Just Homemade: Achieved our dream together

As our child’s 2nd birthday was nearing my husband and myself who are from a normal middle class family had a dream of buying a residential land on our princesses birthday with all our savings money. Even though we have dream to buy a land, we actually did not know where to start and how to go about, we know buying land is a huge investment and we have to be very careful. we were not interested to take a loan from bank and pay the monthly installments for decades.

Once decided to give a try, we have expressed our interest to both of our family members. Everyone appreciated our idea and suggestions from each of them started to pour in.From the next day onward with lots of enthusiasm we started searching in the internet, local newspapers etc…. as days went by we felt everything became slow and a lot of hesitation and confusion was involved.

One day during evening tea time, my father called me and said buying a land is not easy but if we missed this chance then we may never get it back and he also asked me to discuss with my husband to put a plan with our requirements, desire and a budget on a paper to have a clear picture.That night was a sleepless night for my husband and myself. we discussed and came up with clear requirements and a plan. This gave us back our hope of continuing our search.

As my husband works from a different state, during weekdays myself along with my father, father-in-law and brother-in-law started to contact different land promoters and visited their lands later would discuss with my husband over the phone daily and during weekends my husband and myself continue to do the same.
Meanwhile my mother, brother, mother-in-law and sister-in-law gathered information from friends and other family members. Within couple of weeks we had lot of information and we had identified few lands to consider for buying. Those couple of months all the family members came together and worked as a team and spend quality time together.

Finally after thinking of lots of pros and cons we had decided a land that suits all our requirements, but the budget was higher than we estimated. Since the land was good and we decided to buy, my husband was thinking to get loan from family and friends for the rest of the amount but I told him that it is our dream and we will put in all our savings and jewelry and we did that still we were short. We informed our family member and without any hesitation they accepted to help us in all possible ways they can and they did it. 

Nearly around 3-4 months of entire families effort the day has come and we finally registered our land on our daughter's birthday. That day was obviously a very joyous day in our life not just because it is our only daughter's birthday or that we bought a residential land but it is that we did that as a family and as a team. The experience that we went through those 4 months was very wonderful and built our relationship with everyone even more stronger It was the time of my life when I realized that we are #together in this journey of life and were never alone.

This blog post is part of housing.com

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Just Homemade: 5 Golden Remedies Using Turmeric (The Golden Goodness)

I am feeling exited and happy to write about my favorite spice of all Turmeric - 'Golden Goodness'. In this Post, I have shown the '5 powerful home remedies using turmeric' that can cure and to protect us from illness. Introduction: Turmeric has been recognized by yogis and ayurvedic healers since ancient times for its many healing properties. Grown mainly in India, the turmeric root is a close cousin to ginger root. It is dried and ground into a fine powder, brilliant gold in color, and used in many Indian recipes.Turmeric is considered highly auspicious in India and has been used extensively in various Indian ceremonies. Even today it is used in every part of India during wedding ceremonies and religious ceremonies. Benefits: * Turmeric is used for arthritis, heartburn (dyspepsia), stomach pain, diarrhea, intestinal gas, stomach bloating, loss of appetite, jaundice, liver problems and gallbladder disorders. * It is also used for headaches, bronchitis, colds, lung infections, leprosy, fever, menstrual problems, and cancer. Other uses include depression, Alzheimer’s disease, water retention, worms, and kidney problems. * Some people apply turmeric to the skin for pain, ringworm, bruising, leech bites, eye infections, inflammatory skin conditions, soreness inside of the mouth, and infected wounds.

Step 1: Turmeric Paste - The Base

Ingredients : 1) Turmeric powder - 1/4 Cup 2) Water - 1/2 Cup filtered water (Add more water if needed) 3) Ground pepper - 1/2 Tsp (optional) 4) Olive oil/ Almond oil/ Clarified butter - 1/2 Tsp (optional) Preparation : * Place a pan on medium heat and mix the turmeric powder and water. * Cook till raw smell of the turmeric goes (add more water if needed) * When the turmeric is completely cooked, add the pepper and clarified butter and remove from the heat. * Transfer it to a air tight container and can be stored in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

Step 2: Golden Remedy 1 - Turmeric Tea

Ingredients : 1) Turmeric Paste - 1/4 to 1/2 Tsp (as preferred) 2) Water - 1 Cup 3) Ginger - pinch grated. 4) Lemon Juice - 5 ml 5) Honey - as per taste Preparation : * Place a pan on medium heat and add grated ginger and water. * Then add the turmeric paste and allow to boil. * Finally add lemon juice and honey and mix well. * Strain it in a glass and serve. Benefits: * Lessen seasonal allergies * Reduce symptoms of cold * Turmeric is anti-inflammatory so it's a great decongestant * Powerful pain reliever * Honey is anti-bacterial and promotes healing. It also relieves coughs and sore throats

Step 3: Golden Remedy 2 - Turmeric Milk

Ingredients: 1) Turmeric Paste - 1/2 Tsp 2) Milk - 1 Cup 3) Ginger grated - Pinch 4) Cardamom powder - 1/8 Tsp 5) Ground Pepper - 1/8 Tsp 6) Palm Sugar - as per taste 7) Saffron - few strands 8) Water - little Preparation: * Place a pan on medium heat, add grated ginger and little water to boil (sometimes fresh ginger may curdle the milk.so I boil it in water to prevent that) * Then add the milk, turmeric paste, ground cardamom, ground pepper and allow it boil. * Then add palm sugar (panam karkandu) to it. once the palm sugar is dissolved strain it into a glass and top it of with saffron and serve. Benefits: * Milk and Turmeric provides bone health * Powerful anti-oxidant * Cure cough and cold * Can treat diarrhea and indigestion * Helps in blood purification and liver detox and much more...

Step 4: Golden Remedy 3 - Healthy Turmeric Smoothie

Ingredients: 1) Turmeric paste - 1/4 to 1/2 Tsp 2) Chopped Mango - 1/4 Cup 3) Chopped Banana - 1/4 Cup 4) Milk - 1 Cup 5) Honey - as per taste 6) Ground Cinnamon - 1/4 Tsp 7) Ginger - small piece Preparation: * Put all the above ingredients in a blender and blend it well. (Add more milk/water as per preferred consistency) * Serve it in a glass sprinkled with ground cinnamon on top. Benefits: *Anti-Inflammatory * Helps Weight Loss – By helping increase the flow of bile, an important factor in digesting dietary fat. Also helps the liver detoxify. * Anti-Cancerous Properties – Turmeric helps prevent and destroy cancer cells. * Powerful Antioxidant – Potent free-radical quencher. * Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Viral, and Anti-Fungal – Perfect when colds or the flu strike. * Skin Health – Promotes healthy skin and can reduce skin problems. * Turmeric has been implicated in helping relieve Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, asthma, cancer, diabetes, and depression.

Step 5: Golden Remedy 4 - Turmeric Face Mask / Scrub

Ingredients: 1) Ground Turmeric - 1 Tsp 2) Gram / Besan / Chickpea Flour - 2 Tbsp 3) Almond Oil - 1 Tsp 4) Milk - 2-3 Tsp Preparation: * Add the ground turmeric, Gram Flour and Almond oil and mix well without lumps.(This can be stored in the glass container for later use) * Add 2 tsp of the above mixture in a bowl, add the milk and mix well forming a smooth paste. * This paste can be applied on the face as a mask for 15 minutes and washed with water. * This paste can be used as a facial scrub and washed with water. * This is a basic face pack. Other variations can be done based on the skin types. Benefits: Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties that turmeric possesses are both important in treating these skin conditions. * In acne, using facial masks can soothe skin blemishes and heal acne scars. * In patients with eczema, applying a facial mask can reduce inflammation and redness. * Rosacea patients use turmeric masks, it can reduce the tiny pimples and redness that this skin condition causes. * Turmeric face masks are used to rejuvenate skin. Regular use of turmeric with various combination of ingredients can soften the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.

Step 6: Golden Remedy 5 - Turmeric Oil

Ingredients: 1) Freshly ground Turmeric paste 2) Organic Coconut Oil Preparation: * Place a pan on medium heat and add the coconut oil and freshly ground turmeric paste. * cook till the raw smell goes away. Strain and store in a glass container. ready to use once it cools down. Benefits: * Anti-inflammatory * Arthritis and joint problems * Antiseptic * Good for liver * Reduces skin problems(scars,cracks in foot etc..)

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