Have you ever discovered something at the very last minute?

First of all, the winner of the lavender oil mini-giveaway is entry number 12, Carol from CTMOM. Carol, please email me your mailing address, at lili.mounce *at* gmail.com. I'll get the lavender essential oil to you right away, if that will work for you.

A discovery, of sorts

I have this face powder that I wear once or twice per week. I've had it for a few months, and have thought perhaps I'm allergic to it. Every time I apply it, my skin begins to feel a tad itchy. I really thought I was allergic to something it contained, and was ready to throw it out.

But before it headed into the waste can, I wanted to try everything possible. My first thought was maybe the brush needed a good cleaning. So clean it I did, using some shampoo and lots of warm water. When the brush was dry, I tried it again. The irritation was still there.

My second thought was maybe the brush was one of those super cheap ones. So I tried a nice cosmetic brush. Again, itchiness. I washed this better brush, yet still the itchies. So, it would seem that I was simply allergic to one of the ingredients. Rats! I'm a label reader and careful shopper, so I thought this stuff would be okay with my skin.

About ready to toss the powder, which I hated to do, as this stuff is not cheap, I had one last-ditch thought. Maybe I could try using a cotton ball to apply the powder. And it went on smooth, with no irritation. Plus, using a cotton ball gave me a more natural look than the brush applicator.

This discovery changed how I apply all of my powder cosmetics. Perhaps my skin is simply too sensitive to use any of these "special" cosmetic applicators.

I now also use a cotton ball for my powder blush. I can use the same cotton ball for a couple of weeks.

And I've discovered that if I use a fingertip, powder eye shadow goes on smoothly, looks conservatively applied, and doesn't get in my eyes, as it did when using the applicator that came with the shadow.

I'm thrilled to not need to throw away any expensive cosmetics, and get better application overall. I love when I "discover" something like this!

Lunch round-up: a cooling trend starts the week

The weather has turned cool, here. It was almost feeling fall-ish the other day. I had to remind myself not to get too cozy and bundled up, as the hot weather would surely return in a week or two.

But, with cooler weather comes opportunities to bake again. So, for this week's lunch round-up, it's looking like:

• kale, rice and cheese casserole
• bean burger patties
• cranberry-orange muffins (need to use up last year's cranberries!)
• carrot sticks and 1000 Island dressing/dip
• watermelon chunks, as I have half a melon left to use

I got out of rhythm with yogurt and bread making. So this week, I also had to make 5 loaves of bread, and a large batch of yogurt. I picked up 2 more wide-mouth, quart canning jars the other week, so I can now make 5 to 6 quarts of yogurt at a time. I will make more yogurt each time, but make it less often. 

For lunches this week, family members can choose from the above list, or pbj sandwiches, yogurt with jam, and raisins. These are our "staples", and always available.

The kale, rice and cheese casserole is a lot like oven-baked macaroni and cheese, only sub rice for pasta, and add some onions and kale for flavor and nutrition. The kale part isn't a mom-thing, but my daughters actually ask for more veggies. I KNOW! Go figure! But I'm happy they like veggies. It's a lot easier to accommodate a veggie-lover than a veggie-hater.

As I knew this would be a long cooking day, the bean burger patties and some of the rice and kale doubled as dinner. I try hard not to make too much work for myself.

The aroma of the muffins was so tempting, I just had to eat one right away. There are some flavors that seem to go together to me. I like almond extract in many fruit desserts and pastries, such as cranberry, blueberry, rhubarb and cherry. I also like orange zest with these same fruits. I always put apples together with allspice, cloves and cinnamon. Pears seem to go well with ginger. Are there any pairings that you're particularly fond of?

And now, I'm dog-tired. I just knew this would be a long, long day!


Mondays are always my busy day of the week. There is so much that I have to catch up on from the weekend. Tuesdays, on the other hand, are one of my lighter days of the week. I've got a nice cup of coffee poured, the house is silent, before anyone else is up yet, and today I'll sit for a bit, before getting the kitchen cleaned up. Hope you have a lovely day!

~~ Cheers

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