Monthly Archives: May 2010

The Perfect Hair Conditioner

When at the Living Green Expo I was drawn to the booths that had personal care products. I have always loved lotions, creams, conditioners, perfumes, anything to make you feel and look good. But lately I have been so busy I haven’t taken very good care of myself. I decided I needed to pay more attention. After all feeling good is a huge part of mental health.

The prices were way out of my league however. Then I remembered my handy book Natural Beauty at Home. I came home and reviewed it and came up with a list of projects. I need more Cold Cream and I want to try some lip gloss. Some time this week I will do a facial and today I did a hair mask.

My split ends had gotten really bad and I had taken to the exact same hair style all day every day. So yesterday I went to get a good trim and added some layers. The ends felt so smooth. I want to keep it that way and occasionally wear my hair down so in the interest of hair health I made

Perfect Hair Conditioner

1 tsp almond oil
1 tsp avocado oil
1 tsp olive oil
1 egg yolk
1 TBSP honey
1 TBSP lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together and stir thoroughly. Massage into hair and scalp and wrap hair in plastic wrap or use a shower cap and leave conditioner on for 15 minutes.

(not so attactive yet!)
 
Shampoo your hair and rinse well.

I didn’t have avocado oil so I left it out and I put a whole egg in by mistake but otherwise it went really well. It smelled so yummy. One word to the wise though since it has an egg in it do not use hot water to rinse your hair. I thought I had it cool enough not to cook the egg and still had a couple of pieces of egg to pick out when I was finished but not too bad. My hair felt super moisturized and other then the almond oil and avocado oil most of the ingredients are already in your kitchen. Way cheaper and more fun then some of those expensive treatments. Now I just have to keep it up. The book recommends a deep conditioner once a week and has several options.

ARC Valu Village

I have been inspired to try “thrifting.” My aunts have always been masters of this. But I am not a shopper and when I need something I prefer to go and get it at one place. But when I started reading the Soule Mama blog my interest was renewed, not only for my fashion but home and most importantly budget. Last week I desperately needed a new pair of maternity jeans. Not knowing where else to go in my neighborhood I went to Target and found a great pair for $32.99. I had severe “post spending” but knew I needed it.

At the Living Green Expo the ARC Valu Villiage had a booth. I stopped and asked if they carried maternity clothes and was overjoyed to find out they did. I even got a couple for 20% off. I must have gone on the right day because all purple tags were 50% off that was all the maternity clothes so here is a list of my purchases.

For me–Cute black skirt, gray shirt dress and navy blue and white summer dress (all maternity.

For Two–long black shorts and the toy of his choice.

For Avril–Summer dress with pink flowers, purse, wallet, “crown” head band and toy of choice.

For Mavis–sweater dress, sweater, short sleeved shirt, and 2 pair of pants. All so cute and totally my style.

For the house–4 matching teacups with flowers. I have been drinking my raspberry leaf tea and the girls enjoy it to so now we have matching cups for our tea parties.

All for less then I paid for my jeans.

Living Green Expo

A few years ago we went to the Living Green Expo. The first 200 people or something was supposed to get a free Blue Sky Guide. So we got there 15 minutes early and found the line wrapped around the block. No guide for us. But we were just starting our journey to a more sustainable life and having the validation of so many like minded souls was a great thing. Earlier this year we heard that the Living Green Expo was not going to happen due to loss of funding. Then miraculously a new sponsor took it on.

This year we were actually exhibitors at it! I wasn’t really looking forward to a long couple of days but once again the validation is amazing. Especially when you are going out on a limb starting a new farm venture.

A frequent question was “where is crazy boy?” The children were not there the whole weekend (Proeun and I traded off) but when Two was the usual answer was “under the table.”

It was great walking around and seeing some of the other exhibitors. Here’s some of our favorites.

North House Folk School where lots of cool creating was going on. Too bad they aren’t closer to us!

Cushy Toosh a mom owned diaper company making diapers for babies and adults as well as a host of other cloth products. With baby number 4 coming it is time to add some more diapers to the stash so they were my choice to support.

Grazeland Farm (couldn’t find the link) selling all sorts of great wool products, I adore wool!

And we can’t forget our next door neighbor but their booth was always so packed that I was never able to get a picture of them. They are Thousand Hills Cattle Company. They were giving away free samples of hot dogs and salami–sooooo good–from their 100% grass fed beef. They were so good to us to, even giving the kids whole hot dogs while they stared hungrily at the samples. You would think we never fed them or something. With some of the proceeds from this weekend we plan to buy a bulk order from them. So soon it is back to normal life, but so so much fun!