Happy New Year! 20!5

Today was the first day of 20!5 and I enjoyed it.  But let's back track to how we rang in the New Year:

With homemade dairy free cocoa and grain free pumpkin cake:

The girls and I made it to midnight. We watched some Star Trek the Next Generation with the hubs, and then The Princess Bride. Unfortunately for the hubs about 2/3 of the way through The Princess Bride he had to head to bed to deal with his headache. 
The girls and I choose to watch Ice Age after that and finished out with some David Letterman. 

I woke up (late) and managed to finally put Christmas 2014 away:

In putting away all the Christmas stuff I managed to consolidate down and eliminated two boxes. The tree is still standing in the corner, but hopefully the hubs and I will be able to put that away tomorrow. 

I played some Candy Crush (yes I am officially addicted) and cleaned out some spoiled food from my fridge. I have to say I was incredibly disappointed with the last 2 produce picks from Aldi's. I guess I'll just have to go back to shopping the Public Market (brrr) and Abundance Co-op. 

I am keeping with my intention for 2015 to spend more time with friends. Since my girls were born I have put many friendships on the back burner and 2015 is the year that I am making every effort to reconnect. 

Tonight all 4 of us (plus a guest of Thia's) are headed to the Skinny White Boy Chef's place where, he and Courtney are making us Chicken Anastasia. I am bringing this lovely pan of potatoes (yes that is a turkey roaster FULL of potatoes)

As well as a large salad. 

I kept up with the dishes today, and have decided in addition to not going to bed with dirty dishes in the sink I am going to make it part of my efforts to make sure that I dry and put away all the dishes every night before I go to bed. 

Tomorrow the girls and I will make Vision Boards.....

Post Christmas Wrap Up!

Not that long ago I decided I was going to attempt to post a single post everyday for one full year. 365 posts. I've already missed 2 posts. The first because I was just overwhelmed and exhausted. The 2nd was yesterday. 

Yesterday was Christmas. 
I celebrate Christmas. 
Maybe not in the same way a lot of people do, but I celebrate. 
Christmas to me is a time for family, a time for giving and a time for joy. 

This was my Christmas:

Christmas Eve the hubs, the girls and I went to his Aunt D's house.  We noshed, we gifted, we caught up with family members we hadn't seen in 6 months and others we hadn't seen in a year or more.  I really enjoy these gatherings and the opportunity to catch up. 

We returned home around 8:30 p.m.

Lulu and I still had some baking to do, and Thi-Thi still had some mochis to sew.  Lulu and I made the dough and baked the gluten free empanadas and stolen. Both turned out lovely, but I want to play with the dough to see how truly thin we can roll it. The next time we make the dough, I'll share the link to the blog we found it on, along with pictures of whatever we are baking with it. I parboiled the potatoes (ala Jamie Oliver's Christmas Baked Smashed Potatoes) and we made Gluten Free cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were my absolute favorite. We had been looking for a grain free recipe that was still soft and tasty. These hit the spot! Again we want to play with this recipe to see if we can make larger rolls (keep in mind with grain free the dough doesn't rise). 

Then of course the kitchen had to be cleaned up. I washed and dried dishes.

I always wrap presents on Christmas Eve. I have visions of wrapping things as I get them (and visions of getting things through out the year) so that on Christmas Eve I just need to pull out the gifts and put them under the tree. There is always next year. 

I finished wrapping a few minutes past midnight. I went to bed. Originally I thought if I finished my Christmas preparations by 10:00 p.m. I would do a simply Merry Christmas blog and set it to auto-post. By 10:30 I realized I would not be able to prep a post. I thought about blogging Christmas Day after breakfast, and after my girls did presents. 

Then is was 7:30 Christmas morning and time for me to get up. Fortunately, we trained our girls early to wait on Christmas morning. They were not allowed to get up and run down stairs and open presents. Our rule was that they had to wait to go down stairs until Mom and Dad had gone downstairs and had coffee AND that they had to wait to open presents until my parents arrived in the morning. They could open stockings but everything else had to wait. So my girls have always slept in on Christmas morning. 

This year I actually had to wake them up. 

I got the cinnamon roll dough out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature.  I put the empanadas and the stolen in the oven to warm up. I set the table and rearranged the furniture. 

My parents arrived at 8:30 (which is early for them, usually it is closer to 9:30), and we had breakfast before we even did stockings or presents.  After breakfast the girls opened their stockings, the hubs opened his stocking and I opened my stocking. 

Last year, Lulu took on the task of filling my stocking. The year before that she asked why my stocking was mostly empty. I told her that because I do all the stockings it is tough for me to come up with my own stocking stuffers. Instead I just put in my toothbrush, razor refills, soap and a chocolate item that we all get. Everything else in the stockings is personal to that person. 

Last year, Lulu worked the previous summer and had some money so she bought a lot of items and filled my stocking. It was touching. I thought it was the best stocking ever! Then I opened my stocking this year. While I had limited funds this year, she had only $10. She bought my favorite tea and a chocolate bar (with Chai spice) but what made this stocking the best ever was the rest of the items she made. She made me hand warmers which she stitched a peacock feather and a heart in peacock colors on. She made me a bracelet and a wire pendant. She made me an infinity scarf and I am sure I missed something, but it made me so happy I nearly cried. 

My girls received all hand made items from me and Santa and Thi-Thi stated "Best Christmas Ever"

While they received items that were from Amazon and/or store bought they items that made them happy and everyone else happy were the items that were handmade for them or by them. 

They were both super excited to be giving out hand drawn cards, candles and soaps they made along with some sewn crafts. I'll let Lulu tell you about the Studio Ghibli basket she made her sister. 

After gifts I had to clean up the kitchen from breakfast. 

Then my parents and I hung out and chatted for a while. Eventually it was time to put out the grazing platters and prepping Christmas Dinner. While I took plenty of breaks and spent time with my family I was go go going all day long. I realized before lunch that it was more important to me to spend the time with my family and be present in the moment than to simply post a blog post. 

So however you spent yesterday I hope it was a good day and that you were present to all the joy. 

Happy Christmas Eve! Whipped Body Lotion for ALL!

Happy Christmas Eve! Weather you spend it at home or with friends and family I wish you a joyous day!

As promised here is another homemade gift-able. Unfortunately unless you are as quirky as I, and have a teenage daughter who has been experimenting with making home beauty products for more than three years you might not have all the ingredients..... I even had to go out and buy more Apricot Oil last week (and to my dismay the coop only had one small bottle. I'll have to ask at the service desk about ordering a big bottle of apricot and a big bottle of almond - once I am back to work of course).

So here it is, and it is super simple. You keep a simple ratio of 3 solid to 1 liquid. Yep that's really all you need to know. 

This is what I used for this batch (and my recipe changes batch to batch, we keep tweaking it when we are 100% satisfied I'll update and let everyone know my final recipe).

520 grams of Raw Shae Butter (mine is the yellow kind, but I also get and use the white. When I purchase white Shae butter I make sure it is sun bleached and not chemically bleached. I get my Shae Butter for a rocking price from the African Store on S. Clinton Ave. It comes in chunks in plastic bags and is favorably priced. A shout out to the fabulous people at Aaron's Alley for sending me that way a few years ago when I was looking. RIP Aaron we all miss you)
99 grams of Cocoa Butter (I get Essential Living Foods from Abundance Co-op, this wasn't a complete package as Lu uses it for lots of her beauty products).
112 grams of Coconut Oil (I used up the last of a jar I had from Aldi's, yes you can get organic cold pressed coconut oil from Aldi's. In case you didn't know Aldi's is the outlet for Trader Joes....)

To that I added the following liquids
114 grams of Apricot Oil (Lu loves this for her skin.... and I picked up a few months ago after reading about it)
32 grams of Fractionated Coconut Oil (this was a left over bit I had from my EO days)

Once your solid oils are melted add in your liquid oils. You can use just one solid oil. I have made recipes with JUST coconut oil and fractionated coconut oil, but I personally LOVE Shae Butter and what it does for my skin. You could use just Shae butter, or just cocoa butter. Keep in mind Cocoa butter is a "hard" solid oil and so the resulting lotion may be stiff. It will still work you'll just have to "dig" it out and melt it in the palm of your hand. As for your liquids you can use just one vegetable oil (but not corn oil please) or any combo you like. Olive Oil is a favorite from the Mediterranean. There is also Sweet Almond Oil, Avocado (supposed to be great for mature skin), Apricot, Jojoba, etc....... The cost of the oils ranges....

Once the oils have cooled to a solid state, I reheat them. Double heating gives me the best results. Let them cool a second time, but not to a solid state.  Once they are cool but not solid add them to a mixer (you can whip by hand, but it takes more than 30 minutes) and add any essential oils you wish. I ALWAYS add Frankincense and Helichrysium, since both are great for the skin. To give you an idea a recipe like this I use up to 8 drops of Frankie and 2 drops of Heli.  This made 6 half pint containers and 6  four oz containers.

My original intent was to personalize each of the lotions with different EOs like orange, geranium, ylang ylang.... but when I finished whipping this batch

   It just smelled so heavenly I couldn't bring myself to add any other EOs to personalize them.  If you are not making a giant batch of one scent you would scoop out your individual amounts and add EOs. Again I recommend keeping it to no more than 3 EOs (unless you are copy catting someone else's tried and true recipe. I also don't count Franki and Heli when I use them in a recipe. 

The end result varies from batch to batch. This one was very butter-creme frosting like. If when the product completely cools you find it to hard or stiff you can remelt it and add some more liquid oil (not EOs) to it. Or sometimes just put it back in the mixer and whip it again. Now you will notice that I used a batter mixer on my Kitchen Aid, that is because this is my Mums old kitchen aid and she lost the whisk. My kitchen aid died after 3 years of use (I was disappointed to say the least. After all that old white kitchen aid which is older than I am is the reason I bought a kitchen aid. My mums lent us this one until we replaced ours. She has a new kitchen aid which is just fine 6 years later, but after the heartbreak of my first big married purchase breaking I'll just keep using her back up until it breaks down, which probably means I should seek out a whisk at a thrift store or garage sale.....)

Enjoy your whipped body lotion. Again you can fancy up the packaging  with ribbon or fabric and tie on a label (always label your gifts with the ingredients) and some twine.  I can only estimate this recipe cost:

Cocoa Butter - $12.95
Shae Butter - $5
Coconut Oil - $4.99 (but I used 1/3 of that jar so @ $2)
Apricot Oil - $7.99
Fractionated Coconut Oil - $9.99 (but we used less than 1/4 of that bottle so @ $2)
Divide by 12 = $2 per container

Add
$.25 for Essential Oil
$1.80 for the 1/2 pint jar
or 
$.90 for the 4 oz jar

Making a 1/2 pint (8 oz) container $4 and a 4 oz container $3

Again not a bad homemade gift. 

Homemade Giftables! Bath Salts

So if you are a last minute Lucy, like myself, you might be scrambling to find gifts for all those who remain on your list. This is a recipe for ingredients you might already have on hand....

 1lb of Sea Salt (fine or coarse crystals)

4lbs of Epsom Salt

1/2 c Pink Himalayan Salt

Add Ins

Lavender buds

Chamomile buds

Essential Oils

Kerr 1/2 Pint Jars with Lids (19.00 1.60/jar)

Sharpie

Fabric or Ribbon

This recipe makes roughly 10 1/2 pint mason jars of bath salts. I used plain Epsom salts (I found them in with the medical supplies not with bath supplies), fine sea salt (I would recommend coarse sea salt but I had the fine on hand for making salt scrubs), 1/2 c of Pink Himalayan Salt (I found it in bulk at Abundance Co-op). This is your basic recipe. Mostly Epsom salts, then add some sea salt and pink salt if you have it. You could use just Empsom Salts. 

From here you begin to customize. I scooped out (using the 1/5 pint jars) into a small bowl enough of the salt mix for 2 gifts. To this I added Lavender buds and Chamomile buds (this was actually a yummy tea mix from Tracy's Teas) and 3 drops of Roman Chamomile and 2 drops of Lavender essential Oils. Mix well and package. This made my Relax Bath Soak for my MIL and Mums.

It is especially important with Essential Oils and bath salts to let them sit together for 24 hours before you decide if they smell is strong enough.

Then I took out two more containers worth and added orange peel, wild orange (3 drops), grapefruit (2 drops), and Ylang Ylang (1 drop) essential Oils.  This makes Shiny (as in sunshiny) Bath Soak.  

I already had ALL of these supplies on hand, I had purchased bits and pieces through out the year with the idea of doing a bath salts workshop. So technically these 4 gifts cost me nothing (and I have two coconut oil glass jars with salt mix to make more custom blends), but let's do a real cost analysis.  

I used a sharpie to write "relax" and "shiny" on my bath salts. Right on the metal lid. Use a little citrus eo to remove any residue or previous sharpie work. You could also cut a square of fabric to cover the metal lid and make it look super pretty, or use ribbon. 

The cost breakdown:
1 lb of Sea Salt (fine or coarse crystals) - purchased from Trader Joes for $.99
4 lbs of Epsom Salt - purchased from Wegmans for $3.99
1/2 c Pink Himalayan Salt - $1.25 at Abundance Coop Bulk Section
Lavender buds - Free the Tea was given to me as a gift and I enjoyed it very much this was just the very end of it. You could buy this tea from Tracy or go to Abundance Co-op and get Lavender and Chamomile in their bulk section. Better yet plant these in your garden this spring and dry them for next year.
Chamomile buds - same as the Lavender
Orange Peel - FREE
Essential Oils - about $0.05 per drop
Kerr 1/2 Pint Jars with Lids - purchased from Amazon through Cooks.com for 19 with shipping making each container cost $1.60
Sharpie - Free
Fabric or Ribbon - Free
So then each gift costs approximately - $2.50

If you do gift Bath Salts encourage the recipients to return the fancy jars for future gifting. You could also save other containers throughout the year or search garage sales this summer. I don't recommend plastic. 

I selected Kerr jars because they are made in the USA and I try very hard to support this local economy of ours.  I ordered mine from Amazon then saw them for the same price (sans shipping and handling at Target). As much as I don't like the big box stores, I can justify this kind of purchase there. 

Let me know if you have a favorite bath salt recipe....

Cleaning - The Down and Dirty!

Google green cleaners and you will find articles and links to commercial "Greenwashed" products as well as recipes for all sorts of cleaners.

You can clean most everything in your house with:

Baking Soda (washing soda for laundry)
Vinegar (plain white)
Citrus (soak your waste citrus peels in white vinegar and you have a powerful window and surface cleaner)
Liquid Castile Soap

Most of the cleaning in this house is done with just plain white vinegar. White vinegar kills MOST germs, but not salmonella bacteria. You can kill Salmonella bacteria with warm (notice I did not say HOT) soapy water. 

The best cleaner in your arsenal is plain liquid castile soap. We do not need to disinfect surfaces (we really would be healthier if we had limited and regular exposure to common bacteria and germs).  

When I want a gentle scrubbing agent I use baking soda, castile soap and a touch of vinegar. 

Adding Essential Oils to your homemade cleaning products can make them smell good, may increase their ability to cut (emulsify) grease (like citrus), may add to the anti-bacterial effect, but they are not necessary. 

In 2015 I'll share one cleaning tip per week and share all my tried and true cleaning solution recipes (all 2 of them).

The best advice on cleaning is to keep up with it. So whether or not you are way behind (I am) or you clean regularly, doing a little bit each day/week makes all the difference. 

If you try to clean you whole home at once you'll be so exhausted (if you are able to finish) that you won't want to do any kind of maintenance the next day and thus the cycle continues. 

The holidays have started for some (Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice) and are just around the corner for others (Merry Christmas), but if you have company coming and you need to clean-up your home and your act here are some simple tips and guidelines:

1. They are there to see you, so unless you live in a place that is truly filthy relax.
2. Clean only those areas they are likely to see.
3. Pick your battles.

Remember your guests are your guests. They are there to visit with you and celebrate the holidays. They are not there to judge your housekeeping. Not many people actually keep homes worthy of being in a magazine. My house is lived in, and yes it could be cleaner (and it will be in 2015) but it is my home. I am grateful to have a home.

Are your guests likely to be in your basement, will any bedrooms not be used, how about your home office? Concentrate on the following rooms in this order:

Bathrooms - Bathrooms should always be clean

Kitchen - if you are cooking or they are eating in your home you want the kitchen clean. We are not talking about cleaning the fridge, instead give the floor a sweep and mop, wipe the counters and stove down with warm soapy water and put away any unnecessary clutter. 

Dinning/Living room - Clean the floors, wipe down table surfaces for dust, put away the clutter, and shake the furniture cushions (preferably outside)

Guest Room(s) - Clean up only if they are in fact staying with you or if they have small children who might need to nap. I just shut the down on my and Thia's bedrooms.....

So take a moment prioritize and remember that your guests are coming to visit with you not judge your home. 

Priorities and the Small Wins

Truth be told my Thanksgiving post was written 3 weeks ago, and for whatever reason I left it in draft. Immediately after typing the post I did some work to clean out the downstairs bathroom and even pinned up the blanket. Check out my progress:

My downstairs bathroom is in better shape and I am going to keep working on it, but the next weekend, when it was time to update my progress, I was battling a head cold and I needed a simple win. Instead of doing more work on the downstairs bathroom, I decided to tackle something I could complete (the laundry I had waiting for me). I did not take pictures of all the laundry I had before me because when I pulled out the camera the battery was dead. I did take pictures once the battery was charged.

I also established what will be my office.  I have had an office for years, but it is overwhelmed with clutter. I decided to establish a new space that I can feel like I am not disturbing people.

 


From the downstairs bathroom I removed a dishpan and some cast iron cookware which I need to clean and put to use. I also cleaned out some junk and listed a few items on a Facebook garage sale site.  It is looking better, but then we get to priorities.

Christmas is just around the corner and I have been out of work since March.  Funds are non-existent for this year's celebration. I am determined to make this a holiday to remember and not to be remembered as that holiday we didn't have any money. That is where the priorities come in. I have been pinning on Pinterest (follow me I am Tree), but I stopped because I felt like I was never going to get back to those pins to try them. I have decided that for 2015 my goal will be to attempt all the pins on my Pinterest and let you know how they shake out.

I am going to start with the things on my boards that I can make for Holiday gift giving. Fortunately my darling husband and I have a tradition of not gifting to each other on Christmas.  If we find something that is just perfect we might purchase it, but we don't feel obligated to purchase. That leaves me with needing gifts for:
LuLu (16 year old girl)
Thia (13 year old girl)
My Momma
My Father
My MIL
My Step FIL
My FIL and Step MIL
Dear Hubby's younger brother's (Billy a Freshman at the Merchant Marine Academy in King's Point, and Joey an adult embarking on his own life with a wonderful woman named Amanda).
I don't gift to my friends.

I have a few bath salts and whipped body butter recipes I want to try out and that I will use as gifts for my Mom, Step MIL and MIL.  I know Lulu plans on using some of those items for her gift to her little sister.

For Thia I found a Toothless Plushie Tutorial on Pinterest and I am hoping I can come up with the fabric to make a toothless.  That would be her "big" gift. We typically only do one big gift, an ornament and then something they have asked for. I have a few pins that might help me to fill her stocking. I was thinking about making a Coupon book for each of my girls and for my mother. Since I am hopeful to be back to work come early January I am going to keep the monthly tasks under $10 till at least June and then I am hopeful that we will be back on track and able to do more fun things.

I am a big believer in experiences and time spent together being more important that material gifts.

I have to keep mum on the items that are for Lulu since she is also on this blog, so I'll let you know post-holiday what items ended up being for her.

Lulu is launching her own business. She is making mini Octapi and Mochi as well as pencil cases. I have attached a picture of her Octapi model and hope she does well.

So while I am looking for accountability, I know that I have to prioritize and right now I need to prioritize to clean out the dinning room, living room and kitchen for the upcoming holiday.  I also need to work on the crafts that will help me put together a wonderful and fun holiday.

Pink Washing, Green Washing, Organic Washing and now Local Washing.....

It started with the Susan G. Komen foundation selling out and letting any business (even those associated with cancer causing agents) put the trademarked pink ribbon on their merchandise. Then everything was suddenly in some way "Green" made with "recycled" materials or in "sustainable" practices. However, if you scratch the surface of any of these campaigns you will find hypocrisy and lies. 

I LOVE local businesses, even better when they are local artists. I do my best to support my truly local businesses and artists whenever I have the option. With "Small Business Saturday" fast approaching and people up in arms about stores (big box chains) planning on being open on Thanksgiving I just had to say a few words. 

First, no one is forcing anyone to work on Thanksgiving. Yes, there are people who need the money and feel they have no choice but to work on Thanksgiving. Working on Thanksgiving might even take them away from their families (whom they are working to support) on a MADE UP HOLIDAY about family. Holidays are ALL about family and they do not need to be celebrated on a specific day or at a specific time. It is all about the intent. So if you are one of those people who needs to work Thanksgiving in order to support a family remember you can celebrate early or late or not at all. 

Second, there are people who are alone for the holidays and some of those people actually prefer to work on holidays. I know several people who have good relations with their families but they choose to work holidays because the pay is good. They have said to many people on more than one occasion, that if the the Holiday is truly about family then they can celebrate that any day of the year. Some who are truly alone choose to work on a holiday so as not to be alone. 

However, all that being said if you do not support stores being open on Thanksgiving because you believe that everyone should be home with their families then remember YOU have a say in the matter. You can not shop on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. You can encourage others to do the same.

This brings me to "Small Business Saturday". First this is a fallacy. Small business Saturday is sponsored by none other than American Express. American Express is not a small business and is not a local business. They are just in it for the money. Second just because a business is "locally" owned does not make is a sustainable or ethical business. There is little difference in buying cheap goods made in unthinkable conditions from a BoxMart or from a "local" store. 

The why? It is simple, there is a benefit to buying from a locally owned non-franchise store but it is small compared to the benefit from buying from a locally owned business that supports local artists and American Made goods. First, even the big box franchise stores have "owners". These individuals are often local (not always). This means that these local owners spend a portion of their profits in the local economy. They do however send a portion of their profits as part of their franchise agreement to some big company somewhere.  A truly local business allows for more of the profits to stay in the local economy. Even better than a local business selling cheaply made foreign goods (which sends money out of the local economy and encourages poor and unfair employment and manufacturing practices) is supporting a local artist or business that sells locally sourced or American made goods. 

I am a realist, there are a number of items that are NOT made locally or even in America (unfortunately count most electronics on that list). I strive to buy local, sustainable and ethical. I support my local artists and crafters and encourage my girls to do the same. 

For several years now I have purchased from KiraArts, Francesca DeCaire, SunshyneSilverware, and so many other local artists and crafters. My girls have received gifts over the years that came from big box stores (American Girl Dolls and Accessories), but the gifts they love and cherish are always those that are handmade and unique. No one else has the same gifts that my girls have. 

Having handmade unique gifts also helped to keep the spirit of Christmas and the legend of Santa Claus alive for my girls. Not that long ago my now 13 year old daughter asked me if Kira was a Christmas Elf because she made such wonderful handmade toys for boys and girls of all ages. I wouldn't think Christmas complete in my house without a handmade gift from my local artists. 

I have selected a few items this year 2 monsters from KiraArts, felted sootsprites and a totoro from Peaches Products, and a sootsprite necklace and totoro necklace from a local artist. I am looking forward to picking up my custom orders and a unique ornament for each girl at the Brainery Holiday Bazaar as well as shopping Mini May Day. Funds are limited this year (as I have been unemployed since March and in a full time school program for the last 6 months) so I won't be able to support my local artisans as much as I would like, but I will support them none the less. 

I will NOT be shopping on Black Friday or Small Business Saturday, instead I support local businesses, artists and crafters year round. 

How about you? What do you think about Small Business Saturday, Black Friday and or Thanksgiving Day Shopping?