Thursday, August 18, 2011

Today was a "putter" day.  Madison and Meghan were here for a bit while Sam and Kelli went to a funeral for Kelli's great-grandma.  Meghan took a nap and after she woke up, Madison wanted to go on the front porch and sit on the swing.  So we did.  We watched cars go by, we heard birds squawking, Madison rang the dinner bell and threw a ball around the yard.  The guys were gone for dinner so it was just a fun kind of lazy morning.  After the girls went home, I shredded up a batch of lard and lye soap to put into our homemade laundry soap kits.  A salad shooter sure makes the job a lot easier.

I also measured out oils for 4 more batches of soap.  Tomorrow I will be doing a batch of Fairy Tales.  I have some bars left so I will concentrate on cupcakes, itty bitty bars, and perhaps some mini cupcakes.  (tee hee, Deb)

After I measured the oils, I packaged up some laundry soap kits, made a couple of stockings, and then baked the batch of cookies I mixed up yesterday.

Went for a short run tonight and just finished cooking up a batch of liquid laundry soap.
Time for bed.

Word of the day:
Thursday of the Twentieth week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day : St. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, Priest (1901-1952)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 22:1-14.

Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying,
The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."'
Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.'
The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'
Many are invited, but few are chosen."

Thursday, July 28, 2011

First of all, I want to wish a very happy birthday to Kelli!!
It is humid and warm again. It was nice to have a couple of days' relief from the heat, though.

I made soap today. I've been wanting to do a series of family heritage type soaps. The one I did today is called. "I Remember Mama" It's scented with rose geranium. When I smell roses I always think of my mother. Her favorite flowers were actually gladioli, but she used to use gycerine and rosewater on her hands.

Here is a pic of them in the molds. I wanted the peach color to be more rose, but now I think I like this better. I found some rosebuds to put on top.

 Tonight is quilting night!!! Woo hoo!!

Update:  I finally got around to making a YouTube video.  It's been almost 2 months!  Where has the summer gone?



I also made two batches of laundry soap today.  Here is the recipe I use:
1 cup grated lard and lye soap  (guess you know what kind I use.)
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1 old laundry detergent bucket with lid (should hold at least 2 1/2 gallons.)
I measure out 2 gallons of water ahead of time in milk jugs that I've saved.  I pour about a quart of water in a stock pot (which I reserve just for making soap) and add the shredded soap.  I heat that until the soap shreds are melted.  Then I add the other ingredients and stir till dissolved. I pour that into the old detergent bucket and stir.  I then add the rest of the water - stir and set aside to gel.   You can just scoop it out of the bucket if you want, but I like to pour mine into old clean milk jugs so I can just pour it into the washer.  I use 1/2 cup for most loads and 1 cup for greasy farm clothes.  In the picture is part of the first batch I made. You can see that the jug on the right has emulsified.  Wish I knew how I did that.  The other 2 will need to be shaken each time I use the soap.  The fourth jug went home with Howard so Colleen can try it.  This soap is low sudsing so it works in those new front load washers. For fabric softener I add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the bleach dispenser in my washer.  You could also use one of those Downy dispensers.

 I don't always use the liquid soap.  Sometimes I just throw some soap shreds (about 1/4 cup loosely packed) in the washer and add a tablespoon each of baking soda, borax, and washing soda.  


Word of the day:
Thursday of the Seventeenth week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day : Sts. Nazarius and Celsus, Martyrs (1st century), St. Victor, Pope and Martyr († 198)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13:47-53.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Do you understand all these things? They answered, "Yes."
And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

I think the heat wave is finally on its way out the door. Hopefully it will take the humidity with it. I made a batch of a new soap in honor of Aggie.  It's a plain Lard & Lye bar - the same kind of soap Aggie would have used when she was raising her brood of 12.   I was looking for some vintage pics of Aggie with the kids. Gordon and Nancy stopped by on Thursday night and provided me with this.  Anna sharpened it and designed the label.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  It is listed on the website along with a brief synopsis of Aggie's life and her amazing strength of spirit.  This picture must have been taken in the late 40s because Harold looks to be about 1 or 2 here and he was born in 1946.  He's a little hard to see, but Agnes is holding him.

We had a gathering at Judy's house on Friday and we gave all the siblings a bar.  This label is a little different than what was on those bars.  I like this one a lot better.  In this picture are Agnes, Betty, Jane, Joan, Irene, and Harold - the first five of the 12 she would eventually have. In fact, Agnes was most likely expecting again when this picture was taken.

One of the other pictures Gordon had with him was of the old Allen country school that used to be down the road.  All of the kids except Marie and Howard went there.  I was sad when it was torn down.  I hate to see historic buildings disappear.  I'm really glad that someone took this picture!  When I run, I go by the spot where this school used to stand. 

I made some bath fizzies tonight.  We'll see how they do through the night.  It wasn't a great day to do them because of the humidity.  I also made another batch of the new soap.  I have to do a couple more batches of goat milk soap because I have some goat milk I need to use up.


Word of the day:
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day : St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (1828-1898), Saint Christina, Virgin and Martyr († c. 300)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13:44-52.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Do you understand all these things? They answered, "Yes."
And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."

Sat. June 14, 2008

Happy Flag Day!

On the lowcarb front:
I am having some blood sugar issues so at the moment I am using Atkins for Life until I can get a call into the doctor. In the past, my blood sugar has tanked on induction. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case this time, but I am noticing the signs - the chief one being extreme irritability. So I am taking it day to day to see how I will need to do things on lowcarb.

Here is my menu so far for today:

Breakfast:
Cafe latte
Mock danish

Lunch:
cheesy joe (velveeta and ground beef)
revolution roll
WW yogurt
BBQ pork rinds

Snack:
Atkins bar

Dinner:
Dixie Diner flax muffin with 1 T. peanut butter
1 oz mixed macadamia nuts and peanuts
1/2 cup Breyer's No Sugar Added ice cream.

Carbs for the day: 50 Calories for the day: 2180

There is a discussion going on right now on several forums about calorie counting on Atkins. Here is my take on the issue. I keep track of calories for this reason; as a compulsive eater, I am not able to "eat to satiety" as Dr. Atkins recommended. For the compulsive eater, there is no such thing as satiety. Most of us don't even know what feeling full or feeling hungry feels like. We never experience either one. We may eventually learn it, but in the weight loss stage we have to use numbers to impose limits. Using a calorie limit allows me to put parameters on my food intake. This may make no sense to anyone except another compulsive eater, but there it is. I do believe that a calorie is not necessarily a calorie when it comes to low carb, but I do think that there is a breaking point beyond which you can't go without gaining weight no matter how few carbs you take in. That breaking point is definitely higher on low carb than on low fat - at least in my experience.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I use a program called Diet Power to log my foods. Well, what do you know, the Diet Power people emailed me asking if they could use me as a testimonial. I said, "sure, but I have a really old version." They went nutso because I was using an outdated program. I have tried their upgrade, but since the version I have does everything I need it to do, I see no reason to pay for an upgrade. I set my own macros and input my own food. After 3 or 4 emails, I quit responding. I'm not saying that the new and improved version isn't good - I'm sure it is, but I am an old dog and I am unwilling to learn new tricks - especially if I have to pay for them.

On the home front:
This morning I discovered I was out of laundy soap. And I had a ton of laundry to do. But do not fear. I have been making my own laundry soap for quite a while now. I started out doing it because I thought it was kind of cool. I make soap and sometimes there is a batch here and there that isn't quit up to my standards to sell, or a scent might have disappeared in the saponification process but I can't sell it as unscented because the fragrance oil is in there. When I have a botched batch, I shred it and put it into a 5 gallon bucket. My plan was to some day re-batch the stuff so as not to waste my resources. Guess what. I discovered I don't have any desire to re-batch. So what to do with the soap shreds? I found a recipe on the net for making my own laundry soap.
Here is the recipe:

1/3 bar of Fels naptha shredded (I used 4 ounces of my own handmade soap shreds)
1/2 cup washing soda (NOT BAKING SODA)
1/2 cup borax
1 T. body safe fragrance oil (optional)- I use oatmeal, milk & honey
3 gallon bucket (I use an old Sun powdered detergent bucket

Melt the soap shreds in 6 cups of water in a large saucepan on the stove.
When melted, stir in the borax and the soda until dissolved.
Remove from heat
Pour 4 cups hot water in bucket
Pour in the soap mixture
Stir well
Add another gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.
At this point I funnel the mixture into old 110 fluid oz detergent jugs for easier pouring, but you may leave it in the bucket and just scoop it out.
Let mixture sit for 24 hours. It will gel into a kind of gloppy substance - not a solid gel and, no it ain't pretty but it does the job. It is not a high sudsing soap, but suds aren't what clean your clothes anyway.
I use 1/2-1 cup of this per load depending on the size.

Besides being cool, homemade laundry soap is economical. I figured up the cost for making a batch. The most expensive ingredient for me was the washing soda because I can't find it locally any more. I ordered 14 pounds off of Ebay and paid a total of 33 dollars counting the shipping.

I figured the cost at about $3.50 for a batch that does 64 loads if I use 3/4 cup (2 of the laundry jug capfuls) per load. That's about 5 cents a load. Not bad. And I can make it smell any way I want. It's a good soap to use for anyone who has allergies. Makes me feel like Ma Ingalls.

Now, for a good cheap fabric softener - take a jug of vinegar and add 1 T body safe fragrance oil. I fill the fabric softener dispenser cup or one of those Downy dispensers.

later . . .

God bless the troops