The Pits

I have sweaty pits.  I do.  It's been a chronic problem for me.  No commercial antiperspirant ever really combatted the sweat problem except for that time I got semi addicted to Certain Dri.  My body loves chemicals and obeyed Certain Dri like a beast.  Unfortunately, the price I paid for dry armpits was a chemical burn.  Like any addict I denied the problem until it became extremely painful for me to even put my arms down AT ALL.  I finally decided to quit using and in a defiant act threw my Certain Dri away forever.  The sweat came back ten-fold.

Around this time I decided to start reading labels and living a more granola life.  I bought some all-natural deodorant at Sprouts, first Toms then Kiss My Face Liquid Rock.  Now, I realize these are just deodorants and not antiperspirants so I wasn't expecting much but even at that I was discouraged by their ineffectiveness.  My sweat problem even seemed to get worse with the use of these products and I had to reapply at least three times a day to have any security in the odor department.

During my "make your own facewash" experiment I google-stumbled across some DIY deodorant recipes.  They were all basically the same three ingredients- coconut oil, baking soda, and cornstarch.  The coconut oil is your base, the baking soda acts as an odor-fighter, and the cornstarch functions as an antiperspirant.  I had all these ingredients on hand so I gave it a go.  Yall, I knew I had crossed a serious granola line with this one, so I had my fingers crossed.

I'm in love.

I have now gone through an entire calendar year using my homemade deodorant and I love it.  It goes on easily and is pretty effective.  I do have to apply it twice a day usually, but that's not odd for me with conventional deodorant anyway.  My deodorant sits in a little baby food jar in my bathroom and I apply it with my fingers.  It's not a cure-all for heavy sweaters, but it works just as well (if not slightly better than) as any deodorant/antiperspirant on the market, without all the bad-for-you junk.

You should know that I can't smell.  I have a hard time distinguishing smells and I can't smell most things unless they are right up on my nose.  I put it out to my friends to let me know if I smell bad and I haven't had a complaint, so either my friends are jerks or smell hasn't been an issue.

Below are two links for DIY deodorant.  I use the recipe from In Sonnet's Kitchen (the first link).  In fact, it's time to go make some more, so happy fall and get in the kitchen and rub some oil on your pits!

http://www.fortheloveoffoodblog.com/diy-deodorant/
http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2012/12/diy-coconut-oil-deodorant.html

Second-Hand Stoked

I've made a bold new granola decision, folks: I am never buying new clothes ever again (sans underwear and socks, of course).  A few months ago I watched a series of Ted Talks on Netflix about fashion and one of the talks was from a lady who made the resolution to never buy new clothes again but to remain fashionable.  To prove her point, she only packed 7 days worth of undies for the Ted conference and went to local thrift shops to assemble her wardrobe for the time she'd be there.  And, of course, she looked hip and cool- like the version of myself I see in my head every morning when I wake up, before the disappointing reality hits when I actually try to dress myself.

Now, this kind of bold move is appealing to me for several reasons.  For starters, it's cheaper.  Am I the only one who goes shopping and gets sticker shock because I'm still expecting the price tags of the 1990s?  I mean, jeans for $60.00?  Get outta here!  On top of saving money I will also be saving the planet, which is like the number one commandment for granola people.  I'll be a walking billboard for recycling.  Plus, I'm really going to stick it to the man by not participating in our consumeristic culture.  My altruistic, humanitarian side is pumped because this is a way to effortlessly give back to the community by supporting organizations like Christian Community Action.  Non-profit agencies like this one use the money made in their thrift shops to fund community projects and help needy people.  This is great, because I like to make socially conscious purchases without having to buy an overpriced clothing item, like a pair of shoes, that happens to fall apart within a few months of buying it.

But let's get real here.  My number one reason for making this switch is because I HATE CLOTHES.  I want to be cute and hip and I have so many friend that dress nicely and have no idea that every time we get together I am secretly taking notes on what they wear so that I can try to dress myself cuter the next time I go out.  Sadly, I have no eye for fashion, hate spending money on clothes, feel incredibly uncomfortable in anything other than ratty jeans and an old t-shirt, and have anxiety any time I have to get dressed up.  With my new granola-style at least I have an out.  If I look out of whack people will just politely smile while thinking, "poor girl, must have been a bad week at the garage sale."

Speaking of garage sales yall, I hit the jackpot several months ago at this little Indian lady's house.  She was definitely in her 70's and I definitely bought a ton of her old clothes.  One item in particular hid in my closet for a long time before I finally garnered enough courage to try to make it work as a cute "tunic" of sorts.  When I walked out in my ensemble my brother, who was hanging out with us, told me I looked like a Power Ranger.  My sweet, loving husband told my son I was wearing a costume.  The rest of the day Will asked me repeatedly when we would get to go to the costume party.

They're wrong, right?  I added a stylish belt and I think overall this turned out to be a pretty hip outfit.  And notice the "rustic" side braid that took me about five attempts to make it look effortless.  I think there's hope for me buying used clothes.  Maybe I can avoid a stereotypical "granola" look and gain some fashion confidence at the same time.

**Cute, hip friends, if you are getting rid of anything because you feel like it's out of style or whatever, just send it my way.

Face It

Let's talk about my face.  Specifically, let's talk about the fact that I still have problems with acne and I am 28 years old.  Please, older and wiser woman, don't tell me about how you struggle too and it's one of life's great lies that acne goes away after high school.  That's not encouraging; that's completely demoralizing.

There were two brief times in life when I had this all under control.  The first was shortly after I was married when I bought a very special cream that I was supposed to use sparingly every night.  It was powerful stuff, man.  My face was clear, which was great, but my brand new, just-got-married, expensive-gift-from-somebody-special bed set had bleach spots all over it.  I was so mad that I promptly threw the stuff out and vowed never to use it again.

The second period of clear skin was when I was using the best face wash I have ever used.  Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power Wash left my skin feeling as chemically clean as it has ever felt.  I loved the way this stuff made my skin feel tight and literally squeaky clean.  Every last layer of oil-laiden skin cells was stripped away twice a day.  And I was loving life.

But then I started my granola plunge and unfortunately stumbled across THIS website.  Basically it's a database of all the skin care products out there and how much cancer they'll give you, or something like that.  With great trepidation I searched my miracle Power Wash and found out that I was putting a lot of really bad things on my skin every day.  This lead me to look at the ingredient list on the tube and read the directions for the wash (I mean, I didn't read them before because how complicated is it to wash your face) which explicitly say to reduce your exposure to sun during the use of the face wash.  What?  The long and short of it is that chemicals in most commercial face washes strip your skin and leave you extra vulnerable to the sun's rays, which can increase your chance of getting skin cancer.  Ugh.

The more I thought about it the more concerned I became with what I daily put on my skin.  I mean, I take great care to make sure I use non-toxic toilet bowl cleaner and yet I was throwing the equivalent of Scrubbing Bubbles on my face daily.  That doesn't make a lick of sense.  So I googled "all natural face wash" and this is where things really went south.

Olive Oil, nature's best kept skin care secret.  The internet witch doctors all basically pointed me in the same direction: mix up some olive oil and some castor oil and apply it to your face every night, then throw a steamy towel on your face and let your pores have a spa day.  And you guys, I was LOVING IT.  I mean, rubbing grease all over your face feels good, people.  I may or may not have rubbed popcorn butter all over my face one time at the movies when I was in middle school, so I may or may not have known how much I'd like rubbing olive oil all over my face.  PLUS, it was cost effective since it doubles as makeup remove and you only have to use a tiny drop.  This was working.  My skin was feeling silky smooth and it was glowing.

Fast forward a month or two and I notice my scalp is itchy all the time.  Then horror of horrors I get a bad case of dandruff out of no where!   I couldn't get rid of it and was starting to WebMD all these horrible skin conditions I could have.  Then one day, as I am reading a parenting magazine I see a tiny little footnote of a PSA listing things you shouldn't use to cure your baby's cradle cap.  Olive oil actually feeds the yeast/fungus that causes cradle cap, worsening rather than curing the symptoms.  So my totally hippie, all-natural, cancer-free facewash was giving me some wicked dandruff and thus, I had to jump ship.

I'm still at a loss of what to do.  I bought some Alba Botanica brand acne wash because I love their sunscreen, but it ain't workin.  Am I doomed to a life of bad skin, or is there actually a good all-natural, eco-friendly face wash out there for me?

After All Falls Apart He Repairs

On Sunday morning I am going to a funeral. Kind of. This coming Sunday will be the final service of the church I have attended since I was 2 years old. Hebron Community Church is closing it's doors.

I don't intend to be melodramatic, and this post has nothing to do with being "granola", but I feel compelled to, in some small way, pay due attention to this life-altering event in my life. Be patient with me; I just need to work through it in this space.

It's been embarrassing for me to bring this up to anyone who isn't intimately involved with my church. No church should close it's doors. What does that communicate about us? What does this mean God thinks of our church? Who's to blame? Did God shut the doors? Have we failed?

To answer any of those questions would be an exercise in futility. The truth is, well, it's complicated. Things would be easier if a clear answer could be given, and as a person who gravitates toward black and white solidly drawn lines I hate having to embrace the blur. But, time and time again I am realizing that the blurry is most often the way life looks.

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." -1 Corinthians 13:12

We are damaging creatures. We can't help ourselves. I've seen it firsthand: wise, good, faithful, loving, well-meaning people being incredibly damaging. As a mother I can try my hardest to raise my child perfectly, in a way that sets him up for success, but as a human I can't help but pass on habits and genes and words that will stain him and knock him down and make life altogether harder for him. So it is with all of us. We are damaged and constantly damaging. In a way it's beyond our control. The more I learn about the brain and the body and genetics, the more I learn that we can't escape our damage. It runs deep. The result of the fall of man was that we have to live in this damaged state. We are diseased as long as we are here and there's nothing we can do to make it go away.

And that's what happened to my church. Damage. There's no one to pinpoint; we are all responsible. Some people like to think that God made this happen to teach them something. That's fine if it makes you feel better about things, but I don't believe that. I don't believe God would hurt all of us so that one or two could learn a lesson.

Instead, here's what I think: I think God has to come in and clean up. He certainly has been able to teach me a lot through this experience, but that's because I ask Him to; I want Him to help me clean up the mess.

And that's the hope.

During my 25 years of attending this church I have seen some incredible hurt AND I have seen some incredible joy. I was baptized there. I have seen hungry kids being served food in the sanctuary. I've been on life-changing mission trips and worshipped with homeless people in the streets of Atlanta WITH my church family. I have watched amazing men and women lead us to do amazing things to serve the body of Christ and to serve the community. I was mentored and loved on by adults who were willing to speak into my life and to guide and shape me into the woman I am today. I met my husband there. I have watched my son run to his Sunday school classroom since the time he could walk so that his Grammy could teach him about the Bible. In countless ways I have seen the power, love, grace, and mercy of God poured out over people.

So you see, although we are damaged we are not despairing. The hope of Christ is that He can constantly help us repair the damage. He can even lead us to do amazing and truly life-changing things in spite our ourselves. Right now we can only see as though looking in a dim mirror; we can only function with our limitations still in place. One day we will see face to face. One day our righteousness as sons of God will be fully realized. Until then, I think David Crowder says it best:

"After all our hands have wrought He forgives….After all falls apart He repairs, Oh the glory of it all is He came here, for the rescue of us all that we may live."

And that's where I am right now. I am waiting for repair. The last few years have been a mix of insane hurt and insane joy. I've realized that people can let me down and that they can hurt me in ways I never imagined. I have questioned all that I felt was sure and right. And yet, I was married to an incredible man who has been a steady assurance to me. I gave birth to a son who has reminded me of how mysterious and exciting life can be. I have mourned deaths and church splits and lost friends meanwhile celebrating births and marriages with friends. The last few years have made me painfully aware of my damage and have left me hoping desperately for the repair of my loving heavenly Father.

Sunday will be really difficult for me. It's hard to express to anyone exactly what this church has meant to me. This church has truly been my family. This church has been the body of Christ to me in every sense of the word. God has given me a glimpse into what true community can look like. Nothing will replace it. I know the body of Christ is large, and I do look forward to joining with other parts of it, but I am still grieving the loss. I think that's okay.

Eggplant Schmegplant

I have a problem: when I go to Sprout's I get over zealous and idealistic.

Exhibit A September 6, 2011: Cantaloupe, 3 for $1.00. I hate cantaloupe, but you sure bet I brought three of them home that day. Some weird part of my mind got so excited about the sale that I convinced myself that my tastes would change and I'd be eating cantaloupe after dinner for dessert. Please don't ask me how many of the three cantaloupes had to be thrown away.

Exhibit B September 12, 2011: Eggplant, some seemingly great price for some forgetable amount of eggplant. I hate eggplant. It's spongy and smells. But the deep purple and delightful sale lured me in and I bought one anyway, with no real plan of how to eat it.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011. I planned to cook my loverly husband a delicious Garlic Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon from Rachael Ray's Classic 30-Minute Meals cookbook. He complained recently about how I have become inattentive to the chicken preparation since going vegetarian, and so I really wanted to put some effort into this meal. I hadn't thought much about what I'd fix myself and figured I could just throw some tofu in the pan along with the chicken, when I remembered the eggplant.

Often I find I am disappointed with the tofu I fix when I am making chicken for my husband. It's just not an acceptable main dish substitute if all we are having is chicken and a side. I wasn't sure how eggplant would hold up as a main dish, but I was aware that it is often served in place of chicken in Italian dishes so I figured it couldn't be a terrible substitute here. I sliced it lengthwise and prepared it exactly as I prepared the chicken (see recipe below) and OH. MY. STARS. It was deliciously satisfying. I was sad I had only cooked one slice because this dinner definitely left me craving more. In fact, every time I have sat down to eat since then, I've wished I was eating that eggplant instead of whatever was before me. No lie.

The texture was a bit slimy so I might cook it either on a lower temperature next time or take it out a bit earlier. I have to admit though, I kind of liked the slime. This is certainly worth playing with a bit.

The unfortunate part of this whole thing is that I only reinforced my delusional, sale-obsession. This is, however, a step of progress on the path to granola, for it doesn't get much crunchier than buying in-season (if sale means in-season), not making waste and trying new things. Speaking of, please go try this recipe. It goes great with a glass of white wine, which you will just happen to have on hand if you make this!

Garlic Roast Eggplant with Rosemary and Lemon (adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe)

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise in 1/4-1/2" pieces

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped (I used dried rosemary)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

The grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning or salt and pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine or vegetable broth

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Arrange eggplant in a baking dish. Add garlic, rosemary, olive oil, lemon zest and italian seasoning (I also drizzled a tiny bit of red wine vinegar over it, because eggplant tends to really soak up juices). Toss eggplant to coat, then place in the oven. Roast 20 minutes (probably more like 10). Add wine and lemon juice to the dish and combine with pan juices, then spoon over eggplant. Return to oven and turn oven off. Let stand 5 minutes longer, then remove from oven. Serve with pan juices.

Enjoy!

Never Going Back

Have you ever tried to clean your tub using baking soda and vinegar? If you haven't, I suggest you stop what you are doing right now and go try. Seriously. The results are jaw-dropping.

My quest to granola-living has me swapping my toxic, chemically-laden household cleaners for all-natural, feel-good, make-it-yourself versions. I am doing this slowly, replacing each cleaner as I run out and I am proud to say I took the last plunge today. This last one was a bit scary for me. How the heck was I going to clean the dirtiest area of our house to my standards without the scum-fighting, bacteria-killing power of Scrubbing Bubbles?

Four words people: vinegar and baking soda.

Seriously. Every single item in your house can be cleaned with varying amounts of either or both of these two household items. And the bathroom is no exception. I first replaced my window cleaner with 1 liter warm water and 2 tablespoons vinegar. It worked like a charm. I then replaced my toilet bowl cleaner with 1/4 cup baking soda and 2 cups vinegar. Magic. Mopping? Just use 1 gallon warm water and 1 cup apple cider vinegar (with a drop or two of baby oil if you want).

Today I conquered the shower. Previously I had been cleaning my shower while showering. Great time saving tip but geez, I almost hacked up a lung every time I sprayed down the shower. The humidity in the shower plus the action-packed Scrubbing Bubbles were a potent combination and made me painfully aware of how chock-full-o-chemicals that stuff really is. Then today happened. I was out of my go-to cleaner and ready for the natural option. For the basin of the tub I closed the drain and poured in the vinegar, just enough to thoroughly wipe it down. I then sprinkled baking soda all over the basin and got to scrubbing with my sponge. I am not kidding you when I say that soap scum I didn't even know was there began to come off. It took a little bit of elbow grease but before long my tub looked, well, cleaner than ever before! I rinsed it off with warm clean water and voila! I still can't believe how well it worked. For the tile area I just rubbed in baking soda with warm water, as vinegar can eat away at the grout if overused.

For me, this whole "all-natural" lifestyle is not just about getting rid of "toxins" and "waste"and all that jazz, but also about saving money. However, I am not here to tell you that cleaning with vinegar and baking soda is more cost-effective. Heck, I am terrible at math and too lazy to really figure it out. I will tell you that I go through the biggest jug of vinegar I have ever seen and an equally big box of baking soda about every 3-4 weeks. I know that's faster than I was replacing cleaning products. But honestly folks, I don't care. After the magic I saw it work on my tub today I don't give a flying flip. You can't put a price on soap scum removal people. Write that down.

No pictures for you folks. I am embarrassed of how bad our tub had gotten. Instead I challenge you to take your elbow grease, vinegar and baking soda and go try it out yourself. Seriously. Go.

These Ain't Ya Momma's Cloth Diapers

Would you believe me if I told you I haven't been updating my blog because every time I get on the computer I lose hours reading about/looking at/entering giveaways for cloth diapers?You should because I have become majorly obsessed. But fear not, I am finally making time to sit down and fill you in. I want to spread the love (the good, the bad, the ugly love) and share my new milestone on the path to granola.

Back when I was pregs my friend Erin asked me if I was planning to do cloth diapers, because she knew a lot of her friends back in California were starting to do that. "Uhhhh no," I replied, with a bit of judgement in my voice I'm sure. Cloth diapers were for CRAZY people on the west coast and there was just no way I was going to do that. Fast forward several months and enter my friend Christina, pregnant with triplets and planning to do cloth. I admit, I told people she was doing it and I told people she was a bit nuts. Through facebook, however, she shared a link for a group called the DFW Cloth Diaper group and introduced me to some girls who were doing it. I started reading blogs, websites, reviews, facebook discussions and that was the beginning of my very slippery slope into cloth diaper fanaticism. Seriously folks, I stayed up at night thinking about cloth diapers. And that's when I knew I had to try them out.

Stop reading for a moment and go google "clothdiapers." The insanity is unreal. First, you almost need a dictionary to even understand what most of these people are even talking about, not to mention some kind of decoder ring to crack the acronyms they use- AIO, AI2, PUL, H&L, LO, DH, etc. I was thoroughly confused and decided I needed some real life, hands on instruction to see if this would be worth my while. I went to Babies, Bottoms & More in Farmer's Branch to see if anyone could explain to me what the heck all this stuff was. The owner runs this business out of her garage basically, but she was very helpful and patient with me as I played 20 questions. Finally, feeling like I had a grasp on this whole thing, I decided to take the plunge into diapering.

Unsure of how this experiment would turn out, I decided to turn to Craigslist for my first purchase. That's right folks, I bought USED cloth diapers. The fact that I was buying used grossed me out to no end, but I didn't think it would be wise to blow money on brand new diapers when I wasn't sure if I would stick with it, so I bought some previously pooped on cloth. I found a great deal and purchased 6 BumGenius 3.0 pocket-style diapers. Much to my delight, the diapers reeked of bleach and were snowy white! It wasn't long before I was hooked and searching day and night to find great deals on more diapers. I have purchased many more since those original six, but they continue to be my favorite by far.

There is, however, quite a learning curve with using cloth. It has taken several weeks of figuring out how to get it on just right to prevent leaks and figuring out what to do with the poop. Most instructions I find online say to "shake the poop off into the toilet" and then throw it into the laundry. Well, pardon the TMI, but Will's poop isn't shakable at this point. You can purchase diaper sprayers that hook onto your toilet to assist in this matter but I went and just bought a detachable shower head to use, since my toilet is right next to my bath tub. This seemed, to me, an ingenious idea and I couldn't wait for Will to poop so I could try it out. My excitement soon turned to frustration as the shower head ended up spraying poop anywhere BUT the toilet and I ended up soaking wet! I now use a tiny squirt bottle and just hold the diaper over the toilet and spray and refill and spray and refill until all the mess is gone. It takes quite a bit longer but it works just fine and leaves me and my bathroom relatively clean. After the poop is gone I spray the diaper with Baby OxyClean and throw it in a bag designed to hold wet diapers until I can get it in the wash.

The laundry hasn't been nearly as bad as I imagined it to be either. Now that I have enough diapers to make it almost 2 full days, I only do laundry every other day. In some weird way that I can't explain, it's actually very relaxing. I daresay I look forward to dong my diaper laundry every other night. It goes like this: I put all the diapers in the washer and run a cold prewash followed by a hot wash with a tiny bit of Tide Original powder and follow that cycle with an additional cold rinse. Then I take all of the diapers and hang up the covers and throw the inserts into the dryer on low. The next day I put all the inserts into the covers and I am ready to go. It's quite easy and I haven't had very many staining issues and no stink issues at all!

I am proud to say that Will is now fully cloth diapered, even when staying with a sitter or grandparents or out and about! It took a while and I eased into it but what once seemed crazy and overwhelming is now just a part of life. I really don't think I could go back (although I actually am going to go back to disposables for our Disney World trip next week because the thought of carrying around dirty diapers in the heat at an amusement park all day makes me want to hurl). If anyone reading this is interested in more information about cloth diapering, let me know because it's my new favorite thing to talk about.