Homestead Debacle and More No Poo Hair

A comment from yesterday's post asked if I knew about the scandalous debacle about trademarking Urban Homesteader and Urban Homesteading.  I do know about this such debacle.  I will try to keep this short.

A family in California wants to trademark the words "urban homesteader" and "urban homesteading."  Right now, as I understand it, they hold a supplemental trademark.  This means they have a certain amount of time to prove that their use of the words is exclusive to only them.  Meaning, all of us other urban homesteaders don't use those words.  This is ridiculous.  I wrote that it was a fluid and everchanging movement and trying to narrow it down so finitely is a disservice and rather insulting to the rest of us.

Yesterday was the day many, maybe thousands, of people peppered Facebook, Twitter, and their blogs with those words.  One part was to post your visitor tally prior to your post and then after your post.  My visitor tally for yesterday was 112.  You'll be surprised to hear that once again 90% of the visitors were actually looking at the post about henna in my hair. 

The other thing I was trying to accomplish with my post was to not specifically say why I was writing the post that way.  I wanted it to look commonplace and not give exclusivity to the trademark seeking louts.  For me, if I wrote it saying, "I'm writing this because of that family," then it gives them exclusivity and wouldn't show generic usage.

So if I get a letter in the mail saying I should stop using those words I will show it to you.

Today was Day 2 of No Poo Hair.  I'm doing rather well.  Last night I washed my hair with conditioner only.  Here's my pic.  I wore it up today because I just do that a lot anyway.  It looks and feels fine.  I'm not surprised.  I have a feeling the real test of sticking it out is in another day or two. 

Of No Poo Hair and Homesteading

First off I want to mention the visitor counter.  I installed it long after this blog was rolling.  My official visitor count as of right now is 5,761.  When I track my stats, an overwhelming amount of visitors appear on days I blog about my hair.  I'm talking over 1,200 people have read about me using henna in my hair.  Just thought I'd mention that little factoid.

Today at my little urban homestead I will again be talking about what I've done to my hair.  I hope Blogger's servers are prepared to handle the incoming traffic of my hair groupies.

Thanks to the internet and the library (ancient way people research things), I've been able to expand my efforts in urban homesteading without fear of horrible consequences, i.e. losing a limb.  There are so many involved in this that it creates a wealth of information, free for anyone who wants to learn.  It's an interesting movement that is fluid and ever evolving.  With so many people participating there could never be a finite location or singular ownership of the idea.  The things I've managed to conquer:  productive gardens my family can use as a source of food (in winter we would starve, but I'm working on it), a real compost pile,  crocheting wearable items, making household bath and beauty products, cooking and eating better, exercising, canning, and giving back to others in the urban homestead movement without a price tag attached. 

On to the hair.  I know you're asking what I'm talking about.  No Poo Hair?  Some of you may know about this and have even contemplated it, maybe even tried it.  The No Shampoo Method is to use alternatives to shampoo to wash your hair and still come out with clean, managable hair. 

I have tried several different recipes, some from videos off Youtube, and all of them had failed me.  I ended up with what I call "sticky hair syndrome."  This will make the hair look and feel like you have never washed your hair, sticks together, and is uncombable.  It's disgusting.  I was depressed thinking I wouldn't be able to go the distance in this urban homesteading project. 

Well, last night I decided to try again but I cut down the traditional No Poo recipe...a lot.  The traditional recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of baking soda per cup of water.  Generally, people need 2 cups of this to get all of the hair wet.  I opted for putting 1 teaspoon of baking soda in 2 cups of water (16 oz.).  I made a total solution of 2 teaspoons baking soda to 32 oz. of water, since I have long hair.  I poured it onto my dry hair and made sure it all got wet. 

The apple cider vinegar rinse I use is 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar to 20 oz. of water.  I rinsed my hair 3 times with this solution.  The apple cider vinegar acts as a conditioner for me. 

Lastly, I rinsed 3 times with only water.  I just had to wait for it to dry....

Here's my result for day 1 of No Poo Hair.  My hair feels like it usually does when washed with shampoo and conditioner.  I'm very happy with the results.  I've read the stronger baking soda solution is good for people with curly hair and the weaker solution is more appropriate for people with straight hair. 

I'll keep you updated and include any variations I might add, such as any other natural conditioners or essential oil usage.  I hope you found this urban homesteading project useful.

Cost Saving Tip and Homemade Arthritis Ointment

Even though that title sounds incredibly boring, there's two important pieces of information I want to pass on.

Last week I decided we needed some more vegetable storage space.  The crisper box wasn't cutting it since we've increased our vegetable and fruit buying.  The stuff just won't fit.  Instead of being a good homemaker vegetable lady and storing the vegetables cut up and in prim and proper bags, I just threw them in the fridge.  Well, as so often happens, I'd get lazy and not feel creative in my cooking.  By the end of a week those vegetables were looking pretty sad, if not angry and threatening to riot.  So in the compost they would go. 

One day I thought if I got an extra storage bin then maybe those vegetables would last a little longer.  It turns out that's true.  I bought vegetables last week and they are still looking fresh as daisies.  This is going to save me a lot of money.

Now for the homemade arthritis ointment.  It might be good on aches and pains, too.  Starting last fall I noticed some twangs in my knuckles.  It wasn't enough to limit my activities.  Just a gnawing soreness.  It's persisting through the winter.  I decided to research for some home cures.

I came across this recipe:  2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil.  I put it into the jar and stirred and stirred and stirred some more.  It did not want to blend.  I still applied some and it really did work.  I left it alone for an hour and when I came back it looks like it's starting to blend on its own.  Oh sure, you'll have a little vinegar smell (very little) but the soreness is all gone!  This recipe will give you 2 ounces.

Good Prevails Over Evil Part 2

And Justice was served!  And apparently it tastes like Jello...

If you follow this blog then you'll remember my rant about this picture.  Or rather, the comment one "lady" left about it.  You'll remember that I only posted it to try and win a subscription to a magazine and I was feeling iffy about entering it. 

Well, today I received an email saying this photo would be in their slideshow. And. It. WON in its' category!  Vindication is Mine!!!    What did Rowan say about it winning?  "Bo-ring"  hmmph.  I say you gotta grab victory wherever you can. 

Apparently they also like my foot because this picture is in the slideshow, too.  It didn't win in it's category.  I don't mind. 

Because Good Always Prevails Over Evil and Other Spring Fairytales

Last week we received snow.  I know many of the people up North were sitting on the edge of their seats wondering if the stupid people down South would be able to survive.  Much like the times when we Southern people sit around and laugh about the poor folks up north who are sweltering when it hits 80 degrees.  Thankfully, we did survive and we didn't have to do anything drastic like interact with the crazy neighbors because we never lost our internet.  Score 1 for good over evil.

An update to my last post:  The therapist has declared that Rowan is normal!  The words were, "She's normal and very happy."  In fact, it seems just the act of everyone noticing what her social skills are has made her more sociable and less anxious.  We'll continue seeing the therapist but only every other week, and frankly I think they are going to cut us loose after the next session.  The down side?  We finally get the top of the line health insurance and this is the best diagnosis they can give us?  She's normal?  C'mon.  Score 2 for good over evil.

We are all eagerly anticipating spring right now.  Things are abuzz with energy.  There are plans for gardens and projects are being mapped out.  The arm wrestling over who gets which garden beds are complete.  The seeds are ready.  It's like the revving of engines at the Indy 500 before the flag.  Spring conquers winter.  Score 3 for good over evil.

I lost a blog follower.  I think he was from South America.  He's been replaced by Cheeseboy.  Hop to his blog if you get a chance.  He's like the Activity Director on the cool kids' cruise ship.  Score 4 for good over evil. 

I wish I had a great ending for this post, but I don't....

Fretting and Baloney (bologna)

It's been a week here.  I could say it's been SO busy but that's not really true.  It's been the usual.  I work on the weekends now.  This is not MY business.  It's the job I won't ever talk about because I'd like to keep it and I wouldn't do something dumb like post it in my Facebook profile and then bash someone about eating Jello.  Because, Dude, someone could read that and not like it and forward it to that company and then said person could lose their job.  I am not that kind of person...on most days. 

It has been a week, though.  I've been fretting about Rowan.  What I am about to tell you is strictly confidential, which is why I'm blabbing it all over the internet.  There's a reason to my madness.  I'm not particularly worried about her being accepted into some ivy league college, so if this comes back to haunt her, I don't think it will matter much. 

Rowan has an issue that we are dealing with head on and with all the force of a hurricane.  If you know me, then you know when something hits my radar it is addressed swiftly and with full power, resources, and determination.

She's having adjustment issues (in awesome shrink talk).  To preschool.  Think about that.  If I don't tackle this now then she is doomed to become an outcast.  Forever to walk on the fringe of society.

Well, maybe it's not that gloomy.  The reason to my madness is that it should be discussed.  I think we are all aware of things being swept under a rug and not spoken about.  At our house I need to make sure this is not a secret issue, in all things I do.  And since blogging is one of the things I do, this will now be a part of it.  We will not call it Rowan's Mental Health.  So where does this story begin?

Last year Rowan went to a Pre-K 3 class and all was well.  She knew everyone's name.  She was on top of all the social goings-on of the other 3 and 4 year olds.  She even did imaginary play at home with these kids.  Reenacting classroom scenes, doing problem solving by asking her ghost friends.  This year is different.

This year, we are now in January, a full semester into school, and Rowan cannot tell us anyone she goes to school with this year.  I thought at the beginning of a school year it might take a little while to learn the new kids' names.  However, the time has long passed for that.  Be nice, I did notice before the winter break that this was happening. 

We were planning on discussing this with the teacher at the next parent-teacher conference but then we had a little nudge to do something more.  Mostly, Rowan wanting to go to the restroom All. The. Time.  We thought she might have a bladder infection, etc.  We took her to the doctor to have the physical part checked out.  All o.k.  So now we are dealing with the psychological. 

Today I did 3 things.  1)  I enrolled her into gymnastics.  A group activity with other kids not in her classroom.  Also, an activity I think she might like as it involves jumping on things like furniture.  We watched youtube videos of spectacular gymnastic feats this evening to inspire her to Olympic greatness.  We did not watch youtube blooper videos of gymnastic fails.

2)  We had a parent-teacher conference.  There were some nagging questions I had.  Like, how did Rowan come home with great social skills on her report card yet have no knowledge of who she went to school with.  The teacher gave me the usual "she has no problems in class."  Then I took my glasses off.  This is my last straw sign.  I was determined to keep my cool and not blame the teacher.  I actually need her on our side.  I explained that sometimes there are other children who are problems in the classroom and they require so much attention that the good children start falling through the cracks.  The teacher liked this idea.  She also suggested that while most kids are already forming cliques, Rowan doesn't have an interest in that and wants to be friends with everyone.  I suggested Rowan has too many choices and it's making her crazy.  I also suggested we do this:  The teacher keep on working on her squeaky wheel problem students but stop giving Rowan too many choices for activities.  Give her two choices.  The teacher likes this and also participating in our next step.

3)  Counseling.  This is such a dirty word, isn't it.  I am determined not to think so.  I am determined to get Rowan through this now and not deal with who knows what when she is a teenager.  What's the counseling for?  Because I, nor Jace, went to Super Duper Parent School and we've reached a brick wall on what to do.  We also know there are answers and skills to help us.  We don't think she'll need medication, she's often remarked as being a very good child in public.  We think she'll, and us, will get some skills for coping and interacting with others and making friends.

What I'm afraid of?  We'll all end up in counseling.  Jace and I both grew up in homes that we are now repeating life problems, though less.   What I'm hopeful for?  Like I really have to say.  A healthy, happy child.

Got any suggestions?  Please let me know.  As always, thanks for "listening" to my blog.

~Julie

How A Bike Rack Tried To Kill Me

I wanted to post this earlier but I was afflicted by an upset tummy.  I have noticed this happening more and more and seems to coincide with the days I get up to get Rowan off to school.  This is part of my reasoning for wanting to homeschool.  I think my body is rebelling and saying, "You did the school thing growing up and now I'm not getting up early anymore!  I will make you pay for getting me up too early."  And it has.  Lucky for me Jace is getting her up tomorrow.  I don't suppose I could homeschool only on days that I have to get up with her. 

Speaking of bad attitudes about school, Rowan was sent home a sort of test.  It has come to the teacher's attention that many of the kids can identify every letter of the alphabet and numbers and colors...when they are at home, but not in the classroom.  Rowan is one of these.  Our conversation at the last parent teacher conference consisted of the teacher saying she might not be cut out for school and should probably find a nice career in prison.  She could only identify 5 letters and 3 colors.  At home it's a different story.  She can identify 24 of 26 letters, she can count to 30 and knows all her colors, she's doing kindergarten level math, and we've started working on reading.  A classical example of not being able to test under pressure.

Now to the bike rack.  In this weekly stroke of genius, I thought I should get a bike rack.  This is to help me get my bike to town so that I can spend hours and hours of riding with a gentle breeze through my hair and sunshine on my face. 

My first obstacle was finding the darn thing.  I finally found one at Walmart.  It listed my car as acceptable for using this rack.  And no assembly!  Oh, how hard could this be? 

I opened it.  So far so good.  I managed to make it look like it did in the picture.  Then I got tangled in the straps.  All I could think was Jace was going to come home to find me bound up in this rack thing unable to move.  I finally managed to get untangled and get the thing outside. 

Once outside I did manage to put the bike rack onto the car fairly easily.  But then I had it too high, then too low.  That back window wiper thingy kept getting in my way. 

Now that I had the bike rack on the car, I had to put the bike on it.  I had to lift the bike.  Hahahahahaha.  I'm a going to have to practice that.  I finally had to wait for Jace to get home to help me figure it out.  But we managed to get it strapped down and I drove around a little to see if it was stable.  It's still on there.  I'll let you know if I'm actually going to be able to manage to use it in town or if I'm going to just drive around looking cool like I might ride my bike somewhere.