On the lowcarb front:
My stats for today:
Type: treadmill
Route: workout room while watching Biggest Loser
Time: 32 minutes
Average heart rate: 112
Maximum heart rate: 129
Calories burned: 208
I’m up 2 pounds from last Monday
What a difference a day makes. Today I feel great and rarin' to go. I was reading my DANDR on the treadmill today and the chapter on temptation and what to do about it is one that I am going to run off and put in my notebook. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I have a notebook. I keep my stats and routines etc in it. I was also watching last season's Biggest Loser. I can't wait until September and a new one begins.

On the home/business front:
I made Candy Apple soap yesterday. I use a process which allows me to test a bar the day after I make it. I let it cure and harden for several weeks, but I just have to try a piece of each batch I make. I have recently altered my main recipe with the addition of goat's milk. Omigosh!

People who don't use handmade soap just do not know what they are missing. I use a lot of oils in my soap so about once a month I measure all of my oils out into plastic Christmas pails that I bought on clearance. Measuring the oils is the least favorite part of soapmaking and it would be easier if I didn't use so many oils, but my recipe is my reputation and I am not about to change it.

I use coconut, avocado, cottonseed, soybean, sweet almond, cocoa butter, olive, castor, and palm oils. Measuring them out is messy so I measure out as many batches as I can at one time - usually about 10 or so before I run out of one oil or another. Each oil in our soap is there for a specific reason.

Then I measure out my lye crystals into jars. I line my two slab molds and then I'm ready for soapmaking days. When I first started making soap, it would take me several hours to do a batch. Since then I have streamlined my method and if everything is ready to go, it takes me less than an hour from mixing to pouring in the mold to cleanup For those of you who are interested, here is my soaping routine.

Monthly - measure out oils and lye
Mondays:
Grab soap bucket and lye jar
Measure out distilled water into glass pitcher
Take upstairs to kitchen.
Put on gloves and goggles
Mix lye and water on stovetop with fan running to keep fumes away.
Cover lye pitcher with soap bucket lid and move to safe place
Melt oils on stovetop
Leave oils and lye water to cool for 2 hours - in the mean time:
Line both slab molds and keep one in reserve for Wednesday
Measure out fragrance oils and colorant into containers and have ready
After 2 hours:
Put on gloves and goggles. Place lined mold on stovetop (I have a smooth top range)
Pour melted oils into soap pot and add goat's milk - blend with stick blender
Add lye water
Blend with stick blender until mixture looks like thin pudding
Pull out about 3/4 cup of raw soap mixture and add to color pitcher. Stir until blended.
Go back to soap pot and stick blend until very light trace. Then I add the fragrance oil to the main batch and stick blend until well mixed.
Drizzle colored soap into soap pot and stir ONCE.
Pour into slab mold and cover.
I then put my soap into a 170 degree oven for 2 hours. This forces it to gel and lets me test a bar right away. If I am soaping late in the evening, I just set the oven to shut off in 2 hours and leave it until morning. Usually, though I take it out after 2 hours and cut into bars the next morning.

I clean everything up while my gloves are still on because raw soap is caustic and I don't want anyone getting hurt. Everything is washed and in the dishwasher before I call it a day.

Then comes the fun. After the slab is cut into bars, one bar is designated for testing and I cut that into several pieces and distribute to others for testing. After several weeks I package the soap and put into boxes to await a craft show or a website sale.

We have a show with an apple theme coming up so I am concentrating on my apple scents. After that I will move on to pumpkin and the Christmas Holiday scents. All of this has to be done a little earlier this year because we have no idea what to expect from our Christmas stocking ad in Country Sampler.

I love what I do, can you tell?

Word of the day:
Matthew 12:46-50
While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

God bless the troops!

Friday, July 11, 2008

On the lowcarb front:
My stats for today:
Type: walk/jog
Route: Deadend/back/far edge of the woods/back
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 126
Maximum heart rate: 153
Calories burned: 239
Yesterday's Carb count: 41
I’m down 1.2 from last Friday
I got out on the road at about 8:10 or so. I can tell it's going to be a warm one. Saw a couple of rabbits and lots of deer hoof prints, but no deer.

On the business/home front:
I occasionally check out the competition's soap to see what's new on the market. I came across an ebay listing where a gal is claiming all kinds of things. Now I have no beef with claiming certain properties for skin, but when someone starts attributing soap properties to relief of muscle aches, arthritis, and high blood pressure, then I get a little annoyed. It gives the rest of us soapers a bad name. For instance, this lady is using chamomile in her soap and she says that chamomile is good for aches and pains, moodiness, cramping etc. That may be true if chamomile is taken internally - as in tea. The same with some of the other claims she is making about herbs. I don't think this person is intentionally being dishonest, but it is this kind of irresponsibility that hurts the rest of us. She does put a disclaimer on it saying that she is not a doctor, but that is laughable because in the next sentence she says that what we use on our bodies ends up in our bodies. So she is implying that her soap will do things that it won't do - unless, of course, you eat it. There are enough legitimate benefits to handmade soap without pulling some out of thin air. Okay, rant over.

I made my candles last night and changed the wicks. I think I have found my wick combo now. I'm not sure I'm happy with the scent throw so I will have Kelli and Anna test for me. I am around these scents so much that sometimes I am immune to them.

Today I am going to concentrate on cleaning and stockings. Hopefully I will be able to catch up in both areas. Tonight there will be a "Moeggenborg Girls' night Out" at my sister-in-law's house. We try to do these monthly and they are a lot of fun. They are quilting all day today and if I had planned better, I could have joined them. I have a wedding rehearsal tonight so I will be getting there a little late.

Word of the day:
Matthew 10:16-20
Jesus said to his disciples, "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

Reflections from the cornfield:
If ever there was a "let go and let God" moment, this is it. Or maybe "trust, but verify." How often do we turn things over to God only to slowly take back our issues thinking we can do it better. It's easy for us, in hindsight, to think that the disciples should have just trusted, but they were still growing in their understanding of Jesus. Indeed, Jesus himself, was evolving his mission from the lost sheep of the house of Israel to the lost sheep of the world.

God bless the troops!