Woman Down...

...But not for long.  My throat is itchy and I've been coughing, but I'm shaking it off with some natural stuff, including ginger and some 'over-the-counters'.  Made some African-spiced meatball soup so I guess I'm good for now with all this plus Benadryl and the old reliable Akla-Seltzer Plus.
    

My Blues

My blues spilled
Into an amber-lit coffee-hole
Open-Mike, I killed
With tears on my cheek and fire in my soul.

November Already?

The weather is still fickle and my wardrobe does the switch accordingly with a common denominator  being blue jeans, be they boot-cut, slim or taperd; I'm ready for fall, as it rolls in coverd in the orange and black residue of Halloween and the pumpkin gutts. Almost time for eggnog, but I wouldn't consider rushing thru the holidays the way some do, with the media coaxing it all with commerials about new toys in Toys R Us so the kids can react and pull your coat tail about Christmas while eatting halloween candy.

 

Soap Post

     I guess I'd rather have a big bar of beautiful, french-milled soap that lasts 2 months or more than a 3-pack of Zest at the grocery market;soap with strawberry seeds or lavender buds that smell of some rare fruit or flower. 
     I don't have time to make fancy soap like I thought I would, by Christmas-time, but I do have time to re-batch. Three weeks is better than three months curing time anyway,  depending on the chosen process.  Just some fading thoughts. I probably won't make a single bar.

I Want My ...

Nothing is as it was a year ago-my heart, my thoughts, my cable. I miss one of the holistically healthy programs i watched, Veria- not that I want to make my own cough syrup anytime soon, but I appreciate the information incase do. Now I'm in another part of the city and Veria isn't heard of unfortunately, but everything is a dot-com;so it's online but it's just too much information to sort.  As slow-paced and organic as it was as a cable program, I would've never guessed the web-site would be so chocked-full of green-living.

Mint

     I Had a mint mask and some microderm scrub tonite. A facial here and there is wise. When someone at work came to me regarding their cold sore I couldn't remember 'mint mask' but they ended up finding toothpaste, which is still mint so probably works a little, but I don't know about those other products in the toothpaste.

No Raspberry Leaves

Tasteless raspberry leaves are a common staple in my house except I'm out. Without them I face all six days in an uncomfortable, natural way. I wish the Tylenol were Viccodine and tonite was Friday. Went to Krispy Kreme today.

Another Sunday Night

This is an evening before a work day. I am sleepy but fighting for some reason when the pillow, cold against my cheek will feel so good. Unfinished business calls; I haven't written for a while so figured a few lines on here before I crash would be cool. It's funny I have no great information or pictures to share. I am, however, in need of my Krispy Kreme Triple chocolate eclair and a glass of cold milk(with ice ofcourse). In fact I'll have two of those and the movie Foxes with those 70's folks in it.

No One

A green spring breeze comes
mimicking summers yellow groove,
Stirring my thoughts of the lack of you-
lack of the silent-sexy you do;
Your slacks and your 'cool-daddy' shoes,
Looking like you got the blues.

Herbalistikal

All things considered, I accept that herbs and roots are my friends. Ginger, peppermint and garlic have truly been there for me in my times of need with simple and gentle assistance with my hair growth and more uncomfortable times when I have a cold or flu. I pick up ginger from the market sometimes for medicinal teas and I use ginger essential oil for my hair products(adding a few drops to some liquid leave-in to stimulate my scalp). I hear also it's good as an anti-inflammatory as well as a good few other uses.

I stood waiting amongst the others in line at the farmers market in Leimert Park this weekend to pay for my fruits and veggies, surrounded by blackeyed pea pods, Thai basil and plums, still with their stems and leaves attached and that distinctive basil scent in the air making me think of spaghetti. A woman came to the side to ask for ginger and she was informed there was no more. I never saw it because me and Samir got there later than usual. I ended up with greens, plums, basil, yogurt salad, goatcheese spread and herbal-sugarcane detox juice. Not to mention giant, distorted Summer squash. What a beautiful place to take my son to see his people and mine on a beautiful day.

'Africa by the Yard'

I've been wearing head-wraps for the past 2 weeks(the kind with the ball twisted in back). 'Figured I'd give my hair a break but realized my weave was even healthier, coupled with my regular health-hair techniques. I got African fabric at the marketplace in Leimert but have yet to put it to use on my head. Many of the traditional African prints are too busy for my style of dress so I guess I am both apprehensive and eager to wear my African head-wrap.

Aah

'Did some hair care and had an oatmeal bath this weekend. My whole body may have said 'aah' to that since it left the water so silky, although it left the tub dangerously slippery. Gotta get a bath mat. My hair is always ready for some good conditioning. I used the DPR-11 by Elasta QP and it was pretty good-peachy smelling. Found out it's cholesterol; like Lekair. Next is Aphogee.

Africulture

Today was pretty funky. Leimert Park had one of their many festivals today.. had to check it out. The music was entertaining and the lines were long. Everything from Black soap to Bean pies were on clothed tables- including beautiful silver and gold jewlery and carvings. African-print everything and sweet, musky aromas mingled with the smokey bbq clouds. I was smudged with some scented oil that I should have gotten, but I did get some Kente clothe to wrap my head with once I take this weave out and condition my hair really good. I may even try the Castor Oil technique. That should give me a break, and I have been thinking of wearing my African wraps again for some style with some dangling earrings while I get my hair healthy. Just a thought. I need a lot of different fabrics to pull it off comfortably since I still have to go to work.

Natural

Washed my hair after working up a 'Black Sweat' dancing, Good time to make use of the hair/scalp leave-in conditioner I crafted by mixing beauty supply products with my natural ones. I put it all in a spray bottle and concentrated on saturating my edges since I'm weaved up. Either way, my scalp said, 'ahh'. Easy to work up a sweat when the weather is hot outside, as it was. I love all dance. Ballet was always a favorite but I like hip-hoppish moves if they are challenging. My work out consisted of just the moves from the late Aaliyah's music video for 'Try Again'. Last week was the 8th anniversary of her death and Ifigured this work out dance reutine was cool in honor of her which I started learning days ago. Two times thru and I have worked myself into sweat beads.

Blogging by Maisha

Footscrub All Around

Finally rememberd to take some to work last Friday. Hope the few enjoyed it-it was good stuff and had Tea Tree oil. I'm thinking I could have made it sudsy but oily is still beneficial to feet. No one spoke on what it was like, no feed back for improvement. As long as it was appreciated, I guess.

Starting Here

I had to do this for a second time because of it being deleted for unknown reasons. My other posts were not backed up but starting from right now isnt too bad. A bath fanatic and a writer who makes natural bath/ body products-that's me. I get really involved ith scents and blends that either have to do with aromatherapy or skin/haircare. What can I say, I love it. Lately it's about my hair and healthy extracts or oils for it's care but I still love my richly scented bath water and it's aromatherapy.