Thunderstorm

I like You Tube. :) Here's some great free entertainment. This group is amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw

The Oil Cleansing Method, pt. 1

I've always had acne, badly. When I was a teenager my mother took me to the dermatologist who put me on Retin-A. I honestly don't remember if it worked well or not, actually I don't think I was on it long enough to see the results. You see, when I went to my dad's house one summer for our yearly visitation, my younger brothers took the Retin-A cream out of my suitcase and smeared it all over the carpet. My mother was none too happy about that one! We couldn't afford any more since it was so expensive, so I just faithfully used whatever face soap my mom bought me (I think it was usually Oxy-something.)
After I graduated high school it finally started clearing up a bit. Then I got married and starting having many babies (6 in 8 years!). Let's just say my hormones went wild. I had enormous cystic acne most of the time, and since I was either pregnant or nursing medication was out of the question. I did try Proactive for several weeks too, I broke out so bad my face ached all the time, even when I wasn't touching it. The directions told me to give it 3 weeks for my face to adjust, but after 6 weeks of pain it just became too unbearable, so I quit.
When I finally weaned my last baby I went to the dermatologist again to see if I could get on Acutane. A couple adults in my family had used it with great results so I thought it would help me too. I nearly passed out when I found out it would be A COUPLE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!
The doctor did suggest that I use Clean and Clear face wash, the one that has both sayalic acid and benzoil peroxide in it, followed by a light moisturizer. Well, I've been faithful to use it for a couple years now, and I must say it has done it's job very well.
But lately I've been leaning towards more natural products. My friend Angela told me about something she's been doing, the Oil Method. I liked it because there's nothing gimmicky about it. It's not a product sold by some company trying to make money off of me. I was really put off at first when she was trying to explain it to me, putting MORE oil on an already oily face?!?! Just the idea made me feel like one giant zit! She finally just told me to google it if I wanted to know more. So I did, and it makes a whole lot of sense. Another good thing? It's cheap!
I've been doing it off and on for about 3 weeks now. I use a ratio of 1/3 castor oil and 2/3 olive oil, (it was what I have on hand, I might try sunflower oil later), rubbing it in for about 5 min. every other evening. It's so cool, I can actually feel the little grainy plugs come out of my pores! I am breaking out a bit now as my face is adjusting, but nothing like it did with Proactive. I'll give it a few more weeks to see what'll happen, I'll let you know, but so far it's looking pretty good.

For My Little Filly

Here ya go Faith!

In the Middle

My sweet middle daughter Abigail now has her very own blog. She's been watching her big sisters have so much fun with theirs that she wanted in on the action too! Check it out! http://abi-in-the-middle.blogspot.com/

Freecycle is Rad

I like free stuff and I like to do needlework. A lot. So do my girls. So when there was a freecycle post offering needlepoint kits we jumped on them! They were oldish, like from the 70's, with the orangeish, brownish, greenish colored thick acrylic yarns. But ya know, they are perfect for beginners! Fat yarn, fat needles, thick cloth... Beggars can't be choosers, and if we're content with what we have then we'll realize that God really does give us good things even though they might not be as bright shiny new as we would like. We are learning to be happy with whatever we're given and to do the best we can with it. And who know? We might even come to appreciate the not so polished things in life!