Last day of Halloween Giveaway!

Today is the last day of giveaway's from Mrs. B's 31 Days of Halloween. One of today giveaways is a FABULOUS goody bag from Salem MA! Here is the URL if the link doesn't work.

http://www.confessionsofapagansoccermom.com/2008/10/giveaway-from-october-farm.html

Mrs. B's 31 Days of Halloween

16th Day!

Beautiful doll from Goddess Dolls!!! Must see! In case the link doesn't work here is the URL:

http://www.confessionsofapagansoccermom.com/2008/10/giveaway-from-dancing-goddess-dolls.html

Another halloween giveaway

This one is from on of the people doing a giveaway today with Mrs. B. It's fora free handpainted halloween pendant. Such great artwork you really should check it out!!!

18th Day of Halloween

Sooooo disappointed that I completely missed entering one of Mrs. B's giveaways yesterday. Everything is always great but I was especially unhappy I didn't get a chance to enter for the bag 'o goodies from Salem :(. Here are Mrs. B's great giveaways today. Remember click ALL the links, you never know where you might find a hidden giveaway!

A year's subscription (6 issues) to The Essential Herbal magazine!

A hand painted young witch pendant

Halloween hair sticks with the most adorable pumpkins!

Don't forget to click on all the guest blogger and other pumpkiny links...never know where you will find a hidden giveaway @ Mrs. B's!

16th Day of Halloween

More Mrs. B's giveaways!! I have got to boogy because a winner for today's giveaways will be chosen at 9 PM! So here they are:

Charoite stone pendant

Miniature sparkle skull Ouija board and crystal ball set

Beautiful 8x10 inch print

Halloween Tea Ball

10th day of Halloween!

I almost forgot about Mrs. B's FABULOUS 31 days of Halloween giveaway! Today is day 10 and there are about 6 giveaways today alone. You have until 10 pm EST to enter! Here are the giveaways for today:

Samhain and All Hallows Eve Soap

Zombie foot soap

Caught in a web reversible apron

Hand woven table runner

Mad Monster Party DVD

Kitchen Witch print

Day 11

I've lost that lovin feelin! I've reached my apex. Even though my hair hasn't looked 1/10th as bad as I anticipated it would considering shampoo has not touched my hair for 11 days, I'm tired of being uber self conscious about my hair. I'm tired of putting my hands in my hair and it not feeling like my hair. My hair has always been soft. Now it feels coarser, heavier, the underside of my hair always seems greasy and stringy, while the top feels and looks dry.

Now I'm not running off with the first shampoo I see. I am still committed to not using shampoos with SLS, and conditioners with silicone in them. I bought some Burt's Bees shampoo and conditioner today, as well as some Giovanni leave in treatment (which is an organic product). I do wish they made refills in different packaging so I didn't have to keep buying plastic bottles.

I did learn a lot about natural hair care, alternative products, and curly hair care. So it's not a complete loss. I've come out a little wiser, and probably won't go back to being an every day shampooer.

So ends the great No 'Poo experiment!

Day 9

No pics today, just too busy to take them. Today was another WO day. I think my hair is really going through the transitional period now. Amazingly I seem to be weathering it pretty well, and my hair seems to be weathering it well too. Today was my 3rd day in a row doing a water only wash. I knew there was NO WAY I was wearing my hair down today. I let it air dry then tried the corn starch trick I've heard much about on no 'poo sites. I've used powder on my hair before, but the corn starch is really amazing. I used a make up brush, put it in the corn starch tapping off the excess, made a part in my hair and put the corn starch down the part. I continued making parts in my hair and corn starching. Since my hair is light you couldn't really see it unless it went on too heavy, then I would just work it with my fingers. Really, I'm amazed again. I put my hair up in a pony tail and it looked good. I was going to my parents house, running errands, and going to a party at Chuck E Cheese. At no time did I feel self conscious about my hair. Normally, if I went one day without using shampoo my hair, I was all squicked out about it.

I mentioned to my mother last weekend that I was trying this no 'poo thing. I mentioned to her again today, saying that it had been 9 days since shampoo touched my hair. She looked surprised. I take that as a good sign. I could have said that and she could have said "yeah...it looks it".

Tomorrow is a Dr. Bronner's and vinegar rinse day...Yay! I admit I am really looking forward to the latheryness of the Dr. Bronners!

Day 8

Well I have made it one full week!! Honestly when I started this I was determined, but really didn't even know if I was going to make it past a few days.

So I left off on Day 6. Ick..that was a bad hair day! VERY Bad. I still think Dr. Bronner's castile soap is the best thing EVER!! After I rushed to wash with the castile soap on Wednesday night I read that I probably should have followed with a vinegar rinse. So Thursday morning I washed with water only and followed with a vinegar water rinse. If I didn't explain before, the vinegar rinse is kind of like a conditioner. It helps with detangling, and the acidity restores your hair's PH after using an alkaline wash (baking soda, etc, including the castile soap apparently). So yesterday's hair was pretty good. Good enough to be worn down all day.

Today was another water only day. This is first time I have gone two days using water only. The trick when using water only is to massage/scrub the scalp well with your fingers. I also read and seem to be finding a hot water wash and a cold water rinse work very well. I wore my hair down until about lunch time, then I felt I needed to put it up in a pony tail. I took it down later to take pics, and it looked pretty good...better than it did when I put it up.

Tomorrow I am planning on water only again, and some Dr. Bronner's on Sunday morning. Tomorrow will probably be an all day ponytail day.

On to the pics:

Day 6 after Dr. Bronner wash

Day 6 also after Dr. Bronner wash
Day 8 - 2nd day of water only washes
Day 8 also

Day 6 - part 2

THANK YOU DR. BRONNER!!!! My hair feels much cleaner, but still No 'Pooish. As I first said the purpose of No 'Poo is to bring the natural oils which were stripped away by chemically shampoo back to your hair and let it do it's thing. After using the Dr. Bronner's my hair definitely feels like No 'Poo hair, but No 'Poo hair I can live with...not the POO POO hair I had earlier today!

Day 6 - part 1

I have never felt more disgusting. As I said yesterday, after my BS/WV wash/rinse yesterday I was feeling pretty grungy. Today was WO, I didn't immediately put my hair up in a ponytail. I waited and waited and WAITED for it to dry. After almost 4 hours of feeling like I had wet hair I realized it felt wet because it was just GRUNGY. Again..it didn't look anywhere near as bad as it felt...on my head..on my hands when I touched it. The more I thought about my hair throughout the day, the more my head itched.

I had to do something. All I could do at work was pony it up. Still, it wasn't feeling funky at the roots or hairline like I assumed it would, it was the underlayers of my hair. They just felt coated. I decided to go to Stop and Shop after work. Yes I am still committed doin no 'poo...but I had to try something else. Everything I 've read about this method said it is trial and error and everyone is different. Stop and Shop has a little section of organic hair/body care products. I knew Burts Bees make 98.3%(somewhere around there ) natural shampoo, with no SLS's. While I was there I saw Dr. Bronner's castile soap. It is 100% natural and I have seen some No 'Pooers who use it. They had the bottles but the dilution was like 2 tsp or tbl to 2 gallons of water! I didn't want to under dilute it to use on my hair. Thankfully they had a bar of Dr. Bronners castile soap(with lavender!).

Castile soap is a type of soap made exclusively from vegetable oil rather than animal fat or synthetic substances. The purists feel it should be made from olive oil but there's a wide variety of castile variants that use oil from plants such as coconut and jojoba. The simple nature of the soap means a lesser enviromental impact due to reduced waste stream during manufacture and also faster biodegradability. Yeah um...I put more oil on my hair. It's saponified oil(means it is made into soap) so hopefully that will make a difference.

The first thing I did when I got home while AJ was doing his homework was jump in the shower and wash my head with that soap. LATHERY LATHERY LATHERY!!! I was in lather heaven. I probably should have followed with a WV rinse, cause after the lather ecstasy, my hair no feel so good. Right now it is up in a towel, and I have to go get dinner ready. I will update later about the state of the hair under the towel.....

day 5

I know. I haven't posted. I got a lovely summer cold and feel crappy. Which is not making me feel any better about my hair. It's hot, it's humid, I'm sweaty, with a stuffy red sore chapped nose, coughing. I feel completely gross and just want to feel better. Right now all I want to do is jump in the shower and scrub what I perceive as every speck of grime off. So of course that means I just want to put some bubbly lathery shampoo in my hair.

Well...after my little rant I just went and washed my face with some cool water and lemongrass soap and feel a smidgey better. Let's see - day 5. Today was a BS wash/WV rinse. Today was the first day doing the BS/WV that my hair felt oiley once it dried. Surprisingly it wasn't oiley around my roots/hairline where I thought it would be/where it would normally get oiley. This was in the back of my head. Maybe I didn't get enoug BS wash in that area to get rid of the oil. Maybe I'm doing the BS washes too frequently and making the detox worse. After I got hotter and sweatier through the day I put my hair up in a ponytail. Perhaps I need to spread the BS washes out. I'll start going to every two days now. So that means tomorrow, and thursday will be WO(and probably ponytail days!). I'm getting ready to break out the cornstarch. Though leaving the house with my hair still wet makes that a bit difficult. I may have to break down and shower at night to try out cornstarch in the AM.

I promised pics so here they are:Day 1

Day1


Day 5

Day 5

day 2

Today was a WO (water only) day. Once my hair dried it felt a little greasy. Mostly like my hair would feel the first day of not washing, definitely not the second day! It looked good, and felt ok, until I was out and about and started getting hot and sweaty, I just felt better putting it in a pony tail.

I'm looking forward the BS/WV (baking soda/white vinegar) tomorrow. This better work...I went to Costco today and bought 12 pounds of baking soda!!

The great no 'poo experiment - day 1

For anyone who doesn't know what this means, don't get too freaked out by the term "no 'poo". What it means is no shampoo...not whatever else might have popped into your head!

I read about the no 'poo method of hair care quite a while ago. While I was intrigued by the idea, I wasn't ready to commit to it. Within the last six months I have been consciously making an effort to go green little by little. I've found that baking soda cleans like a dream!! Especially sinks and bathtubs. Vinegar mixed with water really does work great for cleaning windows and mirrors. I also spray vinegar on my baking soda scrubbing paste in my sinks/tub to make my own "scrubbing bubbles" bathroom cleaner. Of course, once I'm done cleaning my house it smells like one big sub sammich. I have the makings for home made laundry detergent, I'm just waiting til the stuff I have runs out to make it and try it out. In addition to these items being greener, it's also cheaper. Win win situation!

Ok..so back to no 'poo. It means just what I said. No shampoo. The reasoning is, shampoos can contain harsh and possibly harmful chemicals. Furthermore, these chemicals strip the natural oils from your scalp. In turn, your body catches up by increasing oil production. The theory behind no 'poo - stop shampooing and your scalp will return to its natural balance. (oh and I will save money by not buying shampoo).

I've read up on this quite a bit in the past few days. Mostly about other people's experience going no 'poo. Some people experience an "adjustment period" where your scalp is still over producing oil, and thus the hair can look greasy and feel funky. After your body adjusts, your hair will go back normal, and in every testimonial I read from people who made it through, their hair looks, feels, and even smells better than when they were using shampoo. However, many do not make it out of that adjustment period, and quite frankly I don't know if I will either.

Now there are a few different ways of going no 'poo. One is just that...stop...cold turkey. Water only rinses. Sorry, can't do that one. I need to put something on my hair at some point besides plain water! I think water only would work as a surface clean for a few days, but at some point something needs to give a better cleaning. Another method is using conditioner. For some reason I guess conditioner is less harmful than shampoo? ::::shrug::::. Not doing that one either. The one I have seen the most about is baking soda and vinegar. I've chosen this way to go because I KNOW if I went cold turkey I'd make it about 2 days absolute tops. My hair would be greasy, I'd hate it, and I wouldn't want to go out in public. My plan with the baking soda and vinegar route is to ease into it so I can hopefully lessen the severity of the adjustment period.

This is a very individualized routine. Some people only do the baking soda/vinegar rinse once a week, some every 2 or 3 days. I'm starting out with one day baking soda/vinegar, one day water only. I'm planning on trying that for a week and seeing how my hair handles it. If that is good, then I will go to one day baking soda/vinegar two days water only. I'll keep going from there. Apparently there is a lot of trial and error. I expect to end up doing the baking soda/vinegar every 2 0r 3 days.

The baking soda and vinegar method is this. First you clean your hair (especially the scalp) with a mixture of 1 tablespoon of baking soda to 8 ounces of warm water. Massage the scalp with that mixture, leave it on for a minute or two, rinse well. Then with a mixture of 1 tablespoon vinegar to 8 ounces of water rinse your hair (mostly the ends). Rinse that out. Now everything I read says to use apple cider vinegar. I am using white vinegar, and in an effort to not personally smell like a sub sammich I added a drop (maybe two) of essential oil to it. All I have at the moment is rose, or patchouli. While I'd prefer the patchouli, I know a great many people hate it. Plus I didn't want to risk having greasy hair that also smelled like dirt, so I went with the rose. Happily my hair smells like a bouquet of flours instead of the #12 sub. LOL

So, after the long novel, today is day one - baking soda and vinegar rinse. My hair looks fine...feels soft, and as I said before, smells like roses! Normally, had I just not washed my hair today, I would be squirming because it would be starting to get greasy. So far...no greasiness.

I will be using my blog to keep track of my great no 'poo experiment daily(sorry to my facebook people...I hooked my blogger account to facebook and don't know how to unhook it). I am planning on my posts being 1) considerably shorter than this one 2) containing pics of my hair's "journey". We'll see how long I stick to the second one. It will be very difficult for me to post a bad hair day pic. I'll post the day one pic later.

Believe me, I am completely miserable when I feel my hair is dirty. I'm probably one of the last people anyone who knows me well would think would do this. I shampoo my hair every day, which really doesn't bode well for me sailing through the adjustment period. If I can lessen the ill effects of the adjustment period (which can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a couple of months!) I truly believe my hair will be happier and healthier for going no 'poo.

Wish me luck!

My bucket list

My Bucket List
Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not, then send it to your friends (including me).

To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, do the list and tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish. If you don't see the Tag people in the upper right hand corner you are in the wrong place.

Things you have done during your lifetime:

( X) Gone on a blind date
() Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
(X)gone to florida
(X) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
( ) Been to Hawaii
(X) Been on a plane
() Been on a helicopter
(X) Been lost
(X) Gone to Washington, DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(x) Recently colored with crayons
(X ) Sung Karaoke
(x) Paid for a meal with coins only
( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch.
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't.
(X) Made prank phone calls
( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
() Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( ) Danced in the rain-naked
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
() Been deep sea fishing
( ) Driven across the United States
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving
( ) Gone snowmobiling
( ) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(x) Seen a falling star and made a wish
( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
(X) Seen the Statue of Liberty
( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
( ) Been on a cruise
(X) Traveled by train
() Ridden on a motorcycle
() Been horse back riding (I'm assuming pony rides as a kid don't count)
( ) Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR
(X) Gone apple picking
(X) Been to Disneyland and/or Disney World
( ) Truly believe in the power of prayer
() Been in a rain forest
() Seen whales in the ocean
(X ) Been to Niagara Falls
( ) Ridden on an elephant
(X) Been to the circus
( ) Swam with dolphins
( ) Been to the Olympics
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
(x) Saw and heard a glacier calf (is this a typo or some kind of magical ice cow<~~~I like the magical ice cow idea! A glacier calf is when a small (or large) part of a glacier falls off into the water)
( ) Been spinnaker flying
( ) Been water-skiing
(X ) Been snow-skiing or snowboarding
( ) Been to Westminster Abbey
( ) Been to the Louvre
() Swam in the Mediterranean
() Been to a Major League Baseball game
( ) Been to a National Football League game
() Been to a NBA game
( ) Performed on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall, or at Lincoln Center

Wordless Wednesday

Dyson Love!!

Thank you Momdot!!

I can't believe it

I posted a while back about entering Momdot's "Christmas of Dreams" giveaway. I read all the other entries for the contest and they brought tears to my eyes because everyone was so deserving. I couldn't even begin to fathom how the admins were going to decide who's entry to pick as the winner.

Well, they officially named the winner(s) today. I was the grand prize winner!!!!!!! For the past two days I knew there was a good possibility that I would win. The admins had emailed me asking IF I won (which they weren't saying I had or not), would I be willing to give the baby items back and given to others who entered the contest who needed those. I thought that was a great idea, as I had intended to donate them, but had no one in particular in mind.

I'm still shocked that I won. I have a million things to do here before heading to my neighbor's house for dinner, but I am glued to this computer. I keep checking...thinking I read it wrong, thinking maybe I am dreaming again and I'll wake up and it won't be me. (yes I have been dreaming about it over the last two nights). I'm so grateful to everyone at Momdot!

Thanks also to Kim @ The Little Black Box for posting about the giveaway on the Black Box Review blog.

Some new things

I've listed a couple new things this week, and have more that just need finishing touches to list. I'm hoping to get that done this week so I can participate in next week's SNS sale. Wait...I can't do next weeks SNS, I'm not going to be home. Ok...well maybe black friday weekend's SNS sale. That's ok...more time to get some things listed.

Per my post last week about doing more needle felted items, I'd like to introduce you to Kola!
Kola is a cute little guy who always has a friendly wave and a big toothy grin for you. I'm not sure where he is from, but I'm relatively sure he is not from this planet. Aside from being hot pink and having curly hair, he seems to bear a slight resemblance to ET. Much like the movie character he resembles, one night he went and drank too much beer. That's how he ended up with a smiley face tattoo on his right butt cheek.

Kola needs someone to look after him, to keep him from making any more rash drunken night tattoo decisions (a well thought out tattoo would be fine), and just an all around good friend!

Kola is needle felted from 100% wool. He measures about 5 inches high and 5 inches wide.

Kola is not recommended for small children as the wool could be a choking hazard (that and his penchant for beer).

Click here for more pictures of Kola (including the butt tattoo!).

Dear son:

No, I did not know there were hearts on the toilet paper.

No, that is not why I bought it. I didn't know the hearts were on there until now.

No I did not put them on there.

Really, I didn't put them on there. I did not come home and emboss the toilet paper with hearts. They were that way when I bought them.

No, I did not know there were hearts on there when I bought the toilet paper.

Yes, it has hearts on it because we love each other.

No I did not put them on there for that reason, I did not put them there at all.

No I did not buy the toilet paper with hearts on it because we love each other. I bought it because it is made from recycled paper and it was cheaper than the Seventh Generation TP.

NO I DID NOT KNOW IT HAD HEARTS ON IT WHEN I BOUGHT IT!!!

Please....please stop...we have the same conversation every time you use the bathroom. It has surpassed cute and amusing and is now starting to grate on my nerves.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

I love you (but that is still not the reason I bought toilet paper with hearts on it)

Mommy

Christmas of Dreams Giveaway!. A Must see!

Momdot is doing a wonderful Christmas of Dreams giveaway this month. The drawing will be on November 28th. Here is the information about this giveaway from their site:


"On November 28th, MomDot will be pulling ONE winner to win prizes from all of these amazing sponsors to help you celebrate a Christmas of Dreams at your house this year. You must have your entries in no later then the evening of Nov 26th. This is NOT the blog party, this is completely different (we have a big month!)

There are a few requirements:
1) You MUST be a blogger. I have made this requirement because this year we are celebrating the blogger. Our site is about the blogging community and this is our way of rewarding one lucky blogger with a huge win. If you are not a blogger, your entry will not be considered. Go make a free blog if you have to to enter!

2) You must post about the Christmas of Dreams on your blog and include all the sponsor links (to give back and toss linky love to all the wonderful prizes that are being generously donated), while also linking back to momdot. Just cut and paste our list to make it easy.

Additionally, we want you to pick out your top 5 favorite sponsors and let us know your favorite things on their site. This ensures that you check out all the great stuff they have to offer, we always have to give back to the sponsors! And you may find something you really like for your christmas shopping!

3) Please carry a momdot banner or link on your blogroll

Sponsors are (and subject to be adding more as the month goes on):

Dyson
BabyPop
The Shrunks
Soda Club
Kadi Prescott
Uncommonly Cute
Lollipop Book Club
Kuster
Silly Monkeez
LA Plates
Natitys Design
Little Black Box
Koshas
Kidz Sunglasses
jaC Jewelry
Appledonia
LeapFrog
Mutsy
Kushies
Huddy Buddy
Mimsi-Bags
BottleWise
Lets Go Strolling
DaBib
Sassy Baby
Baby Legs
Scentsy
FeeFiFoto
Randi100
Organic Blankees
Shi Shu Style
Georgie Tees

After that, we simply want you to answer this one question in OUR comments."

Wow...so many great sponsors. My top five items are:

Dyson - Dyson Ball
Little Black Box - woohoo...I'm always up for a Little Black Box!
jaC Jewelry - I love the "Sparkly Swarovski Crystal and Sterling Silver Earrings" - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11774578
Leap Frog - I think AJ would love the Tag Reading System
Organic Blankees - The couch blanket. A great looking snuggle blanket for a cold winters night!