Tiny tip - curly hair and other musings....

In recent months I have been confused and a little frustrated because my hair had become more and more unmanageable. For many years I have simply washed my hair, towel dried it, then leaned over at the waist and blow dried it. Then, I'd brush it into place and maybe use a curling iron on my bangs. If I was going to Church or out into public, I'd use a little hair spray. Lately, however, it just wasn't working out. At first I thought it must be the humidity, but maybe 3 weeks ago it finally dawned on me what might be going on. I looked online for information. Apparently, the stress of losing my sweet husband and everything I went through last year has made my hair go curly. 

What to do?.... I remembered that my mother told me that when she was a girl, growing up in rural North Dakota, she and her mother would wash their hair with collected rain water and then they'd make a gel from flax seed and use that to style their hair. So... I looked THAT up online and found a recipe.

Flax gel for hair

2 Tablespoons brown flax seed

1 1/2 cups water

Simmer for 8  minutes and strain while hot through a mesh strainer. Keep the gel in the refrigerator. It will keep for two weeks.

So, I gave that a try. It's working and I am very pleased. Now I just wash my hair, towel dry, put some of the gel on my hands and rub it into my hair, comb it out, scrunch up the curls and let it dry. Then I scrunch that up. This is working. And if I wake up with flattened messy hair, I just comb a bit of water through it and scrunch it up again. 

I know there are commercial gels, but I think this is better. It is natural and very inexpensive. Just thought I'd share.

See this cute little boy?  This is my "Benny" and the picture was taken about 3 years ago. On August 12,2023 I took Benny to a "rabies clinic" in a nearby town. They set up a tent and offered reduced price immunizations for dogs and cats. When I took the cat carrier with Benny in it out of my car, the bottom fell out of the carrier. Of course, he ran away.  He was terrified!  I chased and called and called, but there was no way he was going to come to me. I went and told the people at the clinic. Jim and I went back that afternoon and put up posters and walked the town and talked to anyone we saw. We went back another day as well. I put it all over social media and rescue sites. No luck. My Benny was gone. 

In August of this year (last month) my oldest daughter had reccently moved to the county where Benny had disappeared. She's a great animal lover. One day she decided to look at the animal shelter FaceBook page. There was my Benny! I went and adopted him back. The story is, he had been living with an elderly woman and, sadly, she had to go into a nursing home and so Benny ended up at the animal shelter. He had been there for 41 days. 

When I went into the cat room at the shelter, the lady there showed me where Benny was sitting. I walked over and just picked him up and took him out of there. He remembered me! And when I got home, he and my dog remembered each other. 

Having Benny back has been so good for me. Losing him that way had left a sad spot on my heart. I suspect that Jim was behind this. It means the world to me.

In that photo, you can see he has an injury on the right side of his little face. He had been stung by a wasp! Now, he's all grown up and he even has a "Primordial pouch."  Look that up if you aren't familiar with it.  

When I found out, I wrestled with myself because I already have 2 cats. My youngest daughter asked me, "Mom... if you don't get him, in 6 months will you regret it?" And yes. I knew I would. So Benny is Home. 

 

Tiny Laundry tip - spinning bulky items in a top-loading washing machine...

 Late last year, I purchased a "Muddy Mat" bed for my dog. It is made from microfiber chenille fabric and when I wash the cover, it becomes very very heavy and nearly impossible to balance in my top-loading washing machine so that it can spin and not go "clunk...clunk...clunk..." I washed it last night and when I got up this morning, it was completely waterlogged and extremely heavy. What to do... what to do.... It suddently came to me! Here is a picture of the kind we have.  That is not my dog.

Most of you that have an automatic washing machine probably have a "front-loader" but I do not. Mine is a top-loading machine.  I took the soggy mass and carefully (as carefully as I could manage) draped it OVER the agitator in the middle of the machine. I closed the lid and set it to "drain and spin." It worked perfectly!

By the way, if you have been following me, you might wonder how I am doing. I am doing well. I miss my husband terribly, but I'm okay and looking forward, when it's my turn to go, to be with him again. God bless all of you!

My boy, "Loki."

 Now that I live alone, I have one dog, and two kitties. This one is called Loki. He is roughly 4 years old and came from a shelter. He's such a sweet boy, AND an excellent mouser

Tiny Tip - threading a sewing machine needle...

 

The older I get, the harder it is for me to see well enough to easily thread the needle on my sewing machine. I have found something that truly helps. I just take a tiny piece of white paper and hold it behind the eye of the needle and then it is MUCH easier to see.  

Re-post - Button Lamps in case your power goes out in the coming storm!

 

A Button Lamp

I just ran across this picture... and wondered if you have ever heard of a "button lamp." Many years ago, we got this idea from one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books called The Long Hard Winter. These are easy and fun to make and if you ever find yourself with no electricity, no candles... nothing to make light with, please remember this! All you need is a small glass dish or saucer, a button - not a plastic button, but one made of shell, glass or wood, a small square of cotton fabric, a piece of string and a match to light it with! The reason you don't use plastic is that if the flame contacts the button, you will have a cloud of toxic and not very nice smelling fumes coming off of it.

Cut your cotton fabric large enough to wrap tightly around the button and use the string or thread to tie it on, leaving the little pointy ends sticking up. Then, put some sort of oil or fat (Ma Ingalls used axle grease I think!) into your dish... don't use very much. You don't want to drown the flame. Put the wrapped button into the fat and get a little bit of it on the "wick" and then light it! This makes a very satisfactory light in an emergency.

One time, many years ago, the power went out. The children got busy making button lamps. We had several of them (more than we needed!) lit and happily giving light to our home, and then of course the power came back on! We were sincerely disappointed!

Surprisingly good healthy cookies....

 

Not the best picture, but all I had... :)

Here is a recipe for some really good cookies that are healthy. They do have maple syrup, so certainly are not "sugar free" so don't overdo it, but these are really good and very wholesome. It's funny how you can start to eat one and think maybe that it's not that exciting, but then you can't stop eating them. :)

PUMPKIN OATMEAL COOKIES

2 1/2 cups rolled oats - using a blender, turn half of them into oat flour

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 cup canned pumpkin or cooked fresh pumpkin

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/3 cup chocolate chips (I use white chocolate chips because I can't eat the regular chocolate)

2 Tablespoons peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt. 

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, rolled oats, maple syrup, pumpkin and pumkin pie spice.

Add the chocolate chips, peanut butter, vanilla and salt and mix it all well with a spoon.

Using a large cookie scoop, put the dough onto your lined baking pan with a space in between them. They should all fit on a half-sheet pan.

Put a little oil on the palm of your hand and slightly press the cookies down to make them more flat.

I bake mine for 17 minutes, but do it from 15 - 20 minutes until they are dry on top and starting to turn golden brown.

Remove from pan and cool on a rack.

I love chocolate, but....

 

Yes, I do love chocolate, but the older I have gotten, the more sensitive I have become to caffeine and the theobromine in chocolate.  Just before the Covid pandemic hit us, I had made an appointent with a cardiologist because I was having pre-ventricular contractions in my heart. I knew what it was, because I had experienced it some years before.  Well, we were "locked down" in March of 2020, I believe.  Right after that I was scheduled to see the cardiologist, and I had to cancel the appointment.  But Lo and Behold, the PVC's went away!  I figured out what was causing them. At Relief Society (Church women's group) meetings each Sunday,  the woman who was our teacher would pass around a basket of chocolate candy. I would take one piece each Sunday and eat it. Once we were locked down, I was cut off from my supply. I can eat it once in a while, but not on a regular basis at all, so for the most part, I avoid it altogether.  

So, here is the recipe for my Sweet Potato Carob pudding. When I made it for Jim, I would use cocoa, but when I make it for me, I use carob powder.

Sweet Potato Carob Pudding

In a high speed blender, combine the following:

2 cups cooked orange sweet potato

1 1/4 cup soymilk

8 Deglet Noor dates (or more if you prefer)

1 teaspoon almond extract (if I make it with cocoa, I use vanilla extract)

1/4 cup carob powder

Blend thoroughly, pour into a bowl and chill.  It's really very good, and it's completely healthy.