Milk baths are some of the most marked-up products ever. Burt’s Bees is $16. This is exactly like Burt’s Bees – just milk and fragrance.

If you use nonfat milk, your skin won’t be oily afterward. But if you use wholefat milk, you will get the natural moisturizing power. It’s all up to your skin type.

If you can’t find buttermilk powder at the regular grocery store, you can definitely find it at a health food store. Whole Foods carries Bob’s Red Mill products, and they have powdered buttermilk.

People with lactose intolerance or milk allergies shouldn’t try this recipe. If mixture is too oily, try 1/4 cup of Natrasorb to soak up the oil.

[Idea modified from theperfumereport.com]

Vegetarian Eggplant “Bacon” Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 small eggplants – Japanese eggplants work best, but small Italian eggplants work, too. They should be small because the smaller the eggplant, the less seeds it has, and as we all know, bacon has no seeds.
• Bacon Salt
• Oil for frying – It’s tempting to use olive oil, but Canola works best since you don’t want vaguely olivey bacon.

 
Directions

1. Peel or don’t peel your eggplant. If you like your bacon more crispy, keeping the skin on will help.
2. Slice the eggplant lengthwise, about 1/4%u2033 thick (or less). A mandoline helps.
3. Arrange the slices in layers, sprinkling copious amounts of Bacon Salt over each one.
4. Mix the slices about, making sure each piece of eggplant gets a good coating of Bacon Salt. Let the slices sit for about 30 minutes, up to an hour.
5. The salt in the Bacon Salt will draw the bitter liquid out of the eggplant and imbue the slices with bacony goodness.
6. Lightly blot each slice with a paper towel to remove the excess bitter liquid. You’ll lose some of the seasoning this way, but that’s okay.
7. Pour about an inch of oil into a frying pan (preferably cast-iron) over medium high heat. (Yeah, you’re deep-frying. As when using bacon itself, concern about fried foods shouldn’t be your top priority). When the oil is sizzlin’, drop the bacon in, a slice at a time, and cook to desired doneness.
8. Remove to a paper towel and enjoy! The absorbent quality of the eggplant will give the final product just the right amount of greasy, fatty goodness.

Voila! Excellent on BLTs or as a side with eggs and pancakes, or crumbled over a salad, this eggplant bacon is certain to please even the most dyed-in-the-wool bacon aficionado.

[via Vegetarian Eggplant "Bacon" Recipe « The Edibility Exam]

I am lucky, blessed, really.

Each day I

• wake up to the sweetest alarm: my almost 4 year old daughter
• enjoy a calm, un-rushed healthy breakfast with my whole family at the dining room table
• work from home on my dream career: children’s photographer
• am grateful for free part-time childcare from my parents and mother-in-law
• eat a natural, whole foods, vegetarian dinner with my whole family at the dining room table
• relax in my cozy home
• read stories and snuggle with my daughter
• go to sleep next to the love of my life in an always cozy bed

In addition, each Wednesday is family day with Jim and Syna.

Each Friday night is date night with my husband. (We’ve been together for 19 years.)

Each Saturday is family date night with Jim and Syna.

Each Sunday is family breakfast with my dad’s family (whoever decides to show – 4-15 people)

I have nothing to complain about. Truly. And I worry about others. Most of the world doesn’t have it nearly as good as I do. I feel extravagant, even when I appreciate what I have and do what I can to minimize my impact on the planet.

We’ve downsized to 1 car, we got rid of cable television, we compost our food waste (and it’s most of it since we’re vegetarian) and recycle to the extent that our family of 3 “throws out” 1 grocery bag of trash per week, we telecommute, we used cloth diapers for our daughter, we bring our own reusable bags to stores and purchase items with limited packaging, we switched our heating system to a high efficiency solution, we shower every other day… We’re conscious of many of our decisions.

And yet we use so much. We have so much. We are never even uncomfortable. We have heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, food available 24/7, constant electricity, transportation, money, instant communication devices, we’re safe. Even on the coldest/hottest days, if I travel, I walk 30′ outdoors to my garage protected car, start it up, turn on the heat/air and I’m comfortably on my way.

It has long been my belief that to truly help others I must start with myself.

To put the world in order, we must put the nation in order.
To put the nation in order, we must put the family in order.
To put the family in order, we must nurture our personal life.
To cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.
- Confucius

But it doesn’t seem like enough when I have so much. And, really, it’s all by luck I ended up being born into my situation.

“There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

How do I stay happy when I am aware of so much suffering?

Parenting Personality
1. How do you think your children have experienced you as a parent in 2009?
Well, I am lucky enough to be able to work from home (as does my DH), so I get to spend a lot of time with my daughter. However, I am aware that she is a sensitive soul, and yet I can be quick and sharp when addressing her misbehavior. So, I think she saw me as available but was timid of my reactions.

2. How do you want your children to experience you as a parent in 2010?
I would like Syna to experience me as a loving, supportive, truly engaged, calm and assertive mommy.

Hit the Highlights
3. What aspects of parenting brought you the most joy in 2009?
Doing more family activities was certainly a highlight this year. At 3 years old, Syna is such a joy to watch explore and discover new places, ideas and people. Our summer was a total blast; we went to Block Island, Rehoboth Beach and Old Orchard Beach. And she had her first day of preschool!

4. What are you looking forward to with great anticipation in 2010?
I’m looking forward to spending more quality time with Syna – to be more active (she loves when we do yoga together); to be more involved in her learning; to have more adventures and laughs.

Strengths and Challenges
5. As you survey your parenting toolbox, which tools do find to be working well for your family, and which tools could use some sharpening?
I have to say my past working experiences help me to understand focusing on the behavior, not the child and relevant consequences instead of punishment. However, my tools for responding to charged situations need sharpening. I think I do a pretty good job at holding back knee-jerk “no’s” to Syna’s requests. It can be difficult to say “go for it!” when she asks if she can dip her cookies in ketchup, or to get up off the couch when she wants to show me how the fish is swimming silly again.

Building Connections
6. How have you pursued your children in the past year?
I have been very intentional when giving Syna great hugs, taking the time to really focus on her and give her a firm, loving squeeze. I think I may tell her I love her too much. ;)

7. What actions will you take to be more engaged with your child in 2010?
In the coming year I will encourage Syna to choose any activity daily that I will then support and join her in doing.

Mending Missteps
8. Is there any aspect of your relationship with your child that has been strained by unforgiveness or regret?
I do regret that I have been hard on her at times. My attempts at developing her character are often misguided in that I think of her as developmentally older. With her 99th percentile height and her incredible vocabulary, it’s so hard to remember she’s 3.

9. Is there an unresolved issue for which you need to offer your child forgiveness, or do you need to ask for forgiveness from your child?
I recently became aware of how she felt about my reactions and have asked for her forgiveness and begun to respond more kindly and appropriately.

10. What actions will you take to nurture a healthy connection with your children in 2010?
Family date night (Saturday) has begun to develop, and I would like to make it more meaningful and enjoyable by doing more new and intentional activities. I truly look forward to the coming year.

Also check out ☃ Simplify the Holidays for more ideas to help create a fun, festive, relaxed winter holiday season.

And if you’re looking for thoughtful personalized gifts to share with your loved ones, try some Homemade Gifts.

Then wrap them responsibly with Reusable Bags/Cloth Wraps. Each year billions of plastic bags end up as litter; reusable bags, such as furoshiki can help reduce the impact to our environment. Its versatility allows you to wrap almost anything regardless of its shape or size.

Have a wonderful winter!

However, the heavy snow is not ideal for shoveling. But we actually got it all done – before it iced over! That’s a first.

Syna got the snowball maker going. It makes perfectly spherical snowballs easily – a snow day must.

I filled the bird feeder and spread some seed under some low hanging branches. The birds came right away for some sustenance. Hey, make some Bird Seed Ornaments for the season.

It started getting a bit wet, so we all came in to the house. I love our home in the winter. With the fireplace, Christmas tree and windows to enjoy the winter scenes it’s the coziest place to be snowbound.

While looking out the window behind our couch in the family room, Syna exclaimed, “Look at that snowman looking in the window; he’s watching us like a crow.”

Oh, and a snow day pleasure: the plow just came by and packed a huge pile of snow at the end of our cleared driveway. Grrrr…