Day Sixteen: I Actually Complete a Project from a Magazine! - (AKA Citrus Sugar Scrub)

          

OK...  True Confession Time...  I am a recovering magazine junkie.  In the past, I have pretended that I had subscriptions to fifteen different magazines because my clients needed a variety of reading materials in the waiting room of my office.  But let me set the record straight here:  My name is Christy, and I'm a magazinaholic.  It's not so much the subscribing to or the time spent reading these magazines that is the problem.  It's the discarding part that I truly struggle with.

You know that issue with hoarding that I was talking about? Yeah...  Well, I honestly have a ton of back issues of magazines in some crate or other down in my basement that I actually MOVED from my last abode back in 2005 and possibly two times before that in 2002.  You know, because someday I might  miraculously get in touch with my inner Martha Stewart and NEED to reference that article from 1999 that teaches me how to make my own place cards for that summer picnic that I will be hosting in honor of flag day.  Right...  

And, not surprisingly, I've actually completed one of these magazine projects just about zero times!  

So upon the birth of my son, I decided that it was smartest for me to go cold turkey and let my subscriptions run out.  For two years, now, my clients have had to make do with my one office subscription to People and about a million back issues of everything else under the sun.  And I was doing a pretty good job, too.  Until, yesterday when I had a relapse...

You remember my brief taste of complete freedom?  Still feeling giddy, I swung by the local drugstore to pick up some supplies for my sick husband and decided that it would be OK if I just looked at the magazines because they might inspire me in my quest for novelty...  Yes, people, I used THIS experiment to justify opening the door to relapse.  Two magazine purchases later and I was on my way home.  In my defense, one of the magazines was truly novel to me: Do it Yourself!  As I've explained that I am not a do it yourselfer this does count as an additional novel experience for yesterday, AND is very ambitious of me, if I do say so myself!  The other magazine was an old favorite:  the March edition of Whole Living from Martha Stewart.  It was the happiness edition.  Seriously, with my love of positive psychology, how could I do anything BUT purchase it?  And my clients need new reading  material, right?!

So today, with my son tucked safely away at my sister-in-laws and my daughter sleeping soundly in her swing, I indulged in my addiction and sat idly on the couch flipping through my treasures in the interest of finding my novel activity for the day.  And there it was:   directions for a homemade sugar scrub made from honey, raw sugar, citrus zest, and olive oil!

Here's what the ingredients look like in Martha Stewart's world...  Lovely!

  

And here's what it looks like in mine...  And admit it...  You have a crystallized honey bear, too, don't you!    

I assembled and mixed the ingredients:

And put my homemade citrus sugar scrub into a lovely, used mason jar...

Clearly, it needs a ribbon or something, but I must say, I'm rather proud of the results!  A quick test run in the bathroom and my skin was left feeling smooth and soft... in fact, I'd say it did a better job than the expensive stuff I buy!  My one complaint would be that the scent was more Eau de EVOO than it was citrusy.  Despite this, I think I might actually make this again with a lighter oil.  And if it turns out OK you all know what you'll be getting from me next Christmas!  Because maybe there's a little bit of Martha in me after all!