Steph's Simple Life

Well, we are already almost 3 weeks into the New Year, I hope everyone is still on track for the things they set out to do.  I'm still hanging in there with my exercise and diet, and while I haven't lost as much weight as I'd hoped, my blood pressure has went down considerably!  I guess if I can't be skinny, I'll have to settle for healthy.  I've also been trying to keep up with my crafting.  I just sliced another batch (No. 3) of soap this morning.  I'm really excited, this batch turned out really white and I scented this one with grapefruit and jasmine.  I also bought a mitre box so that I can cut the bars more evenly, so they will look more uniform. Here it is, still sitting in the mitre box.  (If you're thinking about making soap, I recommend you get one of these boxes, I only paid 5 dollars for it at Lowes.) Someone asked me the other day how big are the batches that I've been making.  I've been making 1 lb batches, and that makes 7...

Well, another year is behind us!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  We went home to Missouri where we met up with the rest of our family.  While we were there we even burned some brush over on our farm, because who can pass up a chance to burn things....certainly not me and my friend! After we got back home, I decided to lick my soap that I made around Thanksgiving.  Yes, I said lick.  I know it sounds strange, but I read that you can tell if it's done by licking it.  It said it will "zap" you if it's not done...so I licked it. (I had to do it in secrecy, so that my husband wouldn't think that I'd gone crazy.)  Since it didn't zap me, I tried it.  It could stand to cure longer, but it produces a really creamy lather, and rinses off really clean feeling, I made small bars and they were light in color.  Since they are the first batch, they are No. 1.  Here's what the bars look like.     The color is pretty l...