frugal living: cold-process soap

So, one of my goals is to live more frugally this year. I am happy to say that I have done well in January. I cleaned out clutter, have not bothered buying anything and focused on doing some of the new things I wanted to learn. This week it was cold-processed soap.  Making your own soap is less expensive than buying commercially made soap and you know exactly what is in it. I took a class, which I think is the best way to go because you get advice and learn basic techniques that you can expand on later as you get more into soap-making. I can see how this might become rather addictive. Homemade soap makes wonderful, personal gifts for any occasion.

Something I am becoming more aware of is the chemicals in cosmetics and products we use on our body. Some of these are cancer-causing.  I have learned how to make my own cream and lotion and so it makes sense to learn how to make soap. My particular recipe has palm oil, olive oil, shea butter and one batch has goat's milk in it the other does not.  I love the fact that I know every ingredient that is in there.  In order to make soap, you need to use lye.  Lye is what causes saponification to take place. All soap, homemade and commercial, has lye in it.  Lye is not hard to work with at all - you just need to respect it. Wear gloves and safety eye wear and work in a well ventilated room.  My soap is scented with lavender for the one batch and peppermint/rosemary for the other batch. I also added some calendula flowers to give the soap soothing properties.

Peeps, this was SO much fun!

weirdness

All I can say is -30C...that is so freakishly cold...and with the windchill about -40 and the dryness, I feel like my skin cannot possibly stretch any further. I have been slathering on face cream like never before. So, I did what any normal person should do under these circumstances and finished making the Babe's socks, which I then promptly borrowed. I also started another pair of socks because there is just no such thing as too many hand-knit socks!

Very weird week at work...I have worked almost every day for the last two weeks from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. In a nutshell our company has been bought out by another. A very common occurrence here in oil and gas town.  Being an investor relations manager, it has not exactly been a picnic for me.  What does that mean for me? Meh, dunno! It could mean a great severance or working for someone new.  I have to sit two months in limbo before I know.  I hate that. Considering I just started working for this company after working for 10 years at my old one....it's a great deal of change in my life in a short while. All I can do is wait and breathe...and knit :)

Happy weekend.

skindeep

Alright peeps! Today I am touching on skin care. I am 50 now, FIFTY!!!! When my mom was 50, I was 20 years old and I seem to recall I thought she was old - as is typical with the selfishness of youth. Of course, ahem, today, 50 is supposedly the new 40...or so I read in many publications. The inescapable fact is that I have noticed my skin changing and wrinkles breeding at the same rate as rabbits. I admit I am the worst steward of my skin - I wash my face with soap, Dr. Brommers lavender scent to be exact. I only started using face cream two years ago - I use an Aveda face cream with tourmaline in it; please don't ask me what that means! I only use face cream during the winter and I rarely wear sun screen even though I run outside in the summer. In spite of this, for a person my age, my skin is not too bad. I don't smoke, which helps tremendously; I don't wear any make-up except for a tiny bit of blush (don't want to scare people at work in the morning with my pasty, white face) and mascara, and most days I am lazy to even put that on. I also don't eat tons of really bad food.

I don't know ANYTHING about skin care, but I truly enjoyed this post on beautiful skin by Janet. I have Janet's blog 'Gardener's Cottage' on my side bar because her blog journal is full of applicable recipes, decorating advice and beauty tips, simple living advice and fashion tips for real women along with genuine thoughts and feelings peppering all the great words.

....AND...to fulfill another New Year's goal, I took a lotions and potions making class at a local soapwork company and man, was that FUN or what. I made a whipped body butter, a hydrating cream and a body lotion using all natural ingredients, free of parabens(?) and other nasty stuff.

Happy weekend peeps!