the no-poo experiment is going quite well. hair looks minorly greasy, but not overwhelmingly so. i think it'll look better once it's grown out more as well, right now it's in that horrible inbetween stage that's prevented me from growing it out for a couple years now. made the simple mistake of too much essential oil in the acv rinse, so instead of my hair smelling mildly of frankincense, it was almost like black pepper. thankfully, that faded within about 12 hours, but i'm not sure how wes slept next to me without getting a headache.

this week, the focus for me will be on finding my balance again. spend a little too much time socializing and cutting loose last week, a little too much drinking, a little too little focus. tuesday, thursday, friday, saturday, spent most of the last two days chitty chatting on the internets whilst getting my overdue homework done and working.

man, my cucumber plants look TERRIBLE. although, we've finally spotted a few little cukes growing. harvested two zucchini this weekend the size of baseball bats, stuffed them, and had them for dinner. and lunch. and dinner. andrew LOVED it, which is great. harvested purple and green beans as well. don't think we've eaten those yet. ...why can't i remember? one melon plant is growing well, the other took one for the team and got eaten by japanese beetles. broccoli plants are doing well. still two mammoth zucchini to harvest, my blasted heirloom tomatoes are finally starting to turn beautiful colors. four giant tomato plants....all will ripen at once. this does not bode well. my little loose leaf lettuce plant is still pretty small though. yes, way to plant a cool weather plant in the middle of the summer. tim and eric awesome show, great job!!!

hops seem to be a wonderful relaxant for me, but i will say, too much beer....not so great. i've come to love the bitterness of ipa's. however, liquor just doesn't bode well for me. i don't often drink enough to get a physical hangover, but it does not take much to give me a brain hangover. this effect is usually felt not the first day after drinking, but the second. sluggy thought processes, disconnection, tiredness, some anxiety, some depression. the longer the period of drinking, the worse the brain hangover is. i'd like to tincture some hops and see how that works.

speaking of tincturing, my 4 tinctures should be ready now - calendula, wild yam root, licorice root, cramp bark. i was told to hold off on my pressing, and it didn't dawn on me until later why wes told me to wait.

....i'm getting a tincture press for my birthday.

also, so far, i've gotten some more sewing supplies (i haven't sewed in a couple of years, but plan to pick it back up perhaps this winter). got myself a book: The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism by Matthew Wood. got a gift card from my mom for amazon.com. can't decide if i want to get more books or put the money towards a dehydrator. dehydrator is winning, for now. we'll see.

wes apparently got a wild hair across his backside and is now fixated on the idea of turning our humble little shed into a grow room for mushrooms in the summer. being one of extreme logic and rationality, he has costs associated with it, methods to achieve his goals, failure rate percentages....etc. good thing one of us has a brain and gathers information before wasting time and money. so, that may be in the works for next summer.

went stomping around a little protected patch of woods a few miles from our house, along 696. started to go down a trail that was an offshoot of the main trail, and happened upon a doe happily munching away at some plants. she looked up and saw me and just kind of stood there. then her fawn comes frolicking along. we took a couple tentative steps toward her, she straightened up, squared off, and started to walk toward us. i, of course, got spooked. seriously, when does a deer walk TOWARD you? the only thing i could think of was her being pissed that we were in her territory, and she was with her fawn. we beat a hasty retreat.

one of the sad things about that little patch of forest is how many trees are dying or dead. kind of creeped me out.

still haven't addressed the student loan issue. will do so this week. last couple of weeks have been hectic - two deaths (only went to one viewing), friends in from out of town (due to one of the deaths), saw an age old friend (due to the other), a wedding, a birthday. family stuff. the usual.

and uh....that's about it.