Make Soap

Last fall I attended a one evening soap making class. All participants walked away with one pound of homemade soap. The biggest hurdle overcome in that class was the lye handling. We didn't mix the lye ourselves in the class, but we did observe it, then used premixed lye solution to make our soap. It's one of those things that seems like mad scientist or voodoo witch doctor practices, but it wasn't as scary as I thought. Even so, I was glad to do the process at home with A who is well practiced in the art of chemistry.

We started planning our "flavors" of soap we wanted to create and started to gather our materials. we were both interested in using items from the tundra, but A scored big when she brought back a big bushy chunk of tundra that looked just like a black loofah. We shall make scrubby soap! She had also gathered some fireweed for indoor decoration and we made use of that as well.

I have to highly recommend Brambleberry.com as a great resource for soap making. There is a great lye calculator that creates a recipe and calculates the exact amount of lye needed. Based on our ingredients that we had handy, we ended up with three slightly different batches that consisted of olive oil pomace, olive oil, coconut oil, and palm kernel oil. We used tea tree and violet oil for two batches, and blended orange zest and aloe into the third.

They are sitting on a shelf in my kitchen curing for the next few weeks, but when I washed the molds we had used, the water turned sudsy. That was a great sign!

Scrubby soap cut and curing. 

Listerine Footbath

Since it's been a few months since the last update, I'd thought I'd start with something really exciting, like a footpath.

I had seen a ton of Pinterest pins about Listerine foot soak recipes. They all included vinegar and hot water added to the Listerine. With soaking, it was supposed to eat away the dead skin on your feet which would then float up to the top of the tub like a disgusting head of beer, leaving your feet silky smooth with little effort. I'd been skeptical and wanted to try it myself.  I shared this experience with my friend V, to have another witness. Since I run such a high class spa, I let her use a tote as her foot soak tub while I used my mop bucket. Look out Allure.

I had some off brand mouthwash , because obviously that's how much I value my oral health (and also I am using it on my feet instead, so there's more compelling evidence), but at least it was blue. The vinegar didn't add anything special to the experience except for an overpowering smell of pickles. It was guesswork deciding how much hot water to add. I was preventing feet cavities, pickling myself, and nearing boiling them off as well.

The mouthwash definitely gave everything a tingly feel, but there was also the unpleasant and initially frightening affect of dying dead skin blue. This spa treatment actually made it look like we both had a nasty food fungus. I didn't have any real scrubby brushes, so we both used washcloths to start rubbing away the azure dead skin, that was at least easy to see. The whole process was disgusting, yet satisfying. I did end up with some smooth feet, but it was not as effortless as advertised. I also ended up with minty feet and blue stained washcloths.

Master Chef Party

The very best party I have ever had because people brought so much dedication and enthusiasm with their dishes. I think the pictures speak for themselves...

 The middle photo is of the winning dish: The Gung Hay Fat Choy Lettuce wraps by B.

The menu included:

Turkey Meatballs with Hot and Spicy Sauce

Winter Vegetable Ruebens

Chicken Sausage Hash

Cocoa Pork Patties with Ginger, Squash, and Apple Chutney

Foot Pie

Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Pesto Turkey

Tuna Melt With a Sweet Potato Twist

That's a Gouda Pear-Cheesy Flatbread

Caribbean Curry

Crab Apple Bites

Pork Bahn Mi Crostini

Marinated Lamb Skewers

Meatball Sliders

Chicken Bites and Ham Delights with Pineapple Mustard Sauce

I ask the most outlandish things of my friends, and they deliver with flair!

Join post crossing

While I was traveling, my favorite thing to send home to family and friends were personalized post cards. I had downloaded an App that took any picture from my iPad, let me type a message on the back, and send it to anyone in the US for 80 cents. It is quite a deal and so much more convenient than finding postage and mailboxes in other countries. It let me share some of my memories as well. I have always loved writing postcards, and I loved this even more. It also made me think about joining post crossing again when I got back home so I could send personalized cards.

I just signed up to send out three postcards. They will be going out to Germany, Russia, and Canada.

Host an If:Gathering Event

If:gathering

February 6-7

IF GOD IS REAL... THEN WHAT?

This 2-day gathering will bring women together from around the world to wrestle with belief that God is real, the places in our lives where we are struggling with unbelief, how can we overcome unbelief and then what God can do with our belief.

I first heard about If:gathering from Jen Hatmaker's feed on Facebook. I'm a fan of her writing, blog, and humor. So when she said this cool thing was happening, I wanted to check it out right away. I didn't know any of the other seekers in the line up except her, but the purpose behind the event was just what I'd been looking for. One of my goals for coming back to Bethel was to restart a women's group at the church. I wanted to join the church before I tried anything official, and I became a member back around Thanksgiving. This year has been super packed and I just haven't gotten around to everything. If: came at the perfect time and was a perfect reason to get a conversation with some christian women about our lives here in Bethel. Three other women joined me all weekend in the school's library hearing amazing speakers and sharing what God was teaching us and planning for us. It was a very refreshing weekend to give focus on how I can be serving here in Bethel.

Modern Book List

An item on my list is "Read Year Four of Great Books List," which includes works from the Enlightenment to the Modern Era. The stars indicate that I've already read that title.

Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: David Hume

Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

Democracy in America – De Tocqueville

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume

Emma by Jane Austin

Essay Concerning Human Knowledge by John Locke

*Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift

*Hamlet – William Shakespeare

*King Lear – William Shakespeare

*Letter on Toleration by John Locke

*MacBeth – William Shakespeare

On the Origin of Inequality – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

*Othello – William Shakespeare

Phaedra by Racine

Representative Government by J.S, Mill

*Romeo & Juliet – William Shakespeare

Second Essay on Civil Government – John Locke

Tartuffe – Moliere

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

*The Tempest – William Shakespeare

Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

Thirty 3 by Thirty 2

Here is the start of my next list. It's not complete, but it's some things that I would like to add to everything not completed on the last list.

-make an alphabet collage
-start the Modern book list on the Great Books list
-finish the Dicken's collection
-Kentucky derby party
-"triathlon day"
-complete level three of Spanish on Duolingo
-finish Algebra course on Khan
-send a postcard every month
-join post crossing
-host a If:Gathering event
-Bible study group
-go to Sunday school for a month
-start a women's group at church
-finish two online classes
-move up on the pay scale
-do the If:Equip study for a month
-compare three online masters program
-Whole 30 challenge
-get a summer job
-try a listerine footbath
-read the news every day for a month
-update the blog at the end of every month
-buy an under water camera
-31 letters to people who have had an influence in my life
-join Netflix again
-make soap
-marathon month
-walk to Oscarville
-overnight camp with the dog
-Ironman month challenge
-three books on tape
-30 box for Kelly
-2 week hike
-finish Agatha Christi list
-muzzle train Yakko
-try a life coach
-get under 175
-segway tour
-2014-2015 album

Rollovers...
-teach Yakko 5 new tricks
-new tattoo
-boat share
-make a podcast
-volunteer at Winter House
-create and complete classic movie list
-libravox volunteer
-arctic circle
-exercise class
-visit transition town
-teachers pay teachers
-volunteer with dogsleds
-masterchef party


more to come....