I hope things are well with you. Take a deep breath with me and try not to feel stress. I’m need to be offline with my family until New Year. I might pop in and blog, but I need it to be ok not to.

Here’s a little peak at our fun this week.

Wide mouth mayo jars (borrowed from my mom since I don’t save stuff.) wrapped with twine and layered with Epsom snow, freezer burned cranberries and a tea light. I plan to reuse the salts for healing soaks later.

Progress in the shared boy room. Formerly black lamp spray painted green and made over night stand with new pulls, a new top and a new paint job.

Our presents are almost all wrapped. I have collected different papers after season clearance sales over the years and have several years worth. I’m a little bummed because there are so many cute wrapping ideas out there that don’t fit in with my stash. On the other hand this is easy and the kids get just as excited about our mismatched wrapping.  So not Pinterest worthy but family and budget friendly and that’s better than ok.

Caleb, my oldest boy is ripping out the 45 year d carpeting while I’m safely tucked away in another part of the house. I have developed a severe allergy and this is part of making the house safe for me.

Acts of service like this really make me feel loved.

For more than 2 months my entire body has looked like this. It itches like poison ivy that won’t heal. I noticed on Sunday that there is a line around my face sides of neck and chest where the rash won’t cross that coincides with where I use my anti-aging products. So I tried a bit in an affected area. 2 days later it is clear. I’m hoping it’s not just a coincidence. Basically the doc thinks this is a dust mite allergy gone wrong from stress. Any worse and I’d need an epi pen. I’ve been on so many medications and the only thing that helped was prednisone–yuck. I’m exploring all the natural options and will report back if anything works.