A journey through life one success and failure at a time
Pinterest is heavy with DIY projects that are affordable, cute and organic. Bloggers and crafters alike flock to the site to post their ingenious recipe for some all natural homemade crap that is sure to make your friends envious and make you look brilliant These are all great in theory but what happens when the project goes south? What if it stinks and no amount of Photoshop editing is going to convince you otherwise.
Coconut Oil
Oh, the wondrous things you can do.
There are a million uses
and who knew?
Alright, enough rhyming. There are literally a million uses falling short of an organic lubricant for Nasa.
Here are some of them:
1.Simple easy Body lotion. It states it right on the back of the bottle….under cooking. So after you sautte up some dinner lather some on your skin if your are feeling a little dry.
2. Sunscreen. I know of a few people that substitute organic Coconut oil for sunscreen They never burn and come home extremely tan. I have not attempted this one yet but I know it is an option.
3. Chest rub. Ditch the Vicks and make your own. Sonia at Natural New Age Mum has a recipe for a homemade chest rub. This one I am actually going to make!
4. Body Scrub. Shania at Food for my Family has a great recipe for a homemade organic Coconut oil and Ginger body scrub. It looks fairly simple to make and you just may have most of the ingredients on hand. Another recipe for body scrub can be found over with Lindsey at Fashion Food & Foreplay. Hers includes Lavender!
5. Diaper Rash cream. Wabi Sabi Baby has an all natural recipe for Coconut oil Diaper rash cream. This one is golden. I was never comfortable with diaper rash cream and all the additives being smeared on my boys.
6. Eye cream. A friend of mine makes her own under eye cream. About a 1/4 cup of Coconut oil with some vitamin D and E. (soft-gels broken and squeezed into the oil). Microwave it for a few seconds to make it a little easier to stir. Wait for it to cool and apply.
7. Hair Cream. Add a little health to your hair! Check out Coconut Oil Benefits for You for a detailed method of applying and “healing” your hair.
Not quite a million on this page but I think these will get you going if you plan on substituting Coconut oil for almost anything!
I am not big on review writing. I typically stick with reviews that included a giveaway but when MommyParties invited me to review and then write my results on an organic skincare line for kids I jumped for the chance.
Episencial is a new skincare line that is made organically and for your kiddos. Kim Walls, the creator behind the line, ditched the harsh chemicals found in most skincare lines and added in the organic elements. The makers of Episencial focused gentle, “newborn safe” formulas that help boost the skins immune functions.
They actually sent me their entire skincare line to test out and all the items I have used, I have really enjoyed. My kids were the test subjects of the Playful Foaming Wash, Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath, Better Body Butter, and Soothing Cream. The bubble bath worked just like every bubble bath formula – LOTS of bubbles, but I really enjoyed knowing that my boys weren’t stewing in a pot of ingredients that I can’t pronounce…
The Playful Foaming Wash actually doubles as a shampoo and this is the product that I ADORE. My three year olds hair was gorgeous after it dried! He is pretty shaggy in the hair department because he has wonderfully thick wavy hair and usually it looks a little frizzy and damaged. Not anymore. I promise you! He is hair looks like a commercial, shiny and healthy! My husband even commented about how good it had been looking lately. I LOVE IT!
The lotions are perfect and keep them moisturized as it should! Honestly, it is a pet peeve of mine when my kiddos have really dry skin and I don’t like using my lotion on their little bodies but I don’t have to use much and they are good for the rest of the day!
One of the best parts of the Episencial package is that they have partnered up with Eric Carle so all the bottles are adorable. My boys call it the caterpillar soaps.
So, I have distributed this products amongst my friends with little kids and am waiting the results. I wasn’t going to make them wash their children in my tubs to see how the products worked for them, that would be creepy. Now I would like to encourage you to check out the website and maybe try out a bottle or two for yourself. I would say it is worth it!
I have blogged about this book, Who Knew? II, almost a year ago but I was using it recently and thought I would post some of the helpful hints that I came across…Now for the disclaimer bit….. I am not blogging for the authors or a company and the authors have compiled this information and if it doesn’t work, sorry!
I use a lot of their “hints” and they always work!! These were fun and I am sharing. I am awesome like that.
Try Retailmenot.com, Momsview.com, Dealtaker.com, or Pocketdeal.com for online, in-store coupons or promo codes
An all-natural way to get rid of pimples that are about to sprout…Simply dab the effected areas with a bit of apple cider vinegar and the zits should be gone in no time
Susceptible to athlete’s foot….Once or twice a week, soak your feet in a hot bath with two cloves of crushed garlic mixed in. The garlic will kill the athlete’s foot before it starts
Did you know that 80 to 90 percent of energy used by a washing machine goes to heat the water? Wash your clothes in cold water unless you need to kill germs or get out a stain like red wine or oil…You will help the environment and save on heating costs.
Great all-purpose cleaner- Mix 1/2 cup of borax with 1 gallon of water.
Little tip that someone taught me!! — Do you have roaches? Sprinkle baking soda on the ground. When the roach eats it the soda expands and kills them… ALL NATURAL BUG KILLER
I hope you like some of those tips!
Winner Winner chicken Dinner - Through Random.org the winner of the light givewaway is Susan at We Love Great Mexican Food …drop by and wish her congrats!
Now, I have another giveaway that I will be starting in a couple of days so keep a look out.
New Topic:
The garden is going very well. I am learning so much and I am extremely amazed with the growth. In true form I will start of with my successes.
Some of my devoted readers may remember that I planted new seeds for the summer. Those seeds included Mammoth Sunflowers and Jack-o-lantern pumpkins. I knew the pumpkins would have no problem getting started but I was a little concerned with the Sunflowers. I have never actually grown flowers. I have attempted but they always seem to die. This time I was proven wrong. Both the Sunflowers and Pumpkins are doing well. Below is a picture of one of four sunflowers I planted…
If you look closely on the left and side towards the bottom you will see a smaller plant. That is the beginning of one of the Pumpkin plants. Now here is a tip for those of you who garden. In the extreme heat you should plant sunflowers near Pumpkin plants to provided shade from the sun. Sunflowers can handle the heat and the Pumpkin leaves wont’ fry. I learned this bit of info from local gardening guru, The Garden Guy. I wish I knew this information last year because I wouldn’t have asked my husband to create the huge shade structure that is currently in place above my garden.
This is the Italian Parsley bush. I love it! It may not have too much use in food but it smells so great and it actually tastes pretty good right of the stem… Get this, this parsley is doing so well it is actually growing outside the garden box. I have two of these bushes!
See, more cantaloupe plants… Want one?
Now my failures:
I didn’t take pictures.
I am trying to growing Lavender and Tyhme in pots and it is not working. Nothing, not even a little sliver of green. I don’t think the Lavender is getting enough drainage but the Tyhme has no excuse.
I also have some slow growing Mammoth Sunflowers near my ac unit. I want to shade it for the summer and my husband said there is absolutely no way I can have a tree over there so I chose Sunflowers. Well, they weren’t kidding when they said full sun. Those little guys get about 4-5 hours of full sun and they are growing at a snails pace. They ARE growing but not nearly at the rate of they brothers in the garden box.
I hope you guys made it this far and I hope I gave you some good tips from my learning process. I am now off to make laundry soap and plant some Marigolds. Marigolds attract good bugs too!
I am sorry I am late with this post. I had a REALLY busy day yesterday so I had to do my Random drawing this morning.
The Winner is number 4 – Heather at ACTING BALANCED!!! Heather I will contact you for your address!
Now can someone tell me how to copy and past the True Random Number Generator onto my blog? I can’t seem to figure it out.
Don’t forget, I have another giveaway going on – Click HERE
Mix grated soap in a saucepan with 3 pints of water, and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 Gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket with hot water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. Stir occasionally. Store it in milk jugs or empty laundry soap containers, give it a good shake then pour.
Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. Use the same amount in your front load washers as well.
It will be chunky. I actually use a little more than 1/2 cup when I wash, but it is cheap to make so not a big deal.
(“You look like a normal person but you are actually the angel of death” Meg Ryan as Sally)
Today was a day of learning and reflection. It was one that I will remember for years to come and pass down to younger generations….The day the Pummelo died. What is a Pummelo you ask, stay with me and learn.
This week my good friend (lets call her K) and I decided to participate in Bountiful Baskets, a local produce co-op. I have only heard wonderful things about this organization and I was extremely excited about our basket. I really was, I’m not kidding. The night before our pick up I had a very vivid dream about produce and I will spare you the salacious details.
We arrived at the park to pick up our baskets and I was thrilled. It was filled with wonderfully fresh and beautiful fruits and veggies. Take a look -
I have been sitting here off and on for about an hour trying to come up with an opening line. A line that will grab everyone’s attention but I am failing. I have written and rewritten the beginning of this post about three times and it isn’t even life shattering or tragically important. One would think, wow- three times, this has got to be weighty issue. It is weighty, but physically not mentally…
I worked with tires and dirt this week! See – weighty – Tires are heavy! awww.. that was a bad transition.
ANYWAYS – We have started work on our backyard again! We painted tires, planted some corn, and I even built a make shift fence to keep out our dog and two year. Here come the pictures -
A painted tire courtesy of three kiddos under 5. Let me quickly explain the tire idea – I had originally planned on making my boys a play area with tires however as time wore on I didn’t like the idea anymore and so I switched to planters. I looked up the process of making tire planters and the risk associated, if any, and then went to work. I am now washing then painting each tire white. After the white has dried we add some color, as seen here. I finish the painting process with a clear sealant.
The bottom one is mine!
These are so easy to do and the kids had a blast! I still have about four more to go…
After the tires we moved on to the garden area…
I had an idea- I had a lot wooden stakes in the garage (ya know in case a horde of vampires attack my home) and I put them to good use… Hey look – you can see the tip of my ugly shoe in this picture!
Voila- The end result. One make shift fence. In that fenced area are two rows with corn seeds. Yum corn….
Wow- would you look at the garden area?! The giant broccoli bush is really going crazy.
This garden will be changing in the next two months. My husband is going to make me a larger garden box so that I can grow more vegetables. I will also be growing my own herbs and drying them. I will have a lot of herbs so keep a look out because I plan on giving some away.
Verdict = Two Thumbs up
(green thumbs that is – aw man, another bad joke!)
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
