pinterest test-- coconut oil

This post is unusual, what is unusual you might ask?!  There is not a single picture---  I thought I would spare you the good, the bad and the very ugly :)

Have you seen all the great benefits of COCONUT OIL?  I have tried cooking with it, and doing other things with it.  I do like it and so far I do see the benefits from it!!

This time I saw that it heals split ends and helps with the frizzy dry-ness.  So of course I had to go for it:

warm coconut oil, place on hair
wrap hair with towel
wait 30 mins
shampoo
style as usual.

VERDICT:
I did this very, very late on a Sat night--- pretty bold if you ask me, as I usually like to have nice hair on Sunday morning for church.  It was not until I had gooped all of my head that it occurred to me that this could make my hair greasy...
When I say gooped all of my head, I mean all of it.  I thought it would be a good idea to rub it into all of my scalp to help nourish it etc.  It looked very sexy for sure...  I would have taken a photo, but my eye make up was running and smeary on my face, and I looked like a camper (we had been in the wind at a hot dog roast) I looked very scarey!!!  so, no photo.
My hair was greased, very greased.  I was a little worried, I washed it.  I did not put in conditioner (because no one said to) I towel dried and combed it.  Then I went to bed. I woke up and had to blow dry it (still wet) It looked great. It was not as "smooth" and "shiny" as I thought it would, but it was soft.  I did still have some "fluffy" ends, but the rest of the hair looked really nice.  It was not greasy at all.

Would I do this again-- yes, I will.  maybe once a month or something.  Not too often, I am afraid to "over do it".

pinterest test-- vicks vapor disks

Again, I do not have the source for this Pinterest idea...  Sorry!

Apparently there are vicks discs out there that you can buy to throw in your shower and then help you with colds, congestion etc. They are suppose to dissolve and have the aroma of vicks to help open you up.  From what I understand they are pretty pricey too. I have not seen them anywhere, but then again I have not looked either.  BUT, it sure sounded good to me.  Molly gets croup and Sam's colds always head to his lungs so i thought, Hey, what a great idea!!  We love vicks at our house so this might be a good thing to have in a hot steamy shower when the kids are sick.  I had most of the ingredients-- all I needed was the essential oils (EO) (which I was getting for some other things as well so perfect!!!)

First things first... you need you pouty little assistant to be up high to help

Then you apparently need to turn your head to the side to watch your now happy little assistant helping to stir  (why is blogger turning all of my pictures?!?!)

and stir

and stir (there was a LOT of stirring going on)

Place your moist mixture into the mold (the person I got this friom had really cute molds---  I have a train cupcake mold, oh well, it worked!!)

(I also have egg shaped jello molds---  these were a lot smaller, but I had more mixture so why not?!

Let them sit and dry (it took a lot longer to dry than they said it would, but it was cold and rainy out when I did it so maybe that was why?!)

They did not seem quite fragrant enough for me (even though I added like 3 times more EO than it called for) So I thought I would just dump a bunch of drops of EO onto the drying pieces.  It worked, they smelled better that way!!

Finally all dried and ready to come out--- Becareful!  these will crumble apart if you are not really, really, really gentle taking them out of the mold.  Place them in a cute, fancy  left over, clean pickle jar and wait for the next victim to come down with a cold to use them.
 
VERDICT:
So Sam had a cough a few days later---  I was all excited and said I had something that would help when he took his shower.  I added a few of the eggs (they are small)  and nothing happened, so I added several more.  Still nothing, so I had him sniff the cute, fancy  left over clean pickle jar after the shower.  I was not discouraged though--  they were small pieces after all, I just knew the bigger pieces would pack the punch I was looking for.
Fast forward a few more weeks.  I got the cold of all colds (UGH)  I couldn't breathe I was all stuffed up, but have no fear, I said, (yes, I often talk to myself these days) I have my little "vicks disks!!"
So I put 2 bigger pieces in-- nothing, then I added 2 more, still nothing.  So now I am frustrated, so I ended up dumping the whole jar in... and can you believe it... NADA, ZILCH, NOTHING happened.  They dissolved, but the aroma that was suppose to help open me up and help me breathe never came.  I was pretty dissapointed to say the least!!  So I did what any other person would do, I smelled the cute, fancy  left over clean pickle jar and got out the real vicks to help...

Would I ever make this again?
NO WAY!!  It was pretty disappointing and I used up most of my EO, so this little experiment was not a cheap one.  Too bad too, it really sounded like a great idea!!!

pinterest test-- cabbage soup

This recipe was on pinterest somewhere---  would love to give it credit, but it was before I actually pinned things--  you know, when they allowed you to just lurk without joining.  I was looking for soup that would be good for you since Kirk and I are both trying to lose weight before our upcoming big trip.  I saw it, thought hmmmm, I could give it a try.  It was listed under weight watchers foods.  It was 1 point (though I have not ever done weight watchers and therefore do not understand the point system) so I thought 1 point was a good start.  I read a little further and saw that if you added ground turkey into it it was worth 3 points.  Since I am not such  a huge fan of cooked cabbage, I did not hesitate to add the turkey---  good choice!!

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

3 cups nonfat beef broth (beef is the best) or 3 cups nonfat vegetable broth (beef is the best) or 3 cups nonfat chicken broth (beef is the best)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt & pepper

Directions:

1
Spray pot with non stick cooking spray saute onions carrots and garlic for 5 minutes.
2
Add broth, Tomato paste, cabbage, green beans, basil, oregano and Salt & Pepper to taste.
3
Simmer for a about 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are tender then add the zuccini and simmer for another 5 or so minutes.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

result: This soup was actually pretty tasty.  I was really surprised that it had flavor.  I made it in my awesome new electric pressure cooker that my mom bought us for Christmas...  it made it super fast, and tasted as though I had simmered it all day.

would I make it again: yes, I would.  I could see this as a familiar healthy soup dish.

SUCCESS

UPDATE----------
I made this a second time, it was not nearly as good or flavorful.  I did not care for it, not sure what the difference was.  Might try it one more time before the verdict is totally out.

Pinterest test--- fire starters

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest.  oh what a time consuming  neat idea!!!!

I know most of you are on it.  It took me a while to start... why?  because I was scared.  Very scared.  I knew it would take up time that I did not have.  I put my feet in the water once, I  admit it, I was a lurker.  i was able to look all around and see what it was about without actually signing up.  Thinking that this was going to help me to not become addicted.  It worked for a little while, but my printer got quite a work out--  you see, i would copy all the cool recipes, ideas etc and then have them all around the house (literally)  THEN Pinterest did this horrible thing---  it went wonky on me and made me sign in, just to lurk!! (at least I couldn't figure out how to) so I did it, I broke down and created a board.  And create I did---  it has exploded with all kinds of ideas that I know I will never do or even plan to do, but makes me feel cool that at least I look as though I could be crafty ha ha.

So, I have actually tried a few of these fun finds on Pinterest.  Some have been great successes, some, well, not so much.  Since most of these are all over all of the boards I thought I would share my successes and failures...  stay tuned, i will try to do it once a week----  but juts know, I am me, and my plans do not always turn out as expected, but try I will!!!

Disclaimer...  Some of the items I have were from the days prior to my board when I just printed out the idea without the source, wish i had the source for some of them, feel bad that i can not give credit where credit is due---  but just know, none of these were from my brain---  i am not that creative.


That being said...... here is my FIRST test...

Fire starters (for lack of a better title)
take an empty toilet paper roll---  we have a LOT of these each week
take lint from the dryer--  again, I think this stuff multiplies over night
put lint into roll and wala---  a perfect little package to start your next fire.

Sounds like a great idea, it is easy (and cheap) enough---  I already have all of the supplies on hand.


Verdict:
We had a cook out dinner tonight.  I was all excited to show Kirk my ingenious invention --he just looked at me with that "really? what is this"  look.  All I  had to do was say "pinterest".  I know he secretly laughs at me, but at least he just smiles and moves on to my face.  I also think he is curious to see if they will turn out -- if nothing else it has gotten me into the kitchen a little more often ha ha
ok, back on track---
It really did not work out very well.  It lit on fire but really did not do the job that I thought it would/should.  Now, there could be a few factors that caused this idea to fail so i will not base it on tonights trial only, we will try it again...
--was it too stuffed full of lint?--- i told you it multiplies overnight so these babies were STUFFED.  Kirk pulled some of the stuffing out and it looked like it might work better
--it was REALLY REALLY REALLY windy.  Did I mention that the wind was blowing? The fire kept being blown out, had it been a less windy night I really feel that this would have taken off.

I have a few more of these left, not sure what I will use them for, camping trip? maybe, we shall see...