Morning Smoothie

The flaxseed and oils are optional, but they add a nice healthy/nutty taste, and are a great way to get your daily dose of omegas and whatnot ;)

Tools

Ice-crushing Blender (with gradations on side)
1T Measuring Spoon
Large glass (about 2.5c)

Ingredients

1/2c Fruit Juice (ie. Ceres, or Bolthouse Farms Strawberry Banana)
1/2c Plain Yogurt (Milk & Bacteria only)
2T Flaxseed (Cold-Milled)
1T Pumpkin Seed Oil
1T Hemp Seed Oil
1T Honey (Unpasteurized - optional, if it's a little too healthy for you :))
1/4c Frozen Raspberries (optional -- for added zing)
Couple handfuls of Frozen Fruit (2.7 kg of No Name = $10)

Directions

Add everything except the frozen fruit, and pulse a few times.

Add in small handfuls of the frozen fruit (pulsing with the ice-crush feature), until the smoothie is nice and thick

Enjoy :)

Naturally Protective Hand Cream

Two Lord's Days ago, Mrs McC invited me and my Mil over to her home to teach her eldest daughter R how to etch glass. I ended up going home with more materials than I had brought -- Mrs McC taught me how to make hand cream, and gave me bottles of everything I'd need to make it at home :D

Naturally Protective Hand Cream

Working in the shop wreaks havoc on your skin. The air is dry and wood just sucks all the moisture out of your hands. Wearing gloves is a safety hazard when working with machines, but moisturizers will transfer waxes or oils to the wood, interfering with the finish, so they're out too. The only solution is to toughen up and use a protective hand cream after working:!:

You can mix around the oil or water-based ingredients to your liking, as long as the ratio of oil to water stays 1:1. For a lighter lotion, increase the water ratio slightly. I used brackets to indicate which ingredients were combined to make the listed amount.

Tools

Blender
2c clear measuring cup
1/3c measuring cup
1t measuring spoon
small double boiler or pot
small spatula



















Cream = 1 1/3c WATERS[1c water + 1/3c[Honey + Aloe + (opt. Glycerine)]] + 1 1/3c OILS[2/3c Liquid Oil + 1/3c Solid Oil + 1/3c[1t Lanolin + Beeswax] + (opt. 1t Vitamin E)] + Opt. Essential Oils

Waters (total 1 1/3c)

1c Water (preferably distilled)
1/3c [Honey (unpasteurized), Aloe Vera (food grade) and Glycerin (optional) combined]

Add Honey and Aloe to Water in the clear measuring cup, leave on counter to warm up to room temperature. Rinse out small measuring cup.

Oils (total 1 1/3c)

1c Oils
- 2/3c liquid oil (Sweet Almond, Grapeseed, Jojoba, or Apricot Oil)
- 1/3c solid oil (Coconut Oil, Cocoa, or Shea Butter)
1/3c [1 tsp Lanolin, topped up with melted Beeswax]

Optional

1t Vitamin E oil
Essential Oils

Directions

If you use beeswax regularly, it would be a good idea to set a pot aside as its permanent home. A small kettle works very well -- easy to pour the wax. I was concerned about overheating the wax, so I used a double-boiler, but it turned out to be not quite hot enough (started to turn solid as soon as it hit my blender).

Melt all oils on the stove top, then pour mixture in blender and pulse a few times to blend completely.

Put blender cup in the fridge until cloudy (very important -- too warm, and it won't blend easily with the water mix).

Turn blender on and slowly drizzle water mixture into the center. You can add a teaspoon of Vitamin E oil at this point, if you like.

Use the spatula to scrape all the way down the sides of the cup (in between pulses) until well-mixed. Make sure to get all the oil off the sides, and that there's no sign of water around the top.















Blend in a few drops of essential oil if you like (Unscented is best for babies), then pour into small jars. Let sit until firm -- it might feel oily until it sets.

A Tip from my friend:

Add water and a touch of gentle soap to the blender cup and pulse a few times to clean. If you didn't scent the cream in the blender then use the wash water to make your own baby wipes:!:

Check out this site for great baby wipe directions ;)

Hair Today

So... my hair is starting to get pretty darned long. So long, in fact, I need advice on caring for it, and styling options. The last time I had hair this long, I was 7, and my Mum did everything for me :)

I found a great site -- the Long Hair Community. It has pages and pages.. and pages of really helpful info on just about every beauty topic (and more! Oh, and hair care, of course). The women (and some men) are an enormous wealth of information. I've already joined a half dozen challenges (No-Trimming, No-Picking, Hair Oiling, Condition Only, Oil Cleansing Method, and Oil Pulling (not entirely sold on that one)), and I'm sure I'll find more bandwagons to jump on ;)

I've decided to keep track of my hair's growth, to see how fast it grows. This is a picture I took this evening (25 Apr 07). I've been using using my Jojoba herbal mix every night, doing WO in the morning, and CO every 3-4 days. Lots and lots of BBBing, trying to spread all the good stuff down my length.

I thought I was BSL, but as you can see, I'm very nearly waist length at the longest point. I'm pleased with the overall shape from my last haircut (Jan 29/07), so I'm looking forward to the no-trimming challenge. I'm fairly confident I won't reach terminal length for a few years at least. As long as I take good care of my hair, I should reach a solid classic length by 2010, without the ends looking ratty... I hope, anyway >.>

My facial blemishes are starting to disappear since I started cleansing and moisturizing with a 60-40 mix of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Castor Oil. I smell a little bit like a pizzaria, but I think it fades away after half an hour... I hope, anyway >.>

I've stopped trying to manually "fix" my skin, too -- no more popping, poking or picking. It's a bit frustrating... I find my fingers roaming over my chin looking for bumps, but I think in a couple weeks I'll stop touching my face altogether... I hope, anyway >.>

For comparison purposes, I dug up this old picture from our Honeymoon (27 Aug 04). It was the only one I could find from the back, with my hair down. It's B&W and fuzzy because I think DH was playing with our camera's features, but it shows my length well ;)