Monday, September 25, 2017

20+ Shops Run by Special Needs & Spoonie Moms

This post contains referral links which means that if you purchase from one of my links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale.  Don't worry, this won't cost you any extra!

Parents who have chronic illnesses and/or children with special needs often have a hard time working a traditional job.  Between therapies, doctor appointments, and low spoon days, a job with flexible hours can make the difference between being able to keep a job or not.  One of the best ways to do that is to be self-employed.

20+ Shops Run by Special Needs & Spoonie Moms

Many special needs/spoonie moms end up starting their own shops online which gives them the flexibility to take care of their kids and themselves.  Want to help support them?  Check out the list I compiled of shops run by special needs/spoonie moms below and do a little shopping.  Christmas will be here before you know it!  

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Meet Sarah: Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Awareness

Charcot-Marie-Tooth...sounds like a fancy dentist, right?

Actually, it's a neurological disorder that was named after the three doctors who first identified it.  It affects approximately 1 in 2,500 people.  Some of the symptoms include foot deformities, muscle weakness and atrophy, loss of sensation, and more.

September is Charcot-Marie-Tooth or CMT awareness month.  Joining me today is Sarah Wells from My Stripy Life to talk about her journey with CMT.

Meet Sarah: Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Awareness

Hannah from Sunshine and Spoons: What condition do you have?

Sarah from My Stripy Life: I have lots of conditions, labels that have been applied to my list of symptoms over the years, my most recent being Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and the associated co-morbidities. But the one I'm going to tell you a little more about today is my first diagnosis, Charcot Marie Tooth Disease (CMT). It's a peripheral neuropathy affecting the sensory and motor nerves to my arms and legs. I like to think that my bodies nerves are like a system of electrical wires and because of CMT the wiring to my arms and legs is wonky.

💙

Hannah: How does it affect you? How does it affect your family's daily life?

Thursday, September 14, 2017

How to Start an Online T-Shirt Business with Printful

This post contains referral links which means that if you purchase from one of my links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale.  Don't worry, this won't cost you any extra!

When I first started my t-shirt business, I had to figure everything out on my own.  What sites to use, how to set up my website, how to design graphics for my shirts, etc.  It was time-consuming and intimidating to say the least.

Thankfully, I had some experience researching things like that as I'd been running an online shop selling handmade children's clothing and accessories called Annalie's Baby Boutique since 2010.  I loved my shop, but I knew it was time for a change.  I just didn't have the time to devote to it anymore plus my health was deteriorating thanks to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and it was getting harder for me keep up.  

I had a lot of designs that I wanted to have printed on shirts, but the idea of having to pay up front to have a bunch of shirts printed that may or may not sell was a little daunting.  That also would mean keeping up on inventory, packaging, and shipping products myself.  And then I found Printful, a print-on-demand company that would take care of all of that for me.  It was exactly what I was looking for.

How to Start an Online T-Shirt Business with Printful

I closed down Annalie's Baby Boutique and opened the Sunshine and Spoons Shop in September 2016 to go along with my blog, Sunshine and Spoons.

Here are my statistics for the year of 2016.  I opened my shop in mid-September.

How to Start an Online T-Shirt Business with Printful

Want to open your own print-on-demand t-shirt shop?  Here's how to do it.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

How to Make No Sew DIY Rice Heating Pads

This post contains referral links which means that if you purchase from one of my links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale.  Don't worry, this won't cost you any extra!

There are five people in my family who have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which means that pain is a normal occurrence around.  I prefer to try alternative methods of pain relief such as using essential oils (Panaway is a great one for muscle pain!), massage, ice, and heat before turning to tylenol.

A few weeks ago, I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed and was in excruciating pain for 10 days straight.  After applying ice to both sides of my face for the first 48 hours, the oral surgeon recommended switching to heat.  He said I could heat up the ice packs he'd sent home with me, but they just didn't seem to hold the heat very well so I decided to grab one of our trusty rice socks that I'd made with one of Hubby's (clean!) tube socks instead.  The problem was that it was too big and bulky to work well for my face.  In a rare moment of clarity, I grabbed a leg warmer from the kids' mis-matched sock basket and turned it into a perfectly sized rice heating pad.  

How to Make No Sew DIY Rice Heating Pads

Want to make your own rice heating pads that are the perfect size for kids AND adults?

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

How to Make a Snot and Chest Rub with Essential Oils


This post contains referral links which means that if you purchase from one of my links, I will receive a small percentage of the sale.  Don't worry, this won't cost you any extra!

I don't know about your kids, but when mine have stuffy noses and coughs, no one sleeps in my house, which makes for cranky kids and a cranky mama.  Thankfully, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to help everyone sleep a little better!

First, I run a diffuser in the sick child's room at bedtime for about 30 minutes with a drop of R.C. oil from Young Living.     

Secondly, I rub some of my Snot and Chest Rub on the bottom of my little one's feet and on his or her chest.  

How to Make a Snot and Chest Rub with Essential Oils

When I first got some Snot and Chest Rub from my oily friend, I had doubts about how much it would help, but after four sleepless nights with Anna, who was three years old at the time, I was getting pretty desperate.  Guess what?  We both slept all night!!

Want the recipe?  You can find it below.