Peppermint Vanilla Latte Sugar Scrub

I found this great recipe for a Vanilla Latte Sugar Scrub on Pinterest and I couldn't wait to try it!

Unfortunately I don't have any pretty pictures because honestly I made it in an old mixing bowl while I was sitting at my cluttered coffee table and, when I was done, I stored it in some tupperware because I didn't have anything cuter!

Anyway...I adjusted the original recipe for what I had on hand and, of course, I had to add some essential oil! So here's the actual recipe I used in the end:


1/2 cup medium ground coffee (I used Starbucks Breakfast Blend)

1/2 cup sugar

4 Tbsp Fractionated Coconut oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

15 drops Peppermint essential oil


So far I've only used it on my hands but oh. my. gosh. my hands are so smooth now!! And it smells great on top of it.

Book Review--Shopaholic Ties the Knot

I was feeling in the mood for something light and fun so I went to my bookshelves and found this third installation in Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series.

 I had to really think about whether I wanted to give this one a try. I read the first book in the series about six years ago and, more than anything, it stressed me out! But I decided to give this one a try and it actually wasn't nearly as stressful as its predecessor.

Becky Bloomwood has a big heart and bad decision making skills. Combine those with her weakness for anything grand and expensive and it's a recipe for trouble. In this book, Becky's live-in boyfriend Luke proposes. So begins her wedding planning journey.

The trouble comes when Becky's mother begins planning a wedding in her hometown in England, then Luke's mother swiftly begins planning a grand social event of a wedding at the Plaza in New York for the very same day. Determined to say no to her future mother-in-law, Becky can't help herself once she sees the venue and hears the beginning of the plans for what promises to be New York's most talked about wedding of the year.

But cancelling her British wedding means breaking her mother's heart. Soon Becky is embroiled in a dilemma so big it seems she'll never find a solution and the entire thing will end in disaster.

I think the reason I did like this book is because Becky is incredibly likable in it. She's much less selfish than I remember her being and the biggest reasons for her problem in the first place were that she was afraid of hurting anyone she loves.  I'm glad I gave this lovable Shopaholic another chance. I may even read another one some day :)

Halloween Doughnuts

This morning the kids and I set out on an adventure. The plan: pick up a prescription from the pharmacy, find some new rain boots for both of them, jaunt over to Goodwill to see what we could find in the way of Halloween costumes, and get Noah to his doctor appointment on time. But first, doughnuts!

We swung by a cute little doughnut shop that's close to our house and the kids both happily eyed the treats in the case...but then the woman behind the counter pointed out the special case of Halloween doughnuts!

Once they saw those there was no question about what they would get. Noah went for the skeleton while Mazzy had to get a taste of the spider.

She was pretty happy with herself when she ate its head off. What a fun way to start out a day of errands!

New Chore Charts!

My kids have a chore to do every day after school. Lucky for me, my son in particular actually loves doing it! The more challenging the better! He loves the sense of independence he gets when he accomplishes a tough chore on his own.

Recently, though, I realized that our old chore chart was getting a little tired. It no longer held the excitement it used to so I thought I would start from scratch with a brand new one. Or...rather...two brand new ones.

I found some great chore charts on Pinterest but you can see the ones that I finally chose to base mine on here. I loved the idea of individual charts. I feel like it makes the kids feel more empowered.

And here they are!!

I used a couple of clipboards I found at Goodwill. Then I used Elmer's glue to attach scrapbook paper to each kid's board and glued a strip of ribbon on top of the overlap.

I wanted to find colors and patterns to match their personalities and I think I was pretty successful!

I used some old alphabet stickers I had laying around from a past project to put their names at the bottom and finally clipped on some cute post-it notepads that I picked up at Wal-Mart! Nothing to it and the kids and I are all very happy with the results.

How do you get your kids to do their chores?