Tuesday, May 31, 2011

You can Start to see the light

It is easy to close the blindes and keep the light out,
Out of your room, your feelings, your life.
The negative thoughts wallow and grow in the darkness.
It is easy to be where you are used to it,
and not even be aware that the negativity is there.
Feeling it, being it, never to see the possibility.
You keep yourself from the light.
Everyone wallows in the bad, the negative,
it catches attention, makes for great conversation,
but it holds us all back.
 Holds us back from our potential of being,
being positive and capable in our relationships, our minds, and our lives.
You can let in the possibilities.

And all you have to do is open the blinds.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Cutest Little Critters


I was perusing Etsy yesterday and came accross the cutest little soap critters.  I just had to share them.
Pictured from top to bottom is Rabbit Soap by Bloom Decoration Soap,  Kids Colorful Bubble Amphibian by Hop is My Muse, 3 Sheep Soap - Cotton Candy by Twin Dream Creations,  and Scooby Doo Set of 12 Birthday Party Favors by Memory Kreations

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wow

I have been in college a long time, I mean a really long time.  Feels like an eternity since I started. Oh, waite, it was a lifetime ago.  I started college out of high school and took time off around my kids. My oldest is now getting ready to drive and my youngest turned two in December.  Boy, does time fly.  The whole graduation ceremony reminded me of one of my favorite quotes:
"The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get." 
Jim Rohn

It was an absolutley beautiful day to have a graduation.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Vanilla Mocha Oh Yeah!

 This batch of soap surprised me. It could have gone wrong in sooo many different ways, and I honestly thought it did, a couple of times.  I learned some things from this batch that I haven't learned from others.

1. Remember art class from so many years ago, it can come in handy.
2. When in doubt, cure and cut anyway.
3. You never know what your going to get.

Ah, art class, not just time to screw around but to learn the color wheel, complimentary colors, and that your cly sculpture can explod in the kiln. To me I thought it was just fun and never thought I would retian some of that information.  I also never realized that the complimentary color thing would help me in soap making. 

Most of my soaps are made with a lot of olive oil, which has a yellow greeen hue to it, and I use palm oil (sustainable and Orangutan safe, of course) which also has a lovely yellow hue.  So when I was mixing the lye into the oils it did not occur to me that the cocoa powder I used would turn the mixture green, instead of the brown I was so longing for.  The complimentary colors of the color wheel popped into my head and I added the slightest bit of red oxide. And would you know it?!?!?! Brown. Deep beautiful chocolatey brown. 

The whole batch got layered with a coffee strip, I used real coffee grounds for the stripe and for a gentle exfoliating factor but I did not realize that it would smell funny.  Like a slightly foul conatiner of left over noodles stuck in the back of the fridge foul. Ewww! I thought I had killed the whole batch, it was setting up and there really was no other alternative.  So, it was wrapped and left to cure, smelly or not. I forgot about it, for like a week.  When I finally got around to cutting it, it smelled...good.  Like chocolate vanilla coffee with a little musk added in.  Kind of weird but better than I had thought it was going to. I cut the loaf into bars anyway.  Now that it is pretty much cured, it smells fabulous and I find myself sneaking a sniff whenever I get the chance.  
Like a chocolate bar with a hint of coffee.  Vanilla Mocha Oh, Yeah!