Hi friends,

Do you occasionally have crazy weather in your neck of the woods? We do almost every spring here. Sometimes, we’ve had hail, rain, snow and sunshine all in the same day.

Check out our unseasonable snow this week during what should be sunny spring weather and my 7-year-old’s response: Her snowman family.

The following night we hit well below freezing. I woke up to my daughter yelling, “They’re still alive!”

And today? Four days after the unseasonable snow?

Snowman Dad hung on long enough to say goodbye. 🙂

And this weekend? We’re expecting highs in the 80s (27 C). Crazy!

One thing I’m getting excited about though, now that spring is coming: Kale from last year has already begun to grow, and my peppermint patch is coming to life.

Peppermint Tea – Delicious and healing for digestive issues.

Herbal Tip #5

This is one of my mother’s traditions that I’ve passed on to my kids: Peppermint tea for tummy troubles.

It comes in handy for stomach bugs, painful gas or even just a queasy reaction to something that doesn’t agree with you.

It’s so easy to make, that it hardly takes much explanation:

  1. Boil water
  2. Add peppermint tea (loose or in tea bag)
  3. Cover (so essential oils don’t flash off) and let steep (longer is stronger).
  4. Drink and enjoy!

That’s it! You can also add some honey, which is also antibacterial, as well as some lemon to make a soothing herbal tea to sip on when you don’t feel good.

Bonus ideas:

  1. Add some thinly sliced ginger which is also good for stomach and inflammation.
  2. Make a big pot, let it steep for a few hours until cool, and then put it in the fridge in a pitcher so anyone feeling sick can get easy refills.
  3. Drink more than a cup. If I’ve got a tight stomach causing pain, I’ll drink a full quart, usually bringing relief within the hour.
  4. Plant your own. It’s so much stronger and refreshing when you use it fresh or dry your own. Caution: this plant is as hardy as a weed and spreads across the surface of the ground, so plant in an area it can be contained.

What about you? Have you had good luck with peppermint tea?

Good luck staying healthy out there!

____________________

Misty’s Writing Update:

I’m finishing up my cover design request today and forgot that I had been thinking about getting a pen name for my litrpg series because it’s a bit of a departure from my usual post-apoc writing.

It’s not so much that I need a different author name for the series, but Amazon’s algorithms do. It turns out Amazon keeps track of what customers buy so they can figure out what to recommend to them next. So, if I’ve got post-apoc books and litrpg books under the same name, it confuses the issue and makes it more difficult and expensive to run ads that get results.

Or, at least that’s the theory.

For now I’ve just decided to simply go with M. Zaugg. I figure it’s easy for readers to find me and figure out I’m the same person, but Amazon can keep the books series separate.

The creative part of me wants to come up with something more exciting and fantasy-based, but I’d rather be easy for find.

What do you think? Any fun ideas for a pen name?

Enjoy reading this week!

— Misty 🙂