When the power goes out..

This baby lights up! 

 

Really was a lifesaver overnight. Our power kept going off and on all night. The joys of winter where I live. Snows half an inch the power goes out. But, luckily We have this kerosene heater that I started last night and it quickly got so hot in here. UGH actually had to open the bathroom window an inch. 

Be prepared for things like this. Have a few ways to heat, light, cook, communicate, etc. You never know what could happen and you have to be prepared for all of it. 

DIY Cinnamon Honey Hair Mask/Ambrosia!!

If there is anything that never ceases to frustrate me, it is shopping for beauty products. Whether it is makeup, shampoo, moisturizer, exfoliators, or self-tanners, there is soooo much to choose from and so many brands to research! Not to mention, many of the reputable brands are rather costly.

That's where DIY comes in handy! I have taken a liking to DIY beauty here lately, as it does tend to be more affordable. In addition, it is super fun and hardly frustrating at all! Oftentimes, the necessary ingredients can easily be found in your kitchen already! AND, DIY beauty products are generally made with natural, fresh ingredients.. leaving the guesswork and extra not-so-healthy, and unnecessary, ingredients out of the equation.

Below is a DIY hair mask that I made today, in like five minutes. First, a little backstory here: Roughly a year ago, I decided to get my hair done and my ex-hairdresser completely destroyed my hair, leaving it weak, awfully damaged, and breaking off at mere touch! It was awful, but I have slowly been bringing the health and beauty back to my hair. It's grown a few inches within the past couple months, or so. And, split ends are scarce. Long story short, I want to take care of my hair and do what I can to baby it.

Enter this hair mask. This DIY hair mask is SUPER easy and QUICK to make! All you need is:

1/2 cup 100% pure honey

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix all of the ingredients together in a small, or medium sized, glass jar. The mask can truly reap some wonderful benefits. Honey is a natural humectant, which attracts moisture, leading to more hydrated hair - which is super important in mending dry and damaged hair! Olive oil not only makes it easier to massage the honey into your scalp and hair, but it helps to promote a healthy scalp and really penetrates the hair at the roots, smoothing and coating each and every strand of your hair, leading to incredibly soft, hydrated hair (everydayroots.com)! Lastly, cinnamon helps contribute to preventing hair loss and breakage (Maheshwari, 140)!

I would suggest applying it to already wet hair. So, perhaps an application in the shower, after having already washed your hair.  Just make sure that you have enough time to apply this mask to your hair and leave it on for roughly half an hour, once a week. Enjoy this cheap, easy, fun, and healthy creation! And rinse! :)

 

DIY Coffee Scrub

Cup of Joe Sugar Scrub

1/4 cup fresh coffee grounds

3 tablespoons white sugar

2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon olive oil/or almond oil/or coconut oil

1 tablespoon water

(ALL RELATIVELY CHEAP STUFF EASILY FOUND IN THE KITCHEN! YAY!)

Simply mix all of these ingredients together in a mixing bowl, then add to jar. For a 20 oz. jar like mine, you have to make like 6 batches worth I wanna say? I can't recall for certain, but it still only put a dent in my can of coffee and my container of sugar. So this scrub certainly goes a long way. Not to mention, the application doesn't require much. 

I would recommend applying this coffee scrub while in the shower, as it is very messy. Scrub in circular motions all over your body, although I would suggest avoiding the genital area (for obvious reasons - ouch!). You can apply it to your face as well, but be a little more stringent with use if your face tends to be on the more oily side, naturally. Let the scrub sit on your skin for five minutes and then rinse off. Fair warning: you will be left incredibly, beautifully soft; you will not want to stop touching your body, haha! Also, you will smell lightly of coffee, which is pretty fantastic. Who doesn't love the smell of coffee?!

 

Can Never Have Enough...

Seeds!

These came today. Now we are 90% set with seeds. Planning on where to grow them, now. Cannot wait! I have a neat plan on doing the herb seeds this spring. I will share the idea as soon as it gets time to plant them.

 

 

Up at 5 making no bake cookies

.

I got up early to clean and make no bake cookies. 

And drink a cup of coffee by myself!

The recipe I used is here

https://www.cookingclassy.com/no-bake-cookies/

Easy treat to make!

Keeping warm...

 

This is actually keeping my small house warm! 

Even if you have a bigger house this would keep one room warm. 

 

 

 

 

Bought seeds early!

I remembered how it was last spring and how hard it was to find seeds! We were in lockdown and everyone was wanting to start gardens. So I am starting to get seeds earlier this year. I received my first order on Saturday! Cannot wait til I can work in the yard and garden, etc. Just want to be outside. Get your Garden Seeds now!  

DIY Lavender Green Tea Face Mask

 

I've really become quite obsessed with natural DIY skin remedies and beauty concoctions as of late. But, it's a healthy obsession! Not only are they easier on the wallet, but they are safer. You know exactly what you are putting into your homemade products and don't need to worry about extra unnecessary ingredients, whose names you can't even pronounce. Generally, the bare essentials are really all that you need to get better skin and to become an overall healthier human being. 

A little back story: last year, I broke out with my first really horrible bout of contact dermatitis..RIGHT on my face. It was seemingly never ending, leaving me depressed and slightly disfigured for many months. I eventually overcame that embarrassing debacle, but not without suffering frustratingly persistent scars along my jaw and lower cheeks,. After many visits to my dermatologist, my face does look A LOT better and my scars have improved a bit as well.  However, they are still visible and any amount of visibility leaves me feeling insecure at times. I also suffer a bit from hyper-pigmentation, as a result of the dermatitis. So, I do what I can. 

Unfortunately, store bought skin care and beauty products are so pricey, as are repetitive trips to the dermatologist. So, upon doing some research, I found that green tea, chock full of antioxidants, is great for anti-inflammatory purposes and fading fine lines (great combatant against hyper-pigmentation!). I also learned that lavender is pretty fantastic at healing up scars, when applied topically! So, hence the face mask. I'm going to try to use it every night, in conjunction with my Avalon Organics Vitamin C Renewal face gel wash (vitamin C is also great at fading scars and sun damage!) from here on out. Hopefully, it works for me.. and you, too!

Lavender Green Tea Face Mask

1 tablespoon honey

2 tea bags of 100% pure green tea (i used decaffeinated)

4 drops lavender essential oil

*I tripled this AND THEN added about 1/2 tablespoon of water, so as to dilute it better and make it easier to spread on face*

Mix altogether in a glass bowl and then simply add to a jar! I would recommend applying to your face in a circular motion, allowing the green tea leaves to gently exfoliate your face. Once applied, allow it to sit on your face for 15-20 minutes. Rinse. It left my face feeling nice and soft, and it looked more even and fresh! Not only that, but the lavender smells amazing and is super relaxing! Enjoy!

Lemon Cough & Cold Tea

This is so good for when you have a sore throat! Helps with colds also. The lemon is high in vitamin C. Honey has antiviral properties. I try to drink this as soon as I start feeling that I am getting a cold.

 

 1 lemon 

 

2 teaspoons of honey 

 

Put the juice of that lemon into a cup and pour boiling water into that.

 

 Add the honey .

 

 Drink as soon as it gets cool enough.

Mason Jar TO Replace Light Cover?

            I don't have any broken light covers, but I would love to do this! Has anyone done this?