I started teaching computer aided drafting in April, moved in June, vacationed with my mom in July. Upon being home for a week I was called back to my mother’s to help her recover after a fall and subsequent hip replacement surgery.

However I have not been idle during my non-internet time! I managed to kill my small garden. I guess it’s a very good think my significant other has a green thumb, or I would have gone without fresh home grown tomatoes this summer.

I made my first two batches of Cold Process soap.  I learned a lot and will be sharing the experience in a later blog.

I made blackberry jam all on my own for the first time, and it turned out betterthan I had hoped, tasty, sweet and good.  I plan on sharing that bit of fun too.

I took up beading and jewelry making.  I used a couple of kits, but I plan on expanding with my own designs, too.

I took 4 train rides between Southern California and Oregon, and enjoyed them to a certain extent, but took greater satisfaction in knowing I wasn’t driving a car the approximately 3200 miles that the trips entailed.

Yesterday I changed the formula to create an even more stable product that would stand up better to increases in temperature.  So it seems that the new formula is going to be exactly what I want in solidity.

I’m really pleased that it is as stiff as it is… here’s my dilema:  I was so excited at the solidity that I tried to turn the knob on my recycled deodorant container too soon and broke the screw right off the knob.  So here I was with my freshly concocted solid in a container that I could no longer get it out of in a usable form. 

Not to mention, It had taken me about 2 months of conscientious use of a store bought deodorant to get the neat dispenser I was reusing.  I looked online for deodorant containers and found some but gee.. I only needed one, not ten.

I thought about putting it in a glass jar like I had seen another lady describe on her blog, but I really don’t want to use my fingers to put on my deodorant…. I like the pop the cap and swipe of a roll up dispenser.

Then I saw it sitting there pristine on the side of my bathroom sink.  A used plastic hair color bottle. It was a smooth cylinder with no words stamped into the sides. It had a nicely curved edge around the bottom. I was currently using it for applying white vinegar to my scalp, but I could see the potential.

If I carefully cut the bottom off of the bottle, then I could reverse the bottom and push it into the cylinder.  This would create a tight seal to hold the melted deodorant in the container.  I could then push the product up the cylinder through the neck of the bottle.

So I did it! And it worked like a dream.  And it will be a great thing as I am waiting for one of my roommates to use up their deodorant and give me the empty container.

I put the container into the microwave thinking to warm it enough to allow the contents to melt back into original form.  And it probably would have worked except I, being “microwave challenged”, managed to melt it and pop the retaining seal off the bottom of the deodorant container.  There was my wonderful concoction all over the slightly dirty glass tray.Of course, It had to be thrown away.

Honestly, I can cook like nobodies business.  I can handle a gas or electric stove and produce gastronomic delights.  But there is something about a microwave that defeats my abilities.  I have yet to heat a hot dog in one without splitting it full length.

BACK TO DEODORANT!!!!

So, I am changing my recipe a bit to try and be smarter than the sneaky Southern California weather.  My new proportions are:

4 Tablespoons Cocoa Butter

1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil

3 Tablespoons Corn Starch

3 Tablespoons Baking Soda

2 Gel Capsules Vitamin E

Melt the butters and oils, squeeze in the Vitamin E and mix all the ingredients together.

One of the neat things about this stuff is that I am reusing my old deodorant container. I’m hoping to see if I can manage to never have to buy another again

So I finally ran out of the last store bought deodorant I will ever buy two days ago.  I have been reading about how aluminum in antiperspirant isn’t good for people. I also have to wonder about trying to shut down a system that has been working well at cooling humans for millennia.  Anyway…I started looking for natural ways to alleviate body odor.  Not that I have a big problem with it, but like most people I can get pretty ripe on a hot day when I’m working hard.

I found a recipe that called for shea butter, cocoa butter, vitamin E oil, baking soda and corn starch. I don’t like the smell of shea butter, so I substitued coconut oil. The proportions are as follows:

3 Tablespoons Coconut oil

3 Tablespoons Baking Soda

2 Tablespoons Cocoa Butter

2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

2 Vitamin E capsules

Melt the Coconut oil and Cocoa butter in the microwave (mine took about 1 minute, but this will vary by microwave) mix in the baking soda and corn starch, then squeeze the vitamin e oil out of the capsules into the mixture and combine thoroughly.   I poured this into my cleaned solid deodorant container (there was a little extra so I put it into a small ramekin) and put it in the refrigerator to solidify.  You end up with approximately 4 oz of Natural Deodorant.

I’ve been using it for several days now, and I like it a lot. I haven’t noticed any body odor in spite of some pretty stressful hours a couple of days ago. It glides on smooth.  It has a light fragrance that kind of smells like a “Mounds” candy bar.  My only thoughts are that I will switch the proportions of cocoa butter to coconut oil next time to get a firmer solid. If you live in a warmer climate I would suggest keeping it in the refrigerator, as I will be doing when the weather turns nice again.

I figure the cost at about the same as a name brand deodorant .

I’ve planted two things so far, chives and lavender, but the intention is to have tomatoes and a salad garden as well, not to mention a full on container herb garden.  I’ll be taking some pictures of my garden and posting them, but right now it looks like two soggy halves of an egg carton filled with dirt in a plastic tub. (chive sprouts are very tiny) But I’m excited.

I’ve also got a bit of a composting container started. It is another pastic tub, which I will undoubtedly need to upgrade for a larger one.  I’ve got regular potting soil in it now and am composting kitchen vegetable scraps in it now, potato peelings, lettuce cores  etc and so forth. I have been grinding up the composting material with a small food processor and then mixing it thoroughly with the potting soil each time I make an addition.

Oddly enough, since I started doing it, I’ve notice that we don’t seem to have all that much vegetable matter hitting the compost.   Which honestly is a good thing, since we have such a small back yard.

On a side note though, there is some existing mint growing in the back yard.  I keep calling it a yard, but it is really a patio with a rock border.  Anyway the mint is coming up next to the structure out from under the landscapers cloth.  I’m told there was a mint hedge all along one end of the area.

I always get a chuckle about people planting mint in their yard and not doing anything to contain the roots.  Unless you want a mint lawn it is best to keep mints contained  if you have them in your garden.

Amazon is keyword driven, and at times the products that are featured with my articles are conflicting with my views.  For instance, the insecticide that was being featured under my article for NATURAL PEST DETERRANTS.  I saw that this morning and was both annoyed and amused.

There is a way to get adverts that are consistent with my content, I know there is!!!  I will prevail in this, I promise.  Until I get it managed… bear with me and ignore those ads that seem really out of place.

No, my new roomies held nothing back about them, I was well aware when we first discussed my moving in that there were little squatters in the walls. In fact, I had helped install new counter tops in their kitchen shortly after they moved in and helped them to clean up the horrific amount of ickyness that was the result of shoddy labor.  Namely dead cockroaches that were painted over in the cupboards.

These friends of mine have waged a valiant war on the nasty little bugs, but it being a condo with shared walls between living spaces, I’m afraid they are losing big time.

So here I am… big green and genie like, moving in… I’m not afraid of bugs, been known to squish them with my bare fingers (I don’t like it much, but sometimes it is the most expedient way to dispose of them.) They have boric acid sprinkled around in all kinds of places, they have been firing off bug bombs like a WWII invasion, and all I can think is, “oh my god, this can’t be good for you guys living here.”

I jumped online and started looking up ways that would be less personally damaging to the human residents of this abode.  Here is what I found:

Bay Leaf -  yes the kind you cook with.  ground up or not, roaches do not like the scent and will avoid places where it is sprinkled. And It works… I started small just setting up a perimeter around the coffee maker. ( love my coffee)  I watched as an advanced scout ran toward the line, stopped, backed away and before it could think which way to go, was squished.

Catnip – ground and used in the same way as the bay leaf.  I’ve not yet tried this, but I will be soon, to see which is more economical.

Borax and Sugar – this is a poison concoction to be used in small open containers in out of the way places. Equal parts of the ingredients are mixed together and set out for the roaches to enjoy.  The sugar attracts them and the borax reacts on the exoskeletons to kill them.  You can also use baking soda, if you have pets or kids, or if you want to overkill, try boric acid instead of the borax in the mix.

Don’t expect instant results.  We are discouraging and baiting here, not making commando forays into enemy territory, so it will take a little time. Remember cockroaches are one of the most successful denizens of this world, and they are tough little bugs.

A few other tips:

1.  Always be sure to put food away in sealed containers or in the refrigerator.

2. Keep counters clean and dry

3.  Do up the dishes and put them away dry.

4.  Dry the sink before you go to bed so there is no water source for them.  (honestly, I never remember to do this, but someone out there might be more retentive about it than I)

Good luck and good hunting.

Let’s just hope some animal rights group doesn’t decide to take up the plight of the poor cockroach, I plan on killin’ em until they are all dead.

As I’ve posted before I’m moving… but I am also changing webhosts!  My associate found this screaming deal so we are switching all our blogs over to HostGator . Go check it out!!!  I’m really excited about it.

Anyway, I’ll probably be down a week or so with my physical residence move as well as the host move, but once I’m done I’ll be back on and cleaning and commenting until my fingers bleed I’m sure.

I’m looking at composting on a small scale, and this site gave a very detailed approach that I plan to adapt to the SoCal region. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg1216242314245.html

I’ve also picked up a really neat book as well that was put together by Roger Yepsen and the Editors of Organic Gardening magazine, Newspaper, Pennies, Cardboard & Eggs For Growing a Better Garden

I will be starting this fine project in February, after I get myself moved into a new apartment.  I will have a large patio to fill with potted plants.