How To Make Lavendar and Chamomile Sugar Scrub (courtesy of NoreensKitchen.com)

Hi everyone! It’s Noreen, and welcome to my kitchen! And welcome to another episode of The holidays are coming! Now, last week, we did bath salts, and I did want to make a statement about that. In some states, what they call “bath salts” have been made “illegal” because it’s a certain type of drug, that, I think you smoke – I don’t even know. But, they’re not the bath salts that I make. So, when you talk about bath salts and you hear that in the news, that’s not what we’re talking about. That’s something totally different – it’s just called the same thing.

But anyway, we’re gonna kinda go a step further today, and we’re gonna make a sugar scrub. This is really nice – you take it in the shower and then you scrub it all over your skin, and you rinse it off when you wash off, and it exfoliates all of those dead skin cells and it makes your skin glow, and it helps your body absorb moisturizer a lot more quickly, and it helps you to – the things that are in it are gonna help the toxins escape from your body, and it’s gonna be wonderful!

So, let’s see what goes in this! This is another thing that you could make assembly line style. You can make a whole bunch of it and just jar it up. You could even sell this at bazaars – it would be fantastic. So, what we’re gonna start with is a cup of Demerara sugar, and I’ll show you what that looks like. I should have left it out – you know what? I have a full one over here, let me grab it. I buy this in my grocery store – this is also what I use in my favorite bread recipe! This is pure cane sugar – sugar before it’s refined – so it still has a lot of molasses in it. Still has a lot of nutrients and minerals in it that refined sugar does not have. In the bowl it goes – a cup.

And, this is a ¼ cup of epsom salt. Not sea salt – a ¼ cup of epsom salt, because epsom salt is gonna help extract toxins from your body.

The next thing we’re gonna do…this is Vitamin E oil. You can get this at the health food store, you can get it online, I bought it in the vitamin section at Walmart, and it was about $3.00. And this will go a very long way – except you have to get it open! I’m gonna use a tablespoon of Vitamin E oil.

We’re gonna use a ¼ cup of some sort of oil, but, this is organic olive oil – cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil, ok? I will warn you – you cannot use vegetable oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, with this. You can use these 3 types of oil. You can use olive oil, you can use liquid coconut oil or you can use almond oil for this scrub. The olive oil contains lots of antioxidants that are fabulous for your skin, so you’re nourishing your body as well as having healthier skin.

Now, I’m also going to add a tablespoon each of lavender flowers and dried camomile flowers. Put those both in. You can do anything with this. If you want to make a lemon scrub, you can zest a lemon and you can put the lemon zest in here and it will smell fabulous. You can throw some black tea in here – just pop open a couple of black tea bags – or you can use green tea, or you can open up your favorite herbal tea and just toss a couple of those loose tea bags in here. Not the bag part, just the herb part.

Now, let me show you these herbs here before we move forward. This bag of lavender flowers was less than $5.00, and I get this from San Francisco Herb and Natural Food Company, and their website is HerbSpiceTea.com, and I love them! They have fantastic prices and an amazing, amazing selection to choose from, and they have medicinal herbs, they have culinary herbs and spices. And then, this is whole chamomile flowers, and both of these bags are a pound. You know, that’s a lot. When you think, I’m gonna buy a pound, that’s a huge bag. A huge bag! But, the chamomile flowers are fabulous. Chamomile helps you to relax. It takes the edge off, it has a natural calming quality about it, so this is perfect for taking a shower in the evening. It’s gonna help you exfoliate your skin as well, along with everything else that we’ve put in this scrub. This one I got from MountainRoseHerbs, which is another one of my favorite purveyors, or vendors, for herbal supplies. And, I will put their web addresses in the underbar, and their website is MountainRoseHerbs.com. And again, they have fabulous prices, and they also have – they have some things that San Francisco Herb and Tea doesn’t have, and vice versa. They also have a fantastic website where they actually have videos – they have a YouTube channel, and they have recipes and demonstrations, and you can learn a lot on their website about the origins and the uses for all of the herbs and everything that you’re looking at on there.

So, back to this! The only thing left to do know is to jar this up. I just put my trusty canning funnel up here, and I may have to tap this down. You’re gonna get more than a jar’s worth. This is just for demonstration purposes. You can pretty up that jar, put it in a cellophane bag, tie it with a bow, and you’re ready for gift giving! You can put a tag on it, and leave instructions below on how to use it. In fact, I’ll show you right here. I’ll just take some warm water – I’ll just do it on my arm, here. Just take a handful of it and rub it on your skin, and you’ll be able to feel – it’s gonna exfoliate all of the dry skin of of your body wherever you use it. It smells wonderful, and the, you know, the oil is not gonna be greasy on your skin, and you’re gonna wash it off with soap after you’re done. And I’ll just reach over here and get some of my hand soap. And it’s just like, if you’ve ever gone to Bath and Body Works or Crabtree and Evelyn or some really – like The Body shop, they’re really expensive places where you can go and get body care items. And you just dry off. But, this makes your skin really soft – feel it. Really soft!

So, give this a try. It’s a great gift! We’ve added the extra vitamin e in there. You don’t have to use a tablespoon if you choose not to. You can use a teaspoon. If you’re looking out for your budge, you don’t have to use it at all. So, there you have it – Sugar and Olive Oil Body Scrub that you make from home to give to your friends and family for Christmas. It’s not expensive, and you can make – if you buy a container of the Demarar sugar, a bottle of olive oil, a bag of epsom salts and a little bit of chamomile or lavender or spearmint or whatever herb you choose to put in there, or you don’t have to put herbs in it at all. You can make a whole bunch really cheap, and you can give it to everybody that you know and care about for Christmas. So, there’s another idea for holiday gift giving…I hope you try it, and I hope you enjoy it! Until next time – I’ll see ya!

How To Clean Your Teeth Correctly (courtesy of ExpertVillage.com)

Hi! My name is Carol and I’m a registered dental hygienist, and I’m gonna be speaking on behalf of Expert Village. In this clip, I’m gonna demonstrate on how to correctly brush your teeth.

Whenever brushing your teeth, you want to make sure to brush two times a day. And, it’s also important to brush for the full two minutes whenever you brush, ’cause your main goal in brushing is to remove plaque and buildup that’s on the teeth.

When you start brushing, you want to make sure to get every side of every tooth. And, when you start brushing, make sure to aim towards – get the back teeth first.

We’re gonna start on the inside and outside of the upper and lower teeth. When you angle the toothbrush, you wanna make sure to get it at about a 45° angle to the gum line, ’cause this is where mainly the plaque buildup gets on the teeth.

Whenever you start brushing, start at the back, and start doing small, tooth-sized circles, gradually moving forward. You want to make sure when you’re brushing, not to do a harsh back-and-forth motion, because this can cut the gums. But, continue to do the small, tooth-sized circles along the gum line…the motion that removes the plaque.

You’re gonna do the same for the lower arch. Aim the bristles toward the gum line, do the small circles. And you’re gonna do this all the way around.

Same with on the inside of the teeth…small circles all the way around. And, when brushing the chewing surfaces of the teeth, you want to make sure to hold the toothbrush flat on the chewing surface, and go back and forth, to remove the plaque from in between the teeth.

Also, whenever you’re brushing the fronts – the anterior teeth – you might try using the toe of the toothbrush, which is the tip of the toothbrush. It allows easier access into these areas, than trying to fit the brush in horizontally. So, turn your toothbrush vertically, still aiming your bristles at a 45° angle, and doing the small circles all the way across, on the inside, and then also on the upper arch, doing the small circles.

And, this whole process should take about 2 minutes. Adults and kids should all brush for that amount of time, and you want to make sure to brush your teeth in the morning after you have breakfast, and at nighttime before you go to bed. This prevents plaque buildup.

How To Apply Individual Eyelashes (courtesy of ExpertVillage.com)

In this clip, I’m going to show you how to apply individual false eyelashes. The advantage to applying individual false eyelashes instead of a strip lash or a feather eyelash? It looks a little more natural when you apply individuals. You could just do one or 2, or you could apply all the way across the eye, so I’m gonna show you different techniques with individual eyelashes.

So, I’m gonna take the individual lashes, and I’m gonna take about 6 of them and put them on my hand. And, I’m using a tweezer, and you’re gonna want to pull from about the middle of the lash, so it doesn’t get messed up.

And, now, I’m gonna take a little bit of the Duo adhesive and put just a little, tiny dot on my hand. So, I’m gonna take the lash, from the middle of it, and dip the tip just in the adhesive.

Start with the outer corner, and you want to start about 3 lashes in – 3 of your lashes in. And, you’re just gonna apply it right on top of your lashline. And, where these lashes end, that’s where you’re gonna want to start the next one. So, it’s about 3 of your normal lashes apart from each other. You’re just gonna add a little dot and then apply, and keep going. So about every 3 lashes, you’re gonna apply the individual. And, you can just do the ends right there, which is just gonna give you a little more fullness, or you can go all the way in. So, with Sara here, I’m gonna go all the way in. And…3 lashes over… then you can kind of move them a little bit while they’re kinda damp, to get them exactly where you want them.

Then, you’re gonna go back to the middle…about 3 over…dip the end in just a little bit. The individual lashes give you a really nice, natural look. Sometimes, the strip can be a little more dramatic; so, if you’re just looking for an everyday kind of look, you can go for these ones.

Now, I’m gonna add just a couple more on the ends, to give it a little more dramatic effect on the outer corner. Again, you can move them around, til they get to where you want to be. I think we need one more in the inner corner. I like using the individual lashes, too, because you can really place them exactly where you want them. So, if you want more in some spots and less in some spots, you really have that control.

And, that’s how you apply the individual eyelashes!

How To Treat A Sunburn (courtesy of Howcast.com)

Did all that fun in the sun end with a nasty burn? Let’s get you some relief! You will need:

A Bathtub or Cold, Wet Compresses
Aloe Vera plant or lotion, or Hydrocortisone cream
Aspirin
Sunblock

Optional:

Baking soda or colloidal oatmeal
Acetaminophen or Ibuprophen
Antibiotic ointment

Step 1: Cool off your skin with a cool bath, or cool, wet compresses. If you opt for the bath, add a half-cup of baking soda or several cups of colloidal oatmeal – available at drugstores. Soak for 10 minutes, repeat as often as needed.

Step 2: Apply something soothing, like aloe vera from a plant or a lotion, or 1% hydrocortisone cream. Do not use petroleum-based products or products with Benzocaine. They’ll just lock in the heat.

Step 3: If you’re an adult, take an aspirin. Its anti-inflammatory properties will help relieve the pain. Never give aspirin to children under 16. Give them acetaminophen or ibuprophen instead.

Step 4: Let your skin heal. If blisters form, leave them alone. If they break, use an antibiotic ointment. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about peeling, but a moisturizing lotion can ease any itching.

Step 5: Buy a good sunscreen and a big sunhat, so you don’t get burned again. And, stay out of the sun until your burn has healed!

Did you know? It’s easier to get sunburned at high altitudes, because you’re less protected by the atmosphere!

How To Make Your Own Bath Salts (courtesy of About.com)

Hi! I’m Jen D’Amore with About.com, and today I’m gonna show you how to make our own, fancy bath salts. Bath Salts make a great gift, and a great indulgence – especially when you’ve personally selected and put together all the ingredients. First, let’s gather your materials. You’ll need:

A Bowl – for mixing,and a spoon

Salts – we’re gonna use a combination of Dead Sea salt and Epsom Salt

Moisturizing Oil – in this case, we’ll use Sunflower oil, but you can also use Jojoba or Castor oil.

Essential Oil – in this case, Sandalwood. And finally,

a Fancy Jar

These are the basics. You can also use fresh or dried flowers. They add a nice touch, especially if you’re giving it as a gift.

First, combine 1 cup of Moisturizing oil with 10 drops of Essential oil. Add the salts to the bowl. Measuring doesn’t need to be exact, but you want about 4 cups of salt per 1 cup of oil. Then, stir gently, until the oil is evenly spread throughout the salt.

The salt will need to sit for 2 days before you use it. You can cover the bowl and store it there, or go right into the fancy jars. Let’s keep ours in the fancy jars. Just spoon them in, add some fresh or dried flowers, a ribbon – and there you have it! Homemade, Fancy Bath Salts…for a gift to friends, or to yourself!

Thanks for watching!

How To Give A Massage (courtesy of Howcast.com)

There’s never been a better way to say I Love You than by giving a massage. Follow these instructions to become an instant hit! You will need:

Massage oil

Towels or sheets

2 pillows

Water

Optional:

Soothing music

A dark, warm room

Step 1 – Cover a bed, or a portion of the floor with towels or sheets.

Step 2 – Have your partner undress to their level of comfort, and ask them to lie face down, or with their head turned to the side. Respect how much, or how little, your partner wants to undress.

Step 3 – Place a pillow under your partner’s belly and another beneath their ankles. This will allow them to comfortably position their back.

Step 4 – Pour about a teaspoon of oil into your hands, and rub them together to warm it. If you don’t have massage oil, use an oil you have on hand that has good slippery-ness, such as mineral, peanut, almond or sunflower oil.

Step 5 – Start with long strokes, working your hands along the muscle fibers with firm, even pressure. For the back, work along the length of the spine. For legs, go from the hamstrings to the knee. Never put pressure directly on the spine; in fact, avoid touching it altogether!

Step 6 – Apply more targeted pressure, as guided by your partner. Muscles should feel relaxed and pliable. When you find a knot, apply direct, gentle pressure with your thumbs, until you feel the spot release. Circle your thumbs on a tight spot to help it relax.

Step 7 – Massage your partner anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes. When working trouble spots, leave the area once you feel it relax. Too much work in one spot can actually irritate and tighten it.

Step 8 – When you’re finished, allow your partner to relax alone for a few minutes before getting up. This down time can be just as soothing as the massage itself!

Step 9 – Instruct your partner to drink apple water. The muscles will be fatigued, just like after a workout, and need fluids to recover.

Did you know? Each year, 20 million Americans enjoy some form of massage!

Learn How to Lighten Your Hair Naturally (courtesy of howcast.com)

Get sun-kissed hair without visiting the salon! You will need:

A spray bottle
Coffee
Chamomile, cherry or blackberry tea
Beet juice
Some lemons
Dried marigolds and apple cider vinegar
Rhubarb roots

Step 1 – If you have brown hair, make a pot of extra strong coffee. Let it cool completely. Pour the cold coffee info a spray bottle and spritz it all over your hair. Sit in the sun for about ½ an hour. This won’t lighten your overall color, but it will brighten your natural highlights.

Step 2 – If you’re blonde, steep 5 chamomile tea bags in boiling water. When the tea is completely cooled, spray it on your hair, comb it through, and sit in the sun for about 30 minutes, to bring out natural highlights.

Step 3 – Follow the same routine method if you’re a red-head, except use cherry or blackberry tea. A can of beet juice mixed with a little water will give red-heads highlights, too.

Step 4 – Blondes can squeeze a lemon or 2 on their hair, comb it through and sit in the sun, although, it’s drying for their locks.

Step 5 – Highlight any shade of hair with this trick. Put 1 cup of water, 1 cup of apple cider vinegar and a handful of dried marigold flowers in a pot and bring it to a boil. Strain out the flowers and let the liquid cool completely. Put it into a spray bottle, spritz it on dry hair, massage it into the scalp and let the hair air dry. Highlights will appear in under an hour.

Step 6 – Boil some rhubarb root, let the liquid cool completely and test it on an inconspicuous lock before applying it to your whole head. Rhubarb adds a yellow tint, so if your hair is already very light, it could end up darker.

Did you know? According to a survey, 67% of women said if they had to hire a person based entirely on hair color, they would choose a brunette!

Learn How To Make Your Own Bath Bombs (courtesy of howcast.com)

Add some fizzle and sizzle to bath time with a homemade bath bomb! You will need:

1 cup of baking soda
½ cup of cornstarch
½ cup citric acid
2 ½ tablespoons of sweet almond oil
1/8 cup of distilled water
6 drops of the essential oil of your choice
A spray bottle filled with witch hazel
Molds, muffin tins or ice cube trays
and tissue paper.

Optional:

1/8 cup of sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
Dried flower petals
Zest of a citrus fruit
Food coloring
Colored plastic wrap
and ribbon

Step 1 – Mix together the baking soda and the cornstarch in one bowl, and the citric acid, almond oil and distilled water in another. Find citric acid, also known as Sour Salt, in natural food stores, craft shops and some supermarkets. If you want your bath bombs to foam, add 1/8 cup of sodium lauryl sulfoacetate to the dry mixture, once you’ve combined the other dry ingredients. Order it on the internet.

Step 2 – Lightly grease the molds with sweet almond oil. If you don’t have multi-purpose craft molds, you can use muffin tins, ice cube trays, plastic Easter eggs that snap apart, or even Christmas ornament packages instead.

Step 3 – Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing them with your hands. If the mixture is too dry to stick together, mist it with a little witch hazel, which you can find at drugstores. Dried flower petals, the zest of lemons or other citrus fruits, or food coloring can be added to the mix.

Step 4 – Press the mixture into molds, let them sit for a few hours, remove, and let them dry for a week.

Step 5 – If you’re giving the bath bombs as gifts, cover them with colored plastic wrap and tie with ribbon; otherwise, cover them with tissue paper and store in a cool, dry place.

Did you know? According to one survey, 24% of married women would rather have a bubble bath than sex!

Learn How To Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions (courtesy of youtube.com/stratola)

Hey. What’s happening? It’s that time of year again. Time to set our New Year’s resolutions, and screw them up a day later. There’s a big problem that we have in society today, and that’s New Years resolutions. Period. We get all dressed up…well, this is not so dressed up – it’s 3 bucks – but, you get the point. We get goofy hats, we get all jacked up and we have some drinks and we say, “yea, it’s gonna be different! 2009 is gonna be different, just because the year changed to 09 instead of 08”. And we say, “I’m gonna lose weight, and I’m gonna stop smoking, and I’m gonna rescue orphans”, or whatever the thing is.

The problem is, we’re doing it wrong. That’s right. We’re doing it wrong. The guy wearing a freaking hat that’s too big for his gargantuan head is telling you we’re doing it wrong. I know it’s hard to take me seriously right now, but, listen – just give me 2 minutes, here.

We set it up wrong. Our motivations are just wrong for New Year’s resolutions – we can make it right, though! Let’s just use a system I call Mace, OK? M-A-C-E. If you look at these 4 letters, which stand for 4 words, you can change your New Years resolution, regardless of what it is, and actually make it work. You can actually have a New Year’s resolution…and keep it…and actually make it work! OK, come along with me for a second – trust me.

M stands for Motivation. What is your motivation for your New Year’s Resolution? Why are you making it? Are you wanting to lose weight because you are sick of seeing all the freaking people who are thinner than you, and you want to have their body? Wrong! Motivation has to come from here. You’ve got to want to quit smoking. You’ve got to want to be healthier. You’ve gotta want to lose weight because of your own reasons, not because somebody else looks that way. Not because somebody else told you. You can’t quit smoking because a commercial made you feel guilty about it. You can’t be better with money because the economy says so. It’s gotta be from within. Your motivation’s have to be right. So that’s M.

A stands for Attainable. You have to be able to reach it. You can’t say, “I’m gonna quit smoking for the year.” That’s 365 days! That’s a long time to quit, when I know when you’re trying to quit, an hour seems like a long time, let alone lots and lots of hours! You’ve got to be able to get to it. OK, you can’t say, “I want to lose 60 pounds – right now.” You can’t go from fat to fab that quickly. It’s gotta be attainable. You’ve got to be able to reach it – not for a year, but I’m talking a week. Or, even a day – just give me a day. One day at a time. It’s little, baby steps. ‘Cause when you put those baby steps together, they turn into a wonderful journey when it all works together!

OK, and C, the most important one is under C – is Controllable. You have to be able to control the goal. So, if your New Years resolution is to lose 20 pounds to fit into that dress, into those pants – that’s wrong. You can’t control your weight! Does that make sense? You can’t control the number on a scale. We fluctuate weight during the day, so if you make your goal to lose 20 pounds and you lose19, you failed! Or, you lose 21 pounds and you gain back 4. That’s the problem – we can’t control it. You can control what you do for your health – that should be your goal! Your goal should be, “I want to be healthier”. OK, and we can work with that. It’s not 20 pounds. It’s not 30 pounds. It’s whatever you’re gonna weigh when you’re having a healthy lifestyle. And, speaking of healthy lifestyle…a lot of times, us who don’t have a very healthy lifestyle, don’t enjoy the journey towards it. We set it up wrong.

And that’s what the E stands for, is Enjoyable. I tried it myself. I’m gonna reveal to you right now. I tried that program 10 years ago. You know, “insert program here”, or whatever it is. I saw the before and after, right? I saw the after and said, “yea, that’s what I want to be!” I saw the before and I said, “ooo…that’s what I am right now.” Did you ever notice that the after picture is always better lighting, and more tanned, and sometimes it looks like a different person? Anyway, so, what happens is we motivate wrong. So, I changed my food, and I got the weight patch and I was all ready to go, right? I was all set to go and be buff and 6-packing and ready to rock and roll.

I looked at my meal plan they gave me, and I had to eat boiled chicken that had no skin and broccoli. And that was the good meal. I know! And, I could have rice cakes, too…WHAT? Do I look like someone who eats rice cakes? No! So, I started hating meal time. I started hating my meals. You want to fail at a goal? Hate what your goal/journey is. That’s wrong. You’ve gotta set it up so you can enjoy it. And, if you don’t particularly like or enjoy the journey, then, set up reward systems for yourself, saying, “if I eat healthy for this week, I’m gonna reward myself with a nice meal that I enjoy,or a dessert I really want on the weekend. Or, I’m gonna go to the gym 3 times this week, and if I do, I’m gonna go buy this DVD, this book, see this movie – whatever it is…to reward yourself. Get yourself a massage. Trust me, if you haven’t been to the gym in a while, you’ll need the massage…so give it to yourself!

But, look at what you can control, what you are gonna enjoy about it. Let’s set the goals:

So, DON’T want to lose weight,

DON’T want to have more money,

Set yourself to be healthier, or,

Set yourself to spend better, or,

Set yourself to do stuff Within Your Control!

So, Do It! And, do it TODAY!

And Happy New Year’s!