New toy!! Oster stick blender

Happy Valentine's!! Better late than never :P

I haven't written in a while - time just flies! I've been quite busy at work, we're in the process of hiring a new resource and i have to pick up slack. My boss is really happy that I am, but it's a lot of work.

Anywho...my romantic hubby gave me a lovely present for Valentine's - a brand new Oster stick blender!! I tried it out on a yummy oat, milk and honey batch of soap and it traced (heavy) within 3 minutes - AMAZING!

I love it but am completely without coconut oil - so I can't try it until I buy some. It's really difficult to go to where I got it the last time, at leat an hour's drive there and another hour back - it's killer. And besides, I didn't like the quality - I think it made my soap have a certain smell although the oil itself was not smelly. I did get a tip that my fave distributor did not go broke, they just moved their lab to another city (4 hrs away but 30 mins away from my mother-in-law and the most beautiful beaches!!). So I have to call and figure out how to purchase from them directly.

I started using the oats soap and it is simply wonderful...really soft on the skin, cleans but not excesively - I have a problem with cleansers because my skin tends to get oily if I overcleanse - so medium cleanser is great. it leaves my sin soft and not taught - and the next day my skin feels like I've just washed it (this is when I usually feel like a fried egg). I hope that by having the honey (added once the soap was cooked) it will help my mild acne as well...and the milk...well, just makes me feel regal like Cleopatra. It smells like caramel popcorn, so it's a hit with my DD too :)

Pics to come!!

Of love letters long past

My uncle passed away last Sunday. He had a short and terrible fight with cancer, but there was nothing to be done. He was given painkillers and made as comfortable as possible. He went from being a huge burly guy to a shadow of himself.

My dad went yesterday and cleaned his house, and amongst the things he had, he had a beautiful love letter from my great grandfather to his -at that time - girlfriend, which would later become his wife. It's dated January 2nd, 1912 and is basically a letter apologizing to my great grandma for not being with her. Today we would send a text message to our loved one asking for a rain check, back then the apology turned into the most romantic love letter ever. It reads: "I'm sorry for not being by your side, you know how much the absent heart aches, but soon, the day after tomorrow, I will be able to enjoy the pleasure of seeing you and be able to tell you: I'm yours. But now, far away from you, my spirit is by your side and accompanying you, and telling you to please wait for me." He signs it "Goodbye machita (blondie), your Rómulo"

It's too bad that we've lost that eloquence and romanticism that would turn an everyday thing into a poem.

Jewelry pics finally here!

I finally got my jewelry pics together in a nice collage. They will go into my facebook page/cart for sale through there. I have nice earrings (pierced ear only) and bracelets. I'll keep adding to them as these are my outlet when I'm stressed or in a meeting. I need to do something with my hands so I can pay full attention to what's going on, so what better way to do this than to create beautiful pieces?

I don't actually use jewelry, I wear only one pair of earrings which I never change, besides that I wear my marriage ring and that's it, I don't even own a working wrist watch! But I do love being creative with jewelry! I also love collecting jewelry magazines, especially if they're in Japanese, they are sooo creative!! So similar to the soaping obsesion, I have no place to put them and need to sell them.

Stop by my facebook page...great discount for fans!! So be sure to "like" us!

OMG - Inspiring soaps!!

I was blog surfing today looking for inspiration and boy was I inspired. There are soooo many amazing soapers out there - it's even intimidating!

 

One soaper in particular caught my eye (heart/inspiration/etc.) She's KBShimmer, her blog can be found here, and her shop here.

 

She by far is the most daring person I've known...15 color soap swirls?? I have just mastered the one color - but 15?? That's guts, and artistry...I would've probably ended up with a grey mess, as I tend to over mix.

I will however be trying a two color in the pot swirl she so kindly demonstrates in this video:

How fun is that!!

Be sure to go by her blog and drop her a note...she is going on my hero list :)

Two more castile beauties out

Bagged and tagged :) I love castile soap, it's super easy to make, there's no forgetting to add oils (what's that on the counter? 5 oz of castor oil!! oh snap!! - you know what I mean), traces quickly when pomace is used, it's nice on everybody's skin and generally white, which means it goes well with almost anything you want to throw in the pot.

First I made some spotted castile - as I affectionally call it - it's a light exfoliator because of the poppy seeds and has no other additives, fragrance or color. It's a great seller because of this, there's no worry about allergies, yet provides "spa" soap properties.

The other one I made was a mad scientist one. Started out as a rosemary lavender, which people seem to love down here (I can't stand lavender). I added a whole sprig of fresh rosemary to the oils and put it on my magic bullet to mix...it came out almost like a mayo consistency, but everything chopped nicely. I then added the lye, I did notice something really interesting when adding the lye: the oil was at room temeprature, the lye was super hot...it had just turned clear, yet when I added the two together, trace happened within 2 minutes. I thought it was going to take forever because of the temp difference and the oil being just olive which tends to trace slower - go figure!

When I was mixing oils+lye, waiting for it to trace, I noticed I did not have any lavender on hand!! Sooo...I added calendula petals once cooked (which took about three hours and a nasty burn on my tougue - note to self: use testing strips for castile...it's tricky to cook), yet the smell was not what I had envisioned. I ended up choosing lemongrass EO and this amazing bar came out :) it smells really fresh, has a great texture, almost candle like smooth, has the soothing action of calendula petals and is 100% olive oil. What better way to love your skin!?!

I still have the soaping fever, but alas, I have no lye. So I'll have to wait to purchase more lye, and olive oil, and coconut oil, and.... you know how it goes.

So happy soaping everyone, make one batch for me ;)