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Naturebox Sept. 2013

An average American eats 600 calories of snack food per day. Find out how you can cut out junk food.

What's in this month's NatureBox?

Salted Caramel Pretzel Pops!

Smoky BBQ Peas

Cranberry Macaroon Granola

Chia Seed Crackers

Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Pumpkin Seeds

My favorite from last month:

Sweet Blueberry Almonds

My husband's favorite:

Santa Fe Corn Sticks

My kids favorite:

Teriyaki Twists

You can get your first box at half price for using this code at checkout: http://fbuy.me/f-Ng  

Thank you for using my code!

*I am an affiliate of NatureBox.  My opinions are my own and I only share products and services I truly love and think will help my readers.  

DIY - paint a straight liine.

Do you tend to put beauty and design of your bedroom last on your busy to-do list?  I do.  My room is an after-thought.  See?

That whole country shelf (which is a beast of a shelf), and all is not a reflection of me.  This is one of two rooms that has not been painted since we bought the house in 2002.  I have spent many hours dreaming of a painted a room.  But as I visualize the actual process: painting around 2 windows and four door frames, I'd pretend I loved this white color.  

The other issue I have had is the realization that I have felt a real-live earthquake in this house before.  If this hefty shelf fell on us it would do terrible damage to both of our heads and faces.  FOR REAL!  

So, I finally decided to do something small that would change these two issues.  

I would simply paint this section of the wall to make it kind of like a headboard.  To do that I simply needed to paint a straight line.

And this right here is the key.

It's a laser level.  I bought mine at Wal-Mart years ago and I've seen it on Amazon.  It's less than 10 bucks.  It comes with some sticky tack to temporarily stick to the wall.  But I don't like sticky tack.  I just use painter's tape.

For my project I just reached up as high as I wanted to paint without using a ladder (I am 5 feet tall) to choose my line height.  I grabbed my laser level and leveled it out then taped to the wall.  When you turn the laser on it looks like this.

I like to take a pencil and draw a few short guide lines along the beam in case the laser falls before I get my tape up.

Next, apply painter's tape to the wall either below or above the laser line.

At this point a really smart thing to do is measure the height of each end of the tape.  For this project I could just measure from the top of the window opening to the tape line.

Now you are ready to paint.  I haven't painted a wall in along time, just furniture.  I didn't have anything but foam rollers so it took me for.ever. to paint this small section, which is bad because I really hate to paint.

Now, if you skipped the step of measuring to see if your line was indeed straight and level then when you step away and notice your line is not level because you didn't carefully align the laser in the first place you'll need to fix it, but it's an easy fix:

Now that the area is painted just take the painter's tape off the wall while the paint is still wet.

Now the question is, what should I add to this wall?

My first idea was to add two lightweight floating shelves that I have.  But didn't I just remove a shelf so that we would not be killed by it?  Even though the shelves are light weight who's to say we wouldn't load it up with heavy stuff?

Or I could find a fun decal kind of like this.
But you know what I saw that I love?

And I'm not talking about the pretty weaved headboard.  I'm focused on the embroidery hoop circles.  I even have the pillow shams sitting in my closet.  I could use one for this.  I mean, my colors wouldn't be this bright, even though I love all of these bright colors!  I found this on LittleBitFunky.com  thanks to Pinterest.

And you know why else I dig this hoop art?  It makes me think of polka-dots! 

So tell me, what would you do if this empty canvas was before you?

P.S. Look how I dressed up a straight line in this room:

By dipping the measured and cut ribbon into liquid starch I could affix it to the wall along the straight line. By using the liquid starch I can simply pull off the ribbon without hurting the wall if I decide to do something else some day.  I had my Mom help me with the ribbon so that I didn't get liquid starch dripping on the walls.

Thigh Chafing problem...SOLVED!

The confession

Early this summer I was walking the sweaty, humidity-laden walkways of the St. Louis Botanical Gardens.  I was with my Sister-In-Law who was wearing a skirt.  I confided in her that I wear shorts under my skirts because my thighs chafe.  My SIL doesn't own a car, she walks, bikes, or rides a bus.  I asked her what she did to prevent the thigh skin pain.  She said she didn't have that problem and I just about slapped her flat on her back.  But before I could she said a friend of hers mentioned this thigh issue before and called it chub rub.  I giggled.

And then I googled.

And that was really dumb.  

Don't do that.  I'm telling you NOW.  Do not google chub rub.

Eventually I landed on the Bandelettes website.  And then I did something else stupid.  I went to Amazon and sought out what others did for thigh chafing.  Based on reviews I bought a 5 Hour Anti-Chafe stick.  And while it was okay, I wasn't totally satisfied.

I wore it a few times but kind of forgot about it.  I'd always have to re-apply it before 5 hours, it was kind of a pain.  I pretty much went back to wearing tight and hot exercise shorts.

My lifestyle

Now, I am a 40 year old woman with children ages 3 and 7 so there was comfort in knowing if my kid flipped my skirt up, if I bent over too far or whatever, I was covered.  It's nice security when you're a Mom.

But I also live in the hot and humid south.  Humid only means we sweat so much more.  Our skin is sticky and we hate it.  I need as little clothing on as I can get by with and there are days that another layer of clothing will just not do.

So, I've had many a time when I wanted to wear a light-weight cotton dress to be cool only to end up extra hot thanks to a layer of bike shorts.

The end of August approached and I remembered the thigh contraptions I read about and I couldn't for the life of me remember why I didn't order any.  Too expensive?  When I went back to the website I realized they're not badly priced.

I couldn't wait for them to arrive!

The test

I mostly only wear a skirt on Sunday to church.  

1. The first time I tried the Bandelettes was a Sunday.  After church and lunch my daughter and I walked to an Open House three blocks away.

2. The second time I wore them I was shopping for hours.

3. The third time I wore them was on a Sunday morning again and I worked in the nursery.

The verdict

I love my Bandelettes!

1. It was super hot and we walked three blocks to the Open House.  No chafing!

2. Half a day of walking and no chafing!

3. Half a day of being with people and working in the nursery and no chafing!

Are they hot?  They are hot, but not as hot as wearing shorts under a dress.

Are they wide enough? Yes!

Did they fall, roll or wiggle?  No

Were they too tight and pinch me?  No

Did I feel like I was wearing a girdle?  No, the soft lace makes me feel like they are pretty and sexy.  Does this look girdleyish to you?:

I am sold on Bandelettes (a.k.a. inner thigh guards)!  I am a bit relieved when I take them off after a long day but I'm the same way with a layer of shorts.  I am so glad I got these before summer is over!  They are only $14 for one pair and you can get them here.

This review is done simply because I love this product.  Bandelettes sent me two pair to try out but I receive no compensation for this review nor for your future purchase..  

How to use washi tape in the kitchen

I really hate to clean.  No, I REALLY hate it. That means I'm easily distracted.  I think I am passionate about organizing simply because it's a perfect distraction from actually cleaning.  

While I was cleaning my kitchen I realized my tool organizer had not been cleaned in a very long time.

When I was a novice cook I only had a medium sized crock next to my stove containing my most used tools.  When I bought my house in 2002 I bought a kitchen that was less than half the size of my rental's.

Originally I was not interested in this Turn-About as drawer shortage solution.  I have limited counterspace and I only envisioned it as a clutter eyesore.  But 10 years ago I hosted a huge Pampered Chef party and I got it for free.  So I decided to try it.  It hasn't left my counter since that first day! And all my tools are always organized!  While taking time to de-clutter the tools, clean the organizer, and re-organize it, I decorated it with my beloved Washi Tape!

 I took the turn-about apart to thoroughly clean it.  I simply but the bottom part between my legs and ran one row of the red chevron tape.  Then I took the totally appropriate silverware washi tape and did the same thing.  I'm 100% sure I was smiling the whole time.

Washi tape is similar to mashing tape in that it can easily come off.  It's paper tape so it's not durable on it's own.  I was going to use some decoupage glue to seal it but I got lazy.  I grabbed the clear elmer's glue instead. I dabbed some on and just used my fingers to smooth it over the tape.  

That's all you do.  Easy peasy!  Are you crazy for washi tape?  Here's how I store mine.  How do you store yours? 

Get the Pampered Chef Turn-About here.  It now comes in black.
Get the Washi Tape Organizer by contacting me at SimplyOrganizedNWA@gmail.com.  It is a Clever Container exclusive product and I can order them for you.  Email me letting me know how many Peek-A-boo boxes you need.  There are eight removable rectangle boxes which fit inside the 3x13x11.5 larger box which comes with a see-through lid for $23!

Follow my Pinterest washi tape board here!

Conscious Box Review - August 2013

I tried the Conscious Box for the first time this month.  I subscribed free but paid $7.95 for shipping.  With this box you get 10-15 natural products.  This month some products were food and some were supplements. 

I like the idea behind this product box.  I was surprised by how small the box was, it's not much bigger than my hand.  It looked like it was packed with care and it was pretty with the postcard photo inserted just so.  That's a freebie too, a real postcard to frame or use.

My three year old jumped at the monkey sample - Snackimals cereal.

Here is what my recent box contained.

We tried the Nordic Omega-3 jellies. My three old hated it but I tried one and thought it tasted just fine.  She didn't like her Happy Tot bar and I found it to be dry and without much flavor.  I took the Allimax as I'm trying to heal a mouth infection at the moment.  It's an interesting garlic product and I certainly need a boost in my natural defenses. I was glad there was no aftertaste and no garlic burps!

I tried the green Superfood powder that you add to water.  The package suggests adding it to water, juice, or a smoothie.  I tried it in my water bottle.  It tasted better than it looked (green pond scum), so it wasn't bad but I think it would be a great addition to juice or a smoothie.

I haven't been able to try anything else from these samples yet. 

So, that's what the August box looked like.

Conscious Box info

You can choose different durations: monthly, 3 monthly, 6 monthly, yearly.
You can choose different boxes: classic, vegan, gluten free
You can choose not to receive a box if you don't want one the next month.  You can take it out of your cart and add it back in when you choose.
You can review the products and earn points.  You spend points on products in the marketplace.

Affiliate program

You can join their affiliate program and get $5 for every subscription you refer.  I am finding that navigating their program is a bit more difficult for me than others.  So, please, use my link to try a subscription since you're hearing about it from me!  I appreciate it so much!
Click here:
https://www.consciousbox.com/subscribe?acc=0cb929eae7a499e50248a3a78f7acfc7&bannerid=5

I think it's fun to sample this little box and we still have a lot to try out!  Do you subscribe to any monthly delivery boxes?  

book worm book mark with washi tape

 My 7  year old decided to make this for her literacy teaching Daddy :)  We just used a Popsicle stick, various colors of washi tape and googly eyes.  She's proud.