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.  =)

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!

Thanksgiving

I've been swamped with life lately, but I wanted to post the outfits I made for the girls.  I was very pleased with how they turned out.  Simple circle skirt with a dyed waistband and lace at the the bottom and I drew a quick  turkey applique for the shirt.  I didn't dew it on since I hoped to rip it off to reuse the shirt for Christmas and it ripped right off so that was a nice surprise!  My first time using heat and bond!

Grl Scout Samoa's

Samoa's are my all time favorite girl scout cookie.  And we don't have a girl scout in the family or apparently don't know any who try to sell to us, there are some years I don't get them at all!  So after searching around on the internet I settled on one posted over on grouprecipes.com.  It's not a true girl scout copycat since it doesn't start with some sort of shortbread cookie, but the gooey caramel and coconut is my favorite part anyway!  They didn't take too long to make- although I BROKE my candy thermometer when I got it out of the drawer to make these so it was a bit of a trial.  Successful in the end!

I made most of mine in mini cupcake papers- they are a bit messy to form into circles and they stayed gooeyier like this.

Ingredients

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• 6 tblsp butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 of a 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups toasted coconut
• 1 cup semi-sweet chips
  

• In a 2 quart saucepan over medium-low heat, combine butter, sugar and corn syrup.
• Heat to a full boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Slowly pour in condensed milk, stirring constantly. Continue cooking over low heat until candy thermometer reaches 220-228 degrees.
• Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Beat until creamy. Immediately stir in toasted coconut and mix well.
• Spoon by tablespoonfuls into circular mounds onto buttered wax paper. Flatten slightly. With the end of a wooden spoon, poke a small round hole into the center of each cookie.  Or put them into mini cupcake papers.
• Cool completely.
• Melt the chocolate chips and drizzle thinly in stripes over cookies. Let chocolate harden at room temperature. Store in a airtight container.
• To toast coconut: Spread coconut on a baking sheet and toast in a preheated 350 degree oven, stirring occasionally until lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes.

Little Red Riding Hood

Checking out her basket (thrift store find!)

Big sister wanted to be little red riding hood this year.  We don't usually go trick or treating, but I LOVE to make costumes for dress up and we don't have little red riding hood so I thought it was a great idea!  I started out with a simple circle skirt with a thick waistband and lace at the hem.  Then I found the perfect shirt at the thrift store and I sized it down to fit my girl.  Then I cut the belt thingy out of red felt and poked holes in it and laced it up with black yarn.  The cape is two simple rectangles (my ruffler foot handled thick fleece!) out of red fleece for warmth.  Complete the outfit with sparkly red shoes that can be reused for Christmas and I think they'll have to wear thick white tights simply because it'll be FREEZING out!  It was such a simple yet beautiful costume.  I love it.  And when I was adding up how much it cost to make it sure it qualified for a linky party- I was amazed that it was only $8 to make!  $17 if you add the shoes, but I was going to buy them anyway for Christmas pictures!  I got the fleece on sale ($3) and needed about a yard- same for the gingham ($3) and the shirt and basket I got for $1each at the thrift store.  I had the felt and yarn and I have the white tights she will wear.  Not bad!

Such a pretty girl!

Not really into picture taking

This is what she thinks of her cape!

What a puss on this girlie

Pumpkin Muffins

TWO ingredient pumpkin muffins

Pumpkin cookie jar hard at work!

I've seen the recipe for two ingredient pumpkin muffins running rampant in blog land and on pinterest.  When I needed a quick snack to make how our home group last week I decided to make them.  They were REALLY good and so easy I'll make them again.  I only had a plain yellow cake mix so I added cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves into the batter as well- but realized after that I could have made that step even easier and added pumpkin pie spice!  So try them- you'll be pleased!

Pumpkin Muffins
1 yellow or spice cake mix
1 15oz can of pure pumpkin puree
If you are using a yellow or white cake mix I'd add 1-2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice or the equivalent of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove
Mix the ingredients together and I made mini muffins that I baked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Little Sister loved "helping"

No eggs in the batter

I found these at the dollar store!  I LOVE mini muffins

Mmmmmmmm