Month: June 2012

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I wore makeup and I liked it

So I mentioned here why I never wear makeup and then I mentioned here that I have worn makeup now and that my skin didnt freak out about it 🙂

Most of the makeup and creams I have used have come from samples that I got from GlossyBox and RubyBox , the exception being the mascara that I have had for ages and ages (because I never wear makeup I actually dont own any except the mascara).

So here goes…

Foundation – NYX

Sorry for the bad pic

The colour is a lot darker than it looks but its for night time it looked ok 🙂

 Eye Shadow – Eye Majic

This is the colour I used. Not my choice, will get more neutral colours next time 🙂

I never really buy eye shadow because I never use it and when I do buy it turns crumbly and yucky with age.  I got the Eye Majic in my GlossyBox months ago and I will most definitely be buying more!  Soooo easy to use.  The colour I got as a sample was not so great but they have a huge range 🙂

Eyeliner РBeaut̩

‘Scuse the bad photo!

 

I never really use eyeliner but thought what the hey, might as well 🙂

Mascara – Clinique

Love this mascara 🙂

Now for cleansing and moisturising…

Cleansing – Africology

Love the tingly feeling, I use this every night

Moisturising – Anesi

Let me just say that I dont care how expensive this might be, but when my little sample runs out I am buying this.  Smells divine and absorbs with no greasiness and best of all my skin has no adverse reaction to it!

So thats it, the products I have started using.

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Skin – 4 month later

Day: 111

Dosage: 30mg per day

Skin issues: I had what I thought was a small white head on my lip line, I steamed the area and tried to squeeze itout (Yes I know, naughty naughty! Dont do that again etc…), turns out it wasnt a white head and I suddenly had a realisation that in the past what I had done would have created a huge cyst.  Thankfully that didnt happen this time 🙂  Also, I have worn make up twice since this post, and no reaction!!

Side effects: Lips and eyes are still dry but nothing else to report.  Oh! Actually, I had a full set of blood tests done about 2 weeks ago from my GP and all the liver and sugar test came back normal, so the Roaccutane is not negatively effecting those functions.

Improvement: My skin is looking better than it ever has.  3 more months of the Roaccutane and I should be cured 😉

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Blonde brownies

When I was a kid I went to a holiday cooking school.  We made the best recipes ever.  Easy, tasty and quick.

I kept an A4 book of all my recipes.  Somewhere along the line, between moving from one place to another I lost my recipe book.

I have never been able to reproduce the blonde brownies I made from that book.  Until now!

Ingredients

  • 2 ¼ cups flour
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ cups firmly packed brown sugar
  • ¾ cup butter or margerine
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Semi sweet chocolate morsals (I dont add these, I think the brownies are good as is but if you want to make them a bit chocolaty this is the way to go)

Method

  • Preheat oven to 180°C
  • Spray and cook a swiss roll pan (I dont have a swiss roll pan so I use one of my roasting pans, sssshhhhh dont tell)
  • Combine flour, baking powder and salt.
  • In a separate bowl combine sugar and butter until creamy.
  • Add eggs and vanilla extract to the sugar and butter and beat until combines.
  • Add sugar mixture to the flour and fold together.
  • The mixture will now be somewhere between a cake mixture and a doughy cookie mixture.
  • Scrape the dough into your prepared pan and spread it out.  It doesnt have to be very thick but should be an even thickness throughout.
  • Bake for 20 – 25 min.

 

  • Leave to cool slightly and cut into squares or rectangles depending on how big you want the pieces.
  • Enjoy with a cup of tea 🙂

 

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NOT my finest mommy moments

So it turns out I am not totally with it when it comes to my kids and their schools.

You see, Aaron’s school closes today for about 3 weeks.

That I remembered.

But… I assumed that since Aaron was on holiday, Faith would also finish school today.

Wrong!

Faith apparently still has another week of school.  Now if my amazing husband hadnt checked yesterday I would have just stopped taking Faith to school…

The other thing I kind of failed at today is that, yes, Aaron’s school does close today, at 11:30am NOT 12:30 and there is NO aftercare today!

I was happily working away when his teacher called me to see who was fetching him!

Thank heavens for one of the other mommies who offered to drop him at home for me.

So, ja, maybe I should start paying more attention to these things!

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Potluck Savoury Muffins

Tanya once again sent me a too good to be true recipe. So good in fact that all of her muffins were eaten before she could take a photo.

So I decided that I couldnt post the recipe without giving you a photo and I whipped up a batch this evening.

When Tanya says that it takes 10 min to prep and 20 min to bake she wasnt lying.

Quick and yummy, my idea of good food!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • Salt and pepper
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 200g red pepper (Tanya doesn’t eat peppers so she substituted for 200g ham, or bacon, a bit of onion or spring onion etc… the options are endless!)
  • 100g chopped mushrooms
  • 100g cheddar cheese
  • 1 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 60ml vegetable oil
  • 350ml skim milk
  • Non-Stick Spray

Method

  • Preheat oven to 200°C
  • Sift together the dry ingredients.
  • Add in the mushrooms, spices, parsley and grated cheese.
  • Whisk together the wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients.
  • Mix until just combined, the mixture should still look lumpy.
  • Spoon into a muffin tin that has been coated with non-stick spray and bake in a 200°C oven for 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven, turn onto a wire rack to cool and serve.

They smelled so good that I had to take one straight out the oven, slice it open, slather it in butter and eat it up.  I burned my fingers adn my tongue but boy was it worth it!

Oh, Tanya said it makes 12, I managed to get 22 muffins but not all of them were the same size.  So be prepared to use 2 muffin trays.

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Me me me me meeeeeeeeeme….

I saw this meme on Jenty’s blog and then on Alida’s, Laura-Kim’s and Angel’s…

My turn!

  • Right now, I am lying on my bed, trying to get warm.
  • I’m currently obsessed with the Merry Gentry novels by Laurell K. Hamilton.
  • Cannot live without hugs.
  • I’m reading Seduced by Midnight – Book 3 of the Merry Gentry series.
  • I’m listening to my dogs eating what was their breakfast.
  • Favourite place in Joburg dont really have one exactly. I love discovering new places though.
  • Favourite place in SA is Jozi.  I love everything about my city.
  • Favourite place in the world the Kotel in Jerusalem.
  • I’ve lived in Jozi and Israel.
  • Next up on my bucket list perhaps I should actually make a bucket list…
  • The last thing I crossed of my bucket list see above
  • I realized I was an adult when I looked into Aaron’s eyes for the very first time.
  • I realized I’d never be an adult when I accepted that I love animated films!
  • In the movie of my life, I want to be played by Julianne Moore.
  • Best invention since the wheel: PVR.
  • A house is not a home without dogs.
  • This week I’m crushing on my very warm feather duvet!
  • I’m currently working on not much.
  • I’m really proud of Aaron, for being the politest little boy I know!
  • You’d be amazed if I showed you my teeth before I had braces.  The stuff of nightmares.  No really!
  • I cannot survive winter without hot chocolate.
  • Signature dish Sjoe… No idea.  I love testing new recipes and very seldom make the same thing twice unless it was very very good.  But after a few times I move onto something new.
  • Guilty pleasure soppy romance novels.
  • When no-one’s looking I sing. Loudly.  And badly 🙂
  • In my next life I want to be a dog in my house.  Spoilt brats.
  • Every morning I am late.  I hate waking up.
  • I believe that anything is possible and that things, good or bad,  happen for a reason.  Also that Karma is a bitch and you will get back what you dish out.
  • I’ve really got to work on building my immune system.  At this point it feels like I dont have one at all.
  • Best advice I was ever given Do the right thing, even if it hurts.
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Skin – Why I never wear makeup

So, the whole skin thing, ja, thats basically why I never wear makeup.

The minute I put base on I break out in cysts, I really mean that, within an hour I can feel them building and by the next day they are clearly visible.

I dont even use moisturiser because I have the same reaction, although I have found that if I use a very mild one now I am ok.

I have been on the Roaccutane now for about 3 months.  My skin definitely show vast improvement.

But I’m scared.  Im scared that if I start using make up now I will get cysts.  Even though my skin is so much better and I’m pretty sure I wont react, especially if I use hypoallergenic products.

I have some really beautiful products from GlossyBox and RubyBox and I am dying to try them out.

Whats the worst that can happen?

 

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Skin – looking good :)

Day: 93

Dosage: 30mg per day

Skin issues: No changes from the last post 🙂

Side effects: My lips are very dry and I am using a variety of products, I just have to keep remembering to put them on. A new side effect is that my eyes seem dryer than normal.  I am going to go get some eye drops this weekend and see if they help.

 

Please excuse the crappy photo, I always seem to write my posts at night and well ja, crappy cell phone pictures 🙂

Improvement: So far no new cysts so I think that is a vast improvement!