How often do you wash your hair?

I had been doing some research online about home remedies & help for oily hair since I have always had REALLY oily hair. I mean, wash it one morning & by the next morning it would be nasty! Like go nowhere.....see no one until I had gotten a shower/washed my hair. Well, most everything I was reading was saying that over-washing would actually make your oily hair worse! Like your body is trying to over-compensate for the natural oils that you strip away when you wash it each day. That it was good to go at least every other day if not more without washing your hair. Are you kidding me?? I just couldn't see myself pulling that one off. I kept thinking that maybe I'd give it a try, but then I always chickened out & washed it. I mean who wants to be seen with icky hair.....even if I was only going to be at home. But, I tell ya what.......I finally got brave enough. After we got back from NYC, I decided one Monday morning that I wasn't going to wash my hair. I sprinkled some baby powder through my hair & combed it really good & then pulled it back into a twisty bun. I actually survived. And do you know that now......6 weeks later, I am only washing my hair 3 times a week, at the most. It took a few weeks, like they said, for my body to adjust......but now, it's not really that bad at all. My hair actually feels thicker after a day or two of not washing. I did find this awesome product that has really helped.

Suave dry shampoo for a little over $2....it can be found at Target & Walmart & it really does work!  Smells great too! Alot better than the baby powder for absorbing the oils & you don't get any of that white powdery residue either.

The other nifty little thing that I'm so glad I invested in are these spin pins from Goody. It was the best $5.98 I ever spent! I thought if I was going to go days without washing my hair that I would want a good way of pulling it back. I had always wondered if these little ditties really worked or not & hated the thought of spending $5+ on them, but I finally broke down & bought some thinking that if I didn't like them I could always take them back.

I bought them one Friday, came home & watched a couple of youtube videos on how to used them & then I gave them a try the next day. I must say that I LOVE these little pins. They hold my hair ALL day. And that's saying something with my fine hair. 

Anyway, that's the scoop. Would love to hear what y'all have to say. Do you wash your hair everyday or not. Got any nifty tips/techniques that you'd like to share with me? Oh & the other thing I've been doing in my quest for healthier hair is I've been taking supplements.....just the skin, hair & nails vitamins that you can find at Walmart. I like to think it's all helping....as my hair is longer & healthier right now than it ever has been.

The Ribbon Afghan

Thought I'd share some pictures this morning of that Stripe-ity 'Ribbon Afghan' I told you I was working on. I first came across it on this hooky blog I found called Fiddlesticks.

This is the picture of her finished blanket. Isn't it awesome?!

And you can find the pattern HERE if you are interested.

So, without further ado.....here are the pictures of MY work-in-progress.

I just gathered together a bunch of left-overs that I had from other projects & got to work. There is no pattern as far as the colors go. I'm just making it up as I go along. Seeing what goes good together at the time. This is an awesome, mindless project.....good to work on while watching TV or if you just need to relax. I want to finish this one up here soon because Alli has informed me that she needs a new blanket for her bed. A more full-size afghan. Since the one I made for her several years ago was much smaller....more like  nice lap blanket. She has decided that she wants one like this:

A 'Babette' style.....with both the larger & smaller sizes of grannies. I'm just itching to go shopping for new yarn & get started on a new project! Would be nice to think I could get it done for her before the end of the year.

Her Dream Guitar

Nothing extraordinary.....just a quick post of a layout that I did today. I also made two cards...but need to wait for another day so I can take a good picture of them.

These pics were taken in the music store several months ago.....when Alli was dreaming about a new guitar. She was in love with this Baby Taylor...loved how it sounded. Of course, she ended up with a Martin....but that will be a whole 'nother layout of it's own. ;-)

The birds & branches were on this paper & I just fussy-cut around them so I could tuck the photo & mat underneath.

Pattern & Paper Bag Puppets

Someone asked about the round knitted dishcloth & if there was a pattern.............this is the free pattern that I used.... you can find it here at Mielke's Fiber Arts.

I had pulled out my brown paper lunch bags because I remembered Sandee talking about the little mini scrap albums made out of lunch bags & I had a notion to make one or two just for fun. Well, who would've thought that my TEEN-AGERS would have been so thrilled to find these brown paper bags? I came downstairs yesterday morning to find these creations sitting on my craft table. I forget who the dude in green is....Jon made him & he told me who it was, but I can't remember. Alli did the awesome Harry Potter puppet.

 Michael had started this whole business of puppet-making when he found the paper bags. He made a Frankenstein. Then my camera batteries died & I didn't get a picture of the finished product.

They were still in creative mode yesterday afternoon. Alli made this one of Jamie Hyneman from the Myth Busters. Isn't he just the coolest?!

And lastly, another one of my scrappy projects from yesterday. I THINK, if I've counted correctly, that this is my 15th layout for this month....giving me the number of entries I need to get my name in the hat for the end-of-the-month prize drawing over at Cookin' Up Creations. This sketch also came with the challenge to use alphas & alter them in some way. I had seen this technique on another blog & loved it....have been waiting for just the right project to use it on & this was it. I took some old alphas.....where some of them had been used & others were kinda wonked up......I cut the size I needed for my photo mat & then I just used my finger to finger paint some off-white acrylic paint all over them. I also used my scissors & scuffed up the edges & then inked them. How's that for altering my alphas?! I love how it turned out!!

Happy Hookiness!

Thought I'd share some of my latest hooky projects with you today. I'm in the middle of working on an afghan for myself right now & Alli just recently told me that she 'needed' a new one herself......which is true. The one I made her several years ago is a bit small for her now. She wants a 'Babette' pattern this time around. We're going to look at Michael's this Friday to start choosing some colors. I really need to push ahead & finish the one I'm doing right now so I can get busy on her new one. I LOVE starting a new project. When I'm not crocheting on my afghan, I'm working on dishcloths....trying to build my stash up for gift-giving. I love doing dishcloths......they're so quick & almost instant gratification, if you know what I mean. Here's some pictures that I took this afternoon.

I just absolutely LOVE this pattern. Kristi H & I did a little dishcloth swap. I had seen one of these that she had made.....she has crazy knitting skills......& asked if she would like to swap. I'd send her a crocheted one, if she'd send me one of these cool dishcloths. I loved mine so much, that I started googling til I found the pattern & it seemed fairly easy & so I decided to give it a whirl. I'm hooked now....a simple pattern that LOOKS like it isn't. ;-)

Your basic square....knit on the diagonal dishcloth. These are so super easy to make. I finished this one up this afternoon.

These four were made totally from scraps.....using a yarn-knotting technique that I believe I learned from Kristi also. So cool because the knot is almost invisible.

MOST of my stash so far......I believe that I have a couple other round crocheted ones that didn't make it into the photograph....but you get the idea.

Peanutbutter Banana Smoothie

I found this recipe on Pinterest & have been wanting to try it out. Finally decided to give it a whirl yesterday afternoon. I tell you what....this smoothie was 'Da Bomb'! I think I would tweak it just a tad & cut back on the peanut butter just a smidge....but other than that, it was pretty amazing! And SO filling! Goodness gracious....I always drink my smoothies in this big mug & it's just right to keep the hunger at bay before supper time. But this right here was verging on TOO much! I'm sure the peanut butter helped to make it more filling....not to mention the fact that it has oatmeal in it too. I was SO full after drinking this.....& even by the time I sat down to eat supper.....I couldn't finish what was on my plate because I was still so full. I will keep that in mind next time......fix a smaller amount & drink it earlier in the afternoon....BEFORE 4pm.LOL!!

Here's the recipe if anyone's interested:

2 frozen bananas

1/4 c. oats

1/4 c. peanut butter

2c. milk

1/4 c. vanilla yogurt

4 Tbs. raw cacao powder

Put oats in the blender first & blend til powdery. Add remaining ingredients & blend til smooth.

*I didn't have the cacao powder...no biggie & I didn't use as much milk because I like mine thicker. Also added in 5 ice cubes.

Conducive to Creativity!

It's been raining & chilly here these past few days. We even started a fire yesterday afternoon. I must say that it has created the perfect atmosphere for scrapping. I'm very close to reaching the 15 layout minimum for getting my name in the hat for the monthly prize drawing over at CUC......I think I might have 3 more layouts that I need to do. But anyways....this weather has been helping. I'm perfectly content to cozy up inside with a fire going, hot cup of tea in hand & my scrap supplies all spread out. Here's what I've accomplished the past couple of days.

This layout of Uncle Skippy's 80th BD party was done (as all of these were) for challenges over at CUC.  For this one, the DT chose a member & we lifted one of her layouts. We lifted a LO done by Kimberly this month & the above LO was my take on it.

This challenge was  to use circles on your layout. I used a dessert plate to trace the red circle & then just free-hand cut the others.

Along with this sketch challenge, we were to use a pinwheel on our LO. These pictures of Alli & her BFF, Cori, just kind of came together really quickly this afternoon!

More circles in this challenge. I just kind of happened across these pics of the girls dancing in the kitchen a few years back. The pics were so fun....everything just seemed to come together so effortlessly in this fun & funky LO!

Scrap Sketches

I just had a few more scrapbook pages to share that I've done over the past several days. As I said before, it's all about 'sketches' this month at Cookin' Up Creations ..... so instead of me going back & finding all the sketches to share along with my layouts, y'all feel free to hop on over there & check things out for yourself. There have really been some cool sketches....along with some fun twists posted this month.

'Mama's Munchkins'---- Can you tell this is an OLD one? Not sure why Chris wasn't in this picture....but anyway....this was taken at Maw's house. Ashley-5, Jon-4, Alli-5 months & Michael was almost 2. I fussy-cut the photo mat & some of the little bits & bobs that I tucked here & there. The 'twist' on this one was the fussy-cutting.

Chris' birthday pics from back in Feb. If you remember the deal with the candles (remember I just posted about our candle problems in Jon's BD post. LOL) I didn't have a '23' or any little candles so Alli said we had an '8' & a '9'.....why not put them on there as the year he was born....1989. Pretty clever how we figure these things out, huh?!

Another older one....if I remember correctly, I think they were both from the same year....1999. I had been cleaning out one of my 'junk' drawers & found these phonics flashcards from back in the day. I started to put them in the Good Will bag, but decided to save them to use for scrapping. I'm always seeing cute LOs done using old book pages, flash cards, game pieces, etc....so I just moved them from the junk drawer to my scrapping drawer. LOL! There was really no special occasion here.....so I found a flash card with the bike on it & created from there. Thus my silly title of  'Long 'i' Sound....as in pie, mice & bike'. I had alot of fun doing this one!

Lastly, some pics taken at Monticello (1999). Our friends from NC (Rodney, Amy & kids) were up for a visit & so we went to Monticello for the day. The twist on this sketch challenge was that the pictures had to include a building of some sort AND we had to alter a photo mat in some way. I had a piece of cardboard sitting on my table & so I just cut it to size, distressed the edges a tad & added some inking & voila!

My Big Adventure

This past Sunday evening we had quite the adventure.  A trip to the ER as we thought I might have had a stroke. I had noticed on Friday, I think, that my lip felt funny.....nothing really major.....the only way I could think to describe it was like your lip might feel after coming from the dentist. I didn't really pay it much attention. I mentioned it to Clay on Saturday....but again, just kind of in passing. But it wasn't until Sunday....it was still kind of wonky.....just not right & he said my face just didn't look 'right'. Then he & Jon both said it looked like my left eye wasn't closing whenever I blinked. After talking to a friend of his at work who's wife is an EMT, she told him to get my butt to the ER right away because it sounded like a stroke. Kind of freaked me out! I really hated the thought of going on a weekend to the ER.....figured that would mean ALL night.....but I knew we needed to. We just prayed that God would go before us. And don't you know, that as soon as we walked in the door....to a FULL waiting room, no less.........that as soon as the word 'stroke' crossed Clay's lips, they slapped me in a wheel chair & took us straight back. Pretty much from the git-go though, they had ruled out the stroke because I could lift my arms above my head, raise my legs while sitting, squeeze their hands really hard, etc. They told us it was Bell's Palsy....which I had actually just read about Sunday afternoon while googling my symptoms. So, that was a real praise! Everyone was quick to act & SO kind. They gave me prednisone at the hospital with a perscription to take this week along with telling us to get some natural tears & eye gel for my left eye that doesn't like to close all the way. Here I had thought my allergies were just really bad......which they have been....but I'm sure the allergy eyes plus not being able to blink properly....the one was just aggravating the other. I never at all associated my itchy burning eyes(especially the left one that tearing on me) with what I was feeling in my lip. Anyways....the other big praise was that we were only gone for about 2 hours. We left as soon as Chris got home from work....around 7:30 & even with the stop at Walmart for eye drops/gel we were home around 9:30pm.

I hate posting a picture of myself.....but knew that down the road I'd like to have the comparison. I can be so very grateful that it doesn't seem to be as bad as some cases that I saw online. God is always good....all of the time, Amen?!

Seventeen

This past Wednesday, April 11, was Jon-Boy's 17th birthday. We had a quiet celebration here at home. Homemade apple cinnamon muffins & coffee for breakfast. Then there were presents to open. He was doing his impression of Pop in the above photo......carefully slitting the tape with his pocket knife so as not to mess up the paper...that way it could be used again. ;-) Used to drive me crazy on Christmas mornings when I was a kid.....you know....excited & wanting him to just rip into his gifts & see what he got....but not Pop. He only knew one speed & that was slow & meticulous.

Jon's big gift was a docking station for his ipod. Do you think he was happy with his gift? He also got money, some clothes & some new cds. Oh & a new Liberty mug for his coffee from Ashley.

I guess by now, you blog-readers have come to realize that we tend to have problems with BD candles in this family. LOL!! Over the years the number ones have gotten melted down & icky & I guess I didn't realize that they had all been thrown away. I didn't even have any of the little plain ole BD candles. So, Michael's bright solution.........just stick a few matches in the cake & light them.

Of course with burning matches on a cake....we had to sing Happy Birthday REALLY quickly & I missed Jon blowing out his matches. So, he just lit another one & blew it out for me.

Too, bad I didn't actually catch him 'blowing it out' this time either. I was a little trigger happy, I guess & snapped a tad too soon. Oh well....doesn't really matter....we had fun & that's all that counts!

Happy Birthday, Jon! 

We love you big bunches!!

More sketches & challenges

Dot & Whimsy is our sponsor this month over at Cookin' Up Creations. We were sent this awesome crepe paper fringe to use on our projects. I got the Neapolitan colors & they've been so much fun to work with. And you'd be surprised at how far a yard of this stuff goes! I've done two layouts & a card & still have some leftover....enough for at least one more project, I'm sure.

I used the fringe to make two little flowers for this layout.....Ashley when she was about a month old.

A border for my pennants on this card.

Both the layout & card above were inspired by this awesome sketch I found at Get Picky.

Picture from my birthday.....at a Lady Flames basketball game. Jan challenged us to use the cool hexagons as seen in this sketch....

 

 Tomorrow is my turn to share a challenge at CUC & since it just happens to be Friday, April 13th.....I just couldn't resist tying that in somehow to my challenge. Besides the fact that I stumbled across a cool blog site called From Screen 2 Scrap! where they post challenges using movie posters as inspiration. So......here's my movie poster to get the inspiration flowing.................

Along with my sketch...........

This is what I came up with. Pictures from Alli's THIRTEENTH birthday, no less......how very appropriate! As you can see, I tweaked the sketch just enough to make it my own. I have the 3 photos lined across the bottom with the extra 2 above. And I used a scrap of cut up doily that I had leftover from another project for the circle part of the sketch. And of course my inspiration from the movie poster is my title & the pictures themselves as they are of Alli on her 13th BD. Oh & I almost forgot......you can see that I also used the crepe paper fringe on this LO too. Very frilly & fun for a BD layout!

He is Risen!!

The girlies in their pretty Easter dresses after church Sunday.

Jesse had to get in the picture too.

Granny & Papaw drove up from NC to meet us for church & then we all went over to Maw's for the afternoon. David, Papaw, Jesse & Jon are keeping a watchful eye on Clay.....making sure he does a good job grilling.

Daniel & Anna both have been playing Tball for several years & this year they've moved up to coach-pitch. So, after lunch, they ended up out in Maw's back yard for a little ball practice. Jon was SO patient & kind with them. Really helping them & teaching them. We watched  from the kitchen window & all agreed that Jon would make an awesome little league coach.

Swing.....batter, batter....swing!

It was a perfect day. Celebrating Jesus' work on the cross with family & friends.

**************

'He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.'

Matthew 28:6