Wow! I tripped and fell into a time machine.

I have no idea what happened to December, or how it's possible that it's 2011, but I do know that it's going to be hard for me to take down my 2010 YEAR IN KITTENS calendar. I mean, I'm going to pull through, but it won't be easy.

What's that? You want to know what I've been up to? Let me explain! (I feel so good about myself that I was finally able to work my blog title into an entry.)

First, I made some mineral makeup. I ordered a kit from Brambleberry, and it was a bit confusing, to be honest with you. The instruction manual was just a generic one that they send out with all their products, not specific to the actual kit itself, so I had some screwups before I got it right. This is what it ended up looking like:

It works pretty well, and it came with a nice kabuki brush, so that was pretty cool. It's a little bit dark for my skin tone, but it's not too noticeable and maybe it'll be a better match in the summer months.

Something else that happened is that it got cold outside. So I've been spending a lot of time in the basement tending/staying warm by the woodstove.

And by staying warm, I mean sweating like I have never sweated before because it gets ridiculously hot in that room. It was the middle of December and I was sprawled out in a tank top and gym shorts, spritzing myself with water while watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The nice thing about it is that it gives me a chance to catch up on shows that are available on Netflix streaming, and to work on crafts!

I have no idea what I'm doing.

While all this was going on, some electricians came and changed out the light fixtures in my bathroom. It would've been a DIY project except for apparently the people who built our house were heavy drinkers, and the wiring was a hot mess. But the lights look much better now!

Before. You can kind of see the old lights and where one of them was ripped out.

After. Ignore all the crappy holes and marks on the walls.

We also ripped out the wall in the middle of the bathroom, and my dad and I installed a new floor, which was a project beset with many, many challenges. It should've taken two days, max, but it took us a week. Here is an awful cameraphone picture of what the new floor looks like.

The bathroom project is in no way complete, but we're getting closer. This is probably the single biggest reason I haven't been posting very much (a.k.a. have not been posting at all).

In fun project news, I decided I wanted to build something, so my dad and I (so much father-daughter togetherness this past month) built some storage cubes from a plan I found on Ana-white.com. Of course, since my dad is an amateur woodworker and I am a total newbie, they probably aren't very good. There are lots of splinters and nails sticking out and unevenly-cut boards. But who cares? It was fun, and they'll be useful (if I ever get off my butt to prime and paint them).

Without doors.

With doors.

I also made lotion! I found the instructions here. I already had a bunch of stuff so the only thing I had to order was the emulsifying wax. Here's what it looked like when I was done:

One day I drew a bunch of stuff with giant teeth.

That's basically it I guess. Hopefully I'll be back with more regularly scheduled content for the 0 people who read this. Bye!

Not into the Oil Cleansing Method?

It's cool. What works for me may not work for you. I will suggest, however, that products like Clean n' Clear might not be your best option; for instance, Clean and Clear Morning Burst Detoxifying Facial Cleanser scores pretty badly on the Cosmetics Database, meaning it's got some toxic ingredients. I also find that products like that can  be really harsh and drying on the skin.

My reasons for loving the oil cleansing method are explained in my post on the matter, but if you are really not digging the idea, there are other things you can do to keep your face clean that don't involve oil blends.

• Face washes with tea tree oil are a good option for people with acne troubles or complexions that are oilier than they might like (though keep in mind that excessive oiliness may be the result of using harsh soaps to try to strip oil from the skin). I have this one in my shower right now and I use it every once in a while, though it can be a liiiittle bit drying for me. I tend to only use it when I'm having breakout issues. It's pretty inexpensive and a little goes a long way! It doesn't suds up like other face washes, but it does the job beautifully (in fact, it's best to sever the mental link between suds and cleanliness. You don't need a lather to be clean).
• Think outside the drug store! Etsy or other sites with handmade goods often have great natural options available. This shop in particular has a few that look good. I have the Strawberry Face Scrub and it cleans and exfoliates really gently. My skin always looks so nice after I use that one. It's a bit pricier and the container is tiny, but you only have to use an itty bit of it and I also save it for special occasions because I am a cheapskate.
• It's okay to just use water all by itself. I started doing this when I was in a hurry but I find that it's actually pretty great. Just take some lukewarm water, splash it on your face, and use your (clean) fingertips to rub at your greasy spots (sides of the nose, chin, etc.) It helps break up concentrated areas of oiliness without stripping your face. Since I've almost completely stopped wearing makeup (it's too expensive and low on the priorities list), I don't have to worry about getting that off my face, and regular old water seems to do the trick pretty well. Here's some more anecdotal support for this method, if you can call it a method. Please note that using straight baking soda on your face as she mentions there is a bad idea, which the blogger says in a later post.

There ya go! Three easy (on the wallet and the skin) ways to keep your face clean  that don't involve bombing it with the harshest chemicals you can find. And as I've noted, I use a combo of ALL of these things and the oil cleansing method, and I feel like my face looks better than it ever has. It's all about doing what works for you on any given day.

On my Mind in November

I can't stop thinking about:

1. Making my own mineral makeup. I found a kit here that seems like it would be fairly economical. This one also looks pretty good.
2. NaNoWriMo and my perpetual failure to participate. I am extremely bad at coming up with storylines but I think it would be fun to try. Maybe next year. Or the year after that.
3. Establishing a day to start vegetarian freezer cooking so I can stop going out for lunch so often (two or three times a week). I have this sweet/super nerdy stainless steel lunch container that I want to use so bad.

Failed Experiment: Activated Charcoal and Vegetable Glycerin Mascara

There are times when, as much as I appreciate their message, I find ReadyMade's projects to be a touch inaccessible or impractical. They involve steps like, "Find a friend who is a metalsmith and have him or her weld all of these 1950s mid-century modern metal chairs to one another to create a chair-bench to meet all of your airport-esque seating requirements!"

But this one is right up my alley. Simple ingredients, no metalsmithing, plus makeup. Bingo.

The materials:

• Activated charcoal capsules
• Aloe vera
• A clean mascara wand

The instructions:

1. Empty an activated charcoal capsule into a small bowl.
2. Put in ¼ tsp pure aloe vera gel and mix.
3. Using an old (but thoroughly cleaned) mascara wand, sweep it onto your lashes. Make and use (don’t store) as needed.

Mascara can be pretty expensive, plus there are all sorts of shifty ingredients I am not terribly keen on putting near my eye-zone. The Cosmetic Safety Database has succeeded in cementing my paranoia about commercially-produced beauty products.

However, since I couldn't find aloe vera gel that didn't look like it came out of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle after eating a bunch of lime jello, I tried to use vegetable glycerin as a base. It looked promising, but it just turned into big black droplets on my eyelashes and 6 hours later, it's still smearing when I touch it.

This would probably work just fine if I actually followed the instructions. I believe we have an aloe plant around here somewhere, so I can probably get some non-TMNT aloe if I look hard enough and see if that fixes the goop issue. "Hexxus from Fern Gully just sneezed on my eyeballs" is not a good look for me.