Get Creative

Make your own jewelry. The advantage is that you can spend $20 and make a necklace of $75 in quality and value. Sterling silver and gold filled ear hooks cost much more at Macy's. Go to www.autumnreed.etsy.com or www.autumnreed.com to shop for beads and supplies. There will be e books soon to post.

A Visit from the Men in Black

     One day while I was making these crazy little handbags from gourds in the garage, a neighbor of mine saw me and got really scared. She got so scared in fact, that her actions following the "sighting," snowballed in to a strange chain of events. Let me explain.

     Like any other family, our trash goes out once a week for pick up. One week we noticed a "homeless guy" going through our trash on the curb. No one else's...just ours. We never see the homeless in this area of suburbia California but Dad, nonetheless, gave him $5 bucks and thought nothing of it. Then about a month later our trash simply dissappeared. Our bags mysteriously taken out of the recepticle bin with no trashman even coming to get it. At this point we figured the guy had returned and taken our trash for himself. Then reality hit.

     While I was out showing my sparkling purses to a few boutiques, two men made a visit to my house. One approached my brother and said, "We got a report that someone living here was wearing a hazmat suit and was terrorizing the neighborhood." He flashed his FBI badge, and the second man, his Homeland Security id.  Since my brother had no idea what a hazmat suit even was, he snatched Dad to answer their questions. He rats me out and tells them, "Oh yeah that's my daughter...She wears it while working on her purses the garage.Wanna see?"

"Really? Sure," answered the FBI agent. He was clearly relieved at how easily this call was going.
Dad opens the garage, let's them walk in and points to my makeshift workshop. Meanwhile, the Homeland Security agent scanned every container and label in plain sight within seconds. Dad find's the suit and holds it up. "Here's the suit right here." he announced. "Wanna take it?"
The agents burst out in laughter. " Naw I think we're good here," they assured him. Then they told him about the nosey neighbor who didn't like all the protective gear they saw on me, and how they then reported me to them. They have to check every report they get, so here they were.

    Getting home I couldn't believe my ears. Suddenly however, it all made sense. Why our trash had gone missing and why we had a random "homeless" person sifting through our garbage. Of course, like the agents said, everything was fine and they had no further suspicions about us or the report.
3 months later our trash did dissappeared again.

Home Cooked in 15 Minutes

The best meal is home cooked, fast, healthy and easy. This section is to eliminate that death dealing trip to Mc Donald's we all may fall victim to when way too busy and or tired to cook. Just think about how you can cut indigestible chemicals and calories out in 15 minutes. The prize ingredient here is a rotisserie chicken. Ready to go chickens can be easily torn up and shredded into almost recipe. the 1st

Chicken Corn Chowder

Grab that chicken, 2 cans of chicken corn chowder soup, frozen broccoli and a fresh baked loaf of french bread.

1) Open the cans of soup and put them in a pot. Start cooking on med. Next take the chicken meat off of the bones and add them to the soup. Then add a bag of fresh frozen vegetables like broccoli and let that heat up with no lid. You want the water from the frozen vegetables to evaporate. While that is cooking together, turn your oven broiler to 500 then cut your french bread in half. Spread some olive oil or butter onto your bread and shake on some Italian seasoning and fresh garlic if you have it. Toss it in the oven for 5 minutes then check it. The broiler doesn't take long at all to toast bread. When its brown take it out of the oven and get into your pj's. When you get back to the kitchen your meal will be hot, ready and much healthier than the drive thru.

Super Easy Natural Skin Rejuvenator

Every woman wants soft glowing skin especially when you need to look your best. Healthy looking skin is a major result of a good diet and exercise. Drinking water is possibly one of the majorest issues with our skin. Dehydration causes uneven skin tone, over oil production and shoddy make-up application. 50% of women are chronically dehydrated. One answer to giving your skin a boost is to drink lemon water. Lemon is a natural cleansing agent that taste good to boot so grab 2 lemons, cut them in half and squeeze one half into an 8oz glass. Drink this down as fast as possible. Repeat this for at least 4 glasses and possibly within 2 hours. If you can do more, do it but DO NOT drink more than a gallon and hour. This will not only flush your body but it will force your body to deliver much needed hydration with a little bit of inside cleansing to your skin. In 4 hours I'm willing to bet you will feel and see a difference in your skin.

Amazing Skin Treatment Part II

Okay so this week I tried a new homemade scrub which really turned my hands into silk. This time I used sea salt and walnut oil for conditioning, sugar for revitalization and coffee for the alleged skin tightening effects. It worked! My hands were visibly smooth, soft and youthful looking. This scrub looks like uncooked brownie mix but it works great and you don't have to pay $20 for a product that has less than half the nutrients and double the shelf life because of chemicals.

! tbsp coffee grounds
2 teaspoons sea salt
1tbsp granulated white or brown sugar
2 tablespoons walnut oil (or olive)

Dump all of the coffee, salt and sugar into a bowl, then mix in the oil slowly. If you get an even texture you dont need more oil. Mix it with a spoon and then scoop some into your hand and rub the scrub around for 2 to 3 minutes. If this becomes abrasive, congratulations. Your skin is super dry, has absorbed most of the oil and you needed this treatment! Add more oil to lessen the abrasion. When you finish scrubbing, rinse your hands with lukewarm water and soap. Towel dry your hands and then add your hand creme to seal in the moisture.

Please tell me who's tried it and if you loved it! Any suggestions are welcome.