A Simple Natural Bug Repellent

Photo: unstressyourself.com

THE SAVVY SHOPPER says buy a few essential oils to keep around the house. These plant compounds kill germs, stop inflammation, nurture the skin, or do a job without the side effects of harmful chemicals. When using them to make natural home remedies, you get a lot of bang for the buck.

Here's an easy 2 ingredient formula to repel mosquitoes that's as effective as the drugstore kind. Try it to keep away ticks and chiggers too. 

If you're visiting a country with mosquitoes that carry disease, check with an expert on what to use. Normally, I wouldn't use DEEP, but I would if without it, I could catch malaria, or the West Nile virus.

Natural Bug Repellent

Ingredients: 

Select 1 ounce of a light carrier oil. Measure it into a bottle. Examples of carrier oils include:

Avocado oil
Sweet almond oil
Jojoba oil
Grapeseed oil

A light Carrier oil will absorb into your skin without feeling greasy. Coconut oil and olive oil are also carrier oils, but are heavy and slippery for this purpose -- both easily absorb into the skin right after a shower.

Next add 10 drops of lemon eucalyptus oil. According to the Center for Disease Control, lemon eucalyptus oil is as effective as DEEP, with a caveat: It has to be reapplied every few hours. 

You can also mix lemon eucalyptus with other essential oils like citronella, cedarwood, lemongrass, geranium and peppermint, if you wish. Lemon eucalyptus is the only oil that has the science behind its bug repellent claims, yet adding other essential oils won't hurt it's effectiveness. Never rub essential oils on your skin solo. Without a carrier oil, witch hazel or water, they are too concentrated and can irritate the skin.

Clean smelling essential oils include:

Eucalyptus
Lavender
Lemon
Geranium
Lemon Eucalyptus * tested and proven to work.
Lemongrass
Peppermint
Rose Geranium
Rosemary
Thyme

Directions: 

Close the bottle and shake the carrier oil and essential oil(s) together. Voila` 

If you wish to put your natural bug repellent into a spray bottle, add some witch hazel; water; or vodka to the mixture, so it sprays out easily. It's best to make fresh batches of natural bug repellent as needed. There's no reason to store more than you need, since it can be made in minutes.

Enjoy the great outdoors without pesky bug bites!

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Reupholster Or Buy A New Couch?

Because I live in a small Manhattan apartment, my couch gets plenty of wear. I spend lots of time sitting on it, and the minute a guest walks through the door, s/he sits on it too. I love my 15 year old couch and still get compliments on it. But the sofa has gotten soft in spots, and a spring is poking me in the back. The time has come to make a change.

First thought: Reupholster the old couch. Overall, it's in good condition. All it needs is fresh stuffing. But as it turns out, reupholstering a couch isn't cheap. The cost can run $600 and up. What a shame! Modern society throws out a lot of stuff because the cost of refurbishing is too steep. Not good!

And so, I bought a brand new convertible couch (see images). The new couch has several awesome characteristics: It is 3 inches longer than my old sofa, but more compact in width. It looks like a sofa, but behaves like a futon. Like a futon, it uses less space in its sleep position than my old couch with a pull out mattress. By the way, those pull out mattresses are rarely as comfortable as the new futon style flat back; and the new couch has a click/clack mechanism to easily convert the back into its sleep position. The old couch required brute force to pull the mattress out! 

Another great feature is storage under the new couch, which is big enough to hold plenty of stuff, though I don't plan on filling it up. I put a sheet set, quilt, feather pillow and a light cotton throw in the storage compartment. How convenient!

The fabric of the new couch is a cozy cotton, as well as, a pretty, textured design. The color is an airy neutral light brown. As you can see, the new sofa has dark wood trim on the arms and bottom. For anyone tempted to buy the couch, I have to mention that the back is unfinished, which visitors won't notice in my apartment due to placement. I would drape a quilt down the back if the couch sat in the center of the room. A bare back is shortsighted, IMO. How costly is it to put the same textured material in the back?

I'm still adjusting to the firmness of the new couch. Customers will either love or hate the firmness. There is some cushion, but you don't sink into it. Personally, I prefer a firm sofa over a soft one, since several years of butt traffic tends to soften a couch.

The new convertible couch requires a few simple steps of assemblage (Oh no, there are no  instructions!). I figured out how to attach the legs. The arms gave me more pause; and as it turns out, the screws (bolts) to secure the arms are too short by about 1.5 inches. So the furniture store is sending (please rush!) longer screws. At least I can sit on the couch while waiting for the correct bolts to arrive in order to afix the arms. 

I have never assembled a couch in my life, so if I can do it, anyone can. It seems to be common these days for new furniture to need some assembling. (Full service neighborhood stores are a thing of the past.) Watching a how-to video on YouTube certainly helps those of us with limited skills. You can learn most anything on YouTube!

Hopefully, the new couch will last as long as the old one, and I enjoy it as much. We sometimes cling to the familiar (I mean, some people are cloning their pets), but more often then not, change is good!

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Happy Independence Day

Photo: The Daily News

The 4th of July is a holiday we usually spend close to home. Perhaps we get together with friends, but often we don't travel out of state to celebrate it. Most American towns have fireworks, so we don't need to go very far to watch the festivities.

Photo: Flag and banner

I like the patriotism and optimism of the day. When you think about the 13 colonies breaking away from the British Empire and setting up a democracy 240 years ago, it was a radical move and a great experiment based on the ideas of The Enlightenment.

Photo: 4k Wallpaper

Few nations around the then world thought the experiment in government would last all these years later. Our Founding Fathers had to be revolutionaries and optimistic to think that a government by the people (a republic) would ever work. What a radical idea.

Photo: happybeinghealthy.com

Fortunately, our Founding Fathers were also worldly and highly educated and not simply dreamers. They did form a more perfect union, certainly not perfect, but more perfect then what existed at the time.

Photo: Brit+Co - A rice krispy treat with food coloring.

Happy Birthday, America! Let's get into the spirit everyone!

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Carla Hall's Caramel Cake

It's summer ... let us eat cake, Sugar Babies! With barbecues and birthdays, there's enough people gathered to help eat one. The best Southern Caramel Cake recipe was featured on The Chew, an afternoon cooking show. It has far too many steps. I like simple, not complicated. But ... this is a high protein cake, and the extra steps ... the pre-soften this and pre-whipped that, make the cake light and fluffy, so unfortunately, we can't take any shortcuts. Think about the delicious results while taking out three 9 inch cake pans and two large mixing bowls.

Start by preheating the oven to 350ºF. Grease the three 9 inch cake pans, then line each pan with parchment paper and grease and flour the parchment. Set aside.

Caramel Cake

Ingredients:

photo: mnn.com

4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup buttermilk
4 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick soften unsalted butter
2/3 cup canola oil
1 cup heavy cream (whipped to soft peaks)

Directions: 

1) In mixing bowl #1: Add the eggs, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of buttermilk and whisk to combine.

2) In mixing bow #2: Add the shifted flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the butter, canola oil, and remaining buttermilk and mix to combine. 

3) Add the egg mixture in three parts, stirring to combine. From here, you want to be careful not to over mix. If you over mix the batter, the protein will make the cake tough and gummy. Mix only enough to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Fold the whipped cream into the batter.

4) Pour the batter into the 3 prepared cake pans. Tap the pans on the counter to release any air bubbles. Place the pans in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top springs back and the sides pull away from the pan.

5) Remove the cakes from the oven, rest for 10 minutes before removing from the pans. Next let cool completely before frosting.

Caramel Icing

photo: yammiesnoshery.com

Ingredients:

3 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1) In a medium saucepan, add the brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Stir in butter and salt. 

2) Remove from the heat, allow to cool completely. Transfer caramel mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the powdered sugar. With the whisk attachment, whisk until combined and smooth. Pour over each layer of the cake. Let the frosting drip over the sides to cover. Allow to harden.

Mmm, worth every calorie and special enough to serve as a birthday cake. Thank you Ms. Cara Hall! Type the word "cake" in the blog's search box (upper left side) to pull up other homemade cake recipes. Cakes made from scratch are the best!

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Get Summer Ready With 3 Cheap, Natural Products

                                             

Hurrah, it's summer! How do you prepare for the sun and outdoor fun ahead? Hopefully, by being smart! Protect your skin from the elements with 3 inexpensive personal care products that have pure, quality ingredients:

1) Kiss My Face Suncare Face Factor SPF 30 - A highly effective antioxidant rich, anti-aging sunscreen. It's water and sweat resistant, but contains absolutely no parabens, oxybezone or fragrance. This one keeps the delicate skin on your face youthful and happy.

2) Vitamin E Moisturizing Stick - Leaves lips moist, soft and smooth without feeling greasy, sticky or waxy. Use it under or over lipstick. Get three Vitamin E sticks for an unbeatable $3.19.

3) Alba Green Tea Natural Sunscreen SPF 45 - A moisturizing natural botanical sunscreen made with all vegetarian ingredients. There are no parabens, oxybenzone, phthalates, synthetic colors or animal by-products.

Pure personal care products that have you covered in good-for-you ingredients. Hello Mr. Sun ... we're ready to step out with you!

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Father's Day ... With Daughters

On this day, I feel grateful for the involved, caring role my father always played in my life. 

As the daughter of such a father, I know first hand how nurturing, intuitive and family oriented men can be. 

My father was not perfect. He was a human being, but he was selfless, more often than not. 

He was flexible, kind, serious, humorous, consistent and absolutely the perfect father for me.

Psychologists say that fathers are important role models in the lives of not just sons, but their daughters, which is so true.

To the men who strive everyday to be good fathers, thank you! Without a doubt, you make the world a better place.

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Pardon My Back Summer Dresses

Lulus - Good Deeds Royal Blue Lace Up Dress

Are you ready for the summer? Me ... I wait six long months for the season to arrive. As I mentioned in previous blogs, I love balmy days, endless hours of daylight, the great green outdoors, strappy sandals and easy-breezy dresses. You won't see me in trousers again until early autumn. It's too tempting to just slip a piece of pretty fabric over my head and walk out the door.

Revolve - Blondi Dress Tiare Hawaii

On the mean streets of Manhattan, I notice lots of men wearing sandals already. Certainly, modern men are abandoning their socks and business shoes to walk the city pavement in open toes like never before! I'm counting a 1 in 5 male-in-sandals ratio. I suppose the laid-back equivalent for women is a bare back. Women wearing bare back dresses in public is quite common these days.

So let's do a Pardon-My-Back Summer Dress Roundup! The cute, relaxed dresses selected here retail from $23-$69. Feast your eyes on a variety of summer style, patterns and affordability:

Pinkice.com - Impressionist Spirit Dress

Some low dipping, back baring dresses might be better suited for a barbecue, and yet, many others cover enough skin to look classy for everyday tooling around town. How I love the easygoingness of summer! And, if you show some skin to keep cool on a hot, muggy August night, it looks perfectly weather appropriate, not naked!

Lulus - Kind Words Grey Print Swing Dress

Lulus' flattering swing dress with a peek-a-boo back will help you beat the heat. Doesn't the red and white pattern look lovely over a grey background?

Old Navy - The Cami Dress

These classic Cami dresses from Old Navy are adorable in 12 different colors and patterns. Very versatile, they can be dressed up or down with the right shoes and bling. Drape a scarf or sweater on top of a cami dress, and you can visit, in style, any conservative, European church that frowns on bare shoulders.

The Letter - Empire Waist Dress

Gingham is ultra trendy right now. Really, it never totally goes out of style. The Letter's Empire Waist Dress has fancy lace trim, while the blue and white gingham pattern gives it a casual playfulness. Cute, no?

With such chic, cool, cozy dresses, who needs shorts? Come-hither, summer! 

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Anti-Aging Face Serum For Less

You won't need to rob a bank to buy anti-aging skin care that really works. After sunscreen, face serum is the most effective weapon in your beauty arsenal. One of my most popular blogs discusses the importance of face serum, plus lists a number of budget friendly options. Because. Regardless of how good a luxe face serum is, if it's too pricey to use everyday, it's of no use to you! You don't want to find your pretty, unwrinkled self standing in a bread line, do you?

Face serum should perform the following anti-aging vital functions: (a) add hydration to the skin; (b) reduce the appearance of fine lines and winkles; and (c) encourage the production of collagen and new skin growth. 

Three ingredients in skin care products help to slow down aging, and/or repair skin damage by promoting the grow of collegan: 1) retinols; 2) alpha hydroxy acid (glycolic acid, lactic acid and citic acid); and 3) vitamin C. 

Face serums have smaller molecules than lotions and creams and so penetrate deeper layers of skin. The newest trend is to layer a face oil loaded with antioxidants and omega acids over your face serum, an influence of Korean and Asian skin care. Like you, I think, another product, another step, nooo! Stop the madness!!! ... but I loved how the face oil moisturized my skin (without the grease) over the winter ... and looking good is what it's all about!

Here are 4 Highly Effective Face Serums (+1 oil) priced at $20, or less:

1) Emu Oil All Purpose Moisturizer - This is the +1 on the list: No, it's not a serum, but Australian Aborigines have used emu oil for thousands of years to do wonders for the skin. Containing high levels of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, it absorbs easily into the skin, never clogging pores. Emu oil is an anti-inflammatory. (It's inflammation that causes aging.) Emu oil stimulates the growth of collagen, helping to repair sun damage. Plus, you can use emu oil as a rub to heal sore joints and muscles also!

2) Now Hyaluronic Acid Firming Serum - Suitable for all skin types. With age our skin loses moisture, but hyaluronic acid is a super moisture binder. The serum contains antioxidants to fight free radicals along with collagen building agents to soften lines and wrinkles.

3) Derma E Firming Serum with DMAE Alpha Lipoic and C-Ester - An intense hydrating formula to tighten, tone and promote skin elasticity. DMAE lifts and tightens skin. Alpha Lipoic Acid stops free radicals from aging skin, and C-Ester improves skin texture by helping to build collagen and reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles. Vitamin C also helps sunscreen work better. At $18, you get lots of bang for the buck!

4) Baebody Retinol Serum - This has 2.5% retinol, hyaluronic acid and vitamin E to smooth, firm and moisturize the skin. Retinol is the non-prescription strength of Retin-A (tretinoin). Avoid the side effects of redness, dryness and rawness by starting with over-the-counter (retinol) and building up to the prescription strength (Retin-A). Use retinol at night to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, not during the day as sunlight destroys it.

5) Olay Regenerist Night Resurfacing Elixir - (This is being discontinued so online prices are rising fast! If you find it for $13 or less, buy several!) It has glycolic acid which speeds up cell turnover. Glycolic acid brightens your skin by helping you shed dead skin and bringing new skin to the surface. Many women alternate their use of serums, using a retinol based serum one night followed by a glycolic acid serum the next ... back and forth. Once this product is gone, you'll spend over $20 for glycolic acid elixirs. Olay rocks!

Use these budget friendly youth potions every day and night and still have moola left in your wallet!

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