How Not To Make Soap

Sometimes things don't turn out like you think they will.  Some little variable will change your entire plan.  And so it was the other day when the husband decided to make more soap.  We pretty much make all of our soap and like to make big batches that will last us 6 months or so. 

Jace worked very hard at getting all the ingredients together and spent lots of time grinding up flowers to color and texture the soap.  However, the next day none of the soap had hardened.  It was all a gel like consistency and looked more like jam.  We've made soap many times and have even sold it, so what went wrong?

The downfall of many homesteading projects is when a person decides to do things their way.  Jace had used my enamel coated hot water bath canning pot instead of our usual crockpot.  After I was done shrieking... I looked up why one doesn't use a metal pot typically to cook soap.  It's the old chemical reaction thing.  The internet said doing this would cause toxic results and burn my house down.  Well, not really, but close.

My theory is the metal pot caused the soap to not bind together properly.  I'm not sure if lye was leached into the metal of my pot.  Jace was a good guinea pig and tested the soap to see if it would still work.  It didn't burn his hands off and now we have 6 months of usable gel soap.

Accidents sometimes bring good results but should not be a regular course of action.

Today the first living thing went into the garden.  This means the fence is stable enough to keep out deer.  We planted a lemon tree, seen here, and a nectarine tree.  We mixed regular soil and rabbit poo compost for the fill in dirt.  The cinder blocks are the border for a 16 square foot corn, beans, and squash bed.  Yes, it is February, and yes we are wearing shorts.

Bamboo Yarn and Passport Purgatory

I made another pair of tipless gloves for myself out of bamboo yarn.  I think this is my favorite yarn.  The finished result is softer than any other yarn I have worked with.  These gloves are also much warmer than I expected.  I'm making another pair for a gift and then a last pair for someone who wants to buy them.  Then I think I will be sick of making them for awhile.  I bought the yarn at Hobby Lobby, so it should be available at other craft/yarn stores. 

We are currently working on getting our passports.  This has turned into so much fun...  It turns out I thought I had the little one's birth certificate but I only had an abstract.  An abstract is basically worthless.  It's a statement on fancy paper that certifies that there is a record in that county, but it's not the actual record.  So I go to get the actual birth certificate and find out 2 letters in one of the names are mixed up.  The passport office says this will most likely cause a problem.  Now we have to go to the capitol city and get an amendment done for her birth certificate.  The state agency lady sounded pretty disgusted with me that I haven't ever gotten a birth certificate for her even though she is now 7.  Except I did, or thought I did with the whole abstract thing.  Sigh.  Even better, I don't have a birth certificate.  Yep, somehow I have made it throughout my whole life without ever needing one.  It seems just showing the certificate from the hospital was good enough.  And of course we'll need it to make the amendment on our daughter's certificate.  Wonderfully complicated.  I have ordered mine and we are patiently waiting for it.  The passport office assures us we have plenty of time and there is no need to worry.  Ha ha.  My tip:  One of the biggest favors you can do for your kid and yourself/family is to get/make sure you have long form birth certificates even if you don't need them now.  It will save you many headaches later.

 

Hope you have a great day!

Cable Wrist Warmers

This week I have been making a pair of cable wrist warmers, except I added some fingers without the tips.  I found a great and easy pattern for the fingerless glove (wrist warmer) at JR Crochet Designs.  I had to just make up the part with the fingers.  I placed a stitch where my fingers felt comfortable.  I then single crocheted in a circle for each finger, counting how many rounds I did for each finger for future reference.  Usually 10-14 rounds is enough.  On my next pair I'll try using a half double crochet so it will match the rest of the pattern.  I used Caron Simply Soft yarn and a size J/10 hook.

Garden Progress

I've gotten into a bad habit of only using my phone to take pictures when I also have a camera that works very nice.  I charged up the battery and I will try to use it more often than the phone.

Yesterday we finished putting up fence posts and tying them together with 2x4s.  I need to finish putting up the 3 foot wire fencing.  We will also add 3 feet of bird netting around the top.  I expect to change all or parts of that to shade cloth.  For now, bird netting is a cheap and easy fix.

We're bringing in cinder blocks to make the raised bed border.  Again, cheap and easy, except for the lifting part.  I priced the difference between making a raised bed out of new wood versus cinder blocks.  Cinder blocks are $10 cheaper. 

They are ugly but everything is ugly right now.  It's winter.  I've thought that later on I would let Rowan paint on the cinder blocks and then it will probably look more whimsical.  Live plants would make it look better, too. 

Here are a few pics of what we're doing.  The bed next to the fence is narrower than the other 8 beds will be.  There's some writing in the cement and a bad kitty left their prints.

Water You Doing?

Water.  Sounds basic.  We need it.  I don't drink enough of it.  I'm supposed to drink 63 ounces per day.  This also means I need 63 trips to the bathroom.  That's my problem with drinking enough water.  I have to pee all the darn time! 

Does working up to the needed amount help?  Sort of like conditioning the bladder. 

I'm going to try 32 ounces today and see if I can gradually work my way up to 63.  If you need me, I'm pretty sure you can guess where to find me.

I Wish I Was Better At...

This is my contribution to the New Year's Resolutions theme most bloggers are writing about.  I don't resolve to do anything to completion.  I don't like to set myself up for failure when I can't fulfill a resolution.  I like to set goals of trying new things or improving on things I know how to do.  This way it's not an all or nothing approach, just an adding to approach.

I wish I was better at...Keeping my closet clean.  I'll have my yearly shoe and clothes purge.  I also need to clean some of my shoes.

I wish I was better at...Playing the piano.  I took lessons years ago and could play well.  Now it's harder to find the discipline to practice and keep up the skill.  Ideally I would like to practice for at least 15 minutes a day.

I wish I was better at...Knitting a sock and glove.  Try as I might, I keep getting snaggled on my perfectionism.  Socks intimidate me.  I've made some progress this year.  I actually have a sock on double pointed needles.  The sock is about 2 inches in length and looks hideous.  I would never wear it.  I know that the first time making something it usually comes out looking like the cat had a part in making it.  I'm not sure what I'll do to try and improve this.

I wish I was better at...Gardening.  I'm just lazy about it.  I build up the perceived work necessary in my mind and think it will take hours and hours, or it's going to be very hard work, and procrastinate.  In actuality, most jobs don't take more than an hour.  I haven't had a lot of weed problems.  I need to improve my approach to soil quality.  I need to be more vigilant about protecting the garden from the insensitive cats.

I wish I was better at...Composting.  I do good with this for awhile and then fall off the wagon.  This is completely Jace's fault.  I haven't been successful in winning him over and I have a hard time keeping up composting when I'm the only one doing it.  I also have the compost pile far from the house, which is where I like it, but makes it seem harder to get out there.  The dog tends to smell funnier when I am composting.  I think he may be rolling in it.

That looks like a pretty good list.  I read a blog on GeekMom titled Alternatives to the New Year's Resolutions.   There's some pretty good suggestions you might like.

Let's Finish The Year

2012 is just about done.  As usual I'm ready to move on.  Kind of the clean slate thing.  I've changed the header and wiped my Book Tally clean. 

2012 was kind of hard.  I had to make some adjustments.  I chose to unfriend 3/4 of my Facebook list.  It was getting a little too personal with people I didn't really know.  You know, the weird email from someone who's still got a crush on you.  I also decided to stop posting statuses on Facebook.  I do some on Twitter but it's hard to think of witty things to say all day. 

The biggest most positive change this year was starting homeschooling.  We are now going into our 8th week.  I blog about it HERE.  It's been a delight and certainly has challenges.  I feel we made the right decision and it fits with my homesteader thinking.

The garden was awful.  Terrible in fact.  I spit on it!  Not really.  I'm pretty sure the dirt was just dead.  I didn't amend the soil as often as I should and it finally said No to growing anything.  There were also cat problems.  Lots of walking, digging, and generally laying on top of the plants. 

We started building another garden off one side of the house.  It's 32 feet by 39 feet.  It will have around 9 raised beds, fruit trees and fruit vines.  We're almost done fencing it in and have started putting in the raised beds.  We have 6 weeks to get everything in and start planting.  Seeds have been ordered. 

I took a year off from doing anything business oriented.  I have thought about starting up the Etsy shop again.

And of course house projects.  There's always house projects.  I'm hoping to actually finish some in 2013.

A big thanks to those who have continued to follow this blog!