What Do You Feed Your Skin Every Day?

As I mentioned, we were at my mother-in-law's for the Thanksgiving holiday. While there I was reminded of how many toxic chemicals we have eliminated from our home and how many are still in the homes of others. As I stood in the bathroom getting ready, I looked around at all the products and couldn't help but think about how many chemicals people put on them every day just in the beauty department. Then I thought about all my friends who insist that it's not that much/it can't matter that much. So I thought it might be a helpful exercise just to take a look at how many beauty products the average person uses in a day.

• Toothpaste
• Soap/body wash
• Shave cream
• Lotion/After shave
• SPF
• Face cream
• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Hair product
• Cosmetics
• Perfume
• Facial Cleanser

What am I missing? Then you add that all together and multiply it by every day of the year. Just think of all the chemicals that could enter your body! Sometimes when we look at the change one product would make, it doesn't seem like that much. But as we can start to trade up many of these for ourselves and our families, we can really start to make a difference in what we are doing to/for our bodies and our health.

How Crafty

I am not a crafty person (Believe me, I've tried. I have the hot glue gun burn scars to prove it). But I was reminded this weekend how much I enjoy craftiness when I engaged in the annual post-Thanksgiving craft show with my mother-in-law. She has been going for 20 years or so and I have joined her the past couple to bask in the creativity of others. She has one vendor she makes sure to hit first every year. These three sisters take old items and paint them to upcycle them into adorable and one-of-a-kind Christmas decorations. The globe above and "Dear Santa" wall hanging below are both from these crafters. I also had the opportunity to meet a local Michigan artist who upcycles old magazines, art papers, and books into beautiful purses. Someday when I don't have to carry a diaper bag, I am getting one. Most of all, this craft show reminded me how cool it is to get something unique and special to pass down through generations. Even cooler is meeting the people who made these things with their own hands, often using recycled materials. If you get a chance this holiday season, try to do some of your shopping with crafters and artisans. It's a warm fuzzy feeling.

Jodi's Adventures In Natural Cleaning!

Raise your hand if your house is a little dirty after this weekend! Ok, well lucky for you that my friend Jodi has come to the rescue with tales of her adventures in natural cleaning. Jodi recently tried some homemade green cleaning recipes for her shower and oven (Hello! Oven!). Here is how it worked out in Jodi's own words:

pic #1 - some hard water stains on the floor in my standing shower. I covered them in salt and squeezed some fresh lime juice on it (cut a lime in half, squeezed it over the stains). Let it sit for 10 min or so.pic #2 - viola! scrub (with the lime rind), rinse with water, and gone!
pic #3 - My gross oven door on the inside (so embarrassing!!!). I did a little area to test my scrubbing solution and then took this pic to compare. I did a mix of 3/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup salt, 1/4 cup water. I let the mix sit overnight. In the morning I scrubbed. It was pretty caked on there, but it didn't take a TON of arm work to scrub it off. So in this pic you can see the corner I did the first night, and the rest of the oven door.
pics #4 and #5 - I then covered the rest of the oven door with the mixture, the next night, let it sit, and then scrubbed in the morning. In the 5th pic you can see it coming off as I scrubbed with the sponge.
pic #6 - the door now. It could probably use another coating of the mix on there to completely clear it off, but I haven't done that yet. You can totally tell the difference now.

Jodi deals with hard rusty water, a hunter husband, and three kids and is slowly but surely learning that even with all of that-maybe because of it-green works!