5 March Affirmations for Self Love.

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Self love can be a difficult journey, especially during hard months. One way to keep my self care routine in check is by using positive affirmations.

I have a ton of affirmations saved, but this month I needed more than just saved pictures.

Since I’ve been really following the Law of Attraction lately, I figured I needed to physically create March affirmations.

If you don’t know the Law of Attraction it pretty much means you attract whatever you’re focusing on. Affirmations are great for this mindset. I can literally write down what I want to focus on and read it out loud everyday. Those affirmations will find their way back to me.

Or that’s the belief with it.

Anyways, after Mila’s rainbow activity earlier this week, I made prints with the left over paint. All I did was take white sketch paper and pressed it on the bubble wrap.

I knew they would make a cute project for later!

Then, I cut the paper into four rectangles. That way I didn’t have huge pieces of paper for the March affirmations.

Next came the more challenging part: coming up with the affirmations.

I will admit, I did look to Pinterest for some inspiration. Then I searched for some crown chakra affirmations, since mine easily gets blocked.

Eventually I ended up with these.

  1. I love and accept myself.
  2. I am here to make a difference.
  3. I am creating the life of my dreams.
  4. Good things are coming.

The final one I made digitally so I could share with all of you.

All of them are so powerful to remember.

With my anxiety, I have to constantly keep myself in check. My thoughts can race, but these help remind me that anxiety does not run my life.

This next month is going to feel heavy for me; as March usually does. We’re quickly approaching Jensen’s fifth birthday and my grief feels really heavy this year.

I’m hoping with the extra positive energy I’m putting out in the world that it’ll surround me when I need it most.

What are some of your favorite affirmations?

5 Ways to Protect Your Face from Maskne.

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5 Ways to Protect Your Face from Maskne

No matter where you stand on the mask mandate, masks are still going to be around for the foreseeable future. The worst part of them are the subsequent breakouts.

These breakouts have been coined as ‘maskne.’

maskne (mɑːsknɪ)- acne and other facial breakouts that arise from regular use of facial masks traditionally worn by medical professionals.

Since I wear a mask almost everyday, I’ve found out what works best for my skin. My skin is typically oily, which isn’t a great mix with the extra mask moisture. But by sticking with a skincare routine and taking precautionary steps, my face has been clearer than ever.

Here’s the products and tips that have protected my face from maskne and might help you too.

Skin Care Routine | Eclectic Serenity Skincare Products

Remember when I went and got reiki done a few weeks ago (and again recently)? Well, Kiersten at Eclectic Serenity, also makes skin care products.

My face has drastically gotten clearer and smoother after using these products. Besides that, I love actually being able to pronounce everything that’s actually going on my face.

I cleanse and tone twice a day and use the serum once a day. She also makes makeup wipes. They take all my makeup wipe in one cotton disc.

The ingredients in the products are easy on my skin and still make a huge impact. They smell amazing too.

They’re locally (to me) made in Uhrichsville, OH and she ships!

Although I’d love for you to try Eclectic Serenity’s products, a skincare routine is a must to protect against maskne. Make sure to cleanse and tone, especially at the end of the day.

Less Face Makeup

Working away from home the last few months has forced me to do my makeup again. Yet, half of everyone’s face is covered by masks.

The solution I’ve found with masks and makeup is to stop wearing face makeup. Well, at least on the bottom half of my face. It might look a little silly, but just focusing on what people see or not wearing it at all has worked so far.

It feels like the combo of makeup and mask helps clog pores. If we have to have one, the other goes.

I feel like this has helped my face stay clear and keep money in my pocket.

Less makeup, less problems.

Masks with Good Material

What you put on your skin matters. Purchasing and wearing masks that are made of quality fabric will do wonders for you skin.

One of the best types of fabric to keep maskne away is cotton. I’ve bought reusable masks from the start, but fell in love with this listing on Etsy. They’re stylish and just feel light on your face. It didn’t take long to ship either. PLUS, they’re good for the environment, which is so important to me.

I know a lot of people wear disposable masks, so the key here is to not wear just one all the time. Make sure you’re using new masks so you have a clean slate.

Humidifiers

This year, I got two big humidifiers. I mostly got them to keep my plants healthy this winter, but they’re really good for your skin too. Humidifiers keep the air humid and not dry, that helps keep your skin nice and moisturized.

So, when I’m home and not wearing a mask, it helps a lot.

They also make the air you breathe better too. Just overall a ton of benefits for having humidifiers in your home. I like bedside ones to keep on at night!

Clean Masks

Honestly, this one sounds so simple, but I think sending out a reminder is good for everyone!

If you wear reusable masks, they need cleaned often. It’s nice to have a few masks to rotate through. Most are machine washable and can either be thrown in the dryer or air dried.

Honestly, I like drying mine in the dryer. Masks can stretch out, so getting them a little smaller helps the fit!

Obviously, clean masks help keep your face clean. That ultimately helps you fight maskne.

Even though I’ve gotten a little maskne here and there, this fall and winter I’ve definitely found what works best for me.

What have been your tips and tricks to prevent maskne?

Toddler Activity: Rainbow Bubble Wrap Painting

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In our house, rainbows hold a special meaning.

Mila is my rainbow baby and any time we can incorporate them in our home, we do. So, it felt pretty fitting to make our big canvas painting a rainbow this month.

We’ve done smaller rainbow crafts, but this big painting may be my new favorite.

All the supplies you’ll need are:

  • Paint (the colors of the rainbow)
  • Bubble wrap
  • Canvas

Since Mila was busy with the nice weather, I was able to prep this easily. When she did notice we were painting, she ran over.

We talked about all the different colors. She’s finally able to say ‘orange’ and let me know that her favorite color of all of them was purple.

All I did was put paint in rainbow arches in the correct order.

Then, I helped Mila put the bubble wrap over top of it. When it was there, she pushed on all the paint to spread it out.

It was fun watching her figure out how it all worked. She thought it was pretty cool to see how the paint mixed together and everything. The best part was pulling off the bubble wrap.

We all know my love for using random things to paint, this turned out so different than I expected. It’s textured, but not in bubble wrap’s usual way.

Mila was so proud of her latest artwork. It’s hanging up now, even though I may add a quote above the red arch.

No matter what, this artwork is easy to do with kids of all ages. It can be modified for babies by putting a more secure wrap on the canvas. For older kids, they can pour the paint on too.

I hope that you and your toddler love this activity! If you end up doing it, let me know in the comments.

Weird Things My Toddler Does: Part 13

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In all the weird things my toddler does, this one has me the most perplexed.

A few weeks ago, I bought Max, our dog, a new chew toy from chewy.com. This pink bunny would be perfect in distracting him away from all of Mila’s stuffed animals… or so I thought.

When I opened it out of the box, Max wagged his tail so much and was so excited to get a new toy. But, there was someone else who had their eye on it…

She still hasn’t let it go either.

Mila has taken claim to this stuffed bunny. Max isn’t even allowed looking at it without her interjecting. Before we leave the house, she hides it in her closet so he can’t get to it. It’s a cat and mouse game that I don’t quite understand.

Instead of her other stuffed animals being saved from Max’s love of chewing, she has protected this bunny with all of her might.

At least this is one toy that doesn’t go into the bathtub.

So, here’s my daughter with the dog’s her chew toy bunny. In her zoo full of crazy colored stuffed animals, for some weird reason, she’s crazy over this particular one.

Toddlers are just weird.

Read Across America Day: 3 Books that Cultivate Compassion

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Today is National Read Across America Day. What better way to celebrate with your child than a new book and activity?

As I was picking out books for the day, Mila’s Little Bookish Wardrobe box came in. I thought it fit perfectly in the NEA’s theme this month: cultivating compassion.

The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon by Matthew Burgess is a book all about feelings and helping someone out who’s in a bad mood. We all get in bad moods, but this book helps cultivate compassion by thinking what will help your child’s sibling, parent, or friend in a nice way.

Mila loved the images in the book and it was a great way to talk about emotions. It also opened us up to talking about what makes her mad. Honestly, hearing her talk about being angry was a learning moment.

When we normalize feelings and having different ones, we can learn so much about our kids and selves.

In the box, we always received a red wig (that Mila is wearing in the first picture), a rainbow sweater, and a slippers activity. Every thing in the box goes right along with the story. It’s always fun to explore.

This months activity was drawing on slippers. In the book, they paint to feel better and the Curmudgeon has big, furry feet. They sort of look like slippers.

So, Mila drew her different colored lines on the slippers. She’s so proud of them.

I think it might be a good learning tool for when she’s mad or having big emotions. It might be something she wears if she’s feeling overwhelmed. It’ll let me know there’s something going on if she can’t express it.

Two other books that we have that cultivate diversity that I think you guys would love are these.

Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer

I absolutely love this book. It talks about a wide range of diverse families. There’s families of all backgrounds and sexualities. For us, it talks about single parenthood too. All in a compassionate way!

The Sloth Who Slowed Us Down by Margaret Wild

Another great story that promoted compassion is this little story. It’s literally about the title. It’s such a cute story that talks about family time and slowing down for each other.

No matter what you read today or anytime with your child, you’re giving them a gift they’ll always be thankful for.

Even if you put them in a red wig.

Check out these other bloggers who are celebrating Read Across America Day too!

5 Ingredient Cheesy Chicken Roll Up Recipe

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If you’re looking for another easy week night dinner, this one is great to add in. It reminds me of the Chicken Pot Pie Recipe. Yet, this meal has a completely different flavor profile.

You might have noticed, I love cooking with rotisserie chicken! It’s a simple way to add chicken in our meals. Plus, it tastes good!

Although this isn’t technically, ‘one pot’ the clean up is easy too.

Now that I’ve sold you on the recipe, here’s all the ingredients you’ll need:

  • Rotisserie chicken
  • Crescent rolls
  • 1 cup of shredded cheese
  • Cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/4 cup of milk

There’s not a ton of steps for this recipe, but it’s oh so yummy.

The first thing you should do is preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Then, in a casserole dish, mix together the cream of mushroom soup, milk, and 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.

After it’s mixed together, pull apart your chicken. Then add the remaining cheese with it.

Next, unroll the crescent rolls. Place a small amount of the chicken and cheese mixture in the big part of the crescent roll triangle.

Now comes the fun part. Roll the crescent roll. Mila had a blast helping me with this beautiful part.

After you have your crescent rolls filled, place them on top of the soup and cheese mix.

I added some garlic and butter on top of the crescent rolls at this point, but this is totally optional.

Then, place them in the oven until the crescent rolls are golden brown. This takes about twenty-five minutes to do.

These cheesy chicken roll ups are so good. We didn’t even have left overs! I served them with green beans and it made for a perfect dinner.

As with all my recipes, let me know in the comments if you try it out.

I got a random tattoo and here’s how it went.

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Last weekend, I went to a new tattoo shop and picked a tattoo from a sheet.

Before I went, I had no idea what I’d leave with or if I’d like even like it. I just knew I was getting one. It might be crazy to get a random tattoo, but it reminds me nothing is really permanent.

I’ve wanted a tattoo for a while now. Since I’ve been trying to do a new self care project each week, this happened to be what I wanted to do last week.

When I went into the tattoo shop, I instantly saw the one I’d be getting: a little flower.

To test me, I had to wait two hours to actually get it done. After some chips and salsa with a margarita, it was time to get my new ink.

It hurt a little more than I remembered my other ones. I’m going to blame the placement.

I think it turned out beautifully.

The healing process has went smoothly too. Honestly, the only bad thing from my spontaneous, surprise tattoo is Mila dislikes it. She loves all my other ones, but not this one.

That’s okay though.

Of my five tattoos, only two of them have not been ‘planned’ or rest thought through. My favorite tattoos will always be my Jensen ones, but these are full of me.

It’s been years since I’ve gotten my last one and I have more in mind now. Actually, I’ve planned for another tattoo here soon and I’m embracing it.

Self care is also about self expression. This is what’s working for me. Tattoos are kind of like glimpses back to our old selves. This tattoo will remind me of this healing time of my life.

I love it.

It’s me in the present moment and I think I really like the path I’m on.

Even though Mila HATES this tattoo, she graciously helped me take these pictures of it. She did a pretty good job.

Have you ever spontaneously gotten a tattoo before? Or would you in the future?

Toddler Activity: Rainbow Heart Match and Diversity Learning

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Diversity is one of the most important concepts to add into toddler activities and crafts.

I make sure to do different games with Mila that lets her take in a wide array of different concepts. Some she might not even know she’s learning.

Today’s little game incorporates two of heart favorite things: hearts and colors.

This quick activity doesn’t take long to make and you most likely have all the supplies at home already.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Paper
  • Markers
  • Scissors

The first thing to do is draw and color in different colored hearts. Then cut them out.

After they’re cut out, trace them on another piece of paper. Here I added the color of the words of the corresponding hearts. That way she’s getting some word recognition while playing.

When you’re done tracing and writing the names, it’s time for your toddler to play.

Obviously, they can use this as a color matching game, but there’s even more to be learned when you engage with them.

While Mila played, we talked about how each shape was a heart. I asked her what made the hearts different. She replied with naming all their colors.

I also showed her that under each heart is the same too. Even if they have different names and colors, they are still always just hearts.

To expand on that, we talked about people have different names, hair, and skin color.

It’s not groundbreaking conversations, but letting her explore differences and still loving all the hearts is so important. There’s no bad colors, they’re just different on the outside.

I can’t wait to laminate this set up so we can keep on playing! It will definitely grow with her as she learns to read and spell.

If you try this activity out, let me know how it goes in the comments.

10 Thoughts of a Toddler Dance Mom.

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Toddler classes and sports can be a little… different than older kids. You never know what a toddler is going to do or say.

For us, dance class has been amazing. Mila loves the girls that are there, dancing, and following around her dance instructor the entire time. On the mom side of things, it’s a little more stressful, but full of proud moments too.

Every dance evening is full of thoughts, even though class is only a half hour long. Here are some of mine for you to laugh with.

What to do with her hair this week?

Every single week is a constant battle of doing something fun with her hair, but making sure it stays up. It’s even harder when your toddler doesn’t like their hair touched. Yet, somehow it ends up decently cute.

Where are her dance shoes?

Quiet panic sets, until you realize you just misplaced it in the car. Oh well.

Why are dance shoes so hard to put on?

Um, what shoe goes on which foot? Maybe she needs a bigger size… nope. Just on the wrong feet.

Please, let her be nice…

Thank goodness for socialization and her playing with other kids her age. Oops. No! Don’t push while you guys are racing.

Her teachers are ready. It’s go time.

She is so cute when she listens and dance.

Aww, she instantly found her sticker and is ready to go. Are all kids this cute when they listen?

Run and hide!

Time for a half hour of alone time. Let’s see if I can escape before she sees me leave.

Is she doing okay? Does she miss me?

Being away and not knowing is hard. I wonder if she’s listening and dancing her heart out. What if she’s looking for me and I’m not there?

Is the music really loud or am I just getting old… it’s definitely the music.

Time to watch all her dance efforts.

Her little face pops through the door. It’s time to watch all her hard work.

Just joy…

The smile on her face and all the little dancers face makes every up and down of the evening worth it.

There’s just joy all around.

Another Spooky House Story.

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Accurate description of what my face looked like this morning…

I had another post planned for today, but I wanted to write this out before it got lost in the others.

My house and I have had an up and down relationship. Yes, you read that right. The house I live in is sort of it’s own… entity. I’ve had a lot of spooky things that have happened throughout the years I’ve lived there.

In 2019, the house got so bad that I had to get it blessed. Honestly, it was a really scary time to live at my house. I considered moving, but wanted to try everything to stay there. Since then, it’s slowed down a lot. But, there are days, like this morning, that bring back that eerie feeling.

Back to this morning.

All night, I was in a deep sleep with really vivid dreams. So, when I woke up before my alarm, I was a little drowsy.

I opened my eyes and it looked like my living room light was on. Then I heard two things. The first was Max breathing and sounding like he was getting pet. Remember, he gets excited and when he gets attention, he sounds different (that sounds strange, but animal owners will understand). Then there was this squeaking. I thought it sounded like Mila’s one dump truck toy, but I had picked up the toys last night. So she must have found it and started playing with it again…

It’s not unlike her to get up and play with Max in the morning. She can reach the lights and knows where her toys are stored. I relaxed thinking it was just her.

Until, I felt someone move in bed beside me.

I turned my head to see Mila in a deep sleep. So, it wasn’t Mila out in the living room playing with Max and her truck.

After that realization, I involuntarily let out a sigh.

The truck stopped squeaking and a few seconds later, Max got up and ran into my room. I was afraid someone had heard me wake up and left, but I didn’t hear any footsteps or the door open.

Instead of getting up, I just laid there for a few minutes more.

There was no way Max could get the truck out of the bin and how could he make that squeaking sound. Maybe that sound was just in my head. I had been dreaming all night. It had to be explainable because my house has been so calm.

Before I got out of bed, I told myself that the truck was put away and I was psyching myself out.

When I walked into the living room, her yellow truck was flipped on its side. Just like it had been played with and put back down. Cold chills instantly went all over my body.

I know not everyone’s a believer, but it felt like there was someone in my house or Mila was playing out there. It’s the strangest feeling to not know what happened out there, but I know the toy was being played with and Max was getting attention.

No matter what anyone things, it definitely had to be a spirit or ghost. I didn’t feel threatened. It literally felt like a child was in my living room waiting on me.

Let’s just say, I’ll be burning sage in my house later tonight.