Free Veggietales Movie Event 8/1/09

Free Homeschool E- Curricula

New Freebies at CurrClick E-Curriculum this week. See here.

Natural Homemade Deodorant Spray

I've used my homemade insect repellent spray as deodorant, but here are a few more recipes, one of which uses zinc oxide. So if you make your own sunscreen, you can also use some of that leftover zinc oxide for deodorant.

Educational Preschool Toys

My daughter is beginning to get into the toys which I liked as a child, wooden toys like Doug and Melissa Education Toys and German Schleich animals(at Target). I'm so happy because I like playing with them too(giggle)!

Cue the Daktari music.

Melissa & Doug Band in a Box(loud but fun)





Melissa & Doug Wooden Take-Along 24-piece Tool Kit










She also likes tangrams. I purchased a book with large plastic tangram shapes years ago when my son was little. He didn't like them, but I'm glad I saved them for my daughter.

Middle School Career Exploration

We've been discussing careers with my son this year because he will be entering middle school soon. It looks like he is interested in the allied health professions, specifically physical therapy or chiropractory. By coincidence, that was my university major before I switched in my junior year, so I am familiar with the requirements.

We will be switching science curriculum beginning in seventh grade from Rod & Staff to Dr. Jay L. Wile's Apologia which should be a good fit for him with it's thorough coverage and chatty discussion style. He is accustomed to a more formal approach, but with science I think he'll have an easier time with a discussion style. This is by far going to be the most expensive subject to homeschool. I'll be checking ebay, but I noticed that Christianbook.com often has the curriculum discounted for up to 30% off.

When he gets older, we'll set up some job shadowing afternoons where he can experience job settings in allied health fields.

Make Jar Yeast

I found this recipe in a 1960's Amish cookbook:

"Pare one small potato and boil until soft, then mash it and have enough water with it to scald 2 tbsp. bread flour, 2 tbsp. sugar, and a pinch of salt. Let cool, then add 1/2 package dry yeast, in a little water, set aside to rise. When nice and light, put in jar with a little cold water.

This may be used instead of compressed yeast, always saving about 2 cups for the next baking. Store in refrigerator. This may be done for a long time, but occasionally a fresh starter needs to be made." ~ Mrs. Mary A Swarey

Natural Eye Cream

I'm in desperate need of eye cream for dark circles and puffy circles under my eyes. I take antihistamines which helps some, but I still wake up with the puffy circles from time to time.

I'm going to try CSI Recovery Eye Cream with Vitamin K & Arnica. I like the Dessert Essence brand as well, but this one got great reviews, so I am willing to try it.

According to the CSI, each CSI skin care product is formulated:

* Using only high-quality, naturally-derived ingredients
* Hypo-allergenic
* Paraben-free
* Containing no synthetic preservatives, fragrances or colorants.

Update: I've tried this cream for about a week, and it has gotten rid of most of my line problem around the eyes. It has helped with the puffiness and dark circles too. I need to use a cream everyday now, or they return. I have blemish prone skin which needs exfoliating everyday, and this cream has not caused any problems for me. I ended up getting the facial cream as well. I can no longer use witch hazel as a toner my face - too many lines after use!

Letttuce Wraps

Instead of bread or tortillas, substitute lettuce. This is great for losing weight! See recipe ideas here.

Lemon Yogurt Salad Dressing

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• Pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• Plain low-fat yogurt
  

Whisk everything together except the yogurt. When well blended whisk in the yogurt a small amount at a time. ~ Low Fat Life Style.

This was delicious, and I've also tried adding cilantro, lime, mint(and/or dill), and scallions(instead of garlic) for a little something different.

Hint: For a creamier yogurt, strain the yogurt over night. Once the water is out, you have a creamier yogurt almost like sour cream. I strain mine in a colander lined with paper towels over a bowl in the frig.

Feast of Saint Anne

Today is the Feast of Saint Anne.

Good St. Anne, you were especially favored by God to be the mother of the most holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Savior. By your power with your most pure daughter and with her divine Son, kindly obtain for us the grace and the favor we now seek. Please secure for us also forgiveness of our past sins, the strength to perform faithfully our daily duties and the help we need to persevere in the love of Jesus and Mary. Amen. ~ Catholic online.

Sustainable Living: Dumpster Pools

Click here.

More here, here, and here.

Recipe: Sour Cherry Ketchup

Click on title.

Tutorial: How to Make Mozarella Cheese

Click on title.

The Value of Education

Rod Dreher: The soft bigotry of high expectations:

"Crawford makes a philosophical case for choosing the trades over college in his brilliant new book, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work , which launches an intellectually formidable attack on the way our culture has come to devalue manual labor. This bracingly countercultural book, written by a scholar who left white-collar work to open a motorcycle repair shop, defiantly rejects received wisdom about the meaning of work in America today.

We have constructed an economy and a society based on the idea that work has no essential relation to human nature, and thus to human flourishing and human happiness. A good society, says Crawford (after Aristotle), is one in which men and women are free to pursue excellence, according to their individual natures. It's not like that with us. Say that a particular high school senior might be happier and more productive going to trade school than enrolling in college, and you risk being denounced for harboring the soft bigotry of low expectations.

Crawford denounces this as false egalitarianism. 'The best sort of democratic education is neither snobbish nor egalitarian,' he writes. 'Rather, it accords a place of honor in our common life to whatever is best.' "

Read the reviews too.

An interesting idea, and a changing perspective. Although a degree does opens up doors, it should be valued for it's educational merits, and not only as an utilitarian objective. Education opens and broadens the mind, and enriches one's life. A good education teaches one how to think, how to reason and problem solve. All very necessary in "non-intellectual" fields. Which makes me think how sad it is that grade schools have been dumbed down in recent generations.

My father's grade school education in the 1940's and early 1950's was much more challenging. I'll never forget him complaining to the school when he found out we were reading Jack London in eleventh grade English, a book he read in sixth grade! Maybe a degree wouldn't be so important if a high school degree actually meant something. Anyway, I think a good number of trade vocations require an associates degree, probably to make up for the lack of education in grade school. I know too many of my classmates who could not read or write well after being graduated for high school, but eventually caught up in community college remedial classes.

As I browse through old readers from the turn of the century through the early 1920's at Google Books, I realize what we've lost along the way. Meanwhile Obama is unveiling a $4 billion school improvement plan. I'm not sure throwing money at the issue is a great idea. Education should be simple - teach the basics well with excellent materials and curricula. Much of the school books for public schools that I've seen are junk. I wouldn't use them for homeschool even if they were free. And most importantly, let the teacher's do their magic rather than micromanaging them with standards which require them to teach to test. Let them teach children a love for learning. A child's potential can not be measured.

Vacation Camping for Boys and Girls

Free downloadable vintage public domain camping book from Google Books and Project Gutenberg.

Vacation Camping for Girls
Author Jeannette Augustus Marks
Publisher D. Appleton and company, 1913
Length 228 pages
Overview

Camping For Boys by Henry William Gibson
Association Press
New York
1913

Exekiel Bread

Ezekiel 4:9., "Take also unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and Spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it..."

I purchased some flourless Exekiel bread 4:9 for the children. Think they'll eat it? We'll see. I plan to eat a little too. I found it at a Farm Fresh grocery store today in the frozen food section.

Here's a recipe at Allrecipes.com for Ezekiel bread.

Heart Smart Tabouli Recipe

Also known a Tipili in Latin America. This is a very heart healthy meal with ingredients known to lower cholesterol. I plan to make mine with dark salad greens, extra tomatoes, and just a little parsley.

3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cracked wheat or fine bulgur
1/2 cup minced parsley
1/4 cup minced mint leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
1 tomato, diced
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
3 tablespoons olive oil OR oil substitute (fatfree Italian dressing, liquid from cooking chickpeas*, or reduced vegetable broth)
2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
1 tsp. sea salt, or to taste
Pepper to taste
Pinch allspice

See here for recipe.

Here is another one, I'd like to try: Berberé Stew (Ethiopian Lentil Stew) This one uses up your summer tomatoes.

Free Printable Preschool Alphabet Dot-to-Dot

We've been working at these today.

Image from site.

Online Early Learning Freebies

I've been using DLTK's Early Learning site since my oldest was little. Today I saw this Hickory, Dickory, Dock clock craft using paper towel rolls and a paper plate. They have nice templates and great directions. I'll have to wait until I have the supplies, but we plan to work this craft soon.

More nursery rhyme printable activities here.

Check out their Bible activities and crafts. They even have a Veggietales area.

Many of the cut-out templates can be crafted on felt rather than paper. I've been thinking about cutting out double sided felt Veggietales, sewing them together, and stuffing them for little felt toys for my daughter. DLTK is an awesome site for early learning and crafting. There are even extended ideas for learning with older children, and ideas for using alternate materials with different versions of learning.

Check out the sister sites while visiting DTLK. There is so much more for early learning and above.

Extracting Fragrance from Fresh Herbs and flowers

I've been experimenting with my garden lavender attempting to find the best way to extract the fragrance for cologne, insect repellent, and room spray. In the past, I've tried soaking fresh herbs in vodka for a week, but the herbs smelled like they went bad. I tried it again with lavender for a shorter duration, just overnight, and the next day it smelled like it had turned. I could still smell a hint of lavender under a heavy grain smell. Instead of throwing it out, I added water and boiled it in the microwave for four minutes. Somehow this worked, and although it has a brown cast to it, the liquid smelled very good with a light to moderate lavender scent. The heavy brown scent went away.

I'll be using this lavender water as a base for my next batch of insect repellent spray.

Here is a recipe that I'd like to try for rose petal perfume using fresh rose petals. This involves soaking the petals overnight in oil.

Lavender Tea Recipe

This was a very fragrant tea! I added more lavender from my garden than was called for in the recipe. I also added some fresh lemon balm. I had to pass on the sugar.

Ingredients:

* 1-1 1/2 teaspoon dried lavender blossoms or 2 teaspoons fresh lavender blossoms
* 2 tablespoons earl grey loose tea
* heavy cream
* sugar cubes

See recipe here.

I enjoyed this tea with just the lemon balm and lavender for a calming bedtime tea.

Cash Back Site Comparison Chart and Contact Lens Discounts

It's time to order my contact lenses again, and I was happy to find that the price for my lenses had gone down this year. This year at Vision Direct they are no longer charging an extra fee for stronger prescriptions. It cost me only $63.98 for a pair(before discounts) whereas, last year I spent more than double this amount at Vision Direct. Not all discount places offer my higher power contact lenses, so I am limited in what kind of deals I can find online or at brick and mortar stores.

I always look for coupon codes when I shop online. While looking for a contact lens deal, I found a real time saver, Cash Back Chart. It compares various rebate sites and tells you which one offers the best rebate per store. In a minute I was able to see that Bigcrumbs.com offers a 7.2 percent rebate, much better than the other program that I use, Ebates.com(5%).

Use this site to access Vision Direct coupons. I got $6.40 (10%) off one pair using coupon code, 10SPARK. If your order is at least $99.00, shipping is free. I ended up ordering two pairs for the free shipping, one for this year, and one pair for the next.

If you have a Discover Card, Vision Direct is 15% cash back. Yes, I had to cancel my order and start again! It's time consuming to check all these places, and you need to do it because merchants change from year to year. I was also able to get the 10% off again using the 10SPARK coupon code, and the free shipping.

By stacking discounts, you can really whittle down your total. I saved 15% clicking through DiscoverCard.com to Vision Direct, then saved another 10% off by using the coupon code, and got free shipping by ordering two years worth of contacts. My total savings were about $20.50 and free shipping(about $7.00). This is much better than I could have ever done at any Brick and Mortar store in my area.

Weight Loss Progess

I've been stalling in my weight loss despite keeping to my diet. It's rather frustrating, but I'll keep plugging away at it. I've actually gained and lost two pounds for the past two weeks. Right now I'm up two, but it should come off again. I just can't seem to get past the seven pound weight loss mark.

One thing that I'll be quitting is the Atkins bars. I googled them, and some people think that they stalled weight loss. I also might want to cut back on cheese despite the fact that they are low in carbs. For whatever reason, some people can't lose on the Atkins diet with a lot of cheese intake.

I got my thyroid levels checked last week, and I'm waiting for the results. I may need a little increase with my Synthyroid. I don't have a functioning thyroid, so I take medication. The 'ole thyroid blew out after the birth of my last child - a diagnosis of postpartum thyroiditis which morphed into Hashimoto's disease. If the thyroid levels are low then I know what's causing the slow metabolism. It's an annoying condition, but on the other hand, if we ever had a famine, I'd probably last a loooong time with my slow-mo metabolism. I'd be the last person to get thin, and need a lot less food to survive. Somehow that's not so comforting here in the land of plenty where we are dying from too much!

U.S. House Approves Tax-Funded D.C. Abortions

"The move was hardly surprising considering Obama lifted a decades-long ban on federal funding for international groups that promote and perform abortions immediately after taking office. The president said the unwarranted abortion rule undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning programs in foreign nations.

The policy was first implemented by Ronald Reagan in 1984 to keep with the government’s ban on federal funding for abortions and continued through the George H.W. Bush Administration until Clinton reversed it in 1993. George W. Bush reinstated the abortion ban in 2001."

Read entire article here.

Looks like we are all(U.S. taxpayers) a part of the abortion business now...whether we voted for Obama or not.

Then my soul will rejoice...

"Joy is the most
infallible sign
of the presence of God."

~Leon Bloy

Sharing from Micki's blog

Bathroom Remodel Plans

We have one piece bathtub/shower inserts which is original to the house from the early 1970's. We had ours repainted and the floor reinforced shortly after we purchased the house in 1999, just to get it to last until replacement. The children's bath tub was not in bad shape so we left it. Now both tubs are showing signs of wear. We are going to need to replace the tubs.

Despite lots of caulking and plumbing calls, we've had many problems with water leaking through insert around the faucets and overflow. The previous owner had the same problems, so we are going to try free stranding tubs to avoid leak problems like this. Free standing tubs are also much less expensive to install. We don't have to bother with tiling the walls, or boxing in a tub - no carpentry.

Another convenience is that we can actually get these tubs up our stairs and through our narrow doorway because the legs come off.

We won't be ready for this remodel for another two years, but it's fun to pick things out and plan. So far I've narrowed it down to three tubs and one style of bath wall mounted faucet - clean and simple lines. We have mostly white themed bathrooms so I can pull off modern with the vintage. We'll hang those circular shower curtain rods from the ceiling, and replace the shower nozzle.

All that's needed after this is a little floor tile, some drywall, and paint. The rest of the bathroom has been updated little by little in recent years.

I'm not sure which tub I'd like. One is a deep Swedish clawfoot, one is a slipper tub, and the other a regular clawfoot. I'll be choosing white feet on both the tubs that we install. These tubs will be on the short side. I only have about 58 inches to play with along the wall in our tiny bathrooms. The Swedish tub is about 55 inches long and the others are 57 inches. I leaning toward the Swedish for our bathroom and the regular clawfoot for the children's. Two of the ones shown in the pictures have the faucets mounted on the tub; we'll have ours coming from the bathroom wall.

These tubs are cast iron and will be so much easier to clean than our inserts! No more scrubbing walls to get off soap scum. All I'll need to clean is the tub itself, and mop underneath.

We'll probably be using Vintagetub.com to order our tubs. They have some good deals and shipping is free.

Discount Travel Tools

I read about these in an article today:

AirfareWatchdog.com: Searches for the least expensive airfare for U.S. and International flights. See more here.

And Yapta.com: Tracks prices and refunds for airfare and hotels, and notifies you of lowest rates.

I find it is helpful to use more than one discount search site when booking flights and hotels. These look promising.

HT to ShopSmart magazine.

Buying Ahead at the Thrift Store

I swung by the thrift to donate, peeked in the store room, and decided today was a good day to shop. Children's clothes were 50% off and they were stocked! My son got a few nice tops for church and everyday wear. For my daughter, many nice dresses including an Easter and Christmas dress for when she is fitting into a size six and seven. She won't be able to wear these dresses anytime soon, but I did find a few nice pajama sets for this winter which are usually a bit pricey retail.

I bypassed tops for my daughter because they were trendy and wash worn, but the dresses had very little wear. I was surprised to find anything nice for my son. Usually 10/12 sized boys clothes are pretty well worn. He got two collared t-shirts with graphics, a dress shirt, and a nice long sleeved Ralph Lauren Polo top. For whatever reason, boys size 12/14 is much easier to find both at the thrift and retail stores.

I may return to find some more dresses for my daughter. I did not find any Easter or Christmas dresses for this coming season, and I still have a 10% off card to use(given for donations).

I spent about $44.00 for 22 items.

I store all these larger sizes in the children's closets, and I use their dresser drawers for everyday clothes that they use now. I've got clothes hanging on the rod in the closet and in plastic bins. I find it easier to categorize by season in the bins. That way I can keep the number of bins down to a minimum, and stack the clothes according to size within the bins.

A Few Things From the Garden

I've got mostly shade in my garden, but there is the tiniest patch of sun where I can manage to grow herbs, beans, and sometimes tomatoes. We've gained more shade every year with the growth of our trees, but shade in the south is a blessing.

Pictured: spearmint, beans, and lavender.

Summer Camp

I enrolled my son in a week long junior ranger day camp this summer. It was a bit pricey, but he has thoroughly enjoyed it! I was so pleased that the children seemed well behaved, friendly, and genuinely interested in learning about nature. We've had a few bad experiences with summer programs in the past where it was evident that they were being used as a drop off babysitting option. The counselors were park rangers so they had good control of the classroom. He thought it was cool that they had handcuffs.

Next month we are trying a half day art camp which focuses on learning specific artists. I'm hoping these classes will be as well managed, and not just a bunch of children running around hollering for three hours.

Curriculum based programs at national parks

Web Rangers

July 18-19, 2009: Fee-Free Weekend in Your National Parks

Check participating locations here. We've got two in our area that we plan to visit.

We Are Ready...

The rest of my curriculum came in for my son's sixth grade year. I had purchased much of it on ebay during the past two years, so I was just missing some odds and ends. The science was new this year, and I had to buy this retail. The shelves are full of all sorts of knowledge and wisdom, just waiting to be absorbed. The pencils are sharpened and erasers ready! Ahh, I love the smell of new books.

All I've got left is to file my paperwork, and send in his testing materials.

Rebatched Some Soap Today

If you don't want to make soap from scratch you can rebatch it, and personalize the soap with your own additives like softeners, fragrance, and exfoliatents.

I ordered a pound of goat's milk soap from a soap maker and Nubian goat farmer. I thought I'd use it "as is", but it smelled goaty. In fact, I could smell nothing else except the goats. I like goats very much, but I don't want to smell like one.

I rebatched my soap by heating it on the stove in a pot with a little milk, beer, and black strap molasses. I plan to use this soap as shampoo bar as well. The beer adds body to hair and the molasses conditions.

As it melted down, I stirred frequently, and added more milk/beer if it was getting too sticky and dry. It will melt more quickly if you chop the soap into small pieces, or better yet, grate it. If you melt chunks, you'll need to squish the soap against the sides of the pot with a fork or use a potato masher as it melts in order to help it along. Once it melted, I added some chocolate, cardamon, pumpkin spice, cake spice, and mint. Then the mixture was poured into my greased mold. I used cupcake pans because that's what was readily available.

I kept adding scent to this mixture, but there was still a hint of goat. We'll see what it smells like when it is cured. It takes large quantities of fragrance to scent soap. I will need to set it aside for up to four weeks for it to harden. Curing the soap allows the moisture to evaporate making for a harder soap.

Clean up was easy, and I didn't waste the left over soap clinging to the sides of the pot. I added water, liquefied it, and put it in a liquid soap dispenser.

This was kind of a pain, especially trying to scent the soap. I had better luck rebatching soap for this cupcake soap.

Free Vintage Downloadable Fifth Grade Reader

I was listing this fifth grade reader on my other blog, Happy Hearts Homeschooling Library when I came across the following passage in a fifth grade reader:

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation—or any nation so conceived and so dedicated—can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of that field as the final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The Gettysburg address never ceases to be moving every time I read it. I hope they still teach this in our schools today. Lots of good stuff in this old reader.

All Natural Re-creation: Marie Antoinette Perfume

BellaSugar.com writes that Marie Antoinette Sillage de la Reine perfume was created by French perfume maker Francis Kurkdjian, who recreated Marie Antoinette's signature fragrance. It retails for $900 for 25 ml or $450.0o at the Versailles gift shop for a smaller amount; profits go to the restoration of Versailles. Or if you want the perfume decanted into Baccarat crystal, the cost is a mere $11,000! Reportedly, this perfume was made using only natural scents and 18th century perfumery techniques.

Kurkdjian based his work on A Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer by Elizabeth Feydeau. "The book explores the notes of the queen's Versailles perfumer, and from this information Kurkdjian was able to recreate her beloved scent."

According to a Washington Post article , Elisabeth de Feydeau, a historian and professor at the Versailles School of Perfumes, "made possible the revival effort with her discovery of the recipes for Marie Antoinette's favorite fragrances among musty boxes of centuries-old documents warehoused by the French government. "

I also like to make my own scents(cologne) using natural essential oils(no synthetics), and I've been wanting to try something a little more complex. BellaSugar mentions that Marie Antoinette Sillage de la Reine perfume "contains rose, iris, cut jasmine, tuberose and orange blossom. Woody touches of cedar and sandalwood are also present, with the sandalwood more fragrant to my nose than the cedar. Additionally, it has notes of Tonkin musk (that's, um, the content of Himalayan goats' glands) and grey amber." This article mentions that the perfume also has "feature notes of orris, lavender, violet, bergamot, ambergris, and oily galbanum."

I will research essential oil substitutes for expensive or hard to find scents, but I should be able to make a version of this perfume. I have no clue what the fragrance smells like, nor do I have a recipe, but it will be fun trying to recreate history in my own little way. I'll just use my imagination when putting together this regal scent.

A few other royal fragrances(ingredients loosely interpreted) for brain storming cologne recipes:

Eau de Fleurs d’Oranger du Roi, Louis XV - citrus with a touch of ambergris, bitter orange, lemon, neroli, orange, ambergris, and petitgrain.

Eau de Cologne/Aqua Admirabilis: lemon, neroli, petitgrain, lavender, and rosemary.

Eau de Coquette(Madame du Barry): angelica, nutmeg, rose, orris, carnation, ambergris(base), orange, and jasmine.

Eau de la Favourite: orange and lemon, orris, Iris(wild carrot), and mace.

Cyprian(originally a wig powder scent): bergamot, clary sage, orris, violet, oakmoss, and Rose.

Eau de Trianon: orange, lemon, rose, jasmine, orris, violet, cedarwood, benzoin, and vanilla.

Mille-Fleurs Bouquet: cassie, lavender and citrus notes, rose geranium, rose, jasmine, orange, violet, and vanilla.

Pompadour: coriander, mint, lavender, rosemary, allspice, rose geranium, lemon balm, marjoram, rose, jonquil, and orris.

Reinette: similar to Mille-Fleurs Bouquet, but with hyacinth, carnation and tuberose.

Le Roi Soleil: bergamot, lemon, lime, rosemary, orange, carnation, clove, jasmine, ambergris, oakmoss, frankincense, and birch.

Making your own cologne is quite easy, just use a base of alcohol(grain alcohol or vodka) and add essential oils. Drops of glycerin can be used as a fixative, and is especially nice on dry skin, or for winter. I decant mine for frugal convenience into plastic travel spray bottles from the dollar store. Pretty cut glass or crystal perfume bottles with a spray attachments or atomizer are easy to find online, and some are very inexpensive.

Here is a thorough explanation of how to mix essential oils for perfume.

I use a similar recipe for homemade spray deodorant. Some sample recipes here. You can also add some sea salt for a little extra antibacterial protection. A few common essential oils with antibacterial properties: cinnamon, tea tree oil, rosemary, citronella(excellent extra strength odor blocker), sage, pine, neem oil, and clove. Neem oil smells awful on it's own. I pair it with citronella which completely covers the smell. I use my homemade insect repellent as a deodorant on really hot days.

I usually get my organic essential oils and supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs and Vitacost.com(least expensive).

I just happened to find this Indie perfumer who makes her scents naturally. She happens to have a royal collection. Pricey, but interesting.