what's for dinner

Matthew is down with a cold and a nasty cough. Jim is getting over a tummy problem. Gracie aka "typhoid mary" for bringing in the germs, is better from her cold, but still has a cough.

With all these issues, I have decided to declare today as soup day. I have a fat chicken in the pot and will be making butternut squash soup with broiler toasted slices of french bread. Wow, all this talk of food is making me hungry!

playing catch up

I have been playing catch up with the website, production, labeling, photo shoots, etc. I am also launching a new product line. Sara gave me a kick in the behind last year. We had talked about a couples line. I was also considering getting into cp soap. Yep, Sara gave me my jump start. Thank you, darlin'! She is busy working on the same things I am working on. Really kinda fun! Hey, I chose my favorite flavor on her poll, have you? I have a private label for massage oils. Since I am making them anyway, I am also including them into my line of products. Both straight forward oils and oils of the flavored variety that would serve a dual purpose. I am also making personal lubricants. I am calling them "Wet Your Appitite". I am still in the design process of the labels.

Now, I am off to catch up on making some cp soap.

what was I thinking

Last Sunday was a great day.........until my computer shut down while I was working in labels. I had a full week of cp that needed to be made. I quickly got onto Gracie's asus eee and ordered a new power cord, and as of today it has yet to arrive. :(((((( That is the saddest face I know how to make. My recipes are stuck in a black whole. Yep, believe it or not I do indeed make backups, and did just that the day before. I will now backup every time I modify a recipe. I am also going to write my favorite recipes on index cards and tuck them away for safe keeping.

The weather this week is on a downward trend. Lots of wind and whiteout snow conditions. We are quickly heading into single digits with wind chills below zero. Makes me wonder how Renee is fairing in the Poconos. Sorry Sara, but I have to giggle when you tell of freezing in your garage during inventory. Might want to invest in a heater for the garage. :) I think Bab's is on the east coast? And, of course Monkey is in Georgia. My prayers are with you daily that you fell better very soon.. I carry you in my heart always.

I spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry for a friend who blew out both his knees. He still manages to hobble along except he can't navigate the basement stairs to use the washer and dryer. Now, I gotta hit it and get cleaned up so I can pick the kids from at school.

Sending positive energy your way! and, prayers to Sara's grandpa and the rest of her family. We really ought to think about a prayer chain for our nearest and dearest. hmmmm

colds and a dry winter house

Gracie started coming down with a cold last night and I didn't have cough meds in the house. The dryness in the house was making her cough, which in turn started making her chest hurt. The kid's bedrooms are separated by a bathroom, so I closed the drain in the tub and ran hot water through the shower head, filling the room with steam. Then I put about a teaspoon of eucalyptus essential oil into the tub. When the tub was full I shut the water off and went to bed. Gracie stopped coughing and slept soundly through the night. She asked me to do the same thing tonight. Sure enough, she is sleeping peacefully. I love old time cure alls!

to seed or not to seed

I've been pondering the idea of making scrubs with seeds. Those itty bitty blueberry seeds caught my eye on more than one occasion. Wouldn't they just look fabulous in a white sugar scrub? Or, how about a nice foaming bath whip with just those beautiful little red blueberry gems?

Today was the day. I could barely contain my excitement as I set about making a scrub soooooo gorgeous that you would want to take a spoon to it. The first batch was a bath whip sugar scrub. Turned out nice, but note breathtaking. Need to work on the sugar amounts. Too much sugar and you feel like you have been hit with a sand blaster. Too little and you don't feel exfoliated enough. The seeds looked great.

Next up was a bath whip with just the blueberry seeds. By the time I finished the test recipe I decide to give it a try. So, when I took my bath, I scrubbed my face with the seeded whip. Very disappointing. No scrubby feel to speak of. And, when I rinsed my face and looked at the water, all I saw were these little reddish seeds floating around, and of course sticking to my skin. hmmmmmm. Those adorable little seeds don't look so captivating anymore. :(

back to the drawing board.