Life, The Universe, And Everything Part 1

Life has been busy. This has led me to ponder the answer to the ultimate question. Which is, of course, 42. The newest Doctor Who episode also had me thinking about it…but that would be a spoiler, and as we all know, spoilers are bad. Very, very bad. So. As I’ve not been posting as I’d like, and because I’ve not been posting as I’d like I thought I’d make up for it with a list of 42 things that I like. These are in no particular order and is not to be confused with my thankful posts. These are just things I like for what ever reason.

1. ohthatmomagain-Blog of a good friend. And it’s pretty awesome. A mom who’s not afraid to admit that she’d not perfect, and she throws a little inspiration in just to help.
2.  Full of potassium and really good 🙂
3. This blueberry bread. Posted on one of the few blogs that I follow, meeshiesmom. Have I made it? No, but doesn’t the picture that was posted with it look good?
4. This post. I ran across it the other day and thought it was a good read. It’s about the questions kids ask. I love it. It made me laugh. And that is a good thing. Especially when you have kids. You need to laugh, and you need to look at the things that they do that make life special. This post does it.
5. Doctor Who. I do love a good sci-fi show, and this is a good sci-fi show. Just started back up for the second half of season six. Lots of good stuff happening. Some of it most of the fans already pretty much knew, but some of it still throws us for a loop. At least, it throw me for a loop. And that makes for some good television.
6. Ok, so I’m a psych major, and most of my classes have dealt with development or social psych or you know, disorders. But, that’s not the only part of psychology. There’s a part that doesn’t just guess at stuff like personality, but actually tells you how your brain works. This is cognitive psychology and its very fascinating. A while back I stumbled upon this website. It’s called “Mind Lab” and it is amazing. It explains, in what I think is simple language, the way that some of the parts of the brain work. We know the most about the eye, not sure why, but that’s what  a lot of the website covers.
7. Another project that I came across that I must try because it looks freaking amazing is these corner bookmarks. They look really cool and easy to make too. I want to do them with the kids because I think it’s some thing they would like to do and would make nice gifts for people who enjoy homemade kid gifts.
8. I’m all about the homemade gift, for several reasons. 1-they tend to be cheaper. 2-they are more personal. 3-they’re just more fun. I’m actually half way through this project. When I first saw it I was busy scanning in old pictures so that my family would have a digital copy of them as well as a hard copy. Just in case anything ever happened to them. I knew that I had to do this project. I’m planing them for Christmas gifts and already have the picture part done. I just need to get the foam board and the packing tape 🙂
9. I’ve always been fasinated with space. As I mentioned before, I love sci-fi,and there’s nothing better for a sci-fi fan than pictures of/from space. This one is particularly awesome.
10. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.” –Albert Einstein
11. I do love to look at pictures. This on is another of space. Not from NASA this time thought, this one is from Stanford.
12. I love chick flicks. I think that everyone should watch them. Even guys. I know that they’re not exactly realistic, but it’s the fantasy behind it. It’s like reading “Pride and Prejudice”. Sure I know it was written over 100 years ago, and I’ve read it/watched the movie enough that I know whats going to happen and can skip to the parts I love best, but it’s still fun to read/watch. I love the drama of it. Will the sisters end up with the men of their dreams, will the family be made a laughing stock, will they be kicked out on their ends when the dad dies?  All so much fun.
13. I like to craft and sew and cook…I just don’t have much time or money to do it. But, I’ve realized that I can afford about a yard of fabric at a time, and the time to make something that only takes about a yard. So, while looking on Amazon a while back I came across the book “One Yard Wonders” and knew I had to have it. I’ve not made anything out of it, but my mom has. And she loved it. I just like looking at the pictures and planning. I think I may pull it out next weekend and make one of the little girl skirts in it. Boo just started school and I know she’d love it.
14. What’s better than gummi bears? Homemade gummi bears 🙂 I’m beginning to see a pattern to this list of mine. Most of the links and the like that I’m sharing are things that I’ve not made or done yet. i should fix that. That being said, I ran across this recipe for gummis the other day and knew that it would be something fun and easy for kids to make, or help make.  It’s basically jello and unflavored gelatin. Take a look at the picture that the bloger posted of what she and her kids did.
15. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”–Dr. Seuss
16. More on the homemade gift idea are these really cool notebooks that have the pages sewn in so that you can tear the pages out. I don’t have a sewing machine (sadly) so I’ve not done them, but I want to.

And at 17 this post is done. I will start with 18 next time. I will make it to 42…I hope.

Mother’s Day Gifts, Part 1

Mother’s Day may have been Sunday, but I’m just getting around to typing up the gifts I made.  Being perpetually short on cash, and always egger to make things from scratch I decided to make some homemade bath products.  This is part one of two, because I made not only the sugar scrub featured here, but also bath fizzies.

I got the recipe from my friend Martha Stewart.  I have wanted to make the scrub since I first saw it in her magazine, and since I’ve been subscribing since before my children were born, I figured it was time I make something other than cookies from the magazines.

Sugar Scrub
adapted from Martha Stewart Living

2 cups cane sugar
1 cup carrier oil (more on this below)
Essential oil

It’s pretty simple, just mix the sugar, oil and smelly stuff together and you’re set to go.  There are somethings to consider though.

The carrier oil can pretty much be any type of oil you want.  I went with grape seed oil because it has naturally occurring vitamin E, which is awesome on your skin.  I’ve heard that mineral oil isn’t the best for you, but if you want to use something like baby oil or bath oil that’s up to you.  I’ve also heard that olive oil is really good.  I’d recommend a light olive oil though so the smell isn’t as strong.

The original recipe said you could use salt or the cane sugar.  I decided not to do that because I know that I often have cuts and scrapes on my hands and legs, and that the person I specifically made the scrub for also has that problem.  I just couldn’t bear the thought of scooping salt up with cuts on my hands, the thought alone is enough to make me cringe.

For the ecentail oil, I suppose that you could use the cheep stuff that they sell at Michale’s or WalMart for soap making, but I decided that I didn’t want to do that.  My local health food store seels natural essietal oils, so i figured since the rest of the ingrediants were all natureal, I might as well go that way with my scent as well.  I picked Tangerine.

The sugar I used had a strong smell too it, not bad, but it kind of masked the smell of the tangerine.  I can tell you that it comes out when heated though, because I used it in the shower this morning and the smell was heavenly.  Like a fresh peeled tangerine.  I loved it.  Also, very nice on my perpetually dry feet.

Now, how to pack it.  Ideally these would go into plastic jars that if dropped in the shower wouldn’t result in cut feet, but as I said, I’m a bit low on cash.  So, I just packed them up into some half pint jelly jars.  It made about three half pint jars.

Because of the oil I’d recommend keeping the decorations to a minimum.  I putt a ribbon around the bad and a label on the lid saying what it was an when to use it by.

As for how long it will keep…I’d be careful not to keep it too long as the oil can go rancid.  I just looked at the use by date on my bottle of oil and use that as a guide.  If you can’t find a date I’d say use it within six months.

Part 2, bath fizzies will be up some time soon, I’ll link back to it when I’ve got it done.