A glowing, unsolicited, unpaid endorsement

I am an amateur, still learning kind of soap-maker who can't cut a straight line if my life depended on it. So when I saw the Kelsei molds, I knew I had to buy it. I have had it for over a year now and love it.

I was previously using those wax cardboard type containers that half and half, whipping cream, or buttermilk come in and it worked perfectly well. In fact, it was easy to unmold (just tear open the container), cheap, and little clean up (just toss it in the trash). But when I went to cut my beautiful log of soap, I totally ruined its appearance with my dreadfully uneven cuts.

But now with my soap mold, I have bars of soap that are actually all the same size and no one will know of my complete ineptness.

Spontaneous Homeschooling

Sometimes the best homeschooling projects are completely unplanned by me.

P. found a caterpillar outside while he was playing and immediately brought it inside to show me. I tried to act excited while he dangled it in front of my face. . .

He set up a home for his caterpillar, from which the wily, little, squirmy, guy escaped two times.

Can you guess who had the misfortune of finding him???
Yep. It was me.

So we came up with a better home and now we are waiting to see what happens.

Researching information on his discovery was suddenly a fun thing to do.

We are thinking it looks like a monarch caterpillar. The last several years we have found black swallowtail caterpillars, but never a monarch so it would be fun to watch something different.

I love how the caterpillars seem to know that school has started and teachers everywhere need help in coming up with a science project. They appear at just the right time.

I'll let you know what we end up with after it emerges from its chrysalis.

Peppermint Essential Oil

Sunday night my poor baby's tummy was hurting. Sundays are difficult days for my little man because he much prefers to stay home and have his normal routine. His tummy was all hard and he couldn't relax well enough to nurse.

Several weeks ago a friend mentioned that she used diluted peppermint essential oil on her baby's tummy in a similar situation. I tried it by diluting the peppermint essential oil in olive oil and gently rubbed it into his tummy and the bottom of his feet.

Complete miracle!

He immediately relaxed, closed his eyes, and nursed with no squirming. I put him to bed within 15 minutes.

The best part is that I also got to go to bed and didn't have to stay up really late trying to soothe a fussy baby.

By the way, I took this picture at another time when he was just pouting. I don't want you to think that I took it when he was actually in distress. ☺☺☺

If you need info on safety using essential oils, check out this link.

Shea Butter Soap

I can not tell you how excited I am to be soaping again! I wasn't sure it was safe to soap during pregnancy because there can be some pretty strong fumes from the lye and water mixtures at first. After the lye fully dissolves into the liquid the fumes dissipate and it is fine .

Actually, when I began to wonder if I was pregnant I asked my husband to mix the lye and water together for me outside and then I did the rest of the soap and that worked fine. But after I discovered that I was definitely pregnant, I didn't want to run the risk. Come to think of it I also lacked the energy to care.

Fortunately, we found a great deal online with a friend who also soaps so that we could still have handmade soap. Once you have tried handmade soap you will never go back.

My husband used to have bad, dry, itchy, skin with eczema in the winter-time, but since using handmade soap it has cleared up. There are, of course, other reasons why a person might have eczema, so it won't necessarily be the cure for every case.

For this soap I used Coconut oil, Olive oil, and Shea butter. The speckles are from the natural colorant that I got at Emporium Naturals. I can't figure out if there is a way to not get speckles. I would prefer the color to be uniform, but maybe that isn't possible with natural colors. The fragrance is an essential oil blend, Bergamot Grapefruit, from Wholesale Supplies Plus .

The soap traced super fast because I used a water discount, which I have never done before. It was at a pretty thick consistency when I tried to put it into my mold. and would not smooth out. I decided to make the top of the soap swirled and pretend that is what I intended it to do. It's kinda pretty that way.

YAY for handmade soap. Now I just have to try and be patient and wait for it to cure. . .

Kansas State Fair 2010

We love going to our state fair every September and are very fortunate to live only a short drive away. I was a little worried about how our 7 week old would handle being gone all day, but he actually did much better than I expected.

The KU booth has already started recruiting our handsome little guy.

I don't what it is, but every year I wish I could buy a pink cowboy hat. Then I saw a old lady wearing a bright turquoise cowboy hat with lots of feathers and the dream died. It wasn't good. I did admire her spunk though.

My husband was determined to try a fried Twinkie this year. He also wanted to try a Krispy Kreme burger, but fortunately for me he didn't find one. That just sounds gross.

This sign makes me laugh. I don't know why.

Our state fair always has a butter sculpture. This year it was a butter sheep which makes no sense. Ah well. . .it was still fun for the kids to see.

My 10 year old has started calling me Mom. What happened to me being Mommy?

What is your favorite thing to do at the state fair?

8

This past week my oldest daughter turned 8. She is getting to be a beautiful young lady and I'm proud of her.

It is kind of hard to see her birthday cake in this picture. She wanted a cake with fruit on it. I have no idea why, but it was totally her. My husband is more artistic than I am, so he usually draws the design on the top of cake and then I decorate it with the frosting.

In Kansas, you have to sit in a booster car seat until you are age 8, so my daughter was excited not to have to sit in one of those anymore. It makes our van very crowded to have so many car seats. Now we only have 3 kiddos in car seats-Whoo Hoo!

I love making handmade things for my daughters birthday. Last year I made her a poncho, but this year she wanted a purple super-hero cape with a pink star.

Yes Ma'am!

The next gift was my idea. Really, its a gift to me, but don't tell her that. I made an apron similar to the one I recently gave away here on the blog for her to use to pick up toys. Good-bye pesky Legos! I made the straps long enough so that she can tie them in front.
Her aunt made her a lovely apron that she can use to cook in. I think she likes that one better. I can't imagine why. . .

I was teasing the boys that I was going to make them camouflage toy-picking-up aprons. I'm not sure if I will actually get that done or not.

So, tell me what you have been busy doing???