Happiness Shampoo

Last week we had several warm days that melted almost all our snow. The only bit of “winter” that I saw was a patch of ice in front of the garage door leading into the back yard. I think it’s the last to melt because it is shaded by the north side of the house and the snow gets backed down by my frequent trips to the coop. Although the sun melts the snow there, it doesn’t fully evaporate it before it refreezes at night. It becomes hazardous to walk across it so I put some straw from the coop there to make it safer. Yesterday the temperatures were cooler again and we got about an inch of snow during the night and morning. The temperatures warmed enough to melt most of the snow again.

When our son was young, I used to tell him that Spring and Autumn were when Winter and Summer fought for control. The temperatures warm up, then dip down. The snow melts, then freezes, then melts and freezes. Warm. Cold. No snow. Snow. I try not to fully believe that Winter is over until about May–but even then, a few times in my life there have been May snowstorms. Here in my area of the north, there is a danger of frost through the end of May with a slight risk into mid-June. I love living in the north…but about the time I think, “Oh! Summer is here!” the solstice arrives and the days start to shorten again. Someday we’d like to get a little greenhouse so we can start garden plants early. That might never happen, but we can dream.

The chickens have begun laying eggs again. I didn’t realize that they were until I suddenly spotted a large pile of eggs in the corner of the coop. Since I wasn’t sure how old the eggs were, I left them for a couple days because I had seen a hen sitting in that corner the day before and EJ thought it might be fun to let a few hatch. However, when I saw that no hen was broodily sitting on the eggs, I removed them.

Eggs can be stored in the fridge for several months. We try to stretch them through the winter so we don’t have to buy store-bought eggs. Now that I’m beginning to get fresh eggs again, I am feeding Hannah Joy the older ones. I give her one each day. She loves eggs and repeatedly licks her lips when she sees me bringing with any.

My Tunsian Crochet project has slowed down a bit. Lately it seems as if every time I pick it up, Hannah Joy wants something–to go outside, to play ball, to get cuddles, to eat. She’s not easy to ignore. It’s not as easy to just put down and pick up Tunsian Crochet as it is with regular crocheting. The gingham batter requires working with three balls of yarn at the same time–one for each colored square–and it gets easily tangled up so that I have to untangle it when I pick it back up. I need a block of time with few interruptions, especially when I am just learning the technique.

I am almost out of my shampoo. Who cares, right? I mention it only because I don’t feel like ordering the shampoo from Amazon as I usually do, but I haven’t gotten to the stores much since the Lockdowns began last year. When the Lockdowns began, EJ took over the shopping so I wouldn’t have to wear a mask. This means that I don’t really have much opportunity to stand in the shampoo aisle of the store and decide which available brand I want to try. Yesterday I suddenly thought, “I wonder if there is a homemade shampoo that I can make?” I searched the Internet and–behold!–there are multiple recipes for homemade shampoos! I even already have most of the ingredients. I printed off a couple articles that had multiple recipes in them. I made this one today:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup castile vegetable-based liquid soap
• 1 teaspoon light vegetable oil or glycerine
• A few drops of your favorite essential oil
  
  Combine ingredients, mix well, and put in a recycled shampoo bottle. Use a palm-full of the shampoo or less to lather once, and then rinse with warm water. This homemade shampoo is thinner than commercial shampoo and it won’t suds as much — but it will eliminate oil and grime just as well as the over-the-counter stuff.

I don’t know much about essential oils, but I bought a few bottles a couple years ago in an attempt to learn more about them. I chose to use one oil called, “Happiness” because it sounded so, uh, happy. I like the thought of saying that “I washed my hair with happiness.” I will use my shampoo for the first time tomorrow. Hopefully, it will not burn off all my hair or turn me into a toad or anything like that. If it does, well, it’s still cold enough outside that I can wear a hat if I go anywhere. However, homemade shampoo isn’t filled with harsh chemicals like those in the store–and I can’t imagine that Happiness Shampoo would do something detrimental–so I think I’ll be ok. I’ll use the shampoo for a couple days and then I might try a homemade egg conditioner. I have a steady supply of eggs.