If you give a mommy a minute, she will share a super easy pumpkin muffin recipe.

To me, Fall = pumpkins.  I was at Kroger yesterday and happened to walk by the baking aisle, which  naturally led me to the beautiful orange cans of pumpkin.  I couldn't resist and went ahead and bought a few. 

 

This is not a recipe I created...  I got it from a college roommate several years ago and she told me that it is actually a Weight Watcher's recipe.  I have no idea how many points they are worth or any of that jazz, but I eat them not for points, but for satisfying my fall cravin taste buds.

 

The great thing is that they are super cheap to make and take practically no time to prep.  So, if you give THIS mommy a minute, I will make these all Fall.  Seriously, all you need to prep for this is 2 ingredients and about 2-3 minutes.  So so SOOOO easy.

 

The Recipe

 

Ingredients:

1 can of pumpkin

1 spice cake mix

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease a muffin pan.

3. Mix ingredients together.

4. Spoon mixture in muffin pan.

5. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes (I bake mine for 20 minutes.)

 

 

That is it.  Seriously.

 

This recipe makes 12 glorious muffins.

If you give a mommy a minute, she might show you how to make your eyes pop!

 

Have you ever watched Dawson's Creek and watched Joey Potter lure in both Dawson and Pace (I am on a nickname basis with him) with those big, beautiful, yet sultry eyes of hers?  Not gonna lie - Dawson's Creek is STILL my guilty pleasure.

 

Speaking of big Joey Potter eyes, I decided to share some tips on how to look like you have big eyes without looking like a big mess.  (And these eyes look nothing like Joey Potter's...  but it was a good intro.)

 

 

1.  Stick with matte or a light shimmer.  Too much sparkle can look a little heavy on the eyes.  If I put too much sparkle on my lids, my eyes tend to look a little weighed down.  I stick with something light, neutral, and with just a bit of a shimmer.

 

 

 

2.  Frame your brows!  I trace around my entire brow with a white eye liner pencil, then I blend all of that with my finger. Doing this highlights my brows.  Then, I fill my brows in using an angled brush and my matte bronzer.  This contours my brows.  Doing all of this draws major attention to the eyes and makes me look awake.

 

 

 

3.  Line your tear duct with a darker liner.  Many women line the entire water line with dark eyeliner.  I'm often one of those women.  The reason a lot of us do it is because it gives kind of a sultry look.  I can keep that sultry look by just lining that tear duct.

 

 

 

4.  Line the bottom water line with white or off white.  This will make your eyes appear so much bigger. 

 

5.  Line the top lid with a dark pencil, winging the tip of the outer eye.  By winging the outer corner up, it gives your eyes an instant little lift.  Going downwards with the pencil makes my eyes appear dragged down.  I'll have to take photos of this someday to show the comparison.

 

6.  Lightly line the bottom lash line with a bit of dark liner.  This just makes your eyelashes look a little bit thicker.

 

7.  Use a dark liner pencil to wing out the line on your bottom lid downward.  I know this sounds weird, but it's actually a very subtle and cool trick to make your eyes appear larger and your bottom lashes to appear longer.  I usually just do this when I know people will be photographing me for some reason or another.  In pictures, it gives the appearance of long bottom lashes and makes the eyes appear more open.  In person, you can hardly tell the little line is even there.

 

 

 

8.  Put shimmery off-white shadow in the inner corners.

 

9.  Curl those lashes! I'm fortunate to have some naturally thick and long lashes, but my lashes are so straight that they aren't even noticed unless I curl them.  Sometimes, (I rarely have time for this, but on a rare occasion,) I actually heat up my eye lash curler for about 4 or 5 seconds with my blow dryer.

10.  Apply 2-3 coats of mascara.

 

And that's that!

 

 

 

Products I used for this look:

1.  Walgreen's brand (Studio 35) Anti-Dark Circle Eye Roller with concealer - used on lid and under eyes.  Get it here.

2.  Covergirl Clean Pressed Powder in "Classic Tan" - used to contour the crease of my lids.  Find it here.

3.  Hard Candy Shadowholic 12 Hour Waterproof Eye Crayon in Camel Back - lined my upper and lower lid including the corners before applying regular eyeliner.

4.  I LOVE Covergirl's Cafe Au Lait eyeshadow.  This is my go to eye shadow and I have been using it for over a decade.  I can't find anything that I love as much as this for just a simple, pretty, and neutral eye.  These shades would look pretty on anyone.  I used the middle shade on the center of my lids and the lightest shade in the inner corners of my eyes.

5.  This $0.99 white pencil from NYC works great and you can't beat the price.  Get it at Wal-Mart or get it here. - I used this to blend and highlight around my brows and in my lower water line.

6.  I am a big fan of pretty much anything Make Up For Ever makes.  I love their eye liners because they are water proof.  I used the Aqua Eyes liner in black.  You can pick it up at Sephora or get it here.

7.  I just bought this mascara and I must say that I think it's pretty awesome.  After I curled my lashes, I applied 2 coats of this stuff.  Look at the before photo and the after photo of my lashes!  I mean, whoa!  I used L'Oreal's Voluminous False Fiber Lashes (waterproof) in Blackest Black.

 

 

Now that it's 10:30 PM, it's time for me to give these big eyes a rest! 

 

Good night!



If you give a mommy a minute, she might publish something a little more personal than quick and easy food and makeup.

I wrote the stuff below a while back, but just decided to post it today.  I thought it might help all of those other moms out there who might mess up sometimes to understand that they are not alone. 

It's true. No matter how bad your day is, there is always someone else who has had a much worse day. This used to make me feel guilty when I complained about my day, and sometimes, it still does make me feel guilty. Then sometimes, it just makes me feel human. Today was one of those days. I usually preface my complaints by starting off with all of the good. If I'm honest though, sometimes I do that simply for fear that if I don't, others will think I'm a glass half empty, ungrateful, petty little girl. I'm gonna cut straight to it.

It all started somewhere with my sweet but stubborn almost 3 year old.  My child has been potty trained for about 6 months but has had a major relapse this week. I was at my wit's end today.  I cried. She cried. It was awful. I decided to take Isla's pacifier away from her. Holy cow. Remember when someone kidnapped Jack Bauer's daughter on 24 and how he reacted?  Yeah, taking the pacifier away from Isla was kind of like that.  I have wiped butts, changed clothes, cut up little sandwiches, made dinner, folded laundry, folded laundry again after Isla decided she wanted to put on all of Adia's panties, and I have hardly had a second to even get a drink of water. Seriously. I poured a cup of water this morning to take my allergy pill and that water sat on the counter for hours before I even got to that. I am exhausted and I feel like I weigh 727 pounds, yet I have hardly eaten a thing all day. The short amounts of time I have had to myself have been full of things like worry about finances, family stuff, and my own insecurities. I have screwed up a million times today. I lost my cool with Adia over the pee thing and I shrieked like a little girl when Isla surprisingly pinched my thigh so hard that she bruised me. Of course, my shriek made Isla shriek and then Isla's shriek made Adia shriek.  I practically started hyperventilating over our finances as I spewed off all of my worries and fears about all of that to my husband which led to spewing about how to spew. I have wanted to throw in the towel all day and just jump off a cliff and into a lake, then swim to a raft where I could float for hours without a care in the world.

I love being a mom and a wife, but sometimes, I just want to be Rachel and I just want to float in a lake while the sun is the only thing looking at me and the water is the only thing clinging to me. There's nobody there needing their butt wiped or their potty treat. There's no checkbook, debit card, computer, cell phone, and no sharks (this is why I chose a lake...  no sharks, so no worries.)

Then I think about it.

About an hour after I lost my cool with Adia, she walked up to me and told me she needed to go pee pee in the potty. I held her hand and walked with her to the bathroom. She peed in the potty and after I got her off the toilet, she told me she loved me and fell into my lap on the floor of the bathroom. I cried and she laid her head on my shoulder and told me she loved me. I told her I was sorry for getting so upset with her and she just kept telling me she loved me. As I sat on the floor with her soft and fluffy little cheek pressed up against my teary and make-up smeared face, I knew I was right where I needed to be. Not just where she needed me, but where I needed me to be and in my purest state. I can't separate Rachel from mommy or wife or teacher or anything else I am because that is who I am. I'm flawed, I'm tired, I'm learning, I'm ok.

My Adia.  She'll always fit perfectly in my arms.

My shoulder is one of the few places that can tame this determined little sweetheart.  Isla is proof that God's plans are way better than mine.

 I imagine that's what it's like with God. We mess up. All the time. We do stupid stuff. For Heaven's sake, we take pictures of ourselves that make us look like a duck and an Olsen twin had a baby. We get so fed up with life, people, ourselves, and we just want a break from our thoughts and feelings. All the while, God is there and ready to take our hand. He's there to let us cry like a baby and to comfort us by just whispering over and over again, "I love you." All we need is to rest in Him. When I just want to get away, I don't really mean it.  The truth is, that none of us really want to be alone.  As hard as it gets sometimes, I will always love my daughters, my husband, and my Savior.  He is my raft in the middle of the lake. He is my comfort, my calm, my security, my friend.

If you give a mommy a minute, she might show you how she gets the most out of her chicken...

Hello, fellow chicken lovers.  Who doesn't love a tender, juicy chicken?  This recipe is so good and just too easy for words.  It saves me money, time, and it's not terrible for me.  It's also super versatile and I'll show you how I also get tons of chicken broth to use for other recipes by cooking this one bird.

First, I make sure I have the following ingredients on hand:

A whole chicken

Butter or margarine (I prefer butter but either will do)

Carrots

Celery

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Onion powder

*Onion - optional

*Mrs. Dash's Table Seasoning - optional

 This time around, I didn't use the real onion because I didn't have one on hand.

First, take the bird out of the plastic and just rinse it off. Some birds come with some inside parts. Mine did not, so all I had to do was rinse it. Then, I just set it in the crock pot while I get the rest of my ingredients ready.

 I take the rest of my ingredients and just get them ready. I cut up about 4 tablespoons or so of butter, rinse off a celery stalk and break it apart with my hands, and just open up all of the seasonings I use.

I turn the bird on its side and fill it with all of the seasonings (pretty generously).

I add a few slices of butter.

Then, I stuff in my celery and carrots (and onions if I have any.)

Next, I season both sides of the bird with all of my seasonings.

Once that is done, I place the rest of the butter on top.

 Put the lid on and cook on low for about 6 hours, or until the bird is falling apart.

This is what my chicken looked like after it cooked on low in the crock pot for about 5 and 1/2 hours.

 Once it is done, I take the bird out and cover it with foil and let it rest on a plate while I make whatever sides I want to make for dinner.

Left - bones, skin, etc. from chicken.  Right - delicious, tender meat

 I cut the meat off of the bird and serve it up!  After one night's dinner, I use what's left to make a chicken soup or chicken sandwiches for the next day.

Don't throw away the other stuff yet! 

 

 

Use the juices from the bird and all of the bones, fat, celery, etc. to make chicken broth in the crock pot. I simply return everything but the meat to the pot and add about 4-5 cups of water. I set the crock pot on low and let it cook all night long.

 

The next morning, I strain the juices into a big bowl and discard the rest.

 

 Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge a while. I sometimes don't return to it for a couple of days.

 The fat will float to the top. I scrape this off and simply throw it out. What's left underneath is delicious, homemade chicken broth good for tons of recipes. I freeze it in 1 cup servings in ziploc bags.

You may notice that your broth is almost like a gelatin. This is completely normal. This is because it is homemade and all natural. It will melt as soon as it is warmed up.

I literally never buy chicken broth anymore. I use my all natural chicken broth all the time and I am never disappointed.

The chicken that just keeps giving:

Ingredients:

A whole chicken

Butter or margarine (I prefer butter but either will do) - about 4-5 T., but this is very flexible. Use more if you wish.

Carrots

Celery

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Onion - optional

Directions:

1. Rinse bird and take out insides (if included). Put bird in crock pot.

2. Pour a generous amount of all seasonings inside of the bird.

3. Add a few slices of butter to inside of bird.

4. Stuff bird with veggies.

5. Season the outside of the bird generously with seasonings.

6. Lay the rest of the butter on top of the bird.

7. Cook on low for 5-7 hours or until the bird is falling off the bone.

Chicken Broth:

1. Return everything to crock pot except for the meat.

2. Add 4-5 cups of water.

3. Cook on low all night.

4. Strain broth from the pot.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and let it cool in the refrigerator.

6. Scrape fat from the top and discard.

7. Refrigerate or freeze what is left - the yummy broth!

 

(I got 7 cups of chicken broth from my bird to freeze!)

If you give a mommy a minute, she might try the Listerine foot bath.

If you are anything like me, you have 8,000 boards on Pinterest and about 72,830 pins, but you only actually try like 12 of them. A long time ago, I was on Pinterest and saw the classic Listerine foot bath thing. My first thought was, "Who in the heck thinks these things up? Oh, I'll just pour some nasty smelling mouth wash on my feet and see what happens!"  However, since I kept seeing this pinned over and over again with claims that the "dead skin practically just falls off," (I didn't know whether to be impressed or grossed out) I thought I'd give it a whirl.

 

 I grabbed an old container and washed it out.

I held my nose as I poured in the vinegar, Listerine, hot water mixture.

 I imagine that this is what Hell smells like.

I plopped my dry and scaly feet in the tub (great mental picture, huh?) I set a timer, and then I waited.

 

Here are my results.  Please keep in mind that the before picture is completely embarrassing for me to put on the internet for people to see.  I have eczema and some really cracked, dry feet.  Soooooo not attractive.  Pride - out the window now.

 

 

 

Those are some pretty impressive results!  I will add that I did use a little stone thing to help aid in making my feet a little smoother.  However, I didn't use nearly as much elbow grease as I have used in the past.  I spent about 2 minutes using the stone after the foot bath and that was really it.  I washed my feet with some soap and water, and put on some socks.  I took the "after" picture about 2 hours after starting the foot bath.

 

Would I do this again?  Probably.  Would I do this if I were pregnant or repulsed by strong smells?  Heck no.  The smell would've made me vomit if I were pregnant.  The vinegar/Listerine combination is not an appealing smell, but the bath definitely made my feet feel nice for hours.  My feet felt cool, soft, and so clean.  The Listerine/vinegar smell did not stay with my feet either.  I felt like I had had a very long and relaxing pedicure after the foot bath, when I really only soaked my feet in this little mixture for 10 minutes.  This definitely saved me lots of time since there was no trip to the nail salon, I only had to soak for 10 minutes, and I did all of this while my kids were taking a nap. It saved me lots of money because I already had the ingredients in my house and I didn't have to pay $30 for a pedicure. 

Again...  Sorry for the disgusting "before" picture. I just have to keep it real and show you the true transformation.

 

I hope you give it a try and have some soft and smooth feet!

 

How to make this stuff:

 

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups hot water

2.  1 cup Listerine

3.  1 cup vinegar

 

Directions:

1.  Mix ingredients

2.  Soak feet for 10 minutes

3. Lightly use a stone or some other tool to aid in removing dead skin

4.  Clean feet with soap and clean water

 

If you give a mommy a minute, she might show you how to combine several beauty steps into ONE.

Wash your face, moisturize, sunscreen, don't get it too oily, don't get it too dry, prime it, put on foundation, put on powder, yada yada yada.  All of the steps are just too much for this mom to handle for a daily makeup routine.  Like about a million other women I know, I looked to Pinterest to try to find the perfect combination of ingredients to mix in order to reduce my routine into 1-2 simple steps.  I found this awesome link which gave me some good ideas, but I decided to tweak it to my personal needs so that I could come up with the perfect yet adjustable and affordable primer/cream I could quickly and easily create.

I wish I knew what to call this stuff.  For my day to day routine, I use this as my foundation and I don't wear powder.  I skip both of those steps completely and just use this stuff as my base and then HAC from there.  It would make a great primer though too if you wanted to layer foundation and powder over top. 

Here's what I love about this stuff...

1.  It's easy to make.

2.  I have all of the ingredients in my house already.

3.  It saves me time by keeping me from having to do foundation and powder.

4.  It can double as a tinted sunscreen.

5.  It's tinted so that it gives me some coverage, but not so much that my natural tone can't shine through.

6. It's customizable depending on if my skin is oily, dry, or a combination of both.

7.  It feels amazing when I put it on.  Seriously.

So here we go.

You will need these basic ingredients:

1.  Facial moisturizer - use ANY kind you want.  If you have dry skin, use one that is very moisturizing.  If you are concerned about aging skin, use one to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.  If you have acne prone skin, use one with salicylic acid.

2.  Foundation - again, use ANY kind you want.  Light coverage, medium coverage, something from Wal-Mart, something from God, creamy, pure liquid - whatever you'd like.

3.   Aloe vera gel - like the kind you get from the grocery store when you have a sunburn

4.  Vitamin E capsules - these are optional, but I like to use 1 or 2 because vitamin E is just so good for your skin and has such great healing powers (I've been watching too much Once Upon a Time.)

5.  Loose makeup powder - I happen to use some left over mineral powder that I had from a long time ago.  This is also optional, but I like to include a few shakes of the powder into my cream.

 

 

In terms of the ratios, that totally depends on your type of skin.  It's summer, and during this time of year, my skin is a little bit of a combination skin type.  Since it's summer, I also went with the moisturizer that already had SPF 15.

 

For oily skin:

1 vitamin E capsule

2 spoonfuls of aloe

1 spoonful of moisturizer

1-2 spoonfuls of foundation (depending on how much coverage you want)

a dusting of your powder.

 

For dry skin:

1- 2 vitamin E capsules

1 spoonful of aloe

2 spoonfuls of moisturizer

1-2 spoonfuls of foundation

a dusting of powder

 

For combination skin:

1-2 vitamin E capsules

1 spoonful of aloe

1 spoonful of moisturizer

1 spoonful of foundation

a dusting of powder

 

 

 (Arbonne Mineral Powder, Maybelline FIT makeup, equate aloe vera gel, Dove Facial Moisturizer with SPF 15, and 2 vitamin E capsules)

 



 



Here are the steps:

 

End Result:

 

 

In the above photos, I have on NO makeup with the exception of the cream I made in the "after" photo and both photos are completely unedited.  I use this cream as my foundation for daily use, but it works great as a primer as well if you are going for a more made up look.  The photo on the left shows more redness in my skin and the photo on the right makes me look a little healthier, glowier (is that a word?), and just a little more refreshed.  I hope you try it and love it and that it saves you time in your beauty routine!  It only take a small amount of this stuff and it lasts a long time.  Save time, pretty ladies!