Homemade Scrubs and Bath Soaks

Because of the time of year (and the day! Dec. 20! Ack! 5 days left!) my brain is mush. Lots of cute and amusing things are going on here but I can't remember any of them. And I lost the card to my camera so I can't even take random pictures of things like Charlie's dwarf snowman and the new bunkbeds Henry won't stay in. So instead I will share some yummy recipes from my last MOPS party.

My MOPS group meets once a month and December is the best. We have a SPA day! This year I called my friend Mindy to go with me. She said, "I'm so busy and overwhelmed I NEED to go!" And it was well worth it.

We made neck wraps, got paraffin dips, foot soaks, and made some amazing bath stuff. Here are the recipes that were included:

Hershey's Spa Chocolate Bath
1 C Powdered Milk
2 T Cocoa
1 t cornstarch
1/2 t cinnamon

Add 1/2 or whole bag to warm bath and enjoy! Warning- the bath water looks so yucky but smells so good! And your skin will be super soft when you get out. Wash out the tub immediately because it gets all over the sides.

Chocolate Brown Sugar Body Scrub
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c light olive oil
1 T cocoa powder
1/4 t almond extract

To use- gently massage onto body to exfoliate and moisturize skin. Not for facial use.

This stuff is so awesome! I have a little bit left of each and I'm saving them for Christmas Eve (since I'm wrapping EVERYTHING that night to prevent Henry from unwrapping anything he shouldn't).

Have a great day!

Box of Books

While we were in Minnesota last month we got to visit with some friends who have recently moved out there. We've known them, worked with them, kind of lived with them a long time and it was good to see them again- and good to NOT be all alone out there.

Bryan officially has one of the greatest jobs EVER. Well, maybe his job isn't the greatest but his employer is. The day they came to visit with us was his official first day of work at...dum-dah-dah-dum....Desiring God Ministries! And the best part is...they brought us prizes! Two books by John Piper and a conference on DVD. We were so excited!

A couple of weeks ago Bryan had asked me if I'd ever heard of Helen Roseveare. I emailed him back and went on and on and on about how I LOVE her. While we worked in Pennsylvania the director had brought me a book from his personal library that he wanted me to order for the team. It was Living Sacrifice by Helen Roseveare. I went online and searched for it and discovered it was out of print. I contacted the publisher and got permission to make copies. The woman I spoke to at the publisher told me that Helen Roseveare "was no longer living and it was such a shame because she had heard her speak once and it was wonderful." I tried to copy the book on the copy machine but it wasn't turning out very well. So, I decided to try and type it out. The book wasn't that long and I could type pretty fast so I tried it.

I didn't like biographies much and I especially didn't like missionary biographies. They were all the same and all boring (I think at that point I had read maybe two biographies so clearly I hadn't read enough to know what I was talking about). No kidding, Living Sacrifice changed my life. I've actually read it three times. I never finished typing it because it was taking forever but I added that book to my mental list of favorites.

After I sent the email back to Bryan he replied that the publisher must have been mistaken because Helen Roseveare was speaking at the Desiring God conference in September! I was so excited because maybe that would mean she would have books there! I told Bryan the title of the one I loved so much and asked him to keep his eyes open. A few days later I received this book from him by Noel Piper. Awesome! It wasn't Living Sacrifice but she was still in there!

A couple of days after the conference Sarah emailed me the link to watch Miss Roseveare speak. She is a tiny British woman who has such passion for the Lord and she's very witty! It was kind of neat to put a face and a personality with the stories I'd read.

Yesterday when I got home from work there was a package in the mail. I never get packages so I was surprised. I saw Bryan and Sarah's name in the corner so I KNEW it was going to be books. When I opened the box I nearly had a heart attack.

That's six books by Helen Roseveare! There is also a DVD of John Piper's sermons on Romans. I think there were 5 more DVD's and two more books but my husband ran off with those. I'm already a couple chapters into the first book and I can't wait to read them all! Aren't friends the best??? Especially kindred spirits! Hooray for fellow booklovers!

I love IKEA

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but, I love IKEA. When we moved a few years ago to Pennsylvannia some friends of ours invited us to go with them to the Baltimore store. We arrived an hour before closing so we had to speed shop but from that night on we were hooked! I'm not a creative person at all - I'm a copycat. I can mimic something I like but I can't come up with it on my own. I love how the store is set up- I can copy how they have their rooms set up right down to the paint color!

My girlfriend and I decided in June that we needed a "no-kids-girls-day" and we went to IKEA Detroit last week. Woohoo! Adult conversation without having to talk louder than the screaming children! We pigged out on the 50 cent hot dogs, $1 humungous cinnamon rolls, and shopped as slowly as we wanted. We were there for over 6 hours!

I was on the hunt for window treatments. For the den and the living room I bought these bedspreads (creative right? I actually came up with that sort of on my own- okay, I copied it from a show on hgtv). If you enlarge the picture you can see there is a ribbed stripe that really makes these look cool! I bought two for each window, hemmed one end, ran a black curtain rod through them, and hung them high to make my windows look bigger. I love it!

These are the ones I'm most excited about. In my bedroom my furniture is black, the carpet is grey, and the bed linens are khaki. They all sort of go together but not really. The curtains pull it all together. I only hung one curtain (I used the other in front of our open linen closet in the bathroom) so it looks like wall art. And I was able to copy down the wall color the room was painted at the store. The room at the store used all the same colors as me so I was so excited!

Now I just need to paint....

And here is the best part...the treat I bring home (served on some kid ikea plates).