The inspiration behind "Cootie"

Meet the Polyphemus Catepillar.


He has a face only a mother could love. He crossed our paths in our driveway on this lovely September 1 afternoon. Fortunately he likes to travel alone or the mess would be horrific!This thing is over 3 inches long and likes to eat just about every tree and shrub in my yard. When he emerges from his chrysalis he should have a wing span of over 5 inches. Imaging that hitting your windshield! Ewwwww.

His backside is decorated too:


Happy almost Fall!

It's official. I am a country girl.

A few months ago I was buying a few new chicks when the owner of the farm noticed a tote bag I had made from empty Capri Sun juice pouches. She said - in all seriousness - "You should enter that into the Fair." I can honestly say that thought never once crossed my mind before, but after a good bit of thinking and researching competition categories I took the plunge. I made a Capri Sun shopping bag, a Capri Sun lined Tote Bag, a greeting card and a soap display.

There was not a specific category for soap (surprise, surprise) so I am competing against miscellaneous decorative items to include wood and metal.

Here's the group of items:

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The greeting card closeup. Inside it reads, "He loves me!" I originally made this one for a cousin's bridal shower. It was so much fun to make that I had to make it again.

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Here's a closer look at the soaps I sent in. I feel sorry for my soapy creations still on the shelf that didn't make the cut . Had I finished before 2:00 am I would have asked you for layout ideas. I may enter these into the Boone County Fair in a few weeks, so if you DO have suggestions they will still be helpful!

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I hope I did everyone proud... The judging is tonight. I should find out on Wednesday how I fared against all of the other 'decorative items'. If there was a "Best Smelling" category I think I'd be a lock. Am I weird for feeling a little excited about this?

*** Update***
The results of the judging .... Drumroll please....
Soap Display: First.
Card: First.
Red lined bag: Second
Unlined bag: Third.
Not a bad way to end up! Now to improve on this for next year!
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Shannon

Ack! Linnie is a Lennie!!!

I knew it was a 50/50 possibility that the rescue chicken, AKA Linnie, could be a Roo. I have been in denial a LONG time (well 6 weeks or so at least). A week or so ago I heard an odd sound from the barn. It was a cross between a rusty door hinge and a turkey gobble. Having neither in the area, the suspect became Linnie.

As time wore on I started hearing the odd sound more often. Still hoping, and researching madly about hens crowing, I kept faith the Linnie is a good little hen. Then came the first 'attack'. Ming Ming has been separated from her chicken for a few weeks now. I let them all loose in the barn together so Teagan and a friend could play with the birds. Mingy made a bee line to her chicken for a little birdie hug. Linnie fluffed up big as a turkey and bit chunks of feather from Mingy's neck.

Out came the broom to break up the mele. Poor Mingy was still in need of a little Linnie love and went right back over for a hug. Again, beaks full of neck feathers.

DAMN, DAMN, DAMN I have a ROO!!!! An ATTACK ROO at that!

There must be a bright side somewhere. Will LEnnie protect his harem while free-ranging? I have yet to try this out. Will LEnnie be able to hold his own with the cats and dogs? Methinks yes. Oh yes he will. Can I post a "Beware of Rooster" sign? That should scare the crap out of anyone who thinks they'll trespass. You should see how people run from him now!

Now I am fearful that the other birds are also roo's. What will I do with 5 Roos? You can't exactly collect eggs from Roos! I need to reload with GIRLS soon. I don't know if I want to wait until next spring to hatch out new birds again taking the 50/50 odds. The county fairs are coming. Maybe we'll take a few hand-raised hens home that have already proven gender by producing actual EGGS!

To be continued...

Fetus Soap

A few people got me inspired to whip up a few batches of soap yesterday. One of which was a new facial formula I'd not tried out yet. I try to add some color to keep things interesting, this time using a funnel to swirl the colors in the mold. Look what I saw on the top of the loaf when I unwrapped it. Does that not look like a baby ultrasound image? This is a little unsettling considering my DH was commenting about how he'd like to have another...

The cut slices look pretty nice. I can't bear to cut the fetus section though.



Don't forget to remember me

Like Ducks and Watermelon

Did you know that ducks and chickens go nuts for watermelon? Me neither! Linnie, Tuck and Ming Ming dove into the watermelon like they had been starved for such deliciousness their entire short lives.

I ended up tossing the entire melon to them. Imagine my surprise later that night when I found Ming Ming covered in dark red. It looked like duck carnage. After a quick dip into the pool the watermelon guts washed off leaving my pretty girl all yellow/white again. Can I tell you how much I've grown to love these little ducks. They turn their little duck heads to listen to my every word. Think they're just waiting for watermelon?

Wow. What a hole.

Last weekend the Yang to my Yin announced that he planned to rent the digger so we could start our water garden/pond. Exciting news! Well, today we got it at the crack of dawn and proceeded to pull out the stump from an old flowering crab to try the thing out. After more than an hour of digging and cursing the stump finally gave way and let itself be extracted.


That's Gracie the Wonder Lab next to it. She's about 80 lbs, so it's a good size stump.

Now for the fun stuff. Let's dig a really big hole. We did out duty and phoned JULIE and were reasonably sure that the area we chose was free and clear to dig. Famous last words. Let's just say that the first 15 minutes are critical to a project. The first 15 minutes unearthed a high voltage power line that JULIE did not mark. Oookkkaaayyy. Now what. ComEd said it wasn't their problem. JULIE said they weren't responsible since it was not installed by ComED. Mr. Electrician man showed up a few hours later and after a quote of about $2000 +/- we knew we were in trouble.

I guess God was looking out for us in a strange way. The line was no more than 1 foot in thr ground. It was plenty easy for me to have hit with a plain old shovel let along a piece of equipment. The former owner of this house worked for ComEd and apparently installed a hot line to our barn himself - off the grid. it is plenty legal in that it runs through the meter, but it's just not to spec how it was installed or buried. Live and learn. Nobody was hurt, but it was damned close.

Our pond looks like this right now. With a few slight modifications to route around the soon-to-be-spliced hot wires, it will look marvelous. I can already imagine sipping frozen marg's watching Tuck and Ming Ming swimming with the little shubunkins in their new pond. I have a vivid imagination...

A few days of hand digging will make this pit look like what's in my head - at least I hope so.

On a more happy note, my Irises are blooming for the first time since I moved here.
I'll have to research what variety they are. They're really pretty I think. Won't they look nice by the new pond?

Hey Noah! I too can build an ark!

As you knew would happen, we decided to keep Linnie, Tuck and Ming Ming. They worked their way into our hearts and earned a home here. Turn out they LOVE dandelions. Finally a use for those weeds. These guys will have a job for life picking them from the lawn. Now the problem... How to protect them...

Yesterday I was determined to give my 'free' ducks and chicken a safe place to roam. After researching site after endless site of chicken housing, the site named the City Chicken had the inspiration I needed to build a Chicken Tractor, often called a Chicken Ark. Basically it's a small containment area for the bird to enjoy 'grazing' without the worry of some predator picking them off. I have a food chain here that begins with cats and ends with wolves, so I needed something strong.

Here's the result of my day's work:

It's 4 feet by 8 feet of lawn space and about 40 or so inches tall. Once I figured out the angles it came together pretty quickly. Pythagorus, you rock. Your theorum worked like a charm to help me figure out that I needed 30 degree bottom angles to make the most of my 2x4x8 studs. It all cost in the ballpark of $60 plus the screws and hardware that I stole from my horse stalls. Don't worry, the horses won't be escaping any time soon. I had replaced the latches with safer ones years ago. I just never took the original ones off.

All that's left is to attach 2 wheels and 2 handles so I can drive this thing around like a wierd looking wheel barrow and give fresh grazing areas to my birds. The thing inside is a perch of sorts for Linnie the Chicken. It's left over from when I broke my leg last year. I figured I'd try it out for her before I dismantle it.

Note, this one does not have a shade area. This is just the first one. I plan to use this model to build a few with covered roosting areas at the top. My ultimate plan is to make these in slightly shorter versions so that I can attach several together to make a long run to fit wherever I need it to - like between the garden rows. I can post the methods I used to build this if you promise not to attack my novice builder mistakes...

I tried it out today. My birds were really happy. The dogs circled it like a buffet line, but could not break in. The cats didn't even bother. Sweet success. Teagan fits into it, but quickly left after the first poop episode. I need to work on that with her.

Now for a more permanent coop... I have something in mind. I'll keep you posted.

Reason #412 Why I Love Living in the Country

The other day I ventured out to the 'burbs to meet up with a couple of old friends for lunch. The company was nice. Lunch was a tasty Maggiano's salad. The conversation gravitated toward what was not happening in my old department, rather than anything new and exciting. It seemed like things took forever to go nowhere. I left lunch feeling a little sad and empty. How would things have been if I had stayed?

As I drove home, I felt lucky to have discovered how much more to life there is than the drama of who's doing (or not doing) what. I realized how my life had changed during the past 4 months since I chose to leave the corporate world and experience life with my family. I am able to DO things rather than have a meeting to plan the next meeting. Yet I still wondered what I was here for...

I rounded the last corner home instinctively looking at my elderly neighbor's gate on the drive past it. It looked like something was blocking it from the inside. I executed a perfect 3-point turn returning to see a large tree that fell completely blocking the way. The driveway is 1/4 mile long through the woods, so they may not have discovered it for days. Had there been an emergency they were truly stranded.

It took me 3 phone calls and 15 minutes to rally a team to clear the tree and related debris. My neighbors on either side quickly gathered tools and drove over. We completely cleared the mess in the next 20 minutes. Talk about TEAMWORK! No meetings. No posturing for leadership. Simple ACTION.

This got me to thinking... Had I not gone to a last minute lunch with my old team and taken that route home, how would Carlos and Maria have gotten out? I guess I was in the right place at the right time. All is right in the world. I again found confirmation that I made the right decision to live this life.

Now someone is likely to ask what the previous 411 reasons for loving the country life. Before you do, remember that I WILL list them. Are you sure you're ready for that?

Enjoy the life you chose. Make every moment count.

Where does the time go?

It seems like last month since we last saw our Aunt Kathy, Uncle Steve, cousins Erin, John and their adorable girls, Natalie and Abbie. Well, if it was a month it was the longest month in the history of months. It's been nearly 2 YEARS!

We finally got together today for a bridal shower for cousin Kristi and Soon to bee Cousin-in-Law Eric. This is the first wedding for us in at least 3 years. Would some of you friends PLEASE get to your second or third spouse so I can get my wedding cake fix?

Anywhoo... Here's a picture of the card I made for Kristi and Eric:
It was inspired from a similar card in the book The Ultimate Paper Crafts Collection book.


The gift bag contained several soaps (what a surprise, right?) and other stuff. I love making little tissue paper flowers, so of course one of those was on the bag too.

What a great day!

Time for a face lift

Well, when I was in the 'corporate world', I would make it a point to give my major applications an annual facelift. It kept things fresh and gave me and my team a chance to re-evaluate the application. Old habits die hard. It's time for me to take a serious look at giving this blog a face lift. I need to design new graphics.

Here's the goal: develop a new look that reflects not only my personality (the one that writes this :0) but also to coordinate with my upcoming business venture. More on that to come...

It seems that every business has a blog. Why be the exception? The name our 'samples' have been given under is Sweet Teagan's. Though I like the personal note of this name, I wonder if having my daughter so prominently named in my business is the best idea. When she's older will she resent it? At 4 1/2 she thinks it's kind of cool to have her name as the store name.

Bryan owns a domain name like Country Cupboard (or something like that). Is this too 'rustic'? I envision gingham... ick. Not really me.

The business venture is actually multi-faceted. On the obvious hand is the soap and related earth and skin friendly body products. Too easy. Another facet is the application documentation and education curriculum development. See, makes it harder, right? Don't forget about the application development itself. Something techy is in order. In essence I guess my business venture is a holding company with several subs. Tipping my hand too soon? Won't future posts be something to read...

So... here's what it comes down to... What is my business persona? (Don't start with cold, dark, tough or I'll have to hit you... :)) My task now is to put mouse to mouse pad and start designing something. Anything. The wheels always turn best when greased by composition at the keyboard.

Make it a great day!

Here a duck, there a duck, everywhere a chicken...?

Hi y'all. It seems we have a few more links in the food chain we call home. During a volunteer event this past weekend I managed to take on 2 ducklings and a chick. My intentions were, and still are pure. I have a friend we like to call the Chicken Lady. She's about the sweetest person in the world that I actually know. She has a duck and chicken paradise. So... after stalking her down she accepted the guilty " PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP" and agreed to try to work these little guys into her flock.

As I understand it you can't just thrown the new birds into the flock without a lot of carnage. Who knew. So... once she gets back from vacation next week she'll be the proud new parent. In the meantime I get to watch these little comedians with delight every day. Ducklings are sooooo awkward. The chicken is the leader of the pack. It's kind of cool that they know me already. The chicken, Linnie as we named her, roosts on our arm and lets us carry her around a little. Tuck and Ming Ming the ducks are a little more shy. Once we catch them though they're pretty fun. Their yellow pinfeathers are still a little soft. I wish I could keep them, but the dogs and cats stalk them constantly. It's only a matter of time before one of them goes the way of the two missing turtles. (I still have not completely forgiven Gracie the Wonderlab for that...)

I'll try to get a little video posted of them tonight. Until then, just imagine little waddling poop factories cheeping all over the place.

Wildlife Beware! Today is not my day!

If you know me, you know I am the biggest critter lover of all time. A few posts ago I wrote about the trio of turtles we saved from traffic. Well, now there's one. Not sure how that happened actually. They were basking in their turtle pond when one by one they were no longer there. Not sure if Gracie the Wonder Lab got to them or something else. In any case, I'm contemplating where to bring the last little turtle. He's so cute, but I feel obligated to do right by him. Nature is cruel, but I guess so am I for keeping them.

Here's the worst part about my day today. While mowing my paths in the raised garden I hit a little bunny nest. I saw something twitching and promptly shut down the mower. The bunny was pretty big, but still in the nest. Further looking revealed 3 more. Crap! The first one was too far gone, so my neighbor put him out of his misery. We learned from animal control that the last 3 should be put back in their nest with an "X" of string or twigs on top. Yeah right. These little panic stricken things are heading for the deep grass. Poor things. It's not like I want bunnies in my garden, I just hate having to evict them as babies.

Hug your pets. Watch out for wildlife...

Bummer of an Essential Oil Lesson

If you know me, you know I hate waste. I'm a good old Yankee that lives by her daddy's advice, "Waste not, want not." Imagine my surprise when I learned that Essential Oils and little plastic Dixie cups don't mix.

I was innocently enough mixing up some oils to test out a new combination while waiting for my lye water to cool. I turn around and nice expensive oils were making their way across my counter top while the Dixie cup played the Wicked Witch of the West after being hit with water. The counters smell nice, but the fragrance would have been better spent in an actual SOAP! Chalking it up to a life lesson. Glass container only from now on. Check.

::Smiles::

He's Using My Words Against Me!

If you know me, you know I am a hopeless optimist. Everyone gets a clean slate when I wake up so I'm not burdened with bad feelings. Simple, right?

Well, my other half, the yang to my yin, managed to strain his ankle somehow a few days ago. As he hobbled around cursing his bad luck, I casually dropped lines like, "Think Positive honey." This met with, "I'm positive I won't get to play golf at all this year."

Ooookaaayyy.

Big guns time. "Try the power of positive thinking... Believe you'll be happy and healthy and you will."

Grunt.

Here's where those words bit me. Yesterday, as I yanked weeds from around the patio flower bed cursing that I should give in to Monsanto's big business and use their evil Roundup and start over, he saunters over and says, "Think positive honey. It'll be wonderful when you're done. You just have to think positive." Jerk. :-)

Happy thoughts.

Garden Happiness

If you know me, you know I love flowers of all sorts. One of the nicest things about surviving the cold winter in Northern Illinois is spring color. Here's a little bit of sunshine from my house to yours that Teagan picked for me today.

Make it a happy day my friend.

A craft that's not soap... Capri Sun Tote Bag

If you know me, you know I hate waste. Teagan has developed quite a taste for Capri Sun juice pouches, which leads to a LOT of tossed out pouches. Those little buggers aren't recyclable in the traditional sense. So what is an earth loving mother to do? The obvious answer is Google for a solution. Since Teags won't give up the juice, I had to find a use for the pouches. Tote bags. Yes tote bags.

This one took me about half of an hour to clean and dry, and an hour to sew. It was my second. The first one we made is one pouch wider than this. A total of 48 pouches. This one is 42 pouches.

Would you believe there's a whole cottage industry for these things? I found them for over $30 on eBay. Drink up my dear.

I got skills...
TTFN friends.

New soapies!

I finally had a chance to soap this weekend. Come heck or high water I was going to make SOMETHING. Here you go:

Soap #1: Honey Cake. It has honey and beeswax along with some citrusy essential oils and calendula petals for happy skin. It smells heavenly. If you can imagine what warm smells like, then you have an idea of what this is like. How do you like the honeycomb relief on the edges? I'm thinking of making it with the design on the larger sides next time. Most of these bars are a little on the 'generous' side too. I need to figure out my cutter so more people can enjoy these little bits of happiness.

Soap #2: Swirly Shaving Soap. I found this recipe on a fellow soaper's blog from Spain. Hers was plain grey, so I tarted it up a little with swirls. A cute little 2x2x2 cube should make a nice 3 ounce or so soap I thought. Just in time for Father's day! Little did I know that my 2x2x2 is more like a 5 oz soap. It ought to last a good long while! It has loads of nice oils and Bentonite clay for a little extra slip for a nice close shave. I call the scent Pacific Mist. It's a little peppermint, spearmint, eucalyptus, rosemary and lavender. I was looking for something that would remind me of the beach and complement the blue swirls. Winner winner chicken dinner. It should be out of cure in about 4 or 5 weeks. I can't wait to share it.

TTFN,
A happy soaper!

A Trio Of Turtles

If you know me, you know I like to walk. A lot. While walking our favorite country road recently my human walking partner, Patsy, and I noticed little turtlings flattened in the road. How sad. Those little guys never stood a chance. Like the creature loving people we are, we focused on the road looking for any signs of a living turtle. Voila! I found a live one! It's as small as a quarter but cute as a bug. We named her Turquoise. I carried her home in the front of my shirt. No cars crashed at the sight of my white abs.

Low and behold a few hundred yards down the road we came upon turtle # 2. This one went home with Patsy. He was a little bigger than Turquoise, maybe the size of a half dollar. A few days later Patsy's husband found teeny turtle number 3 on a walk to a different area. Some how they all ended up at my house today. We officially have a plethora of little turtles. Once I can get my camera to them I'll post a few nature shots for you. Any time we're around they play turtle and hide. I hope they make it long enough to live in our future pond!

Happy hunting!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, I have survived my 4th official Mother's Day as Teagan's mom. All in all it was a terrific day. I awoke to wet noses from the furry kids and coffee from my sweetie. Y'all wanna know my best present? DRYWALL. No, I couldn't believe it either.

If you know me you know I can never be satisfied with my abode. We bought it as a potential knock down, but have come to like it some. We chose to start sugar coating the current playroom. it will soon be Teagan's new room. We hate the plywood walls with the little wood strips that cover the seams. It feels like we are living in a barn. I have a barn. It's nicer than my house... So, we tore out the strips, molding and various other stuff on the walls and hung drywall. Well 2 walls worth any way. What a difference already. I imagine we'll finish hanging it this week and the new hardwood floor will be in next week. I'd post a picture but then I'd have to shoot myself over how ugly the room is. How about a compromise? I'll post after shots.

Happy Mother's Day!

Using frozen tomatoes

When I first left the corporate world in favor of full time Teagan-hood, I made a deal with myself that I would work through the freezers before buying anything new. You know how scary it is to no longer have that sweet income that allows you to waste with reckless abandon... I would have vowed to eat my pets before buying meat if I didn't love them so much. Plus that would be sick.

So, the update. It's been a little over 2 months and the garage freezer is nearly empty. It will be nice to unplug that power sucker for a month or so until the new veggies come in. I just pulled out the last three gallon ziploc bags of last season's tomatoes for tonight's dinner. What can you do with a frozen tomato you ask? Well, sauce of course. It's way easier than peeling, seeding, etc. right at harvest time when you're buried under a hundred pounds of ripe little time bombs.

Here's what we do. First pick the healthy tomatoes from the garden and wash them really well. Toss or use right away any that appear too 'ripe' to make it. Once washed and basically dried, they all get piled into gallon freezer bags and stored in the deep freeze until they're needed months later. That's it.

When you thaw them the clear water just drains out. That saves hours of simmering! The peels slide right off too. No boiling water bath to ice bath. Just toss the little buggers into a food mill to strip any leftover peels and seeds and you're left with lovely red tomato goodness. Skins and seeds go right to the dogs in this house.

To make sauce from the puree, I turn to Chef Anne Burrell for inspiration: Bolognese Type Sauce. The secret is to brown everything really well. As Chef Ann says, "brown food tastes good!". If I have some leftover ground turkey, beef or something I'll use it. If not, I'll go vegetarian. Here's a link to the original recipe.

Bolonese Inspired Sauce from fresh tomatoes-Meatless
1) In a food processor grind up a few carrots, a couple stalks of celery and some onion. If you have garlic and like the flavor of it, go ahead and add it. Use as much or as little as you like, but don't skimp on any of the veg. You can add other things like green pepper to the grind too. Go wild. Add a little Olive Oil to help the paste along. When finely ground, put the mush paste in a large hot pan with a little more Olive Oil and some salt. If you like a little zing, add some spicy oil.
2) Brown the dickens out of this stuff. Let it sit to carmelize. Don't fiddle too much with it or it'll never turn brown. Taste to make sure there's no rawness in there. This step should take at least 15 minutes or so. Don't rush it.
2a) If you're in a meaty mood, add your ground beef, turkey or whatever you have after the veg is brown. Again cook it well. (BROWN).
3) DEGLAZE: Once it's a nice color (read you can't tell carrots are in there...) deglaze your pan with a little wine. I use whatever is open. Red, white, whatever. I don't discriminate. You'll need a cup or 3 depending on how much mush you have. Reduce it all by about half. Taste for seasoning. You can add more salt, herbs, pepper. Whatever floats your boat. They key is to make sure you cannot taste rawness in there.
4) Tomato magic: COOK OUT THE TOMATOES. Without this step you'll have a raw tasting tomato sauce... Ick. Scoop in one soup ladel of the tomato puree from the food mill bowl into the pan and let it sizzle down to being nearly brown and mostly dry. It'll sizzle like crazy if your pan is hot enough. Repeat for at least half of your raw tomato puree. The flavor is exceptionally full when you reduce like this. Taste. Season accordingly. In chef Anne's version she adds water and simmers it out to develop flavor. Remember her recipe starts with tomato paste. This one is fresh. If you feel like you must follow a recipe, then by all means go for it. I generally prefer to move right to step 5.
5) Eat! Sometimes I'll just put cooked chick peas and/or beans into the sauce and eat as-is. Sometimes I add pasta. It depends on how the spirit moves me that day. This freezes pretty well, but I don't have much evidence of that since ours usually is completely GONE in a day or so. If it's spicy, a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt makes it smooth ans silky.

Happy eating.

Can I please stop hibernating now?

Every time I let Mother Nature convince me it's time to shed the layers, she springs more cold dampness upon us. Instantly, like magic, I begin to hibernate. For me that means cooking and baking. And eating. Bryan kinda likes the cold weather now - it's the only time he gets a hot home cooked meal!

The menu last night was a basic roasted chicken with fingerling potatoes, celery, carrots and onion. Fresh buttermilk biscuits topped with French butter were pretty darn good.

All of that was just a formality that allowed me to eat cupcakes in the open. We made PB&J cupcakes. Sounds gross at first, right? I thought so too. Then I started making them. Peanutty goodness (not for you my friend Mike...) After baking the basic cupcake they got an injection of jam, then were topped off with peanut butter frosting. What's not to love?

Here's the recipe I used: PBJ Cupcakes


The only change I made was to use convection bake at a slightly lower temp. I need to shorten the baking time more since they came out a little less moist than I would usually like.

Next time I'll probably spoon in the jelly before baking. Squirting it in afterward was a messy PITA. Teagan had a marvelous idea: add chocolate chips. What a kid!

Well, I should go now. I have a few cupcakes to conquer.

Speedy Delivery from The Soap Crone

As many of you already know, I'm an amateur soaper. I've made a few really nice basic CP soaps and use an HP 'poo bar/soap daily while the other ones properly cure.

While building confidence to use my newly build log mold, I have spent a good deal of time researching soap making, recipes, packaging and various other soap stuff written by the experts. I somehow stumbled on the Soap Crone's site www.soapcrone.com
through Google or some other blog. Her site is welcoming and soon drew me in.

I loved the photos and enjoyed the descriptions of each variety. Her brilliance shows in the somewhat limited product line. Other sites have hundreds of scents/blends that boggle the mind. Figuring she was the expert, I purchased her e-books along with a couple of soaps to learn from.

I soon received a a friendly email order confirmation along with instructions for how to download the books. The e-books downloaded easily and I devoured the recipes book twice before going to bed. I longed for my delivery of ingredients to arrive as I imagined how I would work these new recipes into my own creations. I wish there was a little more about scenting and specific process in the recipe book (temps...). Just like when baking a cake the ingredients are only part of the equation. How they're assembled is the key.

I lightly read the basic manual and found it OK for beginning soaping. I wouldn't normally have purchased a beginner book, but figure why not support a fellow craft person. Someday it may be me on the other side. :-)

The writing in both books is light, funny, and spot on - especially for the herbal additions. My lavender buds from the first soap class I ever attended do, in fact, resemble mouse turds after a few uses. Lesson learned. Amy you rule.

I also learned that once you are 'the' expert you don't worry yourself too much with fancy adornments or packaging. The bars I purchased, Ladies Lovely Complexion soap and Lavender Mist Shampoo Bar, arrived in brown paper bags with handwritten descriptions of the contents. Simple. These would fit in at any craft show, festival or farmer's market. I can picture them on a no-nonsense table and having people gobble them up.

The soaps smell wonderful. Not overpowering, but still strong enough to live up to their scent claims. I wonder how well the scent will stay.

The Lavender Mist Shampoo bar has no color additions and looks just like the photo on the site. Cool stamping by the way.

The Lovely Lady had a beautiful photo on the site complete with pink swirls. My bar was more of a solid muted pink.



They both have nice, velvety 'feel' when dry. I want to compulsively pick them up and hold them. I will give them a try tonight after I get good and smelly from the barn.

Summary of today's lessons for me:
1) Stop sweating the small stuff. Just get back to the studio and make soap for Gracie's sake! Mine is every bit as good as anyone elses - swirls, marbeling or whatnot
2) Packaging is the sprinkes on the cake, not the whole cake. When you have a good product and a loyal customer following the expense of packaging is just extra. Besides, the open soap encourages you to USE it rather than keep it in the knicker drawer or on the shelf to admire.
3) A witty, well-built web site with great soap eye-candy is an important key to selling your stuff.
4) I am a burned out course manual writer by former trade. I should be writing for my own profit. So long trashy novel. Hello again instructional manuals!

Be creative everyone!
'Destiny'

Momentum...

Do you ever just feel like your ship came in, then left port with you still on the dock? You had this big plan and all of the energy in the world to start a project, then, well, fizzled out? How do you keep the momentum?

As mentioned in an earlier post I am a self-admitted soap-a-holic. I LOVE making soap. I get a feeling of immediate gratification as the mixture comes together into a lovely color and/or scent, then a longer lasting sense of accomplishment as the little lovelies continue to cure in my studio. It is a true test of patience not to jump into the shower with a newly cut bar, but I happen to like my skin without the itchies. (Yes, I did once try out a choco-mint a little to early...)

I hit a bump in the road recently as I wait for a few ingredients to arrive in the mail. While waiting I decided to build a new wood mold. Have you any idea how many styles, sizes and constructions there are to choose from... Do I want a log or a slab? If log, wide or tall? My head is reeling with the mental ping pong of indecision. So, doing what I do best when bored out of my mind, I just built another simple 4# log mold. I want to try it out, but am still waiting for ingredients.

So instead I sit and blog. And lurk other people's blogs. Like 20+ a day. Rather embarassing to admit, but it's real. Where's that mailman?

For Molly

If you've read comments from the Popcorn post, this one will make sense.

Molly likes to tease me. Come to think of it, so does John. Darn it all, so does Mike. Since I am an eternal optimist, I like to believe they tease because they love. Or do they just love to tease? Whatever it is, I can dish it out too, so I'll shut up now.

As I busied myself with more research the other night, Bryan picked up one of my latest soaps. I heard, "Hey, you could make money on this. I'd sure buy it!" He was commenting on a favorite soap recipe, Oats and Apples. It is scented with Apple Slices, Cinnamon and French Vanilla fragrance oils. It smells, quite literally, good enough to eat. It has a couple more weeks to cure before he can enjoy it.

His reaction was a little strange to me. Normally Bryan teases as eagerly as my AAR team. I didn't know if I should take him seriously or not. I explained the soap-making process to him and showed him the other batches curing and his wheels started turning. He believes! Now it's time to think about turning a life-long hobby into a business venture. Could be exciting actually using my biz degrees for myself. Who knows...

Get it?

Teagan and I are always looking for creative outlets. Here's our latest creation:






Did you get it? (Note the creative photo angle to highlight what you're looking for...)

Be the first to answer correctly in a comment for this blog and win this card with a custom coordinating envelope. If you're not the Pastel Purple type, you can choose from Pastel Pink, Pastel Blue or Pastel Green. If you have a specific color in mind let me know and I'll see what I can do.

If I don't know you, then please give me an address to send it to. If I do know you, I'll bring it along the next time we meet.

As the poop turns - Volunteering again...

Most weeks are the same at Animal Control. It's especially nice now that I have figured out the late arrival no poop equation.

This week I met the most muscular Chihuahua in the world. Imagine a chihuahua, then imagine Arnold Schwartzenager's muscles on him. He even had a little toothy grin.

I was walking this little man when a dog-walker friend showed up. Immediately she phoned a friend about him. Happy news: He got a GREAT home today! My good deed for the day was accomplished.

On the other hand, one poor Pit named Tucker has been at AC since before I started. He's starting to lose it. Imagine being in stinky solitary for a few months. Poor guy. I took him out and let him into a run while my friend let her inmate in an adjoining run. They ran back and forth dozens of times repelling off of the fence to turn around. He kind of short-circuited. I know a few people like that. Too bad you can't save them all.



Hug your dogs. Make your day count.

Peace out.

Some people just GET IT!

In life, you meet people who just get it, whatever "it" is. Well, my daughter gets it. This kid understands goals and measurements better than many so-called managers.

Remember a few posts ago how she brought home "Vegas"? Understanding that her cat had certain basic habits and needs, she listed them to be sure he 'accomplished' his list every day. Here's the check list she created. The only contribution I made was about spelling. The rest was all her.

Did I mention she is only 4?!?

Popcorn...

A very good friend of mine is often accused of being an idea freak. Every time you talk to him a new business idea is on his mind. We joke that his ideas are like popcorn - popping up all of the time.

To me this seems like it is a huge advantage. Think about it. For every successful idea there are dozens-if not hundreds-of failed ideas. The law of averages is on my friend's side.

Think of the billionaires in our time that have built and rebuilt wealth over and over during their lifetimes. T. Boone Pickens comes immediately to mind. Here this guy is 80 or so, has been flat broke several times and is still now a billionaire. What's our excuse?

My old teammates and friends are joking about me and my money making ideas now that I am no longer employed. Will it be soap, greeting cards, a restaurant, dog walking, horse training? Maybe a combination of all... Who knows. As long as it does not involve some bald-headed mindless boss it doesn't really matter, does it?

We Love Vegas!

My family loves Vegas - both Sin City and our new family member: VEGAS the CAT!

Teagan has been wanting a pet of her own for many months now. Seeing as I am home so much now, and that I have an inside track on the best inmates at Animal Control, we ended up adding on. Big surprise, right?

Originally my neighbor, Teagan and I went to AC to see about a little female cat named Karma. She was full grown and about 4 pounds - if that. Well, she had some unfortunate incident earlier in the day and was no longer there for us to look at. While I was listening to the story of Karma, out of the corner of my eye I saw Teagan playing with a cute White/Spotted/Striped kitty. They hit it off immediately. Do you believe in signs? Seeing as his name is Vegas, and that's Bryan's favorite place in the world, we could not refuse.

I took some video and pics of him with Teagan, but need to find that thingy to move the pictures from the cameras to the PC. I'll update this soon to show you what the little cutie looks like.
UPDATE: Found the thingy.

Mike, What's the over/under on us getting a pet? Who won?

Volunteering Part 2 - It's all about Being Prepared!

The second Monday of my new volunteer experience is over. Now that I knew the ropes I was in BUSINESS! In fond memory of my last experience, I brought TOOLS! Imagine a nice, long-handled pitchfork used for moving hay or other large animal 'stuff'. Now imagine that much smaller, but still with a nice long handle. Yeah, that's right, no more stoop for poop. Dry heaves begone. Cleaning time was a cool 20 minutes from start to finish. Good thing too. The ruckus would have woken my own dogs happily sleeping 10 miles away.

This time I had 5 wards:
Lily the loud beagle found a home. Woo Hoo. Paws to you chickie.

"Nugget" is the name of the old Golden I fell in love with last week. True to form the old guy didn't mess his kennel area up. He's lost a little weight in the past week making him much sleeker. It looked like his paws saw some grooming too as his fluffy hair socks were no more. He prances like a king. Awesome dog. Jackass owner for relinquishing him. OK, maybe I am being too harsh. Perhaps the owner was critically ill and could not keep him. Was there NOBODY else that could take him in? If there's anyone out there that wants to help out this old guy he will make a wonderful pet. Maybe you're thinking about getting a dog, but don't want the hassle of housebreaking. Here's your dog.

"Gordita" was still there too. She looked a little different this time. Turns out she had just had 14 teeth removed. Poor little girl. She took 10 seconds outside then turned tail and begged to go back in. I petted and cuddled her inside for a few minutes to make up for the short walk. Hopefully an Italian Greyhound rescue will take her in and get her out of little dog jail.

"Brownie" is still there too. Not a surprise. WTF is it with all the Pit Bulls? These dogs are big, smart, powerful animals that need attention. She walks with me like a champ and still likes to fetch, but could use someone to spend some time teaching her. She'd be a great walking/jogging partner for someone who lives or wants to live an active lifestyle.

New dog #1: "Jimmy Boots" is a Jack Russel Terrier mix. Not sure what the mix part is, but that dog can JUMP. He stands about 14 inches tall, but was eye-level with me most of the time I was around his kennel. (For those of you who don't know me, I'm 5'5", so that dog was probably mixed with Mexican Jumping Bean. Not 2 seconds after I got him collared and leashed headed out to the walk area he lifted a leg and, you know whatted all over the other leashes hanging outside the kennel area. Jackass. I got him outside as fast as I could and he proceeded to pee on anything vertical. Overall his other manners were, well just OK. Turned loose in the chain link area you could see him calculating how much of a running start he would need to clear the 6' fence. Leash on buddy. It's not his fault... It's not his fault... repeat.

New dog #2: "Dorrian". Pit bull about 1 1/2 years old. I repeat, WTF is it with people getting PIT BULLS they are not prepared to train. He was pretty scary in his kennel. The whole time I was nearby he half-crouched and puckered his muzzle like he wanted to say something while staring me down. I faced my fear of being mangled, walked in and tried to nimbly slip the collar over his ears. They wouldn't put a biter out here with the volunteers right? He jumped up on me, got to 2nd base and tremled when we left the kennel. OUtside he was a nice dog - just uneducated. His thing was to jump up and smack boobs at every opportunity. Who was he in a previous life, I wonder? He managed to kind of learn a sit while out there. Then he heard a loud noice and buried himself between my knees shaking like he expected something really bad... Poor dog. Jackass prior owner. I wish I had time to foster him and teach him something. He could make a nice dog. He'd be another really good jogging partner. I jogged around the parking lot with him a few times to test him out. Yes, I got strange looks.

Now for the soap box. Last week I took criticism for not making the experience sound glamorous. Newsflash-there's nothing glamorous about dumping your untrained dog when it's no longer a cute puppy. These dogs sit around next to their own and other dogs' filth while waiting, wishing for someone to save them.

If you want to do something good for your dog, train it. I'm not suggesting it needs to perform like an agility champ at Westminster. Just make it adoptable for crying out loud. Sit. Down. Off. Drop it. Don't pee on everything in sight. Walk like a civilized dog on a leash. Basic stuff really. Nobody is impressed with your dog when it acts like a lunatic dragging you or your child at the other end of a leash. I promise you that.

I shudder to think that Gracie the WonderLab, AJ or Weatherby could find their way to a place like this. It's not out of possibility really . If anything happens to me and my husband what will happen to the dogs? Their only chance to find a reasonably good future home is to behave and act like something another person would like to have. They need to be marketable.

Down from soap box.

Be happy. Hug your pets. And for Gawd's sake, teach your pets (and children)something. It could save their lives.

Volunteering Part 1-Dry Heaves For Everyone

Well, I promised myself years ago (OK decades ago) that I would volunteer at an animal shelter. Last week I signed up, and this week I actually did it. On my way home following my "Exit Interview" from my 11 1/2 year career I was admittedly in a strange mind. (More on that later.) I don't know why I took that particular route home other than to stop at the Animal Control building.

I signed up for Monday mornings, so I have something to look forward to and mark my week with.

My first day came. Little did I realize that it was a holiday that would close the shelter. They let me in anyway since the animals still needed some basic care. The girl there to show me the ropes was really adamant about leaving as early as possible since it was supposed to be a day off. Noon was her cutoff. No problemo. I had hoped to be there far less than that. Check.

I worked with 4 adoptable dogs. The time started with cleaning out the caged area. After about 20 minutes of dry-heaving I was finished. I clean poo of various species every darn day. Why was this so off-putting? You'd think I would have learned some poo-proofing techniques over the years. After I got my breakfast back in check I hosed everything down and changed bedding. There was still time to actually walk dogs - the REAL reason I was there after all...

I chose the loud little beagle mix first. "Lily" kept baying at me while running around like a little fool. She makes my jack russell look like a quiet dog. After a few minutes she actually made eye contact with me and allowed me to issue some basic commands amid avid bird watching. Cute dog!

Next was the italian greyhound, "Gordita". The first 10 feet outside froze her SOLID. Poor thing. The only thing I could think of was to run her as fast as she would go to get the blood moving. That's not all that moved... More poo. Gack! This thing was like 5 pounds. How could THAT much come out of her?

Then came the golden retriever. No name on the cage, but this one was a golden oldie. White face. Rough coat. Winning smile. He was really good on leash - and house broken. I thought the pee would never stop once he got outside. And more of you guessed it... Swallow hard. Breathe... He had a good roll in the snow and pranced around as proudly as his old bones would take him It saddens me that an old guy like that found his way into the pound. He deserves a wonderful life in his golden years.

Finally came "Brownie" the Pit/Bulldog mix. I saved her for last thinking she'd be the strongest puller. She was noisy and rambunctionus in the kennel area - barking, whining, screeching... Secretly I hoped I would run out of time before her turn. No luck for me, but SCORE for her. It turned out pretty well. She fetches really well, and then shakes the crap out of what she brings back. She knows some basic commands like sit, drop it, leave it. Surprisingly she was good on leash. What a looker too! If I had the need for another dog she'd be it! Though I have to wonder about the safety of my cats... Maybe not the best idea. Fortunately I have plenty of dogs already and don't need to change anything up.

Two hours on the dot later I am home. The stink of kennels clings like a cheap cologne. I wonder how long it will take to rid this sensation that I need to dive into a tub of Lysol? My dogs sniffed curiously for a minute then resumed their posts as guardians of the couches.

Later peeps.