Big Green Genie

Livin’ clean without goin’ nuts!

Sep 9, 2009

Where HAVE I been?

Posted by Lilla under Just thinkin'

What a crazy time I’ve been having! The time from my last post has flown by and I can only apologize for my lack of blogging.

I started teaching computer aided drafting in April, moved in June, vacationed with my mom in July. Upon being home for a week I was called back to my mother’s to help her recover after a fall and subsequent hip replacement surgery.

However I have not been idle during my non-internet time! I managed to kill my small garden. I guess it’s a very good think my significant other has a green thumb, or I would have gone without fresh home grown tomatoes this summer.

I made my first two batches of Cold Process soap.  I learned a lot and will be sharing the experience in a later blog.

I made blackberry jam all on my own for the first time, and it turned out betterthan I had hoped, tasty, sweet and good.  I plan on sharing that bit of fun too.

I took up beading and jewelry making.  I used a couple of kits, but I plan on expanding with my own designs, too.

I took 4 train rides between Southern California and Oregon, and enjoyed them to a certain extent, but took greater satisfaction in knowing I wasn’t driving a car the approximately 3200 miles that the trips entailed.

Mar 4, 2009

Again With the Deodorant

If you have been reading this blog at all you will know that I’ve been experimenting with homemade deodorant stick. And I’ve had some good luck with baking soda and cornstarch in a cocoa butter/coconut oil base.

Yesterday I changed the formula to create an even more stable product that would stand up better to increases in temperature.  So it seems that the new formula is going to be exactly what I want in solidity.

I’m really pleased that it is as stiff as it is… here’s my dilema:  I was so excited at the solidity that I tried to turn the knob on my recycled deodorant container too soon and broke the screw right off the knob.  So here I was with my freshly concocted solid in a container that I could no longer get it out of in a usable form.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Mar 3, 2009

Deodorant…Again!

Posted by Lilla under Just thinkin', Personal Care, Recipes

OK,  so I have to tell you that I really like the deodorant I made a while back.  It was great until, after having a warm day two days ago and it melted a bit in the container and slumped to the side.  Which wouldn’t have been a problem except I am not used to using a microwave.

I put the container into the microwave thinking to warm it enough to allow the contents to melt back into original form.  And it probably would have worked except I, being “microwave challenged”, managed to melt it and pop the retaining seal off the bottom of the deodorant container.  There was my wonderful concoction all over the slightly dirty glass tray. Read the rest of this entry »

Feb 22, 2009

Homemade Deodorant

Posted by Lilla under Personal Care

Like most people I don’t like to offend.  I shower regularly with soap (Kirks Castile usually). I’m a little sensitive to perfumes and fragrances, meaning that usually they give me a bit of an ache in my sinuses.  Oddly enough…natural scents don’t bother me, flowers and herbs and natural incense, but that is another post entirely I think :-D

So I finally ran out of the last store bought deodorant I will ever buy two days ago.  I have been reading about how aluminum in antiperspirant isn’t good for people. I also have to wonder about trying to shut down a system that has been working well at cooling humans for millennia.  Read the rest of this entry »

Feb 19, 2009

My Tiny Garden

Posted by Lilla under Gardening

I’m so excited because today I saw that some of my seeds were sprouting in their starter pots. Which is kind of misleading because I didn’t use pots. I used one of the cardboard egg cartons that came with the eggs I purchased.  I got the idea from ” Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard, and Eggs–For Growing a Better Garden: More than 400 New, Fun, and Ingenious Ideas to Keep Your Garden Growing Great All Season Long” which I purchased just before Christmas/Yule.  Read the rest of this entry »

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