Progress made...

My Friday Flowers... he loves me!

Coffee, check

Puffs, check

Throat lozenges... check...

So... it might appear that the reason I was so sluggish yesterday had more to do with the fact that I might be trying to get a cold, than with me being overwhelmed.

I can base this assumption on two pretty easy to recognize facts.

The first - I feel just plain gross! Watery, burning eyes, stuffy nose, sore throat - lets hope its really just a minor bout with allergies shall we?

The second - yesterday was incredibly productive!  At least until I started feeling like a truck ran me over.

I was all set to get ready for church with Hubs this morning when he pointed out my fellow parishioners might not appreciate the new year gift of a cold as he drew a steamy tub with eucalyptus and menthol in it. So diced up oranges, a big glass of tomato juice (okay so it was really a bloody mary, why suffer needlessly?) and a long soak in the tub and I finally feel semi- human.   Eyes are still blurry and energy level is a tad non-existent.

Talk about rotten timing. Tomorrow I go back to work and need to be at my best.  Might be time to break out the OJ.

Okay, enough whining!  It isn't helping in the least anyhow. I say lets celebrate some victories!

After bemoaning my inability to get anything done yesterday, I decided to buckle down and just do it (anyone else remember when that was Nike's tag line?).  As my kitchen island was covered with supplies for deodorant, bath soaks and some soap supplies it only made sense that was the logical place to start.

Deodorant ingredients

Chromebook open to recipe, ingredients at hand I decided to start with deodorant.  If you have never worked with shea butter (and I haven't) let me warn you now, its not only waxy, it's sticky.  Massive quantities of boiling water were required for clean up.

Melting the fats

Deodorant is surprisingly easy to make, and as Hubs is graciously willing to be a guinea pig for me also, we shall soon see how well it works.  One of our focus areas this year is to eliminate the massive amount of chemicals that seem to be in everything anymore.  If we can't pronounce it, know what it is, or it isn't safe to use in our cooking, it probably does not need to be in or on our bodies.

Cooling

This year is about detoxing! Luckily the lavender scent I selected is very faint so Hub's isn't going to walk around smelling like a flower.  I probably could have gone with a more neutral scent.  Next time.  I also need to start sourcing shea butter. I was lucky enough with all the natural markets around to find all the ingredients I didn't have on hand, but the shea butter was a bit too pricey locally to make this a cost effective endeavor.

Deodorant

Most of the recipes I found are incredibly similar, the one I chose to use was from the Live Simply Blog DIY - Homemade Deodorant with Lavender, just in case anyone wants to try it out.  While that mess in the bowl was melting down I took advantage of the time to whip up a lavender detox bath soak.  Again there area  ton of recipes, all basically the same.  That took minutes.  And if I hadn't needed something to clear my head I surely would have given it a try this morning.

I used a very basic mixture of 4 cups Epsom Salts, 4 cups baking soda, 20 drops of lavender essential oils and a handful of dried lavender flowers.  Mix it up, store it in glass jars and use 1 to 2 cups per bath (1/2 cup for kiddo's).

Salt and Soda

oil and flowers

Lavender Detox Bath

I might be on a bit of lavender kick... nah, truthfully it is a scent that I have always enjoyed.  For me it is calming. I will admit that I have discovered that soaking in epsom salts has made a huge difference in my health and I fully credit it for my knee doing so much better.

As that was all finishing up, I got busy playing with one of my new toys.  Hubs spoiled me rotten for Christmas, he shouldn't have, but I am so not complaining! (He says since he couldn't remember last Christmas he got to make up for it this year.) I am cheap, I completely admit it and own it. Proudly! There might be many things on my wish list, but I will rarely spend money on one.  One of the things that has been on there the longest is a high quality pressure cooker.  And NO I will never buy one used, I have heard too many horror stories.  Well that sweet man bought me one!  A really, really, really nice one.  In fact, there are two of them.

I love to cook.  And I far prefer to eat at home than ever eating out, but that little time factor always gets to me. I come home from work tired, I don't want to wait an hour or more for dinner. And while the crockpot is sometimes a viable option, my work schedule is very fluid, I don't work a set 8 hour day and with a total commute time of more than an hour, it makes it hard to find meals that want to cook for 12 hours.  Beans can only be eaten so much before you hate them.

Orange glazed candied sweet potatoes with our Honey Baked Ham

Close up of those potatoes... 10 minutes well spent!

Asian Chicken with home made root beer

And truth be told, my primary reason for never getting a pressure cooker is because I only wanted it to do my canning, and I haven't been doing much of that lately. Sure seemed like a lot of money to spend on something I rarely would use.

I have to share a secret... I am in LOVE with my new pressure cookers!  I never knew that you could use it for so many things. Or that actually prepping a meal would take longer than cooking it.  Or that it would taste so good!  I am getting ready to cook a butternut ginger soup for lunch.  I can't believe that in less than 30 minutes we will have something so tasty, nutritious and that doesn't have all the added chemicals in it.  I am going to be doing a lot more cooking at home!  Score another point for those 2016 goals.

I am not so sure he got it just for me.  As he's enjoying it as much as I am, he also got me a soda stream - love it!

I ended the day by finishing up the repairs on that one quilt.  I just took it out of the wash, I am actually hoping that is the reason that I am stuffed up and feeling puny (it had been stored for a bit) and I am highly susceptible to the molds and dust of time.  I can't wait to deliver it.  I felt the love the maker had for the one she made it for as I repaired those blocks.  Lots of loving has caused it to be worn and a bit tattered.  I even had to create a piece to fill a hole when on block had been lost along the way.  It is now solid, if a bit thread bare.  Sadly I cannot turn back the hands of time to restore it to brand new, but who would want to?  Who would want to remove the years of love and comfort?

bit by bit, stitch by stitch

Today will be slower, today will involve some resting and lots of fresh fruits and veggies.  I still need to be at the top of my game tomorrow, even if I don't feel up to it.