Favorite Things Friday.

 

It's Friday and there's no better time for me to give you my unsolicited advice and opinions. 

 

I thought I would share with you a few of my current favorite things.

 

 

 

 

 

1.  Bai5.  Can you say yum?  All natural, sweetened with Stevia, no weird aftertaste and all for 5 calories.  I've been ordering it from Amazon for a little over a year but they're finally starting to show up in stores locally.  My personal favorite - blueberry.
2. My Well Planned Day planner.  This, for me, is as close to the perfect planner as I can find.  I love, love, loved my Erin Condren last year, but it didn't have enough room for me to put everything in it.  This has enough room that I can keep everything homeschool and everything household management in it.  And thanks to some creativity, I've modified it so that I can keep up with my blogs (Hippie, Woven & THESIS) all in one place.  Oh!  I'll mark down right now to show you my tricked out planner next week.
3. Loreal BB cream and NYX pore filler.  A couple of co-workers were talking about the awesomeness of BB cream and pore filler after their trips to Sephora.  Since I'm not Scrooge McDuck-ing it over here, I looked for a cheaper alternative.  NYX pore filler is like spackle for this tired 40+ year old face.  It fills in those fine lines and smooths it all out.  I put it on around my eye area before applying my foundation.  I found this on Amazon for right around $10.  Loreal BB cream was just under $10 at Walmart and is fantastic.  It gives you a chemically induced youthful glow - and I'm OK with that.  I dab it on at the same time I put on my foundation. 
4. My Big Berkey water filter.  Let me be honest, this thing cost a whack.  But it was worth every penny.  We've had ours for a little over four years.  We had been discussing buying one for a while when I ended up horribly sick from a parasite in our "safe" city tap water.  Apparently there was a break in the line that we hadn't been aware of and since I drink close to a gallon of water a day, it got me.  After several trips to the hospital for IV fluids plus a lovely in depth interview from the Health Department where I had to list everywhere I had eaten in the past 2 weeks, we decided it was worth the money to get the filter.  The Big Berkey works by gravity and is what many missionaries use to basically turn mud water into drinkable water.  It removes  pathogenic bacteria, cysts and parasites entirely and extracts harmful chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, VOCs, organic solvents, radon 222 and trihalomethanes. It also reduces nitrates, and unhealthy minerals such as lead and mercury. This system is so powerful it can remove food coloring from water without removing the beneficial minerals your body needs.  I am a huge believer in this system.  And even with my ridiculous water consumption, we only have to change this filters every 18 months or so. 
5. My "new to us" TV stand.  I am loving this repurposed dresser turned TV stand.  Each family member has a drawer for their stuff - you know the random books, magazines, toys - that get strung all over the living room.  The 6th drawer is used to store DVD's and remotes.  My friend Michelle from All Things New; Rev 21:5 added her magic touch to an old dresser and voila!  I love it!

 

Now that your curiosity is quenched and you're no longer sitting around wondering what my favorite things are, go on and enjoy your day!