Creative You Aromatherapy, Candle Making, Bath Bomb DIY Kits

 

I started sharing yesterday about Princess Three and her boyfriend doing a "bath bomb" Do It Yourself "creative you" Bath Bomb making kit while home over Christmas. 

I am sorry I have been so tired the past few weeks. I am back to falling asleep when I sit down and can't seem to get enough sleep. 

Back to what I started yesterday, sharing about the "Creative You" DIY kits. I bought each girl a bath bomb kit, Candle Making Kit, Aromatherapy Kit, and a Soap Making Kit. In the end, they didn't want to do the kits. I ended up giving my nieces some and a few of the girls took them for gifts / activities for their roommates. 

I pulled apart a few of the aromatherapy kits to use with my own essential oils and can say that I wasn't all that impressed with the aromatherapy kit. The scents didn't smell much. It said essential oils, but the oils were thicker than they would be if it were just oil, so they must have been some type of thickening oil in them. One of the lids was cracked and some of the sunflower oil leaked. I wouldn't suggest the essential oil kit.

The Bath Bomb Kits were fun for them to make, but I think they should have included more molds as they take an hour or two to dry, so you can't make the entire kit at the same time. Also, they didn't include a dropper for the water so the first time they mixed the water in to make the sandy texture to put in the molds, more water poured in than they wanted and the entire mixture foamed over filling a big mess in the bowl. 

They ended up throwing the mix out and starting over. The second time, they were so worried about adding so much water that they literally were using their finger tips to drip water into the mix. If they would have included a dropper, the situation wouldn't have happened wasting a bit of the mixture. 

They ended up remaking it and filled the two molds but had to let them dry for an hour or more and of course, they didn't want to leave it out for all that time to come back to it, so I think if you want to do the kit, make sure you have some extra containers to mold the mixture into so you can make the entire kit at one time. 

Princess Three was happy with her bombs and took the rest of the kit home with her to make a few more, but in reality, they could have just taken it to make the volcanic reaction that happens when you mix water into the powders. 

Princess Four decided to take two of the Candle kits so I can really give any feedback on that kit until later as I kept one of each kit to do with the grandchildren. 

I would suggest the kits other than the aromatherapy kit. I look forward to doing the kits with the grandchildren! 

Have a blessed day!

I am Falling Asleep at the Computer Again

Princess Three told me that she had mentioned to her boyfriend that they were going to make bath bombs over the holidays.

I purchased two kits each as there were two different sets with different shaped molds. I figured they could each make a few to give to their roommates and friends. I have fallen asleep and printed up a bunch of B's which took a very long time to erase. 

I will write more on this tomorrow. I am not sure what is going on that I am so tired again. I hope I can start to feel better soon! ;

Soap Making Kit - Worth the Money For The Right Age

I bought a bunch of "Creative You" activity kits for the girls to do together when they came home for Easter this past year. 

Because of Covid, we didn't have Easter together. I stored the kits in the garage in totes and figured they would want to do them for Christmas. I mentioned doing them together and didn't get much feedback. 

When we were together over Christmas, I suggested we do the kits. One daughter wanted to sleep, another was working online, and one was doing a bath bomb kit. 

I could only get one daughter to do the "Soap Kit" and she was a good sport making a bar of soap. I was actually impressed with the soap kit, but think they needed a few more soap molds. It takes over an hour to dry the soaps in the mold so you can't make another until the soap in the mold dries.

I liked that they had clear and milky bases and that they had dried flowers and scents. They included sparkles in them, but I wondered who would ever want sparkles in soap. I would be annoyed getting out of the bath / shower and having micro pieces of sparkle on me. 

Princess Five did a half bar clear, and half bar milky with some dried flowers. I suggested she make another bar or two but making one was enough for her due to the dry time. She had a little milky soap left in the bowl, so she made a molded snowman bar of soap, and I have actually been using it. It is actually a good soap. 

I would suggest the soap making kit. I think if more of the girls were making it together, they could have had fun. My nieces who are a little younger were excited to use the extra kits we didn't use. I think this kit is worth it for ages 10 to 18ish. 

I just wanted to do an activity with my girls. It is so hard to find activities to please girls with such different likes. 

I would suggest this kit. I will share some of the other activity kits later. 

Have a blessed day!

Living Alone For the First Time in Over 7 Months

I have been living alone for years. I had Princess Five come home after her mission during Covid. Since she moved home, I had her living with me for Months before she moved off to college. 

The day after she moved out, Princess Four moved home and has been here since. She is moving up to live near a few of her sisters. 

It has been nice having the company for so many months. Princess Four is still looking for work but wants to move back into a place with her best friend. 

They helped me take down all the Christmas decorations and left today hauling things with them as they went. 

I will miss having someone to cook for and talk to, but in a way, it will be nice to get back into a routine.

Have a Blessed Day!

Weirdest Christmas Eve Ever - Sushi and Puzzles

Since my girls and I celebrated Christmas early, we really didn't have anything to do for Christmas Eve this year. 

We dropped off some gifts to others, and then thought we would say "hi" to our sushi friend and pick up some sushi for dinner. When we arrived, there was only one container of sushi left and we were happy for our friend that he sold out of sushi. 

We have lots of leftovers from our big early Christmas dinner so we were fine having that for dinner but we did buy the last sushi to help our friend out. 

We came home and I cut out a dress pattern for a dress that Princess Five likes, and then we did a 1000 piece puzzle and it was a super low key holiday. It is weird having everything over before others even celebrate. 

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Day!

Overwhelmed With Gratitude - I am BLESSED by Others Through CHRIST

I have lived in this same town for over 25 years. I have been a single mom going on 20 years. 

In all that time, I have never asked my church or my family for help. I am extremely independent and self sufficient. I like the fact that I have been able to make it on my own and provide for the girls by being able to budget and by being frugal. 

In those years, there have been a few situations where I have gotten an envelope with some money taped to my door, in a card, or for my birthday. One year, I was blessed to have a friend and her family do a sub for Santa. Another year a business picked me to give a shopping spree so I could buy a few new things for my kids. Still, another year, my bunko friends pooled together and gave me some funds for Christmas. I have never sought these things out, I was just grateful for those who have been so generous over the years to my family. 

I am not sure what is different this year, but I have been SO BLESSED this Christmas. I was given almost $1000 in gift cards and cash. Nearly half of it was anonymous. I am so overwhelmed with gratitude at the amount of people who are so generous. I am not sure why this year would be different than any other year. I have been through many a year of court cases, school expenses, lack of funds due to some people's lack of moral and obligatory responsibility, and many other things. This year has brought its own share of struggles, but not much different from many of those years. 

The only thing I can figure is that this trying year of COVID has softened peoples harts to others needs. It has been a year of trial for many. So many others are struggling as much, or more than I am, for sure! 

However, amongst all those kind people leaving money in my mailbox, taped to the door, doorbell ditching, and leaving it on the front porch, having ecclesiastic leaders give it to me "from kind congregation members," or just giving me a card that is signed with cash telling me to buy things for my family or on my needs, the center of them all is Christ!

The cards they chose to send, or the pictures they send with the cash or gift cards, all revolve around CHRIST! They came with messages of Christ, drawings of Christ, paintings of Christ, poems of Christ, or some mention written in the card of Christ! 

I believe that this year of trials has brought people closer to their Heavenly Father and Christ through those trials! 

I know this year has brought trials not just related to Covid into my life. I struggled with a few different things than I normally would, and in those trials, I was brought closer to my Savior! 

Each gift of cash through dollars brought me another reminder to "TRUST IN GOD" as it is written on the bills! I once again believe that my Father in Heaven is reminding me to trust in HIM, and he can prompt and urge others to be generous with their funds, or provide for my needs in the many ways I have shared on this blog over the past ten years! 

As you can see by the photo, all those references of Christ in the Gifts of funds and generosity! I am feeling so blessed by others, and from my Father in Heaven and Christ this year!

Because of the kindness of others, some of my stresses and worries of this year have been lifted and I could enjoy spending time with my family, over selling things to cover the cost of Christmas celebrations and fun. 

I pray you are all so blessed! May your season be sunny and bright because of HIM and through others!

Under THESE Stars - It All Began - Printed Star Maps of Your Location and Date

Princess Three is dating the CUTEST Guy ever! I have never seen her so relaxed around anyone she has dated in the past. 

She has known this boy for about four years, but they actually matched on a dating site / app and reconnected about six months ago or so. She was working and he had just graduated with his degree and was heading off to a medical school out of state from where she is living.

With that knowledge, they dated casually, and she dated other men. He left for school, but they found themselves talking every day even with his heavy load of classes. They found that they always have something to talk about, and enjoy spending time together. 

He decided to come for a visit over Thanksgiving. We all really enjoyed his visit. They are so cute together. We were hoping he would be able to come over Christmas as well as it was fun to have more people to play games with and they are so easy going, that it is nice to have them around! 

Because he already had plans with friends for a skiing vacation, he had limited time for holiday fun, so we were all willing to have and celebrate our Christmas early so that he could be here for our holiday together. 

Princess Three gave him a really cute gift for one of his gifts. It is a star chart that is printed up and framed that is the night sky overhead on the night they had their first kiss and WHERE they had their first kiss! Apparently, they can determine the exact star configuration based on the name of the place where you were at any given date and year in history.

People print up the sky the day their kids were born, the day they got engaged, and other big events in life. They will print whatever saying you want under the star chart with the date and location. Say you were at Disney on New Years Eve this year. You would put something like, "Under this sky at the magical kingdom we got engaged. December 31, 2020. 

It is such a cute idea and I could tell that her boyfriend really was touched by the gift. I thought I would share about it as it was a new idea to me and figured some of you may not know about it either! 

The site and link are thenightsky.com. 

Have a Blessed Day!

Seeing the Christmas Star - Family Adventure

Last week I told the girls about the converging of Jupiter and Saturn converging to make what looks like "one star" while they were here celebrating the Christmas Holiday. 

Princess Three said she and her boyfriend were planning on viewing in while here and were going to bring binoculars. We set an alarm to remind us to go out just before dark to view the event.

I pondered on the even and how it is happening just around Christmas and if it could have been the "star" that appeared at the time of Christ's birth thinking the it is amazing how the heavens have been witness to so many events through time. 

I did some research about my theory and indeed, it may have been the converging of the stars as when this happens and they line up and converge, it is called, "the Christmas Star" so it must be called that for a reason. I found a page that talks about how it may be these two planets merging, or a few years later, it could have been when Jupiter and Venus came together. The other thought was that it could have been a supernova event or comet that created a tail causing the long bottom that usually is drawn on nativity pictures as the bottom of the star is long like a tail. 

We will never know, but it isn't hard to imagine that the Wise Men saw the same bright light in the heavens that we saw tonight! There were no other stars visible for much of the evening and so the  brightness of the two planets did form a bright "star" in the sky. 

The only way I could see the two planets was with my camera or binoculars. I wish I could have taken a picture through the high magnification binoculars as they were clearly two planets of different color! I tried taking a picture with my camera and I could clearly see two planets, but I couldn't hold the camera still enough to get a good shot. It was such a high magnification that if I moved at all, it was blurry. 

I figured that it would be low on the skyline and we left town and drove to a flatter area so that we could take a look for it. 

I spotted it first as it was getting dark and had to guide their eyes to it using landmarks. Once it was a bit darker, they could find it and clearly see it with the binoculars. On the way home, one of the neighbors had out a telescope but they had recently had Covid-19 so we decided not to go take a look. 

It was a fun night and we enjoyed spending time together. While we were in the car waiting to see it at dusk, Princess Three was playing a "space" playlist! It was fun to listen to "Major Tom" by David Bowie, "Space Cowboy," "Star Wars," etc while we looked for the heavenly event! 

I feel grateful to have been able to witness that event and especially, getting to do it with my girls! I don't have them for much time this year, but I am grateful for the time I do get! 

I hope you enjoyed getting to see the fun "once in a lifetime" event! Enjoy your Holiday week and have a Blessed Day!

Disney Headbanz Game is a HUGE Hit with the Grandchildren

Last weekend, Princess Four and I went on a road trip to visit Princess One's family and the Grandchildren. 

As always, I took about four banana boxes of games and activities to do with the kids. I play one game or activity every hour or so. Over the years, there have been a few standard activities that they ask to do over while I am still there rather than pulling out a new activity. 

This visit, one of those activities was a game called "Headbanz Disney" and the kids asked to play it more and more. Since we arrived home, we have seen pictures and videos of them playing it.

I actually had a new and wrapped box of the game to give her family for Christmas, but I have overwhelmed my daughter in the past by giving them to many gifts, so I gave each of them one piece of clothing, one game or puzzle, and one toy. With that, I figured that she would rather have the Hoopla game. The kids loved that game, but not as much as the Disney game. 

I took the game and we played it. The kids and even my daughter loved it! The entire family ended up playing the game and even after the kids got distracted after a few rounds, my daughter took a few extra turns. 

I wasn't sure it would work with the little kids, but they loved it because they were familiar with many of the Disney show. My grand-daughter can read really well, she was able to ask the suggested  questions by reading them. 

My older grandson was good at asking questions to help him figure out who he had, but he struggled on answering our questions so he would give obvious clues. Considering he is four, he did well playing the game and loved guessing. 

My two year old grandson LOVED the game. It may have been the Mickey Mouse ear headband, or maybe just that we gave him attention on his turn, but he was so happy about this game! 

Some of my favorite photos of the kids were while playing this game! What do you think? Some CUTE kiddos! 

When I was leaving, the kids begged me to leave the Disney game. I talked to my daughter and she said it was "ok" to have me leave the game and the kids were excited they could keep it.

Have a blessed day!

My Found Money Jar Update - It's Almost Been a Year - Over $5 Found Last Year!

I am trying to clean the house up as most of the girls are coming home to celebrate Christmas early this year. I have not been feeling well most of the week with storm headaches. Today I woke SO tired. I have struggled all day trying to get anything done. 

I got a few things off the list yesterday but didn't do much today. I was trying to find things to do that I could do sitting or that wouldn't take much effort since I am so tired.   

I have my "found money" on my wood stove and I knew I haven't counted it in awhile. I decided to count it and put it into my "found money" jar. I have lots of posts about my "found money." 

I keep the money in a vase that my mother made. I have a post about once a year about this since I started my "found money" jar. 

Here is my first post about my "In God We Trust posts." 

 

This is my 2011 post about found money. 

This is my 2012 post about found money.  

Here is another in 2012 where I talk about where I store the found money.  

Here is a post from 2014 about found money. 

Here is a post from early 2015 about found money here.  

Here is a post from 2016 where I have a fun picture of my mother holding the jar she made where I keep my found money. 

Here is another post on 2016.  

Here is a post from 2019. 

When I would have the grandchildren come, I would take the coins out of my found "holding dish" and put them in a baggie, and then I put them in the cupboard to count later. I forgot that I had done that a few times over the past few years and when I cleaned out the cupboard where I store the "odd" items, before my yard sale, I ended up finding a few bags of change and couldn't remember where they came from. It wasn't until I cashed them in that I realized that I forgot about putting them up in the shelf. 

So, I have no posts from 2017 or 2018 about finding money. I will remember next time to put them into my mom's vase so that I can count them into the total rather than putting them on the shelf somewhere. 

Have a blessed day!

Drive Through Christmas Gift and Merry Christ Mas Shirt

I have been fighting with migraines for the past week as we have had lots of storms. I have taken lots of meds and have had a few cokes. I have not been drinking coke since last January except for storms and I probably have had about 6 2 liters since January. I used to drink 2 liters each day. 

I am proud of myself for giving up soda. I wish I would lose weight not drinking it, but I have to also starve myself to lose any weight, and I am so busy right now I don't have it in me to diet as well. 

I was running errands after taking some meds. I had a Christmas gift for my sister and was able to run into her daughter at the bank drive through. I was two cars behind her and was able to run the gift up to her while she was filling out her slip. I scared her, but she actually had some questions that I was able to help her with, so that was good. 

I also dropped a Christmas present off to our Sushi friend James, and picked up some sushi for dinner. I was able to visit with him for about 20 minutes. He isn't going home for the holiday as he works 7 days a week. I felt sad he isn't able to go home, but I wanted him to have a gift, so I hope that makes him a little less homesick. 

I had a friend give me a gift last night and she bought me a "Merry CHRIST Mas" shirt. I LOVE it! I appreciate her for thinking of me and picking something I would appreciate. 

It is a busy week and I hope I start to feel better. Have a blessed Day!

Trying to Make Some Bunko Fun Despite Covid

I have shared for ten years on my blog about my bunko group. I started the group over 20 years ago with a friend as I wanted to befriend a few people and thought being in this Bunko group would be a way to help them make more friends and give me a stronger group of friends. 

When Covid hit, my turn for Bunko was the next month. Everything got canceled and I have been sitting on those prizes for 9 months or more. I was going to do a "Christmas" theme and all my prizes are Christmas Decorations or items. 

As you know I am redoing my garage one wall at a time. I have been working hard but I keep having to move the two boxes of bunko prizes that I would like to give them out so my friends can use them over Christmas. It will be nice to have them out of my house and when Bunko starts back up, I will get new prizes for my month because I am trying to clear out from my house for now. 

I was trying to figure out a way to make it fun rather than just drawing names for the prizes. I will give points for each of the items that they do and will drop the gifts / prizes off before Christmas. 

Here is what I sent them:

"My Dear Bunko Sisters,

I have so missed visiting with each of you each month! The Prizes I had for my month back when Covid started were Christmas as I was going to do a “Christmas” theme. I don’t know when we are going to be getting back together, but I am trying to clean out my garage as I am texturing and painting so I want to give out the Christmas prizes so you can use them for the holiday and was trying to think of a fun way to give them out. It would be nice to have the two boxes out of the garage, but more so, I want to connect with your somehow.

I thought maybe we could do a fun little contest and we can post a few pictures, a few videos, and connect over the next few days. I hope that you will take a few minutes to join in the fun. It isn’t anything that will take much time but could be a fun adventure with your family joining in or taking videos of you.

1.      Hold your breath for as long as you can. Text or post the time.

2.      Who can go the longest without blinking, post or text the time.

3.      How long can you plank holding yourself up on toes and elbow on carpet. Post time.

4.      How many round ornaments on your Christmas tree.

5.      Number of people living in your home over 19.

6.      How long can you stand on one foot? Post or text time.

7.      Post yes or no if you have mistletoe hanging in your house.

8.      Post a video of you singing Jingle bells as fast as you can! Chorus Only.

9.      Head stand knees on elbows; post how long you could hold it.

10.   Roll 3 dice and post a picture of the number. I have a number in mind and closest wins.

11.   Post a video telling the bunko ladies how much you love and miss them!

12.   Did you shovel your walks with the snow? Did you offer to or help someone else shovel?

13.   Post a photo on the group of your favorite Christmas Decoration.

14.   Go to this link and take a typing test and text me your typing speed. https://www.typingtest.com/test.html?minutes=1&textfile=mediumText.txt&mode=sent&result_url=%2Fresult.html&bt=0

15.   Give yourself or have someone close to you give you a hug from me!

I hope this is a fun thing, It isn’t meant to cause stress and I think you could do all of them in a few minutes. Don’t feel like you have to participate but I sure would love to connect with you!

Stay safe and healthy! Love you all!" 

Have a Blessed Day!