It Might Just Work!

Pin It Making my own homemade soap has eluded me for years.  I had tried Rhonda's recipe over at Down to Earth a couple of times.  I followed the directions exactly, being careful of the measurements and quality of ingredients, only to have the final product fail again and again. It seemed as if I was never destined to make my own homemade soap.  I was coming to the realization that if I wanted to enjoy the wonderful scents, feel and lathers of natural, down to earth, homemade soap, I was going to have to purchase it from someone who knew what they were doing.

Alas, I follow Debbie's blog over at Homespun Living and she posted a new technique on soap making.  Could this be the one?  Could this be the technique and recipe I had been searching for that would bring me success?!

One rainy afternoon about a week ago, I had about an hour and a half to kill before dinner .... not that we ever have time to kill ... right?  Anyhoo, I grabbed all my ingredients (I had them on hand from previous attempts at making soap) and thought now was the time.  Now was the time to try the technique that Debbie had posted about.  She had said it was quick and only made a small batch. 

I measured, I weighed, I measured again.  I poured the ingredients in, turned the blender on and waited.  I checked.  I turned the blender on again.  I checked.  Again and again I followed this procedure.  It seemed to take forever, whereas in reality it was only a couple of minutes.  Then I checked again.  The trace stage was starting!!!!  I COULD. NOT. BELIEVE. MY. EYES!!!  With shaky hands I added a lovely lavender essential oil to the blender and mixed again.  After a few seconds I poured the concoction into the waiting pan that I had greased with Pam, covered it as indicated in the directions and put it on the shelf. 

Cleaning up my area took approximately a half an hour then I couldn't stand it.  I had to peek.  Yup, sure enough, when I removed the cover I could see the soap was already beginning to harden.  I was so excited!!!  I imagined bars and bars of homemade soap with different fragrances and ingredients ..... oatmeal, spices, coffee, even chocolate!! 

The soap needed to sit for three days before I could remove it from the pan and cut it into bars.  Stay tuned!


Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Sunday's Blessings

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This week I loved the ....

Smell of : bacon

Sound of: the wind blowing through the pines

Taste of: strawberries

Sight of: baby deer in the yard

Feel of:  the sun on my face

Things I am Thankful for this week ...

-  a full pantry

-  my sewing machine

- my free time

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCAS!

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Twenty-two years ago I celebrated the best day of my life.  After a gruelling 28 hours, I was blessed with my son Lucas James weighing in at 9 pounds 12 ounces.

Unfortunately I do not own a scanner and cannot show you what a beautiful baby boy he was ... but here he is now with his girlfriend Sarah.  Sorry, the picture isn't very clear ... I had lost the picture off my camera and had to use the one from Facebook.  LOL

and here is a picture of the two of us together this past Christmas  .... he grew into one tall, young man .. 6 feet 7 inches.  I miss him so much while he is away at school. 

Love you honey.  I cannot wait to see you in a week and a half!  I hope you have the best birthday ever!

We Have Seedlings!

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Here in Minnesota we cannot plant our garden until the end of May because of frost .... some people believe you shouldn't plant until after the full moon in June!  I just pay attention to the weather. LOL


With having such a short planting season, we definitely have to start seeds in the house at the end of March to give some of the plants an opportunity to reach maturity.

This year I started tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and cauliflower.  We don't have a LARGE garden for these seedlings, but last year I was still able to harvest over 300 pounds of fresh vegetables from this little round garden!  Our large 20 foot by 60 foot garden is strictly for potatoes and onions. 

So far so good, the seedlings are getting taller and will soon be re-planted into bigger individual containers.  I did have to plant tomatoes for the second time though ... for some unknown reason, the first batch did not sprout.

With Mother Nature playing cruel tricks and giving us some snow yesterday, I don't think I have to worry about getting these babies outside too soon.


Do you have to start seedlings and if you do, how are they doing?

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Thrifty Thursday

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It's Thrifty Thursday!


I love Peter Rabbit.  When my son was small, his whole room was decorated in Peter Rabbit.  I still have a few pieces from when he was a baby and they are kept in the china cabinet waiting patiently to be passed down to the first grandchild.  The other day I saw this at Goodwill and just had to add it to the collection.

and I just couldn't pass up this cute little ceramic doodad .....  just too cute for spring!  Sorry for the blurry picture .... I just couldn't get it any clearer.

Adding a small potted plant I had transplanted a couple of weeks ago and Peter Rabbit is complete!

Peter Rabbit - $ 3.99  Ceramic ducks - $ 0.99


Remember to give your loved ones a hug!