Day 96: The Return of Good Hair (‘Bout Time!)

I am prone to bad hair days as a consequence of my own self-denial. I will get my hair cut three times a year at most. (That’s a really selfish year, people. Twice is usually the limit.) No, I am not proud of this fact. I feel like a ragamuffin most of the time as a result. My hair goes from an almost too-short coif to a perfect length and blend of layers, to a slightly too-long look, and ultimately to a ragged mop which I casually and repeatedly pile into a hair claw. I manage to cut the hairs that annoy me on my own periodically, which drives hairdressers crazy. It is at the point of sheer desperation five to six months after the professional haircut that I will finally relent and plop down $50 for a new ‘do.

Why do I do this? I’m not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with being Mom and knowing I could more easily buy the kids new socks and books and BPA-free water bottles than schedule two-hours of regular grooming for myself. Perhaps not the healthiest habit, and definitely one of the hardest to break.

So, do I think I’m suddenly going to be able to schedule a standing bi-monthly appointment? Um, no. I can only promise to work on it. But I do have some really good, much-less-expensive news to report on the hair front. I have settled on a shampoo product and sequence. (Yay!!)

I liked the post on Tending the Garden where the author had been successfully using Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap for shampoo, followed by Apple Cider Vinegar for conditioner. I liked her post so much, I tried it myself for a couple of weeks. It didn’t go as well for me. First of all, some days my hair would be dry, and other days it would seem too oily. During the hair washing, I frequently read the shampoo bottle. Dr. Bronner’s bottles are COVERED in information which makes me curious as to Dr. Bronner’s religion. Anyhoo…I read that the soap is made of all these organic oils.

Dear goodness! We are back to putting oil in my hair. Did I learn NOTHING the first time?!!! So I have relegated Dr. Bronner’s to being body wash which, if you do not dilute it, produces great bubbles. Score one for finding a new soap!

But the hair was still an issue, and the ACV as conditioner was doing nothing for me. And then it hit me. All the ACV I have been reading about related to Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, which I spied at Drug Emporium this week for nearly half-off. What an amazing difference between Bragg’s and any other store brand. It’s thicker, sweeter smelling, and actually LOOKS like apple cider. (No, it doesn’t take too much to impress me these days…it just takes a lot to get my attention.)

I really liked Dom’s organic shampoo by Giovanni, so I bought more of that for both of us to use, and mixed up some Bragg’s ACV in my spray bottle to use as conditioner. Voila! I’ve been doing that for the past three mornings, and I have had great hair each day!

Now, just watch. My hair will decide two days from now that it is too long and I’ll be married to the hair claw and trying to schedule an appointment. I’d better find fifty bucks just in case…

Day 95: Laundry List

Last night when I returned home from a meeting I fiddled around on the computer for a while, trying to design a cartoon Me and Kim for the masthead of another blog. So, I didn’t get around to making sure that whatever I was going to wear this morning was clean.

Naturally, the only jeans that fit were stuffed into a laundry basket under dirty towels. Grrreat. I huffed as I gathered all the jeans and some stray towels and rushed back downstairs to toss them in the washer. And then it hit me.

Mama’s got a brand new detergent!

Suddenly, this late night laundry idea had some potential. I tried out a new eco-friendly and skin-safe liquid detergent called Ecos. Bought it yesterday on one of the many grocery runs. Kroger on Youree sells it, as does Sunshine Health Foods. I bought the Magnolia and Lily scent. I will keep you posted on the family reaction.

In other news, today Miss Mabelline celebrates her second Barkday (that’s Birthday in dog-speak). So, without further adieu:

Haaaaaapy Birthday to Youuuuuuu
Haaaaaapy Birthday to Youuuuuuu
Haaaaaapy Birthday deeeeeeeear mischievous-evil-doer-yet-totally-adorable-when-she’s-sleepy-and-repentantly-puppy-faced Maaaaaaabel.
Haaaaaaaaaaaappy Birthdaaaaaaaaay to youuuuuuuuuuu

And many more!

Woof-Woof!! (That’s from Mason.)  ;)

Day 80: Readjusting the 'Tude

I feel bad for starting out as such a grump yesterday morning. I’m much better now. All it takes is a little focus on all that we have to be grateful for, and then suddenly being over-budget on groceries is really no big deal. I thought I’d post a quick follow-up to share some good news from my grocery trips:

1. Drug Emporium is beginning to stock Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day products. I couldn’t see prices yet, but I’m thrilled that more stores are selling these items. For what it’s worth, I think I have determined that Drug Emporium is less expensive on body and beauty products, and more expensive on food (even though their food selection ROCKS). Just a little “lagniappe FYI.”

2. Kashi’s Mayan Harvest Bake frozen entrée is A-MAZ-ING. Hungry Girl referenced this one day a few weeks ago, so I picked one up at the store shortly thereafter. It sat in my freezer for a while before I decided to dig in. Given the fact that I couldn’t readily identify much besides the sweet potatoes without reading the box, I wasn’t too sure I was going to feel all the love HG had for this entree. I was so wrong. This is a must have!! Go buy it. Now.

3. Mom turned me on to organic oreos. I kid you not. I wasn’t too sure about them myself. I mean, I’m the girl who just tried herbal coffee, and we all know where that got me. But Dom got to try the cookies first, and he came home raving about them. So I bought a couple of packs. I just got to try my first Newman-O at lunch yesterday. OHH. EMM. GEE. These cookies ROCK. (I can’t wait to dip them in milk.)

4. I ended up buying a crate of sorts for the lunchbox items in the pantry. The kids love the idea, and they both think the huge purple crate is way cool.

5. Although not a grocery matter, yesterday was Picture Day at school. For the first time ever, I styled Vic’s hair really cute. There were no tears, no yelling, and no monster tangles. We were done in a record two minutes. I should have thrown a party right then and there.

6. Tying the hair styling to the groceries, I bought Aaron a new spray bottle for his hair. We have misplaced the original bottle. Plain water helps him style his hair and tame the “duck tail” at his crown. Not that he cares, mind you. He’d go to school in PJs with bed-head if we let him!

7. The dogs have a new stock of Milk Bones, so Mabel will once again get a treat for “kenneling” herself. She was starting to take offense at the lack of treats, I think.

8. I scored some Dr. Bronner’s castile soap and apple cider vinegar for my hair. Today is Day 1 of seeing how this new shampoo procedure goes.

All in all, there were more successes than failures with this grocery run, and I must remember to stay focused on what WORKED rather than get mired down in what didn’t. Time to recall The Little Engine that Could and keep on chugging along.

Day 69: Doin’ Dishes

I finally changed my dishwashing detergent. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, since I have been a Cascade fan since childhood. There were a lot of considerations to make in changing my dishwasher detergent. Remember, I make mountains out of molehills all the time!

First, I really wanted to go back to the individual packets of detergent where all you do is plop this tidy little plastic packet into the soap holder in the dishwasher door and you never have to wonder if you used too much or not enough. But, I had been told that the packets were not completely biodegradable, and the remaining plastic would clog up the dishwasher drain lines and cause mucho problemos. So, I stopped using the cute little packets when I got a brand new dishwasher. I didn’t want to gunk-up my pretty new machine quite so fast.

Second, I wanted to be sure that if I switched to another brand that it was actually going to get my dishes clean. I CANNOT STAND to see streaks and such on my dishes as I’m putting them back into the cabinet.

And, as a natural result of my research, in the last couple of months I’ve felt the need to use something friendlier. We run our dishwasher every-other-day at minimum, twice a day if we’re home for any length of time (like our lovely stay-cation in June). At that rate, if I’m using a product that is essentially poisoning the water supply or leaving any kind of soap behind on my dishes, then I consider that to be problematic. (This excessive use of the dishwasher is on the list of things to be addressed, by the way.)  And I may be only one household who is willing to change in favor of an earth-friendly option, but I am one household who is willing to change, nonetheless.

Once again, I turned to Mrs. Meyers Clean Day products for my solution, the largest selection of which is found at Sunshine Health Foods. And no, I don’t get paid for this unabashed promotion of the two, in case you were wondering. I just love the store and the products! Mrs. Meyer’s has BOTH the dishwasher packets and a dishwasher liquid in practically any of their wonderfully herby fragrances. I bought the basil scented packets for the dishwasher. And guess what…they work!!! They’re great! My dishes are squeaky-clean and I’m using a product that is safe and natural. And the basil scent in the products is very mild.

I scoped out the safety of their products on their website. They are very direct about their ingredients and their philosophy in manufacturing them. Aside from being completely biodegradable, “Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day products are safe to use in the presence of children, pets, and expectant women.” What’s not to love?

To quote one of my favorite early ‘90s movies, “Dishes are DONE, man!”

Day 58: Every Hand Shall Scrub

It’s not enough that I’m constantly seeing and looking for things to change; my kids are doing it too. This weekend Aaron emerged from the downstairs bathroom with the pump bottle of Softsoap in his hand and asked, “Mommy, are you planning to replace this? It has Yellow 6 in it.”

On one hand I am befuddled by the fact that these ingredients are almost inescapable. I tell you, that crap is everywhere! On the other hand, I am so proud of my kids for 1) taking interest, 2) accepting the change, and 3) expecting more change. What troopers they are!

So yesterday on my lunchtime jaunt to Sunshine Health Foods, where they now know me on sight and can predict my lunch order, I wandered down the cleaning products aisle to price-compare on the countertop spray I wrote about the other day. (Brief side note: I used that spray on my stovetop, an antiquated blast from the past pull-out drawer that contributes to my oven being the bane of my existence. Anyhoo, I sprayed it and then assisted Dom at the sink for a minute or so, grabbed some paper towels and expected to just make the crud on the stovetop a little less nasty. OMG!!! I got the stovetop AS CLEAN as if I had used an SOS pad! And I did this with a PAPER TOWEL, people. Granted, it took a few paper towels because my stovetop was due for a good cleaning. Hey, it’s a 40-year old pull out drawer, okay? I’m sure it looked great in the late 60’s when they built my house around it! All this to say that Mrs. Meyers Clean Day countertop spray ROCKED my oven cleaning!!!!)

Back to Sunshine’s cleaning aisle. See? I’ll get us back on track…

While I was snapping pics of all the products and their corresponding prices so I can enter them into my phone’s grocery app (did I just tip you off to my OCD?) I noticed that Mrs. Meyers has a liquid hand soap in a pump bottle in several scent choices – all natural! Voila!!!! It’s a lot of soap, too. 12.5 ounces for a bargain price of $3.59. I filled one decorative soap dispenser and put the Meyers bottle at the kitchen sink. Now the kids can scrub up with complete confidence.

Day 56: A Lean, Mean Kind of Clean

Once all this natural stuff started infiltrating my brain, I knew I was going to have to do something about my household cleaning products. I had NO idea where to even begin, but I did notice that Sunshine Health Foods had a selection of household products. And then when Jessica turned me on to Kroger’s natural and organic section, I found similar products there. The first one I settled on was Mrs. Meyers Clean Day countertop cleaner. We simply HAVE to have a good countertop cleaner for our kitchen area, since coffee and numerous PB&J’s are made there.

So far I really like the Clean Day cleaner. I have used it for more than just the kitchen. What I like most about it is that you can easily dilute it if necessary without losing any of the cleaning power, AND it’s all natural. (Although the lemon smell is a tad strong at times; I am going to get the lavender refill.) Also, I won’t hesitate to have the kids using these products too. Whenever they grimace at my request for their manual labor, I remind them that they will need to know how to do all this on their own before they go off to college. In the back of my mind I know that when the time comes for them to leave home, they're going to wonder: If she prepared me so well for this adventure, then why is she crying her eyes out? 

Anyhoo, the countertop cleaner is a good purchase.