Deodorant

Not only have I sworn off the shampoo bottle, I've also sworn off the deodorant stick.  I've even gotten Ba'al onto homemade deodorant.  It was easy to make, it's easy to use, and it smells ever so nice.

Mix equal parts cornstarch and baking soda.  Add a few drops of essential oils or some crushed herbs if you like (I used dried, crushed thyme, basil, and rosemary).  Mix all that together.  Then add a couple tablespoons of coconut oil or shortening.  All the recipes I've read say to use coconut oil and I'm sure it's very nice.  But the day I ran out of deodorant, I didn't have money to go out and get coconut oil so I used shortening and it worked just fine.  Both are solid to liquid fats that your skin absorbs just fine.  You want enough to make a nice thick paste:  Start with about a tablespoon and a half and add in increments from there.  Store in a pretty jar or an old deodorant stick.  Use by putting a small amount on your fingertips and rubbing in.  Within a few minutes it absorbs completely with no white marks to be seen.

What is a luxury?

I've been on a mission to cut grocery costs.  With three adults in our house now, it's a fight to keep costs down.  Cause you know, the more I can cut corners, the more I can sock away in our savings account.  A few days ago, I came across hillbilly housewife.  The site has all sorts of information on how to cut costs in the grocery budget and still feed your family filling, interesting meals.  Of particular interest are her forty-five dollar and $70 dollar a week meal plans.  I used the $45/wk shopping list this past week and got everything I didn't already have for $29, using Save a Lot.  It's a lot of food and will keep my men happy for the next couple weeks.

One of the talking points on the site deals specifically with the issue of using margarine instead of butter, though the same point applies to a lot of other foodie choices as well.  So she says that when you have to cut costs and make your dollar stretch as far as possible, it's best to go with the cheapest option available.  Yes, I can hear you saying but what about my health?  What about my family's health?  What about this, what about that?  The reason you're shopping on perhaps $50 or less a week is because you're short on money or want to save money.  So you make sacrifices now to reach some other goal.  The argument about margarine vs. butter is one of luxury economics.  When you can afford to make the choice, you choose the option that's more expensive, better tasting, and arguably better for you.  

Margarine gained in popularity during the Depression years when city people couldn't afford to buy butter.  It's time to return to that mindset.  I would love to have boughten two pounds of butter and a quart of olive oil.  Instead, I got two pounds of margarine and a quart of veggie oil.  I haven't boughten vegetable oil in *years.*  But I needed to make my grocery budget stretch and I didn't happen to have a coupon for olive oil and even if I had, it probably wouldn't have taken enough off to make olive oil comparable to vegetable oil.

Because I Can't Say it Anywhere Else . . .

First, hi everybody.  I just got back from an experiment in how much we can live without.  We cut our cable TV and internet service for a few weeks.  Decision:  Cable TV we can live without.  Internet, we can't live without.  So, I have returned.

Second, I'm going to stray from my personal determination to not get personal in this blog.  This is going to be the one time I get political here.  I can't say this anywhere else because my pregnancy group is determined to remain drama-free.  The same goes for the groups I belong to on Cafemom.  So this is the only place I can get this out.  After today, back to no politics or other personal issues.

I did not vote for Obama.  I did not vote for him because I don't agree with his politics.  I'm trying to forget about the election right now because the whole thing makes me mad.  I took a mandatory civics class my senior year of high school.  It was a run up to the election year and my teacher took great pains to instruct us in the electoral process.  He also took great pains with the intent of the framers of the constitution.  I walked out of that POD (principles of democracy) class with a profound respect for our nation's constitution and the thought the framers put into that document, to ensure that no branch of the government became too powerful.

So.  What makes me mad is not that Obama won.  Yes, I'm disappointed that my candidate didn't win.  I'm not mad that someone else won.  What I'm mad about is that not only did a Democrat win the White House but also the Democrats swept the House and Senate.  The reason this is bad is because of the checks and balances written into the constitution.  The Congress checks the power of the White House and the Judiciary.  But with the Democrats in control of the White House and Congress, they can do whatever they want for as long as they control two out of three.  Even if we only have a Democratic president for four years, the effect of his choices for the Supreme Court (four will retire in the next couple years), and the effect of any and all laws pushed through during Obama's time will affect us for twenty years or more.  I am dead certain that when one party can do what they desire without any check on their power, this is not a good thing.

Now I'm a strange one here.  I am very "green," and for all intents and purposes aligned with the environmental goals of the Democratic party.  But I am also basically conservative.  I don't think one party, or one branch, should have that much power.  So I'm not mad because a black man won the presidency.  I'm proud of my country for being able to look past race.  I'm mad because one party can effectively dictate its policies to the rest of the country.  I don't think that's a good thing.