Pantry cooking: kielbasa beans and rice

 I’m trying not to spend money right now and use up some of my older canned goods while I’m at it. I made this dish last night and am eating leftovers for lunch and I thought I’d share it. 

I had half a can of black beans I needed to use up so this is what I came up with.

I was using up some wild rice (2 servings worth, about half a cup.) It took almost an hour to cook so I started it first while preparing the rest of the ingredients. I cooked it in some homemade stock.

Next I started the kielbasa in a separate pan. I used about a tablespoon of olive oil and maybe a third of a link of turkey kielbasa which I cut in small pieces. While that cooked, I cut up half an onion, added it to the pan. Then I added a few cut up pieces of red sweet pepper and a few diced grape tomatoes. I cooked the vegetables until soft then added the rice and stock to my meat pan. I put the lid on it, cooked everything for maybe half an hour and walked away. I just cooked it until the rice was done then added my black beans. I also added a can of drained diced potatoes. I added salt, paprika, turmeric and cumin. Then cooked for about 5 minutes. 

And done! Easy meal I could probably have cooked in about 20 minutes if I had used a quicker rice. 

Have a good weekend and thanks for reading. 

Lessons in gardening 2024

 2024 was the first real year I was able to sit down and begin gardening so I thought I would share some of the lessons I learned the hard way. Maybe to help others, but also to remind myself.

My first lesson was in regard to our walnut tree. From everything I've read, many plants do not do well in soil beneath walnut tree because of a chemical in the tree itself which kills some plants such as tomatoes. So, my first lesson was to figure out a work around. I probably could have tried in ground gardening elsewhere in the yard, but I was beginning late in the season for all of that. I may try it in a patch here or there this year. For 2024, I just stuck with container plants. A lot of them.

Eventually I started numbering my containers so as to keep track of them more easily. My husband had suggested I use Excel to keep track of everything - and at the end of the season I realized he was right, and I suddenly found myself wishing I had done that. In December I started a spreadsheet to keep track of my crop rotation and its honestly kind of a pain trying to remember which container size I used to plant what, so I definitely need to keep better records of everything. Live and learn.

As I mentioned, I started later in the season so that's one of the lessons: Start early in the season. From what I have read, you don't want to start too early but starting too late isn't good either. Many of my crops didn't do well and I think it's just because I started them too late in the season.

Next, just because the internet says something doesn't mean it's true. Like pretty much everything on the Internet, when it comes to gardening, there is so much conflicting information out there and of course everyone claims to be an expert. I'm finding I prefer the "give it a try and see what happens" method.

Holland Farms was one of the Web sites I used to purchase bulbs from. I remember seeing their name around for years and I "thought" they had a good reputation. The first batch of bulbs I bought had a few decaying bulbs, while others were full of mold and just did not do well. It took several days of sending emails to them, but I did finally receive replacement bulbs for most of my orders. The replacement bulbs looked much healthier. But even after some time I noticed a few of those began to turn moldy as well. I planted them all except the heavily damaged bulbs. So, I guess time will tell whether or not they do well. I have since done some research on the company and found many, many complaints in regard to the quality of their bulbs. My experience does not seem to be entirely unique unfortunately so I may not buy from them again.

Squirrels enjoy eating ginger root. I would not have guessed that one, but it actually made me laugh when I found my unprotected ginger had been dug up by a squirrel. I suppose if you're going to plant ginger root, either protect it or start it indoors.

This one should be obvious, but I didn't realize my error until I had my garlic in hand and was preparing to plant it...and I realized I had way more garlic than I actually needed at the time. Garlic is garlic - plant individual cloves and not the entire head! (Duh!, haha.)

This year's favorite crops were tomatoes and tomatillos, lettuce and banana peppers. I was surprised by that, as I normally don't eat many banana peppers. I will definitely need to grow them again. Since I'm thinking on it, I also learned tomatoes are supposed to be a tricky plant to grow and not for beginners. I had started a bunch of seedlings in the house but none of them did well. I ended up buying some plants and they did OK. 

Hoops. Not a fan. I'm probably going to avoid using them this year if I can. If you're going to use them, set them up before the cold really sets in. I had a few which came undone with the wind, and as the ground warmed up again. By that time, the ground was still too frozen to stick them back in place correctly, so I had to shove the ends inside my containers. The clips I used were horrible and I really had to fight to get them in place. Not a fun task when it's cold outside. I found they were a bit easier to use once they had been on the hoops themselves overnight. If I do them again, I may just use garden staples. I'm really not sure if there is a proper way of using the hoops. 

Potato grow bags rip easily - I had many handles break apart as I tried moving the bags even just a little bit. I would recommend using straw if you're going to use them. It's lighter. Or just put them in place and don't move them.

Harvest greens early as microgreens! This includes spinach, arugula, bok choy, etc. Also watch out for aphids. Those guys devoured many of my crops.

I guess that's really it, from what I can recall and from my notes. I'm looking forward to a better harvest this year since I've learned a few things. Here's just a few bullet points to summarize. Thanks for reading and happy gardening this year!

1. Walnut tree soil can kill plants.

2. Organize, record, label.

3. Start early but not too early.

4. Don't believe everything you find on the Internet.

5. Do research before buying bulbs from suppliers.

6. Squirrels love ginger!

7. Plant garlic cloves, not the entire bulb.

8. Favorite crops: tomatoes, tomatillos, lettuce and banana peppers.

9. Tomatoes can be tricky, buy young plants.

10. Garden hoops can be more of a problem than helpful. Do research first.

11. Potato bags rip easily.

12. Harvest microgreens.

13. Watch out for aphids.

Nature Observations 2024

  I thought I'd use this space to make a more permanent and easily accessed record of my observations throughout the year. I live near a park, so some of these are in my own yard, some at the park which makes for some interesting observations.

- Reviewing from my old journals. 

January 26 - 58 degrees!

January 31 - bittercress and unidentified leaves of some plant coming up.

February 13 - It was 44 degrees and snowing. How??? The air temperature was 43.

March 7 - Cleavers coming up.

March 14 - tornado watch.

March 15 - crane flew over us as we went for our walk.

March 28 - ducks, geese changing colors.

April 2 - River flooded.

April 3 - park still flooded.

April 6 - muskrat spotted!

April 7 - first butterfly spotting for the spring.

April 8 - Eclipse. 

April 10 - We saw the muskrat again.

April 12 - Park still very flooded, past the tree lines and covering the walking path in low spots. Daffodils in bloom, tulips near bloom. Fruiting trees (plum or cherry?) in bloom.

April 16 - 70 degree weather.

April 18 - potatoes spouted. They didn't do well so I wasn't able to harvest them unfortunately!

April 20 - My aquatic lotus plant started sprouting again. I had thought the snails had killed it off!

April 28 - Common mouse-ear blooming. Mock strawberry blooming.

April 29 - Japanese barberry turning red.

April 30 - Lots of random weeds coming up. I'm still learning how to identify things in our new home. Violets blooming. Star of Bethlehem flowering. Speedwell spreading. 

Living near a park, the geese come by every spring with the baby geese. Today was the first sighting of the baby geese in the yard! I find it very exciting and enjoy watching them feed in our field. The dandelions were in full force by this time and the hostas were doing well.

May 1 - Groundhog in our yard.

May 7 - Mushrooms popping up.

May 9 - Groundsorel flowering. More mushrooms. Crownvetch made its first appearance.

May 11 - "Red tail" hanging out in our yard - we have melanistic gray squirrels in our area. They seem to be very common here. They're mostly all black with red tails.

May 18 - wild carrot growing. Pokeweed, crabweed sprouting. Wood sorrel spreading.

May 19 - Eastern bluestar blooming. More mushrooms.

May 23 - Tree of Heaven spotted.

May 26 - Morning glories sprouting.

May 27 - golden eagle spotted near our house, on Memorial Day! Further research makes me think it could have been a juvenile bald eagle, not positive. We're supposed to have a family of bald eagles near here. I started watching the skies more since this day and have spotted lots of hawks (we have a family of them near us also), vultures, etc.

May 29 - planted astilbe and bleeding heart.

May 30 - I found some Heal All growing in the yard.

June 5 - planted Coral bells. Nightshade starting showing up.

June 6 - First nasturtium sprouting.

June 7 - Bleeding heart blooming.

June 8 - Hollyhock sprouting.

June 10 - Ragweed. Day lily flowering. Rabbits started visiting the yard.

June 11 - Toadflax blooming.

June 13 - Hostas flowering.

June 14 - Coral bells flowering. White avens blooming.

June 20 - Purslane growing. Sow thistle showing up everywhere.

June 22 - Horseweed showing.

June 23 - First potato harvest but they were mostly too small to keep.

June 30 - Mallow blooming. Salsify blooming. Wild carrot blooming. Received my pepper plants, a few were flowering.

July 1 - Burnweed  and sow thistle coming up.

July 5 - Fleabane blooming. Raining season so lots of mushrooms were showing up. First lightning bugs! Nasturtium sprouting. Toadflax blooming.

July 8 - Lots more mallow popping up where the road crew redid our yard.

July 15 - sunflowers coming up; first peppers forming. green beans sprouting. petunias sprouting.

July 16 - Baby robin hanging out on our porch. Momma was nearby in my garden. Strawberries flowering.

July 17 - first tomato flowers. I found Flower-of-an-hour in our yard where the roadcrew sowed grass.

July 18 - groundhog hanging out in our yard again.

July 20 - Flower-of-an-hour blooming.

July 21 - Bunny sighting.

July 22 - first strawberry fruit. first bean flower, zucchini sprouting, peppers producing fruit, marigolds sprouting.

July 26 - Morning glories blooming.

July 27 - Zinnias sprouting.

July 29 - Tomatillo sprouting.

July 31 - tomatoes producing fruit.

August 3 - first bean harvest.

August 11 - beans flowering.

August 17 - Zinnias flowering, more morning glory blooms.

August 20 - Watermelon flowering.

August 22 - Cucumber flowering, kohlrabi sprouting. Nasturtium blooming.

August 24 - First pepper harvest.

August 27 - More nasturtium blooms. Cosmos blooming. Found my first quickweed in the garden, joy!
Tomatillos producing fruit.

August 30 - Watermelons producing fruit. Spinach and arugula probably near harvest.

September 8 - Cucumber producing fruit.

September 20 - corn flowering.

September 23 - Petunias flowering.

September 27 - First turnip harvest, tomatillo harvest.

October 1 - starting to get cold, with highs in the 50s. Seasonal anxiety setting in.

October 2 - Bean, tomatillo and pepper harvest. First cosmos seed harvest.

October 24 - Started seeing caterpillars in the garden.

October 30 - Yarrow sprouting.

November 7 - planted garlic.

November 12 - still harvesting tomatoes and tomatillos. Harvested catnip.

November 20 - first crocus bloom, ground cherry producing fruit.

November 21 - first snow.

December 12 - Woodpecker came back.

December 27 - Double rainbow.

Nature observations 2025

 I thought I'd use this space to make a more permanent and easily accessed record of my observations throughout the year. I live near a park, so some of these are in my own yard, some at the park which makes for some interesting observations.

January 11 - we had a fair share of snow by this point; my containers were covered in snow.

January 14 - temperatures starting to drop; record artic cold temperatures were on their way; we saw windchills around -25 F while the actual temperature was in the negatives for a few days (maybe a week after this?)

January 17 - blue heron spotted. We also saw about 12 mallard ducks. A few adults and several juveniles. 

January 21 - 22 - Freezing, subzero temperatures. Actual temperature this morning was -10 F
Indoor temperatures dropped to 62F.

January 27 - first robin spotted.

January 28 - Crocuses coming up.

January 29 - Pansies coming up.

January 31 - highs near 50. Geese returned. Fern, coral bells, irises, horseradish, strawberries, yarrow survived the cold.

February 3 - Sighting of bluebirds in our yard for the first time! There have also been a bunch of starlings, bluejays and a woodpecker. One cardinal spotted as well. Temperatures in the 50s. Garlic sprouting. Japanese barberry still producing berries. A number of weeds still showing up, including mock strawberry.

February 5 - Sky was much brighter last night, middle of the night (10 PM or so.) Odd, considering the waxing crescent moon. I woke up at some point and noticed the sky was a dark turquoise blue. Again, this must have been before midnight. Noting it only because it was unusual. Colder today - highs in the 30s, lows in the 20s. So all the plants coming up are no longer looking as happy as yesterday. Blackberry plants look to have survived the cold OK.

February 6 - Mallow growing; carrots seem to have survived the cold.

February 10 - Skunk smell the past 2 nights - smells like skunk mating season is here!

February 14 - We had a large flock of starlings today. I had read some areas nearby saw them recently so it appears they’re migrating. 

February 18 - weird weather this week. We woke up two days ago to snow on the ground. The day before it was around 40 degrees. The next day it was raining when we woke, and flooding, then quickly turned to snow. Last night the windchills were in the subzero temperatures again. Our highs are supposed to be in the low 20s almost all week. Looks like we’re about 20 degrees colder than the historical average today. The geese decided not to leave this time. 

March 4 - colder temperatures last week, while today is in the 60s. We saw 9 mallard ducks today: 3 females, 4 males and then 2 oddball males. One was probably just a juvenile and didn’t have his full colors yet, the other was mostly white so possibly a ‘blonde.’ 

March 5 - first stink bug of the season. 

March 7 - spring flowers are poking through! (Hyacinth)

March 11 - daffodils coming up. 

March 14- yellow crocus blooming. Water at the park is really low; it dropped quickly. Geese acting abnormal: going up on the hill, which they never do. Weird awful smell outside. Blood moon, total lunar eclipse. Highs near 80.  Early tulips are sprouting.

March 16 - cooler today and it’s been raining all morning. The waterway filled back up quick. My catnip survived winter and looks to be flourishing. I found maybe 4 or 5 more hyacinth sprouts poking through. The neighbor’s purple crocus are blooming at last. 

March 23- cold spring morning, about 25 degrees. 

March 24 - white and purple crocus coming up. Bleeding heart sprouting. New growth on coral bells. 

March 28 - daffodils blooming. Single purple crocus blooming. It appears we are a few weeks behind other areas nearby, maybe because we’re in the heights?  Got my potatoes, radishes and garlic planted. Forsythia is blooming!

March 29 - too cloudy to see the double sun. Supposed to be about 75 today. Saw a butterfly and the first dandelion. 

March 30 - hostas and toadflax sprouting. 

April 5 - day lily sprouting. Extensive flooding in our area, just shy of one year anniversary flooding from last year.  

April 8 - temperatures in the 30s, down to 20s. Snowing. Last week it got up to 70s. No tulip blooms yet, but others in my area are budding. 

April 22 - tulips are starting to open up. All red so far. Buds on the bleeding heart and I think the astilbe is finally coming back. The weather has been much cooler this spring so I’m finally getting some of my March and April seeds planted. 

April 26 - strawberries are flowering!

April 27 - first skunk spotting!

Ginger candied cranberries

I’ve been experimenting with a lot of new recipes lately so I thought I’d start sharing my results with you. 

Today I tried out Howe we live’s Ginger Sugar Cranberries recipe which I found here. 

The recipe was easy to follow and to make. It was unclear how much ginger to use so we just used 2 large chunks and my husband cut them into slices. 

You’re basically just making a simple syrup which soaks over the cranberries. Then the next day you roll them around in sugar. I tried doing a few at a time in all the sugar which was a big mistake. The sugar got all mushy quickly so I set it aside, grabbed a new container and sprinkled the sugar over the berries instead. It did use a lot of extra sugar this way but I set it aside in a stored container in the fridge to use in tea throughout the week. I had planned on making candied ginger soon anyway so I may just reuse the sugar there.

I did save the pieces of ginger and made some candy with it. I also saved the syrup to make drinks with. The cranberries themselves turned out really good. Inexpensive, easy and festive recipe to try out for certain. 

May you live in interesting times..

 Well, it's been quite a minute since I blogged last. The title of this post comes from an ancient Chinese course: 

May you live in interesting times.

Which may mean something entirely different to you, if you're a Terry Pratchett fan. Point being, the past few years for me have been very chaotic. Life isn't going to settle down anytime soon, but I feel the need to write so here I am again.

Let me catch you up a bit. I started working at Hobby Lobby in 2017, thus the decline of posts here. My entire energy went into my job. A mistake on my part, not finding the correct work and life balance. You live and learn, right? In early 2020 we both got Covid. Then, on October 1, 2021 I woke up sick again, with extreme fatigue and a low grade fever. I don't feel like I was overly sick but I just had zero energy. I woke up on my grandfather's birthday of October 10 and the fever had finally broken. But then I was looking around our house that night and encountered a new surprise: mold. Everywhere. Long story short, my husband packed up everything we owned which appeared to be OK, said goodbye to the only home we had known for 12 years and moved from Wisconsin back to our native Ohio. 

Unfortunately, we moved from one toxic home to another, bouncing from his family to mine until we were able to buy our first home in 2023 (and I'm fairly proud of us for being able to buy a home during this housing crisis on a single income alone.) We learned many valuable lessons over the past few years. I've learned what it's like to live with people with severe mental issues, drug issues - while they hid it well from us previously. I learned the true definition of family - and it has absolutely nothing to do with blood. I learned the hard way, blood family can be the most damaging to your psyche, your mental and physical health. I've cut ties with the people who used to matter the most to me, after I realized they returned my love with unjust criticism, and misunderstanding. After over 12 years, I was a stranger to the people I had grown up with, just as they were strangers to me. 

This past year, I've been restoring my personal relationship with God and my savior, Jesus. I was raised Christian, but I've come to see just how far from true Christianity much of my childhood was. I tend to be a very private person, so those thoughts are best left to my daily journals and prayers. 

I'm finding my way back home to the home I have longed for, for many years. I'm still unemployed, so I have been focusing on improving my health (I'll just pause here to shout out to Jen Hilman and Upright Health and thank them both for helping me to undo years of pain.)

This blog has, historically, mostly been based on my love of nail polish, and beauty in general. While I still love those things, I can't imagine blogging about them anytime soon or at least not as the main focus. I may go back to reviewing books again, I've been playing around with that idea. I'm not sure yet, but mostly I just need to write for my own well being. I spend most of my time these days cooking, trying new recipes, and focusing on self improvement... I'm trying to nurture my creative side more so I'm trying to write again, and also to get back into drawing, something I haven't done in too many years. 

I started gardening this past year, so I'm currently thinking I will begin to write about that process soon - my lessons, experiences, etc. I have a few ideas to get started so one step at a time.

For now, I'm here. I've been struggling to get back to some form of normalcy the past few years but hope for better things in the future. 

See you there :)

Thankful for Books Reading Challenge 2

So, Facebook is still blocking me from posting anything on my page. I seriously don't know what their issue is but it's incredibly frustrating.

Today I'm catching up on two prompts: best title and life changing.

I feel it's impossible to chose a best title - I have so many favorites! Terry Pratchett and Terry Goodkind are my two favorite authors so I'll start there. Pratchett's Soul Music, Small Gods and Thief of Time are among my favorites of his. The Tiffany Aching books are probably my favorite of his mini-series. Faith of the Fallen is still my favorite of Goodkind's Sword of Truth books though I'm also really enjoying his new work, starting with Nest. (Yes, I'm aware of all of the bad publicity with Goodkind.. I still enjoy his work.)

Life changing is a bit easier for me to think on - what first came to mind was Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo's blood type diet books, the Genotype Diet, Eat Right 4 Your Type and Live Right 4 Your Type. (Although honestly, I could have put Faith of the Fallen under this prompt also, but regardless....)

The blood type diet has been life changing for me because it gave me the tools to lose 25 pounds and keep it off. I'm also aware now of specific food triggers and which foods are actually good for me! I'm especially sensitive to the nightshade vegetables, which I never knew but at the same time the usual culprits like coffee and wheat are actually beneficial for me!  DNA testing has even confirmed this :) In a world where everyone says don't eat sugar, don't eat wheat, coffee can cause headaches.. I'm on the flip side. Dieting is so confusing, but Dr. D's work has explained so much for me and helped me to live better and feel better. I'm also more recently noticing improvement with my cognitive functions caused by epilepsy. That's amazing, after all these years!

I strongly recommend this diet and of course the books. I personally got started with the diet without reading the books first - just by studying the information on his web site. There's a wealth of free information there.

So just to be clear, I'm not trying to sell anyone anything - I'm just providing my personal opinions and information on what has worked for me and what I enjoy.

I guess that's it for today so if you'd like to, you can join us in the reading challenge here.

Thankful for books reading challenge

So when I signed up for this challenge, my husband was working but then we got sick, he lost his job and so I haven't had as much computer time. I posted the first few prompts just on my Facebook page. Monday I tried 3 times to do so again but for whatever reason, Facebook is eating my posts. So, for today at least I will post here. Hopefully Facebook fixes it's issues, I really don't know what the deal is. While working on this post, I noticed it's loading really slowly too. Get your act together, Facebook! Anyway... Here's the challenge.

Just to recap, here's my responses so far:

Day 1: "Today is the first day of the #TFBRC reading challenge. I’m jumping right in with my collection of Christmas/Winter books. I don’t have clear #Goals but I do want to read Chasing Christmas Past and Christmas from Hell. I’m currently reading Candlelight Courting which I will finish today. I’ve already met my reading goal and upped it a few times for this year so no worries there.

Join us for fun and prizes: http://bit.ly/TFBRC"

Day 2: "Washington Irving is probably best known for Sleepy Hollow, but today I’m reading his book Old Christmas which just happens to be free for Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Old-Christmas-Wash…/…/ref=mp_s_a_1_2…

I went through a phase of reading #classics when I was very young. My favorite was Great Expectations. #TFBRC
http://www.iamareader.com/…/thankful-for-books-reading-chal…"

November 5th is where Facebook didn't let me post so let me continue here. The prompt for this day was DNF (did not finish, ironically enough...) The way I read, I have about 40 books or so started at once and I go back and forth between them. It is very rare for me to not finish a book and I've only recently allowed myself to put books aside when I absolutely cannot finish them (one such book took place in Wisconsin - I live here, I decided I didn't need to read about the people here when I can experience in real life. Another book I set aside recently fell into my idea of witchcraft, so no thanks!)


6th - yesterday's prompt was heartbreaker. I had a migraine yesterday and didn't feel up to trying to get Facebook to post so I skipped this one.. and honestly, as an INTJ personality this one is a bit difficult for me to answer! It seems like the majority of the books I read are happily ever after which actually is a growing source of annoyance for me. Sometimes I want a realistic ending, not everything is roses in life. But that's just me. I did recently pick up James Patterson's "Sam's Letters to Jennifer" from my little free library. It takes place in Wisconsin, briefly mentions someone with my mom's name and involves a character with a brain tumor (which my mom went through last year.) Lots of little things like that in this book which made it very difficult for me to get through, emotionally - though I did really enjoy the book.

... and that brings us to today's prompt which is fall colors and now that I think on it.. I'm not sure how to answer this one, either! Haha. But you know what? I saw an ad today for Christmas trees already. It's November 7th not even close to Thanksgiving yet and already people are preparing for Christmas. It seems crazy, though I am the one reading Christmas books at the moment for a theme. So since I'm drawing a blank, I think today I'll share a deal with you.

Stacey Rourke's The Legends Saga Collection is currently on sale for 99 cents on Amazon. I've only read the first book, Crane, which was an interesting spin on the Headless Horseman tale.. so this will be a good read for next Autumn (yes, I'm planning ahead that far!)

Also on my to read pile next Autumn is the Serenity Woods Fall in Love box set. I got it for free in September but it's currently $5.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited.

I suppose that's it for today. I may try again tomorrow to post to Facebook... if not, I might be back another day blogging and playing catch up when I can :P

You can join us for prizes and fun with the reading challenge by going here.

Nothing in life is guaranteed

It's funny timing that I started blogging again last week, and blogging about distractions. This past week has really shown me how quickly life can throw us for a curve. Last week I was starting to feel better, and in fact feel better than my usual - I noticed eating wheat germ seems to clear my usual brain fog so apparently I'm going to have to make it a new staple to my diet (all those people out there who claim wheat causes brain fog - yeah, I just have to be contrary.) My husband started a new job, which was going to put us financially in a better position. Things were looking up.

Enter last weekend. My husband got sick, then Monday I woke up definitely sick. It's been impossible to be motivated to do anything - especially with the obvious looming over our heads: my husband not only got sick, he was much too sick to work and so he lost the new job. We both feel he was there long enough to learn an important lesson : that particular job wasn't for him, obviously by how the situation was handled with his former employer but it's also pretty obvious he needs a break from factory work. He's been exposed to so many harmful chemicals over the past few years by working in factories, and it's gotten us no where. Unfortunately, most of the jobs where we live are factory jobs so that leaves us with few options. This is a troubling time for us, because in the short of it, we're looking at a drastic change to how we've been living so I'll have to be smarter about our purchases and menu planning. Looks like I won't be stocking up for winter as I normally do, which that alone makes me nervous since living in Wisconsin you just never know when the weather is going to turn on you (we got a freak snow storm today - our first snow of the year as far as I know.)

I'm thankful for more time to spend together - I'm not one to believe in a 50+ hour work week, not when you have a family at home missing you. Money can only buy so much, and it's not happiness.

I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us in this new chapter in our lives, even if I am nervous and a bit scared. I don't like all of the uncertainty.

I'm hoping to still be able to blog - I'm thankful I'm feeling well enough to do so today, despite a weather related / sleep deprivation headache. Getting better, but it's taking much rest and time, like all things.

So, just your friendly, afternoon weekend reminder - don't take anything for granted because it can change in an instant.

... and then there were potato chips.

So the other day I was blogging about distractions keep us from living our lives or more specifically in my case, those which keep me from writing. Yesterday was one of those days. One of the things I really dislike about myself is my inability to adapt. I wake up with a plan for the day in my head, and if anything throws off that plan - at least on a wrong day - forget about it. Yesterday was my shopping day - I was tired from interrupted sleep and even though I knew I should only buy a few things at the grocery store, I took my shopping cart instead. I've noticed one of my bad spending habits is spending more money when I go shopping tired but also when I take my cart (good time to stock up, right?) I usually have all of my shopping done and put away by 3:30 or 4 at the latest so then exercise at 4:30. With this new schedule, no such luck. I didn't get home until after 4 so things weren't put away until 4:30. That little difference in my routine disoriented me enough to completely throw off my day. What stopped me from exercising yesterday? (well, exercising in addition to all those groceries I lugged in the house, and walking to and from the store.) Me, of course. I'm not entirely sure how to adapt to things better, but at least I'm self aware of these things now.

And then, as the title of this blog post reads... and then there were potato chips. I love potato chips. I don't typically over eat, but those are one food I could binge on and don't get me anywhere near chip dip. Yesterday my husband wanted potato chips for the weekend. I'm not supposed to eat potatoes on my diet. At all. I've learned numerous times they are not good for me. Did it stop me from eating those chips? Of course not.

So today begins, first thing in the morning I woke up two hours early and noticed immediately the furnace was not running correctly. Bonus to my exhausted, stressed out state - those potato chips I ate yesterday have entered my system and all day I've been at my wit's end... feeling as though on a cliff, just waiting for the panic attack to take hold. To make matter's worse, I didn't write yesterday aside from my daily journal so my creative energies were being stifled and dragging me into a depressed state. In short, today I'm a mess.

But I was reflecting on my journal question of the day - what motivates you? One of the things I have found with journalism, and using these 30 day journal e-books, is I come upon questions I have much difficulty answering without some serious reflection. Which is pretty much the point, right? What motivates you, for me was not an easy question to answer and one I still need to reflect on further. My initial thought was fear - but no, really it keeps me frozen in place, quite the opposite. I was thinking back on yesterday, thinking about how just that little bit of disruption to my routine allowed me to completely throw off my plans and how it just spiraled into further bad choices. (All of these things I've read about, of course... but I'm stubborn and have to live through something to truly understand it and put the pieces together in my mind.) I really, really don't like feeling as I have today, and most days I don't. But you know what? I realized I have control of how I respond to things TODAY - I can either just soak in my misery or move ahead and get past the troubles of this morning.

So, even though I'm exhausted and fuzzy headed, I opted to write this post. Because I NEED to write. To what end, who knows? I do know it helps me, and I know it helps seeing things from a different perspective.

So often I get caught up in my future plans or past worries, I forget to live NOW.  To just accept how things are now. Easier said than done at times, but I think I'm getting better at it (otherwise, I wouldn't be writing right now.)

I'm struck by a lyric from one of my favorite bands, My Ruin, which has randomly popped into my head: The past is just the past.

Normally I feel as though I'm living my life one step forward, ten steps back.. today, right now.. it's the opposite. A few steps back, but ten steps forward.

Keep moving forward, everyone <3

Distractions

Yesterday I was reflecting on some things, and I thought I'd share my thoughts with you. Months ago, I had viewed this video from author Keary Taylor about reasons why your book hasn't been completed (hands up here.)

The first thing she mentions is distractions - and that is the whole subject I had on my mind yesterday. So often I get frustrated because even as a homemaker, it just seems as though I don't have the time or energy to sit down and write. Why? Distractions. Here are the things which personally challenge me the most:

• not sleeping enough, because who can concentrate well on 6 hours of sleep?
  
• chronic pain - unfortunately since this is my daily life, it's an ongoing issue to force myself to do things even though I have a migraine or I'm just not feeling my best so yes, it does often interfere.
• errands - I'm the kind of person who likes to get things done and over with so that's how I handle my time, but unfortunately it also often leaves me so exhausted. At the same time, if I know I haven't cleaned the dishes or done the laundry, that's going to sit at the back of my mind until I get them out of the way. Our current apartment is one of those places where no matter how much you clean it, there's always so much more to do. So that's a huge distraction for me, especially when my OCD kicks in.
• the dreaded word for an INTJ: emotions. Yes, I have them, and yes sometimes they do get in the way. Having been in a toxic relationship for about 8 years, those things don't just go away and sometimes they creep up on me. Type A personality, right here! I've been trying to walk more for my health recently, and one of the things I've dealt with is dangerous drivers. In two weeks, I was almost hit twice. Both times really rattled my nerves, and was a huge distraction.
• interrupted routine. My husband started a new job this week, so we've been getting settled into a new schedule, new sleep and eating hours, etc. All of that stuff really throws me off. Although, admittedly this time it's only a slight adjustment so I seem to be swinging into it a bit easier than usual.
• entertainment. This is a big one for me. Between video games and the mountain of books I have in my to read pile (I can't just read one thousand books at once? who knew?), it's just sometimes easier to do those things than to get work done. Especially when my pain is at a high point (you're supposed to rest with a migraine, right? time to read a book! yeah, not necessarily...) Also on this subject: Facebook. I've learned the hard way, if I keep that tab open, I get a terrible obsession to check it waaaayyy more often than necessary. Again, often it is just used to stir up more drama, which creates an even bigger distraction in the long run. In short: step away from the technology (as I'm typing on a computer, ha.)
• wanting to write, but not having the ideas.  I think this is one of the reasons I felt compelled to write this blog post. So often, I'm just stumped. But, with this... aha! This post came easy. There is a saying which I find to be so true: Writers write. That's it. So even when I'm not working on one of my books - which currently feel as though they will never get finished - I do journal every day and I'm hoping blogging again will help me get back into the swing of things. 

One of my current challenges is the last point. So often, my brain seems to get stuck into left brain mode so I find it difficult to switch gears. Music is one of my biggest inspirations (especially when I'm moving around.) I keep playlists on my Youtube account, organized by music which I associate with my different characters. Sometimes listening to those songs help kick the writer's block, other times... not so much. I tend to do everything backwards, and I realized recently I've been trying to write without brainstorming first. So my current writing goal is to brain storm daily (which I did yesterday, and hey look at me... now I'm writing! Success!)

One of the tricks I want to try for now is to listen to a song, and write down what emotions it evokes or any imagery it brings forth. It's how I've gotten some of my best ideas, so I just need to ignore all of the above distractions and do it more ;)

Some of these distractions of course can be true for other aspects of life, certainly. Not just writing. Do you have a trick for ignoring those distractions? Any tips for getting rid of writer's block? Let me know!

(Also, be sure to check out Keary's books if you're a romance or paranormal reader; she has several free stories on Amazon.)

As always, thanks for reading.

I completely forgot... I wanted to drop in a few things here at the end. Here's what I'm currently listening to.

 I also wanted to share the Good Omens trailer with you guys in case you haven't seen it... because, Terry Pratchett! (though I have to wonder what he would have thought of this finally being made.)

I'm back... with a reading challenge

So... I was going through some stuff last year about this time and opted to take down my blog for awhile. I am trying to get back to writing - any form of writing - and so when I saw this reading challenge come up among my e-mails, I thought it would be a good excuse to get back to blogging. At least to try it on for awhile, and see how it fits with me these days. I don't know how much I'll participate, but I want to give it a go.

My silly butt was thinking it started already, but hey it's for November so you still have plenty of time to sign up which you can do here.

I've been hoarding a ridiculous amount of e-books while also visiting my little free library. My current goal is to just finish getting through the 40 some books I have started reading because apparently that is how I read books now (I used to be the person who could only read one book at a time, not sure when that changed.) I'm getting there, as I pick up new books to start reading, haha. If you're interested, you can check to see what I'm reading on my Goodreads page.

So, I don't know if I'll blog again until the challenge starts.. I guess I'll see you in November if not :P

Zoya Nail Polish Earth Day Exchange

I have nothing to disclose.

Every year, Zoya does a special promo - twice a year, once for Earth Day and again sometime around December - where you can get 50% off your purchase of their polishes, with a minimum order of 6 bottles. That's $5 a piece - and you get a free bottle of their nail polish remover as well! In return, you agree to send your old unwanted polishes to them - but you don't have to do this! You can donate them or whatever - you can also send Zoya your old polishes without making a purchase.

This is my first time participating in the promo - and I've been waiting over half a year to do so! I've been busy reorganizing my polishes and sorting through to look for bad ones. I will get around to blogging about that at another time. It hasn't really been a fun process at all. I've found jelly polishes and many of the cheaper polishes dry out the fastest so I'm no longer wasting my money on those. Zoya has honestly held up the best from what I found. The glitter polishes also seem to be the worst unfortunately - but that also kind of goes hand in hand with jellies and cheap. So....

Use promo code EARTHLUV at checkout to receive 50% off your order. Valid through May 10, 2017.

Before I get to what I bought, what I'm returning let me take a moment to show you how I'm now keeping track of my Zoyas. I recently purchased Cosmos only to discover I had already purchased it (almost exactly a year apart - OOPS) SOOOOOOO I took one of their old catalogs and started crossing out all the polishes I have already and wrote in the names of any I couldn't find.

I'm pretty certain I'll just be buying Zoyas from now on - not that I buy nail polish often anymore - but I would rather buy high quality! So I imagine my little catalog is going to fill up with Xs :)

I still can't believe I got my order already. That shipped so FAST! I placed my order on April 10 and received it on April 14.

So first let me show you what I'm sending to Zoya in exchange. Just a note that I did try to restore this using thinner and even acetone in some cases but these babies were too far gone. RIP 😢

First is a generic brand called Simply Pleasures but I called this one Peace because that's what it says on the bottle :P
This was an iridescent jelly glitter and really turned glumpy. This one I won in a giveaway.

Second is LA Colors Sassy Sparkle which was pretty similar to the first one. Same issues. I bought this one.

Next is China Glaze Marry a Millionaire. I'm so sad this one dried up because it was one of my special Christmas time polishes I won. Iridescent bar glitter and little purple glitters.

I'm sending in Mentality Sexy for obvious reasons. I don't know for certain if this one was one of the bad batches (I won this one in a giveaway also). I think I only used it once before I found out about the Mentality issue. Too bad because it looks so pretty! But I'm not risking using this and I've already held on to it for way too long.

Next is Pop Culture Cosmetics in Pink Christmas. I noticed minis do not hold up well, either. Won't be buying them again. It looks like Pop Culture Cosmetics closed or at least I can no longer find them on Facebook - I'm not surprised. Pink Christmas was one polish I really wanted so I splurged for a Christmas present to myself and bought it several years ago. The formula was awful to begin with. I contacted the owner about this issue and never heard anything back.

Shany Magnetic in 05 I bought years ago. It was dried out when I received it. Both Amazon and Shany refused to give me my money back for this one. Obviously I'm not purchasing from Shany again and I try not to ever buy nail polish from Amazon because their policy for damaged nail polish is to just toss it and you're out your money. Amazon - I hate your policy. I had kept the polish because I thought maybe I could restore it with some thinner, but no luck. The brush was broken off when I received it, also. Not good.

Next is Hard Candy Fireworks. I believe my husband picked out this one several years ago when we went looking for some birthday polishes. I should have known better after getting Julep's 4th of July polish which is similar - the formula for both of these was not good but at least with the Julep it's still somewhat usable. Red and blue multiglitter.

I also have a mostly used up bottle of Sally Hansen base coat. I learned the hard way this week not to try to use basecoat when it gets to the end of the bottle and gets all weird. Now I have a couple of lumpy nails. Why did it take me so long to figure that out? I don't know, but now I know!

So now let's check out my new pretties.

I couldn't really find a good replacement for the Mentality so I just got Zoya Teigen which is a really pretty red with gold glitters. I got Lacey because I've been eyeballing it for months. Harper has been on my wishlist for awhile.

I probably already have enough polishes similar to Leia and not sure I really need Alicia but they're both gorgeous! Monet I felt was a good replacement for those glitters.

I feel like this is a good selection for spring :) Also just a tad bit Christmasy but that's ok.

I decided to do an Easter manicure with Lacey, Harper and Monet. I loved how they turned out - although I did it on a day I had barely gotten any sleep so that wasn't the brightest idea. I also used some color change decal stickers from Del Sol which I finally got around to using after having them for.... too long. They change color really well in the sun but I hate how they look on my nails. The stickers are just way too thick. I'm probably going to donate these.

Monet looks so pretty over Lacey though and I love how Harper compliments the combo.

Maybe I'll try this manicure again some day - but without these particular decals :p

Are you doing the exchange? Let me know what you think of my picks. Thanks for reading!

Winslow inspired nail art

I already posted this manicure on my social networks, but today I'm sharing my Winslow inspired nail art with you. For those who may not know who Winslow is:

My little loveable ball of fluff.

I've had this manicure in mind for awhile but I've just gotten around to doing it. For this one I used:

Dreamy Lacquer Company Bombardier's Eyes as the accent color - it seemed fitting to match the cool light blue of Winslow's eyes. I used a total of 3 coats and it's still fairly sheer.

I drew on the cat shape on these nails using one of my Shany nail art polishes. I tried! It's been months since I've drawn anything at all and even longer since I've done any freehand nail art - and this time while nursing torticollis so I did my best :)

I did two nails with Zoya Jules and two with Trust Fund Beauty $12 Latte.  I've never been much a fan of brown colors but I got $12 Latte in my Ipsy bag awhile ago so I had to try it out. As you can see, the polish in the bottle is a bit... odd. Like it separated with our cold weather. It seemed to apply fine though! I feel like this partially inspired my manicure as well, giving me the idea to do a marble effect. Anyway - Zoya Jules I highly recommend because although I'm not normally a fan of tan colors, this one is gorgeous! It has a beautiful gold shimmer which I love.

I used the dry brush method to achieve this look, using Essie Miss Fancy Pants along with $12 Latte over Jules, and Miss Fancy Pants and Jules over $12 Latte for a really interesting effect. I topped it with Ciate Gelology top coat which smoothed out the colors of the dry brush effect. I absolutely love how this turned out. Notice how it almost looks like I used Bombardier's Eyes on the brown nails? I didn't at all!

This is so much prettier in real life. I wish I could get a better capture of it. Oh well, take my word for it - it looks awesome :P

I love the little hint of gold in this every now and then from dry brushing Jules. That was an unintentional bonus.

I have two coats of the top coat on this in total since I didn't do this manicure all at once - I did the base coats then the dry brushing and nail art a different day. So far it's holding up very nicely. Fingers crossed it doesn't start to crack.

Hopefully I'll be back to doing more nail art soon. Thanks for reading!

April Ipsy Sneak peek

I bought this. Referral link included.

One of the things I'm loving about being on second shift is I don't have to wait for my Ipsy sneak peek - as soon as it hits midnight, I'm there checking on it. Yes, I hate waiting as you may be able to tell.

Reading the feedback on the bag and theme this month has been kind of interesting - so many people seem to think it's so childish and just hate the bag. I've been more reflective on Carol Tuttle's Dressing Your Truth information lately, so I feel like this bag is pretty perfect for those Type 1s out there - and color wise I feel it's pretty perfect for my Type 4/1 energy. (Check out Carol's Web site if you're absolutely clueless about what I'm talking about - there's plenty of free information there to get you interested - unless you're type 4 - haha)

So I don't mind the bag. I feel like it's a fun, creative look for those of us who don't like the norm.

Let's check out what I'm getting this month:

Meg Twin Nail Polish in Lovey Dovey - I'm super pumped to be getting this. Seriously excited. I always love 2 for one products and of course new nail polish. This is a brand I have never tried so I'm excited about that. The colors aren't my first choice but that's actually a good thing - I've found I have so many reds, blues, etc. but so very few neutral colors. This will give me a couple more colors to play with. OHHH and I see it's an Ipsy limited edition combo - even better. These seem to be mini size which kind of sucks - those always dry up first for me so I will definitely try to make use of these before they turn goofy! (I've been working on restoring my old polishes for the past week, bleh.)


 Ciate London mini bronzer - I kind of thought I might get this. My current bronzer is getting pretty thin, so I won't complain. I'm curious about this as I see it's made with sunflower (LOVE) and amaranth - I can't recall ever seeing amaranth in a beauty product before so that will be different. I've been pretty happy with Ciate London products so far.

Jesse's Girl Liquid Eyeliner.... in black. This is the only product I'm disappointed to be getting. Seriously, another black eyeliner? I don't want black! I want weird different colors! I have plenty of black already and honestly I have found I don't really care how black looks on me. I almost always end up putting some other color eyeshadow over it just to tone it down a bit. But - I will have 2 black eyeliners expiring next month so I suppose this will replace those 2.

TonyMoly Liptone Lipcare - I'm anxious to see which one I get. I was kind of hoping for this actually. My current lip balm is almost all used up. These seem to have interesting scents (? scents not flavors? you're confusing me, Ipsy) like honey, mint and rose blossom. I feel like I'll be happy with this no matter which one I get. Hopefully if I do get the honey one it won't be sticky - that's my only concern.

Eau Thermale Avene Rich Compensating Cream - moisturizers are kind of like a little bonus item to me, nothing exciting but a daily use item. So I will definitely make use of this, I'm sure.

Nothing too exciting, bold or major exciting or different here - but I'm happy with the preview, aside from the eyeliner. I guess I'm boring in that sometimes I'm happier just getting products I will use every day opposed to new and different things at times.

What are you getting this month? What do you think of this month's bag? Getting something you're especially excited about? Let me know in the comments! :)

If you're not familiar with Ipsy, they are a subscription service where you get 5 beauty items a month delivered to your door. Sometimes you get full sized items, sometimes travel or sample sized. But they're fun just if you like to try new things. For me, it's been a great experience to try new products and types of products as I learn more about makeup. Additionally, they have a cool rewards program where if you review items on their Web site, share your bag, etc. you get points which can be used to exchange for free products. Score! (Referral link follows.) You can sign up for your custom monthly Ipsy bag here.  

March toss time

This post contains a referral link and previously reviewed items.

I have a migraine, so I will apologize in advance for any poorly worded phrases or whatnot.

I have a huge pile of stuff to toss this month, thanks to my poor planning.

Let me start with the stuff we've used up:

More of the CST soap.. I'm actually not sure which one we're using right now, I can't remember. But we used up one, and are using the other :P One in Argan oil, the other in patchouli. These still last a very long time, and leave my skin feeling so soft and just like the last bar we used, these came in nice little boxes which I will save and reuse for something or other.

I received a free sample of InstaNatural's Vitamin C facial cleanser. I love their products, in general. No issues with this, and it worked well. Love the natural ingredients.

Family Dollar brand non-acetone nail polish remover. I don't know why I still buy non-acetone since I use glitter so much and almost always need acetone. Since I almost never buy any kind of nail polish remover any more, I think I may switch to Zoya's remover, even though it's more expensive. It's so much better on my nails.

The Porefessional primer from benefit I received from Ipsy. This is probably my favorite primer and it's probably something I would buy if I had the money to spend it on, but unfortunately this one is way out of my price range. Which is too bad because honestly this one is great to use all by itself, no foundation required.

I finally used up my Valentia Eternal Youth Exfoliating Scrub which I reviewed here. I was sad to use up this one, as I really liked this little scrub.

biobelle #iwokeuplikethis I already posted about here.

Cortizone-10 maximum strength healing lotion for eczema I actually bought for my husband ages ago, but I've found myself using it from time to time. Seems to work pretty well and I love that it has natural ingredients like ginger and frankincense.

I recently got this sample of Loreal Paris Smooth Intense Ultimate Straight shampoo, pre-conditioner and conditioner. I obviously didn't notice it was straightener when I applied for the sample since my hair is straight. Haha. Oops. It did seem to help get rid of some of the tangles and make my hair (which is usually wavy when wet) just a tad straighter. I had never used a pre-conditioner before as far as I can remember. Seems like a really unnecessary step. I prefer as few products as possible so I'm not sure this is for me.

Now for my expired stuff. I mentioned before my peppermint oil from InstaNatural had expired. I was going to save it to use in my kitchen or whatever, just not on my skin but I figured it's just taking up space and I'm not sure I want to possibly spread around more bacteria if any were to grow in there. So into the trash it's going.

One of the things I really hate is when products don't have any kind of expiration information on them. I've been holding onto my Aussie Hair Insurance which I won from Allure in one of their giveaways, I forget how many years ago. I no longer have split ends, but this did seem to work fairly well when I did have split ends. But it's been a few years, I believe, so I think it's probably best to toss this one especially since I really no longer need it. That little bottle (150 mL) lasted a long time! A little went a long way. But please, Aussie - if you can hear me - add expiration info!!!

Next up is tarte smooth operator which is a finishing powder I got as a reward from Ipsy. Unfortunately I didn't really use this much. I found typically my skin is just too dry for powders. The few times I did use this, I noticed it clumped on my skin leaving a layer of white flakes. Not the best look.

Also from tarte and ipsy I have Lipsurgence lip cream, I think in poppy? I can't recall and it doesn't seem to say on the container. I wasn't crazy about the color at first because it's so much brighter than what I normally wear on my lips (berries or wines) but I got used to it. Absolutely love the formula. I ended up almost using all of this one.

A couple of months ago I got Hikari liquid eyeliner in Iris from Ipsy. The weather was, I believe, in the subzeros so when I got my eyeliner it was all dried out and just did not work well. I let them know and they replaced it immediately, no problems! For whatever dumb reason I'm just now getting around to tossing the bad eyeliner. (Why do I hold onto bad products? I don't know!)

Speaking of eyeliner........

Two years ago I bought this huge bundle of LA Colors jumbo eye pencils from Amazon. For some dumb reason I got excited and started using them all at once, so yeah.. now they all expired at the same time. Dumb. I do still have a few I haven't opened yet so I will be using those soon enough. I love getting makeup in sets but I've learned the hard way not to open them all at once so they don't all expire at the same time. 

That said, these really weren't the best products, but they were cheap. I definitely found it best to apply eyeshadow over top of them because otherwise they smear like nothing else. But they come in so many fun colors and I love how you can use them as eyeshadow or eyeliner. Here's the list of colors I got which are expiring now:

limeade
popsicle
vacation - this was one of my favorites, a nice brownish purple with surprising silver glitter. I'm going to see if I can't find this one somewhere to maybe buy it again.
relaxation - gorgeous copper color
Caribbean
cherry blossom
sunglasses - why did I have two of these open???
waves
pretty in pink
spring - nice greenish gold color
desert sun - nice gold color
bronze shimmer - lovely bronze color
summer time
iridescent light - perfect base color for a bit of sparkle. love this one
sea shells
saltwater
bikini time

I did find Vacation for cheap on Amazon so I will probably get that one again. I may look at my Family Dollar again sometime, as I think they used to have these there. They don't have as much stuff at my store as they used to unfortunately.

You can still get the lot of 24 eye pencils on Amazon for just under $24. That's about a dollar a piece so I still feel like it's a good deal.

... and I swear I'm missing one of my favorite purples from these, not sure what happened to it. Hmm.

Lastly is another LA Colors jumbo eye pencil which I never even opened. This one is in Summer Love and it's really too bad because the color looks really pretty. But the pencil itself looks like it's either crystallized or has something growing on it - which ewwww. Better safe than sorry so this one is getting tossed with the rest.

So I guess that's it for the month of April. Next month doesn't look to have too much to toss, fortunately. I shall see what else I use by then, as well :)

Thanks for reading!

If you're not familiar with Ipsy, they are a subscription service where you get 5 beauty items a month delivered to your door. Sometimes you get full sized items, sometimes travel or sample sized. But they're fun just if you like to try new things. For me, it's been a great experience to try new products and types of products as I learn more about makeup. Additionally, they have a cool rewards program where if you review items on their Web site, share your bag, etc. you get points which can be used to exchange for free products. Score! (Referral link follows.) You can sign up for your custom monthly Ipsy bag here.  

February and March Ipsy bag reviews

This post contains a referral link.

Sorry for the lack of posts - I know I'm behind in posting this review of my February Ipsy bag. I just haven't felt like sitting at the computer lately, so no blog posts lately, I haven't even been doing genealogy much lately either. I also haven't felt like messing with my makeup much lately, which is ironic because I just bought a bunch for my birthday. I will get into that and some other things in future posts. Lots of fun things to share with you in the weeks to come :)

I was going to do a sneak peek of my March bag but I figured since it's almost April already I might as well just toss my review here too.

But first is my February Ipsy bag review. I felt like this one was pretty good.

Trust Fund Beauty
Nail Polish in I Give Good Tweet or $12 Latte 

I received $12 Latte which I haven't tried yet so I'll add that review in later :P

NYX Professional Makeup
Butter™ Lipstick in Ripe Berry or Lifeguard

 I received Ripe Berry, and I liked the color. However, this one seemed to smear too much for me. It also seemed to clump up on me, which is why I normally don't wear lip sticks unless the formula is really good. So this just didn't work that great for me.

BelláPierre Cosmetics Volumelash Waterproof Mascara

 I really love this mascara. The wand is the most flexible I have used, and it applies well. 

Lord & Berry LINE/SHADE Eye Pencil - #221 Black

Yet another black eyeliner. I already have too many, but I tried this one anyway. I found I had to sharpen it more often than other pencils. It does apply pretty well, except it smeared easily for me. But it definitely held up really well against tears, so for that alone I'll give it a big thumbs up. 

Biobelle #StayGorgeous and #Iwokeuplikethis Sheet Masks

These sheet masks seemed pretty standard and straight forward. Easy and fun to use, then you just toss them when you're done. I noticed my skin felt softer after use. It seemed to fit my face pretty well, unlike some other face masks. I like that it is paraben, GMO free, made with natural ingredients (even if it is made in China.) 

To say I wasn't excited about this bag was an understatement. I'm not a fan of peach, although I ended up loving the design of this bag - it holds so much more than the regular bags which is perfect. I wasn't excited to be getting yet another brown eyeshadow, another matte lip product and another hair product I wasn't sure I would ever use. I could give or take the brush. That leaves the microdermabrasian which I was happy to receive. So with all of that in mind, here's my final thoughts on this month's bag - which I received on my birthday, YAY!

Eva NYC Mane Magic 10-in-1 Primer

I felt like I didn't need this, since I don't normally blow dry my hair or anything like that. My hair has been so dry this year though, so I hoped it would help with that. I used this on wet hair and noticed it made my hair so much softer, and it did seem to control some of the dry static craziness I've been dealing with. So I absolutely love it for that. I tried it on dry hair for the same reason, but found it worked best on wet hair.

Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion Mini

I only used this once so far, but I liked it. I was surprised by the texture of the product. Normally you hear abrasion anything and you think gritty texture, but this was actually very smooth. It didn't seem to irritate my sensitive skin, so that's always a good thing. I like that you only have to use this once a week.

tarte cosmetics
tarteist™ quick dry matte lip paint in rosé, delish, or vibin 

I received delish, which I'm very happy to have received this shade. I wasn't crazy about the color just looking at it in the bottle but I found at least for me it applied much darker. I absolutely love the color and I can't complain about the formula. I was concerned the matte finish wouldn't apply nicely since my lips are always so chapped, but I was surprised. It worked just fine. 

Skone Cosmetics Luxe Pro Blending Brush 

I didn't really need another blending brush, but it seems to work OK. The bristles are a lot softer than what I'm used to. 

mPrincess Pressed Eyeshadow in Chestnut 

There doesn't seem to be much pigment with this, and I definitely didn't notice the shimmery copper color Ipsy claims this has. It's another brown eyeshadow which I have plenty of already. 

So this wasn't my favorite bag, but not the worst either and I did end up being happier with some of the products than I had expected. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what I get next month and hope I get better products next time.

I will say that I really wish Ipsy would stick with our beauty preferences. If I had brown eyeshadow selected as a color preference, I would be happy with it. But I don't - I want some different crazy colors! I still like Ipsy because I get to try more expensive brands which I couldn't normally afford, and I get to try different stuff all the time.. and try products I wouldn't expect to like but end up loving. I just wish they would break away from the usual beauty standards of colors at times! Not every one likes to be on trend, but hey - that's me, the trend SETTER. Rant over :P

If you're not familiar with Ipsy, they are a subscription service where you get 5 beauty items a month delivered to your door. Sometimes you get full sized items, sometimes travel or sample sized. But they're fun just if you like to try new things. For me, it's been a great experience to try new products and types of products as I learn more about makeup. Additionally, they have a cool rewards program where if you review items on their Web site, share your bag, etc. you get points which can be used to exchange for free products. Score! (Referral link follows.) You can sign up for your custom monthly Ipsy bag here.