DIY Haircolor

I've been asked to do a post on doing your own haircolor, so here it is!  I have been coloring my own hair for years now. My grandmother was a hairdresser and taught my mom and me all of the tricks of the trade. She used to perm my hair and color my hair while cooking dinner in our kitchen. She was a great woman and a master at her craft.
As I was growing up, I remember my hair being all of the colors of the rainbow, well, except maybe purple.... I loved and still do love trying new colors and new styles. My hair has been so long it touched the top of my bottom, to so short that I could spike it up and every length in between. I have had red hair, brown with highlights, my natural dirty blonde, and platinum...which is what it is right now.My hubby likes it when its sort of short and blonde, the lighter the better, in his opinion.

Over the years, I have found out a few things through mistakes I've made and I'm sure that as I continue to color my own hair I will find a few more things out....but the basic coloring techniques will never change.

My grandmother taught me that if you are doing all over color from a drugstore brand that you need to pick 1 to 2 shades darker than what you want your color to be....especially blonde colors. Blonde colors tend to either be to green or to yellow. The green color you may see is where the color contains an ash base. I tend to stay away from ash based colors because I don't like the greenish undertone it turns my hair. If you don't leave the color on to long, it can turn brassy or yellow so make sure you leave it on long enough to cut through this stage in the coloring process.

Brunettes...when picking a shade of brown make sure you pick one that will compliment your skin tone. If you have a paler complexion...you might want to go to a deeper shade with red undertones. If you have a darker, more tan, complexion, you might want to choose a chesnut color with a few golden highlights.

Red heads...I have been a red head before, but I have always let my hair stylist do it. Red makes me a little nervous....knowing my luck I would be orange instead of a beautiful shade of red. My suggestion would be to stick with a hair colorist that you like and trust and knows your coloring history.

I have highlighted my own hair for years and have found that I prefer the L'Oreal brand for my hair, but this is something you will have to try for yourself to see what brand works best for you.  That brand just works well with the texture of my hair and is very forgiving in the application. I always follow the instructions in the box and if I ever have any questions I have found the helpline numbers they give you really does help.

I'm not an expert by any means, so please don't hold me to any standard, but I hope this has helped you to determine if you want to attempt to color your own hair or stay with your colorist. I know sometimes it can be hard to find time to go get your hair colored, with all of the demands that us women go through on a daily basis. Saying that...I also enjoy going and having my hair done...it gives me some time to myself and to chat with other women in the salon and to treat myself.

No matter what...I always have fun with my hair and realize that it can always be fixed if I goof it up.

My girl

Our daughter Gracie is our first born and she will be turning 13 in a month. Where have the years gone?
She is such a blessing and wonderful addition to our family. I don't know what I would do without her... she keeps me on my toes and nothing slips past her.
The other day, we went shopping with my mom and she kept us in stitches with her comments on the clothes and accessories we saw in the stores. She is the type of girl that if its not comfy she doesn't wear it.
I love that girl so much! I just can't believe that she is going to be a teenager, but knowing her, she will handle it with grace and maturity... (I don't know if I am ready for it though....)

Do any of you have any tips on raising a teenage girl and making it through the early teenage years?
I know I could sure use the guidance and help...lol

Mama's Boys

 

Wyatt loves to chill and watch TV and play video games but also loves playing baseball. When he steps on that field he is all business and such a pleasure to watch play. Yes, I am one of those moms that screams and yells and cheers as loud as I can...but he says he doesn't mind...

I love my boys!!!! Just look at those precious faces:)! They fill my life with so much joy. They are 17 months apart and we raised them like twins. They are always together and rely on each other. I hope that continue that relationship as they grow into men and raise families of their own. They are each others best friend. We are so blessed to have these precious boys in our life!

Jake is full of life! He loves working around the farm with his daddy and hugging me every chance he gets. We never know what he is going to say...so sometines I am sitting on pins and needles when he talks because I just never know...lol.

baked apples

My family loves baked apples! I usually fix them with a honey- brown sugar glazed ham and mashed potatoes and biscuits. Whenever someone asks my kids what their favorite food is they describe this whole meal, not just one thing...makes me smile:).
My baked apples recipe is extremely easy and can be made in advance and refridgerated or cooked in the crock pot.

HERE ARE THE INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED:
6 Granny Smith apples....they are tart and go well with the sweetness of the spices
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1tsp. cinnamom
1tsp. apple pie spice
1tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 packed brown sugar (light or dark...whatever you have in your pantry)
1/2 stick unsalted butter
zest of 1 orange and the juice (optional)

Peel, dice and core all of the apples. I usually leave a little bit of the peel on for the nutrients.
Add the flour, all of the spices, brown sugar and butter to the bowl. Mix until all of the apples are well coated.
Put into a baking dish and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 mins covered with foil. remove the foil and bake an additional 10 mins uncovered.

You can alos do this in a crock pot, as I said earlier, and if you decide to cook them this way, follow all of the steps above just put it in the crock pot and cook on low for 2-3 hours.


I hope y'all enjoy!

 

Baked spaghetti

My family loves pasta! Over the years I have had to come up with different pasta dishes to satisfy my family's love of noodles...
This baked spaghetti is quick and easy and will feed an army.
This is what you will need:

1-2lbs ground beef
Dried Italian seasoning
Packet of spaghetti sauce seasoning
2-16oz cans of tomato sauce
Grated cheddar cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese
1 box of spaghetti noodles

Brown ground beef with 1tbsp of dried Italian seasoning in a skillet. Drain.
Add packet of spaghetti seasoning and tomato sauce and mix all together on medium heat.
While your meat sauce is simmering to meld all of the flavors together, boil your spaghetti noodles in salty water. This is the only time you will have to season your noodles so make sure you salt the water well. (It should smell like the ocean) cook the noodles about 12 mins... They should be al dente.
Drain noodles.
Mix noddles into the meat sauce mixture and put it in a casserole dish.
Top with shredded cheddar cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. The cheese will be melted and bubbly:).

Your family will love this delicious, inexpensive meal! It's a must try!!!!!

Giveaway

Ok all.... It's time for a giveaway!!!!!

Yesterday, I posted about a face/ body scrub that I love and now I want to give away 2 bottles of all natural honey!

Just post in the comments if you are interested and I will randomly pick a person and announce the winner Thursday morning:).

Tips on picking the perfect accessories and sharing some of my favorites

Have you been in the jewelry section of a store and a piece catches your eye, but you wonder if its worth the money and if you will ever wear it?
I have done that and here are some tips I have come up to help you decide....
1. If it is multi colored,such as beaded or gemstones of different colors.... Buy it, with all of those colors you are bound to find something to wear it with!
2. If you see a piece and you already have an outfit in your closer that will go with it. Who knows you might even have more you can wear it with then you think!
3. If its a classic, simple piece that will go with a tshirt and jeans or even a fancy dress.
4. If you see it and a smile instantly comes on your face... It's a must!
5. Try to stay away from the trendy stuff... In 6 months it will be out of style.

Here are a few pieces that I own that I wear all of the time!
The silver and gold dangly earrings are made by the same company and I love they way they are light weight into ears and are a very classic look. They go with everything!
I love beaded necklaces! This one has tons of colors in it and I can wear it with almost everything.
Every now and again, I love to wear one piece that just stands out and the flower blingy ring is just that!
The diamond ring is my wedding ring! My husband designed it himself and had it made for me. How could I not love it and consider it one of my favorite pieces?

Hopefully, this has been helpful and the next time you go shopping, you won't feel intimidated by picking out accessories to complete your outfits.

Honey Sugar Cinnamon Face Scrub

Do you spend a lot of money on skin care and then find they don't work? I have done that and then I've spent all of this money and have nothing to show for it but a lot of products that don't work.

There is a craze going on right now with DIY homemade skin care. So, I thought I would try some things to see if they work.
I've tried a lot of them but this one is one that I love and do a lot because it makes my face and body feel so good.

Here is what you will need (and I'm sure you probably have these things in your pantry already)
Cinnamon... Either cinnamon stick that you can grate yourself or ground cinnamon( just make sure it's still good, because spices lose their potency after a while)
Honey... Preferably organic but whatever you have will do
Granulated white sugar

Mix 2 Tbsp of honey, 1 Tbsp white sugar,1Tbsp cinnamon
It will form a gooey paste. Apply to your face and/or body, lightly scrubbing as you apply. Leave on for 20 minutes and then with warm water wash it off.

I recommend doing this no more than twice a week. You will notice how smooth your skin is and if you have acne it will help reduce it.

It is so good you could eat it! But it makes you skin look and feel so good too!!!!

Monday's Cabin Project for school

Our whole day yesterday was consumed with building a cabin from a book that my youngest son has been reading for school.
We had so much fun all of us pitching in to help him... But I didn't realize all of the steps.
There were certain criteria that he had to put into his project.
The pictures are of all of the things we had to do to build such a country cabin.
I especially love the picture of my son on the mule going out to gather all of the rock and sticks we needed. He loves driving that thing... Haha!
We also had to make a flour paste for the chinking that went in between the sticks and that was a gooey mess.... Oh but what fun!
It took us all about four hours or so to finish it and he gets to present it today to his class. He is really excited about his cabin but not having to present it.

Have you ever helped your children with a school project and how long did it take to do it?

This is the finished product!

We had to put it into the freezer for the flour paste chinking to harden.

This is the garden.

We used pincones for the trees. I had bought these at Christmas time for decorations.

This is "the plot of land" that the cabin was on. It's an old pizza box from our pizza dinner the night before...HAHA! WE covered it in brown wrapping paper and hot glued grass from our yard and pinecones as trees.

This is the inside of the of the cabin and this is the table and stools with a true dirt floor.

This is the fireplace that my daughter helped my son build. The rocks are from around our farm and the flames are made from a red Solo cup...That song just popped into my head...lol.

This is the chinking betewwen the sticks. it's made from flour and water that I made into a paste and spread with our fingers and smoothed with a butter knife.

The cabin had to have a chimney so we put down an piece of parchment paper and then hot glued the rocks in a stack and removed it from the parhcment and glued it to the roof.

We covered the roof with this moss ribbon I found at Walmart. IT was cheap and I had just enough to cover the whole top of the roof.

This is the flour paste! It's gooey when you forst strart working with it...we had so much fun with this stuff! It hardens and it sets but if you need to hurry the process,  you can stick it in the freezer after applying.

We hot glued the sticks my son found, around the farm, to the box that we had covered with the same brown wrapping paper as the "plot of land".

 

My son driving the mule to go and scout out all of the things we needed off the farm for the project.

This is the PILE of sticks that he can back with plopped onto my kitchen floor,,,,that boys just makes me laugh!

Our farm

These are just a few of the things I love about our farm. The views from my wrap around porch lend me to view something different at any angle.
I grew up in a neighborhood where the houses were right on top of each other and any time you went outside you saw someone. Living here on the farm, I don't have to worry about that, as much. As I have said in an earlier post, I live on the farm with Chad and our kids but also with my in laws.
I know you must be thinking..." How can she live so close to her in laws?"... but I have the best in laws in the world. They are not the typical in laws and we are all very close.
Living on a farm has always been an dream of mine and Chad's. When we started dating we would always talk about owning a farm one day and raising our family with the values that farm life gives. We would drive for hours out back country roads looking at all of the farms and dreaming of our future. Who would have thought that it would come true and so soon into our marriage. We bought our just after being married for about two years. It took a lot of sweat and hard work but it has been so worth it. It's a beautiful place live. Life is never boring on the farm!
We raise cattle. In the spring and summertime, I will open the windows to let the breeze flow through the house and I can hear the cows mooing and smell the fresh cut grass and it is so peaceful. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Do you have the same feelings about where you live or do you have dreams of where you want to live one day?

Buttermilk and chocolate chip pancakes

My boys had two of their friends over to spend the night, last night. I thought this morning they could use a good breakfast after all of that basketball and video game playing last night. What better than buttermilk pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes:).
They are so easy to make and I cook them in my electric skillet so I can cook more than one at a time.
Quick, easy, and will feed an army of boys.
What are some of y'all's favorite pancake toppings... Strawberries, blueberries...?

Stripping wallpaper

We are stripping wallpaper in my daughter's room. It has been up for the past ten years. It is not an easy job but it will be so worth it in the end.
My daughter is almost 13 and she is wanting a more "teenager room".
We tried to pull it off without and soaking or wallpaper remover agents but it wouldn't budge so we have had to spray it with scalding hot water mixed with a wallpaper stripping agent.
I am so thankful that my husband used to do this for a living and knows all of the tricks of the trade.
Have any of you ever had to strip wallpaper from a room?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! Today is a day filled with love. I have several loves in my life....so here is a list of things I love....

I love my husband. He is a true hard working country boy who loves his family and farm.
My kids...who by the way have this great way of making my life chaotic and full of laughs
Our farm...full of cattle and black fences that in the springtime are lined with rows of dandelions that make me feel happy ( i know that dandelions are just weeds, but there is something about looking out and seeing a sea of dandelions growing in the fields)
My family....who are funny and CRAZY on a daily basis( by the way I love only 50 yards from my in- laws...yes you read that right, the in laws)
Our home....its always messy and full of noise but I wouldn't have it any other way
Cooking.... there's nothing like fixing a home cooked meal for your family and seeing the smiles and hearing "That was great! I want more!"
Fashion...I love all fashion, well except, maybe the Goth look...HAHAHA!


Notice on my list there is nothing about cleaning or laundry...I severally dislike doing both but someone has to do it.

Around here on the farm, we are not doing much for Valentine's Day. The kids are having parties at school and we have made the Valentines and bought the candy and made chocolate covered pretzels to share with all of their friends. But here at home, we will have a quiet dinner....well I don't know how quiet since our dinners are never quiet, but you get the point.

What are y'all doing for Valentine's Day? Are you fixing a dinner for your sweetheart or going out on the town?

Hello blogging world! This is my first ever blog and blogging experience. My life is full of wonderful new experiences everyday and I love to wake up every morning and find out what the day holds in store for me. Hopefully, in the next couple of days I will have this whole blogging thing figured out and can share a little more about me and my farm lovin life and family.