Cracked Up

So, I'm a pyromaniac. I love fire. V can attest to my intense love of gigantic, roaring bonfires. A fire is not a fire unless it lights up the night sky and attracts the neighbors' attention. (That's not always a good thing, LOL) I also have a bad habit about constantly piling more stuff on an already outrageously hot fire. And I always suffer for it. Right now I'm nursing dry, cracked lips, hands and a burnt rear end. (Yep, I roasted my heiny by standing a bit to close to the conflagration that was supposed to be a nice small fire, HA.Anyone that wants to see said fire can read my post here.) 

I woke up yesterday morning, feeling like I'd kissed a stove. My lips were swollen and burnt feeling, but of course, I couldn't find a tube of chapstick anywhere. I could barely put a cup to my lips and anything that even remotely felt warm I couldn't bring near my face. *sigh* Then it dawned on me, aloe vera is good for cooking burns and sunburns and just about any other kind of burn or wound you can think of, so why won't it work on burnt lips? 

I broke off a leaf and squeezed some of the gel onto my finger. I, oh so gently, rubbed the gel across my lips. Ahhhhhh, instant relief. The burning feeling went away and after about an hour the swelling went down considerably. I must say, the aloe vera gel worked a million times better than any chapstick I've ever used, and for most people who enjoy cooking, have an aloe vera plant readily available for all those pops and splatters that inevitably happen.

Now on to the hands. After the realization that the aloe worked well on my lips, I wondered if maybe it wouldn't do something for my dry, cracked hands. Being a mom, a dog owner, keeping reptiles and rodents, I am constantly washing my hands. So, as soon as the weather starts getting cooler, the skin on my hands starts drying out fairly quickly and cracks easily and is just painful, overall. I have extremely sensitive skin to start with, so I have a hard time finding a decent moisturizing lotion that doesn't give me hives. And let me just say, having a nasty, itchy rash on top of already dry, cracked skin is even more painful than just the dryness and cracking. So, using the leaf that I already snipped to tame my "hot lips", I squeezed some more of the gel out and began rubbing it on my hands. Another almost instant relief moment. The nice thing about using pure aloe is, for those of us with sensitive skin who can't use scented, expensive lotions, it doesn't give you hives or a rash. 

I managed to find a gallon of Lily of the Desert Aloe Vera Gel at Super Supplements, online. The total came to about $20.00 after shipping. I bought a gallon because I know I will find many uses for it in my daily life, but I'm sure, if you do your research, you can find a smaller amount for sale. Just be sure that it is at least 97% pure aloe, otherwise, there is no telling what other ingredients you might end up with. 

With this magnificent find, I've crossed lotion and chapstick off my shopping list. I have an empty lotion bottle, that has been cleaned thoroughly, to fill with the gel, to keep at home and a small traveler's bottle to keep in my purse. 

The moisturizing and healing properties, in pure aloe vera gel, are amazing. You can read more about aloe and it's medicinal properties here. Annie's Remedy has an amazing catalog of herbs and their uses in natural medicine. It's my go to site, when I need to look up something quickly, on an herb.

Happy DIYing Everyone!!!

Thawed Out

So, tonight I attended a really awesome Twitter party hosted by MomSpark.net. It was all about prepping your car for winter and it got me thinking. How many of us have to go out to our cars in the early morning hours and scrape through a pretty heavy duty layer of ice/snow? Luckily for us down here in the deep south, we don't get that heavy of an ice covering and we rarely get snow, but it does in fact happen from time to time, and having to stand outside and scrape your windshield when it's 20 something degrees at 5:30 in the morning is absolutely NO fun.

So, I wondered, can I make a homemade deicer? The answer is yes, I can. :D YAY!!! That's surely good news for those of us who need a new drivers license every other year from scraping our windshields with it. And the best part of the whole recipe is, it is SO simple and very cost efficient.

Homemade Windshield Deicer:

2 parts Isopropyl Alcohol (70% or above works the best)

1 part Water

And that's it. Mix the alcohol and water in a spray bottle and get to spraying that dreaded ice. I cheated on testing this. (It's not quite cold enough for ice on my windshield at the moment.) I sprayed the edge of my deep freezer with it, where the thinner patches of ice accumulate, and it loosened it right up and made it extremely simple to brush it away. Now please keep in mind, I live in Georgia so our ice does not get very thick very often, but for you northern people you may have to cut back on the water and add more alcohol to cut through the tougher ice thickness. I wouldn't use straight alcohol though because it could very well eat away at the seal around your windshield.

A few more cold weather tips for drivers:

• If there is ice and snow on the road and you don't absolutely HAVE to go out, stay at home.
• Always have your fluid levels and tires checked BEFORE cold weather hits. Better to be safe than sorry.
• Keep flashlights, blankets and other extras in your car for emergencies.
• Always make sure your cell phone is charged before heading out.
• ALWAYS watch out for other motorists. Just because you know how to drive in ice/snow does NOT mean others do.

Happy DIYing Everyone!!!