Eco Green Soap

dinner. I had ordered this melt and pour organic soap kit a couple of years ago and for some reason only made one bar, so I pulled the kit out of the closet and gave it a go.

I took about 1 1/2 lbs of melt and pour ogranic soap chunks and melted them in a saucepan over low heat. Once they were liquified, I added about a tablespoon of Spirulina for a pretty green color and stirred until combined. I then removed the concoction from the heat and added a few drops of Orange Valencia Essential Oil and Clove Essential Oil. I then poured it all into a large paper cup I had cleaned and kept from DH’s last trip to the burger place. I waited a couple of hours and cut my almost hardened soap. So easy, and so much cheaper than the fancy organic soap at the stores. I got my kit from Bramble Berry, and I definitely recommend them to anyone! Very customer friendly and the prices are really quite good. I got the instructions for making the soap at the Soap Queen blog which is just too much fun!

Now about that diet and dinner last night. . .whew . . . let’s just say I am quite happy to be here and feeling well today, cause I sure didn’t last night. Let me back up. I started a new diet this week based loosely on the Hallelujah Diet. I am basically eating mostly raw fruits and vegetables with some beans and organic whole wheat mixed in. No meat and no refined sugar at all is allowed and I am drinking mostly organic tea and distilled water. Pretty healthy overall and I have been feeling pretty good too. Until last night. My Brother came to town, so DH and I decided to go out to eat at one of those sit down chain restaurants that are everywhere. I ordered a salad with a tiny bit of chicken and I paid for it all night. I had cramping and pain that kept me awake way into the morning hours.

I won’t go into more detail, but after getting up this morning and having my typical smoothie, I am back to normal and have sworn off all processed food for a good long time at least. I get it. . .organic and raw foods = happy me and happy tummy. Processed food from who knows where = upset tummy and upset me!

I have dry, fine hair. If I want it to do anything but kink funny but flatly, I need a bunch of hairspray. If I curl my hair and use a firm hairspray, I get a decent looking do that gets compliments. So it was with much hesitation that I began looking for an organic, homemade alternative to my favorite hairspray.

I chose the flax seed one from E-How as my first choice. What a mistake. I should have known that I needed to go to a site I am sure is maintained by a woman, and maybe even one that regularly posts organic beauty recipes. DO NOT TRY THIS. It doesn’t work at all, and is pretty much a gooey mess.

I have since done some more reading and have decided that tonight I will try one more homemade recipe. I have to make some soap tonight anyway, so it won’t take much more effort to try this interesting recipe. I will post tomorrow how this one turns out (but will be stocking up on my normal hairspray as well).

So I am new to the whole herbal medicine scene.  I have been checking out websites, watching YouTube videos, and ordering all of the things I need.  A friend recommended that I go over to Amazon and see if there were any free books for the KindlePC that might be helpful to me, and boy was he right!

I lucked upon Herbs Gone Wild! and got it the one day it was being offered for free.  And while my favorite herbal website so far has to be HerbMentor.com, my favorite book so far is this one by Diane Kidman.  I have been copying and pasting her recipes like crazy and have been taking notes on all the new herbs I need to buy and try.  Diane writes in a very approachable style and has a very easy going manner that makes it much less intimidating to give some of her recipes a try.  Watch for posts in the near future using some of her recipes.

I would pay a lot for this book.  It is a fantastic reference book on herbs and how to use them.

Let me start by saying that I really hate to clean and am really quite lazy.  I would rather do almost anything else than clean, but reading and writing are my favorite hobbies and you can’t do either really while you clean.  However, I also find that I like to make things and be creative,  and this is where I have really been missing the boat on this whole clean house thing I think.

I found a tip online for cleaning the oven naturally by using baking soda and vinegar.  So, I opened my oven, poured baking soda over the bottom and then added vinegar.  Immediately my concoction began to fizzle and I was hooked.  I waited the required 20 minutes, very impatiently too, and then wiped off a couple of years worth of gook.  It worked like a charm!

Now I just have to figure out how to get the sides and back.  The bottom of my oven and the broiler tray have never been cleaner though and I am inspired just enough to begin trying several other home cleaners I have been collecting recipes for.  Perhaps grout cleaner will be next.

Homemade Lotion

I have been wanting to get completely away from commercial beauty products for a long time, and this is the year!  With my hot oil treatment from last time and my new homemade lotion, I feel like I am finally on my way!

This recipe is so easy that I can’t believe I waited so long to do this.  I used the recipe over here at ReadyMade.  It isn’t perfect.  I used Brewed Peppermint Tea, Coconut Oil,  Beeswax, and Clove Essential Oil.  I ended up with a nice product that I will use, but I do need to play with this recipe.  It has a nice consistency and smells great, but it does dry up a bit drier on my skin than I like.  I think it is the coconut oil, so I am anxious to try some different oils to see if I can’t do a bit better.

2012 is off to a very productive start for me.  If you have ever considered making some beauty product on your own I encourage you to give it a try!  It is awesome!  I am a mom, work full time outside the home, and have a couple of programs I am involved with too, but making time to get rid of crap beauty products that might make me sick is something I am quite happy to spend 30 minutes a day on!

Calendula Hot Oil Treatment

I recently started buying herbs and making my own cough syrups, infused oils, herbal infusions and even hot oil treatments.  I LOVE herbs!  I like learning about all the health benefits we can gain from going back to using weeds we find all over the place in nature.

I was excited to see and try Crunchy Betty’s hot oil options.  I used olive oil and Calendula dried flowers to make my hot oil treatment.  It was sort of hard to get on, and took two shampoos to get out, but I have to say it was worth it!  I let my hair air dry overnight and curled it this morning before heading out to work.  I actually got compliments on how good my hair looks today.  I guess the real test will be when I go see my hair dresser tomorrow for my trim and color.

If you like to experiment or just like to make healthy stuff for yourself, I really recommend this hot oil treatment.  Heat your oil, add your herbs, strain, and once cool enough to handle message this stuff in and enjoy!  Your hair will thank you!

I have been trying for a couple of weeks to figure out how to get a copy of Roman Holiday to watch, since Edith Head is the first designer I am studying. It finally dawned on me that the local library may have a copy, and sure enough they did.

I had big expectations for this movie, not really knowing much about it at all, and I will be honest and say that I was a bit disappointed. Except for the beautiful gown at the very beginning of the movie, Audrey Hepburn wore a single plain outfit for most of the movie. I suppose had I known before hand that the movie only spans a little over 24 hours I might have realized that, but I didn’t. The gown at the beginning that is pictured above is indeed quite pretty, but the rest of the film wasn’t that great, and with all the choices for dresses back in the early 50′s, well I think it could have been better!

After watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes last week, I have to say that I am much more impressed with Charles Le Maire than Edith Head right now, but I have MANY more movies to watch to really know who I favor.

A quick Google search for other enthusiasts brought hours of enjoyment, and my first project. The creator intended this to be a quilt block, but I was anxious to make a bag to carry all of my new embroidery tools in, so I made my own project. On to a new one now. . .

I tried a red velvet cake recipe that was probably good, but I over cooked the cake so it was a bit tougher than one would hope. It was cute, and I will post a picture shortly of my little mistaken cake.

I also made one of my favorite recipes from the Pioneer Woman‘s Website, her Best Lasagna Ever! This is one of my daughters favorites, and she put in a special request for it for Sunday dinner. . .so how could I refuse?! As always, it was delicious and by the end of the day there was nothing left in the rather large pan. It really is a delicious recipe, and if you have a crowd of 8 or so to feed it might be the perfect meal. I would add two notes of caution. First, next time I make this recipe I will cut up the tomatoes a bit. . no one I know wants a full one on their plate. Second, if I make it ahead again, I need to plan for more time in the oven than the suggested 40 minutes.

I tried a recipe for pecan cookies that I ended up altering and turning into little butter crisp-like cookies. I really like the caramely taste to these (yes I know I just made up that word, but admit it, it works) and I feel like I created something a little bit new. At least these are new to me.

Mix together
1 cup softened butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flower

Roll dough into small balls, roll in sugar (colored or plain) and bake at 325 for about 12 minutes.

I also tried a little tree making craft I saw on many blogs yesterday. Most of the ones that I saw were featured on Centsational Girl’s Christmas Craft Link Party. Check out her site for lots of other Christmas Craft ideas if you still need them. I really like my two purple trees, and they fit in a spot where I needed a little “somethin-somethin!” What do you think? I am planning to make some larger ones for the hearth in the basement, just need to figure out what I will use to make really big ones. . hmmmm.