Homemade stick deodorant

This is an easy recipe that I have used for years. There is a roll on recipe that I tried for my last deodorant batch. It helped cover the smell but it didn't prevent the smell and I do not like the smell of body odor. So, here is my tried and true deodorant recipe.

1/4 c baking soda
1/4 c corn starch
4 tbs coconut oil
Essential oil (optional) I used 10 drops

First you mix it all together with a fork. I use a fork because the coconut oil is a semi solid so it is pretty firm when I am mixing this and I don't want to melt it or it will be too soft for the next step.

I don't measure it out well. I go by the texture. It should be somewhat pliable in your fingertips. If it's too wet then add more dry ingredients, if it's too dry then add more coconut oil.

Once it is the consistency you want, press it into an old deodorant container. If you don't have one then just keep it in a jar. That's what I do with the leftover stuff anyways. Then I just rub it into my underarm with my fingertips.

After it's pressed into the deodorant containers then place it in the refrigerator to set overnight. The next day they are ready to use and do not need to be kept in the refrigerator after that. If you just left it in the jar then you do not need to put it in the fridge. Use like you would any other stick deodorant.

Changes to the blog...

Just an FYI... I will gradually be moving all my blogs here so they are all in one place. Well, except my book reviews. I will keep topics separated with tags and on the pages above. Hopefully it won't be too confusing. I have already merged the kitchen witch blog to it. Yay! 1 down and 2 to go. :) just wanted to let you all know what's happening.

Homemade Lotion Bar

4 oz beeswax
4 oz shea butter
5 oz jojoba oil (or grape seed oil)
essential oil (optional)



jar
pot of boiling water
soap molds (or muffin tin)


First, measure 4 oz of beeswax. I put the block in the microwave for about 45 seconds to soften it and then just cut it with the knife. Put the 4 oz in your jar and then place the jar in the boiling water until it melts.

Once the beeswax melts, measure out the shea butter.

Pour it into the jar of melted beeswax.

Place jar back into the boiling water until it's melted. Add oils and stir.
Pour into molds. (Coloring is weird in this pic... sorry.)

Allow an hour or two to cool and then pop out of molds.

Ta-da!! Now, use it on dry hands to moisturize. It's really great. I will be keeping a bar in the kitchen for me to use when I'm finished with dishes. Also, my daughter is getting a bar. She is so excited about it. :)

What essential oils did I use? I used DoTERRA's Elevation on two of the square bars. The other square I will be using for my eczema patches so it has lavender, melaleuca, and frankincense in it. The rectangular one is plain... no essential oils. I thought that way the boys could use that one and not feel too feminine. They don't agree with me so my daughter and I may be using that one too. :)

Kitchen Remodel!!

So, as you know, we've been slowly and gradually remodeling the kitchen. The past couple of days has been the countertops. Yay!! Here is the only picture I found on my computer with the previous countertops and it was taken while we were working on the floors. :) So.... ignore the floor. This is a before picture for the counters! :)

It was tile. May I just say that I HATE tile? It is so hard to clean the grout. The only thing I found that really helped was the steam cleaner and I scrubbed the grout one row at a time with the metal brush. Very time consuming! Also, I whacked a can of biscuits on the corner of the counter one day (that's what you do when it doesn't pop open, admit it!) and a few tiles went flying off. Ooops! They never stayed again so we knew we wanted new counters. So, we bought new counters. Here are our cabinets counter free....

This was actually difficult to deal with. I'd walk in the kitchen and get the kids a drink and no where to set the cup or they wanted kiwi.... really, where do we cut the thing? Also, you must remember that since we planned to do this and add a bar to it, we decided to give our dining room table to another family so we didn't even have a table. I sat on my kitchen floor to do everything. LOL! Very weird. Also, our sink was sitting on the floor in the dining room. Where do your kids put dirty dishes? The sink. Where do you think my kids took their dishes? The sink. LOL!

The bar from the dining room. Yeah! Everything still needs to be painted so no judging... k?

Our new counters!! Paul had just finished the plumbing under the sink and I hadn't yet put the cleaning supplies back in it. Ignore that, too, k? :)

And the bar from the kitchen side. LOVE IT!!! Yes, those are pizza boxes. Our kitchen was a mess so we ordered pizza for lunch and had leftovers for dinner. ;) You think that's a lot for our family? Collin eats one large pizza by himself!!!

Now we just need to sand and paint and we'll be completely finished. HOORAY!!! :) I love my kitchen and now I don't want to move. haha! Well, you know, except for the fact that this is still a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house with a family of 4, wanting to be 5 eventually living in it. So... yeah, we need an extra room or two. ;) So, don't  you just LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen? I do!! I really, really do! :)

Christmas at the Smith's

We were going to go to my sister's to hang out with her family and my mom for Christmas Eve but then Ryanne got a bad cold and my sister's youngest is an infant so we were worried about getting her sick so... we decided to stay home. We sent a lot of texts and the children shed plenty of tears. It was sad but we all trudged through and managed to have a very fun Christmas! :) hehe!

We had finger foods at our house and watched Christmas movies until bed time. Christmas morning we got up and watched "A Gift to the World".

Then.... we ate breakfast....

It was gorilla bread (pull apart bread but with cream cheese and apple filling in the center of each biscuit while they're all smothered in caramelized cinnamon, sugar and butter.... yummy! So good yet so fattening. I also made bacon but half the pan ended up extra crispy so Arwen (the dog) got a Merry Christmas gift too and absolutely LOVED it!!! :)

Finally, we allowed the kids to check out their Santa gifts.

Collin got his first air soft pistol (a step down from a bb gun --- plastic pellets and only shoots about 12'). We decided he was ready to learn how to handle a gun and has had the gun safety talk and everything. Before he is allowed to pull the trigger he must say, "May I fire?" and wait for a yes from Paul or me before he may shoot. It works well. :) He also got a Skylander novel. Ryanne got a little tin container of lip gloss and a Cinderella book. They both got undies, socks, an orange, a chocolate orange, and candy canes. They both also got the Guess Who game to share. They were sooooo excited about their Santa gifts. They played with them for most of the morning. They hardly noticed the other gifts waiting under the tree....

We didn't get to the rest of these gifts until after lunch. ;)

Ryanne got from us: a ballet music/jewelry box, clothes, and veterinarian kit with a stuffed animal. From grandparents she also got a new tree ornament, a baby stroller, a doodle bear, high heeled dress up shoes, color wonder coloring book, and a cooking apron.

Collin got from us: a telescope (which was actually passed down from his great grandparents), clothes, and a wooden marble run. From grandparents he got skylanders, an imaginext dragon, beyblades, and a tree ornament.

The kids were spoiled! :) Thank you grandparents!!! :)

Homemade Christmas Gifts

My sister and I spent the day together yesterday doing a craft day with all 7 children! YAY!! We were making gifts for extended family. Of course, my kids no longer want to give up their gifts they made so we'll see how that goes. LOL! :)

 This is one of those Vicks Discs we've all seen everywhere. All we did was combine 1 c baking soda with 1/3 cup of water. We mixed then placed it in muffin tins with the paper (It sticks so I really recommend the paper!). We put it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes and viola!! Once that was done, we used doTERRA Breathe and put 4 drops on each one. doTERRA's Breathe essential oil is a blend of laurel leaf, peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree (melaleuca), lemon, and ravensara. This is one of my family's favorite blends and we use it regularly. It is the perfect blend for congestion, snoring or asthma. Yay!! :)

 We also made salt dough hand print tree ornaments. Whoo! That was a mouthful. Salt dough is super easy!
1 c salt, 2 c flour, and 1 c luke warm water. Combine it, shape it and then bake it at 200 until done. Ours took about 4 hrs. If it's an ornament, don't forget to put a hole in it for the ribbon! :) We gave all the kids (except the baby, hers went to her mom) their hands, paint and glitter. Yes, be very scared! :) LOL! They all turned out super cute though. Then, of course, we had to clean up a big, glittery mess.

Finally, my kids' favorite one!! We made aromatherapy playdough. :)

Combine 1 c four, 1/2 c salt, 1 c water, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1/5 tsp cooking oil. Combine in a pot and put on stove top on low heat. Stir until it turns into playdough. Let it cool and divide it amongst the kids (we did a much larger batch for 7 kids). Let them choose food coloring and fold it into itself and then choose their essential oil. We had pink, blue, orange, purple and red colors. We also had some peppermint, lemon and wild orange scents. My kids love these They love smelling them and it's such a great recipe for playdough! :)

Lemon Essential Oil

One of my favorite oils EVER is lemon essential oil!! :) It is incredibly versatile, which I love. Multi-use oil... who doesn't love that? Retail is $13.33, Preferred Customer cost is $10.67 , and Consultant price is $10.00. So, what can this amazing oil do? Well, let me just tell you!

First of all, it comes from the rind of the lemon fruit. doTERRA oil is cold pressed from the rind and then gone through rigorous testing to ensure it is the purest it can possibly be. No synthetics or pesticides of any kind in it. Yay! :) It has also been FDA approved for internal use so added benefits that a lot of other essential oils don't have.

It is an antidepressant, antiseptic, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, astringent, immune tonic, lymphatic decongestant, pancreatic stimulant, invigorating and refreshing. Doesn't this sound like a useful oil to have around? There is a warning I should give you about this and this is true for most of the citrus oils. If you use on the skin then be careful when in the sun. It can promote photosensitivity (increase risk of sunburn). So, if used on skin, wait 24 hours before going in the sun.

If you are looking for a simple detox, put a few drops in your water. The recommended amount is 1-2 drops in 8-12 oz of water. I always have lemon in my water. You should use a stainless steel or glass container as plastic absorbs the oil and then anything you put in the plastic container will then take on the taste of lemon, which may not be all bad. ;) Also, our bodies are constantly absorbing and inhaling petrochemicals (chemicals from petroleum) from the air, lotions and many other things we come in contact with. Our bodies cannot process this chemical so it wraps it in a layer of fat and stores it somewhere out of the way (my hips). Citrus oils actually destroy petrochemicals. Here's a cool thing to do. Take a styrofoam cup and put a couple drops of citrus oil on it and watch it each the cup. I did this in a used cup I had with dried cocoa in the bottom of it. I flipped the cup upside down and put the oil there. It ate through the styrofoam but left the cocoa intact. I found this quite interesting. Here's a pic. :) Isn't that cool!?

Diffuse lemon oil to help eliminate viruses and bacteria. It is also good for mental clarity by simply breathing it in. (Real estate agents report that by diffusing lemon oil for 15 minutes before showing an open house that viewers seem very relaxed and interested in asking questions.

Cleaning!! :) It is great for cleaning. You can put some in a spritzer bottle with water and clean where food preparation happens. I have a bottle with 1 part water, 1 part white vinegar and 10 drops lemon oil. I use it to clean EVERYTHING!!

You can also use it in food. If you need lemon juice or zest of a lemon, I often just use some lemon oil. If you don't have lemons on hand then you can make lemon-honey tea when sick with lemon oil. ;)

Mix some lemon oil with some coconut oil and you have instant energizing body lotion! Woot! I need more energy all the time! :)

Here is a list of 35 useful things doTERRA recommends lemon oil for. Some I have tried and some I have not but all that I have tried have worked wonderfully. I now always use lemon oil in my laundry and dishwasher. :)