Transitioning Into Fall

Yesterday was the first official day of Fall; and I couldn't be happier. The picture above shows subtle changes from the other day. Already, I am seeing more and more oranges and reds and burgundy flashing from the trees alongside the road. While I was out on my walk, I noticed that some of my neighbors have already begun to decorate their front porches for the Fall and Halloween season. This excites me and I will decorate in October. I am very strict about when I put up my Halloween decor. Some people like to put up Christmas lights before we've even experienced Thanksgiving! That is cool for them, but when it comes to the holidays, I prefer to wait on it a bit. I am eagerly awaiting the Martha Stewart Halloween edition of Martha Stewart Living, something I get each year. I'm certain I will glean all kinds of fantastic ideas for this year from her magazine.

To mark the arrival of Fall, I baked cupcakes. Whenever I spy special holiday cake mixes at the grocery store, I immediately toss a box or two into my cart. I was so happy to have white cupcakes that had orange and black sprinkles inside the cupcakes and chocolate frosting with Halloween sprinkles on top. This is the only time of year that I can eat these, it would wacky to eat these in June!

Since it is Fall, I decided to at least put up a Fall decoration, rather than a Halloween decoration. I went up into the attic and found the wreath that I made a few years ago. Before I could put the wreath on my door, I discovered the hook was missing from the door. Then, I found that a piece of the wreath was going to fall off. I glued the piece back on and set the wreath aside to allow the glue to dry.  I still couldn't put the wreath up until I found a hook for the door. Once I had that resolved, it was much later in the day, I'd decided to put the wreath up today, instead. After going out for errands this morning, I came home and found the house cat, Bingo, curled up snugly inside the wreath. I'm not certain when I can convince her to evacuate. Until then, I'll lay low and watch my back. This week, I have a lot of crafting to do and when I do, I'll share. Until next time~ Toodhaloo!

Chicken Noodle Soup and A Mug Of Hot Spiced Cider

I took this photo, the other morning, while on a walk with Fred. I found the perfect spot to gather acorns for Fall crafts. I decided to take a shot at this spot, because in a few weeks it will look completely different. I wanted to have a reference point so that you could see the seasonal change. Tuesday is the first official day of Fall, but we've already had a major frost here. We'll certainly experience a few hot days in October, it always happens. I've had Halloween nights that were warm and a bit muggy. I've also had Halloween nights with a foot of snow on the ground; anything goes, here!

In preparing for the colder months, I gathered some of my kale from the garden to dehydrate. Before I dehydrated the greens, I put them in cold water for a few hours. This made the leaves perk up and it also helped to get rid of all of the snails hiding within the pile. Whenever I see snails like that, I can't help but think of the movie The Worst Witch and the scene where "Ethel Hallow" turned the mean witches into snails. I really didn't wish to dehydrate snails along with my kale.

After cutting the stems and spines off of the kale leaves, I stacked layers of kale in the dehydrator and let the magic begin. Two-three hours later, I had dried kale to use later.

From all of the kale that I collected, I made two gallon sized bags of dried kale. I still have more to pick later. This will be great to use in soups this fall and winter.

While I still had some unexpected energy in me, I baked some apple crisp. This was the first batch that I've made this season. I enjoyed it warm while I watched spooky shows on Netflix. Once again, I'm back to feeling a kind of crummy with this cold that I have. However, a bit of chicken noodle soup and some hot spiced cider has helped tremendously. I hope that this week, I'll have the energy to sew, maybe even work on my quilt. I am very excited that the season two premiere of Sleepy Hollow is on tomorrow night. Then, Tuesday I'll celebrate the first day of Autumn by decorating, cleaning and some baking. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the new season of Steven & Chris airs tomorrow afternoon! I'm so excited, I'll share all the goodness soon.
 Until next time ~ Toodahloo!

When Running Around Finally Runs You Down

I really wish that I had a great photo to add to this post. Unfortunately, I do not have anything that would make the eyes happy to share. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been running around like crazy this past week. I was very exhausted yesterday. Today was a whole other ball of wax. Lately, my eyes have been itchy and easily irritated. I really didn't give it much thought. When I woke up today, I understood what was happening... my Fall allergies have arrived. Usually, when aspects of Fall trickle into my daily life, I'm very excited; allergies do not excite me. For some reason, I either have short term amnesia regarding my allergies or I'm in complete denial; because when the symptoms appear I'm always dumbfounded.

This morning, I tried to take it easy, I thought I'd get some rest; but then, the phone rang sometime around 7:15 am! Seriously, why would anyone of sound mind or any sense of propriety do such a thing? Then, I was awake, not awesome at all. Then, I was up, so I thought I'd take it easy on myself and slowly ease into my day. I took some Benadryl  and decided to take Fred for a lovely walk, thinking the fresh air would do me some good. Two minutes into the walk,  I realized that I had no energy for a walk. I wanted to turn around and go back home, but instead took Fred for a short loop around the block and returned home. I went straight to been and slept for over two hours.

After a nap, I decided to dehydrate some kale in the dehydrator. By the time I got to the second tier, I knew that I had to speed things up and go back to bed. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching episodes from season two of Hemlock Grove. Now, I'm taking a brief break before I clean up the mess from supper and then I'm going to sleep for the night. Well, for a few hours at least, then I'll probably wake up and channel surf until I stumble on something to watch until I can go back to sleep. Speaking of which, when I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, this morning, I stumbled on the new season of Haven! I had no idea the new season had even started! So, that is on Thursdays, and next week Sleepy Hollow returns and many of my spooky favorites are coming back. Between the new episodes of Doctor Who, The Intruders, Sleepy Hollow and Haven it seems as though I will be spooked for the whole of Fall, this thrills me!

So, before I go, I just want to write about the fact that I was over the moon, even though I'm feeling very crummy right now, when I saw a spike in readership today! This makes me very happy, Thank You very much! I hope to bounce back soon so that I may get back on track with my cooking, baking and crafting. Feel free to leave comments and check me out on Facebook! If you follow me on Facebook, you'll get updates on new posts and random extra nonsense. You can find me under my name Lady Toesocks, and you'll recognize the photo when you see it. :) Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Good Food, Television Bingeing and Exhaustion

This cheesecake, pictured above, is one of many things that I did yesterday. Since my last post, I have been running around and had little time for blogging. I really wanted to post, yesterday, but my day began early and I was in and out of the house all day. When I finally did get home for the day I still needed to make supper and dessert. Cheesecake had been requested, and since I gave my word, I made it. After a long day, I came home and immediately began work on the cheesecake and once that was in the oven, I began work on spaghetti and meatballs. I used frozen meatballs and sauce from a jar, but I added my own flourishes to make it better. When everything was finally underway, I sat down and had a mug of coffee, it was great. The meal and the dessert were delicious and very appreciated by everyone.

This is the pumpkin baklava that I made on Saturday, I wanted to take a photo once the syrup had been absorbed, but someone stole a piece before I had the chance. That happens a lot in my world; it's annoying, but what can I do? The baklava was great, it is a basic baklava recipe, but you spread canned pumpkin, along with walnuts and spices, in between the top and bottom layers of philo dough. It seems very fancy, but it's super easy to make!

These are a staple at any family gathering that I attend, and I can't resist them! On Sunday I went to my grandmother's birthday party. It was nice to see my aunts, cousins, uncles, sisters, nephews and especially my grandmother. My family gatherings always have extremely tasty food and it's fun to go to the table and select foods that I've never had before, as well as old favorites like Deviled Eggs.

Today was finally a quiet day, but I couldn't relax because there were so many things that didn't get done while I was busy. Before I could really relax, I had to tidy up the house, catch up on laundry and other crazy tasks. When it came to having a sit down, I relaxed with a nice strong cup of coffee, cheesecake and Doctor Who. Now that things have settled, a bit, I hope to catch up on some reading, complete another craft project and dehydrate some kale! I know, I live on the edge!
 Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Homemade Facial Cleansers

The other day, I used the last of my cold cream and the last of my face wash. I saved the empty containers for a new diy beauty project. Over the past few months, I've seen a lot of buzz about cleansing milks and cleansing balms. I've read about them in articles pinned on Pinterest and Ruth Crilly from A Model Recommends (check out her blog at www.amodelrecommends.com and her youtube channel: A Model Recommends. she's great and talks a lot about great products) talks about cleansing balms used with hot cloths. A few years ago, a read a post from another blog that I follow (Kimberley's Cup) where the blogger wrote about the wonders of oil cleansing and how much it changed her skin. The idea of cleaning my face with oil sounded very wrong; it went against all that I understood. However, I love a great experiment and I tried it. The concoction, a blend of olive oil, castor bean oil and essential oils did a phenomenal job at removing makeup/goo and left my face super soft. Over time, my skin cleared up and the texture was greatly improved. It turns out, that the idea of stripping dirt and all oil off of your face does more harm than good! When I began reading up on cleansing balms, the idea was very similar to the oil cleansing method, so I thought I'd try another fun experiment. Disclaimer** I am not a professional maker of cleaners. This is just an experiment that I tried. If you try this for yourself, do so at your own discretion. 

I decided to make a liquid cleanser and a cleansing balm using basic ingredients. For the cleansing liquid, I used essential oils (lavender, orange and grapefruit), pears soap and water.

I recycled an empty soap bottle to contain the mixture. I needed a mug to melt the Pears soap and a funnel to pour the liquid into the bottle.

I began by splitting the soap bar in half. I set the other half aside to use in another batch. Then, I cubed the remaining half. I really should have split the bar into thirds, the end result was thicker than I wanted. The soap bottle that I was re-using had a 7.5 oz capacity, so I measured 6 ounces of water and poured it into the mug. Then, I added the chunks of soap and placed the mug in the microwave. I heated the water in 30 second increments until the chunks of soap had melted. Once the soap was a liquid I gently stirred the water and soap mixture. Using a funnel, I carefully poured the mixture into the bottle. I then added 8 drops of lavender essential oil and I added 10 drops each of the orange and grapefruit essential oils. After securing the pump to the bottle, I tipped the bottle upside down and back up a few times. This gentle motion helped to blend the essential oils into the soap. I set the bottle aside and allowed it to thicken throughout the day. 

The end result was a super thick soap. After using the soap a few times, I've added more water and, with the pump off, microwaved the blend for another 30 seconds. Next time, I'll use less of the bar for the mixture. The soap now resembles thick raw honey. It can be pumped with ease and it makes my face super smooth after washing; I really love it! I have enough bar soap to make 3 bottles of the mixture. I should add that I bought the soap at the Dollar Tree, so it cost less than $0.35 to make.

Obviously, you would use the soap in the same manor that you would use as the soup directed, avoiding the eye area. This soap is great for cleansing the face, but not great at removing eye makeup.

This is what I'm calling my "Beauty Balm." This was so ridiculously easy to make! I simply took 1/2 cup of coconut oil (room temperature), 2 1/2 tablespoons of castor oil, 6-8 drops of lavender essential oil and 10-12 drops each of orange and grapefruit essential oil. Then, I gave it a little stir to blend it. Next, I used my hand mixer and I whipped the blend for 3 minutes. It looks like butter cream frosting and it made enough to fill an empty Noxema jar! This is great to smooth on at night and use with a warm, damp wash cloth. This will be amazing at removing eye makeup; which is why I didn't add peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil, both of those could irritate my eyes.

Update: I had to dilute the liquid soap even more. The soap was too thick, I re-bottled it in a 16 oz. bottle, I also had to add more water to thin it out. Now, it's a thinner consistency, as it had been the first time I made it. It works nicely, now. 

So, aside from being sleep deprived and zooming all over the state, this is what I did over the week. I wasn't able to blog due to terrible exhaustion. It's been a very busy week, but I have found a lot of things that inspired me. I am hoping that this rush of inspiration will fuel me enough to be very creative between now and October. I had to take a break from the quilt project so that I might do other crafts, but I'll return to that soon. Tonight, I will pamper myself with a facial, hot cider, pumpkin baklava and British television. I am a shameless Anglophile, after all. I hope to post about all my crazy projects soon. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Making A Quilt Pt.3

 In the previous post about the making of the quilt, I had sewn patches to use for squares. I carefully ironed all of the patches, organized them and then decided my pattern. I thought a nice zig zag pattern would be fun to try. I arranged the patches in the order that I wanted and began sewing them together.

I first sewed the patches into pairs and then sewed the pairs to make squares.

Then, the patches were sewn into pairs, those pairs were sewn together to make a line of patches. Then, I began to sew together the lines.

This was the end result of all of the patches. A lot of ironing was involved in between the sewing of the squares and lines. The next step involved measuring the size of the zig zag and cutting appropriately sized spare pieces to add to the zig zag so that I might make a queen sized quilt.
A few more steps need to be taken to complete this project and in time for the chilly weather, I'll have a nice quilt. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

A Bit of Pampering After A Rough Night

I had such high hopes for today. Last night, before going to bed, I made a "To Do" list to use for today. However, I had a terrible nightmare last night. Ordinarily, when I have a bad dream, my bad dreams consist of my being back in college, stuck with a a bad ex- boyfriend. Those sort of dreams are upsetting, but I get over them quickly. Last night's dream was much more horrid, I had a dream about Jack The Ripper, it was violent and creepy. This dream led to terrible sleep, which left me half awake all day. Instead of working on my list of self imposed tasks, I felt the need to watch tv and cozy up with my dog. It will be an evening of ice cream and cocoa. I've been super touchy all day. I think I'll find good facial recipes on Pinterest and treat myself to a better evening. My list can wait until tomorrow; hopefully I'll be much more industrious then! Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Making Make-Up With Crayons

When I was a little girl, I certainly tried to use crayons for make-up. At the time, there was a brand that made eye shadow sticks and lip balms in the shape of crayons, complete with the recognizable wrapper. When I saw pins on Pinterest of make-up diy projects with crayons, I was intrigued and a little creeped out. The idea of eating crayons seemed like a very bad idea. After all, how many times have you had to tell a child not the chew on blue? However, the Crayola brand crayons are non toxic and that makes a very important difference. Most crafters state, and I agree with them, that it is important to stick to a trusted brand that you know is safe. The other ingredients used in this craft are also safe to use.

Vegetable shortening, crayons, and pill organizers are the basic tools needed to make the make-up.

This time of year is a great time to get a variety of fun colors; especially with limited edition boxes. Last year, I was able to find fun Crayola crayons that were made for Halloween. These unique boxes have colors that you won't ordinarily find in the standard Crayola box. The other day, I was able to find a 24 pack for $.50 and the Limited Edition Royal Shades and Diva Fever I was able to purchase two for $3.50.

Most of the tutorials that I found used crayons with either coconut oil, olive oil or petroleum jelly. I chose to use a combination of vegetable shortening, crayon, castor oil and peppermint essential oil.

The first batch that I made, I used 1/2-1 tablespoon of shortening, 1/2 a crayon and a few drops of peppermint essential oil. This mixture is strictly for a lip balm. For lipstick, I used 1 crayon, 1/2-1 teaspoon shortening, a few drops (1/8- 1/4 tsp) of castor oil and a few drops of peppermint essential oil. Finally, for eyeliner, I used the same recipe for lipstick minus the peppermint oil. YOU NEVER WANT PEPPERMINT ESSENTIAL OIL NEAR YOUR EYES.

The pretty reds and pinks I used to make the lip balms.

These darker shades I used to make lipsticks and eyeliners.

Once I chose the colors that I wanted to work with, I made certain that I had all of my ingredients within reach. I also kept paper towels and toothpicks handy.

CAUTION: If you're not old enough to safely try this project, make sure that you are being supervised by an adult. This project involves working with hot wax, pouring the wax into a container requires extra caution to prevent injury.

To begin the project, I set up a double boiler with a small saute pan and a stainless steel measuring cup and I set the temperature on medium low; this brought the water to a simmer. To the measuring cup, I added the shortening. Then, I added the crayon and I used the crayon to stir the shortening until the wax had melted. (It is important that you use a double boiler in this step, as it prevents scorching of the wax. It is a safer and cleaner method.)

When I made the lipsticks and the eyeliner, I placed the entire crayon in with the shortening and used a toothpick to stick the mixture. I never added the peppermint oil to the wax until after I poured the wax into the storage container. This way, the essential oil didn't remain in the measuring cup when I melted the wax for eyeliner, so there was no fear of contamination. Once the wax mixture was poured into the container, I added the castor oil to the lipsticks and I stirred the mixture together with a toothpick.

The container on the left holds the eyeliners and lipsticks. Then container on the right holds the lip balms. The addition of the peppermint essential oil to the lipsticks and balms leaves a nice cooling sensation when applied to the lips. There isn't an exact science to this; I played around with the shortening to wax ratio. For a more shear lip color, I used more shortening than crayon. The difference in ratios changes the outcome.

This was a fun project to do. I really love the colors that I was able to get out of those limited edition boxes! I also combined a few colors to make my own fun shade. With a lot of imagination, you can have tremendous fun with this. Also, because the ingredients are easy to find and are inexpensive, this is a frugal project, too!

Now that this project is done I have more time to work on my quilt project. I've been taking a few minutes each day to do a little more work on the quilt. I will post part 3 of that project soon. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

September Reading List

Books for my reading list from my personal library.

Whenever this time of year arrives, I'm reminded to return to reading. I've decided to start a reading list, with the hope that I will actually stick to it. So, for the month of September, I've decided to read books that would have been on my reading list in school at this time of year. Some of these books are classics and are easy to find.

Here is the September reading list:
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane
Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

These books should keep me busy and very entertained for the month! Next month will be a much darker selection, but very entertaining, too! If you're into reading check these out, or revisit these if you've read them before. Until next time~ Toodahloo!