Skin Care: Exfoliation | Scrubs: Sugar vs Salt?

I hope ya'll got a chance to read about Skin Care: The Basics. If not, now might be a good time to catch up. This is a second post in the skin care series. I am a practicing Licensed Massage Therapist that knows about the anatomy of the skin, it's function, metabolism, etc, and I have learned my fair share regarding skin care. I am licensed in doing body mud and seaweed wraps, and salt and sugar scrubs. But most of what I offer today is based off of my own experiences creating the knowledge I have. 

Long before my success in making some DIY Whipped Body Butter and Homemade Lotion, I was using a DIY body and face scrub. If there is one thing I feel I am pretty serious about, it is skin care. Not just care of the face, but actually all the skin: arms, hands, elbows, knees, legs... I kind of feel like since it's the only skin I've been given, I need to take care of it.

Homemade Lotion {Bars}

A few of my kiddos have skin issues in the colder months. When Bradley was little he would get these dark red patches in his elbows, behind his knees- and as he has gotten older, his hands crack open and bleed on his knuckles, poor kid. Megan does too. I was grateful for a practical doctor that just had us mix Aquaphor and a tube of Hydrocortisone Cream together and that was as good as any prescription we tried, and that did the trick. But honestly- hydrocortisone is a steroid. Do I really want to put that on their skin for 5 straight months? Not really....

Menu Planning Board Part 2

This is just a little sneek peek of what I am working on. It is just a screen shot of some designing I am doing to create the whole board.

I am diving in head first into this project. I am really excited to be done with the planning, drawing, and laying out of this project and moving on with the "coming to pass" (which is not in this post-so sorry!). If you didn't see the inspiration of this menu project, you can read here about it. This post is the busy part of this menu board. It might even be considered the boring part. This is where the effort comes in... the gathering of information.

{Lemon Peppermint} Whipped Body Butter

I am kind of into the DIY at home products you see all over Pinterest. I will be posting about more coming soon, as the experience has been great. I tried something drastic (no poo-ing) and it has created a snowball effect in so many self care areas, and I am sure I have released a demon inside. I loved this product! It was cool to choose the scent I wanted. It feels great on my skin too, and the moisture is incredible.

Homemade Mommy

This is the pin that has inspired my recipe. Don't be intimidated when you read the whole post. Remember, you always have a choice as to how you want to proceed. Even though I find the concept of Beef Tallow really interesting, I opted not to use it in this recipe. A few notes on this:

Menu Planning Board, Part 1

I swear, this title alone might have people scrambling to scan over the post to see what is here. My ears have been a buzzing with talk of Menu Planning boards. In my Craft Group on Facebook, I have been asked about it, and when I posed the question it was very clear people were not just interested, but needed help. Maybe not so much help, but direction.

So what should be included in a Menu Planning Board? Menus? Dates? Do you plan one week, two weeks, or a month at a time? Does it need to be color coded? Holy crow... the list could be going on FOR-EV-ER!!

My bestie, regularly emails me links to websites, pins, and pictures of Menu Planning boards. They have ranged from simple to complex. Here are a few, I have stumbled upon:

Hip 2 Save

I love this idea. READ HER WHOLE POST! This idea definitely will be going to be part of what I am planning on putting together.

Silhouette America Blog

This system is very versatile for sure, being able to swap the week headers. Not to mention very pleasing to look at. But, I personally think for a board this BIG there is a lot of wasted/negative space.

Controlling My Chaos

This might work for some peeps, not me. I don't have any space on the side of my refrigerator. Not to mention I could see my youngest 2 walking away with the spare magnets, not in planning use. But obviously you would always have it at your fingertips. I like the squareness of it all though.

RobbyGurl's Creation

If you are on Pinterest, and if you HAVE NOT seen this pin, you are either living under a rock or just not interested at all in menu planning (or maybe you have a system that already works?). This is.... INTENSE at the very least. In this picture (if I understand her blog post) there is 1000 recipes here. Yes, you read that right.... ONE THOUSAND. What is that? Three years of never having the same thing twice? This might be a dream come true for some, but for me, this is a little too much. But this one did get me closer towards what I knew I wanted.

The Homes I Have Made

This is cute. Her post is detailed as to how it came about. And I love how she used her own system, and integrated a new spin to make it work better for her. I love the Magnet Sheets she talks about, I am really tempted to get some just to try 'em out!

Hmmm.... what are all of these missing? Something big, in my opinion.

You will have to stay tuned to find out. :) You know this was coming, it says PART 1 in the Post Title!