I may not wear makeup, but I do shave my legs.
Sometimes.
Anyway, did you know that you're supposed to exfoliate you legs before you shave? Neither did I, until I read this post over at One Good Thing. So I tried it today, using the recipe on the post. Can I just say, AWESOME!! My legs feel nice and moisturized, they don't look like they've been sprayed with flocking, and they feel AMAZING. I can't stop feeling them, and I can't wait for The Man to come home so HE can feel them. I think after not shaving for 2+ weeks, he'll appreciate it.
Here's the recipe!
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil (or baby oil, or apricot oil, or sunflower oil, or whatever oil you want to use that will moisturize your skin)
3 Tbs citrus juice (lemon or lime)
Mix everything together. I recommend putting it in the bottle you're going to use and just shake it up (and I recommend using a squeeze bottle so that water doesn't get in to it if you choose to use it in the shower, but a glass jar with a lid would work too).
To Use: soak in the tub for at least 5 minutes, or if you're showering, then at least shampoo and condition your hair. Apply the mixture to your legs and rub it in until the sugar is pretty much gone. The abrasiveness of the sugar rubs off all the dirt and dead skin, the lemon juice works as a mild skin peel, and the olive oil penetrates deep into the skin to provide moisture. After rubbing the mixture in for a few minutes (rinsing optional, I didn't), shave, rinse, and repeat. That's right, do it again. Trust me, you want to.
Enjoy your sexy, smooth legs!
Friday, August 3, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Score!!!
Good grief it's been a long time. It sucks going through crap that you can't talk about online. Sigh.
In other news:
12Created by OnePlusYou
139,544 PeopleCreated by OnePlusYou
44%
In other news:
12Created by OnePlusYou
139,544 PeopleCreated by OnePlusYou
44%
Monday, June 25, 2012
A Sea of Bubbles
Finally, a post!
A post about fluff and nonsense!
Okay, just fluff. My posts are never about nonsense.
Baby Cakes loves bubbles. She also has long hair. She also loves to rub jelly covered hands in that long hair. While bath time is not a total horror, it is pretty terrible trying to comb her hair out with all that food in it so we can shampoo it without causing even more tangles than are all ready in it. She cries a lot. It is very sad for The Man (bath time does not, thankfully, involve my input). He is very much wrapped around her finger.
ANYWAY. We quickly discovered that bubble bath is a more than sufficient distraction to the pain and agony of being cleaned every night. We also quickly went through our small stash of bubble baths. Being the cheapskate that I am, before shelling out my husbands hard-earned money for off-the-shelf bubble bath, I decided to see if I could make my own.
Google is my friend.
I found this website that got her recipe from childfun.com (though I can't find the recipe on there, not that I tried super hard). It's easy, and super cheap to make:
Homemade Bubble Bath
1/2 cup shampoo, any type
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp table salt
Combine the shampoo and water in a bowl and mix gently until it's well combined. Then add the salt and stir until it thickens slightly. Use a funnel to pour it into your choice of container.
BINGO! I got cheapo Suave shampoo and now Baby Cakes has bubble bath, for $0.94. If my shampoo wasn't clarifying, I would have just used that, but I was worried it might dry her skin out, and her skin is already dry enough thankyouverymuchhardwater. You could use any shampoo that you want, from Burt's Bees to Biolage to homemade, I'm sure. Mine didn't make a ton of bubbles (though I may not have put much in), and they seemed to go away pretty quickly, but they aren't totally gone and she's been in the water for 20 minutes now.
I know, I know, I'm amazing. You're welcome.
A post about fluff and nonsense!
Okay, just fluff. My posts are never about nonsense.
Baby Cakes loves bubbles. She also has long hair. She also loves to rub jelly covered hands in that long hair. While bath time is not a total horror, it is pretty terrible trying to comb her hair out with all that food in it so we can shampoo it without causing even more tangles than are all ready in it. She cries a lot. It is very sad for The Man (bath time does not, thankfully, involve my input). He is very much wrapped around her finger.
ANYWAY. We quickly discovered that bubble bath is a more than sufficient distraction to the pain and agony of being cleaned every night. We also quickly went through our small stash of bubble baths. Being the cheapskate that I am, before shelling out my husbands hard-earned money for off-the-shelf bubble bath, I decided to see if I could make my own.
Google is my friend.
I found this website that got her recipe from childfun.com (though I can't find the recipe on there, not that I tried super hard). It's easy, and super cheap to make:
Homemade Bubble Bath
1/2 cup shampoo, any type
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp table salt
Combine the shampoo and water in a bowl and mix gently until it's well combined. Then add the salt and stir until it thickens slightly. Use a funnel to pour it into your choice of container.
BINGO! I got cheapo Suave shampoo and now Baby Cakes has bubble bath, for $0.94. If my shampoo wasn't clarifying, I would have just used that, but I was worried it might dry her skin out, and her skin is already dry enough thankyouverymuchhardwater. You could use any shampoo that you want, from Burt's Bees to Biolage to homemade, I'm sure. Mine didn't make a ton of bubbles (though I may not have put much in), and they seemed to go away pretty quickly, but they aren't totally gone and she's been in the water for 20 minutes now.
I know, I know, I'm amazing. You're welcome.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Friday I'm In Love
I hate cooking. With a firey, burning hatred that would consume many worlds if allowed to. It stresses me out so much that I get back pain, especially if it's something that I've never made before and/or I'm running late. Because of this hate I have for cooking, I am constantly on the search for easy, quick meals. And because of The Man's job change, they also have to be extremely cheap. I have found many blogs about eating cheaply, and even eating healthy cheaply. But still, our grocery budget was way more than I was comfortable with. The only things I buy for breakfast is cereal and bagels, and lunches are always leftovers or sandwiches. I would still spend over $100 some weeks on food for dinner. Until I found Grocery Shrink. The blog is good, and she posts a lot on how to do things cheaply. A few weeks after discovering this website, she announced that she was going to offer a menu planning service (similar to E-Meals or Relish) for 5 dollars a month called Grocery Shrink Plus.
Now, I tried E-Meals. While I loved loved loved that I didn't have to plan a menu, I wasn't thrilled with the actual meals. Because I only needed enough food for 2 people, with E-Meals, I only got 5 dinners a week. No other meals, and I had to come up with 2 more dinners every week (if you need 4 or more servings, you get 7). For 5 dollars a month, it's still a pretty good deal. Except that the meals are made easy by using A LOT of processed and pre-made foods. There was very little in the way of fresh vegetables or fruit, or even seasonings, and almost nothing was made from scratch. Because of all the processed food I had to buy, my grocery budget didn't change at all. So I canceled it. I also DO NOT recommend it to other people.
But Grocery Shrink Plus (click on the link to see a sample menu) offers so much more than that, for the same price, that I just had to try it. I get breakfast, lunch, dinner (including sides) and snacks for 7 days a week. The menus are based on what she calls pantry shopping: you use what you already have. She includes recipes for making mixes and seasoning blends from scratch that you will be using that week, as well as recipes for making any bread items, like hamburger buns or tortillas. And she includes either directions for how to make a meal gluten or dairy free, or links to websites or recipes for how to make a specific item gluten or dairy free. She includes as much nutrition info as she can, as well as how to eat these meals when you are trying to lose weight, without making the rest of your family starve. She frequently uses the crockpot, which makes everything easy, and includes step by step how and when to make things. And you get the amounts for 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 servings. And a shopping list. And bonus recipes like granola and restaurant style black beans. And my favorite thing: she says that it's okay to use premade stuff if that makes it easy for you! So, no guilt if I don't make homemade hamburger buns or focacia bread!
It's still a new service, so there are some kinks that she is working out, but they are mostly spelling errors, or sometimes directions on how to do something or where a certain extra recipe is, isn't super clear. But there is a facebook group that you can sign up for where she posts fixes, and you can let her know when/if you find a mistake. She also doesn't offer a vegetarian option (yet!), but I think most meals could easily be made vegetarian, if that's what you want to do.
The best thing of all: my grocery budget has shrunk! I only use the dinners right now, because we don't need the other things, which of course will help with the spending, but I haven't spent over $40 dollars a week on groceries in over a month, and that's including getting things that aren't necessarily food items, or part of the menu. I also spend much, much less time shopping (down to 1 hour tops from 2 hours minimum) because my shopping lists are so incredibly short! And we aren't missing out on any fruits and vegetables, and we are eating way less processed crap. Even the amount of garbage we throw out is lessening!
This service is probably the first time that I've bought something that I can say paid itself off the first week I had it, and I highly, highly recommend it to everyone who might possibly read this. At least give it a try.
Now, I tried E-Meals. While I loved loved loved that I didn't have to plan a menu, I wasn't thrilled with the actual meals. Because I only needed enough food for 2 people, with E-Meals, I only got 5 dinners a week. No other meals, and I had to come up with 2 more dinners every week (if you need 4 or more servings, you get 7). For 5 dollars a month, it's still a pretty good deal. Except that the meals are made easy by using A LOT of processed and pre-made foods. There was very little in the way of fresh vegetables or fruit, or even seasonings, and almost nothing was made from scratch. Because of all the processed food I had to buy, my grocery budget didn't change at all. So I canceled it. I also DO NOT recommend it to other people.
But Grocery Shrink Plus (click on the link to see a sample menu) offers so much more than that, for the same price, that I just had to try it. I get breakfast, lunch, dinner (including sides) and snacks for 7 days a week. The menus are based on what she calls pantry shopping: you use what you already have. She includes recipes for making mixes and seasoning blends from scratch that you will be using that week, as well as recipes for making any bread items, like hamburger buns or tortillas. And she includes either directions for how to make a meal gluten or dairy free, or links to websites or recipes for how to make a specific item gluten or dairy free. She includes as much nutrition info as she can, as well as how to eat these meals when you are trying to lose weight, without making the rest of your family starve. She frequently uses the crockpot, which makes everything easy, and includes step by step how and when to make things. And you get the amounts for 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 servings. And a shopping list. And bonus recipes like granola and restaurant style black beans. And my favorite thing: she says that it's okay to use premade stuff if that makes it easy for you! So, no guilt if I don't make homemade hamburger buns or focacia bread!
It's still a new service, so there are some kinks that she is working out, but they are mostly spelling errors, or sometimes directions on how to do something or where a certain extra recipe is, isn't super clear. But there is a facebook group that you can sign up for where she posts fixes, and you can let her know when/if you find a mistake. She also doesn't offer a vegetarian option (yet!), but I think most meals could easily be made vegetarian, if that's what you want to do.
The best thing of all: my grocery budget has shrunk! I only use the dinners right now, because we don't need the other things, which of course will help with the spending, but I haven't spent over $40 dollars a week on groceries in over a month, and that's including getting things that aren't necessarily food items, or part of the menu. I also spend much, much less time shopping (down to 1 hour tops from 2 hours minimum) because my shopping lists are so incredibly short! And we aren't missing out on any fruits and vegetables, and we are eating way less processed crap. Even the amount of garbage we throw out is lessening!
This service is probably the first time that I've bought something that I can say paid itself off the first week I had it, and I highly, highly recommend it to everyone who might possibly read this. At least give it a try.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Coming Out of The Closet
No, not that closet. These thoughts are very rambly. Read it anyway.
I am a feminist. I'm not a new one; I think I have always noticed women's issues, but I have not really gotten into studying and learning about feminism and women's issues until recently. So my being conscious of it is new.
First, let me reassure you that I don't hate men. I don't believe that men are the epitome of evil. I do not wish to be a man. If I were a man, I would not have been able to experience the power of pregnancy and birth, the power I share with God in creating life.
But my beliefs in the roles women have to play in this world have changed dramatically. I no longer believe that a man, any man, is capable of deciding what I need to hear, feel, do, or be as a woman.
I no longer believe that Heavenly Mother is a silent figure, nor do I believe that Heavenly Father wants Her to be. I believe that the reason we know nothing about Her is solely because our society is a male-centric society and men do not, and can not, understand the importance for women to know about Her. As such, they don't ask the questions necessary to learn about Her. I no longer believe that God is Heavenly Father alone. I believe that God is the Godhead. And I believe Heavenly Mother to be a part of that Godhead. The scriptures state that a man and a woman must become one flesh (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:7-8, Ephesians 5:31). I now believe that Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother are more literally one flesh than we (or at least me) can possibly understand, which to me means She is a part of the Godhead. I am certain that She has a voice in how God helps us in our lives, how we are to be blessed, what we need to be taught and how we are taught these lessons. And I believe that someday, we are going to know more about Her in this life.
I believe that just by being female, I have an inherent power over our world. And that power extends far beyond my family and home. I am seeing more and more around me sexist attitudes about women, especially in the media. And sadly, I am seeing so many people either not notice it (probably because it is so prevalent), laugh it off as silly and inconsequential, or just quietly sit by, believing that they can do nothing to stop it. A great example: The Man got a gaming magazine in the mail yesterday. The front cover was for Halo 4. On the back (the front and back covers were one big picture), it showed Cortana (the computer generated helper who is also a female); she's naked. The only way you can tell that she is supposed to be computer generated is that her body looks like it is made of circuit boards. But is is most certainly naked. There is even a hint of nipple. When The Man saw it, he was rightly disgusted. In the first game, she was glitchy and see through. There was no hint that she might also be naked. But he said that with every game she has gotten more solid, and more sexy. Because apparently the only way you can get a man to buy a game is to put a naked woman in it. I'm sorry, but I personally believe that my husband thinks about more things that sex and naked women (he will probably still play the game though, because he loves the series).
I do believe that men and women are different enough that they have different spheres of power (think of the yin-yang symbol), different roles to play in how the world is shaped. I do NOT believe, however, that that means women's roles are only dealing with the home and children. Our society would never imagine telling a man that the only job he would truly be happy in is as a banker, and that all men must be bankers, must stay in their banks taking care of the bank and the money in it, and making sure that they are a place of rest for their hard-working wives when they come to the bank. No, men are told that they can be anything they want, and that there are many different jobs that they can be happy in as a man. Women are told that they are called by God to have one job: Wife-mother-homemaker. I say bull. If a man is not expected to be happy in one job, than we should not expect all women to be happy being mothers and homemakers. I, personally, am very happy staying at home. But I know many women who are not/would not be. I believe it is important that a parent be home when the kids are, but I no longer believe that it has to be the mother. I know that Jesse would be much happier if he could be the stay-at-home parent (probably better at it, too); if I were career-driven, I would be all over that. And I will no longer place myself as the superior parent just because I am the mother. Many times the fathers are just better at it.
Our world is so incredibly out of balance right now. Women are not respected as they should be, and neither are men, or children. I see our world as in a very defensive stance, and it saddens me. We all believe that someone is out to get us, someone is trying tear us down. So we must tear down everyone else first, hurt someone else before they hurt us. We are understanding less and less it seems, how God works, how they want us to be. The first and second great commandments are being thrown away in favor of judgement and condemnation of those who do not believe as we do. We need to love our Creator, whether you believe that to be God, Mother Earth, the primordial soup and some lightening, or all of that. And we need to love EVERYONE the way WE want to be loved ourselves. If we want respect, we must respect others first. We can not force others to respect us through scare-tactics or threats or by virtue of our place in society. That is not true respect.
I know that someday that balance will come. I just hope that I will be around to see it.
I am a feminist. I'm not a new one; I think I have always noticed women's issues, but I have not really gotten into studying and learning about feminism and women's issues until recently. So my being conscious of it is new.
First, let me reassure you that I don't hate men. I don't believe that men are the epitome of evil. I do not wish to be a man. If I were a man, I would not have been able to experience the power of pregnancy and birth, the power I share with God in creating life.
But my beliefs in the roles women have to play in this world have changed dramatically. I no longer believe that a man, any man, is capable of deciding what I need to hear, feel, do, or be as a woman.
I no longer believe that Heavenly Mother is a silent figure, nor do I believe that Heavenly Father wants Her to be. I believe that the reason we know nothing about Her is solely because our society is a male-centric society and men do not, and can not, understand the importance for women to know about Her. As such, they don't ask the questions necessary to learn about Her. I no longer believe that God is Heavenly Father alone. I believe that God is the Godhead. And I believe Heavenly Mother to be a part of that Godhead. The scriptures state that a man and a woman must become one flesh (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:7-8, Ephesians 5:31). I now believe that Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother are more literally one flesh than we (or at least me) can possibly understand, which to me means She is a part of the Godhead. I am certain that She has a voice in how God helps us in our lives, how we are to be blessed, what we need to be taught and how we are taught these lessons. And I believe that someday, we are going to know more about Her in this life.
I believe that just by being female, I have an inherent power over our world. And that power extends far beyond my family and home. I am seeing more and more around me sexist attitudes about women, especially in the media. And sadly, I am seeing so many people either not notice it (probably because it is so prevalent), laugh it off as silly and inconsequential, or just quietly sit by, believing that they can do nothing to stop it. A great example: The Man got a gaming magazine in the mail yesterday. The front cover was for Halo 4. On the back (the front and back covers were one big picture), it showed Cortana (the computer generated helper who is also a female); she's naked. The only way you can tell that she is supposed to be computer generated is that her body looks like it is made of circuit boards. But is is most certainly naked. There is even a hint of nipple. When The Man saw it, he was rightly disgusted. In the first game, she was glitchy and see through. There was no hint that she might also be naked. But he said that with every game she has gotten more solid, and more sexy. Because apparently the only way you can get a man to buy a game is to put a naked woman in it. I'm sorry, but I personally believe that my husband thinks about more things that sex and naked women (he will probably still play the game though, because he loves the series).
I do believe that men and women are different enough that they have different spheres of power (think of the yin-yang symbol), different roles to play in how the world is shaped. I do NOT believe, however, that that means women's roles are only dealing with the home and children. Our society would never imagine telling a man that the only job he would truly be happy in is as a banker, and that all men must be bankers, must stay in their banks taking care of the bank and the money in it, and making sure that they are a place of rest for their hard-working wives when they come to the bank. No, men are told that they can be anything they want, and that there are many different jobs that they can be happy in as a man. Women are told that they are called by God to have one job: Wife-mother-homemaker. I say bull. If a man is not expected to be happy in one job, than we should not expect all women to be happy being mothers and homemakers. I, personally, am very happy staying at home. But I know many women who are not/would not be. I believe it is important that a parent be home when the kids are, but I no longer believe that it has to be the mother. I know that Jesse would be much happier if he could be the stay-at-home parent (probably better at it, too); if I were career-driven, I would be all over that. And I will no longer place myself as the superior parent just because I am the mother. Many times the fathers are just better at it.
Our world is so incredibly out of balance right now. Women are not respected as they should be, and neither are men, or children. I see our world as in a very defensive stance, and it saddens me. We all believe that someone is out to get us, someone is trying tear us down. So we must tear down everyone else first, hurt someone else before they hurt us. We are understanding less and less it seems, how God works, how they want us to be. The first and second great commandments are being thrown away in favor of judgement and condemnation of those who do not believe as we do. We need to love our Creator, whether you believe that to be God, Mother Earth, the primordial soup and some lightening, or all of that. And we need to love EVERYONE the way WE want to be loved ourselves. If we want respect, we must respect others first. We can not force others to respect us through scare-tactics or threats or by virtue of our place in society. That is not true respect.
I know that someday that balance will come. I just hope that I will be around to see it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)