Carmen's Inspirational Creations: I am Thankful for Good People . . .

I'm thankful every day, not just at Thanksgiving, and so this has crossed my mind a lot lately. In a world full of darkness and injustice I am so very thankful for good people. Good people make life worth living, and there are some really great people out there. I've been blessed with good people in my life - past, present, and I'm sure future. People that have touched my heart and life, and people who I've just been lucky enough to meet and hear their stories. I love hearing other people's stories, especially inspirational stories, or people who just plain make a difference.  

The Best Meatballs I've Ever Made . . .

I should say these are some of the best meatballs I've ever made, because I've made others. When my boys were younger I liked to try different things with meatballs, like adding in seasonings, and sometimes I'd add in some green pepper and onion. 

But then I went through a phase where I was just in the mood for the taste of ground beef minus any extra seasonings except for salt, pepper, and bread crumbs. 

So a couple of weeks ago I was in the mood to try Parmesian Rosano cheese in my meatballs, and then when I was already starting to shape them and place them in the pan to brown them, I had three in the pan at this point. I said to myself, I wonder how a little Italian dressing would taste mixed in there? 

It was calling me from the fridge . . . So I had a moment. I looked back and forth between the counter where I was working on my next meatball and the frying pan holding the three I'd already finished. I said, am I going to add it in now and leave the three as-is, don't bother adding it at all and try next time, or be a beast and throw the three meatballs back into the bowl and start from scratch adding in the Italian dressing?

I decided to throw the three back in the bowl. My OCD wouldn't allow me to start over without those three . . . The end result, honestly I wasn't sure how this was all going to taste, but I wanted to experiment. They were soooo good, and the meatballs were so easy to shape. Can't remember if I shared my new favorite brand of crushed tomatoes, but that would be Furmano's (the seasoned one). It tastes just like the sauce from an Italian restaurant and my home smells like an Italian restaurant when I cook with it - heavenly. 

Combine this with three minute angel hair pasta (my fav) and you've got an overall quick and easy dinner. The meatballs take work (and motivation), but here's what I like about our spaghetti and meatball nights. Regardless of how many people are home for dinner, you have leftovers. I like to get two to three nights out of something. I use 2-lbs. of ground beef, and get about three nights out of this. You could always make meatball subs on the third or second night if you're tired of pasta. 

If you'd like to give it a try, keep scrolling down!!

My New Meatball Creation

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground beef 
• 1-2 eggs (I use one)
• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Rosano cheese (non-refrigerated on pasta aisle)
• a drizzle of your favorite Italian dressing (maybe 1 tbsp.?)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well with hands. Shape into meatballs, and place in frying pan to brown.
2. Brown on all sides on medium to low heat until brown, then drain on plate with paper towels, and put into the sauce to continue cooking with sauce about 45 minutes on low heat.

Sauce & Pasta

Ingredients:

• 2 cans crushed tomatoes (I love Furmano's seasoned!)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (also Furmano's for me, sometimes Contadina)
• Optional: small can of black olives; fresh mushrooms (or canned); fresh zucchini, chopped
• 3 minute angel hair pasta

New York's New Norm - Winter and Summer: RIP Spring and Fall

I made this meme!! :D

Okay, so this is sort of a vent and a laugh I suppose. Today is the second day of upper 80's here in New York and once again, I called it to my family. I said we're going to jump from winter to summer just like the past few years and bingo, here we are. 

A couple of days ago I had my heat on and now I want my AC. But I'm waiting on that, because this is just a three day thing. And then it'll go down to normal temps or so the ten day forecast says. 

And silly me, I made the mistake of opening my window at 8:30 in the morning thinking I might get some cool spring air before it got hot later in the day. At this point I had already turned all of my blinds up, which helps keep the heat out as opposed to keeping them down when it's hot. 

But when I opened one or two windows I was hit with a blast of heat. The rooms with windows down were actually cooler. Well that's because this isn't spring air. It's summer air. And when you have hot summer air, unless you like to drip with sweat, you've got your AC pumping out cool air. Funny thing is with me, I didn't grow up with AC. 

My mother didn't get an AC till I was 16. When I grew up we had fans and the freezer, ice pops, and ice cubes, and cold water, and swimming to cool off. If I wanted to cool off I'd put my face in front of the fan or stick my face in the freezer (for real). Didn't bother me as a kid. I was very active and outdoors regardless of heat or snow. The good news is I don't see any snow or upper 80's/freak 90's in the ten day forecast. 

When I was a kid we had all four seasons. Last month we had all four seasons in one week. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons, so I miss them dearly. I couldn't believe it last month when it snowed not once, but at least two or three times. 

What's the dillyo? Is this a global warming thing (not buying it) or is this something else? Possibly weather modification? I know that chemtrails and HAARP are deemed conspiracy theories in spite of whistle blowers. But how about the term "weather modification?" Ever done your research? I've only dipped into this a little bit, but I am a believer and I've seen it with my own eyes. 

This also makes me wonder about the rise in asthma and allergy issues people are having including people I love. And I myself began suffering from allergies within the past ten years, but never before this timeframe. They just came out of nowhere and became a daily problem that I finally after about nine years of torture found a natural remedy for. 

So here's what I've taken notice with during the winter and even sometimes during the summer around hurricane season. Here in my area of New York, we'll get a freak warm spell just before a wicked snow or ice storm, and we definitely have way more icy days than what I grew up with. 

Now when I was growing up we had what was called the "Indian Summer," once around November and once in January where it's warm for like a week. But this is different. This is is becoming the "norm" and no one seems to question it. Some do, but many don't. It's becoming normal for it to warm up to the point that you can leave your house without a coat in December, January, or February a day or two, or three before a freak winter storm. 

And also during these warm spells you'll see a lot of activity in the skies. Now whether these are contrails or chemtrails who knows? I know what I believe. I just think there's too many of them for it to be contrails and the timing is always coincidental before a major change in weather. I grew up with what we called "sky scrapers" which are of course the contrails. 

But as a kid that's what I called them. You'd see an occasional sky scraper, not five-to-ten planes making contrail patterns in the sky. So what's going on? Who knows . . . I do know this though, this country has a history of doing things before telling us, so don't be surprised if something they're considering has already been implemented and history has a tendency to repeat itself. 

 If you're interested in learning about weather modification though there's actually a North American Council for weather modification if you can believe, and there is a little bit out there that's credible. Here's an article from the Smithonian about weather as a weapon during the Cold War, here's a link from Science Direct, and I found this cool video on the history of weather modification. 

The bottom line here is, where's spring and what's going on?

Carmen's Inspirational Creations: You determine your self-worth - no one else

Never give someone else that power over your life or your self-worth. Always believe in yourself.

Homemade Hair Mask for Hair Loss and Hair Health

I've been wanting to post for a while and have had so many ideas, but haven't made time. Today I've decided to post about something I've been wanting to share and I'll be adding this to a new section of my blog that I'm calling "beauty problem solvers." 

For anyone that doesn't know, right around the time I started this blog I also had a website that I spent between 2010 and 2011 building based on beauty problems. I'm not a guru or an expert, or anything of the sort.

I just have a passion for finding natural remedies for ANYTHING, including beauty problems. That site had 101 pages and I was sad when I forgot to pay my hosting and whatever else on the date it was due and I lost it all about five years ago . . . So I've decided to make it fit here and I'm starting with this hair mask and how to grow back hair after hair loss issues. My hair loss issues actually started about eight years ago. 

I will sum this up as best as I can without rambling, but the journey started within two weeks of the depo shot. But also, I later realized this as I started to realize I was frying my hair with 450 of heat from my flat iron, it also began just a few months after I bought my first "good" flat iron that could reach 450 with tourmaline plates. I love this baby. Still have it - I just don't go to 450. 

First my hair started getting greasy and then it seemed to be thinning. I started diving into what to do to make it stop. I make light of this, but this is something that really made me feel bad about myself. So when looking for ways to grow back my hair and to keep it from falling out of my head more I explored organic shampoos with tea tree oil, vitamins, etc. and these things helped. I made sure I was not "scrubbing" my scalp as this adds to oil and paid attention to the proper ways to shampoo the hair. 

There is actually a proper way - I used to just lather it on and do my thing. Fast forward; it seemed to be under control, but then started getting worse about two years ago. My hair was getting dry and thinning worse than ever. I attribute this now to genetics, stress, and things I was doing wrong with my hair, and scalp health. Also around this time I started getting more white hairs - not gray, white. 

So I said to myself, are we going to (yes, I speak to myself in third person all the time) start coloring regularly or accept the gray. I really don't mind the gray/white, but I think I'll try dying it regularly because some of those little hairs would just stick up and wouldn't grow much longer. So I started dying my hair a dark brown once a month. I also started skipping shampoos to give my hair a rest in between and made the BIG mistake of using dry shampoo on the off days. 

On my "on" days I would do a hair mask and sometimes an ACV scalp rinse. I started with just castor oil and olive oil mixed and graduated to what I'm going to share here. So the next thing you know, hair's coming out in clumps and I realized it was the dry shampoo. It was too heavy on my fragile hair and sensitive scalp. During this time I lived in baseball hats and during the winter, winter hats. 

Plus, if it's cold my motto is it's better to be warm than look good ha, ha, but I think you can have both with a stylish hat. I just wanted to be warm and this helped hide my issues. I'm not a princess - I want warmth. Moving on here...my hair was also getting crunchy dry from the hair dye. I said I'm just going to accept my white/gray hairs and let it come in naturally. I really didn't mind them anyway and coloring my hair isn't really my thing. 

I like the color of my hair and I've always had a natural auburn tint to it on top of the dark brown. So now I had to grow out the dyed crap and keep working on improving scalp and hair health. I did this with scalp rinses weekly at first (equal parts ACV with water) and then I would do a hair mask with about 1 tbsp. of castor oil mixed with 1 tbsp. of olive oil, applying it to my hair, letting it sit, and then wrapping my hair for 20-30 minutes before washing twice and then conditioning. 

Because I prefer my hair straight, I would flat iron and then I learned to "wrap" my hair at night for my "off" days (skip days). This became a routine. My hair began to come back in and the dark brown/black grew out. About three trims later and the black/dark brown was gone and I was still working on my hair. When I finally got a clue about my flat iron I lowered the heat to 370 because they say 350 is best, but that extra 20 degrees really makes a difference with my hair. 

It won't straighten on 350. What I'm doing now - hair masks every other day before shampooing, scalp rinses following my hair mask, wrapping my hair in a silk scarf the night before my skip day and the night of my wash day if that makes sense, using less heat, doing scalp massages when shampooing (you can find videos on how to do this), using heat protectant with keratin, and I've recently fallen in love with and found the secret to fighting frizz with  an "Argan oil of Morocco weightless healing dry oil" spray.

I spritz my hair starting from the middle of my head to my ends holding the bottle a good distance away and not saturating my hair. It comes out really light though. I was afraid of making my hair greasy, but my hair seems to be thirsty for this stuff. It's awesome. Makes it shiny and frizz free. My hair now? I can finally leave the house without hats. It's coming in thicker and growing longer. It's a work in progress, but this is working for me. Maybe it'll work for you . . . 

The hair mask is actually fun if you like doing things like this. The ingredients are all basic ingredients you'll find in various natural hair masks out there. I've just taken what works best for me. On a side note I'll add that the coffee mixture seems to be turning my white/gray hairs brown. They're still whitish/gray, but really heading more into brown. I learned a long time ago that coffee can supposedly do this when applied to hair. So we have a win-win here, ha. 

They say a specific type of coffee grounds is best, but I found that this weighed my hair down more and caused more fallout, so I started using my instant coffee grounds - the Nescafe. My absolute favorite (quick and strong baby) coffee in the whole wide world. A little warning about the banana. I mash with a fork, because it's just quicker for me and I hate extra dishes, but you can throw it into a blender or something if you prefer. 

If I haven't shared my feelings on dishes even though I do them and I've added how much time I waste of my life at the sink every day - three to four hours in total on the weekends and about two hours weekdays, then check this out... There are times when I'm at the sink or doing laundry for that matter (the chasing in the wind chores) and this song pops into my head. Oh, wait, I have shared my loathing of dishes!

But to make myself laugh out loud while talking in third person to self, when I'm done this song sometimes pops into my head. And then I have a good laugh when that happens and exit the kitchen. Problems, I know... So much for not rambling!!

Fun Natural Hair Mask Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. plain yogurt
• 1/2 banana mashed
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. castor oil
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. honey
• a sprinkle of coffee grounds 

Directions:

1. First you'll want to mash your banana. I just mash it with a fork, but warning here - you'll notice after washing your hair pieces of banana. It comes out for me when I blow dry my hair with a round brush and it's just quicker to mash it with a fork for me. But if you want you can put it into a blender or something first. Then add in the egg and mix the banana and egg well. 
2. Now add your yogurt, oils, honey, and top with a sprinkle of coffee (leave out if you prefer).
3. Brush hair and part hair in the middle. start applying with a small brush. I used a contour brush (that I'll never use on my face again) and it works well for me. Keep taking the hair in sections and starting from the scalp apply all over hair. Once you've done your entire scalp, both sides, apply to the ends. It's best to use the brush for this too. 
4. Wrap your hair with a towel and leave on for 20-30 minutes.
5. Wash twice (mainly because of castor oil) and then condition. 
6. Do your thing. My thing is blow drying and then flat ironing. 
7. Optional step:  If you'd like to do the scalp rinse, which for me goes hand-in-hand with the mask. It's an important step. I rinse the mask from my hair before washing with shampoo, then apply the scalp rinse. I let this sit while I wash the rest of myself and then after about three minutes or so I shampoo. 

ACV Scalp Rinse

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Bragg's Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients into cup and use warm/to hot water, because by the time you get into the shower and rinse, the temp should be just right when you do the scalp rinse. Otherwise you're going to be dumping ice on your head. If you like ice, use cold then. :) 

How to Wrap Hair 

If you're wondering how to wrap hair, or what I'm talking about, there are great videos on YouTube showing how to do this. Here's one for long hair and here's a great one for short hair. Depending on how often you skip washing your hair this is great for the skip nights. I don't need dry shampoo and my hair doesn't look dirty on my skip days! 

To freshen my hair up on my skip days I apply just a little heat protectant spray and blow dry my hair for just a couple seconds with a round brush to bring life back to it. Add my Argan oil/Morrocan oil mix spray to my ends, spray with hairspray and we're good. 

Good luck!!!