5 Favourites

So I decided to go ahead today and write a 5 Favourites post for the lovely Hallie's linkup.You see, life is a bit hectic right now, and blogging is my favourite form of recreation (next to eating Doritos doing calligraphy while listening to Mozart).

1. Instant Age Rewind Eraser by Maybelline

I am makeup illiterate. I'm intimidated by the huge wall of products when I walk in a drugstore. What are mineral powders? What's up with lipstick that's claims to stay on all day? (It's cakey and unnatural feeling, that's what.) I become terrified by the well-coiffed painted-face twenty-something who asks me if I need any help, and so I always become completely dry-mouthed, say, "No, I'm fine," and back away quickly to an aisle where I can buy 'safe' things like baby wipes and Tylenol.

On Christmas Eve, though, I decided I would swallow my pride and pick up some makeup to pretty up my holiday. I got the nerve to say, "What should I do about these?" while pointing to my permanent under-eye circles. So the sales lady suggested this little miracle worker. Now I will never, ever go back to not owning this! I went from looking perpetually tired (true) and iron-deficient (actually not true, according to my latest blood work) to looking fairly fresh-faced and rested!

It applies very easily, even for clumsy me, and I can manage to put it on, and a swipe of mascara, faster than I can brush my teeth and hair in the morning.

Can't recommend it enough.

(My twenty-two month old is also a fan, as I caught him dousing his own undereye area with it recently. Now I store it up on the top shelf of the medicine chest.)

2. Michael Jackson (not Justin Timberlake)

I rediscovered my love for his music today while driving. "Beat It" came on the radio, and I just blared it.

It may one of the catchiest songs ever. 

Later, the song "I Just Wanna Love You" by Justin Timberlake came on  the radio and I winced at how blatantly derivative it was. The only reason Justin Timberlake is kind of popular is he is doing his best to be Michael Jackson.  

(Wow, did I seriously just mention JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE on my blog?!) 

(Also, I take comfort that one of my favourite Catholic homeschooling/knitting/crafting/Waldorf-y bloggers, Grace, also appears to love Michael Jackson too.)

3. Clorox disinfectant wipes

Oh, I know, aren't I just an eco-bummer? Shouldn't I use rags made from my leftover felting projects spritzed with white vinegar?*

In the words of my almost four-year-old, "maybe yes and maybe no."

Are Clorox wipes bad for the environment? Sure.

Not nearly as frugal as reusable cloths? Sigh, true.

Do they also clean up messy counters and sinks fast so I can actually get to the other million things I need to do? Absolutely.

(We have a winner.)

* Just to clarify, I have never 'felted'. My idea of crafting always starts and ends with glue guns, and maybe popsicle sticks.

4. This tea cosy

c/o MadebyMeCraftsUK at etsy.com

Tea is a happy ritual for my little family. It's one of my favourite things, to make my husband or boys a cup of tea when they ask. The children especially love knocking on the work-at-home Daddy's office door and telling him his tea is ready. It's a small thing, but it makes us all feel so happy.

Our current is cosy could best be described as 'serviceable.' I don't notice how funny looking it is until we have company over, and then I wish we had something prettier. This cute cosy, though, would spruce up the oft-repeated event in our daily lives of tea time (that is, about six times a day, literally) and be nice enough to bring out for guests.

5. "Noah's Ark" by Peter Spier 

There's a reason why Sonlight homeschooling curriculum and Michael O'Brien's A Landscape with Dragons both recommend this book. It is almost completely wordless, which had me a bit skeptical -- "how exactly do I do a read-aloud with only pictures to go from?" -- but once I delved into it with my children, all of us were completely blown away.

Spier's wonderful illustrations are so thought-provoking and they have stirred up such wonderful conversations in our home. Perhaps my favourite picture is of Noah sitting at a table at night looking near despair while mice run round him, animal dung piles up in corners, and I can't help but think how long that sojourn on the ark must have felt for him! 

Oh, yes, and the gorgeous picture of him embracing his wife on the deck of the ark with the olive branch in his hand. The the joy, the relief they show at their impending freedom is so moving.

(Consider this my little plug to exposing your children to literature. Not just any ol' books. I detest that oft-used expression to justify children reading mindless rubbish, "well at least they're reading." I will save that rant for another day, though.)