User Error (kerosene heater)

 Oh wow! Got woke up at about 2 am by the horrible strong smell of kerosene. It was below zero here wind chill so I had lit the heater yesterday morning. Hoping to just use it to get through the few days of frigid arctic blast. The smell scared me and I was tired so I turned it off. 

On waking up I did some googling and found out the reason it was starting to smell so bad of kerosene was because I had set it too low!! I am usually real good at using my heater. Have grown up around them and used them myself for the last 20 years. You have to find that happy medium on the Wick when you first set it. You can set it too high or too low. 

They really put out the heat so they are awesome when the wind chills fall. Just have to be safe with them. I have a huge kitchen and one part if just for the heater. Nothing sitting around it. 

Our local places that usually sell kerosene are out of it! Planning on this summer to buy it when ever I can to stockpile for next winter. 

Prepared for Winter Storm.

I just went and got my Mr. Heater out of the shed. Getting ready for some bad winter weather coming our way. The news said to be ready for power outages. So, now I have my kerosene heater, Mr Buddy heater, candles, charged up my phone, and have blankets on the couch. It is so cold right now. But, I think that we are ready. 

Always be prepared for anything. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

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?!