Not my will, but your's be done.



Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The 2nd installment of, DO IT YOURSELF:

I LOVED hearing all your comments after my last blog post, especially when you shared your own DIY goodies!  I have already tried some of the things you have suggested!  So far, this making my own products has been really fun.  Tinctures making is my next adventure, but since that requires alot of waaaaaiiitttinng while the tincture sits, I think continue to experiment with some of your ideas while I'm waiting.

I want to quickly update on how things have been going with my last to DIY adventures. 

Laundry Soap:  I am really liking it!  The 1/2 cup measurement seems to be working for us.  If I were to wash a really soilded load I might add more, but I haven't needed to do that yet.  When you first make the laundry soap, and it cools, it forms a thick gel.  Jello like, but a different texture.  I have found that the soap needs to be re-stirred every 5 or 6 days.  If not, you get some watery sections of soap.  In the bucket, the soap has a strong clean scent, but the clothes just come out smelling clean, not with a strong scent at all.  In fact, there is pretty much NO scent, so if you want scent you will have to add essential oils.  If you happen to not like the smell of the Fels-Naptha soap, then you can substitute ivory bar soap for the fels-naptha when you make it.

Toothpaste:  Still lovin' this!  Once my batch got low I made another one and also made a batch for the kid.  I was going to wait until their toothpast ran out, but they were excited to try it so I just went with the momentum and threw out the half empty tube they had and started them on the homemade kind.  No looking back.  Shockingly, there were NO COMPLAINTS, not even from my child that likes to complain about everything.  Score!  Another thing about the toothpaste I want to mention is that it has made my lips so soft.  Seriously.  I guess the coconut oil gets on my lips while I brush my teeth so my lips are all nourished and hydrated.  The only other time they have felt close to being this soft is when I exfoliate them with the Mary Kay lip exfoliant followed by the Mary Kay lip balm.  The awesome thing about this is though, I don't have to use a product with chemicals and my lips are getting soft while I brush my teeth! NICE!

All done with the updates, on to the new stuff!

For this edition of DIY we will be moving to the bathroom for some easy, Do-It-Yourself beauty products and tips.

Shampoo:Here is the recipie for the shampoo I tried.
1T Baking Soda
1 Cup warm water
1T Dr Bonners peppermint liquid castille soap

Massage into scalp for 1-2 minutes(2 minutes if you hair is oily), and then rinse.  You can rinse with a 1:1 mix of apple cider vinegar and water for some extra shine, if you like.

I mixed all the ingredients in an empty body wash bottle and shook vigarously.   It also needs to be re-shaken before each use.  You can make if without the castille soap, I just added that for some lather.  You can also add essential oils, if you like, if you either don't add the castille soap or use unsented castille. 

Now for my review of the shampoo....
It is hard to get used to rubbing my hair with a shampoo that doesn't lather.  Even with the castille soap there really isn't much lather.  While it did clean my hair well(and seemed to do a great job of stripping build up), I'm not sure what I think about the texture of my hair afterwards.  Jury is still out on thise one.  I'm not scrapping this particular shampoo, but I think I am going to play around with some other recipies.  To be completely fair though, I read to give your hair two weeks to get used to this shampoo.

Conditioner:  I tried conditioning my hair with 1T of apple cider vinegar mixed with an egg yolk.  I massaged in to my hair and let it sit for about 2 minutes.  When I got out of the shower I got a small bit of coconut oil on my hands a lightly rubbed it on the length of my hair, not near my scalp.

My reviewed:  Liked it, but I think my hair is malnourished right now and needs some deeper conditioning than the egg yolk/apple cider vinegar.  I plan on experimenting with some deep conditioning hair masks.  This seemed to be a great every day type conditioner.

Body Moisterizer:
After showering I rubbed a thin layer of coconut oil all over my body like lotion.  It takes a few minutes to absorb, and don't over do it or you will come out looking like a grease ball.  All I can say about this one is, SCORE.  I loved it!  It made my skin feel so soft.....for days!  I tend to have dry patches of skin, especially in the winter, but I hate putting on all that lotion because of the chemicals.  You skin is the largest organ in your body and you don't want gunk it up with chemicals.  I really recommend trying the coconut oil as a body moisterizer.  Just don't over do it because if used in excess, coconut oil can have a drying effect.

Eye Make-Up Remover:
Here is another one that I am just in love with!  There are alot of different things you can use as a natural eye make up remover.  Several years ago I used olive oil for a while.  It worked great, but it left under my eyes greasy so my eye liner would run the next day.  I finally stopped and went back to traditional eye make up remover.  I don't like putting chemicals on that sensitive skin under my eyes though, so I went on mission again to find something natural that worked for me.  I came across a recipie for eye make up remover that called for one part olive oil and one part witch hazel.  Witch hazel is a natural astringent, so I thought that maybe it would cut the oiliness of the olive oil down.  I got a travel shampoo bottle, filled it half way up with witch hazel, and the other half up with extra virgin olive oil.  Shook vigarously, poured some on a cotton ball, and gave it a try.  LOVE.  It is working like a charm!  Underneath my eyes doesn't feel or look greasy, my make up isn't running, and I don't have to rub chemicals in to that delicate skin under my eyes!! Whooo hooo!!!

Side note: The eye make up remover needs to be shaken before every use.

I tried a couple of other things, but I've run out of blogging time, so you will just have to wait.  Hopefully, I gave you enough to get motivated to try making something of your own.  

Coming up next week:
Next week we will be moving in to the kitchen, where I tell of my dogfood making adventure!  I will also share a few of the little health habits we have here in the Carlin house.  They are simple additions to your diet that can have major health benefits.  But after next week, dooooon't think I'm done yet!  I've got everything from lip gloss to dishwashing detergent in the works!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Toothpaste and Laundry Soap

Well, my blogging has been lagging a great deal lately.  Several reasons for that, 1. Sick kiddos.  Nothing real serious, just lots of snot and barking coughs that lasted a good week before spending another week or so tapering off.   2. The time change kicked our hineys.  It took several days to find a new groove that worked for us, so before we did I was one exhausted mama trying to parent whiny, exhuasted, half sick kids.  3.  Our computer/computers have been having some major issues.  Our laptop caught some sort of virus not long after we got back from Ukraine.  It has periods where it works fine, and then for a while it won't work at all.  When  Josh isn't working, he can usually mess with it and bring it temporarily back to life.  It has been getting worse though, and seems to be pretty much out of commission for good now.  The mouse on our desktop went out, and since we've been busy, it took several days to actually get to the store to get a new one.  So we spent several days without the internet.  4.  I found a fiction series that peaked my interested.  About 30 pages in to the first book I was hooked, so I spent all last week spending every single free moment reading.  I finished the whole series in a week, so I guess I now have to face reality again.

All that to say, those are my excuses for not blogging lately.  I also want to preface this blog post(although at this point I don't think that preface is the right word) by saying that it really SHOULD have pictures, but it doesn't.  I'm going to share my adventures in making my own toothpaste and my own laundry soap.  Those kinds of posts really should have pictures.  BUT our desktop doesn't have a memory card slot, so I don't know how to get the pictures from the memory card to the computer.  Alas, you will jut have to use your imagination.

Like I said, I have been experimenting with making my own toothpaste and my own laundry soap.  It is something that I've been wanting to do for a while, but I guess I have just been lazy, or pre-occupied...

Let's start with the TOOTHPASTE:
This was SO easy.  It litterally took me five minutes from start to finish. 

The ingredients are COCONUT OIL, BAKING SODA, and PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL.

I put 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a small glass bowl.  I added one teaspoon of baking soda, and 10 drops of peppermint essential oil.  I took a butterknife and mixed it all up.  Coconut oil is soild, but soft at room temperature.  Once it was all mixed it put it in a small plastic container that has a lid.  I keep it in my bathroom on the shelf.  When I brush my teeth I stick my took brush in the container and scoop some on to my toothbrush.  Out of habit, I wet my toothbrush before brushing my teeth, but you don't have to. 
The first time I used it I didn't really know what to expect.  It doesn't lather like regular toothpaste, but my mouth feels very clean afterwards.  I really really like it!  When I run out of what I have and need to make a new batch, I am going to go ahead a make a bigger one so it will last longer.  I plan on using a little less baking soda and a little more peppermint essential oil.  Peppermint can be STRONG, so it is best to start small and add more if you want.  Next time I plan on using 4 tablespoons coconut oil, one heaping teaspoon of baking soda, and 20-25 drops of peppermint essential oil.  This toothpaste is free of chemicals and it is all natural.  It also has the added benefit of being very frugal.  I plan on transitioning the kids over to this toothpaste too.  Their batch will have less peppermint though, since my kids don't like "spicy" toothpaste.  I have two kiddos that swallow their toothpaste, so this is a very safe alternative to regular toothpaste, which should NOT be swallowed.  Also, you don't have to use peppermint essential oil.  Clove, cinnamon, and theives would also be great choices! 

Now, for the LAUNDRY SOAP:
This was super simple also, and only took about 20 minutes total.
I started by boiling one gallon of water.  Once it starts boiling(or a little before, if you are impatient like me), you shave two bars of Fels-Naptha soap in to the boiling water, stopping every so often to stir.  You can get Fels-Naptha soap on the laundry aisle at Wal-Mart for 96 cents a bar. 

Once the Fels-Naptha was stirred in and melted, I added 2 cups of borax and 2 cups of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda.  Both of those items can be purchased on the laundry soap aisle at Wal-Mart.  Once it was all stirred in together, I put one gallon of hot water in to a five gallon bucket.  After that I poured in my soap mixture.  Then I poured another gallon of hot water on top of that.  I stirred it all up and then let it cool.  It filled my 5 gallon bucket about 3/5 full, and once it has cooled it forms a very thick gel.  Today is my first dy to use it, but I washed several loads using 1/2 a cup of the laundry soap mixture, and it worked great.  The finished laundry soap has a very clean smell.  If there isn't enough scent for your taste, then you can always add some essential oils to the mix.  Lavendar is always an excellent choice for things like that.  If you are looking for a chemical free and VERY frugal way to wash your clothes, THIS is the choice for you!  Seriously.  It was very cheap and easy to make.  Once again, I am sitting here asking myself WHY I waited so long to do it!

So that's all I got for tonight.  I have so other ideas that I am going to be experimenting with in the near future, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Night  ya'll!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Dragon Mama

Today has been on of those days.

When I was about 3 and a half I asked my mom, "Mama, can you breathe fire like a dragon?"  Being a typical 3 year old, I asked many more questions, including, but not limited to, "Can God pick up the road?", "Does God use sissors?", "Can God kill Mr. T.?", "If I swallowed my gum, it wouldn't get stuck to God, it would go around my heart. Right?" 

We love to laugh at the things we said as children.  Joss is three years old and fully in that question asking stage.  She asks "WHY?" for ev.er.y.thing. I ask her to do. 
After the day I had today, I am quite shocked that none of my children asked if I could breathe fire like a dragon, because I definitely had a dragon day.
I really hate those kinds of days, too.  Those kinds of days always leave me feeling guilty after the kids have gone to bed, and I completely hate feeling like that.

I am a somewhat high strung person(shocker).  I might be laid back in some areas, but in general I think I'm high strung.  One of the unfortunate attributes of a high strung person is that they tend to be easily irritable.  If I were to deny being anything less than that, then my sister would totally laugh in my face(the reason she can laugh in my face, as opposed to punching it, is because we no longer share the same room and same bed, so our personality differences can now be laughed at).  Ok, so I am easily irritable.  It's something that I'm working on, and most of the time I don't let it conquer my day.  But today I did.  I was one fire breathin' dragon mamas today.  It doesn't help that I've been running on minimal sleep the last few days due to one feller who rather not sleep in his own bed and several other kiddos who have suddenly decided to consume mass quanities of water before bedtime.  It doesn't help that all but one of my kiddos has the crud of some sort.  I'm a light sleeper, so all I've heard is a chorus of barking seals all night long for the past few nights. 

All of those things factored into my dragon day.  BUT, that still doesn't excuse my behavior.  EVERYONE has stressors.  That is life.  As Christians we are required to rise above our flesh.  My flesh might say, "I'm tired! It is 10:45 and I still haven't had time to make coffee, which I DESPARATELY need, because I have been blowing noses, wiping bottoms, referreeing arguments, tying shoes, and answering 9,000,000 questions since 7:00am!"  Regardless of what my flesh says, though, I am still required to treat my children in the same loving and gentle manner that I require them to treat each other.  We speak in love.  We touch each other in gentleness.  We do not raise our voice in anger.

Goodness, knows I have broken those standards today.  There are some folks out there who would love to say, "That's what happens when you have six kids!"  But in my honesty I'll tell you that I have had my dragon mama moments when Luke was our only child.  "Dragon Mama" is purely a flesh thing, not a number-of-kids-you-have thing. 

This dragon mama is ready for today to be over so that I can start fresh tomorrow.  As much as they can bring out the dragon in me, I'm not sure if I could go a single day without my children.  I am blessed beyond measure by having the opportunity to be their mother.  This dragon mama has been tamed, atleast for tonight.