Fold-Away Ironing Board Turned Spice Cabinet

 Please excuse my sorry photos.  This is a fold-away ironing board in my 1950 home.

 Quite a piece of history here.  But since I don't iron, and I took all my cabinet doors off and have nowhere to store my spices, I asked Jason to turn this into a spice cabinet for the time being.  I was so proud of myself; I removed all the old board and dowels and whatnot by myself while he was at work.

So here's the spice cabinet!  It's not totally finished (the shelves need molding and the whole thing needs a coat of paint), but I couldn't wait to share it!

February Garden - First Harvest

 That's right, I said harvest!  Here are the spinach, which gave already yielded about a salad-ful.

 The broccoli are on the right, onions on the left.

 The peas are starting ti climb the bamboo pyramid Jason bought from his work.

And here we see the mesculun salad mix, which has yielded about a salad-ful as well!  Gardening is so magical.

Magnetic Tablet Portraits

 Autumn's drawing of her and her girlfriend Kady.  All of a sudden, my 3 year old can draw faces, arms, legs, facial features, beards, animals...and I can tell exactly what she's drawing.  It's incredible to see my child do this.

Here's a photo Autumn took of my drawing of her.  Did I mention she's getting really good at photography too?  Grandpa's drawing tablet and Grandma's camera turned out to be  very useful gifts!

Kitchen Shelves Complete!

 I hate that this photo is all crooked, but I have too much to do to take another one.  Here it is! I absolutely LOVE my new shelves!  Jason put bead board and quarter-round molding in each, and we painted them a bright white.  A new light fixture was also added.

 This partial remodel of the kitchen has meant so much to me.  It has caused gratitude to well up in my heart over God's faithfulness to keep his promises, how much he loves us, and what a wonderful gift my husband is.  It's so good to finally be able to work on this house!!

I've so enjoyed this crazy warm weather, especially the camellia blooms it forced.  Unfortunately, we'll probably still get a hard freeze (we need one to kill off some of the bugs around here!), so they'll all get awfully shocked.  Better enjoy them while we have 'em!

And since nobody responded to my question about the kitchen wall color, I guess I'll tell you now I figured it out - a light putty color.  Neither gray nor beige, but in-between.  It'll rock your face off, you'll see!

Natural Face Scrub

As I said in my first post about switching to natural toiletries, as soon as we run out of something our goal is to replace it with a natural (homemade, if possible) substitute.  My first item was face wash, which I substituted with the "oil-cleansing method."  Now I used to use St. Ives apricot facial scrub every day, so after using the oil-cleansing method I loved the way my skin looked and felt (and I got some compliments on how I "glowed," by the way), I still missed that deep-clean feeling from a good face scrub.  So I tried using baking soda.  I added just enough water to make a thin paste, then applied it to my oil-cleansed face and scrubbed gently in circular motions.  I rinsed with water, and my face felt clean but still soft from the oils I'd used prior.  I like it!  You can also use kosher salt or finely ground Celtic sea salt mixed with olive oil as a scrub, but I felt the baking soda was super gentle.  It's also really cheap!  You should definitely try this - and don't worry if it gets in your mouth; baking soda is a base, and since our bodies are growing more and more acidic with this modern world and diet, it's actually good to ingest baking soda.  Some studies have even showed it prevents and cures cancers and fungal infections, so I say it can't hurt!  Leave me some comment love and tell me if you've tried the oil-cleansing method or a baking soda scrub and how you liked it!