Sunday, November 30, 2008

SOAP! A slight addiction...

I think I may have a bit of a soap addiction. I love handmade/natural made soaps and bath products. I have purchased from nine different etsy shops and also sampled a local soap shop and two popular big name, yet still small, shops. I just love handmade soap and bath products.
I would love to share some of my favorites with all of you and encourage you to try handmade bath products. Supporting small business is always a good thing, but also there is a lot less packaging which environmentally is a huge plus and the products do not involve a mysterious manufacturing process that could involve unknown chemicals, unknown labor conditions, etc.

Of my purchases, here are my favorites:

roseofsharonacres tooth chips:
If you want truly clean teeth, like after the dentist clean, I highly recommend you try toothchips. I am so lazy in the bathroom so I sometimes grab the toothpaste tube instead of these, and if I do that for a while and then go back to the tooth chips, I can actually taste all the gunk (gross, I know) that my toothpast has been missing. I thought the fowl taste was the tooth chips, but after using them for a while, you will find the taste improves as your mouth becomes cleaner.

This fabulous shave soap from Gudonyatoo:
I have the grapefruit version of this shave soap in my shower and I adore it. Works great for shaving but I also have used it for my body and hair with great results. This bar lathers easily, is nice and dense. It has lasted ages and I love it!


The best soap EVAH! This pomegranate soap by Old Dominion Soap Company:

These soaps nver get slimy, they lather really well, nice and sudsy and the bars are very dense so they do not wear disappear quickly.

And this massage bar from lush:
I use this as a lotion bar. I must admit, I haven't had it in a while but when I did have it, I loved it. The smell seems a tad strong at first but it grows on you quickly.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Ugh! SPAM!

Some spam creature took over my following list! Now I have to wade through a zillion posts about payday loans to see what everybody is writing about. I can't find it on my following list to remove it. UGH!!! Go away SPAM CREATURE!!!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Who doesn't love a sale?

Have you searched "Sale" on etsy lately? It is a fun way to spend an evening Christmas shopping. So many fabulous deals on such amazing products! Check out these finds:

This fabulous pillow by floradora for only $10:


This gorgeous purse from ReFabulous on sale for $32:

And this stunning necklace by acornbeach, a steal at $20:


I hope you take a little holiday shopping time to browse etsy. The treasures are bountiful and well worth the extra effort to dig up.



Thursday, November 20, 2008

Yowza! It is COLD!!!

Armwarmers from LazyTcrochet at etsy

So, it has gotten downright chilly here in Virginia. So I fished out my fingerless gloves I bought from lazytcrochet last year. She custom made these for me and they fit... well... like a glove, LOL. These are fabulous for wearing at work where it is always chilly (or maybe that is just me) and because my fingers are free, I can still type. Also great when you are a mom, cause all moms know how hard it is to zip zippers, wipe noses and buckle carseats when you have your fingers covered with slippery, bulky material. I love these gloves and have decided I definitely need some more.
Etsy is a fabulous place to purchase knitted and crocheted goodies! So much to choose from! I have bought a purse (also from lazytcrochet) and also washcloths. Check out MFcrafts for more goodies made from yarn. I adore my washcloths/dishcloths and am planning to never purchase a manufactured wash cloth or dish cloth again.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Have you tried Ebates?

I am a member of a web site called ebates and it is totally been awesome! I have been a member for a little over a year now and have earned $146.35 in cash back since joining. The hard part is I always get self concious when trying to convince folks to sign up, because there is a referral bonus so I have a feeling a lot of people push it to try to make money that way. But I have only referred a handful of people. But my experience with ebates has been such a positive one, that I decided to at least share it once on my blog to give others the opportunity to at least check it out.

If you shop on-line, then ebates will work for you. You just link to stores via ebates, the stores are willing participants, then ebates tracks your purchase at the store and you get a designated cash back amount. Also, it has tons of store coupons and deals available. I shop kohls on line all the time so I get cash back from that purchase. I have also gotten cash back from stores like target, officemax, J Crew, Old Navy, etc.

I really can't say anything bad about the site. It is so easy, I haven't gotten any spam, just the requested emails, and getting cash sent directly to my paypal account every three months just for shopping online is awesome. And, like I said before, you just shop as usual at the store, except you click through ebates, no forms to fill out, not records to keep.

And, once you sign up, you can refer friends and earn cash back that way too. If you have a lot of friends to tell, it is a great way to make some extra spending money.

Thanks for checking it out.

I hope everybody who shops on line checks it out because the cash back is there waiting to be taken.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Happy Birthday to My Little Man


Nov 2004


Nov 2005

Nov 2006

Nov 2007



Nov 2008


My little guy turns 6 today. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. He is such a small little guy and so sesitive and talkative. I am so proud of how he is doing in Kindegarten. He is so laid back and totally takes things as they come, no worries. He has had a fun birthday today with dinner at church and ice cream sandwich sundaes when we got home. Tomorrow we head to the mountains, to Massanutten for the weekend which is a fall tradition for us. The kids are so excited.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

So Sweet


So Sweet
Originally uploaded by BackwoodSophisticate
The little ones had a blast this Halloween. As usual, our street was absolutely swamped with trick-or-treaters. I love it! It was like one gigantic neighborhood Halloween party. All the kids were super sweet and we had so much fun handing out candy. One year we are going to have to count the trick-or-treaters o find out how many we actually have, but I know it is definitely over 100.

She does scary good

Megan loves to dress scary. This year she was queen of the dead and I think it turned out awesome. She loves to be dressed up, but she is kind of funny about things feeling strange. Getting her to hold still for the makeup is always a chore. And it took a lot of convincing to get her to wear the necklace I made but she was very happy with the final result.