One blanket in winter?

Ever thought you would sleep with just one blanket in the middle of the coldest winter SA has ever experienced?

My reply was a huge HELL NO!!!

I have now eaten my words, 

Temp around my home have been around -11 at night, and we were sleeping with three  blankets and a goose down duvet, which is really heavy, and a mission to turn under.

Hubby brought home this super-blanket a few days ago, as an early Eid present for me. 

After one night, all those other blankets have been packed away, and my bed now only has this wonderful soft blanket made by Mashudu. A proudly South African company! 

It has this really soft, off white sheep fleece on the under side, and the top has a fluffy, block design, available in an array of colours. They also give you two pillow cases in the same warm soft material so my head is also super warm when we use this,(never saw another blanket that comes with pillow cases)

I love that I don't have all the weight on top of me, and that this single blanket keeps us totally toasty through out the night!! When I sleep in under my new favourite blanky, I can feel the warmth almost radiating and being kept close to my body, it's like sleeping in a warm cloud! 

This is the softest blanket I have ever felt and it makes getting out of bed in the morning close to impossible, 

A few of the other styles available are 

Rubybox July Unboxing

July rubies were spoilt indeed!

If you signed up for your first box, you got all these goodies for just 99c!!

My box contained a RubyBox foot File, 

A sample Lanolin-Agg-tval egg white facial care bar (this item is from Sweden)

A sample Ducray Keracnyl anti-imperfection cream (this item is from France)

AND a full size lippie from Woolworths!!

What a great beauty haul, if you want to get spoilt like me, sign up before the end of July 2014 and get your first RubyBox for under R1,

Dream homes

We have recently put our house up for sale, and started looking at plans for a new home, as parents we look at numerous different things we want in or near a location, access to a good school, shopping, and extra curicular activities for the kids, but top of the list for us, was a safe area. But I find myself asking is there such a thing? In the last week I have heard about at least 3 people being killed in their homes!! Is there anywhere in our beautiful country that is truelly safe? So we find ourselves enclosed in high walls, electric fences, and burglar bars, prisoners in our homes, I wish that I could allow my girls to play and ride their bikes in the neighborhood like I and my friends used to when we were younger, but that dynamic just won't happen, I can't allow my kids out of my sight, for fear of all the horrible things out there! 

I did however find my dream home, it represents to me a true free South Africa, where we are "FREE" to be safe in our homes, hopefully one day I will build this home, and not be afraid to live in it

The dreaded Flu

Managing childhood flu's

I want to start of this post, with a quote from my daughter, aged 6 years old:

"Mummy, we slept without hot water bottles and I almost turned into a cupcake!!!!"

Both my girls have the flu, and I think it's the worst one to date... Fevers reaching 39.9 degrees, runny noses, sore throats, and poor achy little bodies. I have gone through about 5 bottles of fever and pain meds, cough syrup and allergex, nothing worked, until I was digging through the medicine cabinet (yes one entire cupboard in my kitchen holds only medication, family and friends call me the local pharmacy) so anyways, after finishing all the bottles, and at 3 am kids crying and coughing, I stated rummaging through the meds, and found my life saver, it's something the Peads doc have for my eldest when she was a year and a half old, after sleepy squinting to check the expiry date, I gave each of them a dose, along with an adult cough syrup, cepacol ( like 1ml each)

And for them to settle down and sleep again, 

The next morning, when I woke up, they were peaceful, no more wheezing, but they still have a little fever, 

the miracle medication is ACC200 a little white effervescent tab, and it is an anti-mucolytic, so it thins flem, and in so doing reduces coughing and decreased chances of an infection taking seed in clogged up noses. 

I am one those mums that grab the allergex, flusin, or other meds that "dry" up runny noses, in reality, what they do is thicken the mucus, and that makes it super hard for little noses to get rid of it, it lands up running down tiny throats and exacerbating coughs and infection. I have now thrown out all my nose drying medication, and stocked up on ACC200, they are still fluey, but it's not half as bad as it was. 

My little cupcakes, are now on the mend, 

what are your go to meds when the little ones get the flu?

NB: This not meant to be taken as medical advise, always consult your doctor or pharmacist before using a new medication. 

My journey to clear skin part 2

We left off the last post at age 13,

At 13 after consultation with a dermatologist it was decided that I would start the pill to try to control my acne. This was met with a lot of negativity by extended family members, they argued that I was too young and so forth, but my mum, understanding how hard it was for me agreed anyways, I also started using more medical topical creams, like benzac, and retin-A, my acne calmed down, but not by much, I lived like this hoping from product to product for 4 years, 

When I was in matric I begged my mum to allow me to start Roaccutane, but being a doctor she knew and understood  the dangers and would not agree, I started researching my condition and became obsessed with it, I found out that all the scrubbing I was doing only activated my condition, and that strong over counter products, were doing more harm than good!

I also started going for facials, and thi was the worst mistake ever for me. I went to an upmarket salon in rand burg for my facials, the lady there used a sterile lance/razor to open my skin and push the blackheads and pimples out, and she scarred my face for life!

When i turned 21, my mum asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I told her the only thing I wanted was to go onto Roaccutane, finally she agreed! I started the course, and was taking 20mg daily, about two months later, I got married, and the side effects of the treatment was so bad, that I could not bare to be touched on my upper arms they were so painfull, after many tears it was agreed I would stop the treatment, 

That was in October, in February I found out I was 6 weeks pregnant, surprisingly my skin cleared up quite a bit and I was glowing, in August, my baby girl was born, and my acne came back. Worse than before, my second pregnancy was the same thing, my face cleared up while I was preggers, but after baby was born, it came back again! 

Last year, at age 28, I decided enough was enough! I went to my dermatologist, she did a lot of blood tests, a pregnancy test even though I was already sterilized, and then I had to sign a document that I would not fall pregnant while on treatment and would use at least two different contraception methods. 

I started on Orratane, 20mg daily, and after 6 months up to 40mg daily, I am currently in month 11 of my treatment, I have constant nose bleeds and have a head ache every single day, also my skin is severely dry all over my body, with it so badly dry on my arms it is scaly. But there is a light at the end of all this... my face is totally clear, not one single pimple!!!

I will be taking orratane for another two to three months to get rid of my marks, and ensure my pimples don't come back when I stop, it was not an easy road, but honestly I would do it all again. 

After I complete the treatment, I have to wait 5 months for the drug to be completely out of my system, and then we will be doing a Medical Chemical Peel to get rid of the last of the marks, 

In the picture below, there are only the scars of all the acne I had, and not one single pimple. See part 1 of my journey to clear skin to see the before pic.

Products I love

This is my list of things I cannot live without... 

First off has to be RubyBox, it's a subscription that send me a box of beauty goodies that are tailored just for me every single month, what's better than that ladies, upmarket trendy products that I get to try and then if love them I can get them direct from www.rubybox.co.za

Second has to be my DermaControl range from cetaphil, it cleanses my skin, without drying it, and the moisturizer does not give me an oily look and is non-comedogenic, 

It's super important to use a sun protection, ESP for me as I am on orratane, and this range takes care of that for me with a SPF of 30 built into my moisturizer, simple easy skincare, that heals as you treat your acne problematic skin.

Third on my list is Marc Anthony Argan oil range, this shampoo conditioner and oil treatments take care of my hair, leaving it soft, smooth, silky and most importantly healthy, it is keratin enriched and has no sulphates and for my bum length hair in use just two drops of the oil after washing and conditioning, the oil helps to reduce knots and nourish hair. my hair used to be oily, but with this range I wash my hair twice a week but it always looks just washed, as it has balanced out my scalp, so hair doesn't get oily anymore. There are also hair spray, an mousse in the Argan Range, And my bottles last me on average three months, so cost wise, it's works out well.

This is my top three products I cannot live without, what are yours?

Ciao 

Phoenix