Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Shampoo Bar?


Apparently I was in a total stupor when I wrote this post and my brain mixed Lush, the maker of the lovely shampoo bars and amazing bath bombs, and Kiehl's, another of my cosmetic-maker crushes into one happy store.

Sooo, edited for accuracy (million thanks to Erin):

Rosie and I wandered into Lush a while back, trying to escape the rain downtown.  We sniffed bath bombs, admired sparkly lotion and one of the employees indulged us to a hand treatment.

Somehow the bright 20 something also talked me into buying soap and conditioner bars. The amazing jasmine smell of the shampoo bar lured me into saying yes. Still,  I came home thinking, weird.

Now I'm in love with my shampoo and conditioner bars.  They're easy to use - 5 strokes in my hair with the shampoo bar and I'm all suds.  Conditioner bar takes about 8 strokes, still efficient and very effective.  The employee had said the bar would last longer than a medium bottle of shampoo.  Beyond skeptical I just nodded, but it turns out she's right, the bar lasts a long time. And super bonus, they are so easy to travel with.  Pop them in the little tin, drop them in my bag and off I go.  No issues with how many ounces of liquid they are or concerns that the pressure of travel will cause leaking.

The shampoo bar is gentle and it doesn't seem to strip my hair.  It feels as good as Dr. Bronner's soap on my hair without all the mess and crazy messaging. Check out the bar, you might become a convert, too.  Also, grab a few of the amazing bath bombs while you're at it.


From the other part of my cosmetic-crush brain:
I've been a fan of Kiehl's products for a long time.  I'm not sure they're super natural, but they smell and feel better on my skin than most beauty products. Their lip gloss tops my list, you'll probably love it, too.


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Today's Workout

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.  As a warm up, we started with some shoulder lifts (pushing a bar with weights over my head) at about 38 lbs until I just couldn't lift my arms over my head any more - I did about 25 in sets of 5.

Then I did today's workout which was:
squats and sit-ups
50
40
30
20
10

That means I did 150 squats and sit-ups in about 20 minutes.  Go ME!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Great Lego Documentary

Totally sleep deprived, Bill and I downloaded this super Lego Documentary for family entertainment last week.  I'm still thinking about it, and the kids refer it it regularly through the day.

My mind reels at the huge production and sales numbers cited.  There is also a fascinating bit on the history of the Lego company.

Take a look at it and let me know what you think.




Sorry about the weird formatting.  Things don't always seem to fit well in this new blogger template I'm using.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Busy Summer Fun

Being gone for 10 days in August allowed our garden to go crazy. With Bill and Rosie off together on a business trip (her first!!), Theo and I took advantage of the lovely day to harvest some bounty.

We got giant squash and 16 (count them 16) cups of basil leaves.


Of course, that much basil calls for some serious pesto preparation. Theo and I took turns adding ingredients.  Our recipe turned out to be a little creative because I didn't have enough of most anything in the house to make 5x my normal pesto recipe.  For nuts we used almonds, pecans, cashews and pepitas.  For garlic we used some fresh, some roasted giant garlic I happened to have on hand and some whipped garlic from Lebanese Breeze.
 Theo adds in the first layer of basil for a lovely stratification of ingredients (if that looks to you like a lot of salt on top, it is.  I got a little confused in my converting).
After a thrilling time mixing the ingredients, we scooped out the pesto into 1/4 balls for freezing.

Now, we have a large bag of summer sunshine ready for those cold gray days ahead. As a bonus, we really enjoyed our time together as just two, and I got some good sidewards homeschool math and problem solving into the mix.

Next project: doing something paleo with those giant squashes.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Camping Taste Test: Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips

Part of the fun of camping with the homeschool group is the various activities that go on over the 4 days.  Our family loves taste tests, and this year Theo and I decided his favorite potato chips should be verified.

We bought 4 brands of salt and vinegar chips: Lays, Kettle, Tim's and Trader Joe's with a bag of corn chips as palate cleaners.  After a shark frenzy of little kids tasting, their associated adults and a stealth batch of teens, we recorded 25 tasters, though I'm sure we had more.

Here's how the numbers broke out:
Lays - 5
Kettle - 16
Tim's - 2
Trader Joes - 0
Corn chips - 2

Obviously Kettle stomped out the competition.

Interestingly, all of the Lays votes came from people under the age of 8.  The Tim's were for the most part rejected as too sweet (and were the only brand including sugar as an ingredient).   Somehow, TJ's just plain missed the boat - too crunchy, too bitter, too vinegary.  Both corn chip votes came from kids under 5.


Monday, August 1, 2011

On The Road

Wednesday our family hits the road.

First, we're off to camp near Mt. Rainier with about 30 other homeschool families - tribal living as humans were intended to exists, plus marshmallows!

From Rainier, we're trekking up to Vancouver Island, Canada where I have the great pleasure of attending an Intensive 3 course with the Neufeld Institute - focusing intensely on the 6 levels of attachment.  Bill's bringing his work, the kids will find themselves rubbing shoulders with Canadian kids at a not-completely-randomly-picked summer camp.  Wish us all luck!

We're back around the 15th, it'll probably take a few days for me to get back on my writing feet.  Until then, enjoy the sunshine!