My Favorite Things

I have discovered a 5 new products that I want to share with you before you hit the Black Friday sales.

1.   Mr. Tweezerman Tweezers - Best $20 Ever Spent

These little tweezers are a bit on the spendy side, but I can not even begin to tell you the difference between a $20 pair of tweezers and the 10 other pair of $2 tweezers that I have laying around.  OMG, you just can't believe it and I think I'm going to save money on wax because I can actually tweeze with great results.  Love it.



Hey, it's hard to take a picture while tweezing - Graham and I were laughing hysterically

2.  Physicians Formula Organic Make-up - $10 to $15

I've been wanting to switch over all of my make-up to a mineral based organic make-up because I know that 60% of what I put on my skin becomes absorbed into my blood stream.  It's taken me about 6 months, but I've finally made the switch and I'm extremely happy with the Physicians Formula make-up line.  You can find it at Walmart or Target, it's reasonably priced,  it works great, and you can be sure that you are not adding harmful chemicals into your body.

Physicians Formula Organic Makeup

3.  Swell Gal Products - $10 to $15

My friend Kristie Weber makes her own skin care products and I've used nothing but her products on my skin since she started her own business a few years ago.  Her products are all natural, hand crafed and my skin has never felt so great.  Before switching to her all natural products, I had eczema and dry skin and which never returned.  Swell Gal Products can be purchased from Swell Gal Products or at any Ventures Unlimited locations.

Swell Gal Creme

4.  Norwax Facial Cloth - $10

My friend Colleen gave me Norwax wash cloth for my birthday and I absolutely love it.  I can wash my face at night without using any chemicals AND it's great for removing eye make-up.  Apparently, crystals in the washcloth make it possible to completely clean your face without chemicals.

5.  Norwax Window Washing Kit - Best $30 Ever Spent

Even more exciting is the window washing kit.  You do not need chemicals - you just rinse the cloth, wipe down the window, and dry it.  Usually, I hate washing windows and most of the time they look horrible but with these cloths I actually do not mind washing windows and even I can get them perfect.  The cloths work great on stainless steel and mirrors too.

Outside washing windows as Gus took a picture

My goal is to buy as many products locally as possible - we live in a small community with many unique businesses - where else can you buy fishing lures and dill pickle popcorn from the popcorn store all on the same block?


What do you want for Christmas?  Besides duct tape (that's the only thing on her list), my dear Greta would like the following for Christmas:

What is your new favorite product?  Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading,

Kristin

Rhubarb Continued!!

My dear friend Kristie Weber (aka Swell Gal Products) shared some of her rhubarb with me so I could try a few more recipes.  She also reminded me that I forgot to add my rhubarb salsa to my first rhubarb blog, so I'll start with that recipe.

Rhubarb Salsa

The salsa was very good, but I make a killer salsa (if I do say so myself) with tomatoes and it just doesn't compare.  I would make this again though.

Rhubarb Oatmeal

I actually cut this recipe in half and we still had plenty of leftovers.  The cool thing about this recipe is that you can substitute the rhubarb for whatever is in season.  Next week I'm going to try it with strawberries.

When Gus woke up this morning and asked "what's for breakfast?" I said, rhubarb oatmeal.  He said, "when are you going to stop cooking with rhubarb mom?  You have stop picking the stuff because we are sick of eating it."  This is the exact look on his face as he was scolding me.

Gus is not happy with rhubarb oatmeal for breakfast!

My husband claimed "my mother's rhubarb cake is the best", so of course I had to try it.  Too bad he was in Canada so he didn't get a piece.  He's right though, it's pretty delicious cake!

Bonnie Frane's Rhubarb Cake

Here's the recipe:

1/2 Cup Shortening, 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar - cream

1 Egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour milk (I let the milk sit out overnight)

2 cups flour

1/2 ts. salt

2 1/2 cups rhubarb

Topping:  1/2 cup white sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle on top

BAKE - 350 for 45 minutes

We are down to our last 2 cups of rhubarb (Gus is happy), so I plan on making the rhubarb bread recipe from my first rhubarb blog and freezing it.  We are rhubarbed out.

The peonies have finally bloomed by us.  They are one of my favorite flowers.

Happy Fourth of July!!!