July « 2010 « Happy. Healthy. Homemade.

Back in the kitchen!

A sure sign I’m starting to feel much better: I have actually been cooking again! Last night I made Boeuf Bourguignon for dinner. It was the first time I’ve ever made it and the first time I’ve ever eaten it. It was amazing!! I invited my dad over, too, because my mom is out of town. I, as usual, forgot to take pictures of it. I get too distracted by eating it. I will be posting the recipe for it soon. It’s fairly easy, just time-consuming. Anyway, my dad loved it. He had seconds, and thirds! Even Tim said it was “really good”, which is totally better than his normal “good”.

I also made a lemon cake with Grand Marnier cream cheese frosting the other day. That was great fun. Some Grand Marnier for the frosting, some for me… some for the frosting, some for me! Ok, I’ll admit, the cake part was a doctored-up box mix. I didn’t have the ingredients for a from-scratch lemon cake. But I did make the frosting from scratch and it was delicious! I do intend to make a lemon cake from scratch sometime soon though, I found a great recipe.

Since I don’t have a recipe for you right now, check out these cool vintage recipes at Twisted Candy. There are actually some really cool recipes there. It’s amazing how creative people got with food back during the Depression. There are also some neat facts and stuff sprinkled throughout the pages. And the pictures! Oooh how I love vintage pictures. It’s worth browsing every page just to look at those old pictures.

Something like this!

Tim and I like to browse through antique stores and I’ve been on the lookout lately for a 1950′s/60′s pitcher and glass set, preferably with a matching ice bucket and serving tray. I’ve been unable to find a complete set that I like so far. I think it would be really fun to have a 1950′s or 1960′s party and serve vintage appetizers and drinks and wear 50′s/60′s style clothes and play appropriate music. I’m not sure if many of our friends would go for it though- some would for sure but some of them would look at me like I’d asked them to show up naked. I’m probably the quirkiest amongst our group! (Imagine that, huh? ha!) So, feel free to steal my awesome idea if your friends are up for it! Don’t forget to make some sort of Jell-o molded salad!

Keegan wanted to do a video too…

I think it’s so funny how Keegan says ‘cinnamon roll’ for some reason. I make him say it about 200 times a day and then I cackle like a deranged freak. So I thought I’d share that with you guys. And since Keegan saying “cinnamon roll” a couple of times is only like an 8 second video, we talked about a couple other things to fill up the time. And Hailey came in too. In retrospect, it’d have been great of me to comb her hair today. It’s already like almost 5:00 pm though, so what’s the point NOW?

Vlog: 2 weeks post-op

Giveaway: Prairie Essence Natural Skin Care

CLOSED!
The winner is #20, Megan. Congrats, Megan!

You guys know how I’m always on the lookout for good, natural soaps, lotions, and other skin care products. This is a great one. Prairie Essence has been making their beautiful natural products for eight years and they are good at it!

Prairie Essence makes handmade soaps, lotions, lip balms, and solid perfume using materials from renewable plant sources and packages them in recycled, recyclable packaging. They only put good stuff in their products- things you can pronounce and that are good for your skin. Things like beeswax, cocoa butter, palm kernel oil, and essential oils. Their products come in some amazing scent combinations and I can’t wait to try all of them! Like the Prairie Sage and the Almond Milk & Honey soaps- they sound wonderful!

Prairie Essence sent me a bar soap, a lotion, and a chapstick to try out and review. I’ve been using them for a few days and here is what I think:

First of all, everything is in very nice packaging. I love their labels, they’re so simple and beautiful. The package smelled awesome just coming out of the mailbox. My kids kept on sniffing it!

They sent me the Lavender Fields soap. I love lavender and this is a really good true lavender scent. It’s so soothing and relaxing. The soap makes a nice, rich lather and is very moisturizing. I would definitely buy this soap again and will be trying some of their other scents as well! They all come in 4 oz size bars, which is a very nice sized piece of soap. It will last a good, long time. They even have unscented for those with sensitive skin and their soaps are 100% vegan!

I also received the Lavender Fields lotion to go along with it. I’ve been keeping it by my bedside and using it every night on my hands and feet. I love it! The lavender scent is perfect for bedtime. It’s a really nice lotion, moisturizing without being greasy. It absorbs very well and keeps my hands moisturized for a very long time.

And I got a Lemon Sorbet lip balm. I am the queen of chapstick- I rarely ever wear lipstick, but I wear chapstick all the time. I’ve been toting this around with me everywhere because I love it so much. It smells amazing- this is my favorite of the products I received. It smells almost like a lemon cake, and tastes good too. It’s the perfect lip balm, it’s not heavy or too thick and makes my lips feel nice and smooth. I know lip balms are easy to find but I will make a point to order some other flavors from Prairie Essence because this is way better than other brands I’ve tried. I also really like the packaging, it’s so pretty and simple.

So, I’m three for three on what they sent me- I love it all and will order from them again! The problem is going to be deciding which scents to narrow it down to!

And the most exciting part of all? I get to share Prairie Essence with one of you because they’re giving away products to one lucky reader!

GIVEAWAY: The winner gets one soap, one lotion, and one chapstick of their choice!

TO ENTER: (this one’s required):
Go visit the Prairie Essence website and tell me which scents you’d choose if you won.

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES: (leave a comment for each one that you do)

Blog about this giveaway. Comment here with a link to your blog entry.
Tweet about this giveaway. You can use: Enter to win natural skin care products at http://www.happyhealthyhomemade.com/2010/07/giveaway-prairie-essence.html. You can tweet once a day, make sure you leave a comment here with the link each time!
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The giveaway ends Wednesday, August 4th at 11:59 PM PST. The winner will be chosen using random.org and will be announced here, as well as e-mailed. If they don’t respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. US and Canada residents only, please.

The first reveal!

No, there will be no naked boobs on the public page. I’m still considering how to handle that for those that want to see. (I don’t think it’s pervy interest, I wanted to see befores and afters when I was looking into this too.)

The befores were taken about a week before surgery, I think. The afters were taken yesterday, so four days post op- so keep in mind that there is still a significant amount of swelling. Even considering that, I think the difference is quite obvious! Als0, remember that I cannot stand fully upright still. My abdomen is starting to heal a lot tighter and I can get almost there but not totally. So.. excuse the bad posture! Ummm and the drains! They’re coming out soon!