—Give the gift of mental health. Are the holidays taking a toll on family members, friends, or co-workers? Give them a gift card for therapy. Katkin and Associates, a private practice located in Cincinnati, is now offering gift cards. It may sound like a joke, but the gift card program does benefit a good cause. Not only does it promote awareness for mental health, but ten percent of the proceeds benefit the Milford Success Academy Scholarship Fund. Gift cards start at $5.00, and can be purchased online at KatkinTherapy.com.
—Looks great, but stinks. Speaking of frustrations and crafting… every year I usually have my kids help in making their teachers’ gifts. Here are some low-budget gifts we’ve crafted in the past. This year, I was inspired by this homemade lavender scrub I saw on GMA. However, the ingredients seemed too expensive. We have five(!) teachers this year, and my goal was to stay under $5 per gift. So, instead, I came across this homemade bath salt idea. Everything was coming together swimmingly… I found the cute snowflake containers and loofahs at the dollar store, and bought the Epsom salt for cheap at the grocery store. The lavender essential oil was my biggest expense, but I still stayed under $25 for all the supplies. The kids were mixing the ingredients together with my help last night, and… Pee-YEW! They stink! Hopefully I can exchange the stinky lavender oil for another scent and redo. The extra salt will cost another $3.00 or so, but if I pull it off I want to attach directions that say, “1. Fill bath with warm water. 2. Add 4 tablespoons of bath salt. 3. Relax and enjoy your holiday break!” Cute, huh? I know, I should be taking Susan’s shortcut approach for the holidays, but I just can’t help it.
I caught Whatever martha the other day. I will say that you def. should not watch it with your kids in the room.