"Homemade" lotion

"home-made" lotion-- ha-- first ingredient is store-bought lotion!
Nonetheless, I happen to love coconut oil and the smell of baby lotion,
so why not....
That's 8 oz coconut oil, 16 oz baby lotion (I use off-brand cuz its the same...)
and 8 oz vitamin E cream-- which also happens to be pink! Hooray:)

Instructions said to use hand beater... but its been hot here in Iowa, so my
oil was liquefied as you can see. Thus, my concern was that the oil would
splash everywhere so I stirred it with a spoon first.... it was still pretty
gloppy so I decided to stick it in the fridge for awhile and THEN use the
beaters! 

After chilling in the fridge...
Was it a good idea? Well... next time I make a batch, I won't chill it and
will let you know if it made any difference:)

Ta-da!!!
I just love re-purposing those baby food jars! They had been taking up too much room in my closet:)
Anyone want a sample? And by anyone, I mean friends or family within a close proximity, not some
stranger who accidentally stumbled upon my blog when googling for home-made lotion;)

Bagels-- Fresh from the oven!!

Whole wheat, freshly ground from my agent KW :)

This was the tricky part, having never made bagels-- recipe said to immerse them in boiling
water and remove when they floated to the top. As soon as I dropped them in, they popped up
instantly! Uhh..... okay...! I just went with my gut instinct and took them out when it felt right;)

Baking in the oven...

So they're not exactly pleasing to the eye.... but they were delightful! Dense but light, mmm :)

I think I found it on allrecipes.com- glad I read some reviews first since the recipe says it makes a dozen
but a lot of people suggested making less. I went with 8 and they are a good size.

Um, the cutest sleeping kid in the world or what?!?! Isn't he adorable?!?!?! Melts my heart!!!

Love how he sleeps with his hands under his head- this is normal!! All sprawled out:)
He's his daddy's son, all over! Just need to throw the old curious george with him:)
Maybe I can find a picture of Brad sleeping when he was about this age...

Sleepover with Allie and Gavin! I woke up that morning with Gavin literally laying on top
of my feet. When I crawled in bed, he was next to me, feet tucked into my side.
When I fell asleep, his feet were dangling on my head. Its a good thing you don't do this
to me Tina;)

Some of my amateur projects

My first batch of hats. The brown one was my very first....
Purple was second. It took me awhile to find a better way to
finish the crowns:p Baby blue 3rd, followed by pink striped,
light pink, purple stripe, and then I attempted to cable. I've
tried once since then, but let's just say that one never made
it to the end :) Maybe sometime I should take a picture of all
the knitting I did during the winter while sitting at the nursing
home every day! Then you can see my improvement;)

I made the munchkies hats for Christmas. Eva thought it was sad
that Gavin's hat didn't have a flower;)

Home-made vaseline= beeswax and olive (or coconut) oil!
This was not a waste- I was using vaseline at least once every
day for the past few years, no joke! Petroleum jelly is bad for you,
so I feel safer now:)

Best flourless chocolate cake EVER! I think its 5 ingredients-
eggs, chocolate chips, garbanzo beans, baking powder and sugar.
I made it yesterday to celebrate being done with my juice fast and
substituted raw honey for the sugar- tastes delicioso! I added a
pinch of baking soda to neutralize the acidity like they suggest. 

Ta-da! Sprinkled with powdered sugar on top and a few fresh
raspberries and it looks picture-perfect! (Some people love fruit
and chocolate together... I am not one of them. I tried it but ended
up just eating the berries first, then the cake;) )

Kudos to Tina for making this for me once upon a time when I did
gluten-free- I discovered a new love :)

Juice Cleanse!

Slurp. Or, my new favorite quote:
*slurps celery juice happily* :)
This is my 10-day juice cleanse. Nothing but juice and water.
Now. Its recommended that you get medical approval before
doing a juice fast longer than 3 days. But the guys in the
documentary were obese, diabetic, and everything else.
-I- am healthy compared to them. -I- don't need medical
approval. (well, not having insurance might be the winning
factor ;) ) The first 3 days were torture, for everybody:D
My stomach growled, I growled and moped and mostly
stayed away from everybody in the confines of my
stuffy attic room. Alone with Christy and Doc MacNeal,
Andy, Barney and Aunt Bee. It would have been bliss
except for the gnawing and twisting of my internals.
So for three days I stared angrily at my antique VHS screen
and drank vegetables. It was awful. 10 days sounded like 10
years. The end was so far away, like trying to see the top of
Mt. Everest. Oh well, it was time for a little self-discipline in
the area of my appetite! Moving on....

This is me, day 4. I am smiling.
I am smiling and posing for my camera because day 4 was
the turn-around! My cravings for food subsided, I was starting
to feel full after drinking my glass of juice, and I had more
energy! Now, I could definitely do this for 10 days! Not to
mention that the halfway point was dangling in front of my
nose like a carrot hanging in front of a donkey! 

Here I am, day SEVEN!!!
Still living off liquid vegetables but starting to look a bit anemic.
Started feeling dizzy and a little less energetic that day, but not
too affecting.
Day 8: All day I was dizzy, nauseous, weak, and had little energy.
I truly felt horrible and wondered if 10 days was too much for a
non-obese person... Already I was 8 pounds down. But before
anyone panics, that's not 8 pounds of fat. :) When you have no
"food" in your body, that makes a difference... I would say I lost
"water weight" but not sure that could be, seeing how all I did was
drink:D
Anyways, by mid-afternoon, I felt like death. I googled articles
on juicing to see if I should stop before I died;) And I guess
that having low blood sugar, low blood pressure, and a chronic
illness, I should have had medical permission.
I had a wonderful hot meal that night- a farmer meal of meat
and potatoes. It was delicious and I ate the whole thing.
Just to prove the point that my stomach did not shrink itself to the point
of disintegration;) It felt wonderful to be full for longer than 20 minutes!

My goals in doing this juice cleanse?
1) all-around health. Most of us don't eat near enough vegetables.
2) hoping for acne to clear up
3) after all my parasites that moved in with me for a year, I wanted to cleanse... :)

Results:
My acne got worse, unfortunately.
I know that my body has benefited from the fresh fruits and vegetables, but since they're unseen
I can't tell you much;)

I probably won't do the 10 day thing again since I don't have the weight to sustain... but plan on doing
more juicing- along with food. :)

Bath FizziesI

So. I bought the ingredients I needed for this project a few months ago and left
it to sit in a box and collect dust until life slowed down. I never thought it would
happen, but a few days ago, I was starving myself to death. While I sat in my room
listlessly staring at the wall, my eyes locked with the neglected box. It glared at me
accusingly. I jumped up eagerly, thrilled to do something that probably wouldn't
finish me off. A few mixes later, I realized that the one little flower ice-cube tray I
bought would be a far cry from enough. I scavenged through our camper and found
one little ice-cube tray. Sad, but I did not panic. I just grabbed measuring spoons, a
melon baller, an egg separator, and a mint mold. Ta-da!  

Now I finally go to do what the rest of the world is doing--
putting everything in mason jars!!!!! I feel so "in"!!!!
I feel even more in because I had some twine to tie around it!
Yay me! Oh and yes, the little one is a baby food jar.
Thank you, Hayden;)

Up-close of the quaint little flower bath fizzies- top that, Pinterest!!

Canvas by Heather

I just loved this picture of Kailey... ever since I saw it, all I could think of was the song, "Be careful little eyes".
So with that inspiration, I sent Heather Brandt and email and asked her to create me a canvas using that song!
I just love it!!

Look at them, they are SO adorable!!!! I dream of having this made into a canvas, maybe
this winter after I've saved up!

Little Sister's Party

birthday party for Ashley!

the big 18!

One very special lady, who happens to be the girl's mother:)

we love you Miss Ashley Wilson!!!
(that's also the couch we hid behind for a VERY long time...
only to watch you casually turn around and say "hi!"after
several seconds! We will never let you live that down!!!)

Mr. Bob, I'm hiring you to play at my birthday. Or wedding,
or funeral. Whichever happens first;)

Lots of love to my biggest little sister <3

Have I got some catching up to do or what!!

Here are the pics of the sweet little twins last time I watched them!

Ella was more awake, thus the obliging little poser below :)

Double trouble 2 year olds!! The month of May added a whole new
dimension to my world-- potty training attempt the second time! 

Huge grin while we wait for the newbie to go potty:)

Our mellow little girl with her new bangs!

Isn't she just the picture of sweetness??! 

And one more, because its not every day I get pictures of her!

She was so delighted when I showed her the previous huge
grin that she insisted on doing it again. Little pickle :)