Under a Red Roof ·

Pucker-Up! A DIY Update

December 29, 2008 in Making by Colleen | 1 comment

Yes, I am a crazy person. I’ve got that look in my eye. However, I am not crazy with junk sticking out of my head. That is just the door hinge in my very unprofessional office/photo studio. Anyhoo. Back when it was sunny and warm outside, I wrote this Concoctions post that told you about my DIY proclivities. Well, I’ve got an update for you, along with a couple recipes for new goodness you can try at home.

To start, the Queen of Hungary water is awesome. It really does make my skin feel super tight and smooth as a baby’s bum, with one caveat. It smells like vinegar, so I have to dilute it with water or I smell as crazy as I look in the above photo.

Angry Chicken’s deodorant has been terrific for the hubster, but after about a month, it made my pits get a rash, so I stopped using it. I am now deodorant free, and it isn’t as scary as I thought it would be, even Gregory agrees. I am guessing the fact that I shave is the reason for the rash. So, if you don’t shave, I think you are golden with this stuff. Maybe try it without the baking soda, too. Just a thought. Also, I did use her suggestion for glycerin to make it softer. I used a couple tablespoons, and the consistency is quite nice.

Kombucha – still going strong! I love it! If you are a local yokel and want to try it, give me a holler and we’ll hook you up with a SCOBY.

Birch Water – my original intention with this was to replace shampoo. Initially this was great, but then, even though I had just washed my hair, it looked, well, dirty, mostly oily. So now I use it as a body wash and am super happy with it. You can’t beat the smell of rum in the shower.

So you might be wondering if I returned to the shampoo. Nope. I have, since September, been cleaning up with baking soda and Queen of Hungary Water. Here’s the “recipe”:

Mix about a teaspoon of baking soda in about a quarter cup of hot water. Swirl around until the water is clear. Pour the water over your head, concentrating on the scalp. Close your eyes, too. This stuff burns a little. Once you’ve gotten all of it on, give yourself a nice scalp massage. Let it sit for a minute or two, or comb through it. Rinse very well. Seriously, very well. Even though you’ve only used a little, it will dull your hair if you don’t get it all out.

Next, take about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, or even better, Queen of Hungary Water, and mix it with about a quart of water. Pour this over your head, comb through, and rinse, rinse, rinse! Nobody wants to smell a vinegary head, nobody. I am speaking from experience.

Finally, the reason for the title and the kooky photo above. I recently made lip balm and it turned out really well – like well enough to surprise everyone who’s used it, including me. I got the ingredients from a few places, but this awesome website (Mountain Rose Herbs) has it all, and most of it is certified organic. Yippee!

Pucker-Up!

12 teaspoons castor oil

9 teaspoons grated beeswax (pack this and the cocoa butter into the measuring spoon)

9 teaspoons grated cocoa butter

9 teaspoons sweet almond oil

9 teaspoons jojoba oil

9 teaspoons glycerin

1 teaspoon vitamin e oil

Essentail oils – I used spearmint (10 drops), rosemary (8 drops), and peppermint (6 drops).

15-20 1/2 ounce metal tins – I used 20 but didn’t fill them all the way. I didn’t know how much the mix would expand as it cools – not very much, so I’d use 15 next time.

Place all ingredients in a heat proof glass measuring cup. Place that in a pot of hot water over low heat, and stir, stir, stir, until melted. It takes a while, but I read that melting it too quickly could cause everything to be grainy. Nobody wants grainy lip balm.

This turned out medium firm, I’d say. If you like it really soft, more like lip gloss, change the ratio of castor oil (more) to beeswax and cocoa butter (less). Do the reverse if you like it a bit more firm. You can also use any combination of essential oils. Lavender, orange, or lemon would be nice, too! Finally, if you want it tinted, add some lipstick or food coloring at the end. It will look much darker in the tin than it does on your lips.

**I forgot to tell you that I filled my tins with a turkey baster. Just be sure to get it really clean because it will smell like your lip balm or get a baster to dedicate to unusual home projects.

Have fun, and if you do try something, let me know how it goes. I’d be eager to hear.

An Early Spotlight

December 23, 2008 in Reading, Spotlighting by Colleen | Permalink

Back before I was a bit derailed by life and took a break from the blog, I had my Friday Spotlight, where I wrote about movies, books, and music that I like. Well, I’m bringing it back, but a little early this week for topical reasons.

My husband and I have a Christmas Eve tradition of reading Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory aloud to each other. We take turns, each reading a few pages at a time. It is so magical for me. Though I know the plot, each time is new and wonderful, full of funny quips and brilliant details, bringing me both laughter and tears.

If you aren’t familiar with A Christmas Memory, it recalls Capote’s own youth when he lived with relatives, and in particular, Miss Sook and their dog Queenie. The story centers on the Christmas season, but like any good tale, it is so much more than that.

We watch the trio venture into the woods to cut down a tree and decorate it with home made ornaments (they couldn’t afford any others). We also learn of the myriad ways they earn money for the fruitcake fund. Each year making cakes (and enjoying a little whiskey themselves) for strangers dear to them, including President Roosevelt. What different times – can you imagine sending the President a cake today?

Like so many of the stories I am drawn to, it is also about love and the deep connections we share, for Buddy and Miss Sook, and little Queenie, too, have a most tender and sweet relationship, one that, despite distance and time, only grows stronger.

If one day you come upon the story, regardless of season, please do read it, for it is so very special, one to treasure, and you will never look at two kites flying in the same way again.

Tags: Books

The Everyday

December 22, 2008 in Being by Colleen | 1 comment

Hello Everyone! It’s been a while, my digital friends…

As you can see, our red roof is currently under a rather thick blanket of snow. Yikes! Save the times we’ve gone outside to shovel the walk and feed the animals, we haven’t left the house since Friday evening. Now that doesn’t really sound so terrible, but when you know you can’t get out, it makes it feel like it’s been even longer since you left. The mind plays funny tricks.

To pass the time, we’ve watched A LOT of Netflix, in particular, the ENTIRE first season of 30 Rock, plus a few episodes of the second season, and the movie Becoming Jane. We now feel pretty complete in those areas. Like there was ever really a problem. Again, the mind plays funny tricks.

I don’t know where I saw this, but I liked it and thought I would share it with you. The five things I do every day:

1. Drink my fiber drink (for those who don’t already know about this, it contains: fiber (think psyllium or inulin), Emergen-C powder, spirulina powder, acidophilus, homemade kombucha, and lemon flavored cod liver oil (most of us are Vitamin D deficient)). Digestive health is very important people, and besides, I think it tastes good!

2. Exercise. Also very important. I like to walk, but not in the snow drifts we have today, practice yoga, Nia dance (or just dance around the house like a crazy person), lift weights (not too heavy), and row on the machine in the basement.

3. Feed and/or watch the animals in our backyard “habitat.” That’s me this morning. I am sharing stale corn chips with my peeps. I am wearing my hubby’s overcoat, my new nightgown from my parents (thanks!), rubber boots, and my green hat. The hat rarely leaves my head these days.

4. I like to make good food. I like simple ingredients done well. I am not terribly fancy.

5. Love my life. I can’t imagine a better one. I have an amazing husband, healthy, happy, and fun friends and family, cute kitties, a lovely home…the list goes on. It is all very sparkly, just like a holiday (that’s a quotation from Rain Man film fans).

Pause

November 21, 2008 in Remembering, Writing by Colleen | 3 comments

When I was in college, and had been studying French for about ten years, I needed a break. I was bored and tired and getting kind of cranky with it, so I took German for a year. Boy was that interesting! I learned a lot – like German is hard and well, uber-foreign after so many years of French. My mouth struggled to make umlauts and not caress words. I also learned that my brain, like a library, has a distinct foreign language section. When I couldn’t remember a vocabulary word or phrase in German, my electrical impulses went zooming to French, found what it was looking for and out it came from my mouth. It was both funny and strange. “Guten tag Herr Zimmer, je m’appelle Colleen.”

The greatest bit that I learned, however, is that a pause (German word for break) is a marvelous thing, for when I returned to French after my year of German, it was with renewed interest and vigor. I even decided to become a French teacher! Though I never found a job, but that is another story, isn’t it?

Like German, I started this blog as a pause from Polite Society. I had finished my rough draft and felt like I needed to keep up the momentum while I let it rest. Well, now that I have started my second novel, I feel like an old pick-up on a cold morning. I turn over, then wheeze and sputter before pumping that gas pedal to keep me from dying. I know that if I just let the engine warm up a little, I’ll be good as gold. But, in order to do so, I need to focus on this one task, rather than divide my time, which I must admit, I’ve been doing rather poorly. Neither the blog nor the book is up to snuff at the moment.

So, in this somewhat cryptic fashion, I am letting you know that I am taking a much needed pause from the blog. I need to focus on my novel, get her humming to life. Thanks so much for reading and commenting these past months, and check back from time to time. This won’t be the last you hear from me!

Truths Revealed

November 17, 2008 in Remembering, Thinking by Colleen | 2 comments

Well, finally, sheesh. I was so tickled that my Arizona pal Kelli, tagged me, but then when I sat down to do it, not a single thing popped into my head that I hadn’t said before on the blog – maybe I should keep the cards a little closer to the vest, huh? So after days of thinking, I asked the hubster to help me out, and here’s what we came up with. This time, I’m going to tag people back, too, but not six because I don’t know that many, at least in the blogging world! So how about it Amber and Sarah? Six random facts for the good of the order…

1. I was once a pastry chef for a creepy uni-browed man named Bruno. And why was he creepy, you might ask? He told me that I should wear red lipstick to work. Yeah, like that would make the cakes taste any better!

2. I have a very keen sense of smell. It drives my hubby nuts. “Do you smell that?” “Um, no.” “Well, I do, and it’s awful! Help me find it!”

3. I am a J Crew-aholic. Thank goodness for good sales.

4. I can have a very short fuse, particularly with my cat Milo. He likes to paw at the blinds, making this awful racket, like he’s doing right now. I yell, then he runs away and comes back in two minutes to start it all over again.

5. I love maps of all kinds. I find them beautiful and inspiring.

6. I love Star Trek movies! My favorites are Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and First Contact. Even though I’ve seen them both many times I always cry when Spock dies and love it when Data says for how many milliseconds he was tempted by the Borg. Good stuff. This also brings me to random fact number six and a half: It is Star Trek, not track. Whew – glad I cleared that up!

Have a great day…