Mushroom Trophies (1,000th post!)

Happy 1000th post to me! Hard to believe. That's a lot of posts.

My poor brother's birthday is three days after Christmas, so that means that he usually loses out on the birthday presents. But not this year! (actually, last year, I guess...)

He has said in the past that he wants to start collecting "sister art" (meaning, art made by me... altogether now, "Awww!"). So every once in awhile I remember this and make him something. This year he had a great idea: you know how hunters mount their trophies? Antlers and such? Well, Matt is a mushroom hunter, so he thought it would be cool to have "mushroom trophies." I took this idea and ran with it!

Yes, sculpted mushrooms, in three varieties: morel, chanterelle, and porcini...

mounted on trophy boards, of course. (these were plain pine, but I stained them to look like walnut or some other dark wood).

They turned out so awesome. I love these. Here are the morels:

And the chanterelles:
The underside of the chanterelles:

And the porcini:
I used Super Sculpey and it was so easy to use! I love this stuff now. I sculpted the mushrooms, and then cured them in the oven. Then, it was easy to paint them with acrylics. I used epoxy glue to mount them (I had to stain the epoxy with paint first, so it wouldn't show... apparently it dries in a cream color). Anyway, these are kitschy and fun and perfect for Matt. He loved them and that's what matters most!

My Version Of A Rest Day (and a very cute visitor)

So yesterday was my first full day of vacation (Saturday I was still wrapping up chores and jobs). I thought, "Cool. Let's make it a Day Of Rest."

Of course, when you are resting, you must have something yummy to snack on, yes? So I made a pan of Apricot Bars. These things are amazing. There is a reason I only make them once or twice a year. Serious oatmeal-brown-sugar-apricot goodness.

Then I read for a bit. Then I went to the library. Oh, and to the drugstore and the grocery store. But only to get ingredients for my fabulous dinner experiment (trying to teach myself how to cook passable Indian food).

I got home from my (enjoyable, it must be added) errands and decided to do my sewing project. Last winter our living room was so cold. So I thought this year that we ought to have big snuggly down comforters to curl up in, and we could use them as either guest bedding or extra covers on our bed for when it got really cold.

So I bought inexpensive down comforters from IKEA (at $30 each, you really can't beat it) and decided to use one of the top sheets from this king set I had laying around. The bottom sheet had started to pill pretty badly, so we weren't going to use the set anymore, but the top sheet was still just fine and such a pretty color.

So I folded it sideways, trimmed and sewed and did ribbon ties for the closure, and ta-da! The best thing about using the sheet was that there was no hemming involved!! (the gorgeous quilt on the back of my chair is my double-wedding-ring quilt that my talented mother made for me. It's one of my most-prized possessions. You can see that I did not quite inherit her talent for sewing)

(it was 85+ degrees yesterday, so I pretty much thought I was crazy for working on a down comforter, but today it's in the low 60s and I'm all curled up in it as I write this, so my efforts definitely paid off)

After sewing, I remembered that I needed to finish this birthday card for Terri's dad, who grew up near the Borax factory (and did some work at the borax mines). You know, 20-Mule Team and all that? We visited the area a few years ago and it was very beautiful. So I worked on this card for awhile. Have to finish it up today. (shh! don't tell. I'm hoping he doesn't read my blog)

And what next to do except start on my dinner experiment? I had gotten an Indian cookbook from the library (660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer) and decided to make a favorite dish of ours, Aloo Gobi (curried cauliflower and potatoes). It turned out VERY well, really yummy. I also made saffron/cardamom rice to go with it.

After my day of "rest" I was totally worn out (but happy).

**

And also, Saturday we had a very cute doctor come to the house for a specialized sort of therapy.

Golden Retriever Therapy. It's very effective, you know. Cures all ills, turns frowns upside down. (see? Here he is, showing us how, with a little help from Terri's sister)

Dr. Bluto, at your service.

The Stink About Deodorant

Ok, girls. Let's get real.

For the past four or five months (actually about the past year), I have been on the search for a decent antiperspirant/deodorant. I used to be an Unscented Secret girl all the time. I didn't want vanilla, or chai, or flowers, or powder, or anything. Just plain. It worked all the time. I was happy with it. And then... the 30s happened. Suddenly, I don't know why, but my body chemistry seems to have changed somewhere around age 33. Now, I'm suddenly stinky. Or rather, my body + Secret (or any other deodorant) is suddenly stinky. Without deodorant I just smell like... a person. Not necessarily stinky (until I start to sweat). However, something in those deodorants are causing some ungodly chemical reaction and it's seriously gross. I try not to be overly dramatic about things, but the smell actually kind of burns my nostrils. Embarrassing, but true. It's really gross.

Not to mention how icky most deodorants feel. Sticky and slimy and like I have a chalky film over my armpits all the time. It's really kind of gross. I can't stand it.

At our last bookclub, we had a minor discussion about this. Everyone agreed that most mainstream (aluminum) antiperspirants/deodorants were stinky and gross, and most natural deodorants didn't work. I had most recently tried Dove (two kinds) and was sort of happy with it... but in the past week or two, it's back to grossness.

WHY?!?!?

I have gone through at least five different brands in the past six months (I have seriously tried everything recommended. It was all grossness). I've tried the crystal (which I used to love). I'm wasting $$ left and right, and you know how much that drives me crazy. However, the horrible burned-chemical smell drives me to try anything at all. Seriously, this did not used to be a problem. Is it just me?

So, today I decided to just go crazy and try making my own. I saw a post by Amy Karol on Angry Chicken on how to make your own, and I had all the ingredients (well, mostly) here at home, so I thought I would give it a try. Also, since we are going to be moving even more towards minimal chemicals here at home, I figured since this was super-cheap and easy, might as well give it a shot.

So far, so good. It's not terribly hot today, so I'm not sweating at all. It smells super-yummy and no chemical stink. I'm going to try it tomorrow and see how it goes out in 'the real world,' but so far, so good. I don't know how much wetness will be an issue. We'll just have to see.

Maybe I can go with this option on all but the hottest or most-anxious days. Because I would do anything to not smell that horrible deoderant-stink on myself again. Seriously, yuck.

There seem to be many variations on this out there, including how to get it into an old deoderant stick container for easy application. I'll wait until I see how I like it before taking that step. Here's the recipe from Amy, and here's what I did:

* About 1/4 cup baking soda
* About 1/3 cup cornstarch
* A tablespoon or two coconut oil
* A few drops of nice rose-jasmine essential oil
* A few drops of tea-tree oil

Mix it all up to form a cream. Apply. I smell very faintly like roses and jasmine and coconut, with no burned-chemical smell. I also have a feeling this would be very effective on feet to mitigate that summer-sweaty foot problem. Even if it turns out I don't like this for armpits, I think I'll keep using it for the feet.

I haven't tried the deodorant from Lush, and I haven't tried the other kind Amy mentions in her post. I'll give this homemade stuff a try for a little while. I'll report back.