Whoops

Well I've been meaning to write for a few days now.  Funny how time slips away.

It's Easter Sunday here for the Coptic Christians.  And next weekend it is a 4 day holiday weekend for what is something like a national Easter, or more precisely, in ancient times it was when they celebrated the new season.  So something like a Spring festival.

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Still having issues with the computer and still don't have my photo editing software back, so no pictures yet though I do have some to post.  Actually I have older pictures I never posted that I could post but I don't feel like looking through them at the moment.

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I had decided that it would be a good idea to make my own shampoo, as I don't like all the smells and chemicals that come with the store bought kind, and so I found a bunch of sites online that talk about using liquid castile soap mixed with water as a basic recipe.

Upon trying to figure out if I could get castile soap here in Egypt and deciding that I probably couldn't, at least not with ease, I did a little further looking and saw that there is even something more basic than that for washing hair.

Baking soda and water.

Seems odd after paying so much for shampoo for so many years, but if you think about it, you use baking soda to clean other things, it absorbs odors and it's not full of irritating chemicals. 

In any case, I tried it for the first time a few days ago and will be trying it again insha'Allah.  I didn't have a squeeze bottle so it was a bit of a laugh trying to mix the soda with the water, and I ended up, even after stirring the dickens out of it, pouring most of the water first and then having a big clump of baking soda on my head.  Which is not so easy to mix around.

I think if I can get a squeeze bottle to mix it up better it should be a little easier to apply.

Also, I've read that apple cider vinegar is good to use as a conditioner, just make sure you rinse it out really well.

This might sound a bit silly but it has become more and more important to me to live as simply as I can.

Although humans didn't live as long in years gone by, they also didn't have all the diseases we have today.  At least that's how I see it.

So I try to do without the chemicals and additives and preservatives and all the other manufactured stuff as much as I can, at least when it comes to what I put in or on my body.

And it makes me happy to know that I'm living more natural, and hopefully causing a little less harm to things around me, and also a little less harm to me.

I like knowing that I can find ways to get by without all of the things that so many people rely on without even thinking about it.  What happens when people can't access that stuff that they rely on so much?

Anyways, I'm excited about the baking soda shampoo stuff and I may even convince hubby to give it a shot.  :D

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I decided to sweep the little balcony off of our bedroom the other day.  I have a before, during and after picture that I really want to post, but it has to wait til I can edit the pictures.

I had forgotten what color the floor tiles were on the balcony because we are never out there as it's so small.  And it was so covered with dust that you couldn't actually see the tiles at all.  It was incredible. 

When I saw the tiles I was kind of sad that the whole house wasn't done in that tile as it would definitely be easier to coordinate furniture and paint with the tile on the balcony than with the black and salmon tiles we have in the apartment.  However, tough luck for me.  lol

Anyways, it's nice to know that all that dust is gone.  At least for a little while.  I keep thinking we should do something with the balcony there but it doesn't get any sun, so if I put some plants they will have to be plants that can live in the shade.  And although it would be nice to have a bird bath and feeder, the bath would attract mosquitoes and that's definitely something we don't need more of.  And I'm afraid the feeder would attract other pests, which we definitely don't need either.  We will see, maybe something will pop into my head.

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Elections are coming in Egypt for the president.  They are still a while off but it is a big issue.  The current president is in his eighties now and I don't think he will remain president after the elections.  But there is a fight going on here between the Islamists who are more conservative and their opposition which while they are presumably still Muslim, are much more secular.

I'm not sure what the end result will be for either group getting elected but I guess there will be some upheaval.  I'm not sure if it will be safe or not here.  Only the future and God know at this point.

Maybe that will be a good time to spend a while living in Kuwait.  lol