Soap Making

Yesterday I made soap. I took tallow, cocoa butter, and olive oil and heated it up to about 100 degrees. In another container I mixed water and lye together and let it cool to about 100 degrees. Then I stirred the lye water into the fats and stirred and stirred and stirred until I could see little lines left on the surface, poured it into a plastic box with a lid, and wrapped it in a big blanket. I set it in the room with the wood stove so that it would cool down slowly (soap that "catches cold" doesn't set up). Now I will wait a couple of days before I turn it out to dry on a needlepoint screen. As soon as it is firm enough, I will grate it and then hand mill it into specialty bars for Christmas. Fun!

In the past I have made lettuce soap, soap with apricots, cinnamon, coffee, strawberries, lavender and Balsam of Peru--oh, I'd have to check my list of what I've done to be able to remember them all. I really like the soap that has French clay added to it for a facial soap. Soap making is fun, but it always takes a larger part of the day than I think it should!

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I was disappointed. Kim was the only one who volunteered to describe herself as a nut. Thank you Kim! I have decided that perhaps you do not know what is involved in this. So here are some symptoms:

You slowly approach your children with a long, sad face and say in a small voice, "I need a hug!" They sigh and reach their arms around you, and you say, "Thank you; I needed that!"

You hide behind a door when you hear your children coming and then jump out and say, "Boo," in order to get back at them for all the times they've done it to you.

You add green food coloring to the milk on St. Patrick's Day.

When the children ask to make a s'more in the microwave, you say, "Yes, as long as you make one for me," and you say this to all three of them.

You sit in front of the computer laughing hilariously and your children ask why you are laughing. You read it to them, and your children ask, "So? What is funny about it?"

Does this get your creative mental juices flowing? Can you see that you, too, do these nutty things that make your children roll their eyes and wonder why moms are so fruity? (If you don't, you should. Adopt a name of a nut and begin doing so today. It is part of the joy of living!)

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Today is Sunday, the second Sunday in Advent. Perhaps today I will get the Advent wreath out since I did not do so last Sunday. I need to go shopping in the "big" city sometime this week for Christmas supplies and clothing for my daughter's up-coming trip. I should begin some baking, too, if I am going to have a Christmas open house. Would you like to come?

Today, however, will be a day of rest. I will just enjoy my Sunday, go to worship at my little country church, and relax. I think the skies are going to be clear and the air crisp. There is something special about these late fall days. In a couple of weeks the first days of winter will be upon us. I love winter!

Blessings!