Homemade Detangler

My oldest daughter has really fine blonde hair, but it tangles very easily, especially after swimming! With summer around the corner (and in CA swim season beginning already), I always make sure we travel with detangler. If you buy hair detangler in the store, it gets expensive so I began making my own and my daughter loves it. We actually use it every morning when we do her hair. 

My ingredients-

1 spray bottle

1/8 cup of conditioner

1/2 tsp of lemon juice (optional)

Fill up the bottle with cool water, almost full. Pour in the condition and lemon juice, shake until mixed. 

I use lemon juice in it for my daughter's hair, she is very blonde and this helps keep the hair from turning green due to chlorine. 

I give it a shake before every use.

Growing food from scraps

Not all crops need to be grown from seeds, there are some foods that you can regrow just from using the scraps left over! 

Two kinds of produce I am currently growing are romaine lettuce and celery. 

So simple!

First, cut the lettuce/celery off leaving the bottom stump.

(This is romaine lettuce)

Second, place the stump into a small dish of water (as you can see in the picture above I used a small cupcake liner plastic dish container). Put just enough water in to cover the bottom. 

Third, watch the food regrow from the leftover! One it sprouts, let it get a bit bigger then transfer into good soil. As you can see in the first picture, in the very middle, it is already beginning to re-sprout. 

Lastly, replant in your garden! 

(This is my celery, started in the same way as the lettuce, just about a week ago)

I can not wait for my produce to grow big and yummy!

Introducing kids to science

I feel it is so important to introduce children to as much as possible. I have been adamant on making sure my children are smart and well educated. As a daughter of teachers I have always known that education does not start in the schools, but in the home. 

Currently, my 3 year old daughter is obsessed with the planets and stars. I am incredibly happy about this development. It started with constellations, she was given a Twilight Turtle for her birthday a year ago and loved it so much. After learning a few of the constellations, she wanted to know more about the moon.

We began teaching her about the moon, the cycle and how it rotates. That opened her mind to the planets. I downloaded NASA's free app on the Ipad and she plays with it every day! She can name all of the planets and is currently learning the order they go in. She will even tell people her favorite planet is Saturn because of the rings, even explaining that the rings are made out of rock and ice. 

Yesterday for a fun craft I decided to combine her love of the planets with art. We made a (not to scale) solar system poster for her bedroom. 

Items needed-

Roll of white paper

Construction paper (of different colors)

Glue

Scissors

Different sized circles to trace

We chose our colored paper, drew our circles (Jupiter took two pieces of paper), I cut them out, then I had my daughter glue them to the paper in the order they go in. 

Result:

(Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth with Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the dwarf planet Pluto) I understand Pluto has not been a planet for about 6 years, however NASA still has it on their Ipad solar system and my daughter likes to include it. 

Late Easter Craft

Every holiday I try to do something new and fun for my kids. A few weeks ago was Easter and I gave consideration to dying eggs, but saw a big mess in that since my kiddos are still young. 

We decided to make hand bunnies! I had the girls each make hand prints in paint on construction paper, then added a 2nd thumb print for a 2nd ear. After they dried I glued cotton balls onto the butt and googly eyes. We then wrote Happy Easter and mailed 2 cards off to the grandparents. 

Here they are!

Back from a break

Hi Everyone! I took a little break recently. I gave up for a little bit, but that is what depression can do to you. These bouts of depression come and go; I try to find healthy ways to deal with them without resorting to medications. I am not anti-medication, they're just not for me. I sorta gave up on my blog, but decided this morning that I shouldn't give up something new.

I don't think I will be able to update my posts everyday anymore, but I promise to post as often as I can. 

Two months ago I said I would review taking Evening Primrose oil capsules. Honestly, I haven't noticed a big difference. I continue to take them since I paid for the pills. My hair does seem healthy, but I also recently had it trimmed. My nails aren't any stronger. I still have daily headaches. It has not helped with weight control or hormones. 

 To kick things back into gear here I thought I would post a recipe. I came across a homemade version of Olive Garden breadsticks on Pinterest. The recipe was a big big hit with my family! I altered it slightly, I felt it called for too much salt at the end. 

Olive Garden Breadsticks

Breadsticks

1 1/2 cups of hot water

2 tbsp of white granulated sugar

1 packet of active rise yeast

4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (I use unbleached)

1 tbsp of salt

2 tbsp of melted butter

Step one is to dissolve the sugar into the hot water, then stir in the packet of yeast. Let the yeast rise for 10 minutes. 

In your kitchenaid mixer, stir together the flour and salt. After the 10 minutes is up, pour the yeast and the butter into the flour. Mix up for a few minutes, then switch to your kneading hook. 

Knead the dough until it is a cohesive ball of dough. Not too long or else it will crumble. 

Grease your baking sheet and set aside. Next tear chunks from the ball of dough, approximately 2" round balls. Roll into a long rounded strip, the usual shape of a breadstick! 

Line up the breadsticks on the greased baking sheet, then cover for 45 minutes with plastic wrap. 

Preheat your over to 400 degrees. After 45 minutes stick the breadsticks in for 5-7 minutes. 

Butter sauce

2 tbsp of butter

2 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of salt 

In the microwave, melt 1 tbsp of the butter. Once melted, stir in 1 tsp of garlic powder and 1/2 tsp of salt. 

When the breadsticks are done after 5-7 minutes, pull out and brush on the butter, garlic, and salt mixture. 

Pop the breadsticks back in the over for 5-7 minutes again. When they are done, pull them out, flip over with a spatula and brush the remaining butter mixture on them. 

Let sit for a few minutes as they will be piping hot! Then tear up and enjoy!