Lip Scrubs, Body Butters, and Lip Balms, Oh My!

Hello everyone! I have some neat stuff to share with you today. Madalyn of Basswood Naturals on Etsy was sweet enough to send me a few things to try from her line of personal care items. Everything is hand made and made to order so you're always getting the freshest batch possible and she tries to use locally sourced ingredients when available. Oh, and her products are extremely affordable too. Love that!

Here's what she sent...

I'm a sucker for pretty packaging and these did not disappoint. I love how cute her labels are!

The first item I tried was this Picnic Days Chamomile and Lemon Whipped Body Butter

I used this on my hands before bed and really liked it. It has such a nice scent too. The next night, I added a dab on my elbows and knees. Oh, and for some reason, my kitty LOVED the smell of this stuff! She would not quit sniffing my hands! Lol! 

Next, I tried out the Sweet Refreshments Lavender and Vanilla Lip Balm

I'm pretty much addicted to lip balm. I use it every night and usually during the day too. Again, I loved the scent of this. Lavender and vanilla are such a great combination. It was very moisturizing too. Good stuff!

My favorite item was hands down, the Picnic Days Chamomile and Lemon Lip Scrub

You can see in this close up that it's definitely an exfoliating scrub. 

This stuff was great! I just rolled it on my lips, then wiped it away with a damp wash cloth and presto...soft, smooth lips. It's 100% edible too. :) Why is it that we think to exfoliate our skin, but not our lips? Well, not anymore. This is going to be a regular weekly routine for me now. 

This is just a sampling of what's available in her shop. She has lots of neat products to choose from and is always adding new things. Be sure to check out her site here:

Basswood Naturals

Madalyn is offering a discount to my readers right now too. Just use the code: "NATURAL10" to receive 10% off a minimum order of $3.50 through August 10th. 

Wouldn't these be great as a "back to school" gift for all the teachers in your life? They would be wonderful stocking stuffers too. Christmas IS only 5 months away, ya know. ;) 

~Lisa

*Disclosure: Basswood Naturals provided me with these products. I received no compensation for writing this review and all opinions are strictly my own. 

Barbie Dolls, Holly, and a Pedometer

Hi there!

Can y'all believe it's almost the end of July??? The summer needs to slow down. This mama isn't ready to start getting up at the crack of dawn again. :)

I thought I'd show you a pic I shared on Instagram the other day....

One of my friends asked that we share a pic of something nostalgic from our childhood, so I scooped these up out of the garage so they could have their IG debut. On second thought, maybe I should have at least brushed their hair first. Lol!

I loved that case I had to tote them around in. Do you recognize The Bionic Woman? The skin on her right arm rolled up to reveal her bionics! Then we have Superstar Barbie and last but not least, we have Tuesday Taylor. Her scalp rotated around to reveal either blonde or brunette hair! Did y'all play with any of these when you were little?

Oh Miss Holly...this is what she does every time I go to put clothes in the dryer...

And don't worry, I always check to make sure she's not in there before I start it up. She loves to nap on anything wet. That's weird, right? My son washed his car the other day and put the damp towels on the side of the tub and Holly jumped right up on them and took a very long nap. 

Oh, and y'all will be glad to know that Mee-Maw here finally got herself a pedometer! Walmart didn't have the one I talked about awhile back, so I picked this one up (still at Walmart) for a whopping $5! Lol!

It even gives you directions on how to measure your stride length so you can input in into the pedometer to get a more accurate step count.

I set my daily goal of 10,000 steps and you can see with a quick glance how close you are to your goal. In the pic above, I was at 38%, so I still had quite a few steps to go before reaching my goal that day. I've been known to walk in circles around my living room to reach that goal some nights. :) 

You can see your progress in steps or in miles, which is nice. I'm starting to get obsessed with how many steps I've taken. For instance, I can tell you that I took 1563 steps on my grocery shopping trip the other day. Ha ha!

I guess that's it for now. Y'all have a great day!

~Lisa 

Playing Around In The Kitchen and Cookies

I've been playing around in the kitchen again. :) After I cleaned the house the other day, I didn't have a single thing planned for the rest of the afternoon (love when that happens!) so I played around with a little vignette and then made cookies. 

I loved how this looked with the tray, but in the end I opted for more of a clean look. Also, the tray kind of stuck out too far on the counter and we need all the counter space we can get. :) 

Ah, that's a little better. :) 

I used to have red glass canisters, but one day I found these at Kirkland's and it was love at first sight. xoxo

I love to display cute cupcake liners in this glass jar. 

I think I mentioned this before, but my hubby picked out these measuring cups at Pier One all by himself! It was a nice surprise. :) 

And just because I've been getting some emails about it lately, here's a close up pic of Holly's custom pet frame I made...

Click HERE for the tutorial. 

After all that playing around, I got busy and made chocolate chip cookies...

Want my super secret recipe??? Okay, here ya go...

Sometimes you just gotta take the easy road. :) That little bag made about three dozen cookies! That's quite the deal when you consider they were buy one get one free! I think I paid about $1.89 for both bags. I can't even buy one bag of chocolate chips for that!

 Y'all have a great day!

~Lisa 

Lamp Refresh

I mentioned the other day I was doing a little lamp makeover. And when I say "little" I mean little. :) All I did was paint the base, but I still think it makes a big difference.

Here's a couple of before shots...

I just didn't like how the base blended in with the nightstand.

And here are some after shots...

I used my all time favorite, Heirloom White spray paint. 

Here's a different angle of the room...

And that's it! Such a quick and easy refresh!

I'm trying to get my kitchen project off the ground so I can share pics soon. Y'all stay tuned!

~Lisa 

Extreme Heat, Flowers, and Sales

Hello, everyone! I've been taking a bit of a blogging break as we enjoy the summer. We're just whiling away the days enjoying the break from schedules, homework, car lines, etc. :)

I certainly hope y'all aren't experiencing the extreme heat we're having here. We've got temps inching up towards 100 all week long. This is our hottest part of the year and it's not fun.

Just to elaborate a little, I set this thermometer on one of the stepping stones in our backyard and within about a minute this is what it read...

Yep, 130 degrees!!! This is why we can't walk on the sidewalks barefoot. Lol!

This is also why we plant a lot of heat tolerant flowers like this Lantana. It loves the heat, thank goodness. 

The Crepes enjoy the heat as well. 

We had so much rain the last two months, it's hard to believe our grass is already getting dry, but when I was taking these pics I noticed some cracks in the ground. We really need to turn on the sprinklers soon. 

Love this blue sky!

The Knock Outs are doing okay, but would probably enjoy a little rain. 

In other news, have you heard about the big Amazon Prime Day sale tomorrow, July 15th? It starts tonight at midnight and is for one day only. It's exclusively for Prime members, but you can get a 30 day trial of Prime for free to get in on the savings. Supposedly the prices are going to rival black Friday and Target and Walmart are getting in on it too by offering "substantial online savings."

Might be worth a look if you've been wanting to purchase something that's been in your cart for awhile. Let me know if you get any good deals. :)

I have a small kitchen project I'm working on and a little lamp re-do and will hopefully have pics to share soon. Have a great week and stay cool!

~Lisa

A Little Fourth of July Decor and a Peachy Recipe

Hey, y'all! 

Can you believe it's almost the fourth of July??? Summer is already flying by. I went very light on my patriotic decor this year, but still wanted to share some pics. 

I'm having a ball decorating my new shelves!

I'm always tempted to buy some flag pillows for the fourth, but my solid red ones work for Christmas, Valentine's, AND the fourth of July, so it's all good. :)

That star on the buffet is the only holiday decor in the kitchen this year. #lazy

I seem to keep the entry the same year after year...

Ugh. I almost didn't share these pics because it's so rainy and dark and dreary outside. I kept waiting for a sunny day, but so far we haven't had any. So I decided to step out quickly between storms and snap these pics. You can see how wet everything is.

I love the buntings on the pergola!

My poor Gomphrena flowers. They DO NOT like all this rain. They're very heat tolerant and this rain isn't making them happy. 

EDITED ~ (I had to add this pic of the patio on Friday because we finally had some sun to dry everything up!)

Okay, so on to the Peach Crunch recipe. Doesn't this look delicious?

I shared the recipe on IG awhile ago, so I just pulled this pic directly off my feed instead of typing up the recipe again. :)

As you can tell, it's VERY easy to make and would be the perfect addition to your fourth of July celebration this weekend!

Here are a few more detailed pics. First, just pour the can of peaches into a 13x9 pan. I cut mine up a little more, but that's just a personal preference. 

Then add the dry, yellow cake mix on top.

Then the butter...

And the brown sugar...

And finally the pecans...

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. 

Below is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven...

Yum!

Just scoop it out onto a plate and top with ice cream while still warm. Delicious!

Hope you all have a safe and happy fourth of July!!!

~Lisa