Wait, what happened to Summer?

Ah! I had so many wonderful posts planned this summer and yet as you can see, here we are at the tail end of the season.

Well, to sum up, we are official Homeschoolers, with Bear now an official first grader. I've worked two conventions with my company and am delighted with how they went. Bear has joined a local cub scout troop. Bun has had her 4 year birthday. Bear is heading into his 6 year birthday.

All of these posts will be coming to you slowly. We are currently fighting with spotty internet access. Please don't abandon me yet, I have so much to share with you.

The Day of the Bear

What a week, month, season, year?
There has been so much happening, which would fit this blog, but unfortunately a life of littles doesn't give much time to pause and reflect, much less sit and type.

But, I did want to share a little story about a visitor we had on Sunday night.

We feed birds. We have 3-4 bird feeders going (depending on damages from squirrels) and 2 suet cakes available year round. They are all situated on double shepherds hooks, similar to this one. This has never been a problem until this week. My husband came back to the bedroom after letting our dog out and said, "The bird feeders are touching the ground."

I quickly went outside and sure enough, both metal hooks were bent down the the ground. The bird feeders, which had been empty at the time (I was sick and not in the mood to fill feeders, but I guess it was Providence) were scattered about and both suet cake cages were ripped open and cleaned out.

Luckily only one feeder was destroyed. We think the bear pulled the hook down with it, since it was on the stronger of the two hooks.

Well, all this to say, oh yeah, we live in black bear country and although we live in a neighborhood, that doesn't stop young bears from being overly curious, especially when someone hangs a hunk of yummy fat on a poll.

We've alerted our neighbors and stopped feeding the birds for the time being. At least until we can be sure the bear isn't prowling around our yard during the night. It was a little scary to think of the wild animals prowling around in our backyard while we sleep, but now I'm just bummed we didn't see him.

What's the wildest thing you've had visit your yard?

I'm thinking I might use this experience to convince my husband we should add some more lights in the backyard. hmm...

Fighting Seasonal Affective Disorder

I realize it has been a while. I'm sorry for that.
I think it's time to admit that I do have a problem with Seasonal Affective Disorder and I need to address it.

If you're not familiar, Seasonal Affective Disorder (or SAD) is a type of depression which is directly related to the changes in season and the levels of sunlight a person receives. Symptoms are different for each person ranging from losing interest in activities, having low energy, sleeping problems, difficulty concentrating, feelings of hopelessness or guilt.

I've always had a winter-blues kinda way about myself, but as I've grown older, this issue hits harder. Can you believe the only reason  I haven't blogged is because I didn't want to turn on the computer? I mean how low energy can you get? 

But it gets pretty bad and has consistently gotten worse. I plan to really get to the root of this problem and figure out a way to fight through from November to April.

Do you have problems with SAD? What do you do to fight it? 
 
Medical information for this post are pulled from the Mayo Clinic's website.

Let's Make Bath Bombs!

Bath bombs! You must have heard about them before. It seems everyone is talking about them. For a show I did this past weekend, I made bath bombs instead of my usual glycerin soaps. 

I don't sell bath products by trade, but I like to make something fun, which my children will enjoy if I don't sell them all. It's also nice to schedule a day that doesn't involve crocheting, because when I'm preparing for a convention, that seems like all I do.  

I thought, why not give you a how to on making bath bombs and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes! 

Ok, so first things, first, you need a recipe. I based my bath bombs on Hello Glow's No-Fail Coconut Oil Bath Bomb recipe, but I tweaked things here and there as I saw necessary.

Ingredients:

Baking Soda

Citric Acid

Epsom Salt

Cornstarch

Coconut Oil

Essential Oils

Food Coloring

Bath Bomb Molds

Tiny Pokemon Toys (What? Don't worry, I'll explain.)

 

Ok, so as I see it, part of taking a bath bomb is the experience. You want a super fizzy bath bomb with a pleasing color and scent. As a bonus, I like to put a small plastic toy in the bombs. It's a longer lasting memory and a random toy makes things more fun. haha!

Now don't forget, safety first! I highly recommend wearing a Particulate Respirator when mixing your ingredients and Nitrate Gloves will keep your hands from drying out. While working with all these salts, your hands will dry up. 

You will also need:

A Large non-reactive bowl

One Cup measure

1/2 cup measuring cup

A small bowl

Plastic disposable fork (or spork!)

Wire Whisk

Ready to make some fun bath bombs? 

Alright here we go!

1. Combine 1/2 cup of Epsom Salts with a few 10-15 drops of food coloring and 10-30 drops of essential oils. It will smell strongly, but don't worry we will be mixing this with the other ingredients and it will be diluted. Set your Epsom Salt mix aside for about 15 minutes. 

Why are you doing this? Well, The biggest reason we have failures in bath bomb making is moisture. Moisture will make your bombs react before they are ready. To avoid this, we pre-mix the coloring and fragrance with the Epsom Salts. Epsom Salts will absorb moisture without making your bombs react too early.

If you were just making bath salts, you would stop here, let the Epsom Salts dry completely and bottle up your salts. 

2. Now while you're waiting for the Epsom Salt to "cure" let's mix up the other dry ingredients. You will mix 1 cup of Baking Soda, 1/2 cup of Citric Acid, and 1/2 cup of Cornstarch. Mix these ingredients thoroughly with a wire whisk.

Why Cornstarch? Ok, you don't need cornstarch to make a bath bomb. But it does slow down the bubbling process just a tad so you extend the experience. It will also give the water a slightly milky appearance, which is nice. But if you don't want cornstarch, just leave that out. No harm at all. 

3. Mix in your Epsom Salts to the other dry ingredients. Mix well. You will see the color transfer to the other ingredients without the tell-tale fizz of a failure batch.

4. Melt approximately 3 tablespoons of coconut oil in a microwave safe measuring cup. I found 15-20 seconds was enough. The amount of coconut oil you use will depend on the humidity in the air on the day you are making bath bombs. I had some mixes act very dry and had to use an extra tablespoon or two to make my bombs. Again, it really depends on the weather. 

5. Mix the oil into your dry mix slowly adding more as needed. It's important to mix this with your hands. The texture will feel like good snowball making snow. It will pack and hold it's shape nicely. 

6. Taking your bath bomb molds, fill 1/2 of the mold halfway. Place the plastic toy inside and finish packing. Use your palms to pack the molds. (Don't be me with sore thumbs) Pack that little ball like it's the end of the world, but be sure to keep the threads clear. If there is ingredients trapped in the threads, it will not make a solid bath bomb. 

7. I found I was able to make a total of 10 bath bombs per batch. Once you finish making bombs, place them in the freezer for 20 minutes. I placed all of my bombs on a metal baking sheet with sides to keep them from rolling all over or worst case popping open in my freezer.

8. Remove your bombs from the freezer, warm the mold with your hands and separate carefully. You should have a perfect little bath bomb now! 

9. Oh no! Your bathbomb broke! No problem. Let it warm up to room temperature and crush it back up. You likely need a little more coconut oil, but it can be repaired. Hooray on only a little waste

10. I recommend letting your bath bombs set overnight to finish drying. With a coconut oil based product, this isn't necessary, but I found letting the tiny bit of moisture from the food coloring evaporate helped produce a more solid product. 

These balls won't like heat or moisture, so I wrapped mine tightly in plastic wrap and tied the ends with curling ribbon to keep them dry and help keep their shape. 

I hope you try making your own surprise bath bombs. If you have any questions, please contact me. This was so fun and my children are loving their baths. (I'm enjoying their coconut oil baths which is keeping itchy winter skin and fly away hair at bay. 

PS! Your bath bombs might make your bathtubs a little slippery. To clean up, I recommend using a scrub brush and dish soap. Fill your bath with hot to warm water, just and inch. A quick scrub around and you're bathtub will be sparkling clean.

Tiny Paper Houses

I know, I know. I totally fell off the world after Thanksgiving. It was a good thing, because I was busy with my business, but a sad thing, because there were so many good things I wanted to share with you.

I'm back today, because I've finally gotten a chance to sit at my computer and compose.

Today, I thought I'd feature an very talented and kind artist, Delphine Doreau. She creates darling little paper craft designs and gives them away for free on her website, Le Lapin dans la Lune!

For Christmas, I will print out several of her designs and assemble the little houses out of white cardstock. Then I set them on our dinning room table and let the children play with them. (As you can imagine, it's rare a house survives to the next year, but the children absolutely adore them.

This one is perhaps my favorite. It's the Joyeux Noel house in the back with a bunting. I was so excited, because this year she offered a blank house template for you to decorate on your own. My children absolutely loved decorating their houses.

They're right now behind me playing with their little village. haha!

If you're interested in browsing her site for your own printable village and ornaments, please visit here. You can also purchase a copy of her US released book, My Town. It is an entire book of her designs printed out on nice paper so you won't use up your printer in.

*

Well that's all from me. Aside from cool things happening, our family has been passing around a cold faster than a hot potato since Thanksgiving. I need to get to the store for more tissues, because we're down to one box. I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Neil Gaiman's Cranberry Sauce

I love cranberries. There is something about those bright red berries, which makes me want to smile.

I've always been a canned cranberry sauce kinda person. I remember being so excited about the can-shaped cranberry jelly my mother would serve with our Thanksgiving meal.

Well, one day while poking about on Twitter, Neil Gaiman shared a recipe for Cranberry Sauce and I had to try it and thank goodness I did! It's one of the few dishes on Thanksgiving day, which my son will eat.

I'm going to translate his recipe into an easy way to read it, but you can always visit his blog, linked above.

Neil Gaiman's Cranberry Sauce

Please note, this is a 2-day recipe, so start early!

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh cranberries
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 pinch of salt

1. Wash the cranberries, removing any soft ones.

2. Bring the water to a boil. Add the cranberries, sugar, and salt to the boiling water.

3. Boil for about 25 minutes, skimming off the pink froth, and stirring occasionally.

4. Keep boiling until the sauce becomes a thick jelly. When you drop a drip of sauce into a cup of cold water, it will hold it's shape when the sauce is done. 

5. Pour the jelly into a jelly mold, if you have one, or as Neil suggested a tupperware bowl. I used a small Pyrex bowl which I tempered with warm water first.

7. Let the steaming jelly cool on a counter until you can place it safely into the fridge.

8. The next day, fill a sink with hot water, hold the bottom of the jelly mold in the water for a few seconds, then turn it upside down onto a plate.

I hope you will try this recipe. It is really delicious, very easy and kind a fun.

Winter Sale!

I'm holding a winter sale at my company Moon's Creations. Right now you can save 10% on all purchases. No coupon code needed. Simply place an item in the cart and the discount is taken off.

Easy Peasey!

I'm sorry I sound like a big advertisement lately. I'm working on a couple of posts about the children and their activities. And I've also caught one heck of a cold, so I'm pretty spacey right now too.

I promise I won't turn into an all advertisement blog. Unless I find really cool deals I want to share.

Perfectly Posh (or really nice skincare!)

Last month I was invited to a Facebook based "party" about some line of skincare I'd never heard of, but my friend did invite me and I like face stuff, so why not, right?

It was also during a time I was seriously procrastinating with my business and so I found myself peaking into the party daily to see what was happening. (The party was 2 weeks long.) Each day the consultant introduced some of her products and mailed out free samples for everyone to try.

And so I did.

Now, I've been an exclusive Korean Skin Care Regime kinda gal since 2012, with an average of 8 steps. I loved my routine but suddenly this year, one of my products broke out my forehead and it would not go away. I'd stopped using products entirely trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

Well, trying the samples out immediately cleared up the rough forehead issues.

So, I accepted when the consultant asked if I'd host a party too. Because when something works for me, I'm going to shout it to the rafters.

My favorite item, is their Big Fat Yummy Hand Creme. It comes in a variety of fragrances and so I bought a few which sounded nice and found my favorite was their My Hands are Thai'd. To me, it smells like dried orange slices with a few soft spice notes.

When I first tried this hand creme, I was thinking "oh god! what is this fresh hell?" It felt so thick and gross, but within a minute it had fully absorbed and my hands looked great. I'm often troubled by my old lady hands, especially since I take photos of them when I photo my dolls.

I started using this once a day after a shower, but with the cold weather, I've added an application. It's crazy good. I even bought some for my mom for Christmas. (shh... don't tell.)

I also really liked their exfoliating wash A Whole Lava Love. It's minty and scrubs all the crude out. This is what kicked the nasty-forever-forehead-break-out. It made me feel so self-conscious, so I'm super grateful.

Anyway, I said I am hosting a party! Yay! If you're interested in any of the products, please use my link (I may get a prize!)

They are currently having a 10 days of sales promotion, where you can get different items for a discount or free gift, like today it's a body butter free gift with purchase, but as a savvy shopper-type, I think the best pricing will be Friday. I'll keep you posted if you'd like.

Or you can join the Facebook party here. (And if you join us late, you can still ask for free samples. While the company's products are really fantastic, they're aren't the best at refunds, so sample away!

Zazzle Sale!

I wanted to share the coupon code CLOTHINGSALE to save up to 40% on T-shirts, Leggings, and more from Zazzle!

Here are a few of my more favorite shirts we've recently added to the shop! Each of these shirts are customizable and available in a variety of shirt styles and colors!

Exit, Pursued by a Bear - Shakespeare Shirt
by DumbleDean

Narwhal Believe! Rainbow Shirt
by DumbleDean

Tea Rex Shirt - Tea Party T-Rex
by DumbleDean

It's Fun to Stay at the Y.M.C.A.

I've done it! I've join the YMCA and despite constantly getting the Village People song stuck in my head on a nearly everyday basis, I'm having a ball!

I've never been a big gym person and have been dragging my heels about joining, because of money and uncertainty and basic self-doubt. But I'm so glad I did it! I haven't been in shape since I injured my back in 2013 and I've had enough of it.

Our YMCA offers childcare for up to 2 hours a day, so I can leave Bear and Bun there without worrying about a babysitter. Every single person I've met there has been an absolute angel. There isn't the big competition or bluster you expect when you join a traditional gym.

It feels so crazy to put my health first for the very first time since I've become a mother.

Now unfortunately, I haven't received any noticeable benefit, as it's only been our first full week, except being exceptionally tired. haha! I'll keep everyone posted on how things continue.

Shark Flexi Journal

My friend Cara is working with Chronicle Books to make these hilarious Shark Journals. They are currently available for preorder on Amazon, and as I always say, I love Amazon's Pre-order Price Guarantee.*

The best part about pre-ordering this item now is it tells the publisher Cara's work is valuable, which can lead to more job offers. As a free lancer, jobs are tough enough to come by, so every little bit helps to support the artist!

*If you're not familiar, with Amazon's Pre-order Price Guarantee here's the low-down. If you order a pre-order item and the Amazon.com price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, you'll receive the lowest price. It's awesome because I don't have to watch for the lowest price.



I promise I have more posts to share with you about our Team and what we've been up to , but due to a bit of insomnia on my part, coupled with a new workout regime, I'm running on fumes. Thank you for being so wonderful!

Do you Swagbucks?

Alright, let me preface this post with yes, this is going to have an affiliate link, but please hear me out on this one.

When my husband found out he was going to lose his job this Spring, we agreed we needed to look into a way to make money so we could float if it took him longer to find a job. One of the places I turned to was Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a survey website, which rewards you with what they call Swagbucks (or SB) and you can redeem these for giftcards.

Not only do you gain SB for taking surveys, but you can also earn them when you purchase items online. This is where I really pick up the SBs because if I'm going to buy something online, I might as well make some money back too. You can earn back from retailers like: Amazon, Walmart, Old Navy, Ebay, and Target, just to name a few!

They've recently released a feature that allows you to print out coupons and when you use those at a store you get SB back! Awesome!

I can usually earn $25 Amazon giftcards each month by taking surveys! If you're interested in joining, follow this link. Sign up and give it a try.

A book too good not to share!

Yesterday, we went to the library for a cute trick or treat and parade event. During our walk through the library, I was picking up books that looked interesting. (I ended up with quite the armload!) I immediately grabbed this one because if the adorable and spazzy cover.

Super Happy Magic Forest by Matt Long, looked like a silly "look and find" sort of book, kinda like a Where's Waldo, but I was delighted to discover a real story, which was crazy cute! It is a story, which tells of 5 adorable adventurers as they try to save their home. It sounds kinda scary, right? But Matty Long manages to make it a fun and friendly adventure. He also throws in a few Lord of the Ring references for Moms and Dads to giggle over. It's a mix between a story book and a comic book in format.

My children are right now pretending to be part of the story and role-playing their own adventure. (Can their Mama hope to one day play role-playing games with her children? maybe?) So, yeah! This book has been immediately added to our Amazon wish list to add to our library.

While searching for the book online, I see Matty Long has created a second book! Super Slug of Doom: A Super Happy Magic Forest Story! Consider this one added to the wish list too!

Featured items: 

We use affiliate links. If you purchase from one of our links, we may make a few cents. Every little bit helps our family, so we appreciate it!

Save 60% at Michaels - Today Only!

Ok, I try not to do this too often, but guys! Here's another big deal at Michael's now! You can save 60% on any one regular priced item at Michael's Craft Store today only!! Make sure you use promo code: 60MAKE102817

Zazzle Sale!

Hey! If you've been looking to purchase one of our designs at our Zazzle shop, Dumbledean, now is the time! You can save up to 40% off on most items using Promo Code: ZGIFTSDEAL40
The sale is good through October 29th. I'm going to be purchasing a few shirts for myself!


Browse other gifts from Zazzle.,

Troll and the Oliver and Troll Cupcakes!

Last week, while browsing the stacks at our local library, I picked up this cute book by Adam Stower, Troll and the Oliver. It is a darling little story about a troll who is trying to catch (and eat!) the Oliver. I personally love how the author refers to Oliver as the Oliver, as though Troll thinks that's what he is rather than the little boy's name. Finally Oliver does end up getting a taste of Oliver, but to his disappointment, Olivers taste disgusting. Luckily, the two discover Trolls do like cake.

This book was an absolute delight and my children had me read it several times each day while it was in our possession.

As a bonus, this book includes a cupcake recipe to make your own troll cupcakes! Which, I can tell you my children were all about.

So we gathered up our materials and even found some cute cake decorating eyes. (Like these, Wilton Candy Eyeballs,0.88 Ounce,Count of 50) and got to work.

Now sadly, and I hope they fixed this in future printings, the cake recipe is incomplete. It is missing baking powder (or any rising agent) which would be needed to make a proper cake. But with a bit of google-foo, I found a small batch cupcake recipe online and things were back on track.

Here is my sample cupcake for the children. I made a simple buttercream recipe (from the storybook) and roughed it up with a fork to make fur. We used a candy corn assortment, Candy eyeballs, mini marshmallows, and these Twizzlers Twist Pullnpeel Fruit Punch Candy, 12 Oz Bag, (Pack of 2), Grape, Cherry, Orange Flavors, since I couldn't find regular red licorice strings.

The children were thrilled! They each got to decorate four cupcakes and even their papa got to join in with two of his. (I'd add a photo of their faces, but well, um. Ok my desk is behind them and it has lately become the family's dumping place since I've been busy with my store.)

Here is a shot of all their hard work! Hooray! Troll cupcakes for everyone and much tastier than nasty Olivers.


I use affiliate links in this post. If you purchase anything I will make a small commission.
Featured Items in this post include:

Clear your drain, the natural way

You never really think about things until they are broken.
That's definitely how I am.
Lately I've been suffering a slow drain. We have a septic system, so I can't really throw a bunch of death poisons down the drain without some major backlash in the backyard.

While researching what to do, I've discovered an awesomely inexpensive way to have clear drains.

Tada! What are these things you ask? Well they're drain snakes! (Technically called: Vastar 3 Pack 23.6 Inch Drain Snake Hair Drain Clog Remover Cleaning Tool) See those little thorns on the edges? They capture all the gross hair and gunk that gets stuck in the drain.


Ready to follow me with cleaning a bathtub drain? Here we go!

Step 1: Work your snake down the drain. You may have to wiggle jiggle it down. Then pull it out and try not to smack yourself with the gross when you pull it out. (Yeah, I totally did that the first time I tried it out and nearly gagged.)

Step 2: Pour regular table salt down the drain. I'm not sure if this is really helpful, but I've heard it helps to rough up anything in the pipe.

Step 3: Pour boiling water down the drain.

In my experience, your drain should be happy and draining properly. Hooray! No poisons! Just a little elbow grease.

We're learning

Last week I took the children for a drive along the Blue Ridge Trail. It was fun, but we were woefully unprepared. This time I had plans! We packed a picnic lunch and less science materials. We also made a point of stopping at the visitor center to pick up free publications, which will help in our future adventures.

It feels like there is so much pressure to make everything EDUCATIONAL, but I'm slowly beginning to learn my children seem to learn more when I let go and let them find their interests. That doesn't mean to say they don't learn their letters and math, but when it comes to science and social studies, letting them go on their own is best. 

Bear found this awesome caterpillar! We gathered a few nuts, which had fallen from a tree at the visitor center and brought them home to figure out what tree they are from. The children climbed all over rocks. Both fell down. They didn't break. When other tourists would say hello, they politely replied. When I asked they draw one thing from today's trip in their journal. They happily did it.

Who's children are these? haha! I really needed this day and if the weather proves good next week, we're headed back up the mountain. I'm beginning to also see the value of field trips and I'm thinking more are definitely in order.

Product Review: Asking for Trouble

I've been a fan of Asking for Trouble for a while now. The designs aesthetic sings to my soul. Simple and cute.  So when Marceline announced she was offering 10 year anniversary blind boxes, I couldn't say no.

I'd been dragging my feet about spending money and missed out on her super cute Fuji-san enamel pins, so I couldn't pass this chance up. (Argh! Hopefully she will remake them.) But I was so happy when I got my box. Look at this cuteness! She drew a unique character on each box making the  number 10. Inside was a Fried Egg enamel pin, a Little Ghost fabric patch, a Planet paper cut, a Bunny & Panda craft paper, 2 Happy Stars, a Happy Cloud badge, an Asking for Trouble pencil, two 10 year anniversary stickers, a 10 year anniversary postcard, and a mini zine.

What a box! So much great stuff and as a mega-woah bonus! I won a golden ticket! Which means I got to pick a free mug from the Marceline Smith Redbubble shop! Of course I had to go with Fuji-san! Here he is brewing up some tea while I get the children's lesson plans in order.

I feel so lucky and yeah, I'm going to be buying more things from Asking for Trouble in the future. 

What's even more lovely is Marceline is a huge supporter of all things cute and has runs her own blog about all things cute, Super Cute Kawaii. You should definitely be following all of her blogs. So much cute!

What do you do?

Ok, so  today I fell into a tricky trap and I don't know what you other mama's do in this situation.

We had to go to the Walmart and while waiting in the check out line, Bun saw a tiny Elsa doll. It was cute and reasonably priced. It would be perfect for a Christmas stocking stuffer.

Except I was caught putting it on the conveyor belt. Then Bear saw his sister was getting something and he wanted something too.

Well fair, is fair, right. So I bought him something too. And then I felt I couldn't not give them their toys right away, since they'd caught me.

Augh! Even though I had no plans to get them more toys and now I'm beating myself up for spoiling them and wasting money I should be saving.

Ahhhh!!
The guilt.

Seriously, what do you do in this situation. Should I have left Elsa and come back to the dreaded Walmart later on the rare chance I will be without children? Should I have lied and said the doll was for someone else? What would you do?

Help? I'm a terrible mother.