The Black Hole Machine

The last few weeks have been a struggle for me, this in turn makes it really hard for me to write in this blog.  I really prefer to write about my emotions (especially very strong emotion) after the intensity of the feeling has passed.  It is sometimes interesting to write in the moment, however, incoherent and confusing and without conclusions is usually what I get.


I like the clarity that comes with letting the storm pass before reporting on it.  Nobody likes watching a news anchor in the middle of a hurricane screaming into a microphone that it's windy and raining. (OK, well maybe I do like to see that but not for reasons I am willing to admit to.)  I think by giving myself time to process feelings I can write about them with a lot more clarity and perspective. So what I have been feeling the last few weeks? Well, it's been windy and raining.

I went in for my 6 month scan. I dreaded this much much more than I was ready or willing to admit. I worked tirelessly and desperately not to think or talk about it. It was as though vocalizing my fear would have made it more real and I couldn't bare to deal with that so I did the only alternative. Get too busy to think straight, pretend it wasn't happening and blow a gasket over every little annoyance I could. The first problem with this plan is that you quickly turn into an alienating monster that lashes out at anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross your path (my heart felt apology to the St. George City Public Works employees).

The other problem with my plan was that life demands sleep. This means at some point in the day no matter how busy I made myself or how many fights I picked with people I would have to stop, lay down and turn off the lights.  This point of the day was my arch nemesis. My head would hit the pillow and the thought would surface. "What if one cell survived." This thought would in turn produce a physical reaction of nausea, the nausea would remind me of chemo and the reminder of chemo would re-enforce my fear of recurrence and this cycle of emotions was my insomnia. My relief was either drug induced sleep or caffeine fueled busyness.  Not really getting much important done but the fear of stopping kept me busy as hell.

Despite my efforts to cancel and delay the day of the scan arrived. I spent the day fasting and drinking the barium. Then I went in and was given the contrast. The injection plus the nasty drink set off a physical and emotional reaction that felt so much like a round of chemo I had puked before we even left the hospital. Hyrum went into caregiver mode and I went down hard. I took a sleeping pill just about the second we got home.  I didn't want to be awake anymore. It was about 7:00 on a Friday night and I wanted nothing more than to sleep it off.  I was pretty sick the whole weekend which seemed to last forever. Finally Monday came and I went to my thankfully uneventful appointment with my oncologist. The scan came back, as expected, all clear.

The Black Hole Machine

At this point I should perhaps look back on my bad behavior with embarrassment or at very least the feeling that I over reacted to the situation.  I however am going to stand by my freaking the crap out (sorry Hyrum). The whole thing is kinda like that black hole machine they build in Switzerland. (Stay with me I can make this make sense.)

In short a few years ago scientists from many different nations built this giant 17 mile long machine to further their understanding of atoms. Some scientists calculated that there was a microscopic chance that by using the machine it would create a tiny black hole that would grow and destroy the universe. Because of this small itty-bitty chance that the world would end people in and out of the scientific community freaked out and protested the project. This is exactly how I feel about being scanned.  Even though my chances of cancer recurring are somewhere between that machine in Switzerland creating a black hole and less than likely, the stakes being so high will probably always make me nervous. Hopefully with each time I turn on the machine and my world isn't sucked into a giant black hole it will become more and more comfortable to be scanned. Something tells me however, that the itty-bitty chance of disaster will always give me some pause, even if only to remind me how temporary we all are and how important it is to learn what we can despite the risks.

What's in it Wednesday - Sands Alive! What the HEAK is this stuff???

So this week I took Bella and her friend to a rainbow loom bracelet making class at the Learning Express. It is a fun little toy store that my kids constantly beg to go to. Partly because it is by the carousel and also because the toys are out for kids to play with. So while I was gladly waiting for Bella as someone else fussed with her and that damn, I mean adorable rainbow loom I found this amazing indoor play sand called "Sands Alive" by Play Vision.

This picture doesn't do it justice at all. All the video demos online are far too annoying and really don't show the product very well. It is hard to explain but it is really cool stuff. It isn't totally like moon sand or kinetic sand. Its more like if silly-putty and baby-powder had a baby. It is so relaxing. So I really wanted to know what it was and how to not have to spend $80 for it. Here is the problem though.  No ingredients listed...that's right not even one.  A bunch of crap that is. Apparently it is super top secret because not even pinterest has a knock-off. So for this what's in it Wednesday I am totally one hundred percent guessing what the heak "Sands Alive" is.  After digging though some chemistry blogs and based on what the sales guy did tell me about the product I have concluded that 2 ingredients are...

Calcium Carbonate & Polydimethylsiloxane

This first one was easy... The sales guy said that the sand portion is made from "real sea shells" and sea shells are made primarily of "Calcium Carbonate".  Done

Now all I know about the next ingredient or ingredients is that they are all natural (this means so little as there are many many very harmful naturally occurring substances). I also know that it is non-toxic. This helps a bit more than none at all as I know it should be an edible ingredient that is hard to overdose on. It also has anti bacterial properties (this may or may not be one ingredient). After considering a few possibilities I think it must be Polydimethysiloxane. I wouldn't bet my life on it but I would bet the $11 it cost to order a small amount from Esty.

So Polydimethysiloxane is a silicon-based organic polymer. It is also known as dimethicone, E 900 & PDMS, additionally it is also what the Monica Sweetheart Fantasy Pink Vibrating Dong and Herbalife Chocolate protein drink mix have in common (thank you Amazon). No joke. Really it is. According to WebMD very serious side effects are rare. It is most famously the main ingredient in "silly putty". Food Babe has a whole thing on it. She is a bit dramatic but not wrong. To me it seems safe enough to handle but I probably won't be adding it to my fried chips anytime soon.

I will be testing out this theory as soon as my jar of dimethicone arrives...TO BE CONTINUED...

"What's in it Wednesday" Dove Beauty Bar

My mother and I have taken up making our own goats milk soap. She has two milk goats at her place and well, there is always a steady supply of fresh raw goats milk so why not soap it. Before now she and I were both fiercely loyal to Dove brand bath bars. It was in fact the standard we wanted our goats milk soap to achieve in order for us to continue to bother with it. She wanted me to look at a dove bar for my what's in it Wednesday this week and see how our bars compare. I used ewg cosmetic database for all my research. What I expected to find was some fats lye and additives and that is pretty much what is in the bar. Basic soap is made with oil lye and water.  You can do it at home pretty easily. Well as long as you are careful with your lye. The result is amazing and unlike commercial soaps the glycerin that naturally occurs hasn't been striped out for use in more expensive products. 


So the break out of dove bars 11 ingredients are...

Tallow - animal fat probably beef but could be other animals. 
Sodium lauroyl Isethionate - Ester based (synthetic) cleaning agent. 
Stearic Acid - Natural fat from farm animals possibly euthanize cats and dogs.Lauric Acid - fatty acid used as an emulsifier in soaps Sodium Stearate - Viscosity Increasing Agent , helps the soap keep it's shape.Cocamidopropyl Betaine - used to condition and clean the skin but is also known to be an allergen and a mild toxic to  the immune system. Sodium Cocoate - coconut oil and lye saponified.Sodium Palm Kernelate - palm kernel oil and lye saponified. Fragrance - undisclosed mixture of various scent chemicals and ingredients used as fragrance dispersants. Can be mildly toxic or irritating to the skin.Tetrasodium Etidronate - Emulsifier. Titanium Dioxide - Colorant inorganic and hazards come from inhalation mostly.



5 ingredients on the list are Fats ether fatty acid or saponified fat from the soap making process. While that is mostly ok, for example, when I make soap I use coconut oil and palm kernel in the bars I don't use tallow or livestock fat as much but I am not apposed to trying out a bacon fat bar of soap for fun. Based on the list of ingredients I would guess that the coconut and palm are being used at a much smaller percentage that the tallows or other animal fats mostly because they are cheaper. The higher the quality of the fat the higher quality of the soap bar but also the more expensive the bar is to produce. 

Sodium Lauroyl isethionate (synthetic detergent)
Sodium Stearate - hardener and strong cleaner
Cocamidopropyl Betaine - known allergen
Fragrance - (who knows what that really is)
Tetrasodium etidronate - This is actually more of a preservative as it is intended to stabilize the other ingredients. If you are selling mass quantities of soap this makes sense as your shelf life and there for time you have to move your product increases. So for me not necessary.

The ingredient I am most on the fence about it Titanium Dioxide. I have seen this for sale from my soap making supplier. It is a colorant and makes soap a deep opaque white color. I read one concern that it is a inorganic compound. Chemically this just means it lacks carbons. By this standard water is inorganic so that is not my concern. What is hazardous is inhaling this material.  I think if you were to work with it in it's liquid form you would probably be just fine. I haven't yet decided if for me it's worth it. I like pretty soaps but they don't have to be white in order to be pretty. 

So that is it. For the record we love our goats milk soap bars and while we continue to tweak with the recipe I can tell you I won't be going down the soap aisle at the store any time soon.

What to try your own soap bar at home and love the dove brand I would suggest this you-tube soap making tutorial. She has her own breakout of the Sensitive skin variety which is a little different than the ingredients I have listed above. The basic things are the same though.

The Summer School Chemistry Project.

So today is memorial day and in addition to being a holiday it is also the first day of the first week of no school for me and my kids. I am very anxious to establish a summer routine for the kids and so we didn't really do anything too amazing to celebrate (besides an extra special dessert of giant Oreo malts after dinner that is). In an attempt to get the ball rolling I began the kids "summer home-school".

I wanted to brush up on my chemistry this summer.  I thought a good way to do it would be to go though my old organic chemistry text book from two semesters ago. I also thought that it might be fun to splash in some chemistry lessons into my kids summer school. So after searching online I found quite a few experiments but no organized approach to teach chemistry. At least not one I was wild about or wanting to spend money on.  So then it hit me.  Why don't I go thought my chemistry text book with my kids. The obvious reason not to is that it would be too complicated for them. But who says they have to learn everything in it? I could review and teach them some basics all at once. So I busted out the book and turned to page one.


I looked though it and realized that by skipping the "math", focusing on the chapter intro topics and using the figure examples it would be a really great basic chemistry outline for kids and a great review for myself. Another good reasons to use a textbook is no matter what the kids ask about I will have the answer in front of me with pictures! It is also very cheap. I know text books are known for being expensive but only the most current one's are.  As soon as the new editions hit the value of the old books drop dramatically. The same book I paid big bucks for 18 months ago is now $3.50 used here at abebooks.com. I am using the one written by Frost, Deal & Timberlake but I am sure any general chemistry book would work.

The first less is on matter, volume and mass. I am going to try and document my lessons with my kids just in-case someone would want to replicate the course with their own kids. I am also going to really try and use just what I have on hand (and therefor what you may already have on hand) for the lessons. Since it is for young kids it is also going to be all hands on.

Lesson One: Matter

Materials list

Balloon or gallon plastic bag

Rocks or any small heavy object

Kitchen scale (set to grams preferably)
Pen &Paper 

Lesson 1 Objective

Explain that everything in the world from the air we breath to the ground we walk on is made up of matter. also...

Matter has both Volume and Mass.

Volume - The amount of space that is taken up by an object or matter.

Mass - The amount of matter in an object measured by weight.


Hands on Experiment:
Have the kids weigh the different sized rocks and write down how much they weigh. Have them put them from smallest to biggest. Blow air in the bag so it is much larger that the rocks. Have the kids weigh the bag and write it down.  Now ask which has more volume. (The bag) which has more mass? (the rocks you use should weigh more than the bag of air.) My older daughter wrote on the paper as my son weight the rocks. It may take some time to explain to younger children. They will tend to always pick the bag as it is biggest so it must have the most of anything.  Keep having them use the scale to show them that bigger is not necessarily more. If you have more time you can have the kids grab some different sized toys and things to weigh and put them in order of heaviest to lightest and then reorder them in biggest (most volume) to smallest (least volume).

I set the timer for 15 min and when it beeps we clean up.  I don't want the kids to get board with one subject, so I do the time limit. There is no reason to have one lesson not take up a few days to practice and let it sink in. Unlike regular school, summer school isn't about getting a curtain amount of material covered, anything you do with the kids is just bonus. We do Math and English every Monday - Thursday and I pepper in Geography, Chemistry,  History, Art, Music, Nutrition, Puzzles and Crafts. Just with whatever I have on hand. I only do 3 or 4 things a day with them for about 15 to 20 min each. Friday we have "off". I am hoping it will go well trying to teach both the preschooler and first grader with basically the same material. After today I can see the biggest challenge will be getting Bella to hold in her answers long enough to get Liam to respond to something. While no where near perfect I think it will be still be worth the effort.

Lesson 2: States of Matter

Material List

Ice

Thermometer

Clear Glass Jar or Coffee Pot

Clear Plastic bag

Rubber band

*Stove (obviously be careful when dealing with heat and children)

Lesson 2 Objective

Explain to the children that there is 3 major states of matter and the differences between them.

Solids - particles in a solid are arranged orderly and tightly together they move but only slightly. Solids have visible volume but the shape of a container has no effect on the shape of a solid.

Liquid - particles in a liquid are close together but move around each other freely. Liquid has visible volume and it's shape will be altered by the shape of it's container however the volume will remain the same.

Gas - particles of a gas are far apart from each other and bounce off each other and the sides of the container. Gas has no visible volume. Gas will fill all the available space of a container it is put in and take up more or less volume based on the size of the container.

 

Hands on Experiment A

Show them the above picture. Take ice from the freezer and place in your jar. Note that the shape of the Ice did not change. Secure a bag over the top of the cup with ice and remove as much air from the bag as you can. (I pushed the bag down into the jar.) Place the jar on the stove and turn on the heat to a low med. Have the kid watch as the ice melts, note that the liquid is taking on the shape of the glass). When the water begins to boil it will fill the bag with steam (note that the gas is now filling the space available to it). After the bag is full of steam remove from heat and allow the bag to cool. Show the kids the outside from the outside of the bag the water that is returning to room temperature become liquid again. after the glass has cooled to warm rather than hot put it the cup in the freezer. After some hours show the kids that the liquid has returned to a solid state. (Please heat and cool the glass and water slower than faster as thermal shock can break glass.)

Hands on Experiment B

The state of matter is affected by heat! Explain that all matter has a freezing point and a melting point. These two points determine what state the matter can be found in. It is at different temperature for different things. Have the kids measure the temperature of ice water, room temperature water and then a glass of hot (but not boiling) water with visible steam coming off of it. Explain to the kids that even metal has a melting point. It is just a much higher than the melting point of water. If you would like you can look up the different melting points of things on the internet. Gold silver copper ex. Tell them even things that start out as gas like air and nitrogen can freeze and become solids or liquid. As a bonus and if you have a sub zero in your area you can take the kids to see how liquid nitrogen is used to make ice cream.

The "ONE RULE" of laundry

Since recovering from chemo I have slowly taken back house hold chores from my husband who has been a one man show for almost a year now. First I would do a load of dishes here scrub a bathroom there and eventually I found myself doing everything I used to do except the "laundry". By now the jig is up and my husband has realized I am more than capable of washing and folding so he too had stopped doing laundry and we sort of ended up in a clean underwear stalemate. Mostly I was thrilled to return to the land of the living and was so grateful to have the ability to do chores again.  You don't realize how awful it feels to not be able to take care of your home and family until you are unable to do so. This has really brought to light how much I really truly and deeply hated doing laundry. Even with my children crying for cloths and my husband begging for work shirts I just seem to refuse to have the time. So the last few of weeks I have acknowledged that I many never find a way to really enjoy laundry like... well... Actually I don't know anyone who doses but I am sure this rare domestic unicorn exists. So in an effort to not turn to disposable paper underwear I have been experimenting with finding ways to make laundry not so much as fun but at least more maintainable.

Here is what I learned, there is one most important nonnegotiable rule of laundry that must be followed under any circumstances. That I will now refer to as the..."ONE RULE"

Behold the "ONE RULE" of Laundry.

You shall fold the cloths right out of the dryer and put them away right then and there!

If you do not follow the"ONE RULE" you will be doomed to wash and fold clean items that fell on the floor over and over again until the end of days.  It really isn't that bad to follow the "ONE RULE".  It only takes me about 5 min or so to fold one load (10 if it involves socks 3 if it is towels)  and then I am free again.

Here are my lesser rules of laundry that help me follow the "ONE RULE" and are also just good to do.

Fold laundry in the room it belongs in. 

I wash me and my husbands wardrobe separate from my kids because they belong on opposite sides of the house. I keep a basket by the dryer fill it and walk to the room the majority of the basket belongs in. Towels and rags are folded in the bathroom or kitchen.  I fold and put it away in the same room so I am not tempted to just fold the laundry on the sofa while watching Dr. Who and then walk away from the piles to be knocked over, unfolded and or dropped on the floor. (I know we have all done it, well, all of us except that dang domestic unicorn.)

Wash towels, rags and bedding in-between loads of outfits and underwear. 

Since towels and bedding are so easy to fold it helps keep me motivated to follow the"ONE RULE". 

Get the kids involved.

This is a rule that is not intended to make the laundry go by faster. To the contrary, this can add an element of frustration that rivals solving for x in this equation.

So as you attempt to watch as your 4 year old struggles to fold a rag in half and then in half again without ripping it out of his hands and yelling never mind!  Just breath and think of this time as an investment in future loads of laundry you will not have to do. I want my future college student to come home from school to visit me. Not to come home with 3 or so weeks worth of dirty laundry and expect me to wash and fold his underwear while he plays video games in the next room (you have all been warned). 

Make it routine.

Before bed, when I wake up, before I shower. Try to find a trigger that works for you. Being from a family of 8 I remember my mom used to set the kitchen timer to go off every hour and 15 min on bi-weekly laundry days. For me and My family of 4 doing one or two loads a day keeps me caught up. Just find a strategy and stick with it. Sometimes it's not my hatred of laundry but rather I just don't remember to do it that gets me in trouble. This also is a good way to avoid having to rewash a load because it became sour. Side tip - vinegar is the way to get that smell out.

Keep Your Wardrobes weeded down.

Simply by donating or throwing away things you don't wear or stuff your kids have grown out of you will have less laundry to do. Additionally the "ONE RULE" is easier when there is room to put everything away. May I suggest...

 "My easy weed out method".

It is simple. Get caught up on laundry and make sure every bit of everything is washed and neatly squeezed where it goes then... wait. Do no laundry whatsoever. After 8 to 12 days the cries of I have nothing to wear will begin. When this happens immediately go to your draws and closets and pull out everything that is still in them (church and special occasion clothing excluded). Check the floor for things that were tried on but discarded. I use this not just for my kids wardrobe but my stuff as well. We all have that shirt we bought on sale washed once and then hated. It hangs in our closets unworn and unloved. Free yourself of it and things you might fit into...someday. It just all sit there in silent judgment of what we had for dinner the night before. No one need that. The reality is when you do get into that size again you will want to buy new things to celebrate the occasion. Unless it's that pair of jeans you wore in high school. Keep that. If you get back into that you will wear them. Maybe not out but the potential of that victory is worth the closet space.

Now my final tip is for moms of infants to about 2 or 3 years old. 

Your on your own. 

I mean it. If you have a baby or a very young toddler not even the "ONE RULE" can save you.  I am sorry but there it is.  You should close the door to the laundry room and come back to it in a year or two. Babies are only babies once and even though it may seem like you are never not going to have a tiny person attached to your hip or boob I am here to tell you that it will end.  This is of course bitter sweet news but there you are. In the mean time wrestle with your toddler or snuggle your baby on top of your piles of laundry, use the sniff test regularly and don't stress.  

"What's in it Wednesday" - It works Hair Skin & Nails

So I liked the idea of taking an expensive product. Breaking down the ingredients and finding better, faster, stronger, less pricey consumer purchasing or DIY options. If you are the kind of person who loves spoilers just scroll to the bottom for my final verdict.

At the request of a friend I am going to break out the ingredients for the It works Hair Skin and Nails.


As not to overwhelm you with the 28 ingredients at once I will group them into smaller more manageable categories. First off, the non - digestibles or fillers. Microcrystaline, Steraric Acid, Croscarmel lose and Cellulose.

Next I eliminate ingredients that provide taste or function (like keeping the pills from sticking to machinery) Peppermint oil, Stevia, Magnesium stearate and Silica.

Now I will weed out the Calcium ingredients Japanese Seaweed & Calcium carbonate. Not to say calcium isn't important to someones diet. It's just not something I am attributing long lush hair to.

The next category are the "boosters" or ingredients that increase circulation or provide anti oxidant properties. There are also anti inflammatory, and super-oxide listed in the ingredients. Grape Seed Extract, Goji, Haemoto Coccus, Melon pulp & Olive Fruit extract. Not that anti inflammatory or circulation enhancers aren't good for you. They are, and unlike the fillers they are possibly contributing to someones overall health which would improve the condition of someones hair skin and nails. However, not so much in the dramatic way we are looking for.

Next the "Deficiency" Vitamins. These are the vitamins in which "if" you have a deficiency it "may" cause hair loss dry skin and bad nails. The idea being the abundance of these items would then in theory strengthen hair. While that is a good theory sometimes enough of something is just that and more will not inflict any impact. I think perhaps they are just banking on a percentage of the population to be deficient in one or two of these. Then by filling the deficiency the person would in fact see dramatic improvement in their hair skin and nails. For what ever reason though they are in the supplement.
 
Vitamin B6  - - - - - - 200% DV
Biotin - - - - - - - - - - 1667% DV 
Pantothenic Acid - - - 200% DV
Zinc - - - - - - - - - - - 133% DV
Maganese - - - - - - -  200% DV

A note on Biotin. Research on biotin is incomplete at best however deficiency is very uncommon (you body only requires 30mcg a day vs the 5000 mcg found in Hair Skin and Nails). Biotin has never been found to reach toxic levels in the body so no maximum recommended dose has ever been set. It is thought that an abundance of this vitamin will cause hair to grow faster skin to firm and nails to become stronger. Thus you have the mega dose found in this product.

So now that leaves us with 8 ingredients that should serve some direct function to providing longer hair, stronger nails and nicer skin outside of treating a vitamin deficiency.

Hair skin and nails has 2 collagen "enhancers" one is called Gotu Kola Extract. Clinical test show that it helped produce collagen in wounds and promoted them to heal.  It also is considered a viable treatment (although further research is needed) for treating circulation problems. It has also been linked to several side effects from nausea to in really high doses liver problems. The other collagen enhancer is Vitamin C. Plain old Vitamin C is a key ingredient in collagen production and is pretty much impossible to over dose on, at least not in a way that would cause lasting damage.

The next 2 ingredients are the skin supporting antioxidants. Alpha Lipoic Acid is an antioxidant that improves skin among many other common antioxidant benefits. It is actually thought to be very helpful for diabetics insulin and nerve pain. However it also comes with a slew of possible side effects ranging from rashes to interference with thyroid medication.  The other antioxidant is Vitamin E. Vitamin E has a long list of possible benefits ranging from better skin to repairing nerve damage after chemotherapy. All in all it is pretty much safe under the 400 IU a day line. At 400 mg it is a little more than half of the 400 IU dose. I would just be careful not to pair the It works Hair Skin and Nails with and additional Vitamin E supplement.

Besides the possible effects of 5000 mcg of Biotin the last 4 ingredients are likely to be the ones most responsible for hair growth, stronger nails and better skin.

Selenium - Is amazing for hair care especially when combined with Zinc. While too much could cause big   problems enough is essential for healthy hair.

MSM - Like Biotin MSM has some lofty claims and mixed reviews. While inconclusive and understudied    MSM is suppose to be magic ingredient for thick hair strong nails and gorgeous skin. It also, like biotin, doesn't seem to build up to toxic levels in the body so is considered safe to take well above the bodies required amount.

Fo Ti -  This ingredient is the one that gives me the most pause.  Although the research is inconclusive fo ti is thought to prevent early grey hairs and some hair loss.  The bad news is that is has been linked to cause massive liver damage. The scary part is that because it is listed under the proprietary blend all we know for sure is that the dose is less than 400 mg.  How much less is unknown.

Horsetail extract -  Horsetail is one of those wonder herbs that has been used for over a century for     everything from urinary tract infections to bed wetting. It also is believed to do wonders for your hair.  Wellness Mama even has a horsetail hair rinse recipe that looks like fun. While it should be avoided in some cases (pregnant nursing women or if you have kidney stones). It is pretty much safe to use.

So... is there something that will give similar if not better results for less than 55 cents a pill?

Verdict: YES


Spring valley Hair Skin and Nails ($11.95 for 120) or Futurebiotics Hair Skin and Nails ($15.08 for 135) are both good. The only ingredient I wish they had in it is the MSM. Plain MSM is $7.99 for 120 count. So if you paired the two pills you are still spending under $20.00 for double the number of caplets. It comes with all the "deficiency" hair loss vitamins and minis the Fo Ti.


The big winner I would have to say is Country Life Maxi-Hair Plus. At 16.54 for a 120 count it hits the mark for price (about 14 cents a pill).  It also comes with the full strength of biotin and the MSM. The only big difference is that it is missing the manganese. I wouldn't be too bothered by that though because unless you are deficient in manganese (which you are likely not to be) this will work just as well.

Also if you want to try out the biotin theory on it's own. 5000 mcg of plain Biotin pills can be ordered for $5.99  (90 count).

There is also a Caster Oil treatment that is suppose to be amazing. I use the Caster Oil in my shampoo bars but have yet to try it as a hair treatment.

*Disclaimer*  I am sure there are other brands out there and if I come accost one or two I will do an update. I just want to note that my research for this post was done mostly on America Cancer Society and Web MD. This is not an effort to give medical advice or to treat anyone's condition. I am simply comparing one over the counter vitamin blend to another. I haven't done a full account of everything in the alternative hair skin and nails products. I was only looking at the noted ingredients found in Hair Skin and Nails by It works.

Bring on the Beets

I have another small batch canning adventure...

with beets.

My in laws always do a very huge garden every year. And by huge I am talking about 1 whole acre. Their beets this year have come up in droves. We thinned 2 laundry baskets worth of beets and greens. It barely made a dent but I didn't want to process any more than that for the time being.

So I found a nice pickled beet recipe at Allrecipies.com  The original recipe calls for a whopping 12 pounds of peeled sliced beets. (No thank you) I am not prepping beets for the end of days here. Also, if I was prepping food for the end of days I don't think I would choose beets.  I think I would go with brownie mix and Doritos. Because really, who is going to notice a few extra pounds on my hips when the world is on fire anyways?

I am not trying to speak for everyone here but I do not eat beets 1 quart at a time.  At best I use 4 or 5 slices on a salad maybe 2 times a week.  So small batch it is. I will adjust the recipe to call for just 4 lbs of beets.  Personally I think 2 to 4 lbs of something is a really nice small batch size. This will make 8 half pint jars of beets or 4 if you half the recipe.

1 3/4 cups white vinegar
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoon pickling salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
2 tea ground cinnamon (optional)

4 lbs of sliced beets

I like this recipe for 2 reasons. One it isn't calling for boiling the beets before putting them in the pickling brine so I feel like less nutritional value is lost to the water that gets dumped down the sink. Second I like the combination of cloves and cinnamon over just one or the other. I will also make half the batch without the spices for more savory salads.

Well that's it. Combine brine ingredients bring to a boil add beets and simmer for 15 min or so then follow the sterilizing and canning process.