Postcard

I decided to design a post card for Burningman this year. I ordered 100 of them. I designed it from pics I've taken at previous Burningmans. I think it turned out pretty good.

Rate this posting:

{[['']]}

Family visit pics

Pics are finally up from my brother's visit and from my visit to MT. They're not all on one page I created pages for the various places I went.

-Snoqualmie Falls in WA
-Giant Springs in Great Falls
-Gates of the Mountains near Helena, MT
-Geo, my brother's cat
-Great Falls index of various pics at parents house

I think that's all of em!

Rate this posting:

{[['']]}

holy hotness

I'm back from the hotness that was Montana with my parents who have no AC back to my WA which is just as hot and I have no AC. I got home to an 89 degree house and it got up to 92 in the house. I don't think I've ever seen it that hot in my house before. I'm not sure my thermostat goes above 92 degrees. You know it's hot when the temp on your thermostat starts blinking. I have a fan setting on my thermostat which I don't think I've ever used before. I decided to turn it on with the cool setting. Whoa the temp stopped blinking when I did that. That's a good thing I guess. The temp has gone down 1 degree already since I turned it on about 5 mins ago. We'll see how good this fan works. I've set myself up a little bed downstairs in case it doesn't cool off enough to sleep. I sure as heck ain't sleeping in a 90 degree bed that's for sure. I don't think my parents place even got that hot. It's almost 10 degrees warmer inside the house than it is out. Is it time to invest in A/C?

Rate this posting:

{[['']]}

Montana Bound

Leaving tomorrow for a week in Montana. Visiting the family and a few friends that still live there. I'll probably bring my laptop so I may be on a bit depending how busy I am.

Rate this posting:

{[['']]}

soap pic

Here's a pic of my soap after taking it out of the mold. It was kinda hard to get out but it came out eventually. My bro helped me get it out.

Rate this posting:

{[['']]}

First Soap Making Experience

Thought I would post and let you all know how my first attempt at soap
making went. All in all I think it went pretty well. Only one thing
didn't go as well as I had hoped. I bought some dye for soap making but
either the lye ate it up or I didn't put enough in because it doesn't look
like it changed color at all after I put it in. I did mix it with water
before I added it but it doesn't look like it took. Not a big deal.
Everything else seemed to go well. Thanks to Serra for being online while
I was making my soap so I could ask questions while I was making it.
Here's the recipe I ended up using with Serra's helpful suggestions I
ended up adding a few more things to my recipe than I had originally
planned.

2 oz castor oil
6 oz coconut oil
2 oz mango butter
10 oz olive oil
2 oz palm kernel
2 oz shea butter
8 oz lard
10 oz water
4.3 oz lye

I also found it might be a good idea to get a 2nd thermometer and a scale
that goes to two decimal places would also be helpful. I also used
lavendar scent for this batch. I filled up the mini mold that holds 9 bars and I scraped the bowl with a spatchula and put the scrapings into a single mold I got
from Ben Franklin. The soap is currently in the garage inside a plastic
grocery bag and covered in a blanket. Tomorrow I'll check on it and
attempt to get the soap out of the molds.

-Paula

Rate this posting:

{[['']]}

Soap

As most of you know I've been making soy candles for a couple of years now mostly as gifts for friends and relatives or for myself to enjoy. Haven't gotten into the whole selling business and not sure if I will or not. If someone wants to buy some off me I wouldn't say no but I'm not going to advertise it. Anyway I've decided to delve into the world of soap making. Well I haven't started yet I am just waiting for the soap mold to arrive which should be here tomorrow from Kelsei's. I have everything else I need: Lye, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Mango Butter, and Shea Butter. That should make a pretty good soap. I think my first concotion will be a lavendar soap. I have a sample of some of Serra's Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey scent which I've found to love that scent after buying a bar of it from a guy at work who's wife makes soap and I just love it. Serra claims she has the best but so does Rita at Kelsei's so I might have to try both and see for myself which one is really the best.

Rate this posting:

{[['']]}