Put the lime in the coconut...

As promised, I am passing on a tidbit of useful information that I have learned. For the past two years, I have suffered, and I do mean suffered, from dry skin and hair. Yes, it's part of growing older and yes, it's part of the sun damage from youth and yes, it's partly hereditary and diet. All of those factors are working against me definitely. I have spend many, many dollars on all sorts of lotions, potions, oils, and conditioners but none seemed to work. I had a quarter-sized spot on my left cheek that just wouldn't go away.
Finally, my good friend Subha suggested using coconut oil. WHAT?!?! It seems that in her native India, pure coconut oil is used for lots of things - cooking, moisturizing, conditioning, cleaning etc. We were at the Taj Grocery store in OKC at the time and quickly located a 3 ounce bottle for around $2. Not too much of an investment if it didn't work out.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later - I was dry skin free! The pure form of coconut oil isn't oil at all, but more of a solid. It very quickly become liquid from the warmth of your hand. I put the coconut into a very small canning jar to store it in (a great reuse of a glass jar opportunity!) and keep it in my bathroom. Also, once a week, I melt some in my hands and massage it through my hair before bed. I do wrap my head in a light towel but it really isn't oil at all. In the morning it washes right out, no residue at all just wonderful soft shiny hair.

And do I have to mention the glorious aroma? Practically everyone loves the smell of coconut so it's a win-win situation! I can tell you that you could buy pure coconut from health food stores but it is so much cheaper at an ethnic grocery. Either way, try it out, you just might become hooked!

A Thousand Apologies...

I hate excuses but sometimes that's all that will cover what's happening. So here is my list of excuses for "Why I haven't Posted in WAY too long".

1. the first 2 weeks of school are treacherous and I am swamped
2. Out of Town family celebration
3. My Schnauzer, Gracie had to be hospitalized for 3 days (she's much better now)
4. Cleaning up the aftermath of the roofing fiasco
5. Lack of inspiration

It's that last one that is bothering me the most but I think I may have beaten it. I have lots of great ideas swirling around in my ol' noggin that I will be writing about over the next few days.

I also want to give some updates on previous posts. The "30 Days of Food" post bears another look. I was cleaning out my freezer in preparation to do another day of cooking and found that I don't need to! I still have enough food to last another week or so. That means that my one-time, day-long cooking experiment actually filled my freezer (and my tummy) for over 2 MONTHS! I will definitely change some of recipes next time, I'm getting pretty tired of Spinach and Pasta Bake.

The "Stillwater Collection Center" post also deserves another plug. I have been faithfully dropping off my recycling every week and have seen my garbage pick-up reduced to less than one small bag per week. NICE! I am currently recycling paper (newspapers, mail, magazines)cardboard (food boxes, soap boxes, hair coloring boxes yikes!) tin, aluminum, glass and plastics. That covers just about all of my trash!

Finally, the "Day of The Worm" post. Sadly, my worm babies aren't fairing very well. I'm sure it's the heat and not my tender loving care. I have been giving them all sorts of tasty veggie treats and grass clippings but they just don't look "happy". If you have any ideas, I am open to any and all suggestions.

Tomorrow, I promise to write something GREEN!

Gotta have a roof over my head...

I need some support here. I have been struggling for over 3 weeks now with roof woes. First, it's my neighbor's roof. Great lady, perfect neighbor. She hired contractors to put a new roof on her house, kindly let me know when they would be working (yard sale weekend of course) then asked if they could put "part" of the refuse dumpster on my yard. No problem. I wanna be a good neighbor too. Fast forward one week - the roofers drag out the full dumpster across my yard and driveway, trenching the you-know-what out of it. Lovely. But they did come back later and spread a truck full of topsoil, so maybe it will work out.

Now, on to my roof woe. I finally decided to suck it up and have my roof repaired. What was originally going to be a 2-day project is now entering it's 3rd week. Not completely the roofers fault (he's got bad knees, drop-in guests, stomach problems, rain for the first time this summer etc) but having scaffolding across the back of my house and blocking my lovely fenced yard is becoming tiresome. When I hang out my laundry (and I do it every weekend) I must take the long way around the house and yard. Bah! I realize I am whining and I will eventually stop. Probably after I have to write the monstrous check to pay for all of this.

By the way, the picture in this post is NOT my house, but the former home of Frank (Pistol Pete) Eaton who gained fame as OSU's mascot. It's kinda sad to see it in such disrepair. Maybe I could recommend some roofers?

Finally!

I think we might be getting a small break in the heat this week. 90 degrees really feels good after a week or so of 105+ doesn't it? The only good thing I can say about the hot weather is that my grass has begun it's hibernation hopefully.

And now on to more pressing concerns - I think I may be a failure at vermiculture! That's raising composting worms for those of you new to the subject. The last 2 weeks have been pretty hard on my little buddies. Their habitat looks (sweaty) and they don't seem as cheerful as they once were. I gave them new cardboard and paper and some juicy, cold red grapes. Tonite they will get a shiny Fuji apple. Hopefully, it's just the oppressive heat and not my nurturing.

Is it really possible that I have become attached to WORMS?!?