Thursday, January 12, 2012

OCM- Oil Cleansing Method

I love being natural.  I love using alternative medicene for my family.  I love having a garden and making meals as healthy and natural as possible.  But I also have loosened up a lot since I last went "natural" 7 years ago.  I was so annoying back then, it was my way or the high way.  Now I probably aim for about 80% natural (most days) and I'm good with that.  I don't need to make my friends feel bad by not eating what they have or giving a lecture on why my way is better.  And I even let my kids eat at McDonalds or other fast food 1-2 times a month.  I don't stress about it- I make the changes that work for OUR family and let the rest slide for now.  And as if God is trying to show me just how annoying I used to be by giving me a friend who is where I was 7 years ago.  And yes, she drives me crazy with her self righteous ways!!  It makes me want to apologize to all my friends I know I drove crazy and made feel bad (actually that's not a bad idea.  Yes I was that bad!)  But anyway-  life has settled down a bit for me and I'm back into finding healthier ways to do things.  One thing I hadn't tried before was the Oil Cleansing method or OCM.  Sounds weird- use castor oil and another oil to clean your face.  But it works!  I didn't have extra virgin olive oil (just plain ole olive oil) and I forgot to pick some up when I got the castor oil.  I have tons of coconut oil and palm shortening so I opted for the coconut oil.  It's working fine, but I do want to pick up EVOO next time I'm at the store.  Here's a link to a more indepth look at OCM http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/
I haven't mixed up a bottle of mixed oil yet, I just scoop out a bit of coconut oil and dribble a few drops of castor oil in it and slather it on (in the bathroom away from my mocking husband!) and steam it off with hot washcloths.  The past two days I've noticed my pores are a bit too open after this and it makes me look older so I went back to using a drop of my normal aveeno lotion.  So that is my newest delve into natural living.  Oh and I've been using the coconut oil as a deodorant.  =)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Stockings!

I guess I went on a bit of a rampage with charm squares this year. I've made several skirts for my girls and three big stockings (I forgot to photograph one of them)and I made a bunch of little stockings out of the bits of yardage. I'm pleased with how they turned out and each stocking took 9 5" charm squares. (I used one cut in a diagonal for the heel and the tini top of the toe part) I used batting and lined them so they took some time, but not a huge amount. I hope the recipricants will enjoy them for years to come.




Stockings!

Big stockings for my brother and his girlfriend

Loved making these tini scrap stockings

Christmas pjs

Big brother little sister

big brother little brother

EVERYBODY!

Daddy being silly with some of the kids
Every year the "elves" leave nice new pj's and a book Christmas eve morning so everyone matches and looks nice and neat Christmas morning.  I've made them all most years although this year I cheated and only made the boys and mine and my hubby's- I found the girls nightgowns (WITH A doll nightgown too!) on black Friday for around $6 each so I couldn't pass them up.  They happened to match perfectly with the red snowflake flannel I already had and since I didn't have to make two nightgowns that suck up yardage I was able to make us some too!  I'm really pleased with them.  I used glitter puff paint to make a snowflake on mine- I wanted to do hubby and the boys but he informed me to leave them alone no one would wear them if I did.  MEN!  So theirs are boring red!



the Polkadot Chair