Holiday DIY

The gift baskets for the daughter and daughter-in-law.  Made Grapefruit Sugar Scrub (w/our own fresh squeezed grapefruit juice), Mint Sugar Scrub (w/ fresh mint), Sinus Shower Bombs, Energizing Shower Bombs, Lavender Bath Bombs and Oatmeal Shower Bags.  Added a pouf and a brush.  Awesome!

Here are the recipes:

Grapefruit Sugar Scrub

•  1 cup coconut oil
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ grapefruit (3-4 Tbsp grapefruit juice)
• 3 Tbsp grapefruit zest (optional)
• 4-5 4 oz. Jelly jars

Directions

1. Using a grater, grate 3 tbsp of grapefruit zest (I found it easier to grate prior to juicing.)
2. Once you have your grapefruit zest, cut the grapefruit in half and juice it for 3-4 tbsp of  grapefruit juice.
3. Next, in a medium size bowl, combine the coconut oil, sugar, grapefruit juice and zest and mix well.
4. Add the scrub to your 4 oz. mason jars.
5. Print and cut out the labels and place on the lid

Makes 4-5 4 oz. jars. The recipe can also be made smaller or larger depending on how much you would like to make.  Stored in an airtight container, scrubs will last for about 6 months. If there is any separation simply stir the mixture.

Mint Sugar Scrub

½ cup coconut oil

1½ - 2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon peppermint extract

1 drop green food coloring

Instructions

1. Place coconut oil in a bowl and microwave on HIGH 15-25 seconds until softened.
2. Start by adding 1½ cups sugar to the oil, along with the peppermint extract and green food coloring. Mix until ingredients are well combined and food coloring is evenly distributed. If mixture is too wet, add another ½ cup sugar until scrub is to desired consistency.
3. Spoon scrub into mason jar
4. 
   

Sinus Shower Bombs, Energizing Shower Bombs

Shower bomb recipe: baking soda + water.

Scoop a cup of baking soda into a bowl and verrry slowlyyyy pour 1/3 of water into it. You will pour the water in a tiny bit at a time, stirring after each pour. You want to use a spray bottle of water to the mixture clumpy consistency without it being runny.

Then put them into a mold or muffin tin

Bake it at 300 for about 30 minutes and once it has cooled down remove from mold and add essential oils.

Sinus = 2 drops Eucalyptus and 1 drop Peppermint oils (per bomb)

Energizing = 2 drops Citrus Fresh and 1 drop Ginger oils (per bomb)

Lavender Bath Bombs

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup Citric Acid
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 tablespoons epsom salt
2 teaspoons Sweet Almond Oil
3/4 teaspoon water
15 drops Lavender Oil
Dried Organic Lavender Flowers
Step one: In a large bowl combine baking soda, citric acid, cornstarch, epsom salt and dried lavender.
Step two: In a small bowl combine almond oil, water, and essential oil.
Step three: pour wet mixture into dry mixture. Mix with a whisk until fully combined. Test mixture by pressing a handful together. If the mixture doesn’t hold LIGHTLY, with a spray bottle, spray with water once or twice. Avoid adding too much water or the mixture will fizz and not form in the mold correctly. Once it’s the right consistency press mixture into mold and allow to dry at least 2 hours before removing. Set bath bombs on a soft towel to dry overnight.

Oatmeal Shower Bags

Add 2 cups of steel cut oats 
1/2 bar of grated soap
5 – 10 drops of essential oil to a bowl and mix together with a spoon. You could also add dried herbs if you like.
Spoon the oatmeal mixture into the muslin bags, then simply pull the drawstring tight and tie a double knot.
Use as washcloth until soap is gone.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving had always been my favorite holiday.  The smell of turkey roasting when you rise, the gathering and gratitude and no gifts.  I loved it. The Thanksgivings of my childhood and early adulthood are filled with those memories.  Lazy days of sweet rolls, mimosas, parades and poultry was my idea of perfection.

A few years ago my life was turned upside down at Thanksgiving and my life would never be the same.  My perception and enjoyment of my former favorite holiday changed forever.

But I digress.....

We have these ceramic turkey candle holders.  I bring them each Thanksgiving.  My son talked me into getting them from Walgreens probably 26 years ago.  They were cheap, came with candles so I bought them.

That first year we burned the candles that came with the cheap holders and found that they never stayed up OR straight.  We chalked it up to cheap candles and packed them away.

The following year they were brought out again.  Better, higher quality candles were purchased but the holders still never held the candles up OR straight.  Sadly the kids loved them so they were packed up and brought out year after year with the same result.  

The year after my life fell apart I brought them out and displayed them in all their wayward glory.  They had come to represent my life.  They were my bridge to the past, my joy of Thanksgiving and my constant reminder that I was, as a human, somewhat imperfect - wayward as it were - like those fowl.  

Now my life is once again in turmoil with the same issues that I faced and thought I had solved after my dismantling 8 years ago.  This Thanksgiving doesn't look to be the joyous holiday of yore or even the past 8 years of rebuilding.

The turkeys are on the table again this year.  They are there with the candle holder I couldn't find until I prayed to St. Anthony.  There are also the what feels to be the annual guilt bouquet of flowers from the hubby; the reason for my despair.

I feel like taking those candle holders and smashing them into a million pieces.  The reasons:

1.   I am the only one who appears to care about them - the kids are grown. 

2.  They have never worked as intended.

I know I won't.  I have come to a catharsis.  Those candle holders represent us.  We ARE the wayward turkeys!!

To quote Arlo - "This Dump is Closed on Thanksgiving"

OUR DIGITAL LIVES

Today I started thinking about how we live such digital lives we don't even think about it anymore (says the woman blogging). 

Of course we did this to ourselves.  As our children grew we videotaped every milestone and this morphed into My Space, Facebook and You Tube.  Every milestone from proposals to births is out there - somewhere - for someone to see. 

Often the intent is to share times and life moments with family and friends.   If funny then perhaps you hit You Tube gold or a blogging job comes your way.  Most often it is to share with those you care about. 

We share because we want to feel a part of something bigger; the whole.  The great mass of humanity or the vastness of the Universe is why we post and share our collective human condition.

Sadly there are times when there is someone uses our words or posts to their advantage in their attempt to hurt others.  They troll our online presence and look for something posted or cached with the intent to  be used against someone else.  It is an inference of immorality with no regard for that person's feelings.

This has happened to me.  A person estranged from our family is engrossed in a legal battle with a relative.  They used my posted words to infer a situation that doesn't exist rather than require the individual involved to do the right thing.  The worst part is their actions have the the potential to hurt. Many people.  Innocents. It is a losing game.

So I am trying to think about what would make someone so lose their compassion and humanity.  I cannot understand allowing that to happen. 

DIY FACIAL WIPES

I used jojoba oil instead of coconut oil, added Vitamin E oil for wrinkles and carrotseed oil for sunscreen.  Essential oils - lavender, Thieves, tea tree and frankincense.  Used exfoliating rounds. 

Cunnin’

My daughter posted on Facebook about a “glass shattering” moment where she realized that the accepted term for a toilet paper roll was not actually “toot-toot”.  It was in our house as she grew up as it was in mine, but apparently not in other homes.  I told her I was sorry not to tell her sooner but it made me think of all the things we’ve created as family group-speak and brought into our daily lexicon.

I have my own that came from my family of origin as well.  We always called the back of the station wagon the “way back”.  It was just what we called it.  We never thought about anyone else calling it that; it was just a family thing that our friends and family accepted.  Of course they had to accept a lot of expressions from my parents that were different from the norm in sixties Phoenix.   You see, my parents migrated to Arizona – Buckeye, Arizona to be exact – in the mid-50’s from small town New England.  Sight unseen they packed up 2 little girls aged 2 and 4 and moved to the desert.   I cannot even imagine the culture shock but that’s another story for another time.

We grew up with the colloquialisms of my parents from thousands of miles away.  I am sure that by the time I came along 3 years later they had toned down a lot of those.  I know my father, teaching in rural Buckeye, had to in order to be understood by his students.  However, my mother stayed at home and socialized with the other women who were also mostly transplants.  Growing up I just accepted the strange things my folks said and rolled with them.  I was used to hearing my family – especially when we traveled back east for visits -  talking about calling for a “jitney” instead of a bus, “tonic” was soda and saying of “ayuh” instead of yes or just as acknowledgement to something being said.  We knew these were “New England” things and seldom used them once we got back west. 

Perhaps the frequency of our visits back to New Hampshire helped figure out the public/private difference in words and phrases. We’ll never know but it makes me feel that perhaps we sheltered our children and allowed the family group-speak too willingly. 

When my son was a toddler our rescued basset hound puppy got excited and would run around the house to burn off steam.  The first time we saw it he exclaimed “Look – him’s a cow!”  Now mind you the dog was female and we never really figured out if he misspoke cow instead of horse (the running and all) or just what he meant.  Nevertheless, it became the family phrase for when the dogs got worked up and dashed around the house as fast as a basset can dash. 

Then when the daughter was a little girl she would invariably take a sip of each and every drink I ever had.  During one long hot summer I presented the family with a rant about leaving my iced tea alone!  A while later the daughter sidled up to my iced tea glass, double-handed and took it to her lips as I looked on in horror.   At that point she smiled and said “onk, onk, onk”.  We all laughed and realized she was giving voice to the sound we made when drinking and busting my chops to boot.  It became a family word for a sip of a drink, spread to my siblings and my friends as well as theirs. "Can I have an onk of that?" It became accepted.

I have to admit as being as guilty as anyone to using phrases not commonly used.  I frequently heard my kids calling things that were wrong “Babylon” as I often did – a Rastafarian phrase.  Hell, my kids grew up knowing their father was born in Germany but not the town name because I had invented “IckySprickyDicky” for the town.  My husband invented the term “warffle” to describe swallowing something the wrong way.  We had many items from an inherited hope chest becoming “the stump” and snorkels being called “spits”.  The Farlows have their share of group-speak. 

However, now that my son has had a child I feel I need to inform them and anyone else who might hear it my mother’s use of the word cunnin’ or cunning to describe a baby/toddler.   It was accepted in my family but I doubt that even my husband (whose family has their own set of group-speak) knows and few outside our family have heard it.  Just lately, as I took pictures of my granddaughter to my mother for her to show her friends in her retirement facility she exclaimed as she looked at my sweet granddaughter “oh she’s just so cunnin’!!” It made me realize that we had a potential glass-shatter moment here too.

My mother used this phrase when talking to and about babies and toddlers for as long as I can remember. We accepted it growing up and I admit I used it at times.  To go for “Yankee slang” my mother dropped the “g” on the end of the word changing it from cunning to cunnin’.  I guess that’s pretty daring for a small town New Englander.  I am sure that I heard my grandmother say it when talking of my baby brother.  I think that perhaps my mother’s grandmother used the phrase as did the generations of Yankee women before her.  It certainly seems old enough when you look it up.

cun·ning

ˈkəniNG/

adjective

adjective: cunning; comparative adjective: cunninger; superlative adjective: cunningest

1.

having or showing skill in achieving one's ends by deceit or evasion.

"a cunning look came into his eyes"

synonyms:		crafty, wily, artful, guileful, devious, sly, scheming, designing, calculating, Machiavellian; More shrewd, astute, clever, canny; deceitful, deceptive, duplicitous, foxy; archaicsubtle "a cunning scheme"
antonyms:	honest

ingenious.

"plants have evolved cunning defenses"

2.

North American

attractive; quaint.

"the baby will look cunning in that pink print"

I don’t know if my mother ever used the word in front of my kids or not or if I ever explained the meaning/origin of it to them if she did and they didn’t understand.  I think now is the time before they are confused by the colloquialism uttered from my almost 88 year old mother..  It not a common adjective for babies and I think it’s probably a use of the word which is dying out.  That’s sad to think that a word I grew up hearing and knowing is going the way of the rotary phone. 

But there it is.  Change occurs; words come and go as do babies.  

I just know that my little granddaughter is extemely cunnin’.

DIY CITRUS BODY WASH

DIY CITRUS BODY WASH

•1/3 cup Dr. Brommer’s castille soap
•1/4 cup honey
•2 teaspoons jojoba oil
•1 teaspoon vitamin E
•2 teaspoons vegetable glycerin
•10 of Young Living Citrus Fresh Essential Oil
• 5 drops grapefruit oil
• 2 drops ylang ylang oil

Add all ingredients and fill up bottle with distilled water.

Shake well and before each use.

DIY - Curly Hair Cleansing Mud and Rinse

 

I have decided to stop using shampoo on my curly hair.  It's just not good for it and after some research I have made my own cleaning system that I do a couple times a week.

Curly hair cleansing mud

1 Tbsp baking soda

5 drops of Thieves oil for the antiseptic factor

10 drops of Peace and Calming blend

Add the oil to the baking soda and mix it up until you have the oil thoroughly mixed and it fits cleanly in the container.

To use:  Put about a dime sized amount of the baking soda and add enough water to make a "mud".  Then rub the mud throughout the roots of the hair spending special attention to the roots.  This gets the oils, the products and dirt and odors off your head and gets it ready for conditioning.

After I went through the first batch of "mud"; I decided to make a baking soda liquid cleanser.  I simply used a squirt bottle, increased baking soda to 1/4 tbsp

Repaced peace & Calming blend to tea tree oil and made it10 drops

Increased Thrives Oil to 10 drops

Homemade  Cider Vinegar Conditioner For Curly Hair

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Distilled water

6-8 drops of an essential oil such as bergamot, lavender, lemon, rosemary, sandalwood, tea tree, or ylang ylang for oily hair.

6-8 drops of essential oils like tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemon, sage, or rosemary for dry scalp or dandruff.

*This time I used some lavender, a sprig of fresh lavender from my garden and some Joy oil blend.

  

How to use

Simply shake the bottle before each use and gently massage into the hair and scalp for a minute or two and rinse.  This conditioner is the best option for use after a homemade shampoo. The vinegar rinse will smooth the hair and eliminate the greasy, sticky feeling some of these homemade shampoos may leave. 

DIY BUG REPELLENT

Homemade Mosquito Repellent

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon vegetable glycerine
1/4 cup Witch Hazel
8 drops Citronella oil
3 drops Tea Tree oil
2 drops Cedarwood oil
Distilled water to fill spray bottle

Mix all of the above ingredients and spray.

DIY Dish Soap

Easy DIY Dish Soap

Ingredients

4 TB borax 

4 TB washing soda

 2 cups distilled water

1 1/2 cup castille soap

15-20 drops each: peppermint essential oil and tea tree essential oil

1 TB glycerin

½ TB nourishing oil (jojoba, almond, etc.)

Instructions

In a saucepan, heat the the water just until it reaches a boiling point. Turn off the heat and add the washing soda and borax, stirring to dissolve. Let the mixture cool for 3-5 minutes, just until warm, but no longer hot.Add the  soap and and essential oils to the water mixture. Vigorously whisk the ingredients together.Use a funnel to pour the dish soap into a soap dispenser. The soap may separate after sitting for 24 hours. If this happens, vigorously shake the soap bottle until the ingredients are combined.

DIY Steel Cut Oatmeal Scrub

Since I made the oatmeal lavendar soap and didn't want to waste the oats; I made this scrub.

Citrus Oatmeal Scrub
1/2 cup soaked oatmeal
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp jojoba oil
1 tbsp castille soap

Took the steel cut oats I had soaked for the hand wash.  Added baking soda, Citrus Fresh oil, jojoba, Vitamin E and soap.  Mixed well.

Placed into an amber glass jar for storage until use!  All natural stuff!

DIY - Oatmeal and Lavender Homemade Foaming Hand Wash

My quest for natural products and frugality continues.  Today was foaming soap.

Oatmeal and Lavender Homemade Foaming Hand Wash

Ingredients

3 cups water
1/4 cup oatmeal (steel cut or rolled are fine)
1/4 cup liquid castile soap 
6 – 12 drops lavender essential oil 
1 tsp vitamin E oil 
2 tsp jojoba oil

Plus you’ll need a foaming dispenser or two. 

Directions 

1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Place oatmeal in a glass bowl and pour boiling water over oatmeal. Let sit for 1 – 2 hours and then strain water to remove oats from water. 2. In a small bowl mix castile soap, essential oil, vitamin E oil, and jojoba oil until fully incorporated.

3. Pour enough of the soap/oil mixture to fill about 10 – 15% of your foaming soap dispenser.

4. Pour oatmeal infused water into the dispenser until nearly full. Twist the lid back on and you’re done!

*This recipe will fill two average sized dispensers.

DIY All Natural Sunscreen

Sunscreen blocks UV rays which can lead to a vitamin D deficiencies. Vitamin D has been shown to reduce the risk of many cancers and for someone like me with osteoporosis it's essential to keep my brittle bones strong.   

Married to a redhead shows me just how easy it is to damage the skin and having spent my life in the sun baking myself slathered in cocoa butter; I am now rather obsessive about sunscreen. I see pasty white men riding shirtless around Phoenix and it makes me worry about their skin!  

However the chemicals in sunscreens I am not so thrilled with.  The pool chemicals are enough - our skin needs some natural protection and moisture.  So I did some research, found some recipes and directions then modified it.  Here goes!

DIY Natural Sunscreen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1/4 cup Shea Butter

1/4 cup Grated bees wax packed

2 Tbs Non nano Zinc Oxide Powder

A few drops of Vitamin E-Oil(optional)

10-20 drops Essential oils (for sun protection use carrot seed, mryhh - fot bug repellant option use Citronella, Cedar Wood, Lavender, Peppermint)

Start with 1/4 cup of organic Shea butter and 1/4 cup of grated organic beeswax.

Directions say to put those with 1/2 cup coconut oil into a double boiler.  Except here in Arizona our coconut oil at room temp is already liquid. 

 Also, it's over 100° at 11AM and I don't want to heat anything so the butter and wax are going outside by the sun tea to melt. 

Then we'll continue.

Just set out.....

After 15 minutes

An hour into it.

90 minutes of solar heat later.....getting closer!

4 hours in the Arizona heat later it's ready

Once melted, take mason jar out and GENTLY  mix in coconut oil, vitamin E, carrot seed oil, myrrh and you have the sunscreen oils added.  Then I added citronella, cedarwood and lavender for insect repellent.      

 This then got whipped up in the mixer.I sprayed the mixer and whisk with olive oil for easier cleaning.

While it's whipping, add the Zinc Oxide - (be careful NOT TO INHALE ZINC OXIDE). 

Allow to cool for a few minutes.  Pour sunscreen into a squeeze bottle like this one, an old deodorant tube, or a mason jar. Keep stored in a cool dry place!

DIY Homemade Body Wash

Homemade Body Wash
1/2 cup of liquid castile soap

1/4 cup of coconut oil 

1/4 cup of filtered or distilled water

10 drops  Ylang Ylang essestial oil

5 drops Idaho Blue Spruce essential

2 tsp glycerin

1 tsp vitamin E oil

Mix all together.  Ylang Ylang and Blue Spruce are supposed to be great for getting in the mood…if you know what I mean!