Giving a Cold the Cold Shoulder

We've been hit by a nasty little cold at our house.  It started (as it usually does) with Miss F.  When she gets sick, it never really diminishes her energy or enthusiasm, but the nasal effects are obvious.  She's been having a runny nose on and off for a while now, but it didn't seem like anything viral, really.  Then, Mr. B started feeling the effects a few days ago. 

I had been reading up on essential oils anyway, so I started casually using them when I could - specifically I put just a little medieval oil (generic brand thieves oil) into Miss F's bathwater.  The four of us would sit in the bathroom during bath time to get some secondhand effects.  Mr. B and I also rubbed a couple of drops into the soles of our feet one night.  It either didn't do whole lot of good (probably because I wasn't consistent with it) or it staved off what was coming down the pike a couple of days later.

Yesterday, I got hit hard.  As is the case when one has a one month old, I haven't been sleeping well.  The last two days, I've woken up earlier than usual for the day, too.  So yesterday, when the perpetually runny nose and sore throat started, I decided to do something about it.  The first thing I did was sanitze our handkerchiefs.  They always get washed, but I added tea tree oil to help kill off anything they might be harboring.  I assigned each of us certain colors so that we didn't accidentally cross contaminate anything.  Three of us (all but Miss F) sleep in one room, so we ran a cool mist vaporizer overnight. 

This morning, I woke up feeling terrible.  I'm the primary caretaker of two very needy people, so that just won't do.  I broke out every natural remedy I could think of.  I started with a thyme vinegar gargle.  Mr. B made thyme vinegar as a method of preserving thyme from our very prolific plant.  It's just thyme stems and leaves steeped in vinegar (with the mother) for a few weeks, then strained.  I added 1 T to about 6 oz of room temperature water.  Each sip, I gargled and then swallowed the drink.  When I started, I couldn't taste it at all, but by the time I was done, I noticed the very strong smell and flavor.  My sore throat felt significantly better already.

I decided ginger tea was going to be my next go-to remedy.  I cut up about 1/2 of ginger into thin slices and steeped it in 8 oz of hot water for about ten minutes.  I added 1 tsp of local honey for sweetening and its cold-soothing properties.  While I was waiting for the tea to steep, I was boiling some pumpkin seeds on the stove, so I breathed in the salt water steam using that standard chemistry technique - wafting.  By the time the seeds were done, the tea was done.  The longer the ginger tea sits, the spicier it gets, so I've been sipping it slowly. 

I had planned to drink some chicken broth for breakfast, but when I opened it (canned last year at some time - how did I forget to label those?!) it smelled funny.  I can't trust my nose, but I don't want to drink something potentially dangerous.  It looks like I'll be having soup for lunch, as I'll have to defrost some from the freezer to ensure it won't have gone off.

Right now I'm about two hours post-wake up, and I feel much better than I did right after I woke up.  Before, I was considering asking Mr. B to take a sick day, but now I feel like I can make it through the day.  Thursday is our Friday, so he'll be able to help with the kids tomorrow when I need it.  My plan of action going forward is bone broth for lunch, hot liquids throughout the day, more vinegar as needed, and some rest (if I can).

What's your go-to remedy for colds?

The "Sweet" Smell of Chemicals

It's been about three months since we got rid of the chemicals in our house - poisons, cleaners, shampoo, non-natural soaps, etc.  I haven't really noticed how the smell of our house has changed in that amount of time.  But apparently, my nose has been noticing.

Thanks to FlyLady, I've been decluttering my house for the past week.  I'm finding things that I haven't seen in years (and we've only lived in this house 3.5 years).  In particular, I found three little TSA-approved bottles full of soap, shampoo, and something unidentifiable (more soap or shampoo?).  Since we aren't using these products anymore, I dumped them down the drain in the tub so that I could reuse the bottles.  Immediately, the smell of these three little 3 oz bottles overwhelmed me.  My bathroom smelled so bad.  It was a sickly sweet and decidedly chemical smell.  I couldn't wash the stuff down the drain fast enough.  The bottles have been soaking and drying for the last day and my bathroom still smells bad.  It gave me a pretty bad headache.

I'm now acutely aware of other people's perfumes, soaps, and deodorant.  When ever my future sister-in-law (*A*) holds Miss F, she smells like *A*'s perfume for the whole day.  There are some women in my exercise class who reek of deodorant - not perfume, deodorant.  I never would have noticed that smell before.

Finally Over Ants

I was desperate.  Every year, around June, we get ants in our kitchen.  We've tried commercial products, but we didn't like having them near the cats and the baby.  So I ignored them as best as I could and kept the counters clean.  But they were persistent.  I was flicking off of me every time I worked in the kitchen.

Finally, I decided to make my own traps.  I had asked *B* to make some, but he hadn't gotten around to it.  So I googled it, and wouldn't you know, there were tons of recipes.  I used one from Stacy Makes Cents: sugar, water, and a little borax melted together, cooled, and poured into jar lids.  I let the lid sit there for a little bit and nothing happened.  But I accidentally trailed some on the counter, and they came swarming.  I made a long streak for them

This is just a little bit of the ant activity we got yesterday.  You can see the outline of the trails given how the ants are distributed.

And today?  I've had very few ants.  It's not perfect, there are still some wandering around.  But it's no where near as many as I had before.  I'm very happy with the results given that it was made out of things I had lying around the house.

Project Updates

I've got quite a few projects running, as detailed in the list on the right hand side of the blog.  This is a quick update on their progress.

July - No Groceries (starting 7/7)
Since this is new, it's obviously going quite alright.

June - No Air Conditioners (except baby)
We've done very well on this count.  There was one day since we've started that we've used another air conditioner at home.  Miss F's birthday party was held at our home, and we put in a second air conditioner just for that day.  While I didn't think we needed it at first, I realized we had an 87 year old man and two very pregnant women amongst a house full of people who needed relief from the nearly 90 degree heat.

May - No Microwave
Our microwave is still stowed in a cabinet after two months.  We've used microwaves at other people's houses, but I don't miss mine anymore at all.  We will be giving it to my grandmother, who is moving in with my mom this fall.

April - No Clothes Dryer
Like the microwaves, we've used clothes dryers when not at home.  For example, at the lake, we did not have access to a clothes line.  Miss F's diapers never would have dried at the townhouse without a line.  But we've stuck with this one even though it is very time consuming.  It's been made especially difficult because we've had a very wet summer.  I would like to get a drying rack to keep inside for wet and cold days once we can afford it.

April - No 'Poo or Antiperspirant
This is my favorite project.  I will admit that I catch myself getting a smug sort of satisfaction from this one.  I haven't used any shampoo of any kind (other than baking soda) since April 1st.  I love that I don't have to clip coupons, run out to the store when I run out, or stock pile chemicals.  I will never go back to that old way of life.

March - No Artificial Sweeteners
This project is hard, but I feel it is worthwhile.  Every now and then, I crave a diet soda.  But it's becoming less and less frequent.  I feel healthier, I have seen changes in my weight loss (though it is a bit slow), and I spend less money since I drink more water.

Contentment

The river trip this weekend was very relaxing and gave me a chance to think a lot about my life.  My mother took care of Miss F during the six hour trip down the river.  I kayaked down the river without flipping in Compton's rapids (a big deal considering they sent me to the ER three years ago).

A large part of the times, I was floating along side *B*'s parents or my brother and his friends.  But the other part of the time, I just got to take in the surroundings, breathe the fresh air, and just be by myself.

I enjoyed the beauty of the river and felt a pang of envy as I thought about how amazing it could be to live in the area.

But it was later that night in the campsite that I really felt contentment start to set in.  One of the girls on the trip stepped in poison ivy at our lunch stop.  Her lower leg was red and itchy.  No one had calamine lotion, and she was complaining about the pain and itching.  I popped up, spotted some plantain, and told her to chew (or rather pound due to the mud on the ground) the leaves into a paste and apply it.  I knew it worked on bug bites, but I wasn't sure about poison ivy.  Sure enough, she reported that it didn't itch anymore!

I was happy to be able to help, and I enjoyed the surprised looks I got from the "adults" of the group - 50 years old and better.  They had no idea such a ubiquitous plant did anything other than grow.  It was just a weed to them.  Rather than relying on plants for cures, we've been relying solely on pills for over fifty years.

As the trip went on, I found myself talking a lot about my knowledge of plants.  From dock to treat nettle stings to chicory as a coffee substitute, I was able to hold forth on a variety of medicinal and edible plants.  I was spotting stands of sumac trees and looking to find ripe berry clusters.  We're looking forward to making tea of those berries in the next month or so.

I realized on my way home, that I'm actually making measurable progress in my goal of being able to identify many common plants and their usefulness.  I want to be that old woman (one day, not yet) who can go out to her garden to pluck a cure for what ails you.  I want to be able to go out and forage a little snack from my surroundings.  As our garden grows into the garden of our daydreams and my knowledge base grows, I feel more and more at ease with the life I'm carving out.

Natural Project Progress

A little update on how everything is going:

March - No Artificial Sweeteners
Aside from an occasional Diet Coke craving, I think I've kicked the habit.  It's been two and a half months and I don't really miss it at all.  I wish I would have started earlier.

April - No 'Poo and No Clothes Dryer
No 'poo is going fantastically.  I really love it.  I can easily go 48-72 hours without washing with baking soda, but I'd really like to get to the point where I can easily go 72-96 hours.  Extending the days between washes requires being okay with grease for an extra day.  As my hair gets longer and I can put it up in different styles, I think I'll be able to make that push.

There has only been one time in a month and a half that I missed our clothes dryer.  Other than that, I am happy to no longer use the electricity.  My mom gave us an umbrella-style clothes line, and I used that once under an awning when it was threatening to rain.  I can't wait to get it actually installed in the backyard.  Like many of our changes, it just requires advanced planning to make sure we aren't caught without clean, dry diapers.

May - No Paper Towels and No Microwave
I wasn't sure where to put paper towels because they really started in mid-April.  I've only used paper towels for one project - removing the rust from and oiling my cast iron pans.  I tried using a hand towel, but little bits of towel were scuffing off onto the pan.  I didn't want them baked into the seasoning forever.  So a moderate success.  If they disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't miss them at all.

It's only been two weeks without a microwave, so I'm still a little surprised when I go to heat something up.  I've changed my habits a little to accommodate the lack of a microwave.  Instead of letting my coffee sit all day and reheating it a few times, I drink it while it's hot the first time.  I heat our morning oatmeal up in a water bath, and while it takes longer, it seems to be doing fine.  I've been leaving a pot of water on the stove just for water baths.  I throw the jar in the water as soon as we come downstairs.  By the time Miss F has been nursed, played a little, and stripped down to feed herself, it's warm enough for her.

Going Natural Check In - Two Weeks Later

Homemade Deodorant
The past two weeks with my homemade deodorant have been...interesting...to say the least.  I found it to be really effective, but - TMI warning - I had these razor burn type bumps under one arm.  I think they're because I used an old razor when I was shaving.  The baking soda kept getting into these areas and it burned.  I had to stop using the homemade deodorant for three days so that it could heal.  Once they were healed, however, everything was fine.  Then, two days later, I got a red rash under both arms.  I took a picture because I couldn't find any when I googled it.  I know everyone doesn't want to see that though, so if you're interested, you can find it here.  That one sounds like it was caused by the deodorant.  This was after a warm weather streak and the deodorant melted.  I half-heartedly mixed it back together, but I think I got a bunch of baking soda in one clump.  I think the next time I make up a batch, I'm going to drop the baking soda back to 1/8 cup to see if that helps with the irritation I experienced.  And another thing I learned - it's really important with this stuff not to put it on directly after shaving!  Shave, do everything else you have to do to get ready, then put the deodorant on very last.  Otherwise it stings a lot!!

No 'Poo
No 'poo is going better than I could have ever imagined.  It's really freeing.  I'm at the point that the day I was with baking soda, my hair looks 100% normal.  The next day, it's about 80% normal.  The third day, I start to feel a little gross.  So I end up going 72 hours between baking soda washings with no real problems.  That's a HUGE deal, because I used to feel gross just 24 hours after shampooing.  Mind you, I do shower every day still, so it's not like I'm running around smelling like hippie.  I've been keeping a diary of my routine and how my hair behaves.  A bonus - my eczema is almost GONE.  *B* even commented on it.  Aside from during pregnancy (for whatever reason), I've had persistent eczema on my scalp since I was a kid.

This is my hair almost 24 hours (including an overnight) after showering.  

When I first started, I would have been super greasy by now.

Oil Cleansing Method
I'm kind of "eh" about OCM.  My skin really didn't seem all that different than with my old skin care regimen.  I use the phrase "skin care regimen" very loosely.  I used to just lightly wash with a washcloth and no soap most of the time.  I got some acne (which I'm not sure was going to happen anyway or was due to OCM) so I bought some castor oil.  I've used it twice, and again, it's okay, but not mind-blowing.  Then again, I did it every three or four days whenever I had time, so maybe I didn't give it a fair shake.  In the next two weeks, I'm going to devote some time to seeing how well it actually works if done consistently and journal the results.

Homemade Toothpaste
I'm pretty pleased with how the toothpaste has been working.  The taste is definitely something to get used to, but I really feel a lot cleaner than with commercial toothpaste.  I might drop the salt out of the next batch entirely just because it's a little overwhelming, and I feel like baking soda is abrasive enough on its own.  I have been reading a bit that baking soda can damage enamel, so I'm going to keep using it while I research that claim.

So the verdicts:  No 'poo is amazing, deodorant and toothpaste are probably staying for keeps, and the jury is out on OCM.

The Dreaded Paper Towel

For a long time, I was addicted to using paper towels.  We got them in bulk from Costco, so it was easy just to run to the pantry to grab more paper towels.  At any given time, I probably had 5-6 paper towels wadded up on my counters while I was cooking or cleaning.  *B* always got frustrated by how many paper towels I used per day.

I usually only use paper towels for two purposes:  drying my hands when cooking and cleaning, and blowing my nose.  The latter is laziness - our bathrooms are up a floor or down a floor from the main floor of the house.  Paper towels were always just closer.  *B*, however, kept trying to use the bandanas that I wear in my hair as hankies.  Not cool.

When we started talking about going natural, *B* brought up my paper towel usage.  I know, I know, the paper towels.  I kind of shrugged it off.  But when the last paper towel came off the roll, I didn't go downstairs to get another roll.

It's probably about a week now.  Maybe more.  I haven't even taken the tube off the roll for fear of upsetting the groove.

Instead, I've relied on my tea towels to dry my hands.  They're getting to be a bit saturated, and definitely need to be washed.  But it was somewhat annoying to get up from dinner, walk over, wipe your hands or face on a tea towel, then sit back down.  So yesterday, as we were walking through a shopping center, *B* and I noticed a new store opening: a dollar store.  In there, were some cute packs of "dish towels" that looked to us just like cloth napkins.

Thinking ahead to future children and the possibility of friends dining with us, eight seemed like a good number.

We also grabbed two yellow bandanas as hankies.  It's a color that I don't own, so it won't get mixed up with my stash.  They're very pretty, and so far, have been effective.

 

It's funny to think that before Miss F, the idea of used handkerchiefs in my washer would have grossed me out.  Now, that's far better than the other hygiene-related items that go through my wash cycle.

The one thing I'd still like to do is make some "unpaper" towels.  These are terrycloth backed fabric panels that snap together to form a paper towel-like roll.  They are up to $50 (fifty dollars!) per roll on Etsy, but I'm sure I can make it for less than that.  I found a tutorial here that I intend to use as soon as I have the money and time to make them.

Homemade Toothpaste

My dad, every now and again, talks about how bad fluoride is for our health.  I understand his concern, but since we're on city water, there's not much I could do about the water supply at the moment.  We could, however, change our toothpaste.

This recipe, I got from Thankfully Thrifty.  Just like the deodorant, it's super simple.  Two tablespoons of coconut oil, 3 tablespoons of baking soda, and I cut the salt down to a 1/2 teaspoon. 

 I just mixed the ingredients into a paste and that's it! 

The original recipe calls for flavoring, but all I have is vanilla and I'm not really into that as far as toothpaste goes. It definitely tastes like salty baking soda.  But it isn't really offputting.  It did a fine job of cleaning my teeth.  Perhaps even better than my old toothpaste.  Like the oil cleansing method, I'm going to give this a few weeks to see if I'll stick with it long term.

Oil Cleansing Method

Another trend I've heard a lot about is the oil cleansing method.  It uses the theory that "like dissolves like" to clean your skin.  The original method involves 80% olive oil (or coconut, jojoba, etc) and 20% castor oil.  A lot of people don't use castor oil because it's very drying to your skin.  I only had olive oil* on hand, tried it, and liked the results well enough on its own.

 

I might try castor oil one day in the future, but for now I'm happy.  The steps:

1. Rub the oil into your skin for about two minutes.  I like it - it's pretty much a great face massage.  
2. Put a hot, damp washcloth on your face.  Leave it there until it cools to room temperature.  Again, it feels awesome.  
3. When it cools, use the washcloth to wipe the remaining oil off your face.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 if you like.

I don't smell like olives (I had *B* check), and my skin no longer has that stretched, papery feeling I used to get when I washed my face.  I don't need an exfoliator because the washcloth is just scratchy enough to remove dead skin cells.  And I don't need to moisturize.  The only thing I need is sunscreen, but I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do this year in that respect.  I'm not 100% sold yet, but I'm going to give it a month to see how it goes.



*I heard on the radio that many extra virgin olive oils tend not to be extra virgin.  My brand is on the list of those who weren't always EVOO, but I will use it until it's gone.  If you want to see if your EVOO is real, check out this report.

No 'Poo

I had heard about no 'poo from the Weight Watchers message boards of all places.  There are a number of girls on there who follow no 'poo with great success.  For those who don't know what it is, that could sound kind of gross, huh?  No 'poo refers to getting rid of commercial shampoos as we know it.  DH has actually been doing this for years.  When I first found out he doesn't wash his hair, I was admittedly a little grossed out.  But it doesn't ever look greasy, and it doesn't smell at all.


Since I've got a living testimonial to no 'poo in my own house (two if you count Miss F), how could I not try it?  But my hair's always been really greasy.  When I was working, I washed every.single.day.  If I didn't, I worried about how greasy my hair was, whether it actually was or not.  Now that I (mostly) stay at home, I could stretch that to washing every other day.  But when I worked out, which I do four days a week, I absolutely had to wash my hair.


The last time I washed my hair with commercial shampoo was Monday morning.  On Tuesday, I washed after my workout with hot water only.  I was pretty greasy feeling.  It didn't look terrible, but I itched pretty badly.  Wednesday, I washed with a mixture of 1 tablespoon of baking soda in one cup of water.  I put it in a squeeze bottle (below) to make it easier to apply.

And I felt clean!  Just like if I washed with shampoo.  On Thursday, I washed with only water after working out.  It didn't feel as clean as Wednesday, but I was able to go out in public without worrying about what people thought.  Friday and Saturday went the same way - I washed with baking soda Friday, and on Saturday, you couldn't even tell it hadn't been washed when it was up in a ponytail.

One of these two pictures is me having washed with shampoo, and one is having washed with the baking soda mixture.

Can you tell which one is the no 'poo picture?

Homemade Deodorant

As described in my last post, we've decided to go natural.  *B* started the deodorant aspect of this project.  He bought some deodorant at our local organic co-op because he was worried about aluminum in his current deodorant. 

  

While it doesn't have a lot of the problem compounds we're worried about, check out how long this ingredient list is! Plus, it's rather expensive. 

I, personally, never had luck with the store-bought "natural" deodorants, but I knew that my current deodorant was not good.  So I looked up deodorant recipes.  Turns out, it's really easy to make, and very inexpensive to boot.  I used the recipe from Passionate Homemaking: 6 tablespoons of coconut oil, 1/4 cup of baking soda, and 1/4 cup of cornstarch.  I used the cornstarch because I haven't gotten arrowroot starch (yet), and because our cornstarch is organic and non-GMO certified.  I threw it into my immersion blender's processor for 5 seconds, and voila!

The amount in the tub is half of a batch because I put the other half into my old deodorant tube.  I dumped the rest of my old deodorant, and soaked the tube in hot water.  I wiped out as much of the old stuff as I could manage.  I dialed the stick all the way back down and packed in the new stuff.  Looks just like plain ol' deodorant!

It's been three days, and so far so good.  I don't have that wet feeling I used to get with store-bought natural deodorants. I worked out today, and noticed just a little odor.  Not like anyone would notice, but I smelled like I was working hard - which I was.  I reapplied when I got home, and I was just fine again.  I'm thinking that's something that will change as my body gets used to not being exposed to antiperspirants.

Going Natural

I've always been a bit of a hippie.  I knew from a young age that I wanted to grow most of my own food, that I wanted to cloth diaper my children, and that it was totally possible (and good) to clean your home with natural products.  When I was a kid, my mom canned applesauce and pear sauce, and we had cloth grocery bags and a clothesline in the back yard.

As I got older, I got sucked in to consumerism and the idea that you needed to buy things to have what everyone else had to be normal.  Somehow I accumulated a number of chemical products that I never used before - everything from counter cleaner to face wash with alpha-beta-something-or-others to fabric softener.

Two things have helped us rethink what we're putting in, on, and near our bodies.

Situation 1
We had gotten away from using most chemical products, but still had the bottles around the house.  My mom was watching Miss F at our house one day, and I came home to a strong chemical odor.  I was alarmed.  My mom, beaming, proudly announced that she cleaned our kitchen for me.  She found some Fantastik under my sink, and wiped everything down.  It even got into the hand knit, organic cotton face washcloths I made for Miss F.  I had to wash everything a number of times before I got rid of that smell.

Situation 2
I sometimes put documentaries on in the background while Miss F and I are going about our daily routines.  I just put on a random documentary Netflix recommended called Chemerical.  It was so good that I texted *B* and demanded he watch it when he got home.

I did a quick round up of the most noxious chemicals in our house.  *B* and I plan on going through the house with a fine toothed comb to find the rest of them.  As we go, we're replacing our habits and hygiene products with natural alternatives.  Follow along as we make new changes in our lives:

Homemade deodorant
No 'poo
Oil cleansing method
Homemade toothpaste
Line-drying clothing
Cloth napkins

Links will become available as posts are published.