curl up and dye ... or bleach

I cannot stop raving about Dressing Your Truth! I realized when I get excited about something I get a little jittery and can't explain it properly. So, here goes nothing. 

Dressing Your Truth is the study of movement as it expresses itself through us. Beauty is more than skin deep. It is created from the four elements in our DNA:, nitrogen -1, oxygen-2, hydrogen-3, and carbon-4. These elements create an innate movement that expresses itself in every aspect of our lives. These elements are the basis of the four Types in Dressing Your Truth. We have all four elements in us but we lead with just one.

The 4 Types are:

Type 1) Nitrogen/Air: You have an light energy so you are naturally inspiring, fun loving, and hopeful. 

Type 2) Oxygen/Water: You’re naturally calming, inviting, subdued and sensitive. 

Type 3) Hydrogen/Fire: You’re naturally dynamic, sure and purposeful.

Type 4) Carbon/Earth: More constant and still. You keep things structured and purposeful.

If you want to learn more, check out Dressing Your Truth:

http://ambofirstblood.dressingyourtruth.com/

The first time I heard about energy and elements and such, I thought it was hocus. Really? I learned more about it and read a couple books by Carol Tuttle and IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE! I was never in to makeup, or jewelry, or clothes. I never knew what to wear and kind of felt horrible in my own skin. This energy profiling system has opened my eyes to what looks and feels good on me, not a skinnier version of me, but me. Curves and all. And I feel fantastic!

I determined that my energy Type is 3: dynamic, sure and purposeful; although, I may act more like my secondary Type 2: calming, inviting, subdued and sensitive. I bought the online course and found out what colors and other factors look good for my energy type, which did not include navy, black, or gray. Crap. That's 75% of my wardrobe.

But do not fear! 

These used to be navy.

These used to be gray.

These used to be black.

Now most of these clothes fit in my chroma and I can wear all of them but 3! Amazing, considering I was going to donate all of them to the consignment store!

This was a rather long, long, LONG post. I apologize. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll try not to get so excited and actually answer some of your questions.

crafts: dress & blocks bag

I've been trying to find clothes for Jovi that aren't the typical pink, purple, red color pallet for baby girls. I had a shirt that wasn't doing my body justice, so I made a skirt for Jovi! Also, notice the blocks bag in the corner of the picture. Yep. I made that too!

Shirt Skirt

Seriously, the EASIEST sewing project out there. I got my inspiration here. All I did was cut off the top part of the shirt and added an elastic. I ended up making her another skirt out of a pillow case in a similar fashion.

Blocks Bag

We bought Corban these blocks when he was 2. The bag finally split its seem just a couple of weeks ago after we tried to stuff it with more blocks we got from a friend. I knew I wanted/needed a bag for those blocks or I would have them all over my house all of the time. So, I pieced together a ginormous bag from random canvas pieces I already had. I even repurposed the zipper from the original bag! I'm just that amazing.

recipes: cake brownies & freezer jam

I found this beauty, thanks to Pinterest, from eHow.com. They're not bad for coming from a cake mix. TIP: do not let them sit overnight. The leftovers aren't that great. And even better, you have an excuse to eat the entire pan!

Cake Mix Brownies

1 stick butter

Cake Mix

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 TBSP water

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Pour mixture in a greased 9x13 baking pan.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a dry crust forms on top.

IMPORTANT: Follow this last step! I tried to wait until the inserted toothpick came out clean and it made the brownies kind of hard. 

Enjoy!

***

I love the simplicity of freezer jam. Our favorites are strawberry and raspberry freezer jam! This recipe comes from Betty Crocker's Bridal Edition Cookbook.

Strawberry Freezer Jam
4 cups strawberries, cut in half
4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 pkg powdered fruit pectin

1. Mix strawberries and sugar in a blender. (I like my jam smooth, with ZERO chunks.)
2. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
3. Mix water and pectin in saucepan. Stir constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute.
4. Pour pectin mixture into strawberry mixture.
5. Stir constantly for 3 minutes.
6. Immediately pour mixture into freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
7. Clean up any spills on container.
8. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
9. Store in freezer up to 6 months or fridge up to 3 weeks.

My kids love this stuff on pancakes and waffles and their PB&J sandwiches.

RAOK

Random Acts of Kindness, not to be confused with ROUS-es. I love receiving them, but love giving them as well--the RAOK not the rodents.

The fam went to one of my most despised stores last night to exchange some flip-flops and get a Redbox. I had a free code so we got our movie and were about to leave when I decided to give the lady searching for a movie next to us the free code. You would have thought I had just given her $100 cash, she was so happy and so grateful! I loved how excited she was and I couldn't stop talking about it.

Free codes, you said? Because I am feeling so kind I'm gonna share my secret: http://www.insideredbox.com/redbox-codes/. It is hit and miss whether the codes work, but we haven't had a problem yet!

The second RAOK was directed toward me and Joe, but mostly Joe. We recently bought a new bed and played musical chairs with our old mattresses: Corban got our old mattress and Jovi got Corban's mattress. We had a waterproof mattress protector for Jovi's mattress but not for Corban's. At said despised store again, we got another waterproof mattress protector. This time, for our old mattress. Corban had been sleeping on this mattress for about 2 days before we got the protector on. And good thing we did! Last night Corban woke up and couldn't get his underwear off and peed all over my bedroom and bathroom. And then at about 1 o'clock, he pooped in his bed! Joe woke up with Corban (Corban doesn't even try to wake me up any more) and cleaned up everything and said how much easier it was to clean because we had barely put on that mattress protector!!

What RAOK have you done or had done to you?

book review: The Guardian

I'm still getting used to Christian literature. The language is so clean, the story lines are actually stories based on plot instead of sex or violence, etc.

"The Guardian" started out rather suspenseful. My mind wandered with the story line and had all these horrible things happening! The conflict was quickly resolved and I wondered how Beverly Lewis was going to keep the story going for the remaining 100+ pages. She did and the book was predictably sweet.

Dilation and Curettage (D&C)

It has been over a week since I had my D&C procedure. I've had mixed emotions about writing this post, but here it goes. 

Once Joe and I found out there was no baby and I decided to get the D&C, everything happened so quickly. I called the doctor and the NEXT day I was scheduled to go to the hospital for surgery. I knew what was happening and why it was happening, but I don't think my heart and my mind had caught up with each other until several days later. 

A D&C procedure is when the doctor scrapes your uterine wall and suctions out the material. I have never had surgery before on anything so this was quite the experience! The hospital staff at St. Joseph's Hospital was very kind and compassionate. The nurses kept hugging me and telling me how sorry they were which almost started the water works several times. They got me hooked up to IVs and such. Then the anesthesiologist put a mask on my face and told me to take some deep breaths. I took one. And don't remember anything else.

This was my second miscarriage. I've had two kids in between and grown a lot. I understand better myself, my Father in Heaven, and his Plan of Happiness and was able to cope a bit better than last time. Both Joe and I are sad about losing this pregnancy. But we have hope for a bigger family one day.

book review: Swept Away

Meh ... This book was cute and okay, but it kind of irked me. I loved how the author didn't use crude language when she very well could have justified that she had to have it because of the story line. I liked the overall story. I liked the band of brothers and their back stories. But this book just didn't do it for me.

I am a book reviewer for Bethany House Publishers.