( Picture of soap )
That's not the bar I took my shower with, I used the Vanilla Mint. That bar is the one E picked, and it's called Glacier, also very minty and cool smelling.
First off, how it looks, the picture doesn't do it justice. Because this is a HUGE bar of soap. She sells smaller bars less expensively, but I like the huge chunk of soap. The packaging is minimal too. A tag, a piece of embroidery floss. It smells amazing. The Vanilla Mint was more mint then vanilla, but a sweet mint. It smells like mint candy.
It's not superfatted, or at least not terribly so. Sometimes handmade soaps can be a bit TOO moisturising to use on my face. This wasn't. I feel clean, my skin doesn't feel dried out, but it also doesn't feel oily. It smelled so good using it, I almost scrubbed a second time just to enjoy it again.
If you like patchouli, she makes one called Earth Goddess (I think?) that's patchouli and ginger that smells fantastic. Unfortunately, patchouli makes me sneeze. I was tempted though, it smells that amazing.
I think this soap will be what I use all summer. My skin can get oily and dirty in the summer and prone to breakouts, but since this isn't full of extra fat it won't aggravate the problem. During the winter, I'd use a body butter after showering I think.
It's 4 BIG bars for 30.00, or 5 little ones for 20, the little ones are 3-4 oz each (about the size of a standard bath bar) and the big ones are 7-8 oz each, so it's really reasonably priced. She does make vegan soaps too, including a vegan unscented bar if you've got sensitive skin or allergies.
She doesn't have a website yet, but you can contact her at bathbucket at alaska dot net if your interested in trying some for yourself. I'm not sure what shipping charges will be. If you live in Anchorage, she's planning on having a booth at the Saturday Market this summer.
I'll ask W what he thinks of the bar I gave him and let you know.

Well... I mentioned to some of you, I got a bottle of rum, this stuff. SN 938514 if you're curious. I also have a smaller bottle up too high for me to reach it to see if I can find a review of it, also from the Dominican Republic. I don't drink. Mike doesn't drink. This stuff got a review that makes me wish I did, I used to like rum and cokes. You know, when I drank.

I'm not sure if I'm going to the zoo today. The hotel is being renovated, and Mike had to work. E and I went to the Saturday Market though yesterday. First day and it was a blast.
( cut because this could get long )
In other news, last time I bought cologne, I got a bottle of violet. The scent is totally not making it for my family. Mike says "It's nice, just not what I'm used to." and E flat out says she doesn't like it, and wants me to wear rose or that other stuff (Opium). Ah well.

Well.. singingwolf had life going on last week when we ran out of soap. Since the car has been broken down, we haven't had a chance to get soap from any of my favorite local sellers, and I need to do something. So I bought 4 bars from Special Needs Handmade Soaps, one of the bars was peppermint, which is a good thing, because since I've been using Mike's Dr. Bronner's, he was out too, and forgot to get more. I LOVE the bergamot citrus which is the first bar I opened.
I was trying to explain soap to a friend a few weeks ago.
( soap )
When Mike and I got together, he was an Irish Spring user. Since he switched to real soap, he hasn't looked back. He uses Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap. To him, clean is a tingly feeling all over.
Well.. now that I've told you more then you *ever* wanted to know about soap..
Currently working on:
Update for Beadwork at BellaOnline
More boxes. Nearly done with boxes. Thank goodness. Had to redraw a lot of art in the last couple of days.
Thinking of: Melting crayons and maybe making some caramel popcorn later. I don't actually want to EAT caramel popcorn, but it's so pretty to make.

This is frankly, about feminine hygiene products and alternatives. So if you aren't interested skip it. Especially if you're one of the few men on my flist and you get squeamish about such things. I will be frank and honest. Because I'm writing this to refer friends I'm pretty comfortable with to.
( I prefer yonic symbols )

Remember a while back when I made my post about alternatives to deodorant?
( cut for the people who'd rather use chemicals )

Instead of doing dishes, I'm in youtube land again.
( a couple uses for vodka )
I love it so much, plus the music is just great.
I get, as I've mentioned before, my cologne from Laura's Body and Soul. They custom mix my "signature" rose scent to my specifications, plus a few other scents I wear when I'm feeling a bit more creative then just roses. They use a glycerine/alcohol/water base I believe. The glycerine makes the scent stay on like you wouldn't believe, alcohol is just a carrier and evaporates pretty quickly, but the glycerine makes it stick.
( psoriasis stuff cut for the uninterested )
Bead chat tonight at 6pm PST. I probably won't make it, since I didn't make it to the gym this morning and I was *bad* yesterday. I had a soda and potato chips and a cup cake.

Well.. an odd comment on an old entry made me realize I've been almost completely shampoo free for 2 years now. My hair is about 6 inches longer then it was then, and I've had a few inches trimmed off in those years. I can go longer between trims now without getting fairytale ends. When my hair has been braided, the braiders comment on how healthy it is. It's waist length now. And I love shampoo-free!

Today all the people who made it through all of the weight loss thing were treated to dinner/lunch at Nino's. If you come to Anchorage, go there. Yum yum. Mike, who lived in Italy for 3 years definately wants to go back. Mark the Hitman and his family, and Vince were there. We ordered dinner family style, and everyone got a little bit of everything. Oh gosh it was good. Very relaxed and slow dinner. It's casual, but with really good food. I like that combination. Vince and Mark were talking about their first meals after the whole thing was over, and both of them went out. Mike talked about his roast chicken and gravy. Friday night, when the gravy got done, Mike was right there with bread. He's missed bread and gravy so much! He had it confirmed he won, and total weight loss was 398 lbs for the whole group.
After that, we went and did some more holiday shopping, then came home and I started dinner. Actually, finished it. Last night I started a soup with the leftover chicken, but I needed veggies for it, so before I went to bed, I put it in the fridge so I could skim off the fat, then while we were out I stopped and got veggies, got home, skimmed the fat off the soup, and dumped in the veggies and some wild rice.
Working on W's blanket still.

You know the little hamster wheel cars? I told Mike the other day at the grocery store he needed one. With heating and some sort of system that would allow the car to go faster then he can run/walk so he can get too and from work and get his workout at the same time.

I don't think he was amused. He told me to shut up.

I missed hamster time today because I left my shoes at home, and got there just in time to get in my weights. So I lifted weights, but then I realized I left my notes in the locker room. With the weights I've been working at and the settings the seats et cetra are at. So I guessed to get done quicker.

End result? I remembered most of them. Forgot one, and went way over what I'm supposed to do. So as soon as my body figures that out (like after I go to sleep and wake up) my arms are going to hurt really badly. Ahh well.. tomorrow is a no-weight day. I'm doing the weights Mon-Wed-Fri and just cardio the rest of the days.

Nobody could agree on what we should have for dinner, so Mike got what he wanted. Since I didn't care, and Mike's the grownup. More mushrooms, more onions. Actually, it was mushrooms, onions, lots of garlic cloves, some herbs, a bit of sea salt, and some gorgeous grape tomatoes sauteed in olive oil oil until they were cooked down nicely and then I tossed in some shrimp, cooked that too. Served over rotini with fresh grated parmesan. It was yummy. Normally I wouldn't do two mushroom/onion dishes in a row, but Mike really likes them, and it's one of William's old favorites, in fact he usually requests it for his birthday. E had frozen chicken patties and carrots with pasta, since she thinks shrimp is "well.. pretty much awful."

A lot of scientists think sulphur helps promote healthy hair growth, it's known a sulfur deficiency can lead to weak nails and hair. So the theory is, that rubbing an onion on your head can help hair grow. So you'll have long lovely onion scented locks. Uh.. actually, egg yolks have a lot of sulphur in them too if you aren't a vegan, and without the onion smell, or worse.. finding out you accidently cut your scalp by brushing too hard just as the onion hits it. Ouch.
I'm going to try the egg thing once a week. Goodness knows I use enough other stuff from the kitchen in my showers. I'll let you know how it progresses. According to the Long Hair boards, long hair should be measured from the front of the hairline (where your bangs grow from) over the top of your head, down the length. My hair right now, using that measurement is 32 1/4 inches long.

At some point, I'm going to put all my Alaskan product reviews and commentary under the tag "Buy Alaska".

But today, you all know my aversion to commercial soaps, and other then Dr. Bronner's (which Mike uses), we buy handmade soaps locally. I love trying out different types, and found one recently at New Sagaya. One of the things I love about New Sagaya, other then being the only big locally owned grocery store is that they carry LOTS of local products. Not just the big ones. We go there very regularly because they carry my coffee. Unfortunately, they don't have a location on my side of town, or I'd do a lot more of my shopping there.
Alpenglow soap is a recent find in there. I bought a bar of the shea butter soap, and one of their shampoo bars. I had mixed feelings about the shampoo bar because my results are so mixed. The Burt's Bees one is wonderful for my daughter's hair because it does leave a waxy build up that helps keep her curls under control. It's less stunning on mine. I use it with a vinegar rinse afterwards.
Just took a shower with my new things. The soap? Of course I got the Alaskan Wild Rose. It's so fragrant, I thought I'd goofed. I thought for sure it had to have fragrance oil in it, which is fine in colognes, but I'd rather not scrub my face with extreme amounts. No, it really is just that fragrant. It uses wild rose petals and rose geranium e.o. for scent. For an anti-bacterial, this stuff uses rosemary e.o., not chemicals. It smells so good. I felt decadent. It did leave my skin just a little on the dry side, but I used some moisturiser and it's fine. The dryness isn't enough to put me off of it when the scent knocked me out. No itchies which commericial (read: detergent) soaps can do.

So the shampoo bar. I got the lavender. I've got a weakness for floral scents and I love layering them. It's got lavender and ylang ylang e.o.s in it, and if you know about aroma therapy, you know how sexy ylang ylang is. The lavender of course is soothing. I've got nearly waist length very fine straight hair if you don't know. So build up is absolutely my worst enemy, any sort of build up on my hair shows. I didn't use a rinse or conditioner after, and was able to pull my detangling comb through without any issues. Dry, it's not at all oily or waxy, which happens with some shampoo bars. It's clean, and shinier then I've seen it since I was a kid.

I still need a bath icon.

Well, I'll work on it when I get home Sunday.
( youtube video for those of you with longer hair )
Plus I have lots of single chopsticks. I buy bags of the laquered sets inexpensively enough, but with 2 kids who love using them but don't consistently get them washed and put away..hairsticks don't chew up your hair like a lot of barrettes do, and since my hair is healthier then it's been since I was a kid, I want to keep it that healthy.
Getting ready for the weekend. I'm excited, and trying to figure out what I'm forgetting.

I started E's rainbow scarf last night, and I've got red and orange done. Actually, since the colors I picked up were mostly pastels, I had to dig in my stash for a pink yarn for the red, and I'm all out of that popping bright pink that Sugar-n-cream comes in, so I used a rose color by Lion Brand.
I've decided that at the ends of the long scarf I'm making, the clouds will have happy faces with button eyes and be pockets. Because I know if I were her age, I'd love pockets in the scarf, and I'd still love a happy face cloud on a scarf. I thought to myself, "Self, you'd love this scarf, why aren't you making it for you?" and then answered myself with crafty insanity "Because obviously you are only going to make this once, and she'll borrow it to the point of ownership if you try to keep it."

I'm doing her scarf in half doubles, which are a yarnier and thicker and cushier and a tiny bit more time consuming then singles, but since it's cotton yarn, thicker is better for actually being a bit of protection against the elements.

Fortunately, you know Best Buy has seasons of X-files for 20 dollars this week yes? Well, a lot of tv shows on sale, so I bought the seasons of the X-files we didn't already have, Bones season 1 for Mike, and the last season of Alias, so I've got a lot of shows to watch while I'm working on this set.

Why the pink bat icon? Because the other thing I need to do is send R the pink bats I have for her, send Mel her hat, and I think I want to make a bat hairclip for my physical therapist as a late Christmas present. My physical therapist is vampire crazy, and she might only wear it around Halloween, but I think she'd like it. I'm going to make hers out of glittery black felt, since pink is really one of those colors you have to know someone well to know if they will wear.

Bath- last night I scrubbed with organic cane sugar. It's a lot scratchier then using brown sugar, and felt wonderful. Still not mixing oil into it, but this time because I forgot to pick up some hazelnut oil at the grocery store. During the winter I use a lot more body butter, and should put some sort of oil into what I'm using on my body at least. But my skin feels soft and clean without using body butter now. While I was taking my cake shower (which is what Emily calls a shower using sugar instead of soap and baking soda/acv for shampoo and conditioner) I thought about chocolate. Cocoa is a antioxidant, cocoa butter is wonderfully nourishing, and coffee is supposed to be great for the skin. Maybe I could mix myself a cafe mocha scrub? It would be a use for stale coffee beans, I could grind them up coarse and mix them with those other ingredients. A chocolate shower sounds really nice.

I went to The Body Shop, and bought some body butter. I think I've mentioned before how much I love their body butter in particular for my skin? I also got some scrub and became a card carrying body shop shopper. The membership there is 10.00, and you get 10 dollars in your birthday month to spend, plus a 10% discount, and points that get you more free stuff.
That day they were giving members this "Vitamin C Energizing Face Spritz", usually a 14 dollar product. I sprayed my face with it. My face was not energized. It was wet. Now it is dry from spraying something that had citric acid on it. It smells nice though, it's got citronella and grapefruit extract in it, and I *think* orange extract as well so it's all citrusy.
I sprayed it on Wms and Em's faces too, Wm said he felt wet, Em said she felt energized.
It's odd, when I was younger, my skin was so oily that using oil based scrubs was just a silly thing, but anymore, I tend to be a bit dryer. I know on my face part of that is switching to natural soaps exclusively, the detergent and harshness of commercial soaps can aggravate oily skin, making your skin produce more oil to protect itself.
I found one of my old soap and toiletries books and it has a ton of ideas for natural deodorants . A few of them make a lot of sense to me, I'm going to have to try them.

Emily made herself a new purse, I'll get a picture of it later, it's incredibly nifty. I love the idea of it and told her I was going to use it.

I was trying to explain one of my favorite afghan "patterns" to Mel recently, and figured I should note it here for her. I'll get a picture of at least the corner of a couple of them later (after Mike wakes).

Using Lion Brand Homespun yarn or something comparable (I like Homespun, it goes on sale frequently and it's thick and works up fast), 5-8 skiens. Whatever.. it's not a hard and fast pattern. You figure out how big you want it.
Size N hook. Yep. It's FAST.

Chain about 6 inches shy of how wide you want it to be loosely. (odd number of stitches)
Sc in every stitch and keep sc each row until it's about 6 inches shy of how long you want it to be. (hey.. I said this wasn't really a pattern)(odd number of rows)

Chain 1, sc in stitch, chain 3, skip a stitch, sc in next stitch, continue until you reach the corner, chain 3, sc in side of stitch to go around the corner, work like that all the way until the last ch 3 loop, instead of chain 3 on that last corner loop, chain 1, double crochet in first sc of round. Hey! Lookie there. You are right on top of that corner loop! ch1, sc in loop, chain 3, sc in next loop. all the way around again, end it the same way as previous round.
Ch 1, sc in loop, chain 5 for corner, sc in next loop, chain 3, sc in next loop, et cetra, chain 5s at corners, chain 3 everywhere else, at the last corner, chain 5, slipstitch to join to first sc.
chain 1, sc in all stitches around, slipstitch to join to the first sc.
chain 1, sc in all stitches around except at the corners, do 3 scs in those stitches, slip stitch to join.
Maybe one more round. I usually work until I'm out of yarn.
It's a very plain, very solid afghan, but the chains add a touch of interest and decoration, and the rest is solid enough Mike's toes don't poke through which is why I started using that design instead of something else for afgans. It works up so fast. I finished Mike's a couple years ago after promising him one for years, then Em decided she needed one, and there was this nifty color called Disco they have since discontinued I used for hers. I like these, since they don't take any thought to make and work up so fast.

-Shala

Last time I bought mayo, I got one of those plastic containers with the flip tops. You've seen them right?

When it was empty I washed it. I do that somewhat automatically with a lot of containers, I never know when one is going to be the perfect size for something. Emily just found the empty container, I was boringly and expectedly enough thinking "Purse"

Emily saw it and thought..
ant farm
bug catcher
snow globe
planter (it's clear plastic, she could see the roots)

In other news, I tried something different with my hair last night. I admit, sometimes I miss suds. When I do, I usually use Dr. Bronner's peppermint before I use the baking soda/acv. Last night I used my bar of Dr. Bronner's lavender on the theory lavender helps keep oil production down. It really does, a couple drops of lavender oil on a brush run through your hair will do wonders to keep it from getting oily.
Results- It took a little longer to dry, but it's SHINY. Really really shiny and soft. I'm happy with it. I won't do it regularly, but for those times I miss suds, it works well.
I think for those people who live in areas of the country where they don't have great water and can't get the baking soda completely rinsed out, you may want to try mixing it with Dr. Bronners. Dr. Bronner's is real soap so it isn't damaging. It's very mild. If it seems a little expensive, realize you don't need much.
Last night while I was combing my hair, I was just stunned, I was leaning forward and brushing it over on shoulder, and the fact that ends were all nice and neat even though my last trim was at least 5 months ago just stunned me. The ends aren't thinned out or wispy. Part of it is being healthier, but part of it is also giving up shampoo. It's just healthier, fuller and stronger.
The other thing about Dr. Bronners Lavender soap is that it's *really* cut down on my acne, so I'm going to try it on William. I knew it was a good soap for acne, but never really used it exclusively on my face for any amount of time, I've been using it for a couple weeks now and it's cleared up my skin considerably.

-Shala

Although I need to admit, I'm a little taken back that armpits got more comments then my shawl!
( soap and lotion )


My family tends to take a lot of things for granted. Admittedly Mike's had nearly 10 years with me to learn to, and my kids have known me and my mom all our lives, and Dad was with mom for over half his life. One of these things is blankets. Just about every blanket in this house was one I made, which means Mike's got several blankets big enough to cover him completely and we sleep with seperate blankets because it varies wildly how much I want on me. Emily's washclothes were all handmade by me.
Spoiled rotten.
But as far as blankets go, what I do for most of them and the background of most of the pictures I take of my crocheting are those heavy fleece blankets. I make them with 2 layers of fleece blanket stitched together with embroidery floss. Even the large sizes cost about 20 dollars to make. I buy the fleece at Joann's while it's on sale, and buy the floss when it's 4 skeins for a 1.00. They take about 2-3 hours to stitch by hand which I do during tv time. The afgans are done in Lion Brand Homespun and take 5-7 skeins of yarn,also bought on sale. Emily's wound up being their disco color which is a blend of teal/black/purple when they discontinued it because it went on sale for 3 dollars. They are the easiest things in the world to crochet. My pattern, if it can be called such, is to chain a length about 6 inches short of how wide I want the blanket to be with a size N hook, then I single crochet it until it's 6 inches short of the total length I want. Then I do single crochets all the way around with 3 single crochets in the corners. slip stitch to join that round, chain 1 to turn, and single crochet in that stitch (the one the chain one comes out of) then chain 3, skip a stitch, and single crochet in the next stitch, do that all the way around, and on the loop, chain 1 and double crochet in the first single crochet of that round, repeat twice, then the next round, chain 1, 3 single crochets in every loop with 5 single crochets in the corners. The 3 chain mesh gives a nice border, and most of the blanket is dense enough that toes don't stick through. I promised Mike an afgan for years and never got it done until I finally did this one for him, and Emily loved his enough I had to make her one too. She also sleeps with her baby blanket. If we are going to the hotel for the weekend it's the first thing that get's packed. It's a simple granny square blanket that's stretched over the years, and she's very good about putting it in the laundry when she needs it cleaned. I don't know I'd be willing to take all the time to make her and her brother nice things if they didn't take such care with them.

Babble babble. This is what I do when I'm awake when I shouldn't be.
-Shala

It would be distraction. I can get distracted so easily.

I was going to go finish up my shawl, but decided to take a shower, and while I was rinsing the vinegar out of my hair, I was thinking of the stories on the news lately about the possible danger of anti-perspirant.
( more information then you wanted about my armpits )

Before you all get the wrong idea about me being some granola eating patchouli and fleece wearing (fleece really is this century's answer to flannel isn't it?) flower child.. not even close to the truth. The truth is that I'm incredibly girly. I can't imagine giving up my makeup, I have reasonably long fingernails, I wear dresses and skirts *all* the time. I shave my legs and wax my eyebrows. If my 15.00 a bottle shampoo worked better then baking soda, I'd use it and hang the enviromental effects. It doesn't. Some things like laundry soap are because of my allergy problems. I have to double rinse anything I wash with laundry detergent and sometimes my clothes still itch, but when I use Dr. Bronner's sal suds or his soap for my laundry or even e.o.s I don't have a problem. I don't use commercial soaps for the same reason. If you can't afford handmade soap, I do suggest giving Dr. Bronner's a try. I'm not fanatic enough about anything not to look for other solutions. While making lipbalm exactly to my specs only takes 20-30 minutes, sometimes it's more convenient to buy it, so I found a couple brands that Mike and I both like that don't cost too much (still a LOT more expensive then making it from scratch though)

Ah well.. I'm rambling.
-Shala

I did finally get my Bernat Disco at my dad's house, I had him open the package because he wasn't clear on who it came from, he described it to me and I said "it's really ugly isn't it?" I got the brown though, so I'm happy.

Here's the problem. I had him open it. It included a catalog. So he opened that. And *described* things to me out of it. Page numbers. The free patterns. All of that.
If you simply can not stand your free yarn, send it to me. I know I can use it. Especially if you got the brown.
(google bernat disco if your interested, I'm sure you can find a link to the free yarn offer if it's still good. I'm just not sure and too lazy to google it right now)

He described it in *detail* which scarves he liked, so I asked (logically enough to my way of thinking) "Would you like me to make you a scarf?" He said no, he wouldn't use it, but spent at least 10 minutes explaining to me *why* he liked the one in the catalog he was looking at.

He told me there were lots of things I could make and a coupon and special deals and on and on and on.

You know that part of Clue:The Movie? "To make a long story short.." "too late"
That's my dad.
Crochet Geek Speak:
I wound up frogging the border. So I could do it exactly how I envisioned it. The first round is a shell border which at the bottom point to set it up for the final round needed to be one shell on either side of the point and instead wound up being a centered shell. So I frogged it, and restarted the border using a half shell at the top corner. I've got that round almost done. :) 90% of the shawl is in singles and chains, I don't think triples count as advanced, so do you think it's okay if I use them on the final round? I want it to be a fairly simple pattern for beginners, but IF you shift the the shells by one half shell, it can be ended with that row.

2 months now shampoo free. Still thrilled with it. I do miss suds sometimes, but my hair is so much healthier it's amazing, I've had one trim since I gave up shampoo and I don't need to dust my hair anymore. Mixing the vinegar ahead of time and putting it into an old shampoo bottle works well for me, but the baking soda I need to mix fresh everytime. I keep an old margerine tub in the shower to mix it in. I found that if I pre-mixed that, it settled and bits of the baking soda dried and clogged the bottle, plus getting cold meant that it just didn't mix as nicely when I shook the bottle. The vinegar is infused rather then making teas to mix in with it. I have rosemary and lavender both in it. I rinse it very well and never have even a trace of vinegary smell afterwards. Actually my hair smells just clean. No shampoo smells to clash with my perfume.

-Shala

nematoddity tipped me to a great idea babyslime suggested for going shampoo free, so I tried it. At this point I'm willing to try anything that won't aggravate my allergies. I wash my clothes with EOs, do my dishes with Dr. Bronner's Sal-Suds, and use the Body Shops body butters or pure cocoa butter on my skin. I buy handmade soaps or Dr. Bronners, and never ever use detergent name brand soaps, and I make my own hand sterlisers. The only thing I can think of that caused me to break out badly and scratch my face until it was raw is my shampoo. I don't always react to things, but I buy hypo-allergenic make up mostly, and use it very rarely.
(all this has a point)
My hair isn't dry yet. I've got a bit of it. But it squeaks and feels soft so I've got faith it will be fine. Since I was washing my hair with things from my kitchen, I decided to scrub my body and face with brown sugar. I KNOW I don't have a problem with it.

LOVE it. I didn't add any oil, just plain brown sugar. My skin is so soft, it exfolliated without drying out my skin, it rinsed away super clean, it's sugar after all, my warm shower dissolved it and it all came off. If my skin was dry I suppose I'd add some oil of some sort, and maybe some wheat germ, but it's not dry right now (not until winter anyway!)
I liked it better even then sea salt scrubs.

Emily thought it was silly as could be. A cake shower, but she touched my cheek and commented on how nice it felt.
Can you imagine how much I can save if I can get away from the expensive products that *don't* make me break out???
*spins* more money to play!
Speaking of playing, went to go see Serenity again tonight.. and more later.. I think it's about time to snuggle.

-Shala