East or West, Home is Best!

Back home! Got in Thursday - dropped Dad off at his conference in downtown Denver, amidst road construction and rush hour traffic on narrow downtown streets. Then got on I-25 and made my way home. Traffic lightened up considerably after Castle Rock, got heavy again close to Colorado Springs, lightened again coming in to Woodland Park.

It was a rough trip. Dad still has some pain and some healing issues on his knee. We drove across Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and eastern Colorado during the time when wave after wave of tornadic storms were going west through the country. We were on the road headed toward Missouri when the devastating tornado hit Joplin. Dad called me into his room to show me the weather and ask if we really wanted to do this.

I prayed a lot during the trip. Prayed for guidance, prayed for protection, prayed for strength, prayed for patience and love. Every night and morning I checked the weather radar and weather predictions, and every night and morning I saw on the coming day that the storms were dissipating right before we would get to a place, and forming up again right after we would be out of the area. So we would hit the road.

We had unbelievable rain, where we would have to pull off the road because I literally could not see the road - couldn't see the hood of the car sometimes. We had strong winds, sometimes steady and sometimes gusty, coming in unpredictable blasts from different directions. But we didn't have tornados, we didn't hydroplane off the road or get blown off an overpass. We made it in to a hotel each night safe and sound. And when I would look at the radar that night, I would see that we got the least of the weather going through.

We were protected.

So, I've been home a few days. SO glad to be home. The cats are getting used to Punkin again. I go hug Loren every time he gets in reach. Putting the house back in order, getting ready for Dad's visit after his conference, which is going well. He sounds good.

Thank you, God!

Travels with a Diabetic Cat: Part 2

Punkin has done pretty well here. In the photo you see her trying to talk me into playing with her favorite stick toy. It has little leather strips on the end - doesn't fall apart like feathers, and has a little weight to it, so all the cats like it.

Punkin's glucose levels have been a little higher than we really like to see, but overall she's done well. She's been active, playing for fairly long periods, interested in watching birds and chipmunks in the back yard and in chasing spiders who make the unfortunate choice of coming into the house. Just garden spiders - their bite would probably hurt a little, but not be dangerous.

We're headed back to Colorado today. Dad's coming with us. We're planning a very easy trip - eight days to handle what I took four to do coming out here. We'll stop more often than I did for Dad to walk around so his leg doesn't get stiff. I'm only planning to cover about 300 miles a day on average. That still gives us an extra day to visit people along the way and to explore a little. Today is actually only about 70 miles - to Greensboro to visit some of Dad's people.

I've adapted well, finally, to Raleigh. Learned my way around a little, gotten used to not being able to see anything but trees when driving. There's always something in bloom this time of year, and it usually smells wonderful.

But I'm glad to be going home, especially since Dad's coming, too. It's going to be hard to let him leave, but I'll also understand his wanting to come home a little more, having recently experienced it myself. When I get back, I will have been gone almost 2 months.

The car is almost packed, and the camera is handy, and we'll be stopping a lot, so hopefully I'll get some good pictures along the way. Please pray for good weather for us!

Ice Packs

One cool tip I learned (please pardon the pun) is how to make ice packs. One of the home health nurses shared this with us.

Take one bottle of regular rubbing alcohol. The green kind makes a better texture, apparently. Pour that into a gallon-sized zip-closed freezer bag. Pour in two bottles of water. Press out all the air and seal. Seal that bag into another bag, then add a third bag around that. Freeze for about 4 hours.

You may need to squish it a little to soften it enough to mold around wherever you want it, but it will stay cold for some time, and chills back up quickly.

Great, huh?

Another good thing to do is make rice bags. Sew a bag approximately 15"-16" by 4"-5" finished size. I've found that fat quarters will make two bags of about the right size. I double-seam all of bag seams to make sure the rice doesn't work its way out of the bag.

Fill with cheap-o white rice, leaving a space of about 5" at the top, and sew closed. You need some room so the bag will drape around your neck or can be shaped as needed.


You can add essential oils to the bag, too - lavender is really nice. Put a layer of rice, a few drops of oil, another layer of rice, some more oil, until it's as full as you want it.

Now you can either freeze the bag for a really nice cold-pack, or you can warm it in the microwave. How long depends on your microwave - I use about 1 1/2 minutes per bag. The first few times you microwave it you may have a rice smell, but that will eventually go away, and the oil helps with that, too.

I also like to use the heated bags around my feet at night in the winter. Toasty!

I Feel Pretty...

Today I made some beauty and personal care products. One was new - hair gel! The other two I've done before, but I will share the recipes.

Hair Gel
So, I'm a curly girl. In Colorado it's more of a "wavy" girl - but here in the humidity it's frizzy. I'd forgotten how frizzy! I wash it, condition, put on more conditioner after I towel-dry, and within a couple of hours it has puffed out like a steel wool helmet, only soft. If I comb it out, it's like a larger, fluffier steel wool helmet only soft. Definitely a white-girl 'fro.

I tried making hair gel using aloe vera gel and some jojoba oil. Didn't work. And smelled funny, like aloe vera. It was better than using nothing, but not by much.

I found this clip on YouTube and tried it today. Success! Curls, not frizz!



Of course, the real test will be tomorrow, but I have a good feeling about this.

I have some suggestions. Follow her example and strain the seeds out in at least two batches, and use something wide-mouth to do it into. And go ahead and spring for the cheap knee-highs for straining.

Also, while it's very effective at controlling hair, and your hair dries nice and soft, the gel itself feels a little slimy. Could be a useful substance for practical jokes or other occasions, and depending on what you do to it, I would expect it to be edible and even good for you. Hmmm, maybe put some gummy worms in it, mix in some peppermint essential oil... "Yuck" could be on the table, and pretty tasty, too!

Deodorant
I've made my own deodorant for a couple of years now. It's more effective than the natural brands I've paid top dollar for, I can control what's in it, and it's cheap.

Use one part baking soda and one part cornstarch. I find 1/4 cup of each works well for me, and is not an unmanageable amount. Mix it well, getting out any lumps.

In another bowl, mix about 4 tablespoons of coconut oil and 10 - 20 drops of essential oil. I like lavender, but you can use tea tree, sage, or really any other oil you like. Be sure the oil you use does not irritate your skin - rosemary is a little irritating to some people, and citrus oils can cause some sun sensitivity. You'll be putting this on your underarms, so make sure your skin can handle whatever oil you use.

Mash the oil into the dry ingredients using a fork and mix well. You want it to be soft enough to spread without the dry ingredients caking up and dropping off, but you want enough of the dry to absorb moisture and odor. You may need to experiment with amounts to get a texture you like. Stuff it into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, and you're done! It will meld together a little more as it sits, so it will be nicer in a couple of days than it is right after you make it, but you can still use it now.

One thing to know about coconut oil. It turns liquid at about 80 degrees F. (If it doesn't, your coconut oil is not pure.) This means if you live in a climate where your home is 80 degrees, your deodorant will turn liquid and some of the solids may settle out. Maybe keep it in the fridge, or some other cool spot. Also, if you're traveling, make sure your container won't leak if the deodorant becomes liquid. You may need to mix it up again once it solidifies.

Bath Salts
This is super-easy, and a really nice addition to your bath! Mix 1/2 cup Epson salts and 1/2 cup baking soda, and add 5 - 10 drops of essential oil. Mix the oil in, mashing the little balls that form with the back of a spoon, until it's pretty well mixed in. That's enough for one bath.

You might want to just make a bunch of the plain bath salts and add the oils at bath time. If you love a particular oil and want to mix it in ahead of time, just make sure the storage container is tightly sealed so you don't lose the volatile compounds of the oil.

This is a great way to use essential oils in the bath. If you just drop them in the water, they float on top and are attracted to your skin when you get in the tub, and some of them can sting. When they are finely dispersed in the bath salts, they mix in the water better.

You can add food coloring to bath salts, too. The amount needed to color the salts will not color the bath water. And it makes a great gift! A pretty jar, a ribbon - you're all set!

So now...
My hair is curly, my skin is soft, and I don't stink! A pretty nice thing for Mother's Day, don't you think?

Raleigh: Thoughts and Notes

Raleigh is beautiful. It's like living in a park - lots of green trees, and every time I step outside I hear all kinds of birds. Sometimes I see them - ones I don't recognize, for the most part.

Lots of people walk here - why not, when you live in a park? Driving out here I noticed people getting fatter and fatter - more morbidly obese people than I've ever seen. But they are not so fat in Raleigh - I guess because they walk a lot.

The weather has been moderate - cool and moist, with more cloudy days than I've seen since I moved out of Seattle. Yesterday we had a gentle rain all day. Today I've felt a few drops, but it's mostly just been cloudy, near 70. The temperature has been between 60 and 80 the whole time I've been here - very nice, in a park.

The downside is driving in a park. The roads mostly wind around, and you can't SEE anything except trees! Even with the GPS (which sometimes gets its left and right mixed up - well, so do the best of us...), I've had trouble finding things because there are TREES everywhere. Fully leafed-out trees. Great for a park, lousy for navigation.

I'll have to think of all this when I'm walking at home, where the dirt road (you knew that from looking at my car, right?) sometimes has dust within an hour of a "rain" or "snow" (quotes, because this year has been SO dry).

The pictures are of my Dad's back yard, by the way. This is what I see when I open the blinds on the french door in my room.

Worse and Worse

This morning the news on CNN said there were over 90 tornadoes yesterday. Each time I see a news broadcast there are more fatalities, more destruction, more lives and livelihoods lost.

Yesterday it was a little scary here, but I had no idea how bad it was just a short distance away. We heard some thunder, saw some lightning, had a little basement flooding but not much.

And I was complaining about my hair frizzing out. I'd go around forever looking like a white-haired Bozo the Clown if it would bring back some of what was lost for others yesterday. But it won't.

My prayers are offered for you.

Weather Update

We were indeed fortunate. This is being reported as the worst tornado outbreak ever in this area. One did go straight through Raleigh, killing several people. The entire area of the state saw tornadoes and damage, and many counties saw fatalities. In some areas there is simply nothing left. Even power poles were ripped out of the ground and carried off - they are not down, just flat gone. Over 143,000 people are without power tonight. The infrastructure will have to be rebuilt before some of those people get power again.

Some people lost everything, including family members. We had no damage. We have power and dry beds, our cars are intact and not upside down in some tree or building. We have our lives and limbs. My heart goes out to all those who are not so fortunate.