Lotions and Potions ~ Dana

I know that these homemade beauty and cleaning product posts aren’t for everyone. But let me tell you that every time I post another recipe, I have a barrage of emails and Facebook comments asking me questions and encouraging me to share more recipes. And I know that I have converted some of you. I’m changing the world one armpit at a time!!

Let me also tell you that I will not post something here unless I have tried it myself. A lot of the natural cleaning or beauty posts that I read share things that the author hasn’t vetted. None of that here. But it takes me a bit to try new things, sometimes failing, but most of the time, winning.

Right now, the ONLY things in my daily routine that aren’t homemade are my toothpaste and mascara. This morning in the shower I used goat milk soap from the folks over at Goat Milk Stuff. If you haven’t heard about them, check this article out. It’s a whole family-run operation over there and Jen and I love their products. I washed my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar (I am currently experimenting with what’s called the “No ‘Poo” method. I’ll let you know how that goes), dried off and used homemade lotion, brushed my teeth and followed up with a homemade mouthwash. I also moisturized my face with a homemade face cream and slathered on some homemade deodorant.

Yay, me!

Then we made the trek down to Sea World and tried out my new homemade sunscreen. What I found was that it’s not very water-resistant. So when this happens:

you need to reapply. And by the way, should you ever find yourself at the Shamu show, the “splash zone” is no joke. Yes, my 7 month old got soaked, too. Winners all around.

So today I’ll share with you a few new recipes that I am in love with: lotion, sunscreen, mouthwash, and hand-sanitizer. We will also be adding them to the “Footloose and Chemical Free” drop-down menu for easy access in the future.

If you have any questions about any of this stuff, feel free to email us and we’ll answer your questions the best we can. But I love this, you guys. I can’t say that for sure it will keep me and my kids cancer-free forever, but it can’t hurt, and I’m saving crazy money in the process. Boom baby.

Homemade, All-Natural Lotion via wellnessmama.com

½ cup sweet almond or olive oil

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup beeswax

Optional: 1 tsp Vitamin E oil

Optional: 2 Tbsp Shea Butter or Cocoa Butter

Optional: Essential Oils or Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except essential oils in a pint sized glass jar. I decided to use a canning jar that I have designated just for making lotions. You could also re-use tomato sauce jars, pickle jars, olive jars… be creative!
Fill a medium saucepan with a couple inches of water and place over medium flame.
Place glass jar in pan.
As the water heats up, the ingredients in the jar will begin to melt. Stir or swirl occasionally to incorporate. Be careful, the jar will get hot, too!
When all ingredients are completely melted, add essential oils a few drops at a time until you are satisfied with the scent. Then, simply pour the liquid into whatever glass jar you will use to store it. Small, wide-mouthed mason jars are great for this. As it solidifies, it will not pump in a lotion pump.
Use as you would regular lotion. It has a shelf life of about 6 months. This lotion is wonderfully luxurious and a little goes a long way. Enjoy!

Note: This is more the consistency of a thick body butter. I have read that if you take out some of the beeswax, it will soften up a bit. I think I’ll try that next time and see how the consistency comes out.

All-natural sunscreen via wellnessmama.com

½ cup sweet almond or olive oil

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup beeswax

2 Tbsp Zinc Oxide (this is a non-nano version that won’t be absorbed into the skin. Be very careful not to inhale the powder. Wear a mask if necessary. 2 Tbsp will make the sunscreen 20 SPF. More can be added.)

Optional: 1 tsp Vitamin E oil

Optional: 2 Tbsp Shea Butter or Cocoa Butter

Optional: Essential Oils or Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except essential oils in a pint sized glass jar. I decided to use a canning jar that I have designated just for making lotions. You could also re-use tomato sauce jars, pickle jars, olive jars… be creative!
Fill a medium saucepan with a couple inches of water and place over medium flame.
Place glass jar in pan.
As the water heats up, the ingredients in the jar will begin to melt. Stir or swirl occasionally to incorporate. Be careful, the jar will get hot, too!
When all ingredients are completely melted, add essential oils a few drops at a time until you are satisfied with the scent.
Add Zinc Oxide and stir well. Then, simply pour the liquid into whatever glass jar you will use to store it. Small, wide-mouthed mason jars are great for this. Stir a few times as the lotion cools to ensure the Zinc Oxide is mixed throughout. As it solidifies, it will not pump in a lotion pump.
Use as you would regular lotion. It has a shelf life of about 6 months. This lotion is wonderfully luxurious and a little goes a long way. Enjoy!

Note: This sunscreen is somewhat, but not completely, waterproof. Reapply after swimming or excessive sweating.

Homemade Mouthwash via wellnessmama.com

Ingredients:

8 ounces of rum or vodka (for tincture)

1 tsp dried cloves or clove powder

2 tablespoons dried Peppermint Leaf

2 tablespoons dried Plantain Leaf

1 Tablespoon Rosemary Leaf

15 drops of Cinnamon or Peppermint Essential Oil (or more to preference-optional)

Directions:

Place herbs in a pint size mason jar.

Pour enough boiling water over herbs to just dampen all of them. (This helps release the properties of the herbs).

Pour the rum or vodka into the jar with the herbs and hot water.

Cover tightly and put in a cool dark place for 2-3 weeks. Each day, shake the jar to help the herbs infuse into the alcohol mixture.

After 2-3 weeks, use cheesecloth or a very fine mesh strainer to strain the herbs out of the tincture. Discard the herbs and pour the tincture into small dropper bottles or other glass jar to store.

Add the essential oils, return lid and shake well.

To Use Mouthwash:

Keep glass bottle with herbal tincture on bathroom counter with a small cup or glass.

For each use, mix a mouthful of water with about 40 drops of the tincture and swish well for 30 seconds.

For extra cleansing, add 40 drops of the tincture to a half and half mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water instead of plain water and swish for 30 seconds.

All-Natural Hand Sanitizer via The Prairie Homestead

Ingredients:

4oz. glass spray bottle (essential oils will break down the plastic ones)

Water

2 tsp aloe vera gel (get pure aloe gel, not the green colored stuff)

8-10 drops of vitamin E oil (I bought little plastic pipettes, but you could use and old medicine dropper, too.)

30 drops total of the following essential oil combination: Lemon, lime, tea tree, and lavender (all of which I bought at Clark’s Nutritional, but could be found online as well.)

Directions:

Fill bottle half-full with water. Add aloe vera gel, vitamin E oil, and essential oils. Top off with water and shake well.

– Note: Lemon, lime, and tea tree oils are very antibacterial, as well as antiviral. The lavender also has some of these properties, but it’s mostly added to make the mixture smell pretty.

The Three F Words ~ Julie

No. Not that F word.

The last five years have been so hard for the folks in this country. Lots of endings, lots of fear. It’s easy to believe that it will never get better, never be different. It’s easy to wait for things to change.

Maybe there’s another way to see it, though. Maybe, instead of waiting, we should be jumping at opportunity.

We know that God has a plan. What if we were brave enough to ask God and ourselves this question: What is it that we really want to do?

Meet our friend Julie. In a few weeks, she and her husband and her three year old daughter are making an amazing and brave and thrilling life change. Julie asked God the question and then she embraced the answer. We hope she inspires you as much as she inspires us!

I believe in two “F” words: Faith and Fate. Is this belief strange for a Christian? Maybe, maybe not. I believe everything happens for a reason, a reason we may not understand, but maybe we’re not supposed to understand why somethings happen. Sometimes a third “F” fuels the other two “F” words to work hard in one’s life: Fear.

Around this time last year, my husband and I were making a lot of life changes that included: moving houses, adding to our family, and learning to live on one income.

We were moving houses as a temporary situation to save money for a year and I was excited. It was going to be an opportunity for me to stay at home with my daughter for the year, but also to be able to see my mom every day. It was an especially exciting time for us as we learned that we were expecting our second child after trying for almost a year.

While I had happily taught English at the high school level for six years, I needed a break or a change. I also couldn’t believe how quickly my two year old daughter was growing and how much I was missing, so I made the change that many people couldn’t imagine taking in this economy: I took a leave of absence from a career I loved.

Some people looked at me like I was crazy or even dissatisfied with my school (which I really wasn’t), but I FELT something. I felt like God was sharing His plan with me. That’s what faith is, isn’t it? Trusting in God’s plan when you just can’t conceivably understand how it will fit together. So, I fearfully/faithfully took a leave of absence from work and trusted in Him.

On June 9th, 2012 among moving boxes and Dora birthday presents, I took a test that revealed I would be carrying a second baby in the year I had chosen to stay at home. It was an exciting and surreal moment. I felt like I understood why God had aligned everything so perfectly now, it was all working out!

But, things don’t always work as expected because three weeks later, I lost the baby.

To say I was devastated is an understatement. I questioned everything, and unfortunately, even God. This is where the three “F” words come in. From my FEAR, grief and sadness over losing my precious baby, I prayed for understanding. When tested, our FAITH appears and we start to understand our FATE slowly.

After losing the baby, I became like a hermit. I didn’t want to leave the house and so I started to surf the net and also reminisce about happier times, which led me to the summer of 2008. My husband and I had traveled to Rio do Janeiro as a way to visit family and experience a new culture.The pictures were beautiful and filled with happy and carefree times. I wanted that again; I wanted to escape to a new life where I could start again. So, while my heart was slowly starting to heal, I tried for a new beginning by applying for jobs in a country thousands of miles away.

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? They call it “CidadeMaravilhosa” or the Marvelous City because of its constant motion, sounds, smells and friendly people. People from all walks of life are active throughout the day, usually near the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema, or even Leblon. It’s going to be a busy few years for this city of roughly 6.5 million people, as they are hosting both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

I started remembering everything I loved about my mother’s native country and the memories gradually started putting me back together. I started emailing and researching a few schools in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And slowly, it started to become a true possibility. After a few months of making a dream into a reality, we did it…

We attended a job search in Atlanta, Georgia for educators interested in teaching or working in Mexico, Central, South America and the Caribbean. It really seemed as if God was pointing us in the right direction again. Once we were finally inside the meeting area with the schools, we were informed that only two of the four possible schools we had been interested in, (very few of the schools had positions open for both English and Math) still had positions for both of us. And when it was time for us to interview with a school, there was only one, Rio’s American School (the one we really wanted) who still had our positions. It was if the lord was narrowing down the choices for us. To make a long story short, they called us in January to offer us the jobs.

We don’t know what we’ll encounter or even if it’ll be easy for us, but isn’t that what faith is? When I asked my husband why he wanted to do it, he answered, “Why not? I mean there’s so much out there. There’s so much to explore and so much to see. I want our daughter to be the kind of person who wants to see the world and not be afraid to take risks.” I agree, hubby, I agree.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Julie will blog about her new life in Rio at expatsparadise.wordpress.com

The F Word ~ Lesley

Lesley is my person. And my cousin. When her Canadian husband stole her to Toronto almost ten years ago, it was a thing. Luckily, Brian is a very good man. We have survived by never letting 365 days go by without seeing each other.

When she called and told me this story a few weeks ago, I knew she had to write a post. This is a SUPER parenting win, and a reminder for all of us that a little bit of prayer and thought goes a long way. I always listen carefully to her parenting stories, since she has been a mom longer than me–three whole weeks longer. She is wise.

Enjoy! ~ Jen

My seven year old is my sensitive child, deeply aware of everyone’s feelings, especially his own. He’s also a rule follower, like his dad. So, when he steps outside the rules, he is very affected. In this case he was curled into the fetal position on my lap, head buried in my neck, making a confession that was broken and choked with breathy sobs.

“Mom, I have to tell you something.”

“Ok, babe. What has you so upset?”

“I accidentally said the F word.”

“How do you accidentally say the F word?” I ask. “Saying a word like that is a choice. And where did you hear this word?” I cringe, waiting for him to say he heard it from me. “Are you trying to be cool? That word is not cool.”

“I know. I am so sorry.”

I think.

“Wait. When and where did you say this word?”

The whole truth comes out. He tried it at school with some friends that he refuses to identify. They are not encouraging him to say it but he has used this language on the playground. And he confesses that he just said it in our basement before he came up to talk to me. My first concern was that he said it to his younger brother or sister. But he was alone. He could not explain why he said it but he knew it was wrong and came to tell me.

It is one of those moments. I need my son to understand that he has made a bad choice and there are consequences. But the only reason I know he used the F word is because he told me.

I breathe. Acknowledge that his conscience works. Celebrate that he came to me to unload his conscience. Provide meaningful discipline.

Ugh.

There are several feelings in this for me. Pride that he came to tell me, and that he has chosen to keep his friends out of it and only stand on what he did—no deflection to anyone else. Shock that my angel faced boy is walking around using this kind of language. Longing for the days when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was a part of his present, not his past.

What to do? I decide to pull a page from someone else’s Momma-wisdom and use it as my own. I believe that if a Momma shares a bit of wisdom with you, that is implied consent for you to use it as you own. I took this page from Glennon at Momastery. I’m sure she would approve.

I tell him “Babe, you know how your heart is hurting and you are so upset? That is God telling you that you made a bad choice and to come talk to me or Daddy. I’m really glad you listened to God. That is hard to do sometimes, but it is very important.

“You made a bad choice. That language is not allowed in this house. I understand there are lots of words you will hear from your friends and you will know some of them are not ok to use. You can always come talk to me. But the rules don’t change and so bad choices have consequences. What would be a consequence for this?”

He chooses, bravely, to lose his favorite possession—the DS. We spend a few minutes talking about if losing his DS would help him make a better choice the next time. There was not a good answer for that, from either of us. I used my favorite Momma card and deferred a decision until I could discuss with his dad.

I believe that bad choices are necessary for good choices to happen. But that can only be true if the consequence includes a mix of humility and a better understanding of the impact of the bad choice. It is not always easy to find a consequence that meets these criteria, but I do think the big lessons are worth a minute of reflection to find one.

My son and I had had a big important discussion. It was an opportunity to grow. I knew that losing his DS did not feel like the right consequence. So I percolated, which in our family means I let it bubble gently on the back burner while I went about my business. I have superhero guardian angels who help and guide me. I knew the right answer would arrive. I just needed to make some space for it to come in.

Sure enough I became aware of that voice in my head, chewing on the issue. Foul language. Ugh. Garbage. How do I keep my babies from that? And…there it was: If my son was going to dirty the world with garbage out of his mouth, he could pick garbage up to make it clean again.

Cue the hallelujah chorus.

My son spent the week picking up litter all around his school and taking out garbage for his class. It took me a few minutes to write the needed letters. My son provided the letters, with his own explanation for why he was asking to do these tasks. His principal, teacher and after-school care providers were all onboard.

Humility, check.

Then we talked again about how using curse words makes the world an uglier place. We talked about how some words hurt and why it is important to know what the words you use actually mean.

Which, thank God, did not lead me into the definition and explanation of his chosen curse.

The F word. Ugh.

I Fainted at my Wedding. So? ~ Jen

The story starts like this: I opened my eyes to the sound of my mom calling my name. I saw my dad’s face and realized I was looking up at him. He’s not supposed to be on the altar, I thought.

“Did I just faint at my wedding?” I asked. Then “I’m going to puke.”

Moments earlier, I felt it coming. I leaned over to my cousin and whispered “I think I’m going to faint.”

“No, you aren’t,” she said with a sunny smile, and turned her face back towards the priest.

So I leaned over to my husband. “I’m think I’m going to faint”, I told him. “Ok” he said. That was it. Next thing, I’m looking up at my dad.

I was not drunk. I was not pregnant. And I was not scared.

I was hot. And kneeling. And trussed into my dress like a dang rump roast on Christmas Eve.

I enjoy telling this story to people. The reactions are fun. Some people laugh with me. Some shake their heads. But it’s the ones, usually single women, whose faces collapse in horror and pity that are my favorite.

It becomes a learning moment.

I fainted on the altar at my wedding. So?

“What do you mean so?!” one of my students asked me once. “All that money! All that planning! Ruined! I would be humiliated!”

I’ll admit that I had to do a magnificent job of shaking it off, a la Scarlett O’Hara: I’ll think about this tomorrow. I could have let it ruin my day.

But I didn’t. Look at the pictures. If you didn’t know I fainted, you wouldn’t know it from the pictures.

Beautiful, happy bride. Beautiful, happy day.

But most important of all: Almost nine years, three kids and two dogs later, beautiful, happy marriage.

That’s what a wedding does—it begins a marriage. Despite the wedding industry’s best efforts, we don’t say “We’re having a wedding!” We say “We’re getting married!”

Besides, a wedding is just one day. Not even the whole day. I waited eleven months for my wedding day and spent too much money on the details of making it lovely. For what? A blur. One moment I was fainting on the altar and the next I was lying on a beach in Mexico.

And I’m not saying that weddings shouldn’t be big and sparkly and fun. All of the weddings in our family have been big and sparkly and fun. We love weddings!

But that day, when you wear the crazy expensive dress and feed people food they will not remember, pales in comparison to the day you hold your baby in your arms.

The love you feel for your fiancé at your wedding is nothing to what you will feel when your spouse gets up with that baby at 3 am.

You think it’s the best day of the rest of your life? It’s not. It’s just the first best day.

We learned lesson #1 about marriage at our wedding: It wasn’t perfect. It was human and loving and beautiful. There was a moment it went a bit left, and then the moment passed, with the help and concern of our family and friends. Which is exactly what happens in a marriage.

When I look back, I regret nothing. Especially not the fainting. Because when we got home from our honeymoon and watched the video, we saw a church hushed with concern. My mom’s good friend Lu, a doctor, walked up the aisle to see if she could help. My bridesmaids held hands and prayed for me. Except for my sister in law, who crawled underneath my veil, hairdo be damned, and loosened my dress so I could breathe. When I finally was up and seated on a chair, wobbly, teary, embarrassed, everyone applauded.

I fainted on the altar at my wedding. So?

Brides and Bridezillas, don’t plan a wedding. Celebrate a marriage. It’s a very different thing.

The first lasts a day. The second lasts a lifetime.

Homemade Bread ~ Jen

Our Friday update:

Dana’s daughter is down with the stomach flu. They are playing the 48 hour Russian Roulette of “Who Will Get Sick Next?” Bad way to spend the weekend.

And my kids are out of school today. Welcome summer. Ish. SAHMs, you know what I’m talking about.

I’m working on a wedding post for next week, in honor of June. Tentative title: “What I learned from fainting on the altar at my own wedding”. Oh yeah.

But today, we want to leave you with something a little bold in the homemade department.

Whole Wheat Bread.

I resisted this for a while, because it seemed so Little House on the Prairie. Or I Love Lucy.

I tried a few versions and a bread machine. The kids complained that the loaves were dense and dry. Shea complained that the loaves from the bread maker had a giant hole in the bottom, which interfered with his sandwich making skills.

Finally, I found a recipe that worked for us: No Fail Whole Wheat Bread. It makes two loaves. We freeze one while we eat the other. It’s light and moist and by far the easiest and least time consuming of the recipes I’ve tried. I can make the two loaves in two hours, but I really only have to stand over the mixer for five minutes. The rest of the time is waiting and baking time.

I have a Kitchen Aide 6 quart stand mixer with a dough hook. Mine was a gift, but Kitchen Aides are expensive. I did some research and there are lots of reasonably priced (under $100) stand mixers out there. Or you can use a hand mixer for the first part and then hand knead the dough for five minutes after mixing.

Thanks to Progressive Pioneer (www.progressivepioneer.com) for this recipe!

No Fail Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups warm water

1 ½ teaspoons yeast (I buy Fleishmann’s Active Dry Yeast in jars because I use so much)

¼ cup honey

7 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 generous tablespoons olive oil

2 loaf sized baking pans

Directions:

Combine water, yeast and honey and stir gently. Allow to sit for ten minutes so the yeast will activate (it will start to look foamy).

Add 3 ½ cups flour, all the salt and olive oil and stir together. Let sit one minute. Add the rest of the flour and mix. If you have a stand mixer, use the dough attachment on high for 7 minutes (this will mix and knead). If doing by hand, you need to hand knead it for 5 minutes after you mix it.

Let it sit in bowl for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. When it is ready, turn it off (you just need some heat in there for the dough to rise.

On floured surface, cut dough in half, shape into loaf and plop into both pans. Stick in the oven (it should be OFF) and let rise until the top of the dough is at the top of the pan (about 45 minutes).

Remove pans from oven; preheat to 350. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Let cool ten minutes then turn out on flat surface to cool.

I store mine in ziplock bags. One I leave out for sandwiches and the other I freeze until we need it.

Nutritional Information (2 loaves, 14 slices each)

132 calories per slice; 1.3 g fat; 0 g cholesterol; 168 mg sodium; 26.4 g carbs (2.6 g sugar); 3.3 g protein; 1% calcium; 8% iron; health grade: B+

No preservatives. No chemicals.

I promise, promise, promise that this is a fast and easy recipe for busy moms. And it’s cheaper, once you get the ingredients in your cupboard. Try it once and see what you think.

PS: there is NOTHING like this bread right out of the oven. A little butter, a little honey. Heaven.

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