Category: Real Life

Bring the rose garden into your beauty routine

Some cultures have been using Rosewater for centuries, but here in America, we seem to fall away from traditional uses, stay away for a while and then come back to realize the value of natural products. I believe this is true with Rosewater.

So what is Rosewater? Well, it is NOT rose petals soaked in water. True Rosewater is a hydrosol, a by-product from the steam distillation of rose essential oil. This video explains the process well:

There are so many uses for hydrosols like rosewater!

Rosewater makes a beautiful pillow spray at night.
Try it as a perfume.
Add a little to a dessert to give it a lovely rose flavor!
Use as a hair tonic to hydrate and to smooth the hair cuticles.
Use as a no-heat hair setting spray when combined with a Swerve U-Pin or other Lilla Rose haircessory.
Use as a facial toner daily for dry, aging or irritated skin.
Mist in the air or on body to calm the mind.
Spray Rose Water on your hair to keep it shiny and vitalized
Massage into your scalp to moisturize and stimulate hair follicles
Spray Rose Water on your face for an energizing boost of hydration in the morning, or a relaxing mist before bed.
When used to fight acne, remove makeup, or treat eye bags, spray Rose Water on cotton and gently wipe the skin.
Spray Rose Water directly on the areas you’d like to tone and hydrate.
Spray after a workout to cool and refresh.
Sunburn relief

Listen to what these ladies had to say about their Rosewater experiences:

We 4 girls love the stuff. My girls have waist long hair. I’ve just started being able to use it on my hair again, trying to get it healthy again, hiding my shaved areas from surgery as they grow out. It tames the new growth wispies, too. I’m also using it to stimulate my facial nerves/muscles as I rub it over my face on the cotton ball and while I can’t wear make up. I’m getting compliments on my complexion.
– Deb W.

I LOOOVE the Rosewater! 💓💓 It smells like REAL roses!!😁😁

– Amanda M.

Get yourself some Rosewater 💕 I am so glad I did !! With age comes change – it’s inevitable 😏 – body changes, skin changes, hair changes and I have been privy to them ALL. I have been using rosewater for just about 3 weeks now and have noticeable improvement in my hair and skin. With just ONE product I have literally replaced 4 others I USED to use on my HAIR and FACE!

HAIR – much more manageable and the shine it has is remarkable! It’s no secret to those who know me I am NOT kind to my hair as it is colored on a regular basis, blown dry and just plain beat up !

No more dry fly-aways, and it STAYS manageable all day without ANY additional product and my ends have NEVER looked healthier. 💕

SKIN – Wowzers ! Tone and elasticity ! I now have BOTH !! Yes BOTH ! Who knew ? A quick spritz before bed and another in the morning before putting on my face for the day 💕

– Wendy G.

My hair has been so much softer and smoother!

– Amanda K.

I use it as a detangler for my daughter’s hair. She is now 17 months and has very fine wispy hair. Gets tangled out in just a few seconds with no tears!! I use it on my hair in the morning to refresh areas that are flat (especially around my face) after sleeping on it.

– Amanda P.

I have a perm and use it when I get out of the shower to get my curls back. I also will use it in my flyaway hair to keep it down in stead on looking like a wild woman. I also use it on my dry face wow what a huge difference the Rose water brings back moisture. I’m on my 3rd bottle. It’s a must have in my bathroom.

-Jodi D.

I’m a massage therapist and I spritz it on my sheets just before my clients come. Lovely scent!

– Jackie A.

I use this on myself and my 18 month old daughter. We both have curly hair, mine is a little coarser than hers. She has Shirley Temple curls. I use it to Spritz on her second or third day curls to revive them. Also makes her hair smell amazing! I use it the same for myself, and also on my face as a toner. I think it’s a delightful product! As an FYI, when I got down to the bottom half inch of my bottle I filled it up the rest of the way with filtered water. Still smells great even though it’s diluted. 😃. Just my frugal two cents worth. 😉

– Laura S.

Daughter-Long, fine hair. Slight wave but curls tend to fall. She LOVES using foam twirlers and curling her hair. But after a day, they are quite fallen. A week or two ago, my daughter washed at night and we did a good spray down of rosewater and put in foam rollers. In the morning, we took them out and they lasted not only that day, but we didn’t comb her hair out and the curls lasted the next day, too!

– Erin S.

It’s a great refresher for the skin and hair. It doesn’t make my hair or skin oily or shiny. It can be used anytime you need a quick pick me up, the light smell of the rose water is invigorating, calming and soothing all at the same time. I spray rosewater on my clients hair and scalp when I’m done with their hair. You can also “lightly” mist your face with it, makeup stays put. I love it!

– Cathy S

I’m finding that it is really great, for my super fine hair, at taming frizz and static (which will be even more important as winter comes on with all its dry air)! I used it the other day (below) to take out the frizz after wearing a knit hat for hours! 🙂

– Megan M.

My girls and I love Rosewater, too! I love that ours is also made from organic Bulgarian roses, so I don’t have to worry about extra chemicals on my skin. The ingredients are: certified organic rose hydrosol (rosa damascena). That’s it!

Check out all of our Personal Care line: CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY!

Rose Water Mist
Detangler (works great!!)
Dry Shampoo & Shower Caps for days between shampooing
Hair Masque for deep conditioning
Add thickness and volume to your hair with Sea Salt Spray
Thermal Defense Mist heat protectant!
Reduce your drying time with a Bamboo Hair Towel or curly girls & long hair girls especially like the Gauze Hair Towel
Premium Hair Brush, Rat tail Comb & Detangling Shower Comb
Touch up your roots or add a pop of temporary color with Hair Mascara! Also for highlights/lowlights, filling in eyebrows, and keeping flyaways in check! Men are even using to cover beard grays! Available in 12 Natural Colors and 9 Fun Colors!
Click the gallery link to see money saving sets, too!

Gluten Free Thanksgiving

So we’re giving this a whirl this year – Gluten Free Thanksgiving! Because so many people are struggling with food sensitivities nowadays, I thought that I’d share our menu and maybe help someone out that’s looking for options at the last minute. I’ve included online links, but you may be able to find many of these alternatives at your local stores. The links are mainly to show the item, because I’m a visual learner.

Our Menu:

Fried Chicken and Gravy (just me and the kids doing this, so I went with something I knew they’d love!)
Green Beans (see below)
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Mac & Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Deviled Eggs
Rolls
Chocolate Pie
Pumpkin Pie

How does that strike your fancy? We are super excited!! Now… how to make this gluten free???

Fried Chicken

My Grandmama made the best fried chicken ever. In the history of the world. Seriously. And I watched her do it a few times, but I was little, so I don’t know if this is how she did it, but I’d venture to say it’s pretty close! I’m also attempting her macaroni & cheese recipe for the first time this year. Usually my brother makes it.

I’ll be using chicken tenderloin, since that’s what is easiest to fry and all my kids like them. I set up two bowls. One has about 3 eggs and a splash of milk whisked together. (I have used dairy free, unsweetened, plain almond milk to do this and it works just fine.) The other bowl gets my dry ingredients. I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, salt & pepper to taste, a sprinkle of parsley flakes, and 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Dip in the wet bowl, then into the dry bowl. If you’ve got time to kill and want to make it extra crusty special, repeat the dippings. I fry in refined organic coconut oil until done. Refined is important if you don’t want your chicken to take like coconut! I cook an entire two pound bag of tenderloins and we won’t have any leftovers! If you’re cooking for a smaller family, you’ll use less ingredients.

Green Beans

The green beans are just basic beans from a can. I do prefer DelMonte brand to others. Then I add a couple tablespoons of butter (or Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread, for dairy free), and some spices. I like to use Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Blend and Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning, and if I’m feeling extra saucy, just a touch of cayenne pepper! One of my children appreciates the spice, but the rest won’t eat these anyway, so I make them my way!

Cranberry Sauce

We found an easy Cranberry Sauce recipe in The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays: 140 Step-by-Step Recipes for Simple, Scrumptious Celebrations cookbook. I couldn’t find the same recipe online, but this one is close: Cranberry Sauce by Ree Drummond on Food Network. The recipe in the cookbook has only 3 ingredients: cranberries, oranges, maple syrup.

Macaroni & Cheese

Mac & Cheese has been a challenge, but our diet has re-introduced dairy now, so I’m more comfortable trying this. Honestly, if we were still dairy free, I’d probably just skip the mac & cheese. My Grandmama made a baked mac & cheese and this is what my son has requested. She cooked the macaroni noodles per the package instructions, then in a 9×9 glass baking dish, sprayed with non-stick spray, she layered slices of cheese (cut from a block, not sliced cheese like for sandwiches) with the noodles. When I was young, it must have been cheddar that she used, but I’m told later in life she used colby jack. The noodles were salted & peppered, a splash of milk added so it doesn’t dry out (almond milk ok), then topped with another layer of cheese. This will be my first attempt at this style of mac & cheese. Fingers crossed… For the noodles, I’m using Skinner Gluten Free Elbows, found at my local HEB grocery store. I haven’t tried these yet, either, but based on the mix used in the ingredients, I think they were a good option.

Mashed Potatoes

This is pretty standard. To make dairy free, use the dairy free butter linked above and almond milk and nobody will know the difference!

Deviled Eggs

We love deviled eggs! I just might have to do a separate post about the eggs sometime! We raise chickens, so fresh eggs are killer to peel. This is the whole reason I got an Instant Pot! And it works! (works great for store bought eggs, too) Put a cup of water in the pot, then the trivet, then layer in the eggs. I’ve loaded my pot with up to two and a half dozen eggs before. It’s a beautiful sight. 6 minutes at high pressure, 6 minutes natural release then open the valve, 6 minutes in an ice bath. Cool completely, then peel.

Slice in half. Any whites that are not pretty go into the mash. There should be at least 3 whole eggs in the mash. Mash the yolks and the whites that didn’t make the cut. Add Kraft Sandwich Spread until moist. Salt & pepper to taste. If you’re not dairy free, drizzle in a little homemade ranch dressing. Skip that if you’re dairy free, no biggie. Spoon the mash into the eggs, then come back and add more. If you have any left over, enjoy your egg salad.

Rolls

Once again, we’re entering new territory. I’m going to be taking my husband’s grandpa’s wife’s roll recipe (haha) and trying it with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. This is a yeast roll recipe, and I’ve had excellent results with this flour so far, so I’m going to give it a whirl. I will do a half recipe, however, since this is a test. If it’s a flying success, I expect to hear lots of complaining from the children that I didn’t make more!

Dessert

Again, I’m just altering standard recipes. And we’re going crustless. That’s a disappointment, I know, but it is what it is. I didn’t have time to perfect a gluten free pie crust this year, nor do I have time to make gluten free graham crackers. If you have a local store with GF graham crackers, you could probably make a graham crust pretty easily.

Using my husband’s uncle’s chocolate pie recipe, will really be more like a thick pudding without the crust. And that’s perfectly ok. It’s chocolate. This recipe is not dairy free. It uses whole milk, sugar, flour, etc. Again, we’re no longer DF, so I’m not altering the dairy in this recipe at this time. If I attempt a DF version in the future, I’ll let you know. For now, I’m switching out the flour and just dealing with the sugar. After all, Thanksgiving is a special occassion, they’re only getting one slice of pie and it’s not going to last long! Possibly whole fat coconut milk would work to make a homemade chocolate pie.

There’s so many recipes for pumpkin desserts on pinterest, and lots of them are gluten and dairy free! Thank you, internet! I’ll be using a Pioneer Woman (can you tell I love her??) recipe that was found on Walmart’s website! Pumpkin Pie by the Pioneer Woman. Alterations I’ll be making: No crust. That’s it! You could use sweetened condensed coconut milk, if you’re dairy free, but keep in mind that these cans are not exactly the same size as a standard can of Eagle Brand! Just be prepared.

Fruit can also be transformed into a delicious gf/df dessert! This fun turkey would be great for the kids!

As I’ve mentioned before, this is not a recipe blog, and I’ll have to go back at a later date and add pictures. Because I’ve never thought to photograph each item of food. Hopefully this may help someone that’s trying to figure out how to enjoy the holidays with dietary restrictions. This was my son’s biggest concern. The most important thing to remember is to relax and enjoy the holiday with your family. Let the kids help in the kitchen, even though it’s messy. Let them help with the meal planning. Nobody ever said it had to be turkey.

Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving!

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Great Gifts for Mom

1934860_1133272929100_7694125_n — *My mom with me and my daughter at the Women of Faith conference in 2009.*

Let’s face it. Moms rock. But even with all that awesomeness, sometimes we’re at a loss when it’s time to give them gifts. Here’s a few ideas for gifts for Mom, whether it’s Mother’s Day, her birthday, Christmas or other special time. If you’ve got some great ideas, leave them in the comments!

Mothering is hard work and often comes with little down time! Pick a pretty container and make a Pampering Basket for her! Include things like Rosewater or Sea Salt Spray, spa socks, relaxing lavender lotion, massage certificate, a Large Upin or XS Flexi, or a Sleep mask. (Pictured at right are the boar bristle brush and rattail comb, Rosewater hydrosol mist and Bamboo Hair Towel.)

When I was young, I did the pampering gift, even simpler, and got my mom some Calgon Bath Beads! Easy for a kid with limited funds, and still appreciated by my Momma that enjoyed reading in the tub. I was surprised to see you can still get Calgon Bath Beads – and now even gift sets are available online and probably in stores, too. She also enjoyed gift cards to bookstores along with her bath beads!

You can never go wrong with flowers! Almost universally, moms enjoy getting flowers. Whether a bouquet, a hanging basket, a corsage, or a perennial for her garden, flowers always tell mom she’s loved! Make sure to include her favorite color either in the blooms or in ribbon accents. (Never Lose Faith Arrangement by Twinbrook Floral Design. My mom would have loved this with the blue carnations, keepsake vase, and scripture reference.)

For the holidays, my mom would have loved this wreath with blue accents, too! To this day, I still always add blue flowers to her arrangements.

Of course, I must add my favorite accessories to the list, too. Most moms deal with hair a lot, whether their own or that of their daughters. And even though the “mom bun” is trending nowadays, moms do like to be noticed and look pretty.

Enter Lilla Rose. As you can see from this collage above (click to enlarge), there’s a pretty good variety of styles to meet the needs of most moms. Of course, I went with the blue theme again. My kids know to pick purple for me. (wink, wink) If you’re shopping for a gift for yourself (because I’m a mom, too, I know how Mom’s stocking gets filled…) or for your mom, sister, aunt, or BFF, check out my sizing video or contact me to get you in the right size. Excuse me? Size??? Yes! That’s one of the great things about Flexi-Clips – they are not a one-size-fits-all item.

One of my favorite gifts that I gave to my mom was a new Bible cover similar to this one. She was with me when we were shopping that day. I told her I was looking for a gift for someone that really loves blue, and since she really loves blue, too, maybe she could help me pick out something? I showed her several Bible covers and she picked one with a beautiful tapestry of flowers on the cover. Of course, the background was blue and it included little blue flowers in the design. I told her that would be perfect, and I bought the gift for my “friend.” When Christmas rolled around and she unwrapped the gift, it was quite memorable! I’m smiling now just remembering the time.

So what else should I add as great gifts for Moms? What gift have you given, or received, that were extra memorable?

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Direct links to the hair accessories in the collage (left to right):

20th Anniversary!

I had an awesome getaway with my hubby for our anniversary! We celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary on the island of St John, US Virgin Islands! We spent a lot of time face down in the water, marveling at God’s creation. (Snorkeling – I got sunburned on the back of my legs only! LOL!) Still in recovery from category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria in 2017, we also saw much devastation.

The hiking trails, beaches, and reefs were definitely changed by these natural disasters, but recovery is coming. If you’d like to learn more about the recovery efforts, and how you can help, please visit USVI Recovery.

I’ll have to do another post on the gorgeous flora and fauna because the underwater pics are on hubby’s camera.

Y’all, this crab was huge! That big claw was bigger than my hand!

Meanwhile back home, Lilla Rose announced an exciting discount on New Stylist Kits!

With $25 off and about $15 saved on shipping, this is such an awesome value! That Fast Start option comes out to well over 50% commission when you sell those items, too!

Highlights of the Lilla Rose opportunity include :

Fun times playing with hair!
Wholesale access to all the hairthings you and your family could ever need!
Free website with no fees for upkeep!
No monthly or quarterly minimum requirements!
Free weekly training sessions and lots of Home Office support!
A strong community of Lilla Rose sisters (and a few bros)!
Opportunity to add to your family’s income through commissions and bonuses!

We have a neat Remarkable Opportunity group, too. It’s a place where you can gather with friends to learn about the LR business opportunity in a fun, casual, no-pressure way! You will be able to read and watch testimonials from other stylists, as well as get a small taste of the wonderful close-knit community we stylists enjoy! It is truly a powerful insight into Lilla Rose culture!

To keep the group a supportive and safe place for everyone, we do have a few guidelines: Guests must answer the entrance question of who their stylist is, and/or who invited them. (That would be me, Sue Ellen Hale, unless another Stylist invited you first.) Stylists do not try to recruit you in this group, they always refer you back to your own Stylist, and no recruiting for any other companies is allowed. Let me know if you join the group so I can welcome you! Or comment below so I can add you.

So, between the anniversary, the trip, and the enrollment special, wow what a week! Now if I can just get my body to catch up with these time changes…