Lemon coconut hot oil treatment

Not to brag, but I smell really good right now.  If I was a cannibal, I would eat my own head off.

Maybe it's not obvious from the picture, but this is a DIY hot oil scalp & hair treatment to quench my thirsty head.  I don't know if I'm part snake, but in the winter I start to feel like one.  So I looked into my pantry and thought I would put some food on my head.  You should see me when my lips are chapped, I just start smashing eggs into my face to treat that.

Lemon coconut hot oil treatment

4 tablespoons of coconut oil (I think promiscuous coconut oil is fine too)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a small bowl, measure 4 T coconut oil and heat in the microwave for about five seconds, until liquid and slightly warm.  Squeeze 1 T lemon juice into the oil and combine.  Using your hands, massage oil into scalp until evenly coated.  You may as well rub any excess into your hair since it looks like straw too.  Throw that free hotel shower cap you have been hoarding on your head for about a half hour or until you feel like washing your hair.  

How to make homemade hand soap

After the birth of my son, I noticed that we go through gallons and gallons of hand soap each year because babies are composed of 90% germs and 10% pudding.  With the rising cost of basic toiletries in general, I began dreading my trips to Target and how much I would have to fork over to maintain my hand washing addiction.  Then I figured out how to make my own hand soap for a little over one dollar per gallon.

This is a terrible photo of what you will need:

• 2 bars of Dial antibacterial bar soap (Dollar Tree carries a two pack for $1)
• 16 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons liquid glycerin (found at most pharmacies for about $4 for 6 ounces)
• big pot
• spoon
• immersion blender or handheld mixer

Start by grating 2 bars of soap into a big pot.  Cover the two cups of soap shavings with 16 cups of water (128 ounces) and add 2 teaspoons of liquid glycerin to the mixture.   Heat on medium while stirring continuously until the shavings melt completely.

Once the bubbles form a yin yang symbol, the soap has achieved a perfect balance and can be removed from the heat and left to cool overnight.  Once cooled, it will be a gelatinous blob and you will assume my recipe is a piece of garbage.  Grab your immersion blender or hand held mixer and whip the ever loving crap out of that soap.  There, see I told you.  Now pour it into an old plastic container and refill your soap dispensers as needed.  You have just saved the Earth and your wallet some misery.

Snake boots

I don't know how this picture never made its way on to my blog before.  It's one of my favorites.  North and I donning our best snake battling gear in front of our house.  I remember this day.  North is looking at a huge concrete truck precariously parked on our driveway during our drainage renovation.  That's why we're standing in dirt.  We pulled up all of the brick pavers and had rock-stamped concrete put in.

This was taken in the early summer of 2010, which was a bad year for copperheads on our property.  Six of them met their end with a shovel.  I normally leave snakes alone, but after a copperhead bit our dog, Jake in 2008, I have become a copperhead murderer.  They are beautiful and I do admire them, but I cannot share my land with them.  Afterall, I have a little boy in froggy boots to protect.

OBX Trip

Through the kindness of Nanny and Poppy who kept North for the night, Dave and I enjoyed 24 hours free to roam around Buxton, NC. After some coffee and an Apple Ugly at Orange Blossom Bakery, we rode our bikes to the Hatteras Lighthouse.

Then we strolled along the beach looking for shells to make Christmas ornaments for our tree this year.

Nothing like an arm extension shot with a cute little boy in pink sunglasses to make your heart smile.

We met some new friends at the Old Gray House in Buxton and North loved exploring the gardens out back. I will never go to the OBX without a stop by to visit Dewey and Mary, they are one of the greatest treasures of the island.

Being that this trip was in May, the water was still COLD! Fortunately, we'll be back in a few months to do a bit more swimming and exploring.

3 Years

Dear North,

This blog went on a brief hiatus through the winter when work got the best of me. It's been a hard six months trying to maintain a balance between my work life and home life. There are days months when I want to escape with you and your dad and live off the land in a tiny cabin by a lake. As much as I enjoy all that modern life and technology have made possible, there is also a price that we pay for such conveniences. Unplugging from it is not so easy when you have to plug back in tomorrow.

But anyway, getting back to the balance is my greatest challenge, which is often made easier with the advent of Spring.  The early blooming flowers and first buds opening on trees will always remind me of your birth.  I will always remember that last waddle around the neighborhood I took the day before you were born to try to initiate labor.  A warm gusty wind enveloped us as we strolled the streets on our way to nowhere in particular.  It was a relaxing way to close the chapter in my journey and start the new one called motherhood.
 
I often tell you about how you used to live in my belly before you were born.  At first, you looked at me sideways insisting that I was trying to trick you.  Pregnancy is a weird thing, I don't blame you for being suspicious.

You've been with us for three years now.  You are one of the funniest, stubbornest, sweetest boys I have ever known.  We have actual conversations now. 

"Talk to me." you will say, as we lounge in chairs on the back deck.

"Ok.  Why don't you tell me about what you would like to do when you get bigger?"  I say, knowing this is one of your favorite things to talk about.

"I want to ride in a rocket ship to Nanny and Poppy's house when I get bigger!" you exclaim.

I've learned that you have some bold goals on your bucket list.  But I have some bad news.  You will never be able to ride a rocket ship to Nanny and Poppy's house.  They don't have a rocket ship landing pad, so there would be no place to park.

All Good Doggies go to Heaven

Dear North,

I took the week between Christmas and New Years off this year, which is a first. It's been a wonderful time, especially with you so little and so tuned into the magic of the season.

After we spent some time down by the creek today, we were walking our way back up the steep hill. Your little legs quickly tired out and you asked to be carried. I couldn't accommodate considering the mud caked onto your crocs and the items I was already carrying. But I gave you the same manta I often tell myself on the way back up the hill dragging a load of yard waste behind me when I feel like I can't take another step.

"Mommy can't pick you up right now, but let's just keep walking to the smiling tree right there." I told you.

You seemed content with that and kept on step by step until we made our way to the almost redwood sized tree that sprouts out of the forest bed and towers high above our house. A few years back, as your dad and I hacked our way back through the vines and weeds to gain access to the creek below, we took some odds and ends pieces of wood and nailed them to the huge tree trunk in the shape of a smiley face. It's been a halfway resting point between the house and creek ever since. When our dog, Jake, passed we decided the smiling tree was a fitting place to lay him for eternity.

I mentioned how I wanted to put a bench to mark the spot, since it always seemed we stopped right there to catch our breath and visit Jake's grave.

"Do you remember Jake, the big white doggy?" I asked.

"Yes," you confirmed in your high pitched voice I wish I could bottle up forever. "Where Jake go?" you asked looking around.

"He's under the ground now, but we can still say hi to him here whenever you want." I attempted to explain without getting into the morbid subject of death.

"Here mommy, hold stick," you ordered and I obliged taking your walking stick from you to free up both your hands.

"What are you doing?"

"I find Jake!" you squealed with determination as you kicked fallen leaves out of the way to reveal the puppy you thought was hiding beneath.

Oh North, I wish it was that easy.

Merry Christmas!

I'm not complaining that it's 65 degrees as I write this, but it makes dreaming of a white Christmas more of a reality this year. Let's hope it happens! And then let's hope it melts quickly the next day.

I want to point out the I do not always look quite so pink as I do in this photo. Truth be told, I had applied a Pepto Bismol mask to my face a few hours before this photo was taken. I had been making Christmas crafts and decided to watch Dr. Oz at the same time. I had never watched the show before, but got sucked in by the "Beauty Tips You Can Find in Your Pantry" theme for the day. The Pepto Bismol mask was his breakthrough fix for dull skin.

I said to myself, "My skin feels dull. I fell dull. I have pepto in the house. LET'S DO THIS!"

I gave it a whirl and thought it felt tingly. But it wasn't until this card was photochopped and I was able to compare my skin tone to that of a normal elf, when I realized to Dr. Oz, having nice skin means making it pink. So there you have it, do not apply Pepto Bismol to your face. Merry Christmas!