Frugal Beauty

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etsy.com

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament.  Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I just went to a women’s spring luncheon (Thank you, Amy!) where the theme was “Beauty.” The fun beauty stations they had set up reminded me of all the inexpensive homemade beauty recipes that I’d been bookmarking over the years.  They include many simple ingredients that most of us probably already have.

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Not Your Childhood’s Breakfast Cereal

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Chocolate Cereal from Tanya Dawn Flickr photostream

Many of us have cereal memories.

Perhaps you were the poor kid who had to break your teeth on Grape Nuts (AKA Gravel Nuts) and only got the pleasure that is Honey Nut Cheerios on special occasions.  Or maybe you were the one who had to make the painful decision between Cookie Crisp, Cap’N Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, et. al. – ultimately deciding based on the color the milk would turn.

Well, I was the first kid, but I had plenty of the second in my neighborhood.  =)  I was that child who would stare longingly into my friends’ candied pantries and ask if we could PLEASE eat something before we played.  

And now I am raising those children.  But that’s for another post…

In the meantime, our family has come up with a new alternative to boxed breakfast cereals that everyone seems to be happy with.  (Except for the hubs, whose price-love and desire for TJ’s Honey Oat O’s has yet to be broken…)

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BOOK BITES: Like Dew Your Youth

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First things first.

God bless Eugene Peterson for all he did for Christendom by writing The Message (among many other things), but his publishers need to repent for coming up with a horrible title for an excellent book.  It’s even worse when you are verbalizing it to people.  ”Like… Do… What?”

It originates from the scripture “From the womb of the morning, like dew your youth will come to you.”  (Psalm 110:3)  If you think long and hard about it, you may eventually be able to read between the lines.  Still, not every Bible verse is book title material.  (And we won’t even mention the cover…)

Redeemably, there is a subtitle and it gives a much better idea of what the book is actually about:  Growing Up With Your Teenager. Continue reading →

RECIPE: Nourishing Citrus Smoothies

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Citrus Wallpaper

Before we lived on the East Coast for eight years, I was a California girl for eleven.  And yet during that initial residency in the Sunshine State, I was never much of a citrus person. Now that we are back, however, I’m all over the citrus.  We even lived on Citrus Street at one point.

We’ve inherited a (sad) orange tree that I plan on not neglecting soon, friends with bags of lemons to give away, an intrastate gift of delicious grapefruits from my parents tree and a recent glut of limes from my favorite farm stand’s dollar table.  With this overabundance of vibrant spheres of Vitamin C sourness (#overthetopeuphemisms), I have been forced to find ways to consume them.  

Enter our friend, Vita-Mix.   Continue reading →

The Overwhelming Resource for “All Things Postpartum” (Part 3)

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(I began our ever-growing and far from complete journey into the world of pregnancy, birth, and babies here, and then continued it here, and am trying to wrap it up below.  Wish me luck.)

So now that I am 2 months postpartum with my fourth little miracle, I figure it is time to finish this postpartum blog post.  It’s always great to review the amazing information that is out there and to see it from a fresh perspective.

And many congrats to the sweet new babies that have joined us recently and the ones that are on the way!

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A Very Chocolate-y Lent

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We began observing Lent as a family just a few years ago, having grown up in an evangelical background that didn’t acknowledge much of the liturgical calendar.  Though we don’t want to get all religious/legalistic about it, there is value in celebrating along with the universal and historical church.

In the past I would thoughtlessly give up a few of my favorite vices: TV, chocolate, Facebook, and Girl Scout cookies.  (Does anyone else think it’s odd that they come out during Lent each year?)  But I have recently felt encouraged to make Lent about more than just my trendy, superficial sacrifices.

Instead of giving up chocolate for Lent this year, we’re using it as a teaching tool with the kids.   Continue reading →

RECIPE: Chocolate Deliciousness

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DSCN4489

This stuff surpasses any label you could try to burden it with.  It’s thicker than pudding, less sugary than a ganache, denser than a mousse and easier to make than a custard.  I know, I know.  People always say a recipe is easy and then they start saying things like “prepare a water bath,” “separate the white from the yolk,” or “sift the dry ingredients.”  (What?  I don’t sift.)

Well not this time.  This recipe is TRULY easy.  It’s all of four ingredients and requires very little heating.  And it’s healthy, what with all the dark chocolate, eggs & coconut.
I whipped it out again for another of my husbands birthday desserts and this time made it dairy free.  He gave it his ultimate food compliment:  ”Restaurant Quality.”   Continue reading →