Browsing Category

FUN/DIY

Beauty/ Frugal/ HEALTH/ HOME

5 Reasons Why You Should Dry Brush Your Skin

 

Why Dry Brush

1. It softens the skin.  
I remember taking a facial class (I’m a cosmetologist), where the instructor had been an esthetician for 15 years.  She told us about dry brushing and had us each come up and feel the skin on her arm.  She was in her 50’s, but her skin was as soft as a babies butt!  I was amazed.  She gave all the credit to dry brushing daily.

2. It is a simplistic, inexpensive approach to healthier skin
I love that you can gain great results without expensive potions and treatments.

3. It stimulates the lymphatic system.
After my cancer treatment, I saw a physical therapist who did lymphatic drainage massage on me to help prevent lymphedema.  I was intrigued by how gently she massaged, sweeping soft strokes across my skin, all towards the heart.  This was my first experience with lymphatic massage and I was always amazed at how I needed to immediately use the restroom after lymphatic drainage massage.  My therapist said that was a great indication that she had done her job, stimulating lymph fluid to be released.  She suggested I dry brush at home, in the same manner, to continue to keep my lymph canals to drain properly, which is detoxifying to the body.

4. It helps with ingrown hairs.
No more razor burn bumps or ingrown hair bumps.  The combination of dry brushing and shaving with a good, natural soap was the answer for me.

5. It sloughs off dead skin.

I used to struggle with small bumps on the back of my arms and on my legs.  Not anymore.  Dry brushing and again, using a natural soap from my local health food store did the trick.  Makes me happy!

6. It feels good!
It is amazing how good it feels to dry brush skin.  Especially if you have itchy, dry skin. It is great early in the morning right before my shower..it helps wake me up!

 

 How To Dry Brush:

1. Purchase a natural bristle brush. Not synthetic.  Ideally with a long handle.

2. Perform dry brushing before your shower while dry and naked (or nudie, as my girls say)

3. Work in long, upward strokes toward the heart.

4. Use whatever pressure is most comfortable for you.

5. Avoid sensitive areas and anywhere the skin is broken

6. After dry brushing your skin, rinse off in the shower.

7. Don’t forget to wash your brush using soap and water once a week.  Hang to dry.

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Frugal/ HOME/ Seasonal

Handmade Gifts

Is it too early to be talking Christmas? I love getting all of my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving.  I have my Mother-In-Law to thank for this.  She is always done by Thanksgiving and is always able to enjoy the beautiful Christmas season despite having a gazillion grand kids to buy for!

We have to be a bit more frugal this year due to my health expenses, so I plan to make some handmade gifts. I have been over at Pinterest getting inspired by all wonderful ideas, and thought I would share some of my favorites with you!

How about you?

Do you make any of your Christmas gifts?

Do you mind getting a handmade Christmas gift?

When do you start your Christmas shopping?

What is your favorite handmade gift above?

Do you have a Pinterest account?  If so, I’d love to know.  To follow me at Pinterest and see more of my pins,  click here.

 

10
Holidays/Parties

Halloween Pinterest

Source: None via Amy on Pinterest

Porch or sunroom decor

Source: jeanetics.net via Amy on Pinterest

Easy and cute idea

Recycle Ghost Lights

Going batty?

Simple donuts and cider party.  Love the balloons.

Source: bhg.com via Amy on Pinterest

Goodie googly ghost bags

Source: hgtv.com via Amy on Pinterest

Peek-a-boo pumpkins

Medusa wreath {shivers}

Pretty pumpkins

Pumpkin poptarts

Pepper pumpkin

Recycle those cans

Source: wanelo.com via Amy on Pinterest

Cute & easy ghost cookies

Love the shadows cast on the wall

Do you have the patience to make this?  I don’t..:)

Super cute ghost marshmallow s’more treat bag

Chalk paint stones

Use cookie cutters to carve a pumpkin

Spider web treats

Halloween wreath

Love this!

6
Love/ Music Renews/ Spiritual

I Am Remade

Is there someone in your life that hurls accusations at you?  That won’t forgive your shortcomings?  That reminds you on a consistent basis where you are failing?  Who points fingers at you, making you feel like everything bad that happens in life is your fault?  Who makes you feel like you have done something wrong when you have not? Or, when you have messed up, keeps holding up a mirror forcing you to stare at what you have already confessed?
Is that someone you?  Is that someone you love dearly?
Whether or not it is another person or your own self- talk, accusations are meant to destroy.  I believe they ultimately come from the one whom all evil flows– Satan, the Accuser.

From “A Confident Heart” by Renee Swope:

God’s spirit will convict you, but His heart will never condemn you.  How do we know whether what we are experiencing is condemnation that comes from the Accuser, or the voice of conviction that comes from God?

 Condemnation sweeps across our thoughts with generalized statements- “Your such a failure,” “Your so hypocritical,” etc.  When it is the Accuser, the tone is condemning, questioning and confusing.  It leads to guilt and shame.

Conviction that comes from God will be specific.  It reveals a sinful action and attitude and instructs us on what we need to do to right the wrong.  He’ll give us steps to take to change behavior or attitude.  

 ~Instead of Your such a failure as a [wife, mom, daughter, friend], the Spirit might say, You were really critical the way you talked to _______. (your husband, child, parent, etc.).  you need to say you are sorry and ask for forgiveness.  Then tell them something that will build them up instead of tearing them down. 

~Instead of You’re so hypocritical, the Spirit might say, You judge others for gossiping, but you are doing the same thing when you talk about your neighbor are at work.  Tomorrow at lunch break, apologize for what you said and share a few things that are positive about her.

God uses conviction lovingly, to show us our sin and lead our hearts to repentance.

–Renee Swope “A Confident Heart”

We’ve got to get our “good enough” from Jesus.  When we belong to Him, we’re clothed in His righteousness, forever beloved and accepted; a constant recipient of His steadfast love and grace.

–Gary Morland

My prayer:
Lord, thank you for remaking me.  Thank you for a love that is patient, is kind and keeps no record of my wrongs.  I trust your perfect love for me and I know that because of that perfect love I don’t need to be.  I will remain in your love and I will be confident of this: that He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus!

The video above is powerful.  The song is a favorite of mine.  I hope you enjoy.

You Are More by Tenth Avenue North

There’s a girl in the corner
With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she’s wandered
And the shame she can’t hide

She says, “How did I get here?
I’m not who I once was.
And I’m crippled by the fear
That I’ve fallen too far to love”

But don’t you know who you are,
What’s been done for you?
Yeah don’t you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade. 
Well she tries to believe it
That she’s been given new life
But she can’t shake the feeling
That it’s not true tonight

She knows all the answers
And she’s rehearsed all the lines
And so she’ll try to do better
But then she’s too weak to try

But don’t you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.

‘Cause this is not about what you’ve done,
But what’s been done for you.
This is not about where you’ve been,
But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved. 
You are more than the choices that you’ve made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You’ve been remade.

3
Music Renews/ Spiritual

A Love Song To God

I heard this song in the car today and loved it.  I have heard it before, but today it lit my heart up.

Jason Castro talking about his love and life.  As he says in the video below, his goals in life are to be “a loving father, a faithful husband and a servant of all.”  Beautiful.

You Are -Jason Castro
Looking for meaning
Looking for love
Looking for something to
Never give up
You are the one
You are the one
Looking for purpose in all
Of the pain
Looking for someone to
Hold in the rain
You are the one
You are the one

[CHORUS]
You are life more beautiful
You are love more powerful
You are the light that always shines
You are the one

You came in my darkness
You came in my night
You came without warning
You came to my side
You are the one
You are the one
There’s no before you
There’s no too late
There’s no without you
There’s only today
You are the one
You are the one

[CHORUS]
You are life more beautiful
You are love more powerful
You are the light that always shines
You are the one
You are the song I wanna sing
You are here
You are everything
You are the light that always shines
You are the one

And I will never move on from you
Oh oh
I will never move on from you
Yeah

CHORUS
You are life more beautiful
You are love more powerful
You are the light that always shines
You are the one
You are the song I gotta sing
You are here
You are everything
You are the light that always shines
You are the one
You are the one
You are the one
You are the light that shines
You are the one

And I will never move on from you
I will never move on from you

(LOVE NEVER FAILS)


1
Decorating/ FUN/DIY/ Homemade Gifts

Oil Preserved Photos In Mason Jars

My husband works for an organization where many volunteers come and serve the community.  He was in charge of planning a night to celebrate and recognize those volunteers.  He asked for my help in making the room special by decorating the tables. The place we held the celebration had an old wooden winding staircase, and was full of all kinds of nostalgic type memorabilia.  I played off the nostalgic feel of the place in my decor.  I used all sizes of mason jars, some holding bright sticks of licorice from our local gourmet licorice store, some tiny ball jars holding tea light candles and some full of junior mints. Larger mason jars were full of white daisies to create height and add some nature.  I had buttons that matched our licorice colors sprinkled on the table, and also used them to embellish wooden clothespins that were put at each setting and used in a mixer game.
Can you believe I didn’t take a picture of the finished tables!! 
I was so NOT HAPPY with myself…

I needed a personal touch and had pictures of the kids that the volunteers serve and spend time with.  I looked for a unique way to display them, and the world wide web did not fail me in finding a great idea!
I googled mason jar decor and these vintage photo mason jars from Happiness Is came up.  I instantly knew they would be the perfect, personal touch.  Not just a great table decor, but one that some of the volunteers could take home with them as a thank you gift.  The oil preserves the photo and gives it a vintage, aged, yellowing effect.  The jars at Happiness Is shows an added sprig of lavender to the jars, which was a beautiful touch.

{back of the jar}
They were so easy to make, I just bought the cheapest vegetable oil I could find, in bulk, and filled the jars.  Then I put 2 black and white photos, back-to-back, and slid them down into the oil.  I twisted on the lid then added a thank you tag held on with jute.  Simple!

2
Love/ Music Renews/ Spiritual

Hurting Hearts

My heart has been heavy for people who are in pain around me.

We found out a man who has lived beside us for years, one whom I’ve only said hi to. One whose pain, disfunction, addiction and odd actions with my children caused me to fear him and avoid him, took his own life.  I don’t know much about the situation, but I do know that he was hurting enough to believe that the only way out was to kill himself.  
The one thing I did know about him was that he slept with the TV on.  He lived in the basement of the house next door, and when I would walk down my stairs, from my upstairs window, I could see in a crack of his makeshift curtains –a shirt hanging in the window that always looked like a ghost.  The crack showed only a slice of his TV, which was on 24/7, tuned to black and white shows of the past.  I’m sure the TV was on the day they found his body.  I am sad to think of this man, dying alone in a basement lit with black and white.
I regret not pushing past my fear to at least try to get to know his story and offer him some hope. We even could have talked television, it would have been a start, maybe have led to something more meaningful.  I wish now to tell him that there is a God who knows, as the song below says,

“You know my heart is heavy
And the hurt is deep
But when I feel like giving up
You’re reminding me
That we all fall down sometimes
But when I hit the ground You
Lift me up when I am weak
Your arms wrap around me
Your love catches me so I’m letting go
You lift me up when I can’t see
Your heart is all that I need
Your love carries me so I’m letting go”


Are you hurting today?  If so, please take a listen and know that the God of the Universe loves you, no matter what.

Watch the official video by the Afters: 

Lift Me Up-{The Afters}
You lift me up with your love
You lift me up with your love
You lift me up with your love
You lift me up

Waiting for the sunrise
Waiting for the day
Waiting for a sign
That I’m where you want me to be

You know my heart is heavy
And the hurt is deep
But when I feel like giving up
You’re reminding me
That we all fall down sometimes
But when I hit the ground

You lift me up when I am weak
Your arms wrap around me
Your love catches me so I’m letting go
You lift me up when I can’t see
Your heart is all that I need
Your love carries me so I’m letting go

You lift me up with your love
You lift me up with your love
You lift me up with your love
You lift me up

I know I’m not perfect
I know I make mistakes
I know that I have let you down
But you love me the same

And when I’m surrounded
When I lose my way
When I’m crying out and falling down
You are here to

Lift me up when I am weak
Your arms wrap around me
Your love catches me so I’m letting go
You lift me up when I can’t see
Your heart is all that I need
Your love carries me so I’m letting go

I can see the dawn is breaking
I am feeling overtaken with your love
With your love
I don’t know what I can offer
In this moment I surrender to your love
To your love

You lift me up when I am weak
Your arms wrap around me
Your love catches me so I’m letting go

You lift me up when I am weak
Your arms wrap around me
Your love catches me so I’m letting go
You lift me up when I can’t see
Your heart is all that I need
Your love carries me so I’m letting go

I can see the dawn is breaking
I am feeling overtaken with your love

You lift me up with your love
You lift me up with your love
You lift me up with your love
You lift me up

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