Of Children and Chickens

It's been really sunny and hot lately and we've been spending a good bit of our time outside before it gets TOO hot to do anything. Playing outside and holding chickies is pretty how we spend our afternoons around here.

( We've nearly hit the 100 degree mark already. In May. Eek.)

I thought I'd share some cute pictures of the fun the kids have been having, so here are ...the children and the chickens. :)

Ellie listening to music at the Levitt Shell

The Levitt Shell

Natural Body Care Series: Avocado Lemon Hair Conditioner

Hi!

Ready for the second installment of my Natural Body Care Series?

Last time I showed you how to make Homemade Body Wash.

This time we'll be making:

 Avocado Lemon Hair Conditioner

I got the idea for it from this blog, but when I went to the website I didn't actually have any of the ingredients for a whole recipe of any of the conditioners. (There are like 10 recipes or something, if you need more conditioner ideas.)

So...
I just combined a few of them into my own recipe!

AND
It's
Wonderful.

Simply take:
Half an avocado  (Or double the recipe and use a whole one)
Juice from half a lemon  (make sure you don't skip this or your avocado will turn black and yucky.)
2 Tbsp olive oil or herb-infused oil  (I used olive oil infused with lavender)

(My avocado looks  a little weird because it's been frozen and thawed.)

Put them all in a blender, blend til smooth.

Try not to eat it.

( I might have tasted it. It might have been good.  You could add some garlic and salt and have guacamole! )

When using the conditioner, you can either use it like regular conditioner-work it into your hair while taking a shower and leave it in for a few minutes, then rinse as usual.
OR, if you want more of a deep conditioning, leave it in your hair for 20 minutes with a shower cap over your head before you take a shower, then rinse it out and shampoo your hair as usual. Either way is fine.

Side Note:
Because there is lemon juice in this recipe, if you have dark hair it may lighten it up just a tad. But there isn't
that much lemon juice, so you might be fine. Just be aware that it might. I don't know if it does or not, I haven't noticed any change.

ALSO: Keep this in the fridge in a covered container when you're not using it to keep it from going bad.
Make sure to label it so no one eats it, thinking it's guacamole! Although if they do, since it's all food-based, you don't have to worry about them getting sick or anything. ;)
It keeps for at least a week.

Update: I found it is better for me if I use the conditioner before I wash my hair with shampoo. 
If I shampoo first, then use the conditioner my hair comes out way too oily, but if I use a little bit of the conditioner first, then shampoo my hair is nice and wavy and not too frizzy afterwards.
Of course, depending on your hair texture it may work better another way for you.
My hair is impossibly thick, wavy and tends to be frizzy.

Other Uses:
You can also use this as a face mask!
I tried it and my face felt so clean and moisturized afterwards.
I also took pictures but you couldn't really tell I had anything on my face, so you don't get to see any pictures. ;)
They are just of me making funny faces.
Okay, here's one- now that you're curious.

See? You can't even tell I have this stuff on my face. I was kinda disappointed.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Have you ever made your own conditioner? I'd love to hear about it!




This post is shared at Natural Mother's Network  Seasonal Celebration and Frugally Sustainable's
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.  There are lots of cool natural tips and remedies at both places, so go check them out!

Food Waste Friday: I Surprised Myself!

Guess What??


This week I have...


No Food Waste!!


I'm SO excited- it's been quite a while. :)

Hooray!!!

I hope all of you in the States have a lovely Memorial Day Weekend- Hubby has Memorial Day off for the first time in FIVE years. (His new job is soooooooooooooooo much better than the last one!!) We're looking forward to working outside and going to a potluck with some friends.

Thanks to all of those who have given their lives for our country's freedom, and for the families who have lost loved ones in battle or service for our country; we are forever grateful for their sacrifice.
:)


This post is shared at The Frugal Girl, who is the brains behind all of this food waste declaration. :) And her blog is just plain awesome.

Natural Body Care Series: Homemade Body Wash

 Lately I've really been wanting to make the switch from store-bought body care products to natural, homemade ones. I've been putting it off for a while because it's intimidating. I also have made the excuse that it's expensive to make natural products, but if doing so creates a better state of health for my family, it actually will save me money in the long run!
The commercial products are just so full of chemicals, phalates, and who knows what else that I feel guilty putting them on my and my families bodies when I know there are healthier, natural alternatives that work just as well or even better.

So I'm on a mission to switch our family from store-bought to homemade body care!
My first foray is:

 (Mostly) Homemade Body Wash

What I mean when I say "mostly" is that I used a bar of Ivory Soap (leftover from making Homemade Laundry Detergent) for part of it.
In my next attempt, I'm going to use some Yardley of London Lavender bar soap- I can't wait to see how it turns out! I just had the Ivory soap already at home, so I tried it with that first.

I found the recipe for this on Pinterest, and modified it slightly.

Here is the original recipe.

Here is what I used:

1 bar Ivory Soap
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup Eucalyptus Castile Soap

Yield: About 10 oz. (it reduces and thickens as you simmer it)

Melt your soap in the microwave (on a microwave safe dish of course) for about 60-90 seconds. It will puff up into amazing shapes that make you want to mush your hands around in it and play with it.
 (or is that just me??)
I didn't get a picture because I suck and forgot. Next time. It looks really cool.

Pour the water into a large pan or pot, add the soap and Castile soap and stir gently.
Heat over medium-low heat until the bar soap is dissolved, around 30 min. It will be really foamy at first, but gradually will get clearer and kind of gelatinous.
Make sure you stir the soap every few minutes to help everything dissolve nicely and so it doesn't scald on the bottom. I stirred it with a rubber spatula at first, then with a whisk at the end to get any lingering lumps of bar soap.

Once the body wash is thickened and most of your lumps are dissolved, remove from heat and pour into a glass or plastic container. The body wash will thicken as it cools, add more water if needed to make it more creamy.

I imagine you could add oats or rice pulverized into a powder for exfoliating, or any essential oils if eucalyptus isn't to your liking. Play around with it and see what you come up with!

I'm already looking forward to making my next batch and trying some lavender body wash. :)

Next up in the series: Homemade Avocado Hair Conditioner





This post is shared at Wild Crafting Wednesday at Mind, Body and Sole.

Refashioned Shorts: Men's to Women's

Have you ever seen a pair of men's shorts that you just loved but they didn't fit how you wanted them to because, well...

you're a woman??

I know I have. Sometimes there's just a pattern or a style that is so nice, but I can't find a similar pair in the women's section. What to do??

Hubby has this pair of white and blue striped shorts that we found at the thrift store for $3 a few years ago, but he has never really liked them much. It was one of those things I picked out for him because I liked them, and he wore because I liked them, but he never really loved them. (oops!)

I had them in the pile to go back to the thrift store and walked by them this morning and thought, " Hey why don't I try to alter them so that I can wear them?"

So I did!

Shorts Refashion: Men's to Women's

Here is what the shorts looked like before I did anything to them:

Baggy, too big and kinda sloppy.

I have to tell you, when I was in high school I did wear guys' shorts and liked it, but those days are over. (late 1990's!) I had this pair of camouflage cargo shorts that were so comfy! I'm sure I looked like a thug in them though. ;) 

As a mom, I feel sloppy often enough, I like to look a bit more classy when I can help it! ;)

No baggy surfer shorts around here anymore!

Here is how I altered the shorts:

I found a pair of shorts that fit me well and laid them on top of the bigger shorts.

I wanted to simply alter the width of the men's shorts; not the length so I kept the existing hem on.

Then I traced a line slightly larger than the legs of the khaki shorts; as I wanted this pair to be a bit more loose fitting but not too baggy.

If you look closely, you can see the lighter blue line that I used as a guide to sew along.
In true fashion to my math-hating self, I didn't measure anything, I just freehanded it.
Feel free to measure if you're more comfortable with that. :)

Then I sewed up the lines, and tried the shorts on to make sure they looked okay, 

making adjustments as needed.

I cut the extra fabric off and zigzagged the edges so they wouldn't fray, then they were done!

Now I have another cute pair of shorts, that I can wear two ways!

~Trendy and Current: Rolled up legs and high-waist with a belt:

Or, the more Classic Bermuda Short look:

I only got one picture of this style, because it was the only one that turned out! 

Which do you like better? I like them both, and will probably wear them both ways depending on the day I wear them or if I want to dress them up or down. :)

It's so fun to re-purpose clothing into something new!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

~Becca

Food Waste Friday: I Forgot What Day It Is.

Hi!
So...since we got back from vacation on Monday, my days have been a bit mixed up and to be honest, I completely forgot today was Friday.

I'm not sure what day I thought it was...but not Friday.

Good thing I decided to get on the computer and check my blog stats!

So.
Food Waste.





Honestly, this week has been pretty good!

 We bought these bananas last week at Aldi in Oklahoma and then overnight they...rotted?
I'm not sure really what was going on, but they didn't go spotty and brown like usual, they just turned mushy and black and we were in a hotel room so I couldn't bake banana bread or stick them in the freezer for later like I usually do.
I'm pretty disappointed about it. A whole bunch of bananas, gone.
Thankfully bananas are some of the less expensive fruits!

Also, we bought some strawberries the same day and the next day half of them were moldy. We did manage to eat the other half of the carton, and I know strawberries go bad quickly, but it was still sad.
I think I'm just getting a bunch of strawberry plants next year and growing my own. I'm tired of the store-bought ones molding so quickly.


Lastly, I cut open an onion to make dinner (venison cheeseburger chili mac and cheese)..and a layer of the onion was mushy and gooey inside.
So that went into the compost.

Money wise, I wasted about $1.99 total.
Bananas :$0.44/ lb and I got about 2 lbs so :$0.88
Strawberries: $1.99 and I tossed half the carton :$1.00
One onion that came in a 3lb bag that was $0.39/bag : about $0.11

How did you do this week?


This post is shared at The Frugal Girl, who is the brains behind all of this food waste documentation.
It really helps me cut back on my food waste if I have to take a picture of it and tell everyone how badly/ well I did. Try it, you might just save some food and some money in the process!

It's Been a Whole Year!

Guess what?

I've been doing the whole blog thing for a year now.
One. Year.
Wow.
I didn't even notice until just the other day that I missed my "Bloggin' Birthday!" :)

(May 9, 2011 was the day Sweet Swan Songs was born.)


Happy Birthday to me!!

It's been great!
I've learned a lot about photography...
(oh, my some of the first photos are SO bad!)

Homemade Laundry Detergent...I've put up new photos since this one was taken.

Getting a new camera makes it SO much easier to take pretty pictures!! 

  done lots of fun projects...

Surprisingly, one of the most Googled posts is one of the first ones I did- the DIY No-Sew Desk Skirt

Made some delicious food!

Rocky Road Cookies

The blogosphere is so wonderfully welcoming, I love it!  I've made "virtual" friends (real nice people who I've actually never met in person) and gotten to have a whole lot of fun. Yup. Blogging is really great! :)

For this next year, I'm hoping to continue to just improve upon what I'm already doing, hopefully do some more herbal stuff as I'm learning about it, and move more toward a natural living/homesteading blog with recipes and sewing and adventures with the family thrown into the mix. I hope that sounds good to you all!
Please let me know if you have any ideas of things you'd like me to write about, I'm always looking for new interesting frugal ways to do things, or new recipes to try, etc.


I think I'll be putting a feature at the bottom of each post from now on with a link of this time last year's post.
 (This idea is taken from the fabulous blog The Mrs. whose posts always make me laugh and let me get a fill of my sarcasm-loving side of life. Plus, she's Canadian, which just makes her cool right there.)
The link for Homemade Laundry Detergent (above with the terrible photo) is from around this time last year.

I hope you all will stick around and experience another wonderful year with me, it's been fun and I'm looking forward to what this year holds.

~ Becca