Her Job Makes Good Scents
Sniff, sniff. Could it be the scent of the freshly cut grass of a summer’s day even in the dead of winter? Ah, visions of beach sand, bare feet, salmon sizzling on the barbecue …
All from one little smell? You bet.
“I was always fascinated by aromas, but I thought it was a lot of hype what it could do for moods,” says Jeri LaForce Sahlin as she sprays rose water into the air above her.
Now Jeri sells smells. Tiny brown vials of lavender and rosemary oils sit on the shelves in her Coeur d’Alene massage therapy office. Glazed terra cotta rings await a drop or two of eucalyptus or geranium oil.
A clawfoot tub big enough for Shaquille O’Neal gives off scented steam and offers engulfing warmth.
Jeri discovered the power of aroma in her home a few years ago.
Her usually healthy family had passed ailments to each other for months. A musty, mildewy odor lingered in her basement. Jeri linked the two problems and searched for a solution.
A woman at a health food store recommended she try tea tree oil. Jeri dispersed the oil through a diffuser, which is like a humidifier without water. Her odor disappeared and hasn’t returned.
That’s when Jeri smelled a winner. She enrolled in a class on aroma power and began dropping lavender oil into her baths. She used tea tree oil to chase away athlete’s foot and warts, and peppermint to perk herself up and repel insects.
Then she bought an eye pillow, a miniature pillow stuffed with lavender, chamomile and flax seed. She put it over her eyes while her baby daughter napped.
“Just the smell triggers relaxing memories,” she says with an indulgent smile.
People turn up their noses now as they enter Jeri’s world, and that makes her happy. She just leads them to her bathtub and pulls out her eyedropper. Eucalyptus for congestion. Orange for constipation. Peppermint for fever, headache, colds …
Blow me down
Coeur d’Alene’s Debbie Berger stopped believing in miracles in 1967 after her beloved grandfather died at Christmastime. She was only 11.
But her faith was restored this year after a huge red fir crashed through the ceiling of her parents’ bedroom 28 years and two hours after she lost her grandfather.
The trunk missed her father’s head by less than an inch. It fell on her mother’s side of the bed. But her mother - an insomniac - was down the hall. Her father walked away with some bumps and scrapes.
“Life is short. Make it sweet,” Debbie advises. And don’t stop believing in miracles.
Don’t walk, run
Here’s a Christmas treat a few days early: Bloomsday founder Don Kardong at the Book and Game Co. in Coeur d’Alene’s Silver Lake Mall at 7 tonight.
Don isn’t just another writer. Heck no. This guy has real talent - he runs. He’s run in some pretty exotic places, like Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City where he sweated out a marathon with a field of American veterans.
He’s written about his worldwide running escapades in “Runners World” for years and now has put them into a book, “Hills, Hawgs and Ho Chi Minh.” Take the kiddies to this one. How many times do they get to meet a former Olympian?
Dear Santa
North Idaho’s a great place, but this year it could use a few feet of snow. December doesn’t seem right without snowmen. The Panhandle also needs more decent jobs with medical insurance, especially with welfare reform looming and lumber mills closing.
Not to load Santa down at the last minute, but what else could North Idaho use? Get your lists in quickly to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; send a fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.
, DataTimes