Letibalm - still a firm favourite in our house

Letibalm Nose and Lip repair (Tegan Smith Photography)

Letibalm is the only balm that cares for the lips, nose and skin in-between. It's a firm favourite in our house. This past winter (yes, the winter is already forgotten here) we battled some colds and flu, and now it is hay fever season again. We can not survive runny noses without Letibalm.

I have found a new use for Letibalm as well. I wish I had known about it sooner, because I could have saved myself a lot of inflamed outbreaks on my face. Letibalm also has a new addition as well, a Letibalm Junior Nose and Lips repair fluid with a soothing strawberry flavour.

Absolute best winter essentials!Everybody is sick and sniffling which makes Letibalm a firm favourite in our house#Gift @ivohealtsa 🙏#Letibalm#LetibalmNoseAndLipRepair#WintersEssentials#WinterMustHaves#BlogDrop#HandBagEssentials#SABlogger #SA… https://t.co/Tg0ZsjZsPs pic.twitter.com/vRb40P5h6I

— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) June 27, 2019

We keep our Letibalm repair creams in different places to always have it on hand.

Hot Chocolate to die for! - Proudly SA

Hot Chocolate Craft Coffee from Takealot

It's really cold here. I know, I know! It's not as cold as anywhere else, but here on the south point of Africa we really struggle during the 3 months of winter. That's all we talk about! Our houses are not equipped for the chilly evenings, and we are COLD! That's why the simple things such as a hot chocolate drinks are real lifesavers. There's nothing NOTHING as soothing as a cup of hot chocolate just before bed, or in the mornings before school drop-off.

I was scrolling through Takealot searching for a Father Day's idea, when I saw this special deal. The Craft Coffee Hot Chocolate is still 45 ZAR (usually 59 ZAR), and I have included it in my MomAgain@40 Shweshwe goody bag give-away.

Products that deserve a mention for winter

Products that's great for winter

The products that I am loving right now that's great for Winter: Revlon Colorstay Foundation, TheraNaka Eye Gel, Optiphi Facial Cleanser, Avon Nail Enamel Majestic Mauve and Matsimela Home Spa Baobab Seed Kalahari Sugar Scrub.

As much as I hate winter, and the dryness that comes with it, I am enjoying the following five products at the moment. There is something about a good product which makes you feel extra special for the day. This is my favourites at the moment.

Five Products for Winter

1. Revlon Colorstay Foundation 24hrs

I bought this foundation a month ago, when my trusted brand was finished. I used a gift voucher from a friend, and it is just over 300 ZAR at Edgars. I must say that I am seriously considering staying with this one. It is exactly the colour and the finishing I need right now. It also covers the winter red (broken blood vessels, and winter flashes) on the cheeks. Loving this so much! (It hides many sins!)

2. TheraNaka Protective Eye Gel

This South African brand eye gel has been part of my skin routine since I got it in November last year. Sometimes I forget the eye gel, but I really can't anymore. This is such a soothing gel. Apparently it helps to prevent wrinkles whilst moisturizing the eye area with an advanced molecular film. I have been using it around my lip area as well.  It believe it helps with the lines. This 20 ml has been lasting forever, and I am using it royally.

3. Optiphi Facial Cleaner

I got this at a brand meet about three weeks back. This is a wonderful cleanser, make-up remover, pH balanced toner and mild exfoliator. It changed my beauty routine somewhat, as I only use this, leave it one for a few minutes while a brush my teeth, and wash it off again. It is soft and nourishing, while taking care of dead skin cells. I can also skip the toner part.  WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN. It is 4 products in one. 

4. Matsimela Home Spa Baobab Seed Kalahari Sugar Scrub

I haven't found a Matsimela product that I don't like. This natural oily sugar scrub is divine for winter skin. I was skeptical about using a scrub on my skin as it is so dry. But this a moisture bomb for the skin. I got it at a Matsimela Blogger Meet last week. I use it at night with my bath, and my body is wonderfully hydrated, even the next day. The smell is of course divine. This is such a pamper in winter. Now I also know that it is not only the smells that are divine, but that each product has unique actives that targets specific issues. Guess what is everybody getting for presents this winter? Because it is also very budget-friendly.

5. Avon True Colour Nailwear Pro+ Nail Enamel

As upcoming M.O.B. (mother of the bride) I am busy searching for the perfect nail enamel for the wedding. The Majestic Mauve colour of the Avon True Colour range seems to be THE one. I also love that I only had to put on one layer to have the desired effect. It's a stunning colour for winter, and makes my hands look BOSS. I buy monthly from an Avon representative, and there is always a special that's worth the while. (Check my Insta for a close-up of my nails.

What are the winter products that you love? Please share?


Disclaimer: I got the TheraNaka, Optiphi and Matsimela as blogging gifts. I am so glad I did, as I would not have known about it. I was not paid to write this.

Wordless Wednesday #332 - Sunday lunch at Bidon Bistro

Wordless Wednesday #329 - Winter solstice - chasing sunrise in the city

Wordless Wednesday #328 - Short winter days

Winter does not work well with SPD

Getting out of the house in the mornings is already a battle. We are all night owls and early mornings does not work well in our family. Little Miss sleeps to 9 am when left to her own devices. But if we don't leave early in the mornings, we get stuck in traffic, and... (fill in the dots!)

But winter is just so much worse. Little Miss  struggles with everything! *SPD does not work well in winter!

- It's cold. She can't get up! Her dad helps her get into a gown and slippers.
- She sits in front of the heater, struggling to put on a next layer of clothing.
- The winter clothes are all uncomfortable. From the vests to the socks and the shoes! We know why it is a fight to get her to put on her shoes, but it makes it soo difficult! It takes ages for her to get all her clothes on that it feels somewhat comfortable. And we have to convince her about each layer of extra clothing.
- Saying it is going to be cold does not help!

We are late each morning!
Sorry, Little Miss! Winter does not work on you!

We try our utmost to be patient and to help you with the clothes. We are not always succeeding and sorry for not always being patient!

It helps to be aware of it!


How do you help your little one with SPD getting dressed with all the layers of clothing?

*Sensory processing disorder

Wordless Wednesday #326 - Winter is coming #OOTD

Hibernating!

And you?

Tuesday catch-up - Winter is coming

It has been a few busy weeks for this family!

- It's finally winter here in South Africa. We also had three days of no power last week with the cold! You can imagine...

- The no power also had an influence on our Internet connection! We had none! 

- Little Miss had bronchitis, and we had to keep her at home.

- Hubby and I also decided that we could definitely not have had more children. Little Miss is more than a handful. Especially when sick. There was the nightly musical beds which was aggravated by an earache on Thursday. We finally had to fetch the antibiotics as well! (Although I hate it so much!)

- I finished my 9 weeks online course, UCT Social Media Course, and it feels very strange not to have a studying sword over my head! Blogging has helped me tremendously in staying up to date with what is happening in social media, and I have more value for what we are doing and learning on our blogging journey! Especially as Mom Bloggers. We know lots!

- The Student also heard that she got a distinction in the final accounting subject for her Management Diploma. I am so proud of her. Her hard work paid off!

- We celebrated two birthdays and a Father's Day the previous week at Cradle Moon Lakeside Lodge (formerly known as Heia Safari). That's where the photo of Little Miss was taken. The cold started on that Sunday!

- This Father's Day I was reminded again of how lucky we are to have this Hubby/Dad in our lives! He stayed home for most of the week last week when Little Miss was sick, and is 100% involved in our lives! It's a blessing to share our lives with him!

- We attended the premiere of The BFG Movie on Sunday. It will start in the cinemas on 1 July. I love all of Roald Dahl's works, and we had so much fun on Sunday to listen to the creative language! This is a lovely movie for the holidays for the kids (and adults!)

- We are in the final stretch before the winter holidays, and I am looking forward to sitting in less traffic each day for three weeks. Rose and I are bonding, and I beginning to appreciate her more! She's spunky, and she moves when she has to! The traffic is not so bad now with her!

- We are not going anywhere for the holidays, but that's okay. We will get our turn...


What are your plans for the holidays?

The only balm that cares for lips, nose and the skin in between #Letibalm

Letibalm

I always make sure that I have some sort of lip balm in my little go-to bag in my handbag. My daughters and I have all very dry skin, and we tend to have dry lips. Little Miss also struggles with a runny nose, and it gets very dry with all the nose blowing. She even got a red itchy infection under her nose the previous winter...

I got the Letibalm blog drop a while back, and we all love the smell and the richness of the moisture in the balms. I hope we can prevent the dryness this winter!

Letibalm blog drop with tea pot and ginger tea sachet

"Letibalm promises to moisturise dry skin, helps to repair chaps and cracks and calms irritation. It also creates a protective layer to prevent further damage.  Made with natural decongestants menthol and camphor, Letibalm will help ease breathing."

Letibalm is available as:

• Letibalm Paediatric (10 ml jar) (suitable for children 0 to 8 years old);
• Regular Letibalm (10ml liquid tube or a 10ml jar) 

The recommended retail price is R70 at Dis-Chem, selected Pick n Pay stores and leading pharmacies.

Website: www.ivohealth.co.za
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ivohealth

Wordless Wednesday #278 - Final rays on aloes

A proper introduction to the weekend with a pajama party!

I don't know if we can still call it jet lag two weeks later, but we came back from summer to winter and from green to grey!
From holiday straight into work!
We are still feeling shell-shocked!
Do we really REALLY have to do this?

Last week we had two evenings of *load shedding, of which one was not on the schedule. We also waited for load shedding to start on Saturday, but it never happened. And we did not put washing in the washing machine on Saturday afternoon, because of the same expected load shedding... (Which made us battle with winter wash loads yesterday, and of course tonight again!)

What can we do to move to America? Tomorrow, if possible?

And it's winter and cold here!

Little Miss had a Pajama Party on Friday night, organised by the Voortrekkers. We spent more than an hour in traffic on Friday afternoon following Waze directions (love this app), but it turns out I was the one who put in the wrong street name. (Blame the operator!)

We got there in time, and could buy the last of the **vetkoek which is always a winner! Of course we are always glad when we make the effort, because the little ones always enjoy the activities.
Little Miss loved going in her pajamas, and organizing her blankets and cushions on the floor to watch the movie, and keeping place for a fellow Voortrekker.
And the parents could also watch a not-too-bad Afrikaans movie, Strikdas.

The thunderstorm did not dampen the spirits, and we were home in time for another movie on the box while listening to the rain!

Fridays are the best! (4 sleeps to go to the next one!)

How was your weekend?


* The South African Power Provider Eskom load sheds power by blackouts in certain areas according to grid schedules.
** A traditional South African fried dough bread common in Afrikaner cookery (Wikipedia)

Wordless Wednesday #276 - Hockey Season

Winter is to blame for all the sniffles

We were all battling colds when we left for our holiday in summer. Johannesburg was going through a nasty frosty spell, and it was lovely to walk out from the San Antonio Airport in hot humid weather.
We had a holiday of two weeks of summer, and all our sniffles disappeared after only two days.

I have come to the following conclusion: Winter is definitely the culprit of most of our sniffles!
I wish that we could migrate to warmer climates like the birds.
Not even the jet-lag prolonged our colds!


I got this Karvol package delivered with the Woollies slippers after we came back.

The Karvol Decongestant Chest Rub has always been a favourite since our Little Miss was small.

I was not aware of the Karvol Decongestant Capsules, nor the Karvol Decongestant Room Spray.

The Karvol Decongestant Capsules can be used for the whole family from as young as three months old. It contains a unique combination of natural aromatic oils, including menthol, cinnamon and pine to gently relieve nasal congestion, head colds and bronchitis.


Karvol Decongestant Room Spray is suitable for children over the age of two. It is used to spray in a room just before sleeping.



I can't say that I can't wait to try them out, but it seems like a great arsenal of winter necessities to keep handy in the cupboard!


(Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this, but I received the package as shown above.)

Winter is a drag!

I know we can't complain about winter, and that it is only three months of cold here on the southern point of Africa. But we don't like it, and we complain about it!

All the time!

We leave the house while it is still dark and cold. We get back when the sun dives back to the other side of the world.

The house is cold.
The sky is grey.
The garden is dead.

I can compile lists about things that makes winter worth the while, but I don't want to!
Because it won't change anything! It is cold!

All we want to do is cuddle up under blankets, and not move...


We are hibernating right now!
If you don't see that much of me, it is because you will find me under a blanket and near the heater!


Who likes this time of the year?
Please tell my why?


Photo: Little Miss could dress in normal clothes today and this is her outfit! (I could only convince her to put on the jacket, but the rest is her ensemble! Armed with an warm electric bag!)

Sunday winter walk in the park

The park lost a lot of its glamour when looking at photos of a walk in the park during the summer months...
But we still had a lot of fun walking with our two dogs.
(Shame, we don't do it enough. The one got the jitters when she saw her leash, and howled all the way on our way to the park.)

Little Missy with Benji

Fairy wings on the swings

The tongue

Sunday evening again...
It was good!

How was your weekend?

A Sunday winter afternoon - at the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens

I don't know why we haven't been going to the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens on a more regular basis.
It is one of those places where you go to when you feel you need to get a breather in nature.
When you are feeling stuck in suburbia...

This afternoon was a bit chilly, but it was lovely soaking in some sun.

We will be coming back!

Rainy weekend

We had a very wet weekend, and at one stage we thought the rain would never stop!
Our rain meter recorded over 100 millimetres, and then of course it overflowed!

All we wanted to do,  was this...

But we were extremely busy, and we had to rush from one appointment to another.
Luckily it was all fun, especially the wine tasting on Saturday afternoon, and the Rock Cod fish braai on Saturday. In the cold!

The Little Missy had a great weekend playing with friends, and with her cousins. We don't see her when the friends are around - she is off playing with them!

I realised this morning that her 3-4 year old clothes are not doing the job any more (I had hoped it would still see me through the winter)...
She complains that her stomach stays cold. So we are off to the shops this afternoon.

And the weekend is gone!


Hope your weekend was good?

The sky is falling on our heads! Please!

We've got a bit of a cold spell going on in South Africa.

There's reports of some sort of rain ice-rain sleet snow falling in some part, and we are all making updates about the weather!

It is big excitement here!

Snow is not something that we see here on a daily basis. 

Not even on a yearly basis...

We ran out from our office when somebody told us that she is seeing something here in Johannesburg, but except for a few wet drops on the paving, there was nothing to see and to report...

I am thinking of my children who is at university and at pre-primary school, presumably freezing... Hope not!

While I am warm and snug in my office cubicle! (*Guilty!*)

Have you seen the snow?
Where?

UPDATE:
Yes, we've got snow! (12:00 pm)