Way back one Christmas while I was still in junior high my aunt gave all of us homemade oatmeal facial scrub in pretty jars. Along with this came a book called Back to Basics by Alexandra York. Ms York gave detailed instructions for making all manner of skincare products from cleansing creams to toners to wrinkle concentrates and shampoos. Some of the exotic ingredients were off-putting and while I put to use some of the more basic recipes over the years, others remained mysterious.

Alice Cantrell recently posted about chemicals in our personal care products. Dr Mercola has written about these chemicals being detected in remote parts of the body. Sounds farfetched until you consider all the medications now being dispensed through the skin such as nicotine and contraceptive patches. I admit, the cheap in me had me thinking even further because it is not uncommon to pay $10, $20 and even $30 for an ounce or two of nutrient rich chemical free concoctions. And yet, here we are in the high desert where my skin threatens to become as parched as the clay underfoot. I needed something, preferably something neither deadly nor likely to cause me to take out a second mortgage.

The explosion of internet sales and soapmaking has opened new doors which previously had been closed. One can find anhydrous lanolin, beeswax, or glycerin (glycerin binds moisture from the air and holds it on the surface of the skin) with a few clicks of the mouse. I pulled the books out once more and began to experiment. Surprisingly Walmart proved to be a good resource. In the pharmacy I found witch hazel, glycerin and castor oil, ingredients in many recipes, for next to nothing. In the baking aisle they carry olive oil and coconut oil (plain- for $2/lb). Borax can be found in the laundry aisle. Encapsulated vitamins can be popped and added to the mixtures. Armed with those items many of the recipes could be easily assembled.

A few tips from the author:

Avoid soap. It is drying. Instead use cleansing creams – even something as simple as Crisco. Otherwise plain glycerin soap bar works well. An oat and yogurt mixture makes a gentle cleanser.

An abrasive substance such as ground oats, ground almonds, or even salt makes an excellent exfoliator.

Fruit acid peels? Try papaya. Fresh sliced papaya acts on the surface of the skin to remove dead skin cells.

Don’t use powdered cosmetics on aging skin. Any dry cosmetic like face powder, eye shadow etc will collect in tiny creases and make them more noticeable. Use a cream base.

Keep a ‘crinkle stick’ to refresh midday. Dab it near the eyes and mouth for an instant facelift. Younger or more oily complexions benefit from a misting of mineral water midday. Way better than more cosmetics.

The daily routine? Cleanse, tone, moisturize AM and PM. Scrub with abrasives weekly. Apply a facial or steam monthly.

It is also good to remember that good skin starts with dinner. You are what you eat. Getting adequate essential fatty acids is recommended to help your body regulate its own production. Imbalances can apparently present themselves as either under or overactive glands. Antioxidants applied to the surface are not as helpful as those digested. Consuming (mercury free!) fish, leafy greens and berries is more desirable. Diets heavy on transfats and low or nofat diets are detrimental to your complexion. Protein speeds cell repair.

Some recipes:

Simple Cleanser
grind oats finely
add plain yogurt to make a paste and soften the oats
keep in fridge.
You know how soothing oats are for Chicken Pox. Same concept. The addition of honey is suggested as well.

Cocoa Butter Cleansing Cream
1oz cocoa butter
1oz safflower oil
1oz almond oil
1oz rose water
1T beeswax
1/8tsp borax

melt wax, melt oils separately and drizzle into the wax beating constantly. Warm and mix borax and rose water and add to mixture. Beat til creamy and cool. makes 3oz. Refrigerate.

Toners:
witch hazel is the major ingredient in all of them and can be used alone or dilute with water. Oily formulas add alcohol. Drier complexions may like the addition of glycerin. This one is for normal skin-

Glycerin Rose Water Toner
4oz rose water
1oz glycerin
1oz witch hazel

Coconut Vitamin Protection Cream
1oz coconut extract
4T coconut oil
1/2 tsp Vit A and D oil (pierce capsules and add til you get the right amt)
2tsp cocoa butter
2tsp soy oil (I would use olive)
2 and 1/2tsp anhydrous lanolin
1/4 tsp borax (found mixed reviews about borax online)
1/2tsp liquid lecithin

<e;t lanolin over low heat. Warm other oils and beat into the lanolin. Dissolve borax and beat all together for 3min. Makes over 4oz.

If you can’t locate some of the ingredients I have found that mixing relatively inexpensive vegetable oils like coconut, olive, and safflower and adding the vitamins makes a very good moisturizer. Work a fine layer into the skin then rinse with very cold water to set. Pat dry with towel.

Liquid lecithin or beeswax are added to keep the mixtures suspended so as to prevent separation and give it some body. This is what we pay for at the store. It is like the natural peanut butter however. It is a really small thing to shake it up before use. Ditto the need for refrigeration of the more perishable recipes such as those with dairy products, honey etc. That makes it less convenient certainly, but then again it avoids the need for heavy duty preservatives.

One more – For an all over treat try making your own salt glow scrubs.

Okey doke. Enough fun for one day. : ) Better get a move on.

Best as I can figure it that is why Laura relates stories of red flannel jammies and knit mittens and not say, partially completed mitten with needles that come up missing having been employed as masts for bathtub ships. Or flannel jammie pattern pieces which morph into pirate scarves.

I will say our kids are delightful. They spend their days reading widely, running outdoors, playing music that takes your breath away. They leave endearing little notes to each other and to us. We have thought provoking discussions about politics, art, and theology. And Alice Cooper. But that’s another post. Indeed our days pass in relative bliss. Most of the time. That cooperative, undeniably awesome behavior is punctuated by the occasional incident so mind-numbingly stupid you wonder who spawned these creatures. We were visited by one of those on Saturday.

I woke up early and decided to tackle piecing Tess’ quilt. You remember don’t you? That would be the quilt the girls and I began for her before she was born? ; ) You weren’t holding your breath for those pics were you? (I move slowly with nonessential tasks) Anyway, I got the top pieced and the back and batting cut and pinned. I worked cautiously since my solitary goal was to have all my seams and corners in alignment. And so they were! Sandwiching all the layers evenly proved to be a challenge but we got there.

Brendan had joined me towards the end of that process. I moved between the dining room table and the kitchen getting him drinks and a diaper. I know what you are thinking but I kept zealous guard over that scissors. It never left my hands because well, I have a lot of boys. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. No sir-ee. I was alert to the danger all around me. Or so I thought.

As the kids and their father trickled in for breakfast I happened to catch a glimpse of the quilt on the dining room table. GASP! Like imagine choking, sobbing, what in the name of all that is good were they thinkin?? GASP. One whole edge was shredded. While I peeled myself off the ceiling Dad turned to the kids. Brendan quickly solved the mystery for us. The up side was, somewhere in the recesses of the house, he had found the good pair of missing titanium sewing scissors and they were still sharp. The down side obviously being, he had found the good pair of missing titanium sewing scissors and, choke, they are still sharp. : (

I saw Genevieve quote Lissa Wiley today about patience and how some days that means holding on until this moment passes and is replaced by a nicer one. That is what I did. Took a shower. Lots of deep breaths. Tried to remember all the cute things he has ever done. Tried to remember I don’t get to take that quilt with me when I leave here anyway. Its just stuff. Today I work on disassembling the stitching and replacing the damaged blocks. It’s ok.

Just be careful what you pray for. God always answers prayers for increased patience with abundant opportunities to grow in that virtue!

You know how I know this? Not by looking outside, since we are covered in snow. No, I know we can mark this annual milestone because…. the nativity set is packed away again. Yep. This is one surefire way to make your house say “Springtime”. Get those Christmas decorations put away.

We are Catholic so we have some wiggle room. We can easily leave them up til the Epiphany. Some would say we could go the whole Christmas season through January. But, March? No way. Even I know that’s pushing it.
In my defense the decorations were boxed. They were boxed except for that aforementioned nativity set at any rate. They were boxed and waiting patiently on the covered porch for someone’s conscience to shame him or her into hauling them to the shed.

I was on a roll and headed in that direction many weeks ago when I realized I had tossed the tree box. Never do that. (that would be tip #2) You might not realize your grave and irreversible error until you return from the home improvement store with the largest plastic container they sell and size it up to those tree parts. I swear I heard my tree chuckle. Turns out you must purchase – and online only it seems – a ginormous tree bag. In your spare time. Geesh. So long story short – a short job dragged on and on but alas we are packed up for another year.

It occurred to me as this job morphed into a complicated enterprise that there was some merit to the perishable decorations of our forefathers. An article I read early in the season (the Christmas season that is) mentioned that most colonial and pioneer Christmas decorations were made of local greenery and natural items readily available like straw, fruit, nuts etc. They were recycled to birds and burned as fuel in their fireplace and thus – drumroll please – they did not store any of them from year to year.

That last line hit me like a ton of bricks. Peter Walsh was echoing in my head. It is causing me to rethink ‘easier’ and ‘more economical’ and what exactly fits both bills. My hunch is that storing multiple large boxes from year to year and saddling myself with packing/unpacking/moving/carrying/storing chores doesn’t. So while it is not Christmas and in fact Easter is knocking upon the door as I type, I am thinking about November and how we want to live in general. What makes for a festive atmosphere in any season? Not a grumpy overtaxed mom. That much is certain. Not an overtaxed budget. Not an overstuffed storage shed.

As Holy week unfolds I am focusing on projects that are precious and natural and yes, shortlived. Perhaps the fragile, transitory nature of these things is part of their appeal. Perhaps we will blow some eggs for an egg tree. We now have plenty of downed branches to employ. Perhaps we will make a braided Easter bread or Resurrection cookies. Maybe we won’t. But, mark my words, we will not be storing a whole lot. I am turning over a new leaf. A biodegradable leaf.