While Walking My Dogs

I like to wake up to a clean kitchen.  I know that seems silly, but it makes me happy and gives me energy for the day. Which is why I work at making sure the dishes are done and the sink is empty at the end of the day.  I’m not always successful, but when I am, it makes for a great start to the day.

I found this homemade nightly sink scrub at the Clean Mama blog.  It’s an incredibly simple recipe, but the results are amazing.

You put 2 cups of baking soda along with 10 drops each of lemon essential oil and clove essential oil.  Such an amazing combination of scents.  I use a fork to stir in the oils and then put the entire mix into a mason jar.

I used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes in the metal disc of the mason jar to turn the jar into a shaker.  Works beautifully.

I followed the directions and end up with an amazingly fresh clean sink.  I love the lemon/clove combo, but I think I might try a peppermint/lime combo as well.

You really should give this a try.

Until tomorrow,

I don’t think you’re silly mom.  Anything that makes you happy makes me happy.

In my journey this month to find recipes that will help me save money and reduce the amount of chemicals I come in contact with, I’ve decided to try homemade shampoo and conditioner.

A little background.  I’m not terribly fussy with my hair.  I make sure to get a good haircut every 5-6 weeks (I’ve been going to the same gal for 32 years) and I’ve been blessed with naturally curly hair, not too dry or too oily.  That being said, I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the morning (and by a lot of time, I mean 20 minutes) getting ready so I use a 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner and that’s it.  I blow dry my hair and I’m good to go.  I obviously won’t be doing any commercials for Pantene anytime soon, but I’m very content with my hair.

Today I decided to try a homemade shampoo and conditioner, specifically the one I found at One Good Thing by Jillee.  A baking soda shampoo and apple cider vinegar conditioner.

I mixed the water and baking soda and put them into a spray bottle as well as mixed the water and apple cider vinegar and put it into a second spray bottle.  A few blogs I read mentioned being careful to make sure the baking soda was completely rinsed out of your hair before you added the vinegar because when the two are combined it has a ‘volcano’ effect.  I made sure to rinse well.

Going into this experiment, I had a couple of concerns:  1.  could I live without bubbles and 2. would I smell like a salad.  So far my life has not come to an end with the absence of bubbles and no salad smell.  I was surprised how clean my hair felt and how much softer and curlier it was.  I’m going to try this for the whole 30 days and see how I feel then.

Have you ever tried homemade shampoo and/or conditioner?  I would love to hear your experiences.

Until tomorrow,

I’m wondering if you’re going to make shampoo for us.  Mostly I’m wondering if there’s a bath in my future.

I walk my dogs on pretty much the same route everyday.  You get the know the area pretty well, well enough to notice changes.  Lately the flowers have been blooming, blossoms have been covering the trees and with that come that amazing scents of the season. My favorite by far is orange blossom.  There’s a house we pass every day where you’re just assaulted by the sweet smell; I can’t get enough of it.  Needless to say the dogs are smelling other stuff that is equally as aromatic to them, but not so much to me.

A couple of years ago I made a batch of soap using Orange Blossom fragrance oil and next to the Spiced Mahogany fragrance oil, it’s my favorite.  I need to make a batch of soap soon and will probably use the Orange Blossom oil.

Today’s {DIY From Scratch} is Garbage Disposal Fizzies using a recipe found at Create Craft Love.  I’ve used cut up lemons before to freshen my garbage disposal but it never occurred to me to make tablets.

I followed the recipe to the letter with the exception of substituting orange blossom essential oil for the lemon essential oil.  I’ll probably make another batch using lemon and maybe even lime.  I mixed the baking soda and salt and then poured in the liquid dish soap.  I recommend using a fork to mix the soap into the powder.  The tines of the fork help the ingredients to break up easier while the spoon just kept the soap in a blob.  And I added 5 more drops of the orange blossom oil than the recommended 10 drops of lemon.  I don’t think it really makes a difference to therecipe and the scent is that much richer.

I scooped these cute little bundles of orange goodness onto my parchment clad cookie sheet and set them to dry overnight.  Can’t wait to try them in the morning.

Until tomorrow,

Hey you mentioned a walk.  We’re ready.