Make your own hand sanitizer, safe nail polish and Fall has arrived

The mornings are chilly, the days warm, nights cool but oh the colors on the mountains are spectacular. I look up a slope behind my son's work shop, the maples are crimson and the setting sun makes them glow a brilliant red. Surround that with yellow and orange of the other trees, and it takes your breath away. All too soon those leaves will fall, and the stark trunks will let the mountain show through, the only time I can see the top of the mountain behind the trees. I love this time of year, the only drawback being that cold weather will soon follow. At least here, we know it will be short, we have spring blooms by early March. My potato leaves are starting to wither, will be time to dig them soon. Looking forward to yellow sweets this year, and maybe if I am lucky, some Yukon gold's. My son still brings in lettuce and tomatoes from his garden, so salad is still a big part of the meals. If you buy hand sanitizer, it has things in it you don't want to be using. It's easy to make your own, try this recipe: Fill a small bottle with Witch Hazel, easy to find at the grocery store, leave enough space at the top to add 10 drops of lavender oil, and 10 drops of tea tree oil plus 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil. Tea tree oil is so great to have around the house, I use it in mouth wash and for ouchies. It's easy to find at Walmart, and lavender oil is no longer hard to get. The air sprays so many use are toxic so mixing half water, half Witch Hazel and lavender oil makes a great air freshener. You can use any oil you like the scent of, I like grapefruit or lemon too. Watched a news spot last week, telling the dangers of the endocrine disrupters found in most nail polish. That sent me on a hunt for a make my own, which was of no use, they just used the ones on the market and added stuff to color with. So I did find a list of polishes with no harmful stuff in them, and here are the names; Piggy Paint, Honeybee Gardens, No-Miss, Suncoat, Priti, and Spa Ritual. All of these can be found on a website for Vita-Cost, plus an amazing amount of other stuff, including foods. Worth checking out. I ordered a couple so will let you know after I use them if I like them. You can remove polish like this with rubbing alcohol, doing away with the icky polish remover. It's time to set the clock back this week end, get a 49 hour weekend. OUrs includes a rainy Sunday. Take time to enjoy the fall weather, watch a sunrise, be thankful for all you do have, we all have more than we think. Til next time, have a spooktacular week.