a dash of sassitude

Having returned from a camping trip recently, and having another one coming up before the summer is over, I’m thinking this might be a great topic for WFMW. On to the post…

Serving breakfast to our wild bunny guests. I was still half-asleep.

Six Tips to Make Camping Easier

My darling hubby and I headed out on a three day camping trip. We were taking the small car, and needed to pack light. Tent, air mattress, sleeping bags, suitcases, water, food, and cooler.

Okay, we had an ipad, laptop, and our iphones, too. Books, notebooks, curling iron…hubby needed those. Okay, I needed them. It wasn’t camping in the truest form I suppose, but we did rough it some. It was a tent afterall.

We soon realized we forgot some things, but overall, we had a blast. Here are some things we either learned, or actually did right:

1. When tent camping, include a tarp or canopy for added protection from rain. Our recent camping trip found us enjoying one misty weekend. A tarp placed over and extending past the edges of the tent can help keep the tent drier. It’s especially nice to have it extend out a bit over the front to give you a dry place to get in and out. If you have room to pack it, a canopy is wonderful to have over a tent.

2. Make sure you have the right size tent. I know, it sounds obvious, but let me tell you our story. Hubby bought a tent that was 7′x7′. Plenty of room for the two of us. Until we put in the air mattress. Making the tent a little less than 6′x6′ by the time we crawled in there. Now at 5’2 1/2″, I was fine. Hubby, however, is a little over 6′. His head stuck out one end, and his feet out the other. I, of course, found this very funny.

3. Bring lots of bottled water. Bottled water can be used for drinking (hehe), putting out camp fires, making hot tea or cocoa, cleaning up, brushing teeth,  and for an impromptu hair washing session outdoors. Talk about refreshing! Our last camping site didn’t have showers, and I needed one. We’d been outdoors tromping around in the woods, on the beach, and in the rain. So I lay down on the seat of the picnic table, and hung my head off the end. Bob wet my hair down with bottled water, lathered me up, and rinsed me out. It was c-c-cold, but so. much. fun.

4. Pack a small axe or hatchet. We bought some firewood, but had to borrow an axe to chop some up for kindling. We now own one for future trips. Very handy for firewood, and chasing obnoxiously loud campers around the campground in the middle of the night. Okay, maybe not, but it’s tempting.

5. Bring marshmallows and long sticks. You may think you won’t miss having them, but there is something that comes over you while you sit around a campfire. It’s powerful, and hubby immediately remedied that mistake.

6. Pack your clothes in a Rubbermaid container with a lid. Clothing will get moist when tent camping. Crawling into damp clothes on a cold morning is not fun. Treat yourself to some dry clothes.

Hope you find these six tips helpful. Leave your best camping tips in the comments, and maybe we’ll use them for our upcoming trip: hubby, me, five kids, and two dogs. Oh my.

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There is so much information out there on the web about healthy living. Having the world at our fingertips can be an amazing resource, but a person can soon find themselves overwhelmed by it all.

When healthy living encompasses so many aspects of our day to day lives, where does one begin to make changes? How do you sort through the murky sea of information and misinformation to find the pearls? What must one do to get their family on board for the healthy living ride?

Navigating the Sea of Information
This sea is filled with great information AND misinformation. Always evaluate the source. Is it someone sharing their experience? Are they selling something? Does it seem to line up with what you’ve read elsewhere? I find that the best thing to do is look for a couple of sources that are saying the same thing. Chances are, they might be on to something. Read reviews on personal blogs, amazon, and other review places. This can help you weed through the myriad of products out there.

Keep a notebook nearby as you read both on the net, from books, or other places. Jot down ideas that appeal to you; things you might want to try. Break this collection of information into different pages for various topics. For example, have a separate page for healthy eating, natural remedies, exercise, natural cleaning, etc.

In another section of your notebook, write down your personal experiences as you begin to try new things. Do you need to tweak something? Did it flat out fail? Or have you stumbled onto something to add to your healthy living arsenal? Keeping a record will help you know what worked, and what didn’t.

Making Changes
The most important thing to remember is that you can’t, and shouldn’t, try to make several changes all at once. You will most likely become overwhelmed and quit. This is why your notebook is important. You can choose a couple of things to change now, while not forgetting anything you might want to try later.

Where to start? This could vary depending on what’s going on in your life. Do you or a family member have a cold? Research home remedies for colds. A good immune building soup would be good for supper tonight.

Maybe you read something, and really feel led to make a change in that area. Sounds like a good place to begin to me. Or maybe you really have no idea because things need to change in several areas. Maybe it all speaks to you. What then? I suggest starting with you. What do you need to do to get healthy? Drink water, eat better, exercise, or maybe get some sleep. Next Tuesday, I’ll post about more on this starting point.

Getting the Family on Board
This can be tricky. The younger the family member, the easier it is to make changes. Be enthusiastic, and they will jump in with a game mentality. Making it fun and adventurous, and letting them be a part of the process will bring them on board fairly quick.

Older family members and spouses can be a bit skeptical. They need to know why they should bother to make the change. I suggest trying things first, and telling them about what you’re doing. Curiosity as well as seeing results will usually get them to try something new. However, be prepared that they might be perfectly content right where they are with what they are doing or using. And that’s okay. They can make that choice for themselves. Don’t be disappointed. Enjoy the journey you are on.

It can be a lot of fun to try new things, and discover new ways of doing things. You will begin to feel better, see great results, and this helps you to continue experimenting. Don’t allow yourself to become discouraged if something isn’t working. It might not be right for you, or it just might not be right at all. Share your experience both positive and negative because that might help someone else make a decision.

I’ll share more in the weeks ahead about what has worked or not worked for our family. Remember, I’m on my own journey, still learning, still adding new changes. I’d love to hear about what’s working for you, what’s not working, and anything you might be curious about. Maybe together we will navigate the murky waters, and come up with those pearls to enrich our families.

Beauty is overrated. What we want to do is sabotage it before it takes hold. These five tips will help you slay beauty, and remain in a slump.

1. Drink plenty of soda, skip the water. This will dehydrate you leading to dry, brittle hair and flaky skin.

2. Eat junk food, especially sugary snacks, and lots of it. Junk food helps your skin break out, and can cause a hangover feeling in the mornings. It can also make you bloated.

3. Stay up real late, and head to bed at varying times. Wait until you can’t keep your eyes open any longer. Puffy, swollen eyes with dark circles accentuating them is the result of this tip.

4. Skip the treadmill, and lounge on the couch for hours on end. This gives you a lack of energy, and adds to the sallow complexion we’ve been creating from the above tips.

5. Ignore the beauty in the world around you. You will become uninspired to look and feel your best. This will most definitely show in your attitude, and posture.

Embrace each one of these steps wholeheartedly, and poor posture, blotchy skin, limp hair, and a lack of zest for life can soon be yours.

Let’s cry mutiny on these ideas! We’ll actually tackle these in future posts, but I thought a fun, tongue in cheek post would help get you thinking about each of these things, and where you might need to make some changes.

Know of any more beauty slayers? I’d love to read about them in the comments.

Sometimes life can go where you least expect it, and it can get so crazy, that all you can do is bare minimum. That’s what happened here, but it’s so good to be back. I’ll be blogging on a dash of sassitude Monday through Friday as follows:

Monday ~ beauty sassitude: skin care, makeup, clothing, hair care…

Tuesday ~ healthy living sassitude: natural cleaning supplies, eating well, exercise, natural remedies, homemaking…

Wednesday ~ WFMW (works for me wednesday) meme: this will be a random thing that works for me

Thursday ~ creativity sassitude: decorating, scrapbooking, sewing, nurturing creativity…

Friday ~ weekend reading: links to interesting posts from my other blogs, links to interesting blog posts i run across around the web, book reviews, blog reviews…

I’ll also post fun giveaways from around the web, and my own occasional giveaway.

Stay tuned for some beauty sassitude tomorrow! I’ve got a great lineup of sassitude for the week ahead.

Check out the events and giveaways page for some fun happenings!

Would you like a product reviewed, giveaway hosted or an announcement made about your giveaway or event? Or maybe you’d like to share some sassitude? Use the Contact Me button at the top of the blog.