This morning, I went over to the studio. I got 2 more soaps made. A coffee-oatmeal for taking odors off hands. Good for the kitchen. And a peppermint. I love this recipe. It only takes a few hours to harden and can be taken out of the mold and cut. I used an ounce of peppermint EO and dried crushed mint leaves. It's really pretty. The other soap recipe has to stay in the mold 2 days.
I also got all the ingredients to make an activated charcoal-clay facial soap. I am so excited to try this soap. I get to do swirls! I've been watching videos on how to do this. So hopefully either Wed. when I get back from Mrs. T's or Thursday, I can make it.
I am also hand picking all the wool I got washed the other day to get it ready for carding. I'll make wool dryer balls with it. I need to start getting some needle felting started too. So much to do and not so much time to do it all!
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
Change of plans
Well, today did not start the way I had planned. I got a call from Betty, one of the caretakers for Mrs. T. She's not feeling too good. She'd only been there a few hours and felt like she needed to go home, then go to her doctor. I normally stay home all day on Mondays. I was going to be in my studio all day making wool dryer balls and doing some needle felting. But had to go sit with Mrs. T til 5. I like to bring my bag of yarns with me and work on knitting or crocheting while I'm there.
So had to find someone to come in for tonight and tomorrow. Betty stays Monday morning til Tuesday night. Then Emily comes in Tuesday night til Thursday morning, then Betty comes back til Friday morning, then I come for the day til 5. Then Mary comes in Friday at 5 and works til Monday morning. This works great most of the time. Til someone gets sick. But when 2 of the caretakers are sick? UGH!
I had sent a text to Emily but she never got back to me til later. Mary came in at 5 for me. Emily has had a migraine since Sunday and was going to the doctor tomorrow and isn't even sure if she'll be there tomorrow night. So I need to find someone for her now. I have another lady who comes in on Sat. (Darlene) to give Mrs. T a bath and do her nails. (And she said she's going out of town this weekend, so won't be coming this Sat. SEE?) She's so sweet. So she said she could come in tomorrow night but has to leave at 7 AM because she has another job during the day. Can this get more complicated? Why yes, I think it can.
So I called Mary back and she said she'd get there at 7 Wed. morning and then I'll come as soon as I can get everything done here. I'll stay til 5 or so. And that's all I know so far. I am hoping Emily is better so she can work Wed. night at least. And then hopefully Betty will be better so she can work Thursday. And this is crazy!
Then Mary wanted the next 3 Friday nights off. Darlene said she could work for Mary but not THIS Friday. UGH again! How did I end up with this job??? I don't know! And then, the MOST complicated part of the whole thing, when it's crazy like this, is paying everyone. UGH! I hate math! I have everyone's NORMAL pay week already written down, so all I have to do is look at my check register. But now, I have to figure all their hours. And they all make a different amount, which is crazy. Oh, this is not fun at all. It's a good thing I am taking a few weeks off from markets.
So this will help me writing all this down so I can see it. I have also written down everything so far, on paper, as far as who worked when and for how long. Otherwise, I would be a basket case for sure.
I got a lot of knitting done today. Mrs. T. reads some articles from the paper out loud. She reads the same story, over and over. When it comes to having to turn the page to continue reading one story, she forgets and starts all over again. It gets to where I can read along with her. I'll tell her she just read that part and she says no, she just started. So I start saying everything she's saying as she's reading. It's kind of fun. Keeps my brain working. And the day went by pretty fast. Had a call from Linda this afternoon. I met her from Mary Jane's Farm forum and we talk about once a month. I really like talking with her. She can't post comments here for some reason, but she lets me know she reads my blog. Thank you Linda! And hope you feel better soon.
I got home and got the husband to get his gun and come out to the chicken yard with me. I wanted to hook the nester up to the mower and drag it out of the stall and he could shoot that darn snake when it came out. But we never saw it. And only got 1 egg. It was up under the dog crate in the driveway. I keep seeing the chickens come out of my flower jungle. They may be laying in there. We WILL get that darn snake! One day. And I melted his brand new nylon strap. It got wrapped up on the back wheel and on a pipe. Melted the end off. I told him I hoped he wouldn't get mad at me and call me stupid or something. He said "no, you're just a woman." Ouch. I thought that was pretty darn funny! I'll get him! But I love him anyway.
So I just finished up the mowing. Looked like rain. But it never did. A long day tomorrow too. So going to bed now. Have a good Tuesday y'all!
So had to find someone to come in for tonight and tomorrow. Betty stays Monday morning til Tuesday night. Then Emily comes in Tuesday night til Thursday morning, then Betty comes back til Friday morning, then I come for the day til 5. Then Mary comes in Friday at 5 and works til Monday morning. This works great most of the time. Til someone gets sick. But when 2 of the caretakers are sick? UGH!
I had sent a text to Emily but she never got back to me til later. Mary came in at 5 for me. Emily has had a migraine since Sunday and was going to the doctor tomorrow and isn't even sure if she'll be there tomorrow night. So I need to find someone for her now. I have another lady who comes in on Sat. (Darlene) to give Mrs. T a bath and do her nails. (And she said she's going out of town this weekend, so won't be coming this Sat. SEE?) She's so sweet. So she said she could come in tomorrow night but has to leave at 7 AM because she has another job during the day. Can this get more complicated? Why yes, I think it can.
So I called Mary back and she said she'd get there at 7 Wed. morning and then I'll come as soon as I can get everything done here. I'll stay til 5 or so. And that's all I know so far. I am hoping Emily is better so she can work Wed. night at least. And then hopefully Betty will be better so she can work Thursday. And this is crazy!
Then Mary wanted the next 3 Friday nights off. Darlene said she could work for Mary but not THIS Friday. UGH again! How did I end up with this job??? I don't know! And then, the MOST complicated part of the whole thing, when it's crazy like this, is paying everyone. UGH! I hate math! I have everyone's NORMAL pay week already written down, so all I have to do is look at my check register. But now, I have to figure all their hours. And they all make a different amount, which is crazy. Oh, this is not fun at all. It's a good thing I am taking a few weeks off from markets.
So this will help me writing all this down so I can see it. I have also written down everything so far, on paper, as far as who worked when and for how long. Otherwise, I would be a basket case for sure.
I got a lot of knitting done today. Mrs. T. reads some articles from the paper out loud. She reads the same story, over and over. When it comes to having to turn the page to continue reading one story, she forgets and starts all over again. It gets to where I can read along with her. I'll tell her she just read that part and she says no, she just started. So I start saying everything she's saying as she's reading. It's kind of fun. Keeps my brain working. And the day went by pretty fast. Had a call from Linda this afternoon. I met her from Mary Jane's Farm forum and we talk about once a month. I really like talking with her. She can't post comments here for some reason, but she lets me know she reads my blog. Thank you Linda! And hope you feel better soon.
I got home and got the husband to get his gun and come out to the chicken yard with me. I wanted to hook the nester up to the mower and drag it out of the stall and he could shoot that darn snake when it came out. But we never saw it. And only got 1 egg. It was up under the dog crate in the driveway. I keep seeing the chickens come out of my flower jungle. They may be laying in there. We WILL get that darn snake! One day. And I melted his brand new nylon strap. It got wrapped up on the back wheel and on a pipe. Melted the end off. I told him I hoped he wouldn't get mad at me and call me stupid or something. He said "no, you're just a woman." Ouch. I thought that was pretty darn funny! I'll get him! But I love him anyway.
So I just finished up the mowing. Looked like rain. But it never did. A long day tomorrow too. So going to bed now. Have a good Tuesday y'all!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Making progress, a little at a time.
Yesterday, I got up wanting to do something. Didn't really have a plan. I just grabbed a bag of wool out of the cat room. Took it to the studio and started washing it. It was Annabelle's wool. Some was really good but most was 2nds. Which is fine, because I need to make lots more dryer balls. So did this most of the day. It rained off and on all day too, so had to bring the drying racks inside. I had both of them filled with clean pretty wool.
This is Annabelle. She's probably 95% Finn. Her mother, Lucinda, was full Finn and so beautiful. I miss that ewe. Had the prettiest black wool. Annabelle was a single lamb. And she has only had one ewe lamb, Buttercup. Buttercup was sheared this year and has some really nice wool.
The finished wool, drying. I also had another full one like this when I was done. I started carding it today. I'll be doing that for a long time. And this was just 1 paper grocery bag full. I still have big garbage bags full of sheep and alpaca to wash.
This is the soap I made a few weeks ago. On the left is ginger-coconut. With fresh grated ginger and ginger EO, with coconut on top. In the middle is the lemongrass made with lard. I love this lard soap. I used a yellow vegetable dyt for some color. Smells so good. On the left is the lavender-oatmeal I found in an on-line magazine, I think. I need to make some more because I only got 8 bars.
Also yesterday, in between washing wool, I made 4 batches of soap. In the blanket is my pumpkin spice soap. I had gotten a small pumpkin from one of the farmers at the market last week. Cut it up, put it in the food processor and added cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg and some pure maple syrup and pureed it. This recipe has castor oil in it too. Then I sprinkled cinnamon and fresh nutmeg on top. Also used cinnamon and clove EO. The uncovered soap is Patchouli. I love this one. And also made a chamomile soap. I used Roman chamomile and Bergamot EO plus paprika for color. Got these all cut today and are drying on the racks.
I also re milled some soap I had made last fall that just didn't smell. Grated 3 pounds and added Spiced Mahogany FO. Tried to make some swirls too. But I don't know if it's going to get hard. It was still soft today.
It's been quite hot here this month. The alpacas do not like this heat and humidity at all. I try to go out every day and spray them with the hose. They LOVE it! But apparently Misha was a little impatient and got in the water trough to cool off. I have a small kiddie pool in this yard, but it's a tadpole nursery right now. Plus my honey bees use it to drink from too. So I hate to move it. Might have to get another one just for the alpacas.
Today, I went to the studio and made calendula lip balm. I had ordered 30 lip balm tubes a few weeks ago. And I had gotten some flowers from my garden and dried them. Then infused them in olive oil for several weeks. Also had some bees wax from my garden hive that I had to take out. It was burr comb. And really clean. So got 25 tubes of calendula lip balm. Plus made 11 small jars of calendula salve. That's a pretty good seller at markets.
So I feel like I was pretty productive this weekend. It feels good to know I actually made some progress in the studio. I'll be making wool dryer balls this week. Plus some needle felting too. And probably more soap too.
I also have had a run-in with a snake in my chicken nesters this weekend. D*** snake! Caught it in the act too. Eating my eggs. That's just not going to happen here! I got a shovel and take it with me when I check. I saw it yesterday with an egg in it's mouth. I got as close as I could make myself get to it and tried my darnedest to kill it. It got away.It's staying behind the wire nester, under all that hay. It was in the far right nest box when I saw it with the eggs. So I took a green feeder box and shoved it in the nest box to keep hens out. And while the snake was in that one, eating eggs, a hen was in the nest box at the other end. So I guess the hens don't mind snakes?
So I have been going out every hour or so to check on the eggs. I saw the snake a few times today, too. It was going to the nest box on the other side. I saw it's head sticking out. It went back behind the nester when it saw me. I saw it later, but it didn't come all the way out. It got all the eggs. There's a dog crate that's been on the side of the driveway for awhile now. A hen lays an eggs every day in it. Well, today, there were 3 eggs! I guess maybe the hens were not liking the snake after all. Smart girls! My husband went out this afternoon with his rifle. He waited about a half hour and never saw it. Darn snake. We will get it. One way or another, we will get it. I still hate snakes. Especially snakes that eat my eggs.
So what's been going on at your house lately? Care to share?
This is Annabelle. She's probably 95% Finn. Her mother, Lucinda, was full Finn and so beautiful. I miss that ewe. Had the prettiest black wool. Annabelle was a single lamb. And she has only had one ewe lamb, Buttercup. Buttercup was sheared this year and has some really nice wool.
The finished wool, drying. I also had another full one like this when I was done. I started carding it today. I'll be doing that for a long time. And this was just 1 paper grocery bag full. I still have big garbage bags full of sheep and alpaca to wash.
This is the soap I made a few weeks ago. On the left is ginger-coconut. With fresh grated ginger and ginger EO, with coconut on top. In the middle is the lemongrass made with lard. I love this lard soap. I used a yellow vegetable dyt for some color. Smells so good. On the left is the lavender-oatmeal I found in an on-line magazine, I think. I need to make some more because I only got 8 bars.
Also yesterday, in between washing wool, I made 4 batches of soap. In the blanket is my pumpkin spice soap. I had gotten a small pumpkin from one of the farmers at the market last week. Cut it up, put it in the food processor and added cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg and some pure maple syrup and pureed it. This recipe has castor oil in it too. Then I sprinkled cinnamon and fresh nutmeg on top. Also used cinnamon and clove EO. The uncovered soap is Patchouli. I love this one. And also made a chamomile soap. I used Roman chamomile and Bergamot EO plus paprika for color. Got these all cut today and are drying on the racks.
I also re milled some soap I had made last fall that just didn't smell. Grated 3 pounds and added Spiced Mahogany FO. Tried to make some swirls too. But I don't know if it's going to get hard. It was still soft today.
It's been quite hot here this month. The alpacas do not like this heat and humidity at all. I try to go out every day and spray them with the hose. They LOVE it! But apparently Misha was a little impatient and got in the water trough to cool off. I have a small kiddie pool in this yard, but it's a tadpole nursery right now. Plus my honey bees use it to drink from too. So I hate to move it. Might have to get another one just for the alpacas.
Today, I went to the studio and made calendula lip balm. I had ordered 30 lip balm tubes a few weeks ago. And I had gotten some flowers from my garden and dried them. Then infused them in olive oil for several weeks. Also had some bees wax from my garden hive that I had to take out. It was burr comb. And really clean. So got 25 tubes of calendula lip balm. Plus made 11 small jars of calendula salve. That's a pretty good seller at markets.
So I feel like I was pretty productive this weekend. It feels good to know I actually made some progress in the studio. I'll be making wool dryer balls this week. Plus some needle felting too. And probably more soap too.
I also have had a run-in with a snake in my chicken nesters this weekend. D*** snake! Caught it in the act too. Eating my eggs. That's just not going to happen here! I got a shovel and take it with me when I check. I saw it yesterday with an egg in it's mouth. I got as close as I could make myself get to it and tried my darnedest to kill it. It got away.It's staying behind the wire nester, under all that hay. It was in the far right nest box when I saw it with the eggs. So I took a green feeder box and shoved it in the nest box to keep hens out. And while the snake was in that one, eating eggs, a hen was in the nest box at the other end. So I guess the hens don't mind snakes?
So I have been going out every hour or so to check on the eggs. I saw the snake a few times today, too. It was going to the nest box on the other side. I saw it's head sticking out. It went back behind the nester when it saw me. I saw it later, but it didn't come all the way out. It got all the eggs. There's a dog crate that's been on the side of the driveway for awhile now. A hen lays an eggs every day in it. Well, today, there were 3 eggs! I guess maybe the hens were not liking the snake after all. Smart girls! My husband went out this afternoon with his rifle. He waited about a half hour and never saw it. Darn snake. We will get it. One way or another, we will get it. I still hate snakes. Especially snakes that eat my eggs.
So what's been going on at your house lately? Care to share?
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