What is a girl to do?

 This is what happens when I am left to my own devises while being sick...

            My latest obsession… Pinterest. It is the new form of heroin l I swear. It is amazing how quickly I get sucked in and before you know it it’s two hours later. I lose time when I get on there. So much so that I set the alarm on my phone so that at some point I tear my eyes from the computer screen and maybe actually do some of the stuff that I have pinned.

Let the games begin

            So what is a girl to do when her soon to be husband is out doing a raft trip and I was at home with a runny nose, sore throat and fever? Well you start cooking up homemade cleaning solutions and beauty products. Duh. I had pinned a bunch a recipes on sugar scrubs and cleaning solutions that promised to whiten the tub better than anything else. So today I figured while I had the kitchen and the house to myself for a bit that I would given them a try. This way I could at least clean up the mess before Charlie got home if things went badly.

            The first do it yourself project I tried was one that sounded rather strange but I was willing to give it a try. Over the years I have spent a lot of money trying to make my skin look a little less like a 14-year-old prepubescent boy. It’s sad that I am almost 30 and I worry about pimples, and this trick seemed almost too hooky to work. But I am up for almost anything and it seemed harmless. So what you do is take half a lemon and drop a few drops of honey on it and rub it on your problem areas. My nose and chin tend to be the worst places for blackheads so I hit those two spots pretty hard. I also washed my face first. You’re supposed to let this sit on your face for 5 minutes then rinse. I recommend doing this right before you get in the shower because it makes it easier to get it all off your face in the shower. It tingled a little, but never burned and I have to say tasted nice when it dripped on my lips. Now the website said that you would see immediate results, and I can’t say that I did, but later that day I noticed especially on my nose that my skin looked better. I am willing to try it again just to see if there will be anymore noticeable improvements.

            The first thing that I wanted to try making was the sugar scrub. I love a good sugar scrub, but the ones that you find at the store are rather expensive. Now I did splurge a little on this. While running a few errands Charlie humored me and we stopped into a very cool organic grocery store near us and I got some essential oils for this project. Most of the oils were reasonably priced but of course the one I wanted was about $15. I have this thing for grapefruit. Now here is where it gets weird. I don’t actually like eating them, and I add way too much sugar to them to make it worth it when I do try to eat them. But I love the smell of them. Clean, fresh and invigorating. So I splurged. I also got some lemon essential oil as well, because well I like the smell of that too. But other than the oils everything else is pretty cheap and more than likely you have it on hand. Here is the recipe that I used:

                                    

                                   2 ½ cups of granulated sugar

                                  1 cup of oil (I used coconut, but you can use whatever 

                                                       kind you want)

                                  A few tablespoons of fresh squeezed citrus juice (again                                                                                                                                         whatever kind you want to use, but I used lemon)

                                  Several drops of essential oil (optional)

Hmmm sugar

That’s it. I know right?! Crazy simple. I did make a few modifications though. I decided that there needed to be some essential oils so I added both the grapefruit and lemon (a great combo if you ask me). I also added some lemon zest to the mix as well. It gave it a very nice pale yellow color and a nice homemade feel. It smells awesome, and feels awesome after you get out of the shower. The only problem I had was when the coconut oil cooled it did get a little hard in the jar, but once you get it scooped out it almost melts in your hand.

            

Facial Toner

Next on the list was a facial toner and again a very simple recipe.

                           ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

                             1 cup water

                           2/3-cup witch hazel

                         And a few drops of essential oil (adlibbed by me)

            I frequently use witch hazel on my face and on insect bites, but adding the lemon and oils takes it to another level. Again I was surprised with the gentle tingle but never a burn and the smell, to die for. I have to say that I am enjoying these organic homemade remedies much more than I have ever enjoyed anything else I have put on my face.

Scrub-a-dub-dub I need a clean tub!

            Next up the tub needed cleaning so of course I looked up the article I pinned on how to get rid of soap scum. Now we aren’t dirty people, but our tub does get a little abused during the summer since we are either getting off a raft trip or coming back from camping we can get pretty messy. The recipe for this awesome cleaner is so simple as well. It is just a 1:1 ratio of cleaning grade vinegar to dawn dish soap. And the recipe is pretty specific about it being the blue dawn dish soap. You heat up the vinegar then pour in the soap and shake it up in a spray bottle. Just don’t shake too hard like I did. There will be a pressure build up in the bottle. Then all you do is spray it on the tub let it sit for about an hour or longer then wipe down and rinse off. I spared you picture of blackhead-covered nose earlier and I spare you pictures of my tub as well. But trust me it works. I was really impressed. Best part is it’s safe and non-toxic, but I wouldn’t recommend eating this one. It’s also thicker than most spray cleaners, which is nice, because it stays where you spray it.

Bootleg

            The last thing that I made had some controversy to it. But I didn’t realize it until after I had it mixed. Oops. Mod Podge has always been one of those things that I would love to do but the stuff is not cheap. So of course I jumped at the chance to make my own. The recipe is just a 1:1 ratio of Elmer’s glue and water. Now when I went to the Mod Podge web site there was a whole section on how it is sacrilegious to make this homemade version of Mod Podge, and how all of my projects are going to look awful and turn yellow (eventually). Now I can’t decide if this is Mod Podge propaganda or truth. Besides by the time my podged projects start turning yellow I will probably already be trying to figure out how I can revamp it anyway. So I will give it a shot. I found a jewelry box that could use some new life, so we’ll see what I can do with a little paint, scrapbook paper and my sacrilegious bootleg Mod Podge. 

By the way the I got the mess cleaned up.