Body Butter Review

About a month ago I talked about adoption and body butter. Well, I've been using it for a while now and I wanted to share what I thought of it.

Once I was notified of shipping it was to me super fast. The body butter flavor I requested is Sweet Orange and it's in a nice plastic tub, which I wasn't expecting (not sure why, but I wasn't). Kiara was kind enough to send me 2 chapsticks as well, one in Sweet Orange and the other Peppermint.

When I received the package the body butter was liquid (I think the chapsticks were too but I didn't check). BUT, it was a hot day and it sat in the mailbox for a while. Secondly I had remembered that I'd read that coconut oil turns to liquid at around 76 degrees. And all these products are made with coconut oil.

After opening the package and checking it out (I was excited), I stuck everything in the fridge for a couple of hours and it firmed back up. When I got them back out of the fridge and used them it actually felt really nice because like I said it was a warm day (90's).

It doesn't take much, a little goes a long way. It has a bit of a greasy (for lack of a better word) feel to it at first but after your body absorbs it in you aren't greasy. I think this comes from the coconut oil. It does moisturize very well and I really like it.

The chapstick I was very happy about because I'd just bought a store brand natural chapstick (which I like) but I knew these were more natural. They moisturize very well and smell nice too. You just have to be careful about putting these in your pocket when it's warm because they will start to melt (over 76 degrees).

All in all I'm very pleased with the products and would get them again. The only thing is that I didn't think that the body butter or the one chapstick smelled like Sweet Orange, I think they smell like chocolate bunny's! But the peppermint chapstick does smell like peppermint. But I still love them!

If you are considering a more natural chapstick or body lotion/cream go check out Kiara's blog. You would be supporting handmade, natural products and adoption all in one. And you can't beat her prices!

Natural Cycle Products

WARNING if you are male you may not want to read this.

A few weeks ago I decided to make the switch from paper menstrual cycle products to cloth and other alternatives. This week I started using them. While I've only tested them for a little bit I still want to share what I think about them and what they are.

Mama Cloth (cloth pads)

For some reason I never made the connection between cloth diapers and mama cloth. I use cloth on Trey for a variety of reasons but one being that I didn't want the chemicals in the disposables on his little privates. Well, in my reading I read that there are chemicals in disposable pads and tampons and that we are putting that on or in our bodies. That was a good enough reason to switch for me!

I did some research and found that you could buy mama cloth online. Some cloth diaper companies also make mama cloth. I also found several blogs out there that give tutorials on how to make your own. I also found out that my local cloth diaper store carried mama cloth.

Here's what I'm doing

I bought 3 mama cloth pads from my local diaper store and I also made some (thinner ones for thongs, sorry TMI but just trying to be clear what I'm doing). I also bought a small wet/dry bag at the diaper store. I'm able to put all my cloth in the bag and it's cute enough it looks like a makeup bag, so I can throw it in my purse and no one knows what it is.

Diva Cup

I heard about this on another blog and the woman loved it. I usually use tampons so I liked the idea of using this. It's a small cup that is inserted and will collect fluids. It's better than a tampon as it doesn't cause TSS like tampons. It also doesn't absorb fluids but collects them. And the reason I love it compared to tampons is that it can stay in for up to 12 hours and you don't have to remove or replace it like tampons to use the bathroom. When it gets full or you want to remove it, you just dump in the toilet and rise it out and reinsert it.

I love this thing! Once in and in place I couldn't feel it. I liked not having to worry about checking or changing things throughout the day. I just checked it in the morning and before bed. I had some minor leaks but I think that was due to not getting it in place more than faulty product. The leaks were only one day. The cup is supposed to last for at least a year if not more depending on each woman.

Info

If you are interested in this here's where I got them and how I made them.

If you are in the OKC metro area, I bought my mama cloth and wet/dry bag at The Green Bambino The ladies there are super helpful and use mama cloth as well.

I bought the Diva cup on Amazon but here a link to their site where you can get more info and buy it as well.

If you want to make your own mama cloth this is what I did. I took a disposable and traced the shape on the fabric. This was the easiest way for me to get the size and shape I wanted. After making one I altered it a bit till I had what I wanted. For fabric I used terrycloth for the absorbent layer and some cotton flannel for the outer layers. I've read many combinations of what you should use, but this is what I found at the fabric store and so far it's working for me. I've heard of women using old towels and flannel shirts cut and sewn to make the pad. Right now I'm using a safety pin to hold the wings and keep the pad in place since there isn't any adhesive. Snaps are recommended and again if you are OKC local the Green Bambino can put snaps on for a small fee, or do them yourself (I don't know how to do that yet). Here's a link to a tutorial that I followed to make mine. Oh and you can get pretty fabric if you want to make it just a bit more pleasant!

All in all I'm very happy with my changes. I did spend more money upfront (just like cloth diapers) but the cloth will last a long time, many years and the cup hopefully a couple. They are all very comfortable, much more so than their disposable counterparts. They will save me money in the long run and I don't need very much to take care of my needs. At the end of my week I just throw the pads in the wash or put them in with the diapers. The cup is washed out with mild soap and stored for next month.

You really have to know your cycle to be able to buy accordingly. I think the first month is a bit of a learning curve but I'm very pleased with everything.

Buffalo Meat, Raw Milk and a Movie

When David and I got married we each brought a couple of recipes with us. We had both been brought up on comfort food, although David much more so than I. He grew up with more traditional southern comfort food and I maybe more simple comfort food.


So after a few years we got bored with our recipes and started looking or being open to new things. A few more years and David began watching some cooking shows and found out he loved to cook.

I think it was about this time that we really started to enjoy food more and started trying more recipes. Since he was enjoying the process of cooking he was cooking a lot of meals if not most from scratch.

We had never been big on things like Hamburger Helper or frozen meals. But we hadn't been using a lot of fresh ingredients.

Then a few months ago I began reading a lot of what I call natural blogs. Blogs that were focused on healthy foods and healthy living. There was lots of talk on gardening, whole foods, farmers markets, raw milk and pesticide-free.

It was getting me excited about finding foods for our family that was truly healthy for us. I started a garden, cut foods out that had high fructose corn syrup, and bought healthy snacks.

My mom and I have talked about this stuff a lot lately and are making the same changes . After a conversation about healthy meat she went to the farmers market and bought a buffalo roast.

It was pretty good. It tasted a lot like beef and with a little salt and pepper I really didn't notice a difference. It's much leaner than beef (so you have to cook it slower so it won't get tough). Buffalo meat is healthier than beef because it doesn't have a lot of fat in it.

We had also talked for a few weeks about raw milk. I was very interested in trying some but you can't exactly pick it up at the grocery store. Thankfully I had a friend who is a dairy farmer and she hooked me up (thanks Paige!)

Yesterday my mom and I each bought a gallon to try. I was afraid it would taste really different from what I was used to and then I wouldn't like it. But, the taste is really the same with a bit more sweet (not much) and creamier. And oh yeah, no hormones in it! Just knowing it's better for us makes me like it more!

Realizing there were hormones in my milk really bothered me (as it should). I didn't want strange hormones in my body (or my family's bodies), who knows what it's doing to me. I started wondering if it could be one cause of our infertility.

Last night we checked out a local farmer not a mile from our house. We didn't know she was there until a couple of months ago. We were after some spinach and eggs and we weren't disappointed! She was extremely nice and welcoming (so much that Trey wanted to hang out with her, he's usually very shy with new people).

She showed us around, told us we were now family and to come to the back door next time, and explained how she did things including that she didn't use pesticides or other junk. Her food was all natural. We picked a ton of spinach, which was snacked on in the car. Trey loves spinach and David loved how the fresh spinach tasted. This is big for a recovering comfort food guy!

David and I watched a documentary on Netflix the other night called FoodMatters. If you haven't watched it go watch it! The main theme of the movie was "we are what we eat". They covered a lot on how important it is to get the vitamins our bodies need and how it fails (getting sick) when it doesn't get them. I'll try to share about this movie some more another time.

So I'm pretty excited right now about finding the best food we can. I'm going to be doing some research on vitamins and which vitamin does what and I'll share what I find. The movie also talked about super foods and I'm going to be doing more research on that as well.

I'm excited about the new things I'm learning and look forward to sharing what I learn!

Happy Friday!

We are on a little trip this weekend so I don't really have a good post to share.


So I'll just tell you about some stuff I'm doing or coming up.

I have just finished some major dental work and I love it! I had some porcelain bridges put in (old ones broke, major yuck!) and they are so white and beautiful! They were so worth it!

I've been trying out some samples of some natural body care products. I'm waiting to see how I like them so I can share my opinion on them.

My gardens finally got some rain water (they've been getting foacet water) and everything is looking good. I still have some okra to plant and some herbs.

And next week I'll have a couple of posts that I'm excited to share with you!

Have a great weekend!

Master Bedroom After

I haven't totally finished the room but I've done the majority of stuff that I was wanting to do. Go here to see the before of the room.

The biggest thing I didn't do was the headboard. I'm still going to do it but it will probably be a few months till I get to it. It's a big project and I've run out of steam. I'll try to get to it by fall because that wall is an outside wall and it gets cold in the winter. So, I'd like to have it done by then.

Here's a pic of the bed side of the room.

I got new lamps and added some new pillows and shams.

I still want new nightstands but what I want is costly and unless someone is giving me some money for them, it will be a while before they are replaced.
We also got rid of our alarm clocks, which I'm SO happy about! I've always hated them. Since David uses the alarm on his phone and I don't use one he agreed to get rid of them!

Not much changed here except the little picture frames and the jewelry box I really like how the jewelry box turned out. The blue is just a little bit unexpected but it still goes with the room.

I'd still like to replace the frame on the wall to a larger one but it's not bothering me that much so it stays for now.

I added additional vinyl lettering to the existing Love.

I made the 2 foreign words for Love and the little swooshes (not sure what to call them).

And I painted the dresser and finally gave it some knobs. I love how this turned out!
I also have plans to cover the TV wires but I just haven't got to it yet.

So that's my after, or rather mostly after! I'm pleased with the changes and now I'm looking forward to moving onto other projects.

I have a biggie planned for the living room!

My Journey's End (being sugar free)

Well its been a successful sugar free Lent season. I did pretty good at removing sugar from my diet and at breaking the need to have something sweet after lunch and dinner.


Honestly it was easier than I expected. I had been hurting so badly after eating sugar that I had an association between sugar/sweet and pain. So, while I had cravings it wasn't that bad.

I cut all High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from my diet and any of it's siblings. And I tried to cut all regular sugar as well.

I knew going into this what stuff I was eating that had sugar or HFCS so it was easier to cut out. But I did run into a few things that had HFCS that I never expected.

For instance my bread had it, and we're talking whole wheat bread. Also Campbell's Tomato Soup. I was very surprised this contained HFCS! And disappointed.

So I've decided to start making (or have David do it!) better alternatives. I love strawberry jam but all store brands have HFCS or are super expensive. So when strawberries get in season we're going to go berry picking and make some homemade jam with some organic sugar.

I'm also hoping to get enough tomatoes from my garden to use to make our own tomato soup for the winter. And I need to look at making our own bread (we have a bread machine so it's not hard) instead of buying it from the store.

This time of cutting out about 95% of sugars (it's hidden) has shown me that I felt better, my skin even cleared a bit & I lost a few pounds, it's in EVERYTHING or at least anything that isn't grown, you have to really read the labels of your food.

I'm really glad I did this. We'll be much more intentional about what we put into our bodies now. I also realize that if I'm not careful about when I allow sweets in my body that it can get out of control.

I used to keep small candies (from Easter or Christmas that my mom gave us) in the freezer (out of sight usually) and would eat just one or two after lunch and maybe the same after dinner, every day.

I claimed to myself that it was only a couple of pieces at a time and eventually I was very addicted. So we will be limiting our sweets to the weekend only, and using organic sugar when we need to use it.

My 2011 Natural Goals

Yes I realize that it's April and I'm just now sharing my yearly goals. Partly because I made my goals after the year started and partly because I'm just now getting to it!
I'm hoping to start doing more posts on natural stuff for a while.

So, here's my list:

Start a compost pile - I did get one started. I just found a spot in our backyard to park it. I used some leftover bricks that we had to make just a very short wall around it. Right now that's working. And I think the pile is starting to work too.

Start a vermicompost pile - I haven't done this yet. I think I might start this later in summer or fall.

Start a garden - we have done this

Change my face care - I have done this. I no longer "wash" my face with soap. I also don't use eye make-up remover, or face lotion. I use oil to clean my face and moisturize and remove eye make-up. One item does all that and does it well! I'll share more in another post.

Change Trey's body wash - Trey has very sensitive skin (like me) and since he was a baby he's had eczema on his arms, face and legs. I finally realized that maybe his body wash and lotion (with all the chemicals) might be contributing to this. I did find a natural body wash. We haven't used it long enough yet to share about it. I also stopped washing his face with soap altogether and his face has cleared. I'll comment more on this in the future.

Change my body care products - I also want to change my body wash, body lotion and deodorant to ones made with natural ingredients.

Change cycle products - This is one I'm working on right now. I've started noticing how much trash I was accumulating during my cycle and I was hating buying new products every month or so. I had read about some tampon alternatives (more about that in a future post) and about "mama cloth". Mama cloth is reusable pads. Since I cloth diaper this isn't that far fetched an idea for me. If I don't want Trey to have that plastic chemical filled thing touching his privates, why would I want the same for me? I heard they are SO much more comfortable and that you don't even feel it. There are several places to buy them and also tutorials online to show how to make them if you want. I'll have to try out what I get and then I'll share more on this later.

Start taking herbs - There are several herbs out there that are beneficial to women (especially during the childbearing year). So I want to start taking some of those to help get me ready for pregnancy, for during and for after and nursing. I'll share more on this when I get there too!

There are many more things I'd like to do and to change but this is probably all I'll be able to do this year.
I'd like to address my make-up, toothpaste, use more essential oils and buy more organic foods. This is a process of learning and slowly making changes. I'm excited about these changes and look forward to sharing what I find out! I'll be posting more on these as I use/do them and have had enough time to see how it works for us.

I'd love to hear about changes you are making too!
Comments make me happy!