Friday's post will be late...

I'm half way through the post but I won't be able to post it until later tonight as I've run out of time before work this morning! So look for it later tonight or tomorrow or whenever you get time to visit here again. Sorry - so much going on this week and last and I think I'm just catching up on life!

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Thoughts for a not-so-warm Tuesday morning

I haven't had time to write up posts for this week, so you're going to get things off the top of my head for the next few days! Sorry! 

Fellow enjoyers of sewing - When did we stop calling ourselves "sewers" and started using the word "sewist"? According to WordSpy, in 1964. I don't care how old the word might be, sewist just sounds silly. And yes, I grant you that sewer might look like sewer (as in where waste water goes), but sewist? There's something really weird about that word. I've tried saying it a few times, but it just sounds wrong. Sewist. I don't know - I'm not going to use it!

How do you know which preservative to choose for your product? In general, you'll want a broad spectrum preservative (one that fights bacteria, fungus, and yeast) and something suitable for the application at hand. If you have a lotion, shampoo, or anything else with water, you'll choose one suitable for water containing applications. If you have an anhydrous product, like a scrub, you'll choose one suitable for anhydrous products. Here's the handy dandy chart on preservatives I've created to help you make those choices!

So what're you making this week? Are you planning out your Christmas gifts yet? I'm hoping to get into the workshop on Saturday and make some shampoo bars (one left!) and a ton of body wash!

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Your regularly scheduled programming will resume shortly...

Thanks for your e-mails and comments while we were away. I'll be going through them this weekend and answering them as I can. I'll be back to regular, every day blogging by Monday (she said with hope!), and I enjoyed coming home to a full inbox of interesting questions and pictures!

I know I have a post asking you not to write to me in certain circumstances, as I wanted to try to stop the questions like "do you have any lotion recipes?" or "why don't you have conditioner recipes on your blog?" or people wanting me to consult for their businesses for free, but it seems to have scared everyone off, and I miss you! I used to look forward to seeing your pictures of products, questions about process or ingredients, or general queries about product making. Every morning I could guarantee there'd be something interesting in my inbox that would inspire me to do some research, get into the workshop, or want to make a new product.

I'm going to modify that post when I get home later today, but I want to encourage you to e-mail me at sjbarclay@telus.net (Susan aka Swift) with whatever's on your mind right now. Questions, comments, ponderings, pictures of your products - I'd love to hear them or see them! If you've been thinking about it, chances are someone else has also been thinking about it, and I'd like to get some ideas of what I can write about in the near future!

Wow, this sounds really desperate. A bit like "I'm lonely!" but I need inspiration from you and your ideas! I do have a rich, full, and busy life, I swear! 

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We're back!

What a great trip! We ended up at Fintry Provincial Park between Kelowna and Vernon, B.C. It was a lovely site with Okanagan Lake a mere 5 minute walk away and lots of frogs, crickets, and owls to make the park sound more rustic. We did a lot of resting, sleeping, dozing, lounging, and roasting of hot dogs on an open fire! It was a wonderful time, and I'm going to need at least two days to wake up and get back to life! That's when you know it was a great trip!

Unfortunately, it wasn't warm enough to swim, so we only did some light wading! Maybe next year! (The weather around here has been quite cold and rainier than usual, so I'm not surprised!)

I find every camping trip has a theme. This was one was a paraphrased line from the Simpsons - "Fine dining in a wasp filled environment!" There were wasps everywhere, and you couldn't open a pop without one of them landing on the rim for a sip! Raymond was stung twice! And the mosquitoes. I brought three cans of Deep Woods Off and I'm still covered in very annoying and swollen bites! (And before you say that DEET is bad for you, I'm really sensitive to mosquito bites and me being up all night scratching until my skin bleeds and keeping Raymond awake with my whining is far more dangerous than a few days of DEET a year!)

If you get a chance to go to Kelowna, check out the Farmers' Market (held on Wednesday and Saturday)! It was amazing, and I could have spent all day there trying foods, buying fruit and veg, checking out the crafts, and generally soaking up the ambiance! I bought a pair of earrings from Bad Kitty (black flowers with fibre optic lime green beads inside), bought some peaches from the peach shop, four different kinds of garlic for taste testing this weekend, three local honeys (dark honey, linden, and vegetable honey), and some other veggies!

I think pulled pork is becoming the new hamburger around here. It seems we can find pulled pork in the smallest cafe but not a burger! Not complaining, but what's up with that?

I was reminded why I don't tend to camp in British Columbia much - $30 per night. When we were on the Pacific Ocean last year in Oregon we paid $18, in Washington state I think it was $15, and last time in Idaho was $12 or $14, and the campgrounds were comparable, if not better, with showers and lakes and everything else. It's a pity our provincial government charges so much (and we have to pay for wood as well!) It's on par with going to the Rocky Mountains and staying in Banff (which was gorgeous!)

Now I get to dream about the next trip next summer!

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I'm away for a few days...

I'll be away for a few days - probably until Thursday or Friday - on our end of summer camping trip. Not really sure where we'll end up as we plan to pack up the car with all the stuff we need and we'll start driving. When we get somewhere we like, we'll stop driving and camp for a few days. I want to be need a lake or river for swimming and I want to be able to have a campfire so I can make my famous roasted corn and potatoes in tin foil in the coals. I want some rest and relaxation - I am bringing my math book so I can practice a bit before school starts, and I've been saving my latest issues of Mental Floss and Scientific American for my on the beach reading - and some good laughs with my wonderful husband and our best friends!

In the meantime, if you're interested in donating to our youth programs and receiving one of the e-books (look to your right if you don't know what this means!), I'm afraid I won't be able to send you the e-book until I get home as I have to e-mail it to you! I can send and receive e-mail thanks to my trusty iPhone, but I don't have a way of sending an attachment out from that device! (I may post, I might not - I'm trying to go technology free and avoid worrying about the phone and stuff!)

If you want to write to me, I probably won't be able to answer until the weekend as there's always that extra day of rest required after a long camping trip (along with washing the campfire smell out of my hair and clothes!).

Hope you're enjoying the last week of August, which is also the last week before school starts around here!

As a note, these pictures are from our honeymoon two years ago. The top one is Raymond posing in front of a sign in Wyoming, and the bottom one is me with the corn mascot from the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. I look half asleep there and quite messy, but we were just about to run out of clean clothes and I didn't realize these colours would clash so badly! 

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Almost Friday

It's been a great but busy week as I've been offering craft groups every day!
Yesterday, our local TV station stopped by to interview Raymond and me about our groups, the blog, and my obsession with cosmetic chemistry.
Today we had 19 tweens make bubble bath from scratch followed by 26 teens making mud masks, facial cleanser in foamy bottles, toner with extracts, and a water based fragrance spray!
Tomorrow we're making desk tidies!
See you on Saturday after I've caught my breath!

In response to all the questions: A desk tidy is a small box or can that is decorated and placed on your desk to keep your pens, pencils, erasers, and other stationery items tidy. I wasn't really sure what it was until I created the pattern for it. But they turned out kinda cute!

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A pep talk for a Monday morning

Why are you scared to make a lotion, a shampoo bar, a conditioner (and so on)? What's holding you back from getting into the workshop and trying something new? I know, there's the chance of wasting supplies, and wasting time, but those wastes will teach you something you can use for your next project, which will be more awesome than this one! (I admit I still have trouble throwing away products I don't like because I figure someone I know will like an extraordinarily greasy lotion or a very dry body butter, but in the end, no one likes them and I write it up as a learning experience!)

I know I'm part of the problem. Oftentimes, we're nervous about trying something new because we feel we don't have all the information, and I realize this blog is contributing to the sense that you can always learn more, but I think there's a point where we need to start experiencing the process, the ingredients, the end product for ourselves. We can talk about all the benefits of hazelnut oil until the cows come home - literally, we have cows in the field outside our house! - but if you don't like the skin feel, then it's pointless to invest in a bottle.

It's not easy diving into something new! I always joke around that although I want a challenge, I wanted one I knew I could do (thanks to the Simpsons, specifically Lisa, for that line!)

If you're feeling you need a little push, here are a few posts I've written on the topic of overcoming your fears - overcoming your fears and experimenting in the workshop - which might be helpful. Here's another post I wrote about keeping your notes in order, which is a vital part of this process. (I love bookbinding and I've been doing quite a bit of it lately as I try to organize my life!)

I would have liked to write a longer post this morning, but it's been 10 years today since my dad died, and we're off to scatter his ashes. Believe it or not, it'll be a good day of remembering my dad and spending time with my mom. The last time we did this in England, we had so many laughs! I'd test the wind to make sure it was blowing in the right direction, and almost every time it switched directions and hit my mom. He said he'd never leave her and I think he was right! 

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Sunday is all about the peaches!

The Presidents of the United States had it right when they sang about peaches - there are indeed million of peaches, peaches for me and Raymond and Wanda and my mom and everyone else I know! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here for the video, which is a good representation of a jamming party at my house, although we do tend to experience fewer ninja attacks in this part of Canada.)

We had hoped this week would be about the pickles, but cucumber and dill supplies aren't as reliable as we had hoped and by Saturday, they were all gone! Fingers crossed for next week! Instead, we're making more peach salsa with heirloom tomatoes (unbelievably delicious! and I generally don't like tomatoes) and canning some of the freestone peaches!

Yes, I'm obsessed with canning, jamming, and pickling this year (click here or click here for other posts on the topic). We enjoyed strawberries in June, raspberries and blueberries in July, now peaches, cherries, and tomatoes in August. (To your left, you'll see our cherry walnut relish!) We have made enough for our own enjoyment, and I only hope we have enough of everything to make baskets for our friends and family at Christmas! It seems like we're eating it all now!

As an aside...don't these tomatoes look amazing? Those on the left are Okanagan tomatoes - my mom says they're very sweet - and those on the right are local heirloom tomatoes. Yes, the orange thing in the middle is a tomato and not the Great Pumpkin come early!

If all goes well today, we'll have more peach salsa, some canned peaches, and homemade tomato ketchup! Yum!

Join me tomorrow for more fun crafting!

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A few thoughts for a summery Saturday!

Okay, so not everything in the world is a chemical. (Shock and horror! Gasp!) Electrons, protons, and neutrons are not chemicals - they're parts of a chemical, but not chemical themselves. (Thank you to my wonderful husband for pointing THAT out!)

When should we include panthenol? Everything I've read indicates the liquid form can be heat sensitive, and suggests we should use it in the cool down phase. (The powdered type I bought was okay for the heated water phase, but it was a pain to use it then, so I moved back to the liquid kind.) If you're in doubt, ask your supplier.

When the did word "conversate" start to mean talk or have a conversation? The word is converse, as in, "We conversed last night," which sounds a lot more pretentious than, "We talked last night" or "We spoke last night". I heard this word as I channel surfed the other night - I think it was some reality show where a bunch of women try to get the attention of minor male celebrity - and this girl was very upset that she had "conversated" with him all night long when he was paying attention to someone else. ARGH!

Which recipes should you try if you like a greasier or wetter feeling lotion? On this blog, I tend to prefer the greasier or wetter feeling lotions, and I try to let you know about the skin feel. Read the description and you should get a good idea of what it will feel like in the end, keeping in mind that this is just my opinion!

If you want greasier feeling lotions, check out the information about emollients on the blog. Click here for the description of each oil, butter, and ester or click here for the handy dandy chart for the oils (there are other charts for butters and exotic oils - click for the section to see them). Look for words like "dry feeling" and avoid those things. For the butters, you'll want to choose shea or cocoa butter over mango butter, which can feel drier on our skin. 

One of my favourites is the six ingredient lotion with shea, soy, and sesame oil. I know this one has BTMS-50, which generally offers a drier feeling lotion, but all those oils and butters overcome the powderiness. Anything with Polawax or e-wax will feel greasier than those with BTMS-50 or some of the other emulsifiers (I find Natramulse/Ecomulse/Ritamulse is less greasy than Polawax but not as dry as BTMS-50. I really have to write those posts!)

Join me tomorrow for more formulating fun!

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Question: Why are behentrimonium methosulfate and cetearyl written together?

Angel wrote to me to ask: Why are behentrimonium methosulfate and cetearyl alcohol often written together as though they are a compound solution?  I understand your explanation of why the cetearyl alcohol is used with the behentrimonium methosulfate in hair conditioners.  But is there a reason why I’ve found the two written together as one compound in almost every definition of behentrimonium methosulfate or explanation of what this single product is? What is all the hoopla about concerning behentrimonium methosulfate in the “natural” community? Isn’t this a synthetic?

A note before I get to the question...I don't discriminate between what I call minimally processed ingredients - those that are closer to how we find them in nature, like oils, butters, or hydrosols - and those I think of as being more processed - like fatty alcohols, fatty acids, esters, preservatives and so on. I don't think any of our ingredients are straight from nature; everything is processed in some way. We don't use olives, we use olive oil. We aren't using salt directly off the shores of the Dead Sea - they're cleaned before we see them. Clay, mud, hydrosols, essential oils - every last one of these ingredients is processed in some way before we can use them in our products. Synthetic ingredients would be those made in the lab, like cyclomethicone or some of the cationic polymers, for example.

If you really want to mess with your conception of natural vs. synthetic, read this article about the poor little mineral oil molecule. I feel a bit like that Ikea guy - do you feel sorry for this molecule? (Click here for that great Ikea ad! And people wonder why I'm a bit hoarder-ish?)

So why BTMS and cetearyl alcohol are always written together? Behentrimonium methosulfate is an ingredient that can stand on its own, but it's generally found with a fatty alcohol. This would be what we call a compound (specifically a cationic quaternary compound). You'll find BTMS-25 or BTMS-50 or other types of BTMS or BTM as product names, and it could be the writer is referring to the compound instead of the ingredient. I don't think you can buy behentrimonium methosulfate on its own - we always find it with a fatty alcohol, regardless of manufacturer - so this is why you see it referred to in this way.

The reason you find behentrimonium methosulfate paired with a fatty alcohol, often cetearyl alcohol but sometimes cetyl alcohol? Because fatty alcohols work to boost the substantivity of cationic quaternary compounds, making them more conditioning and moisturizing (click here for more information).

There is no way I would consider something like behentrimonium methosulfate as being even remotely close to minimally processed, and I wouldn't consider cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, and the other fatty alcohols minimally processed. Anyone who considers these things as natural is fooling themselves. The problem is that you can't make a natural conditioner and people really want to make a natural conditioner. So instead of accepting that they can't make a natural conditioner, they stretch the definition of natural to include anything they want to use.

If you want natural, then accept there are ingredients you won't be using. Don't twist the definition so you can get what you want. When you see the phrase "derived from" ask yourself why is this ingredient listed in this way? We don't write olive oil (derived from olives) but you will see cyclomethicone (derived from sand) or sodium coco-sulfate (derived from coconuts), for example. These last two ingredients are heavily processed to become what they are, and the phrase "derived from" is generally used as a weasel word to hide something that's not really natural but the manufacturer would like you to believe might be. Behentrimonium methosulfate may be derived from Colza seeds, but everything is derived from something - that doesn't make it natural!

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A thought on small batch product making

If you're just starting out or trying a new recipe, consider making small batches of products, maybe 100 to 300 grams to start. (And yes, I recommend using metric because there's nothing more frustrating than having to figure out what 40% x 8 ounces is when you're in the middle of measuring in the workshop!) I realize this isn't a lot - sometimes a 100 gram bottle makes as little as 2 ounces/60 ml if you're using a lot of butters and oils - but it means you aren't wasting supplies on things you might hate!

There is a down side to using small amounts - it's really easy to mis-measure. For instance, let's say you're making a 200 gram batch of lotion and require 2% hydrolyzed oat protein (so a total of 4 grams of hydrolyzed oat protein in the product). All it takes is a little hand slip and you have 5 or 6 grams instead of 4. Not a huge deal - maybe you wanted a little extra? - but make sure you write it down in your trusty workshop notebook!

Where it does become a big deal is when you have a situation like this: If you have 10 ingredients and you end up with 0.1 gram extra for each ingredient, that's now an extra gram you have in your product. Again, not a huge issue (for the most part), but if you add 0.5 grams of each ingredient, then you have 5 grams extra, and that is a big deal for 200 grams of product (2.5% more than you expected).

This might mess up the emulsification or it might mess up the preservatives, which is one of the reasons I suggest using the maximum allowable preservative in our products. Or you might be making a product you love but can't recreate because of that tiny difference, so make sure you check your measurements twice and write everything down!

If you are going to be a small batch maker, consider getting a scale that weighs down to the 0.1 gram, like this one. This is an epoxy scale I bought from a hardware store for about $30. This is a great way to weigh your smaller things like preservatives, Vitamin E, and additives that might go into the cool down phase. It's also fantastic for mineral make-up.

For more information on how we measure in bath and body products, click here! And for more information on why we use percentages, click here! 

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Why are you coming up with your own recipes your first time out?

I'm regularly asked by my wonderful readers to help with modifications to recipes. I'm always happy to help, but I have to ask the question - why are newbies coming up with recipes from scratch? I get that you want to make something really wonderful and customized and all about you, but I really suggest finding a recipe you like and trying it exactly so you can learn what you want to make in the future.

If I use someone else's recipe or pattern for food, sewing, bath and body and so on, I make it exactly the way I'm told the first time out. I keep my notes and ensure that I have done everything the way the creator intended. This way, I know what I like, what I don't like, what I could modify, and what is essential for the project.

A cautionary tale: I really wanted to make this Amy Butler messenger bag, but I didn't have the canvas required to line the bag and I really didn't feel like going out shopping that day, which would waste valuable sewing time, so I made it without. I like the bag, but it wouldn't work as a book bag for university or a computer carrying bag, so it's a purse now. Don't get me wrong - I love the bag, but it's not as useful as it would have been had it been stiffened!

As an aside, I love Amy Butler's designs but I find the pattern instructions so overwritten! 

As a fairly newbie sewer, I can't be expected to know everything I need to know the first time I decide to sew something, so I need to follow the instructions on the pattern and ask experienced sewers for help. What does nap mean (other than the best part of the day?), bias, or stretch mean? What needles should I use for stretch fabric (and should I be using stretch fabric at all as a newbie)? What kind of thread is best for cotton fabrics? And so on.

Now think about making your own bath and body products. How can you know the feel and how you feel about hazelnut oil, emulsifying wax, cyclomethicone, or oat protein if you haven't used them before? You might love lavender essential oil when you huff it from the container, but do you want it on your skin all day long? How can you know what greasy means in a homemade product if you haven't made a single lotion? (Click here for some thoughts on skin feel between homemade and commercial products.)

This is where finding a starter recipe works well. Find a basic recipe, make it, and assess it. Then play with it. This works for hair care products as well. Find a basic recipe - for instance, for a conditioner, my basic recipe is 7% BTMS-50 or BTMS-25, 0.5% to 1.5% preservative of choice, and water - and try it. See how your hair likes it. If you feel you need more oils, then add some oils. If you feel you need less conditioning or a thinner product, remove some of the BTMS. And so on.

You can't learn if you don't try. Let's say you make a lotion you don't like - what's the worst thing that happened? Yes, you used some supplies, but you've learned about heating and holding, emulsification, what ingredients you like and don't like, and why you won't be making that product again! That's a lot to learn in an hour or so!

I'm all about making products that are wonderful and just for me, but we need to take baby steps to become proper homecrafters. This isn't a hobby you're going to learn in one class - you need to be open to learning with every batch - and this isn't a hobby you'll ever feel you've mastered. And that's what makes it so fun!

If you want to learn to make your own lotions, may I suggest starting here with the first of the learning to formulate posts and work your way forward? But after you've already tried making a lotion or two! 

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A few random thoughts for the day

Do we really believe that Suzanne Somers' "ageless beauty" comes from her line of organic products that don't contain toxins? (It looks like she uses Japanese honeysuckle as the preservative, something we know is a natural paraben. I have nothing against parabens, but it looks like this ingredient isn't as an effective preservative as once was thought. Click here for some information, then click here for another point of view!) And what is a toxin anyway? One person's toxin is another person's favourite ingredient. Heck, I took Raymond into a radon mine on our honeymoon, and some people actually consider radon to be a healing gas! (As a point of interest, he still mentions this as my attempt to kill him only a week after we were married!)

She's coming to Vancouver to give some talks for the Power of Women series, and her specialty is anti-aging. I don't want to get sued here, but based on her appearance on TV last night, I would find it hard to believe that Suzanne Somers has reached the age of 65 without the use of some cosmetic surgery or injections.

Women can be beautiful at all ages! Have you seen Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn or Helen Mirren (and my mom and grandma, but I think it more unlikely that you've seen them)? These are all interesting, amazing, fascinating, and beautiful women. Every line on our faces we've earned: Each one represents a time I smiled or cried or frowned, and if you take those away, what do I lose? There's no way a 65 year old woman can look like a 30 year old, and when you see their pulled back eyes and plumped up lips, it's clear they have to lose who they are to get there.

I realize this might all seem quite ironic considering I have to get Botoxed every eight weeks for muscle spasms in my head, which has the side effect of removing all the wrinkles on my forehead, but I find it frustrating. (The kids keep mentioning they miss my eyebrows! So do I!)

Why does every store you enter have to play music? Why can't I sit down for a nice warm cup of tea in a cafe without having to listen to a folk singer wailing away about times not changing or things changing too much? Why do I go into Wal-Mart (which is really the bigger question, but sometimes one needs a few packages of glue sticks on the cheap) and hear Katy Perry in the electronics department, some rap song from the staff area, and the Carpenters echoing through the store? Don't get me wrong - I like music. I'm a headbanger from way back, and if you throw in a good bass line, a great singer, and a few time changes, I'm a happy girl (think Iron Maiden, Rush, Queensryche, etc.). But sometimes I like to think. I like to sit in a franchised coffee shop and contemplate my thoughts. Why can't I find quiet in the world any more?

Just a few thoughts for the day....I'm getting crochety in my old age, eh?

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I'm doing science and I'm still alive!

Wow, I'm really flaky lately, saying I'm going to write some posts, then not doing it, then showing up again to say I'm going to write some posts then not doing it and so on. I've been double-plus-ultra-mega-super busy lately (I've done at least two youth groups of some kind Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday this week, with another one today) and I can't seem to find time to catch my breath (in a good way - I'm having a blast). I haven't had any workshop time this month, so I can't share new products or ideas. Heck, I'm running out of everything and if I don't get into the workshop by next weekend, I'll have to buy conditioner (insert dramatic gasp here!)!

Every year my best friend and I pick two new things to learn or do (so far this year, learning to sew clothes and entering a drinking contest last night - note, an Italian soda drinking contest at the 48 hour game-a-thon at our local board & card games store. I came in second to last. I'm okay with that) and I pick something I want to change about myself. This year it's learning to say no and set boundaries (I have some boundaries, but I need to be really vigilant about my personal time.)

If you've ever tried this, you'll find it most interesting. People don't like it when you say no - as Oprah pointed out, if someone won't take no for an answer, they're trying to control you - and interesting things can happen. My friends, family, and co-workers have not only accepted it, they've expressed things like "it's about bloody time!" or "I'm glad you're looking after yourself", but a few will try to push you, and the odd one will get hostile. I've been in the very hostile zone for a few weeks now and it's been taxing my energy. It's hard to wake up in the morning to e-mails besmirching one's good name and go to work with a big smile on your face, but I hope that's over now.

I can't promise posts every day for at least another month - I have to get back into research mode - but I'm really hoping I can get into thrice a week mode. Thanks for your kind words of support!

This post is illustrated with these bath salts because they're from the class on Friday and I thought this was a particularly vibrant jar. Teaching kindergarteners how to make bath salts - try it some time! It's a blast! Click here for the tutorials.

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My bloody big (not really) ice cream

Being lactose intolerant is hardest in the summer - ice cream - and the winter - egg nog - and those lactase tablets do nothing for me (and yes, I've tried the Ultra Lactaid with no success). So Raymond went on a quest to find an iced treat I could enjoy without the agony and embarrassment that can arise when Susan and milk meet!

Behold the beauty that is my bloody big ice cream, a tradition my father started. I like soy ice cream, but it's usually too hard for a cone, but Raymond created a strawberry yogurt treat that doesn't cause me agony. He made up a lovely strawberry sorbet last week, but it went so fast, I couldn't get pictures!

We've made a lot of iced treats this year since purchasing the ice cream maker for the Kitchenaid at Christmas time. We've found the best recipes come from this book, The Perfect Scoop, and there are lots of non-dairy recipes for my fellow lactards. We've tried the custard ice cream - awesome because my massage therapist has lots of eggs and it's less milk based for me - as well as the cheesecake ice cream, and they have all been amazing! I can't say enough about this book!

I'm actually okay with not having ice cream or cheesecake or things like that because it's a category of food I've never really enjoyed because of the digestive problems they cause, and there are so many lactose free yogurts out now so I can enjoy my probiotics like everyone else. So it's not normally a big deal, but homemade ice cream...well, that's just awesome! 

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Super busy...sorry!

I didn't realize that being away from work for four days would lead to such busy-ness! Sorry there haven't been any new posts. I wrote a ton of them while I was on holiday, but they all need links and pictures and other things that take up time that I don't have right now, so look for daily posts to resume on Saturday (and I'll back date them so it looks like I was all productive this week! Bwa ha ha ha! I'm an evil genius!). Thanks for your patience!

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What I did on my summer holidays!

A huge thank you to the readers who wrote to me to ask if I was okay - I am! I thought I'd put a post saying I'd be on holidays this week, but it turns out I didn't! We enjoyed what is being called a stay-cation, and I took the time to reorganize the house a bit, do some cleaning, make some jam, enjoy some crafts, and generally spend some down time not being ruled by the clock or obligations!

We were jamming! Every year we invite our friends over for jamming and pickling parties. It's strawberry season in the Valley, and you know that meant we had to have a jamming party!!!

I love this jam! It's strawberry balsamic jam and you would be insane not to try making this! I found the recipe on the Bernardin website and it's awesome! The titch of balsamic vinegar really brings out the flavour of the strawberries. We left the pepper out - yes, I hate pepper as much as I hate patchouli - and it was awesome. We had hoped it would be used for meats and cheeses, but it's great as a jam on Raymond's home made bread! (Raymond made an amazing strawberry sorbet - dairy-less for the lactards amongst us - but we ate before I could get a picture of it!) 

I did some stencilling! One of my amazing co-workers, Anne, retired this week, and I wanted to make her an awesome shirt to commemorate the event. When I finished her shirt (not posted here), I figured I would get around to making a few shirts I've wanted to make for a while. Here is Raymond's Planet Express shirt! I love this shirt and need to make one for me!

If you want to learn more about making your own freezer paper stencils please click here or click here for the handouts and information! (And if you like the stencils you see on those pages, let me know and I can send them to you. Or do a search for something you like in google with the word "stencil" to find some pictures you like!)

I learned how to make underpants! (And for many good reasons, I'm not going to model them for you, so you'll have to be content with this picture and my description of how much fun it is to make your own!) This is all part of learning to sew and making all my own clothes! I've been scared of using stretch fabrics, so I took two classes in which I'd be forced to use that material. I made a pair of yoga pants - don't like the fabric, so I'm making them again - and I've been making many pairs of underpants.

If you want to make your own, I suggest using the Cheeky style or the Cheeky plus size style from Burda style (log in to print it out) or the Kwik Sew 3301 pattern.

And I bought a container of Chocolate Brownie Almond lactose free, non-dairy dessert that contained no brownies and no almonds! What's up with that? I have actually written to the company to let them know about it - after all, I can get the chocolate version at home, whereas I have to travel to another town to find this exotic blend of brownies and nuts!

And we found this chair in the local thrift store! It came with a love seat for $25. I'm going to learn how to re-upholster it to match our room! So there's another project! We spent yesterday cleaning our windows, carpet, and air conditioner, washing the bedding and curtains, and generally doing our spring cleaning a little late.

For the love of all that is good, please don't call your holiday time a va-cay or a va-ca-sway or whatever combination you might like out of those words. It's a vacation. You don't need to make it sound cooler! I'm not even a big fan of the concept of the stay-cation, although calling it that means people don't ask where you were on your holidays, so it's acceptable.

Did you notice that the last part of the stay-cation could be read as "cation" as in the positively charged ion used in conditioner products. Yep, everything's about chemistry! 

This week has been good for me as I hadn't realized how tired I've become lately with fighting off one illness or another. (Anyone else read, When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate?) I took this week to organize my life a little, create some schedules, be okay with not going going going all the time, and really enjoy spending time with my mom and my husband. I said a few weeks ago I was back, but I was wrong. I was still pretty tired and run down, but I didn't realize it until I had a few days of feeling awesome!

I think the lesson I've learned is to look after myself, that self-care isn't selfishness, and that I'm no good to someone else if I'm exhausted. (Yes, I know I should know all these things, but us counsellor types are better at offering advice than taking it some times!)

Look for daily posts starting again tomorrow. They might not be at 6:00 AM as I hoped - I'm still enjoying the 10 to 12 hour sleeps - but they'll be here eventually! I missed writing the blog and all the lovely feedback from you, my amazing readers! Thanks for all your kind words of support! I'm feeling back to normal again, and that's a great thing! 

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I'm back (in Pog form)!*

This has been one annoying cold. I lie down and I think, hey, I'm feeling good, let's go do somewhere or do something! Then I sit up and a few minutes later I'm feeling quite tired. I don't think it's a cold, though. I have some congestion, but it's mostly just exhaustion, headache, backache, muscle ache, generally achiness, and so on, so I think it might be something else. But I've been sitting up for quite a few hours now - yay! - and I've written some posts you'll see during the week from the why did I buy that series - mostly about fruit extracts (thanks for the suggestion, Lise!) but there'll be other topics! I'm hoping to get back to the Iron Chemist series after my holidays in early July when I'm planning some serious workshop time! So yay to feeling better! But I think I'll have a lie down now. Don't want to do too much in one day!

*Simpsons reference. Milhouse tells Bart that Alf is back "in Pog form", said Pogs purchased with money Milhouse made by selling Bart's soul to the Comic Book Guy. When I'm sick, I watch episode after episode of the Simpsons to make myself feel better. Warning: There will be quite a few Simpsons references in the coming days! 

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A thought on shelf life while watching Extreme Couponing

For some reason, I can't stop watching the show Extreme Couponing on TLC, despite the fact that we can't really do that in Canada as we don't get double or triple coupon days around here and stacking is almost impossible when you only get one version of a coupon...but I digress. It seems to me to be socially acceptable version of hoarding coupled with our strong desire for a bargain, both of which are fascinating to me. (If I had that much fabric or shea butter, I'm sure I'd get labelled a hoarder and my friends, co-workers, and family would set up an intervention! But have that much soup, and you're considered well prepared for the inevitable zombie apocalypse!)

What really strikes me about this program is how the people boast with pride that they have enough body wash or deodorant to last forty years! Every bath and body product has a shelf life determined by the life of the oils or butters (generally no more than 2 years for butters, about a year for oils), surfactants (2 years), and preservatives (again, about 2 years). I know you can open a body wash and enjoy its fruity scent five years later, but there are things in there that won't be working so well, like the preservatives. Once you've opened it, you've broken that seal and you could be asking for a world of ick! So please, make sure you're checking the best before labels on your products instead of hoarding them for the time when the zombies rule the earth and we have to hide in our basement bunkers hoping we won't get bitten! (And really, are you that worried about having moisturized skin when your brains might be the main course at an all you can eat undead buffet?*)

For more information on shelf life of our products, may I suggest these posts?
Determining the shelf life of your product
Shelf lives of our products (part 1)
Shelf lives of our products (part 2)
How do anti-oxidants affect the shelf lives of our products?
Or any of the emollient posts, which should have the shelf life of each oil and butter in each individual post.

*Can you tell what nightmares I had last night?

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I'm mobile!

I'm trying out the mobile version of the site to save bandwidth for those of you who might be surfing the 'net on a handheld device. What do you think? If you hate it, let me know and I'll change it back! I'm also trying mobile blogging. Again, if this is irritating, let me know!

Update: Since people seem to hate this, I've turned it off! Thanks for your suggestions! 

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