It Looked Like Someone Sneezed In My Hair

I have mentioned that I am a true forager, a back to nature kind of gal, I just love foraging and making things from nature.

My Christmas tree was decorated with ribbon and stick stars from the bush, very simple yet I loved it and today when I took the tree down – 15 minutes and done! I loved it even more.

I make homemade soap and try different recipes and I now have a chapped skin balm made with Chaga and a Paw Pet Balm for our dogs and cats for sale in a couple different stores.

I have been trying to perfect a face cream, and a body lotion but I am still working on mixing and matching and trying to get the best results. I am in my happy place when I am creating.

When I do this mixing and matching, I know there will be times where the formula does not work and you do have to expect that, for every recipe that works, there are many that do not.

One of the face creams I made, I had put Chaga powder in it and it does not dissolve so having scratchy things rubbing all over your face, well it did not feel all that great. I could have called it an exfoliant, but it was not, it was a face cream. Two of my testers said they like the cream but not the scratchy things…..

Today I was checking out some ideas and came across a hair mask for dry hair. I felt my hair was in need of some loving, so I decided to make my own hair mask from a couple different recipes and off I went.

This concoction had mashed banana, egg white, honey and coconut oil – sounded and

smelled heavenly. I was to mix it all together and leave it on for 1-2 hours and then wash it out.

After my allotted time, I hopped into the shower and washed out the mask. It did not seem to want to come out “easily” so I decided after much rinsing to shampoo it – probably defeating the purpose of the nourishing hair mask.

I came out of the shower and started drying off, came around the corner and looked in the mirror and saw that there was great big bits of things still in my hair. I hopped back into the shower and shampooed again more thoroughly and then I even conditioned it.

I jumped back out and did the total dry and wrapped my hair in a towel. This time when I brushed my hair I noticed my hair was still full of little pieces of banana. Not “BIG” pieces but little pieces of yellowy green, gooey banana and quite a few. Some came off in the brush and others were not so easy to remove. As I looked at my brush and then in my hair I came to the conclusion that it looked like someone had sneezed all over my hair and it was full of little snot balls. (it wasn’t, it was little soggy banana pieces but no one would know that if they saw me)

I now went to the kitchen sink to rinse out my hair again. More successful this time but I certainly realized this was a huge “fail” and not a prize winning recipe.

As we enter into 2023 we will have some good days and some yucky days, same as last year and the year before, but does it have to be? I mean could we not change it up if we wanted? Whose choice is it to keep things exactly the same or be brave and change things up? Totally my choice.

I was talking to a very dear friend about my relationship with God and she is such a wise woman she gave me some clarity because I was feeling same old, same old but knew I was not satisfied with that.

I know when God moved us out here to the bush, He was changing up everything, and I was still trying to figure out how to “connect” more with Him. I really sensed it was not going to be the same. Our relationship was supposed to change, but how….it was not going smoothly, I was trying to force it and it felt awkward.

She said that one of the things she does (as do I) is read a passage in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Psalms/Proverbs each day. By doing this you get through reading the Bible in one year, I have done this for years.

She said, that she realized that God wanted to have her attention throughout the whole day not just at the beginning. When she was trying to read all 3 areas in the morning, it was more like a system, a goal rather than a relationship. The light bult went off for me in my head as I was trying to complete the goal every morning as I always had done instead of actually enjoying my time with God.

She now sets a timer for mid morning and early evening and instead of reading in all 3 places at once, she now spreads them out through the day. It is more a relationship time instead of a “reading, goal setting time” and it helps her focus on God often, now throughout the day instead of just spending time in the morning. The reading plan did not change just the how and the timing – so easy yet so profound.

What can we change up, or change around in our lives that can make 2023 different? My friend showed me that a little change can actually create a lot of changes.

I will still create and experiment with my foraging supplies and I will not use the banana in my hair again, and you know – if I simply omit the banana from the recipe, maybe it will be a winner! One little change could make all the difference.

I do not make resolutions because I have learned that my resolutions are short lived. I always start with gusto but they wither out quite quickly. Resolutions usually require big changes but perhaps the best way to start to change up anything, is simply changing one little thing.

An avalanche starts with one little snowflake that attaches itself to another and then another until it simply keeps on growing. No one catches one little snowflake and thinks “avalanche potential”.

One little thing is doable and much easier than swearing off sugar “forever!” or what about promising to exercise five days a week, could we do one half hour walk a week instead? Start with the doable and add that one thing. That one thing could be the start of a lot of other changes and who knows it could be the start to a winning combination.