No Poo Update

Week 2 of “no-poo”. That just sounds wrong. Nonetheless this is my update on NOT using shampoo and conditioner…



Last week I washed my hair twice. It started to look a little greasy on top – I think I used too much coconut oil. It’s a bit of an adjustment in how thick it is compared to the Bio-Silk that I’ve been using for years now. I’m officially OUT of Bio-Silk – at least at the Paisley Cottage. There’s a small container of it at the Robin’s Nest. At any rate, so far so good.


I’m looking for one of my old water bottles, the kind with the “sports cap” – I looked for the small version that used to be readily available in the beauty section of Walmart or Target. Now all they have are little tiny bottles like mini body wash that are TSA approved. “The Man” strikes again. *ugh* That was when I thought “HEY! What did I do with those dumb free water bottles?” yep – perfect. One for my baking soda mix and another for my vinegar water mix. Lids, squeezey goodness. Yep, that will work. I did end up buying two containers for the coconut oil. One is a travel size pump/spray bottle, the other is a slightly larger trigger style spray bottle – I bought that one to use on my skin, not my hair.


So back to my hair. No frizz! Most awesome thing EVER. I can let my hair AIR DRY – seriously. In Florida!


I’m thrilled with not having to blow dry my hair. I like the separation that I’m getting and the little bit of natural cur / texture that it’s bringing out.


So there’s my update on not using store bought shampoo. Gonna continue with it for awhile and see how much curl turns up.

Ch ch ch changes...

Ok, so I haven't been using my treadmill AS much as I should, but at least I AM using it - and not for hanging clothes either.

I've been squeezing in 15 minutes in the morning before work. Some days it's harder than others, thus far it's happened daily. Baby steps right?

I also started drinking more SoBe Life Water instead of Diet Coke. I was rather happy with myself, until I realized that they aren't all 0 calorie. The first 2 I grabbed off the shelf were. The other 3 were not. NOT COOL. On the plus side, I actually liked the 0 calorie ones better. So just a note if you're thinking about  making a change in that department, check ALL the labels.  The last bottle I had was Pomegranate Cherry and it was so-so. When I glanced at the label it was 100 calories and 24 grams of sugar! So much for the calories I burned on the treadmill that morning. At least I know now. Won't make that mistake again!

Another change I made this morning was ditching shampoo and conditioner. This morning I decided to give the "all natural" cleansing a shot. I need to tweak.

I mixed 1/2 a cup of Arm & Hammer baking soda with 2 cups of hot water in an empty water bottle and dumped most of it on my head in the shower. No doubt it stripped out any product residue. Wow.

I followed that with a rinse of 1/4 cup of white vinegar mixed with 2 cups of cool water.

It certainly made a difference after the baking soda wash. My hair felt - hmmm. How to describe? Almost like straw - I guess that's the super clean, stripped feeling.  Couldn't run my finger thru it, felt like it was all stuck to itself. After the vinegar rinse It felt silkier - even though it was wet.  I rinsed that out and donned a Turbie Twist while I figured out what to wear to work.

Still felt kinda - eh when I ditched the towel. So I worked a little virgin coconut oil thru. Then I pulled out my TIGI Bed Head tourmaline light up hair dryer and got to work.

It sure seemed to take WAY longer to dry. I thought i'd never get done with it.

My hair FEELS good. It looks okay. It doesn't smell like anything. It doesn't look greasy, but it's separating if that makes any sense. It also wasn't 100% dry when I left the house and it's NOT frizzy from the Florida humidity. That right there is a bonus! It also seems to have a little bit of the natural curl coming out. Hmmm...

We'll see how this goes. I'm going to pick up some squeeze bottles and a spray bottle and do a little more tweaking and experimenting with my mixtures and see what kind of results I get.  I love my Bio Silk, but it's $25 a bottle...if I can get similar (or better) results with baking soda, vinegar and coconut oil...wow - cha-ching money in my pocket.

I will keep you posted.

Recipe Fail.

Mr. Paisley and I whipped up this dish Monday night for dinner. I was super excited about it. So i'm bummed that I didn't care for it.

I found the recipe on Pinterest and it looked soooo good. It's from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp

(adapted from Fine Cooking)

1/3 cup olive oil


1 lemon, zested then half cut into thin slices and other half into wedges


3-4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed


sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper


spaghetti/pasta, couscous or rice for serving


1 pound fresh shrimp, medium-sized, deveined with tails off


5 cloves garlic, minced



1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a 9x13 baking pan combine olive oil, lemon zest and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 12 minutes. Meanwhile cook pasta, couscous or rice.


2. Remove pan from oven, add shrimp, garlic and the thin sliced lemons (don't squeeze them), toss to coat with oil mixture. Bake for 8-10 more minutes or until shrimp turn pink and start to curl. Serve over pasta, couscous or rice tossed with extra-virgin olive oil and fresh-squeezed lemon with additional lemon wedges for serving.



Ours did not look this pretty and bright. The lemon was over powering. We put it over angel hair spaghetti.
 
Mr. Paisley took the leftovers for lunch the next day and said it was better. I dunno...I wanted to like it. I might have to play with it a little and see if I can make it into something I like.
 
You might like it better - maybe my tastebuds were having an off day. Mr. Paisley wasn't ready to write it off, so I say give it a shot. If you make it or change it up, let me know what you did and how you liked it! I love shrimp...

Recent finds...Updates, the usual.

I've been away too long. Lots going on. Not enough hours in a day.

There's some drama involving Robin's Nest. There's issues with the truck. I got rear ended - so now there's issues with the car. On top of that, my parents have been in and out of town and when they're out, we keep their dogs. 

I haven't had time to shop...not a bad thing really. However, I do have a few things I picked up somewhat recently that I thought I would share.

How about a pair of Ralph Lauren (Chaps) throw pillows for under $4 each?


One is a hunter green cable knit sweater pillow.


The other is a large square pillow - cream with leather trim.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they are leftover stock from last year because I can't find the sweater pillow in the rectangular shape online (nor the dark green color) and the leather trim pillow has gone from tan leather to dark brown leather for this season. Actually, I can find either of them anywhere online. They are CHAPS Home - which I did find mention of - evidently earlier this year it because a Kohl's exclusive line...who knows. I just liked the pillows. It comes in cashmere or linen. On the RL website it's $395 for the linen and $595 for the cashmere! WHAT?! I mean, they are LARGE as far as throw pillows go, but my goodness. I'm pretty sure I paid about $600 for my entire bedroom furniture set...DELIVERED. $600 for a single throw pillow? Yikes.

You can see the leather trim pillow HERE on Ralph's website. I do love his designs. I love them even more at $4.


What have you found lately? Point me to your blogs!

Another contender for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday over at Coastal Charm!

Shrimp - what could be easier in the summer?

Yummy shrimp recipe...even better that it's quick, easy and low calorie.

Ingredients:

Marinade/brine

• 1    pound shrimp raw
• 1    clove garlic small, minced
• 1    inch ginger piece, minced
• 1/4    teaspoon salt   

Veggies

• 8    ounces snow pea pods   
• 1    each sweet bell pepper yellow, orange or red, largish diced
• 1/2    cup scallions, spring or green onions sliced
• 1    clove garlic large, chopped

 Sauce

• 1 1/2    tablespoons sugar   
• 2    tablespoons rice vinegar   
• 1 1/2    tablespoons ketchup   
• 1    tablespoons cooking sherry or shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine)
• 1    tablespoons chili garlic sauce   
• 1/2    tablespoon sesame oil   
• 1    teaspoon soy sauce   
• 2    teaspoons cornstarch   

 Directions

• In a medium bowl. Mix together the shrimp, garlic, ginger and salt. Set aside to brine for 20 minutes at room temperature
• Meanwhile prepare the green onions, red pepper and garlic.
• Add the sugar, rice vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, sherry and cornstarch to a small bowl and whisk until combined.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of peanut of vegetable oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high to high heat until the oil just starts to smoke.
• Add the snow peas, red bell pepper and garlic to the skillet and stir-fry (constantly stirring) for a couple of minutes until the veggies are slightly blistered and beginning to brown.
• Remove the veggies from the pan and set aside.
• Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. 
• Add the scallions and stir fry for 30 seconds.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and add the shrimp. 
• Cook for 30 seconds to one minute.
• Then add the sauce and allow to poach for about two minutes until the sauce has thickened is more sticky and coats the shrimp. There will not be a lot of sauce.
• Add the vegetables. Toss to coat.

Serve immediately over rice.

Recipe from Recipeland.com

Personally, I think i'd serve it over lo mein type noodles or rice noodles...but it would be good over rice as well.

Thank a vet!

Or wish him a happy birthday.

My grandfather just turned 90. He's in his hometown for the summer and they're throwing a party - gotta love small towns! 

Today I found out they're also doing a card shower - so if you're so inclined...he would be tickled to get a gazillion cards from anyone and everyone. Message me if you want to send one.

Here's where he made the front page of the local paper - and an entertaining article.

 Extra Extra - Read All About It!

Gazette photo by Paul Collins
World War II vet Harrison Withrow is gearing up for a birthday bash that will celebrate his nine decades on planet earth.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
Today I woke up, slathered some lotion on my feet, dug out a pair of socks and laced up my brand new sneakers.

Ryka sneaks - LOVE them. My last pair had hot pink instead of navy and silver. Thought i'd change it up this time.

Today I moved the treadmill and got it set up.
Today I got ON the treadmill and actually used it.

Why today? I'm now accountable to my skinny, neighbor who works out off and on all day (he has one of those pull up racks in his back yard and every time he walks by it, he hops up and does 10 pull ups or dips or whatever). That's not why i'm accountable to him...i'm accountable to him because he helped me get the treadmill out of the truck and into the house - and on his way out the door said "these things are great. If you use them". Really? Oh no he didn't...he was a jerk back in high school and shocker, he's still a jerk...only now he's of minor use to me because he lives next door.

So this morning I rearranged the living room to accommodate this giant piece of equipment. It's uh slightly larger than I remember. At least the platform folds up. I put it in front of the window so I would at least have something to stare at while I figure out just how out of shape I am. More on that later.  

I guess I should also mention that my 20th high school reunion is in November. I may or may not go. I went to one (5 year? 10 year? I don't remember) what I do remember was it being a huge waste of my time and money - so we'll see how I feel about the whole thing down the road...as more details about it come to light.

Now that's not the reason for my decision and action. Nope, it was more due to opportunity at the Paisley Cottage. It's also been something I've been meaning to do for a long time. Not the treadmill specifically, but getting a little more exercise into my life. The treadmill was a gift...one of my co-workers put her mother-in-law in a nursing home and when we were at lunch one day I said something about dying to get a treadmill and she said she has recently gotten rid of hers and then "oh Annabelle has one - i'm sure she's never used it, let me know when you want to come get it" - two weeks later, Mr. Paisley and I drove up to her neck of the woods and loaded it up in the truck. It does indeed appear to be brand new. Hell Annabelle is like 90 and she ordered from an infomercial. I seriously doubt she could even hold the weight of the platform to bring it down from being folded up. There is zero wear on it. No marks on the belt, no scratches, nothing. 

So how'd I do for my first round? It was sad. Very sad. 10 minutes. 10 minutes at 2.3 miles per hour. That got me just under a 1/2 mile according to the control panel. The control panel actually has a pulse monitor thing on it and a chart for age / target rate, etc. 10 min put me at 130 - which is right on the money for a 40 year old. I'm 38, so I guess that's good enough.  I obviously don't get out enough. That said, maybe brand new sneakers might not have been the best plan. I still have my old ones and will go another two 10 minute rounds today before I go to bed. Research shows that three 10 minute bursts are equally, if not more effective than a solid 30 minutes. I'm going to go with that for now. My firs short term goal will be 30 min in the morning before work and another 30 before bed. After that I just might start walking with the lunch crew at work. Of course if it's 98 degrees that ain't gonna happen. Too hot! 

Today i'm satisfied that I did 10 more minutes of actual physical activity that I didn't do yesterday. Or the day before. Or the day before that. So it's a step in the right direction.

I'm thinking about hiding posts from one of my friends on Facebook. She's recently become obsessed with being a fitness model / bikini competitor. She's my age, with a younger husband and two kids. She already looked fabulous, but she needed more fabulousness I guess. 6 or 8 months ago she went hard core and she posts about it constantly. She's currently at the beach on vacation and this was one of her (many) posts before noon today.

"I never understand peoples ideas of cardio... 10 minutes at a slow place does NOTHING. stepping off to turn the TV.. get a drink.. talk on the phone... silly stuff. To me, if you're not gonna do it right-- why waste your time??? MOVE IT PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!"

I beg to differ. 10 minutes at a slow pace does nothing for HER. 10 minutes at a slow pace does a lot more for ME at this stage of the game. Now I have zero interest in being a fitness model / bikini competitor and I'll never be a size 4. I want to be thin-ER, fit-ER than I am today and better yet, who gets to decide what is "right"? If it's not right for her, then she shouldn't do it, but at the same time it may very well be right for someone else. Like me. So since it seems negative to me personally, though I know it isn't directed at me, maybe those 10 min slow pacers that are in her way are the same as me and would take it personally. It's a public gym (or at least not private as in, yours and yours alone) so suck it up and get over the fact that you aren't running the show. If they want to do 10 minutes crawling on the treadmill, so be it.

And on that note, I think I will hide her posts for now and then i'll go change into my old sneakers and see if I can't bust out another 10 minute round.