Baby shower & lots of photos to share

Breakfast of oats, soy milk, blueberries, maple syrup & chia with some red raspberry leaf tea.

This was my Thanksgiving meal ordered from Peace Cafe. It was pretty tasty. I really liked their mushroom gravy!

Beeswax candles in baby food jars. These were going to be the party favors at my baby shower, but we decided against it so that it would be a little less work :)

Wool dryer balls I made with leftover wool that my cats got into. These are great! I needle felt them and then added some lavender oil to them. You throw them in the dryer instead of dryer sheets. They work great for softening and help to shorten your dryer time!

Baby Bath Herbs

Mix together:

Organic rose petals

Organic chamomile flowers

Organic ground oats

Lavender flowers (didn't have organic on hand)

Rosemary leaves

Organic calendula/marigold flowers

Store in a glass jar with lid. When ready to use, put some of the mixture in a cheesecloth and tie closed. Add to warm baby bath and enjoy the sweet smelling aroma! I normally add yarrow flowers as well for the antibacterial properties, but I was all out.

Newest hippy pack from my cousin! This hippy pack contained two onesies, dried elderberries, acorns, homemade sweet almond hand cream, amber teething necklace, two used cloth diapers (they were some old ones she was no longer using :) & some Method baby products. Thanks cuz!

Flowers for the centerpieces at my baby shower.

Mermaid coloring sheets with crayons in baby food jars for the kids

Truffles from Ulimana for favors! These are raw & vegan and so tasty!

Homemade necklace from my sis-in-law. So cute!

My beautiful chocolate cake with mint frosting made by my good friend Maciana.

My best friend who threw the shower for me :)

Briana, Maciana & I- all sporting baby bumps. We are due January, February & March :)

My husband and friend Mark 

Lastly, my god daughter, Kalea playing on the playground at the baby shower. 

UliMana Winner & Tincture Recipes

The winner of the UliMana truffles is...........Michelle!!! YAY MICHELLE!!! So email me your address and I'll get those over as soon as it's payday (I'm broke right now :). My email address is scarshelter (at) gmail (dot) com. 

Breakfast was hash browns with lots of catsup and hot sauce and a green juice with bananas, kale, cinnamon and ginger. 

Tinctures I have been working on. I have three tinctures "extracting" right now including Sleep tincture, PMS tincture and Immunity tincture. Would you like to know how to make these? Well, I'll tell you then! To make an alcohol tincture, it is actually very simple.

Alcohol Tincture Instructions:

1. Fill a quart jar 1/3 to 1/2 full of herbs.
2. Fill jar to the brim with alcohol. 

*Make sure alcohol is at least 40% alcohol which is 80 proof. I don't recommend anything more than 100 proof because it is pretty strong and burns when drinking. Also, I recommend using organic vodka, but you can really use any plain vodka and if you absolutely don't have any vodka then you can use plain rum*

     3. Keep in dark cool place for two weeks.

     4. After the two weeks, strain vodka/herb tincture through cheesecloth.

     5. Pour into bottles and use! (It can be stored in a dark cool place for approximately 3 years, but usually longer.)

*This method is NOT for children, adults only. I only say that because it contains alcohol.*

*Also, I personally feel that alcohol tinctures work better, faster and they are stronger. That is why I like to make alcohol tinctures as opposed to glycerin.*

Child & Adult friendly method is the following:

Glycerin Tincture Instructions:

1. Fill crock pot 1/3 full of herbs.
2. Pour hot water over herbs, mix with spoon until herbs are damp. Do not soak them with water!
3. Pour vegetable glycerin over herbs until crock pot is full.  

*Make sure that glycerin is FOOD GRADE. You can ask for help in the store if you need to.*

     4.  Heat on low for 3 days. Stir occasionally.

        *This makes a HUGE batch by the way. You can cut down the mixture to make a smaller batch if you want. I like to make big batches though :) *

     5. Always keep an eye on your mixture. If it smells like it is cooking (very strong smelling) or burning, don't worry. Your mixture is not ruined, the process is just sped up. So cut your time down to 2 days instead of 3.

     6. Strain glycerin mixture after 2-3 days while it is still warm. It's easier to pour while warm. 

Here are the herbs I used in the three tinctures above:

Sleep tincture: Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Passionflower, Hops Flowers & Valerian Root.

PMS tincture: Cramp Bark, White Willow, Chamomile, Passionflower & Valerian Root.

Immunity tincture: Peppermint Leaf, Echinacea Root, Elderberries & Rose Hips.

If you aren't interested in buying all the things to make a tincture and just want to buy one from me, then just let me know what type of tincture you need and I can make you one :)

This is all some awesome Thai food I had the other day. I am sure you haven't noticed by now that I LOVE Thai food. 

Here is a picture of my friends hairless cat. She is super friendly!

...and my Panther just chillin.

Review: UliMana

Oh my goodness, can I just start by saying that I love this company! That being said, Shawn and Theresa with UliMana sent me this awesome variety of samples that you see Rahjah sniffing above. When I got the box in the mail I could not WAIT to try them. 

Let me tell you a bit about their products first. UliMana was started in 2005 and thought to be the first raw chocolate company ever! All their truffles are vegan, organic and raw. All the words that we love to hear! All the truffles are made from pure cacao and sweetened with agave. No soy lectin or sugar in these truffles!

Just one truffle packs some FLAVOR let me tell you! I could only eat one per day, because they are so rich and flavorful. Which is great because I usually go through any chocolate in my house so fast. This will totally ease your chocolate crave with just one truffle. I can't tell you favorite one because I honestly liked all of them equally. They all have their own unique flavor. I guess if I HAD to pick I would say either the goji cherry truffles or the dark cacao truffles. You can't even tell these truffles are raw! They are just pure raw goodness. 

These truffles come in ten different flavors: Hemp, Dark Cacao, Peppermint, Coconut, goji Cherry, Cacao Nibs and Mayan. The three newest additions are Coconut Nectar, Harvest Nectar and Chia Moon. I think everyone should try these UliMana truffles. Just to warn you, once you try them you will be addicted. Please visit their site and try some for yourself. Totally worth every penny! You can also follow them on Facebook HERE.

Thanks so much for the chance to review these products Theresa and Shawn. As always, I was not paid for this review and UliMana sent me these products for free to sample.