Small Town Living

This is basically how the conversation went...

Evan: I've been finding a lot of cool stuff at the Dollar$Mart. (The Dollar$Mart is the ONE store in Upland. It has a huge pegboard wall of stuff for a dollar and then some household and grocery items.)

Megan: Really? Like what?

Evan: They have these infant neck pillows there...

Megan: Yeah, they actually have those lots of places.

Evan: Yeah, well, I'm talking about the Dollar$Mart. That's the only place I've been to lately.

Megan: (laughing) How often do you go to the Dollar$Mart alone?

Evan: I don't know...I was there today. They have these cool lighters too. They're double-barreled shot guns.

Seriously?! It was funny.

Seriously Now?!

There's this spot right above your nose and between your eyebrows, most of you probably don't notice it because it's smooth and flat and doesn't really serve a purpose in your day to day goings and comings and doings. My dad has had a crease in this flat spot for awhile now, and when he's in pain under stress, it becomes a deep crevice (sorry dad, but it's true). My husband's spot is flat and smooth for the most part, except for, you know, the occasionally manly stray eyebrow hair (sorry babe, but it's true). The last few days I have been massaging the life out of this spot, my forhead has been tense, even when I try to relax it. I think I'm doing fine and then I pass a window or mirror and see it.....THE CREASE!!! Seriously, now?! I am twenty five years old. I should have an alabaster brow and skin as smooth as porcelian. (I learned this from Anne Shirley, who was also disappointed with some skin issues at a young age.)

As I was manually trying to flatten my crease out in the car yesterday, my husband asked me if I wanted Botox (he was joking). I talked with my friend Jill at work today (she has a similar above-the-nose-should-be-smooth-but-crinkles-under-stress problem), and we both shared that this was not something that was controllable. Though it might be suggested that one can just stop....one (being me) cannot. It takes days for the crinkle to appear and days for it to leave. It is not controllable, it just happens.

Yes, sometimes I do get the most distorted look on my face when someone says something stupid, and yes, my face often contorts to unthinkable expressions, but this, my friends, is not that! This is plain and simple concentration and stress. The kind of stress that leads to botox suggestions, relaxation suggestions, and I'm sure a 63-year-old-Helen-Mirren-bikini-wearing-hot-mama picture is not in the future if I keep this up. (Seriously now?! You've all seen that right?!)

All of this to say, the crease is ridiculous!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

A New One

Found a new blog! EvaForeva shows you how to make these great recycleable fruit & veggie bags, and she has an awesome giveaway for a beautiful, big silk scarf! Check it out!

Homemade Natural Lip Balm & Scrub

I found these great little plastic containers at CVS a couple weeks ago. They're the perfect size for keeping all little masks and soaps and salts in the shower too.

One of my favorite little beauty rituals used to be using my Mary Kay Satin Lips set every night. There was a lip mask and a silky balm. Well, I've run out and while I could buy more, I have no idea what's in the stuff, and I've been wanting to make my own lip balm for a bit now. I also made my own lovely little scrub. I will use it and feel PRETTY! (Guys can also use this and feel _____ (insert masculine good feeling adjective here - sharp, cool, smooth, handsome, "hot as fire", whatever).

Megan's Lip Scrub

Ingredients:

Dead Sea Salt

Sugar

Carrier Oil (I used Grapeseed Oil)

1. Fill container about 3/4 of the way full with half sugar and half Dead Sea salt.

2. Put lid on and shake to mix.

3. Pour in carrier oil until salt/sugar mixture is covered.

4. Stir with a toothpick or chopstick.

Megan's Marvelous Lip Balm

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Beeswax

3 Tbsp. Carrier Oil (I used Jojoba Oil)

2 Vitamin E Capsules (Prick the end and squeeze out contents. Great for your skin, and a good natural preservative)

1 Tbsp. Honey

1 Tbsp. Mango Butter (I'm sure you could use Shea Butter as well)

1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

10 drops of Essential Oil (I put in tea tree, sweet orange, & grapefruit)

1. Put all the ingredients (except the essential oil) in a Pyrex measuring cup (or a similar pourable container).

2. Melt ingredients by placing the Pyrex cup in a half full pot of boiling water and stirring continuously.

3. Once all the ingredients are melted remove the Pyrex cup with a hot pad and add essential oils.

4. Pour mixture into containers and let solidify (you can place it in the freezer to speed up the process)

For other fun at home body products, check out Rachel's recent Bath & Beauty Roundup at One Pretty Thing

Cute, Customized Flats!

Found a new blog today via One Pretty Thing (love that site!). Ashley at Make It and Love It actually mod podged shoes!!! Aren't they adorable?! I want to make some!

God's Grandeur

This is a gorgeous poem that I feel just radiates beauty and truth with literary clarity. I encourage you to read through it more than once and read it out loud at least once. I just heard it at our Fall Faculty Retreat and it captured me.

God's Grandeur

Gerard Manley Hopkins

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown bring eastward, springs --

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breat and with ah! bright wings.

Worms & Weeds

Elliot helping me weed! I just had to stop and watch...he's so sweet!

I finally got my Red Wigglers yesterday! Woohoo! Who knew someone could get so excited about worms?! The funny thing is Red Wigglers are really popular fishing bait (so my hubs tells me) but I couldn't find them. I checked three different bait places. But then, guess where they were? Yes, that's right. 1/2 mile from my house in lil' ol' Upland. At the BP gas station there's a little fridge in the back with like 10-12 different kinds of live bait. (Seriously now?!) So I bought my little guys and excitedly brought them home with a rake and a weed eater/trimmer. I finished off my DIY Worm Composter, and Elliot and I weeded and raked while Ev mowed and trimmed. Our yard looks very nice and we LOVE being outside!!! It's so nice to actually have a space that we can be outside and that Elliot can safely crawl and stand around.

Below is a picture of the worms...just because I'm proud. However, I know some of you are squeemish (I actually was pretty jumpy opening the little containers of worms myself. I don't know how I'm ever going to separate them from the compost!), so I waited to put it at the end. You can choose to look if you'd like.

See...It's not that bad! :)