Illness and Chicken Pox

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The kidlet has been sick for two weeks.  Luckily she’s finally back at school today.

Two weeks ago she had the whole week off school because of weird tummy pains and high temperatures.  She could have gone to school on the friday, but it was their athletics carnival so I decided to keep her home.  After a whole week off school I didn’t want her first day back to have her sitting outside in the cold weather all day.

Last week she went to school on monday.  Went to school on tuesday, and then I got the phone call to come and pick her up – she’s vomited.  Right outside the front office.  Nice!  LOL!  Luckily she didn’t make it inside the office, at least outside it can be hosed off.

So I brought her home, dosed her up on panadol.  She had eaten breakfast on Tuesday morning, and didn’t eat a meal again until sunday.  Five days of just water.  Lying on the lounge or bed all day, sleeping, upchucking every time she tried to eat.  There were a few occasions where I nearly took her to ER.

On Sunday she said she felt better, so ate a pancake for breakfast.  Ate lunch.  Ate afternoon tea and played with the neighbour for awhile.  Ate dinner – well, half a dinner.  She had the steamed vegies and mashed potato.

It was a long weekend here so no school on monday and the kidlet ate all day, including a roast chicken dinner at night and went back for seconds!  So she’s back at school today and fine.  From lying there looking terrible on saturday to fully recovered by monday.

And the Chicken Pox?  That would be me.  For the second time.  I had it as a kid and gave it to my entire pre-school.  And now I have it again.  Not Shingles, but actual Chicken Pox.  It’s a mild case but still itchy and tiring.  So after being confined to the house with a sick child for two weeks and suffering from cabin fever, I now have to stay here for another week.

Thank goodness for the internet!!!

He’s Home!!!

DH arrived back home last thursday night.  He pointed out to me on the weekend that I’d posted about running, but not about him getting home…  guess I was too excited to do that!

So far he’s slept a lot and watched a lot of DVD’s.  Catching up on six months of constant working and long days.  He’s off work for all of May and then goes back to work to a new position in June.

It’s so good to have him home! 

Honey Cleanser and Almond Scrub

Along with making my own soap, I’m now making my own cleansers.

Honey Facial Cleanser is a recipe from the book Bodyworks: Restoring Wellbeing with Homemade Lotions, Potions and Balms (Murdoch Books): Restoring Wellbeing with Homemade Lotions, Potions and Balms (Murdoch Books)

60ml runny honey

125ml vegetable glycerine

40 ml liquid castile soap

Mix all together and pour into a clean pump type bottle.  Keeps in the shower without needing refrigeration.

To use, simply rub over wet face and rinse off with water.

Note:  Liquid Castile Soap is true soap, not the liquid detergent you buy in the supermarket.  You may need to order it online from a Soap Making shop or might possibly be available from a Health Food Shop or organic supermarket.

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Almond Scrub is a recipe I made up myself.  It’s very loosely based on a product from Lush.  Works brilliantly!

2 Tblspn ground almonds

2 Tblspn clay (Kaolin, Bentonite, or similar cosmetic clay)

1 Tblspn vegetable glycerine

1 tspn sweet almond oil

5 drops lavender essential oil (leave out if you’re allergic, or you can substitute another essential oil)

Mix all together well and store in a plastic container (for safety reasons, you don’t want to risk dropping a glass jar in the shower!).  Leave for 24 hours before using.

To use, wet face, break off a small piece and scrub skin gently.  Wash off with water.

To be honest, the colour of this scrub reminds me of baby poop!  It ends up a yellowish khaki colour and the texture is, well, chunky….  LOLOL!

Homemade Soap

I made this soap last year, and only recently realised that I hadn’t posted about it!

All made by me on the stove!  I think I now have enough soap for us for the next few years!  LOL!  It was pretty easy and good fun.

The basic recipe is a mix of oils, I’ve used all vegetable oils, with Caustic soda added to saponify the oils.  Then they have spices, clays, essential oils or synthetic fragrances added to make the different varieties.  I did have one failure, tried making a coffee soap and it ‘burnt’ when I added the caustic.  Smelled like a coffee pot that had burnt dry so had to throw that one out.

I started making them using tupperware as the molds, then swapped to using 75mm pvc pipe which works a treat!

Centre (grey) is shaving soap with bentonite clay.  Works better for shaving than plain soap.  I made a heap of this in plastic jars for DH to take overseas on his deployment and the rest of it I’m using.

Clockwise from top: Solid shampoo bar, spice (cinnamon, clove and nutmeg), chocolate, Eucalyptus (can’t smell it though), Sweet Vanilla Sugar, plain basic soap, a mix of some small bits and failures all remelted and molded.