Make Orange Cream and Lavender Chamomile Linen / Pillow Spray

A friend sent me a note recently wondering if I had a pillow spray to help her turn off her mind-chatter at night so that she could fall asleep more easily. I could relate, having the same problem at times when my brain just won't shut off despite the fact that the rest of me is so tired!

So I looked up essential oils that are useful for sleep, for decreasing tension, and for quieting the mind. It turns out that there is a lot of overlap - many oils that are good at one of those things are also good at the others. Then I went looking for a recipe.

There are two types of recipes for mixing oils in water. The first uses a silicone to mix the two. Great, but not something that we commonly have in our homes. The second uses some sort of alcohol-type product to help the two mix. This doesn't mix the oil and water for as long a period of time, meaning that they eventually separate, but it is long enough to use it successfully as a spray and has the added benefit of not needing a preservative. I based my recipe on one I found at .... that uses witch hazel instead of Vodka (not having that on hand...) and converted it to the measurements with which I am most familiar.

Keep in mind that most essential oil experts (I am not one) will tell you that essential oils will start to break down when mixed with other things, lessening the therapeutical properties, so you still probably don't want to mix a year's worth all at once. I kept the recipe small enough to fit in a 4 oz (1/2 cup) spray bottle with a little room to spare.

Orange Cream Linen Spray
1/3 cup water (distilled)
½ tsp witch hazel or rubbing alcohol or vodka
40 drops vanilla essential oil
20 drops orange essential oil

Mix ingredients in spray bottle. Shake well before use.

Lavender Chamomille Pillow Spray
1/3 cup water (distilled or pre-boiled)
1/2 tsp witch hazel or rubbing alcohol or vodka
40 drops lavender
20 drops chamomile

Other suggested oils: Valerian, lavender, vanilla, chamomile, frankincense, orange, ylang ylang

Make Super-Duper 2-Ingredient Glass & Multi-purpose Cleaner

Not too long ago I decided that there had to be a good glass cleaner recipe out there that was simple to make, worked better than the blue stuff (so many DIY recipes are better), and didn't use ammonia. Often, I can use just water & a microfiber cloth, but when I have a sticky fingered toddler around, there are times that I just need more grease & crud-busting power.

When I first started mixing my own cleaners years ago, I came up with a recipe that worked acceptably well, but it still wasn't as great as the stuff from the store, and it has ammonia in it. Ammonia is one example of when "natural" might not be nicer. This recipe didn't use a large amount, but I didn't use ammonia for anything else, I didn't want to have to buy & store it just to make this cleaner.

So, I researched glass cleaner recipes on the internet. I tried recipes using baking soda, cornstarch, dish soap, rubbing alcohol, essential oils, and of course vinegar. I love vinegar. But they all streaked or left a film on my windows & mirrors. I found one recipe that I almost liked, but sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I don't need cleaners that have mood swings.

Then, recently our family took a turn cleaning our church building. I noticed that there was a new eco-friendly cleaner, so I looked at the ingredients. And, I did a double take; there were only two! It was simply peroxide and orange essential oil, diluted to two different strengths for different cleaning needs. And since I had just used them, I knew that they worked. Well. Better than the blue stuff.

So, being frustrated all of the DIY glass cleaners I had tried thus far, I mixed up my own peroxide water solution, added a drop of orange essential oil and gave it a shot. Ta-dah! It worked on my finger-print laden mirrors every bit as well as the blue stuff.

And - bonus! - it works as an-all purpose cleaner too! It doesn't have the acidity in it like vinegar cleaners so it is safer for surfaces like chrome, stone, or granite that can be etched by some cleaners. It has some great germ-fighting properties (if you use peroxide that isn't 12 years old like mine is), so you could make it a little stronger to meet specific needs (double the peroxide & essential oil, keeping the water the same).

So here is my new favorite cleaner, replacing two (or three) different things in my cleaning arsenal.

Super-duper Glass & Multi-purpose Cleaner
4 oz water
1 TB hydrogen peroxide (the regular pharmacy kind)
2 drops orange essential oil (optional, but it does make it smell nice and have anti-bacterial properties of its own)

Mix all in a spray bottle & go to town! Bump up your cleaning power a notch and use micro-fiber cloths or another lint-free cloth with it for the best experience. I will never go back to paper towels.

Just to be safe, Keep your cleaning cloths away from other fabrics until the cloths have dried. I kept this recipe small because the germ-fighting power is stronger when it is fresh. However, as I mentioned, my peroxide was so old that it didn't fizz when I poured it on anything, but it still cleaned just fine. So if you aren't worried about germ-busting, then mix away!

Ride a Bike in the Rain

This last weekend, my family and I participated in the Salt Lake Marathon & Bike Tour. My sister & dad ran the 1/2 marathon, my daughter and nephew ran in the kid's race, my brother-in-law ran in the 5k (for a few minutes :), and I rode in the bike tour.

This was my first organized ride/race on a bike. Since I am new to outdoor riding for anything besides recreation, I figured this would be good preparation for Goldilocks next month since I want to ride a longer length in that race.

I didn't expect the weather - it rained for the whole ride & most of the morning, but it made for an interesting first experience. I definitely won't forget it. And, the next experience can only get better, right?

So here, in no particular order are a few of my observations about my first organized bike tour.

1. When you are really cold, there is no state of "flow." Cool = flow. Cold = numbness.

Flow is that point during exercise when your body enters it's energy cycle & you feel really good. You don't always get completely there, but you do usually have some point where you feel that the energy put in to exercise is less than what you are pumping out.

When it is raining and you are soaked to the bone, there is no flow. That's not really rocket science, but I didn't expect that point of numbness to be a similar experience. Discomfort in lower back & saddle - gone. Cold toes - gone. There is nothing there. Hooray!

Unfortunately for me, the numbness didn't kick in until mile 24.5 of a 25 mile race. Just when I was thinking, "Oh, good. Now I can really focus for these last few miles," we rounded the corner and there was the park.  Stink. Maybe I need a bike computer so I know how far I have actually gone.

2. When everything is rainy & gray, neon pink arm & hand warmers are a really happy sight. They were new since I did plan on it being cold at 5:45 a.m. So I wasn't used to the sight of them. Whenever it got raining really hard, I would have to duck my head a bit so that the rain wasn't coming straight at my face, and there was that bright flash of pink to make me smile.

3. People who get up at 5:00 am for a 6:00 am start on a cold, rainy Saturday morning when they could otherwise be sleeping in are crazy. A good kind of crazy. I think. But there were lots of smiles and happy people despite the weather.

4. The Salt Lake Bike Tour passes every high school on the east side of the valley. There are approximately 56 of them, because I saw more than one each mile. They only passed one church that I counted. How is that possible? Just tell me, how?

5. Did I mention that neon pink arm warmers are happy? It must be raining harder again.

6. When it rains really hard, your helmet drips.

7. I really like the green bikes that can be rented downtown. They are lime green cruisers with baskets and bells.

A whole group of cyclists was riding these. I don't know if they rented them so that they could ride together, or if they were sponsored as a way of getting the word out about the bikes, but it was pretty cool. And I liked hearing the bells. Ring, ring.

I want to know how they did (because I sure wouldn't want to go uphills with a 3-speed bike, or whatever they are) but they are cool.

8. Besides being cold, riding in the rain is messy. My bike was muddy, my hands were muddy,  my feet were muddy. My arms & jacket sleeves were pink, where my new neon pink arm warmers bled onto them. Did I mention that I really liked them?

I think cleaning my clothes & shoes & bike took as long as the ride itself. (Sorry about that hotel hand towel that was white before I used it.)

9. Your ego will be slightly bruised when you are passed by someone twice your age.

I thought I had checked my ego at the door, but apparently I had a little left when I was passed around 6200 South by someone who was maybe my dad's age. I didn't mind so much when he passed me; he was obviously in very good shape and very experienced. He gave me some good motivation to speed up and stay near him. That was good, since I realized at that point that I had settled in and wasn't pushing. There isn't time to settle in a 25 mile ride.

However, then I was passed by someone who was twice my age. Like, he probably had 10 years on my dad. Really?

There are some awesome older gentlemen out there who are amazingly fit, and I know this, so normally, I don't think this would have bothered me. But apparently when I am cold and wet (and it happens not once, but twice), it does.

10. I love to ride my bicycle.

Even the rain didn't dampen my spirits. The frustrating 3-year-old after the race, maybe. But the rain, no. When I was looking at cycling gear recently, I came a cross some of those gore-tex shoe cover things that keep your feet warm and dry. At the time, I thought, "Pshaw, right. I WON'T be riding in weather like that." Now, however I am not so sure. I might need a pair of those things.

Make Homemade Deodorant ?!

Raise your hand in the air if the first time you heard of homemade deodorant, your thoughts were something along the lines of:

• That is just GROSS. 
• Those people are crazy. 
• They've taken DIY/all-natural way too far. 
• They must be a bunch of dirty hippies.
• Some people have too much time on their hands.

If you could see me, I would have both hands waving in the air. I had heard the hype about aluminum & other nasty stuff in the commercial deodorant, but I was sure that there was an easier way to get a nice safe deodorant without mixing it in my kitchen. Something along the lines of handing over some money for it at a store. Something that felt a little more hygienic or scientific or something like that. 

I mean, I make soap, and shampoo bars, and lotions, but making deodorant felt like it was only one step away from making my own tampons and hauling my own water.

Then I was browsing a blog that interested me (I don't remember which one), and saw a link to a homemade deodorant post. And I had to pause, because - get this - the author was not a dirty hippy. In fact, she was really put together and organized. So I gave it a look, and it didn't look too bad. 

Then, shortly after that I came across another post about DIY deodorant where the author had all the scientific reasoning behind the ingredients she had used. And it made sense. 

I mean, baking soda absorbs odors. And coconut oil has all sorts of claimed properties, among which are that is kind to skin and anti-bacterial. The same goes for tea-tree, rosemary and citrus oils. And beeswax firms it up a bit, besides which it just smells yummy.

And then I noticed my deodorant was running low. And I did have all the ingredients on hand for one of the recipes, so I tried it. And I really liked it. I didn't stink at the end of the day like I did with sbad (store-bought anti-perspirant/deodorant). I didn't feel any more moist. And in fact, when I did get all hot and sweaty (in my exercise classes), I smelled really yummy when the essential oils were released as the waxes warmed up. There were only a few problems. 

1 - was that I wanted to keep smelling my armpits, which really isn't proper social etiquette.

2 - the recipe I tried got hard on cold mornings and it had too much powder. The result was that it was crumbly, so if I pressed too hard (which I nearly always did), little bits would break off and fall into my clothes, or I would get a large smear of powder/wax across my armpit, which really isn't the look I am trying to pull off. Also, nobody else in my family would use it this way. My husband just refused, and I didn't offer it to my nearly teenage daughter because I could just picture her mashing it onto her armpits, only half paying attention, and running off to school with a trail of white pasty chunks falling out of her clothes as she moved. (Please tell me that other people have children like this.)

So, I looked at other recipes and noticed that the ratio of powder to wax/oil ranged from 8 parts powder to 1 part wax, to 1 part powder to 2 parts wax. Most recipes, however, had nearly equal portions of powder and wax. I tried those & felt waxy/sticky. And I was noticeably more moist. Not my favorite feeling in the world unless I am swimming in a pool on a hot day. So, I tweaked the original recipe by softening it up a bit and lowering the amount of powder just a tad. The result is a creamy, non-crumbly concoction that stays soft, rubs on cleanly, and does not leave any white smears behind as evidence.

Citrus Vanilla Mint Deodorant

3 TB cornstarch 

2 TB baking soda
2 TB arrowroot powder (or just use more cornstarch)

2 TB coconut oil
1/2 TB olive oil

12 drops essential oil (I used 2-3 each of Tea Tree, Orange, & Vanilla)

optional * 1 TB shea butter (to soften more)

Melt oil in microwave on 70% power. Start with 2 minutes and stir. Microwave for 30 second intervals at 70% power, stirring after each interval. Once fully melted, add olive oil and powders and mix with a fork until well blended. (If mixture firms up, return to the microwave to soften) Add essential oils, and mix again. Place in a clean container and rub a small amount on as you would a lotion.

I tried putting this in a clean roll-up container, and it was possible, but not really great. It is soft enough that unless I dabbed the deodorant on, I ended up using too much, and then I had to wipe off the extra white powder - which defeated the whole purpose of the container! So I just decided to come to grips with touching my armpit. And it really doesn't bother me now because I know all the ingredients that are in the deodorant & I touch most of them all the time in some way or another. So go get friendly with your armpit & enjoy smelling great!

Make a Banana Nut Smoothie

This is my go-to recipe after an intense workout when I have a lot of bananas around. It is simple, fast, and filling, and I don't find myself running out of energy in a few hours or having blood sugar dips that leave me feeling cranky and shaky. It is also a good balance of protein and carbohydrate with close to the perfect amount of calories for a post-workout snack to refill your glycogen stores.

2 bananas, frozen & peeled (if you remember to do this)
    5-6 ice cubes if your bananas are not frozen
1 cup plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp honey
sprinkle of ground nutmeg
1/4 cup chopped walnuts OR 2 TB ground flax seed

Cut the frozen banana into chunks. Place all ingredients into blender and blend on high until smooth.
With nuts, this recipe is roughly 600 kcal, with flax seed it it is about 500 kcal.

For a fun treat, this is really good with 1/4 cup caramel syrup added to it!

Make Zucchini Alfredo Lasagna

I am an alfredo-lover, so when I saw a recipe similar to this. I HAD to try it. I ended up combining a few recipes and omitting the red sauce (because I didn't read the directions thoroughly), and we had a new family favorite. My 10-year old pants when I tell her that we are having zucchini lasagna for dinner!

Zucchini Alfredo Lasagna











2 medium zucchini (about 8 inches long)
6-9 lasagna noodles
2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
Salt & pepper
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Mozzarella cheese, grated
optional: 3-5 pieces bacon or sausage,  cooked & chopped


Preheat oven to 350 F. Place noodles on the stove to boil. Slice zucchini (1/4" thick slices) and microwave for 5-8 minutes, or until tender when pricked with a fork.
In a saucepan on medium heat, whisk milk, flour, and butter together. Stir until it begins to thicken. Remove from heat and add parmesan and bacon or sausage, if desired. Return to stove and stir until heated through.
Drain noodles.
In 9x13 baking dish layer zucchini, noodles, and sauce. Repeat one or two more times. Top with grated mozzarella.
Bake at 350 F for 25-35 minutes, or until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbly.
If time is short, substitute macaroni or rigatoni noodles for the lasagna noodles. Serve directly from stove without baking in oven, topping noodles with zucchini and then sauce.