Relaxation with Halloween Style - Pumpkin Spice Body Scrub

The last two posts were on the negative side of things, but I am happy to report things are starting to turn around. I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things at my new job, I have a new wonderful and caring boyfriend who is everything my ex wasn't for me, and I'm starting to get to crafting again.

My new craft thought I am very happy to share. I have had a constant battle with my legs. I hate them, I've got marks where the leg hair should be but I shave. I've recently done some digging around: one of the solutions that I found was to start using body scrubs. Well... that's well and good but that can get expensive. I'm not going to give up though. It's time to start with the DIY.

This body scrub that I mixed up I got from Homemaking Hacks and this was a great, quick thing to whip up. I've spent the last several days trying it out on my hands and have seen a considerable difference in how soft they are. Next, I'll move to my legs but it will take weeks before a difference is noticed. So in the meantime, I thought I'd share this great body scrub with you.

Since it's fall, this Pumpkin Pie Sugar & Spice Body Scrub was a no brainer.

Ingredients:
1 Cup of Light Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Cup of Oil of Choice (I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Instructions

1. Blend and place sugar and spices in a water proof container.

   Add oil slowly and blend periodically until all of the oil has been added.

 

2. To use, gently rub the scrub onto your skin. Massage lightly with your fingertips, rinse with warm water.

 

Use caution when using oils in the shower or tub, it gets slippery.

 

 

I'd like to make this again with other types of oils such as coconut oil which can be very good for your skin, but I used what I had on hand.

 

 

What's great? This batch can be separated into smaller jars and given as gifts!

 

Don't these Halloween Pumpkin Scrubs look to die for?





Stress

I've seen and experienced quite a bit of stress in my life: I can't think of anyone who hasn't. But for the first time in awhile, I was aware that stress was my problem. I didn't want to eat, I started to get break outs (at 26, that sucks), and felt so unhappy and overwhelmed with everything.

I then started removing the stressors (one I was apparently feeling removed himself, but that's a different topic). I woke up early from a day of stressful night of tossing and turning. I got dressed, forced myself to move and put on makeup and do my hair. Still not hungry, I took my medication and got a message from a friend. "You need to talk, let's talk." Completely out of the blue but actually needed. I told him I was getting ready to walk across town or figure out the bus system to go borrow my mom's car and run errands. "Wait for me, I'll pick you up. We'll do the errands together, too."

He picked me up and by that time I had been able to work out in my head what I needed to do. As he drove me to my mom's workplace we worked out what the day was going to look like. I was to get the car, we were going to meet up at the thrift store so I could get 2 new pairs of jeans (I had 2 pairs rip in what was possibly one of the worst days of my life). Found 2 pairs and paid about $13. Awesome savings! Then it was time to go figure out a new phone as it had become aparent that I had to figure out that part. Did I want to stay on a phone plan I hated but got on because I put trust in somebody who decided that they wanted me off their plan asap after walking out of my life? No, no I didn't. I didn't need that phone as a reminder and I didn't need that plan to struggle with and get angry at him every time I couldn't find a signal when I needed it. I found a phone at the phone store. I turned back on my old number, still under my parent's name, set up the payment plan, and paid what I needed to with a check.

Stop #3? B-dubs for lunch! I was treated to a nice lunch by the friend who picked me up. I was looking for something cheaper but he was "Nope, you're getting treated to something tasty. I don't know how long it's been since you've been out to a restaurant and you need this." So I let him buy me lunch.

After that met with my old beau and dropped some stuff off to him as well as the phone that he thought was so important. I didn't want to give him the impression I wanted him completely out of my life, but I didn't say that. How else was I to express this was for the best so I wouldn't continue to dwell on the anger that was starting to surface for everything that I had been through? Still don't feel like I can talk to him about my feelings. Either I'll be seen as taking advantage of his feelings or something worse.

So after a difficult lunch but one that left me feeling upset but somehow better. Weirdness. I went back to pick up my mom, we headed to the bank. Signed the paperwork for a loan and I went home with her to get a ride to get my repossessed car. I was able to get that and drove back home. Spent the rest of the evening with friends and went to bed, where I slept beautifully.

Sleep was great, waking up was great, coming to work was great, I was actually hungry today. I feel good today. And that was because I spent an entire day working on removing stressors in my life. It doesn't always happen in one day, but when it does, you really notice.

So my readers, and I know there are at least a few of you. When was the last time you powered through destroying the stress in your life? How did you handle it? Did most of it happen in one day like it did for me?

Depression and What You Can Do When You're On the Outside

This has been requested from me for quite a while and I didn't really have an answer until today when I feel like I've been able to look over everything and what is needed from and for people who live with, love, or are friends with persons who are going through a depression. So here's my list of things that will work and should be exercised.

1.) Don't try to "fix" me. I'm incapable of controlling my emotions, trying to make me happy or prevent me from living life by keeping things from me is not going to prevent me from having crying fits, anxiety attacks, or anything else that could happen when I'm depressed.

2.) Take care of yourself. You need to find time to step away and recharge, if you're scared that the person you love might hurt themselves, have a friend come visit or a family member of that person. But you need to take time to go out and recharge. Discuss it with the depressed person before hand, if it's been discussed they'll be understanding or should be practicing on being understanding (It's hard for us when we're in that state).

3.) You need to know it is okay if you feel upset, angry, or frustrated. This is a normal and perfectly valid response. You need to be able to find someone you can talk to about these issues with: Friends who are unbiased and will not spread gossip about the situation or find a support group. In my area one of the hospitals has a support group for friends & family that meets once a week every week.

4.) Just be there. It seems silly or like it's not helping but believe me it does. Offer a shoulder to cry on, someone to hug. Let them know you're there, remind them this is the illness and that they're not worthless or weak for feeling the way they do.

5.) Meds & therapy are crucial. You may need to step up and help keep track of treatment. Make sure they continue taking their medication (during this time they may feel like they're pointless, or they had already stopped taking medication). Even discuss going to therapy or psychiatry appointments with them. Have open communication with their therapists or psychiatrists if that person wants you to.

6.) Offer hope in whatever way they can take it. Remind them of all they have: children, yourself, family, that will keep them going. Also, if they appear suicidal seek immediate help. Call their psychiatrist's office, take them to the E.D. for evaluation. Find the suicide hotlines in the area.

7.) Put yourself in their shoes, learn what it feels like so you can understand it better. Which leads to...

8.) Educate yourself. Learn to recognize signs and symptoms and what treatment they are on. The person who's depressed, might not realize it's the depression until they're so deep over their head that they feel like they're drowning.

9.) Just love them unconditionally. It's the illness causing all the irritation, anger, and sadness, not the depressed person and not you.

10.) Help around the house. Just like having the flu, the depressed person will not feel like doing things around the house. Hygiene is also a big thing. Hygiene is always the first to go when somebody's depressed, you don't think about it day to day but the energy it takes to take a shower seems like too much when somebody is depressed.

Have them agree to be open and honest about their feelings. Answer them encouragingly but honestly.

I'm just sorry that this may have come too late for some people in my own life.

The Positoovity Post

In case you don't get the title, it's a reference to a song from Disney's The Little Mermaid Broadway show. That's a mouthful. I've recently had to change my music choices based on a suggestion and I've switched back to the more upbeat musicals and generally fun happy music or music that puts me in a positive mood.

Life gets really tough, especially if you have bipolar. Coming out of a depression, I feel like I should feel better. I felt better for a little while, but there's been so much stress in my life in the rebuilding process that it's hard to tell. So it's time to practice what I preach to my clients at my new job. Do things that make you happy, listen to positive things, read good books, spend time with good people that make you happy, and when you are doing those things don't think about what you have waiting for you when you come home or go to work.

"It's hard, I get it. Believe me," I tell them. So here's what I'm going to do. I've found a pagan chant that helps me calm down with deep breathing. I've put that on a small piece of paper and hidden it behind my  name tag so it's easy to look at and say when things get hard.

Tonight when I get home, I'm not going to worry about whether or not the floors need swept, there's dirty dishes in the sink, or how far behind house maintenance has fallen. I'm going to pour myself a nice glass of white wine, light some candles, and slip into a warm bubble bath and soak. Give myself some time to enjoy something. I'm to do some self maintenance. The house can wait, the finances can wait, work can wait, relationship issues can wait for a night. Just one night. After my bath I'm going to climb the stairs and slip under the covers and into a stress-free sleep.

I will wake up refreshed and come up with an answer for work questions, maybe figure out some financial answers, and clean at least one room. I will leave for work a little earlier than usual, have a nice casual drive in. Not be stressed while there, finish everything on time or even stay a little late to finish it up. I will not leave until paperwork is done or a half hour after I am scheduled. No later. I will leave work at work.

I will spend some time planning for the week that night to lay out a schedule and ground rules. This needs to be done by this date, sort of thing. Structure. Structure is good.

Now, on to the "positricity" part. I'm switching up the music on my phone. Upbeat or inspiring music only. I will plan to finally bake on my day off and if that isn't possible, I will spend the day with a friend to just enjoy being outside. I will get my telescope from my parent's house and start gazing through to the planets and star clusters that I can see. I will start keeping a diary, to vent or just talk about my day. I won't use it for only complaining. I will put into practice of finding at least 1 positive of my day and take a moment when I reflect on my day, how I felt. Did I feel overwhelmed, did I feel anxious, did I feel happy? This is important practices I think.

I will let everyone know, I'm going through a healing process. I'm detoxifying myself from the negativity that I have found myself in. I'm not blaming anyone for it, it's just life. It happens. But I need to finish healing. I don't want to talk about anything I can't handle mentally until I'm ready. I think that's a fair thing to ask for. Also, for the people who have been really trying, people who have made me feel more cynical than is really how I am. I'm going to find something positive about them too, a reason that I started being friends with them but forgot or have let their negative qualities outshine. When I find those, I won't forget again. If those positive qualities aren't there any more and something about them has changed. I need to distance myself from them. That's a healthy choice, I think.

I'm also, going to take my friends up on their suggestions of going halvsies on booths at craft shows, flea markets, or even farmers markets. The holidays are coming up. People will want homemade goods for gifts. It will give me a lot of practice and it will put my name out in the area as someone who is talented with a crochet hook, at sewing, or at baking.

There's a lot more that I need to do, I think to get back to being the girl who smiled all the time because she was so filled with joy. But this is a good start.

Time to Lose those Extra Pounds!

After a early morning run to Convenient Care yesterday morning after waking up to what I thought was a UTI, I decided enough was enough. I need to lose this extra weight. As I am recovering from a year and a half of terrible times: dad having a stroke, Diogenes leaving for school for a year, slipping into a bad depression, emergency appendectomy, wisdom teeth removal, and 2 job changes, to name a few, I am starting to rebuild my life.

I am at a job that I like, a job that deals with mental health and on bad days for my clients and I can actually see how bad it may be on my bad days for those around me, which forces me to keep myself in check. I am working on pulling myself out of debt. I am a few steps away from getting my car back from repossession. Now, today after looking over the lab results seeing that I do not have a UTI and taking what the CC Dr had to say, it's time to take this seriously. I have been steadily putting on weight for quite awhile.

I hate how I look in full body pictures. I don't feel sexy at all. I look at my younger sister in her small frame and I remember a time when I was the same size she was. I can do it. I can get back to where I was before I stopped caring about myself: about my physical and mental health.

The Convenient Care Dr thought my biggest issue was weight gain. She said being overweight and not drinking enough water can actually show the same symptoms of a UTI without the pain, like I was experiencing.

So, here goes. Time to drop the soda, time to pick up the water, fruits, and eating as healthy as I make my clients eat.

I'm going to work hard, working evenings will just mean that I have to get up at a reasonable time to walk. When I get my budget figured out, hopefully a morning workout class, like dance. I miss dancing. I miss playing sports competitively. Those two things might have to be built up to. What I think would work, utilize the rest of the summer and fall until it gets to be too cold to spend mornings or evenings walking, definitely pacing myself (old sports injuries).


So this is my starting point (this is the boring part):
My weight is a whopping 108.9kg or 240lbs 1.3oz , height is 5' 4.5" so that makes my BMI: 40.6 which places me in the Obese area by quite a bit.

Measurements:

Bust: Measure around the chest right at the nipple line, but don't pull the tape too tight.
48.25"
Chest: Measure just under your bust
40.5"
Waist: Measure a half-inch above your belly button or at the smallest part of your waist
42"
Hips: Place tape measure around the biggest part of your hips
50.25"
Thighs: Measure around the biggest part of each thigh
28.25"
Calves: Measure around the largest part of each calf
19.5"
Upper arm: Measure around the largest part of each arm above the elbow
15"
Forearm: Measure around the largest part of the arm below the elbow.
12"

Next: Clothes are also a good way to track weightloss

Shirts: XL

Pants: 19 Short

Coats:

And finally #1, sleep: According to my age 7-9hrs. I'm going to shoot to go to bed about midnight and wake up at 7-7:30a.

Time to get started. I'll add a page to track this or just give it a label for easy tracking for anyone that cares.

Stash Bash! Birthday Edition

So Monday was my niece's birthday and I quickly dove into my stash of fabric to find something good to use for her birthday present. I discovered some leftovers from a quilt.

A quick google search showed I had enough for what I wanted to do. A blanket and pillow for her American Girl doll. I even had extra stuffing and padding. So here we go:

This 8 year old in my life is a huge frozen fan and absolutely adored the frozen pillow I made her for Christmas. So for her birthday, her doll got an Olaf pillow and a reversible blanket.

I think she was very happy with this and I really enjoyed jumping back into sewing with this quick project that really helped me destress from the first 2 weeks of a new job and family/relationship drama. I was in a great mood the rest of the day.

The blanket was cut 21" x 18" wide and I added blanket padding since I had that laying around. After I sewed three sides I flipped it outside out and used my quilting thread to sew through the blanket o keep the parts together then finished up the end. Followed up around the other sides to make it look uniform.

The pillow was 9" x 12" and three sizes were sewed before being stuffed with stuffing and the final side was closed up.

Overall for a first try at doll bedding, it turned out great in my opinion and the opinion my niece so I think that is the most important.

It's Fresh Blueberry Season!

So this past Saturday I made a trip to the farmer's market, I was a little late so I wandered from food stall to food stall. Turns out green tomatoes sell out really fast in this area. So I picked up some ripe red ones for a surprise dinner for my boyfriend after a long weekend of promoting his company's game. His flight was delayed but I didn't find out about that until after the tomatoes had roasted in the oven with garlic and butter.

The next day was an unexpected day off so I dedicated it to figuring out what to do with the 2 pints of blueberries I picked up. I discovered a recipe on allrecipes.com that seemed to be pretty polarizing. I read through it and thought, "I should give this a try."

The batter was very cake-like as the reviews had said, I added a cup extra of blue berries than was suggested.

Yay cookies! My roomie and I tested them. They were a little unexciting but interesting. Surely there was something that would save them. Lemon glaze? Honey glaze? Why not both?

That was exactly what they needed - added to the blueberry flavor and really helped take the cake/cookies to the next level.

So to those who might come across this and are having the problem of mouth-watering I need this in my life. Here are the recipes:

Cookies - Blueberry Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 pinch salt 1/2 cup butter 1 cup white sugar

2 eggs, beaten 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract 1/2 cup milk 2 cups fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheet.
2.	Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3.	In a large bowl, cream butter or margarine with sugar. Beat in eggs and lemon flavoring. Mix in milk and flour mixture alternately in three parts, starting with the milk. Gently mix in blueberries.
4.	Drop batter by tablespoons onto prepared sheets 1 1/2 inches apart.
5.	Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Icing - Honey- Lemon Glaze INGREDIENTS: 1 Cup Icing (confectioner's) sugar 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 1 tablespoon honey 1 tablespoon lemon juice (just squeeze the lemon you made the zest from) DIRECTIONS: 1. Combine all ingredients and mix well That's it, that's all it takes. So get out there and enjoy with some nice sweet tea.