How Portlandia! (or I've been told)

So I found a recipe for homemade lotion while I was browsing my blog reader. I wasn't looking for one, but it jumped out to me on another knitting blog (go figure, right?).

I hate buying lotion, it seems so wasteful and expensive, especially since we have slather Sabrina with Cetaphil every night (it goes on coupon at Costco this month, fyi). I haven't been buying my own lotion for awhile. Last Christmas we got Bath & Bodyworks baskets from work and I had to return everything since their stuff gives me migranes. yuck! They do have 2 unscented lotions, but they're expensive and I'm almost out of the two bottles I got from my return (I returned a whole basket of stuff and was only able to get 2 bottles of unscented. Why is unscented so much more than their regular stuff?)

Okay, I'm off my rant about B&BW. Back to the lotion. The recipe is here at the ReadyMade Blog. I haven't poked around too much more than the lotion, but I hope the rest of the site is just as good.

This lotion was fast to make! And free for me! I didn't have any beeswax, so I asked a coworker who makes candles where I could get some. She pointed me to Ruhl Bee Supply in Gladstone, but I wasn't going to be able to get there soon, so she gave me a chunk from her stash. AWESOME coworker of the month award!

My lotion is semi-local because Ruhl sells only local beeswax. The second local ingredient is good ol' Portland tap water. The recipe calls for filtered water, but I would have had to open a new filter cartridge and find the Brita pitcher (for those of you who don't live in Portland, we have some of the best tap water in the country, serious! We don't need to filter our water!).

The only ingredient that's not local is the olive oil.... Yes, only 3 ingredients!

Friday night I really wanted to make the lotion, so I scoured Home Goods and Ross for a cheap, small grater for the beeswax. I didn't find what I was looking for at Home Goods (really? no small grater?). I did find one at Ross for $3, score! I also found a jump rope and a cute new dress for Sabrina, all under my $15 limit.

Back to the lotion (again. sorry). From what I had read about this lotion, some people weren't having any luck and I didn't have high hopes for my first try. After the blending step I still had some water and it just wasn't blending. I ended up draining some off before I jarred it.

For my jars, I found a lonely jelly canning jar and an old baby food jar (that was housing some pumpkin seeds for next year). You're suppose to wait for the lotion to cool down before putting the lids on, but my lotion was already pretty cool. I waited anyways... but we didn't wait to try it!

I love this stuff. Sometimes it smells more like beeswax and sometimes like olive oil. Other people have said it smells "natural." I've used some on Sabrina a couple of times and she hasn't had any reactions to it yet, so YAY!

I don't have any pictures :( I tried to take on with my camera phone, but it just looks funny.

Another year, another goal not met

So far: 23
Goal: 48
January:
1 Waking Rose - Regina Doman
2 Midnight Dancers - Regina Doman
3 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
February
4 The Practice Effect - David Brin
March
5 Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
6 Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
April
7 The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright
8 The Four-Story Mistake - Elizabeth Enright
9 Then There Were Five - Elizabeth Enright
10 Spider Web for Two - Elizabeth Enright
May
11 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
12 The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
June
13 Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry
14 The Prince of Omeya - Anthony Fon Eisen
15 Anne of Green Gables
16 Anne of Avonlea
17 Anne of the Island
18 Anne of Windy Poplars
19 Anne’s House of Dreams
20 Anne of Ingleside
21 Rainbow Valley
22 Mocking Jay - Suzanne Collins
22 My Own Two Feet: A Memoir - Beverly Cleary
23 The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich
Maybe I'll reach 50 next year. I don't think I can read 27 books in December (and I mean chapter books!)

Camping: Take 3

Our 3rd camping trip this year was our annual family campout at Cape Lookout State Park over Labor Day weekend.. I love that place! I think we started going when I was in middle school or early high school. We always have so much fun. I took Sabrina when she was 5 months old (that’s actually been the easiest camping trip I’ve had with her, go fig.). Last year was fun because she was walking and showing some independence.

However, this year she screamed in the middle of the night for no reason every night we were there. I still don’t know what was up. It’s not like it was her first time camping. We did end up having a good time, but it’s hard camping with Sabrina when Richard isn’t there. (he had to work)

The weather was nice, we swam in the ocean, took a small hike, rode bikes around, sat by the fire… just general camping stuff. It’s kind of like our last hurrah for the summer.

And, we took a little class on cooking in dutch ovens. That was pretty cool. The ranger guy that lead it was a sweet boy scout type. In the end we got to sample the food we made: pizza and peach pie. I'll be getting my self a dutch oven before next summer. Of course I took a picture of my piece of pizza:

I really love this picture. That's my Aunt Teri (Aunt T as all the kids call her).

That one looks like a good Christmas card picture? I hope J.P. & Erin use it!

Camping: take 2

For our second camping trip, Sabrina and I went to our church camp-out at Metzler Park. Richard had to work, but my my mom, brother, SIL & the kids came. We pulled in and immedietly saw big signs saying "No fires." Apparently there was fear of wildfires.

We woke up the first morning freezing! (okay, not really freezing, but we were really cold). Then Mom crawled out of the tent to tell us she forgot breakfast. So we piled into the van and got bagels/cream cheese/coffee in Damascus... or was it Estacada? or ?? We were close to home again, but I hate to admit it... I don't really know the area southeast of us.

Then there was Sabrina's sleeping issue. She did.not.want.to.take.a.nap.... or go to bed in general. She was a little stinker about it, but she needed it and eventually fell asleep.

The church group had some potlucks and a softball game. I really enjoyed this campground. It had showers, a nice playground, softball field, basketball court & a swimming hole!

Camping!

This summer was filled with CAMPING! I love camping. We use to go all the time when I was a kid. We would just pick-up and go on the weekends. As an adult, I'm lucky to go once a year. Richard can only get weekends off if he asks for them well in advance. This year was different, I got to go 3 times!

When asked what I wanted to do for my birthday (Aug 2nd), I said camping. Since it was too late to get a spot in a state campground, I polled my facebook friends and came up with Indian Henry's in the Mt. Hood National Forest. No shower, but flushing toilets! And it was right on the Clackamas river... plus, less than an hour away from our house.

The ride in was beautiful:


We had a secluded site:


It wasn't very noisy, even when the campground started filling up on Saturday.

Sabrina had a lot of fun: