Archive for the ‘my favorite things’ Category

This year’s Reflection Contest Theme was “Together We Can…”

After lots of ideas and discussion, my daughter Lily had an idea.  She wanted to paint a picture of Rose the Riveter.  We have the classic poster of Rosie in our laundry room… and my girls (and I) love it.  They’ve even heard stories about real live Rosie the Riveters in our family.

Lily set to drawing, but was frustrated that she couldn’t make it look right.  After seeing the pile of tossed sketches I said, “what if you take a picture of Rosie?”  “Yah!”  So my girls and I went on a scavenger house around our home to find all the right ingredients… red polka dot material from my stash of fabrics, a used yellow plastic tablecloth, and a button down shirt.  We set up a mini studio in our living room.  Lily made the sign and while I did Emma’s hair in a pin curl.

Lily just might have found her calling in life.  She took pictures like she was the director of a major motion picture.  “Emma, move to the left. No! Not that way, the other way.  Don’t smile, Rosie isn’t smiling.”  It was so much fun to watch her work.  She now wants to be a photographer when she grows up.

“Together We Can Do It!”  She said, “Together we can work together to fix our countries problems, just like Rosie did during WWII.”

Since our Reflections contest awards ceremony was this week I thought I could finally share her photo…  I think it needs to be framed next to the poster of Rosie in my laundry.

Do you get summer feet?  If you live in the arid West, you especially know what I’m talking about.

Your heels get cracked and dry.  They even split… SO painful.

I’ve had dry feet for as long as I can remember.  My husband just loves when I cozy up to him with my sandpaper feet!

Last summer I wrote a post called Relief for Summer Feet.  I called my sister-in-law, who works in the beauty industry, for advice.  She had some great solutions… but the products she really loves are too expensive.  She suggested trying Bag Balm as a “Make it Do” solution.  So I picked some up and I started using it.  While it did help my feet, I didn’t love the smell or that it’s petroleum based, a fact that gives me all sorts of worries.

Luckily for me, not long after that post, I received an email from a reader, Kerry.  She had read my Relief article and knew she could come to my rescue.  Kerry and her sister have a little company here in Utah called In Your Bonnet.

As luck would also have it, I was already using and LOVING several of Kerry’s products; her Peppermint Lip Gloss and her Bee Balm, which I had received as Christmas gifts.

Her lip gloss had quickly replaced my old favorite brand and so I couldn’t wait to try her product for my heels.  Kerry was kind enough to send me a tube of Heel Thyself so I could give it whirl.

“Wow!”  Is just about all I can say.

Heel Thyself is by far the best product I’ve ever tried on my poor feet.

For the first time in my life, my heels have survived a Summer unscathed.  No cracked heels.  No painful feet.  They even look good enough to wear flip flops without shame (not that I ever let that stop me before!)

My favorite thing about In Your Bonnet products is that they are created using beeswax that come straight from the bees that Kerry and her sister keep.  Here’s an excerpt from their website:

We tried many products for our dry, sensitive skin without satisfaction.  As hobby beekeepers we were familiar with the healing benefits of honey and began formulating our own recipes.  We strive to use only the finest plants oils and botanicals in our  products, and employ minimal mixing and heating to maintain their purity.

I can’t recommend In Your Bonnet’s products strongly enough.  They are reasonably priced, long lasting, wonderful to use, effective, and made with ingredients I can feel good about.

Be sure to check out Kerry’s website In Your Bonnet and her blog.  And be double sure to check out Kerry’s patterns on her blog.  She is not only talented at making skin care products, she is also a wonderful quilter.