From House to Home

I know. I know I know I know.

I KNOW!!!

I need to update my blog.

I KNOW!!!!!!

Well, now all those "knows" just look weird.
Nothing like writing a simple word over and over to make you question the spelling.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who does that.

So here I am. Updating my blog.

Both kiddos are asleep and the house is nice and quiet.

and dark.

I rarely turn on the lights during the day.  Its not like we get a ton of natural lighting in our house either.  Its just that the small amount we do get is the perfect amount.
Its light enough to read yet dark enough to fall asleep.
I like that.

not that I get to just fall asleep during the day.

hahaha!! can you imagine??!?

being able to fall asleep during the day????

HAHAHAHHAAHAAAA!!!!

-wipes tears-
oh my.

...that was a good one.

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So right now I'm eating a well-deserved lunch of Pibb Xtra and Lays Classic Potato Chips

I'll post a recipe for that later if anyone wants it.

Its well deserved because I've been a good sandwich eating, egg fryin girl for about two weeks now and I cleaned my house and organized my closets AND took care of two kids while I did it.

It. is. WELL  ..deserved.

And you know what else?
I'm going to have a Reese's cup for dessert.

...don't you judge me.

See...whilst I was purging my closets of clutter, I came upon several barely used bottles of shampoo and hair products.

Of course, you all know about how I haven't used shampoo since February.

SO...instead of throwing these expensive products in the trash, I decided to trade them on Instagram for various necessities such as 

Potato Chips

Reese's

Snickers

homemade cookies.

..don't you judge me.

You're just jealous you didn't think of it first.

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So after I cleaned every room in my house I QUICKLY used that opportunity to take a picture so I could reminisce on the changes we've made since buying our house 3 years ago.

One of the biggest changes is the STUFF.

The people who lived here before us had so. much. stuff.

everywhere.

I actually took pictures of their closets and cabinets...it was ridiculous.
When we pulled out the refrigerator there was a 3 inch thick wall of plastic bags just stuck to the wall....wedged in next to the fridge.

gross.

I can't do that. It has to have a purpose and place.  If not...it gets sold, junked, or traded for potato chips.

...don't you judge me.

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Old dining room...we knocked out most of that wall and added a breakfast bar.

All the laminate had to be torn out due to those nasty dogs peeing everywhere.

And the new...

I loves it.

I couldn't get these good angles on the old dining room pictures.
This room was so stinkin' packed with stuff.

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Second bedroom: Its a small room, so I couldn't really blame them for having it packed full...

New look

The old closet was a little ridiculous though.

New closet.
Noah did the shelving.
He's pretty amazing.
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Master Bedroom

And the new...

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Bathroom: It had just been redone and was a major selling point for us when we bought the house.

 Not much difference here - just paint and decor

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Old Kitchen

New Kitchen...I have yet to decide on a color that I really like.
Noah says I can't paint it again until next year.
Men.

Now that I look at this picture, I'm really glad I didn't bother to scrub off the stove spots before I took it.

I hate scrubbing stove spots.

...almost as much as I hate washing dishes.

You can see we closed up the wall behind the stove and opened up the wall into the dining room.  We also added a bar height counter on the dining room side.

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The next several pictures are of the garage BEFORE we moved in.

I can't imagine having to pack all this stuff.  Yuck. What a mess.

Since then Noah has actually closed in the garage into two rooms.
One room is an extension of our living room, which you'll see.
The other room is a laundry room that you will not see.

Because I didn't finish putting my laundry away, that's why.

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The living room.  Lots of furniture. Big Furniture.  And not a lot of room.

The big change...

See the old garage?

That Noah does good work.

We still have some finishing touches to do.  But we weren't really able to start working on it until July 4th weekend.  Noah finished in two weekends, which is good since Grady arrived July 15th.

I told you he's amazing.

No Sham-'poo' Method

I've had a lot of people asking me questions lately, so I thought I'd write up a quick blog post about this.

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Generally, this method is called No-Poo. But shampoo isn't what most people think of right away.

I wish there was such a thing as no poo.
really. truly.
Wouldn't life be so much easier??

And before I allow myself to disappear into a 'I hate having to use public bathrooms' rant...

I shall move on.

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I learned about the No-Poo method via the internet and decided I had to give it a try.

Essentially, you abandon your gajillion bottles of shampoo and conditioner and wash your hair every 7-10 days.

Ok...so where do I sign?

You use baking soda dissolved in water as a "shampoo"& then condition with a mixture of vinegar and water.  The cool thing about this method is the fact that it balances out the oils your scalp is producing and you don't have to wash your hair as often as you do with store-bought shampoo and conditioner.

In simple terms...shampoo supposedly strips your scalp and hair of all natural oils.  It also contains mineral oil which clogs your pores, disrupting hair growth and confusing your oil production.  It just messes with the pH balance, really.

So No-Poo is supposed to help your hair grow, give it more body, balance your pH, and you only have to wash once a week.

I'm obviously not an expert on all this natural mumbo-jumbo.
I may use cloth diapers but I'm no all-natural genius.
I like my modern conveniences, crest toothpaste, and instant brownie mixes, ok??!

The truth is, I'm just too lazy to wash my hair 2-3 times a week
AND try to make it look good every day. HA!

Oh and I hate buying shampoo.
yes i do.

SO...on February 9th, 2013 I stopped using shampoo.

I figured, why not see if it works?

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I first began only "washing" every 4 days.  My hair wasn't the prettiest I'd ever seen it but it wasn't super awful.  It was looking pretty oily by day 3.  But sometime around week 2 or 3 there was a miraculous change.

It's like it finally figured it out...

So I started stretching the days between washings even further.

I can now go 10 days without washing my hair.

I kid you not.

I'll wash it and put some mousse or gel in it...wait 5-6 days, then I'll rinse it in the shower.
Maybe spray some vinegar on it to help detangle...
Then I'll comb it out and just let it dry straight.

Then wait until I'm feeling motivated...and wash it.

It's. Awesome.

Unless I start noticing my hair getting brittle or breaking off...I'll never go back to shampoo.  My hair looks and feels a LOT healthier than it ever did and I love not having to wash it all the time.

Plus, its easier to style! I can't understand why, really...but it just..is.

Here's what I do:

Dissolve 4-5 Tbsp baking soda in 2 cups of warm water.
( I put my solution in a large pump bottle I keep in the shower. I've heard some people use old ketchup or mustard bottles so they can squirt it right on the scalp)

Apply 1/4 to 1/2 of this solution directly to scalp little by little, massaging area as you go.  You want to work it in, not scrub it.  Think stimulate, not frustrate.  This isn't going to lather like your old shampoo...its just removing oil and product buildup.  When you rinse your hair it will flow through the rest of your hair and cleanse it as well.  No need to apply this ANYWHERE but the scalp. PERIOD.  Make sure you get all around the crown and down the middle, which is where most oil accumulates.

Rinse.  Rinse. Rinse. Rinse. Get it gone.

Mix 1/4 - 1/2 cup plain white vinegar or apple cider vinegar with 1-2 cups water.
(I'm not too worried about ratios here)
I put this in a spray bottle and spray on the hair from the neck down, concentrating on the ends.  Btw...it doesn't take much of this...promise.  This should get you through several washings.

Rinse. Rinse. Rinse. RIIIINSE.

(Once your hair dries it will NOT smell like vinegar)

And for me, I like to put a fingertip of coconut oil through the ends of my hair as I comb it out.


And thats basically it.

Like I said, it took time for my scalp to figure it out. You HAVE to stick with it for 3 weeks in order to really see your hard work pay off.  And you might have to play around with the ratios.  Some people need more baking soda, some less.  You'll figure it out.

I'm really glad I did...its been 4 months and I love it.

http://www.nopoomethod.com/