keep up the good work.  When I retire I am going to put my house in the Bettina Network.  I have to keep active and ageism has made me much aware of racism and sexism.  I must confess I ignored it before I started to realize my age would keep me from credit, jobs and more.  Amazing when things come home to where you live how sensitive you become to others suffering that you hadn’t even noticed before.  Forgive me my transgressions!  I am sure I was one of those letting my racism out against others without realizing it and without taking responsibility for it to make the effort to change.  Well, now I get to fight ageism because I didn’t help lessen the ‘isms in this society.

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The Brotherhood – a response

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

“Hi guys,

Thank you for the blog entitled “The Brotherhood”.  You should be the major media – I love the way your blogs make me think and challenge what I believe.  But even more, I love the way you talk about things no one else is saying in the media.

With ‘The Brotherhood’ blog I think you didn’t go far enough.  What is missing and a pet peeve of mine is the fact that every day on every news report they end with a large coverage of sports, sports events, what sports figures are doing, and sports media.  The largest acculturizing tool in the world.  The propaganda they spread is appalling – especially at how we sit and watch and let that crap seep into our brains, our personality and our lives.

How to get everyone into things that are ‘traditional values’.  The right food, clothes, way of thinking, adversarial way to live, etc.  It is amazing that sports would be so overwhelming every place you turn.   I click off the news when the sports section starts.  Nothing else in this society gets such coverage 24/7 – how come this?  It makes sure you and your children are exposed to what this society wants us to mimic and we do follow and pattern ourselves after what the media promotes.

Why on earth would I want to mimic grown men running around and acting like little boys? Why do I want to see two sweaty men pretending to be big, bad and throwing each other around a small enclosed square ring? It is time for the news to give equal coverage to other activities that happen with great frequency and that more people enjoy – and enjoy without the constant exposure to and constant putting forth the image that this is what we want to see and hear.

Get real folks – find a life and get out of this sports trap!

And thanks again for this forum – keep up the good work.  You are the only place I call for bed & breakfast.”

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A Readers Comment

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2012 for Lani Stacks

On 2012-02-14 11:41 PM, lani stacks wrote:

> It’s is for sure such a major tragedy for Whitney Houston’s life to
> be cut so short. She was such a magnificent woman and
> out-of-this-world voice and singer. The evolution of a relationship
> with Mr.Brown just illustrates how much a man that is not beneficial
> to a woman can cause harmful affects on them (us). I have cut off
> relationships when I see these kind of signs in someone, therefore, I
> am living a single life – with my cats. Well, one thing that I can
> feel relief for her is that she is now in a safer and more peaceful
> realm forever with the Lord. I loved the interview with Diane Sawyer
> when she said, “Jesus loves me”. That is courage in this day and age
> to speak one’s heart and soul. To say that is affirmation where her
> heart really is and for sure, she is living this eternal reward now. I
> think of her daughter having to live without her now. That will be
> tough, but she will be surrounded by many loving relatives. Lani

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Thanks for the Whitney Houston Blog!

Monday, February 13th, 2012

copyright 2012 Bettina Network, inc.

I read the blog and was homesick for my Bettina fix – to use the current language being thrown around about Whitney Houston! I love staying in your homes. You didn’t say which home had this breakfast conversation. It doesn’t matter. I’ve stayed in two different homes, loved every minute and went home excited about life.

I appreciated the blog because I expect every media will be rushing to get out a story of how Whitney Houston died from drugs – whether its true or not – they have to create that impression. The same thing happened with Michael Jackson. It is so sad that we don’t have a media doing great investigative reporting and giving us the results, which are facts and not this mythological creation.

My concern is for Whitney’s daughter. With her mother gone, Bobbi Brown will probably be a larger influence on her and that is so sad. After helping to destroy her mother, the other women in Whitney’s family – who are clearly very strong and very independent, need to take hold of this young woman and keep Bobbi Brown away. That sounds cruel, but she needs a chance to get to adulthood and into a secure life without him taking advantage of a very vulnerable moment in her life and working his ugliness.

I am sure he loves his daughter, but from everything I’ve seen he will not take care of her in a way that is beneficial to her, but to him and we have seen what that meant in Whitney Houston’s life. The sorry thing about that is I don’t think Bobbi Brown is aware of just how negative an influence he is on the women in his life. That is the tragedy of all of this – he will continue and probably live a long life destroying women along the way.

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Bettina Travel Tip

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

When using public transportation in the Greater Boston area, the blind (those who carry a cane or have a dog guide) ride public transit free of charge.

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Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Anti-Perspirant Follower

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

A blog from a guest at a Bettina home

I have been reading your blogs on giving up deodorant and anti-perspirants.  That is quite brave of you because we all know people in our society now judge you as immoral if you have any odor at all.  In fact, we are beginning to judge people as immoral even if they have a perfume odor where once we considered using perfume a good thing.  Now using perfume is a low class/trashy thing to do.  Times do change and sometimes really quickly.

I have been trying to give up deodorant and especially anti-perspirants because I believe they contribute to our epidemic of Alzheimer’s.  The aluminum Chloride? – not sure which aluminum compound is in it, but that aluminum closing your pores so you can’t perspire cannot be a good thing.  I imagine aluminum stuffed into my pores under my arms and it gives me the chills.  I have not been successful at giving up deodorants, however, until I read your blog.

Several ideas came to me since reading and re-reading your experiments.  The first – after a few weeks – I realized this is a great, unintentional weight-loss program.

I keep a food diary and write down everything I eat.  It took about two weeks to begin to get it as a regular thing without missing foods or forgetting to write down what I had eaten.  The diary has made giving up deodorants without smelling loud quite easy.

I noticed as I kept this food diary that when I eat heavily processed, pesticides, antibioticized foods – in other words foods that have been doctored and are not organically grown – my bad smells went up.  Really horrible smells came out of me when I ate beef – non-organic.  I smelled almost immediately after I got out of the shower and the smell was not pleasant.

The more of the “wrong” foods I ate also turned my body into a foul smelling center. So gradually I started the food diary so I could ascertain which foods were the culprits and gradually I have become extremely aware of my body and the reactions I have to what I eat.  It has been an amazing revelation – and I am a very busy person so being busy is not an excuse to remove yourself from your own responsibility to take care of yourself.

When I go out to a restaurant with friends or an evening on the town or wherever I am going to eat foods that cause foul smells to emanate from my body I use deodorant.  If its going to be a long night, I even use anti-perspirants because I need to be careful to not be ostracized by those who can’t stand to smell the human body when it is doing its job of getting rid of toxins through the pores.

It has felt like a long journey, but I like where I have reached.  I have lost 15 pounds in the process.  Apparently, the foods that make you stinky also make you fat.

This is an awful note to send you, but you have opened the door to such a discussion and I want to air my experiences.  Maybe they will help someone going through what I’ve been through or maybe they will just peak someone else’s curiosity.  I look forward to reading responses and suggestions from someone who has been through this and can help me go the next step in understanding more about my physical self and how society has intruded on the health of my physical self in a very negative way and what I can do to either mitigate or reverse those problems.

Ed. Note: This was from someone who has been a guest in a Bettina home.  We are sharing it in the hopes you find it useful.  If you are a Bettina Host Family or have been a guest in one of the Bettina Homes, please feel free to send us your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, discoveries and we will add them to the summaries of discussions we get from conversations over breakfast in Bettina homes.

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Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

From a Guest on Cayenne Pepper

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010


“Before I get swept away by the holidays, I want to thank you for a wonderful blog. Keep up the good work, I’ve used so many of your ideas and I am very grateful. Some have been real life savers.

We also had a wonderful stay at a bed & breakfast in Harvard Square Cambridge for about the umpteenth time. Each time I don’t think it can get better and each time something new and different happens that makes me want to return soon.

This is about your blog on Cayenne Pepper. I read it, thought it was interesting, but didn’t follow through until I returned to the bed & breakfast, which now keeps a bottle of cayenne pepper at the door as you come in or leave. They do it because several guests have requested the cayenne pepper, since that is the last thing you would think to pack and I’m not sure it would get through security anyway. (By the way your blog on “Security at the Airport” is a stitch – probably because there is so much truth in it that it is really funny).

I got into the habit of sprinkling cayenne pepper in my shoes everytime I went out and it saved my life. Travel is hard on my feet and I come home with aching pinched feet. My own fault from the shoes I insist on wearing. This time, I had no problems, walked all over and found lots of energy without aching feet. I don’t know what the cayenne pepper does, but I’ve used it constantly since returning home and it has changed my way of living.

Thank you! By the way I was at the table when the folks from Canada talked about Cayenne Pepper as they sprinkled it in their running shoes several years ago before going out the door to join the hordes of runners for the Boston Marathon. It has taken this long for me to take up the suggestion, even though I saw the guy come back who didn’t have to crawl into the house and crawl up the stairs to his room. He was still walking upright and stopped to talk to me without seeming to be exhausted. Well, I now know how that feels.

enjoy your holidays and thank you so much for the ideas in Bettina’s Blog. hope you continue it for many more years and I can read it for many more years. As soon as I get a minute I am going to go over that blog for other ideas that might help me get through life a little easier.”

ed. note: Thanks for your comments. It is nice to know someone is out there reading and benefitting from what we write.

_______________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.


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