One Year Anniversary!

Many thanks to all of you who have supported the revamped Pure Femininity the past year!  We hope you have enjoyed our posts and if you have any thoughts, comments, etc. we would love to hear from you.  Please drop us an email or a comment if you have anything to add!  :) 

Today we celebrate our one year anniversary.  While many things have changed this past year for all of us, we still hope to continue posting and finding ways to write...even if our postings become a little more sparse. 

If you have any friends who you think would enjoy Pure Femininity, please invite them to join us!  We hope to have another great year coming up!

Recipe: Apple Danish

Ever have those moments when you just want to make something sweet, creative, and yummy?  I had never made a pastry before because I thought it would be ridiculously hard...until I decided to try this recipe!: Apple Danish Recipe

Let's just say...I LOVED it.  It tasted delicious, and I personally thought it was ridiculously easy!  I will definitely be making it again!  :)  Hope you enjoy a little sweet dessert! :)

What is left of our yummy danish! :)

Uniquely You :)

We deemed our trip to town a “Special Sister Day.”  By declaring it special, it gave Chip and I a good enough excuse to visit one of our favorite little shops called Dittiers for a much desired goodie.  The day was horribly cold as we settled ourselves at a table to warm up with a nice cup of frozen yogurt - the perfect thing for such a chilly evening.  It was a Tuesday night which was when Dittiers’ always held their special price for frozen yogurt, and so, Tuesdays were always crowded with the local collage students from the nearby dorms.  As we sat there, enjoying ourselves and shivering from our cold treat, we started looking around at all the people surrounding us that were near our own age.  We gave each other a look and then Chip said, “Is is just me, or do all the girls look….. The same?”  I laughed.  Once again we had thought the same thing at the same time, as close sisters often do.

“hmm… Let’s see…” I said,  “Same style clothing, same make-up technique, identical hairstyles… Yup!  All the girls look the same!”

Obviously, every girl in the room closely followed the fashions that were most popular in their college, leaving them all looking similar to one another.  Now of course, I would not think they looked the same if I actually came to know any of them personally, but just to look at the group of girls, there was nothing unique… Nothing that stood out and made each one different from the rest.  They were all striving to “Fit in.”   

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Now there’s nothing wrong with wanting to fit in.  That desire is built into every person and especially in girls who tend to be more relationship oriented.  The problem is, our goal of “fitting in” can be taken to far.  


Now, I’m not out to bash popular fashions. You yourself may be striving to fit in, and for the record I would like to say, I have been there.  Of course, I’ve always wanted to feel like I belonged to the group of people that surrounded me, but it was something that I really strived for in my mid-to-late teens.  The longing to feel accepted is sometimes such an overwhelming, driving force that can make us spend hours in front of the mirror or tons of time, and money picking out the right outfit that will bring approval from those around us.  The problem is… It never really works.  Even the most popular girls often feel am ache inside that tells them that they are still not good enough, that they are still not truly accepted.  


So what’s the secret to feeling accepted? That is a question the whole world is searching to find the answer to.  The problem is, people are asking the wrong question.  Instead of asking, how can I get them to like me? How can I become a part of that circle?  How can I feel accepted?  Try asking, how can I bless that person? That girl looks lonely, maybe she could use a friend? There’s that person that’s always mean to me… I wonder what makes them mean? I wonder what kind of a home they were raised in that caused them to become the way they are?  

By asking these questions, you have suddenly turned your motives from “Me” and “I” to the people around you.  So how is this possible, especially when there are people around us who are cruel and make us feel worthless?  It is impossible on our own but if you have Jesus Christ in your heart, it IS possible.  Having Jesus Christ as a part of your life is the only way to have true fulfillment.  Now, it’s not like you invite Jesus to be a part of your life and *POOF!* “Wow! I feel like I‘m worth something now!”

Finding our identity is Christ is a life-long process, but turning our hearts away from “Me” and onto others around us, being a true friend and caring more about others more than we do about ourselves - that is a very good place to start. 


~ Missy

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Low Budget Decorating

By now, I'm quite well known for being able to find cute things at 2nd hand shops and yard sales and somehow make things match.  From the response I've heard from others, their most difficult problem with 2nd hand shopping is that they have a difficult time finding things that look nice and go together.  Here are a few tips to help you out.

First, I chose a style  that I wanted my kitchen to look like.  This dish set was actually purchased by my parents when I was very little and because I always loved it so much, they gave it to me when I was older.  I chose to use this dish set as the base idea for my kitchen.  

To find a base idea for decorating, first, chose a style that fits you and then a color scheme.  I love the organic/antique look and based by decorating off of it.  I chose to mostly stick with creams and light browns for my main colors and add in a bit of color to brighten things up.

Organic style basket with metal handle - 49 cents

Brown and cream pot - 89 cents

Organic, wave glass jars, $1.49

Herb garden pot - $2-3 

One nice thing about picking a certain decorating style is
that when others see what your style is, sometimes
you might get fun gifts to match - like this one from my mom! :D

Bamboo set  -  $3-$5

Handmade, crochet rag rug - I thinks I was given the fabric?

Textured cloth that I plan to make into napkins - $2-$3

My theme then moved onto livingroom/bedroom type decor
when I found this pillow the the picture frames seen below

Most of the household items I have collected I have kept the same general brown/creme theme and then chosen a different color two for each room to throw in.  I don't have pictures of my colorful items as they are currently packed away in moving boxes but hopefully these pictures that I have posted may give you a few ideas for your own home.  

If you don't know what your style is, look at home decor pictures online and save the pictures of your favorites.  After you save several pictures, you may begin to see a pattern or particular style/colors that you seem to like the most.  

One of the other great challenges in 2nd hand shopping is being able to find the treasures in all of that trash.  And there is a lot of trash - but it is possible to find great things if you train your eye to only look for the things that fit your style/theme.   By doing this, you can have a home that is unique and fits your exact style with only a bit of pocket change. 

Perspective

I am sure many of you, like me, sometimes just need a perspective check.  A few months ago, my Mom and I were talking about this little one who is about to be a blessing to my husband and I.  I made some comment about "Oh, how I hope my baby doesn't cry all the time."  And I still hope that... I would really LOVE to have a very content, easy baby.  But, when I said that to my Mom, she really put something into perspective for me.

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 She quoted two verses to me: Matthew 21:16b and Psalms 8:2a.  Let me show you what these verses are:

And Jesus said to them, "Yes, have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"  Matthew 21:16b


"Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, You have ordained strength." Psalms 8:2a

Do I want my little one to cry all the time?  Absolutely not.  But I hope in those times when our baby is crying all the time, that I can remember these verses.  God even uses such things as infants crying to bring glory to Him!  May we never lose perspective of how God's ways work which can be so different from our own.

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Natural Remedies: Chicken Pox

Chicken Pox

Symptoms

§  Red, itchy rash

§  Small, liquid-filled blisters that break open and crust over

§  Fever

§  Stomach ache & loss of appetite

§  Headache

§  Dry Cough

Home Preparations & Body Cleanliness

Grain-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Chocolate Cookies!

Grain-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, 

Chocolate Cookies!

Recipe by Missy

2 cups almond flour

1 cup coconut flour

6-7 tablespoons cocoa or carob

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups almond milk

Coconut or crushed nuts
1/2 cup honey or agave


(See How to make your own almond milk and flour  or find these items in a bulk food or health food store. )

Mix all of the above together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Place mixture in a cookie press and press cookies out onto a plate that has been covered in coconut.  This creates a neat coconut base to your cookie and also prevents it from sticking.  (Ground nuts could be used as a replacement for the coconut) Use a fork to lift the cookies from the plate on to the drying wrack of a dehydrator.  Dehydrate cookies overnight or for 8-12 hours.  Cookies should still be soft but firm enough so that they will not fall apart.

Want to use cookie cutters?  Either use less almond milk or add a bit more of either flour to the mixture, then chill the dough in the freezer for 30-60 minutes.  Press out the cookie dough and use your cookie cutters!  Re-chill the dough if it becomes to sticky.  This process is slightly more difficult then using a cookie press and the taste is a bit different but it works!  Make sure to make cookie cutter cookies thick.

Why dehydration?  Cooking or baking food kills most of the natural nutritional value in the food where as dehydrating simply removes moisture without actually cooking anything.  

Don't have a dehydrator?  Well... This recipe was created for a dehydrator only, however, if you make the cookies very small then you can get away with baking them for 8-10 minutes on 350.  They will turn out OK but they are much better if you are able to dehydrate them.  They are delicious either way though!

And don't try adding baking powder or soda - It doesn't work. Take it from someone who knows ;-)

(Obviously I made these around Christmas time - 

but they are great cookies all year around!)