Winter Update

Bees, Chickens, Chicks, Reflections, Sewing, yoga

Now that you know my, um, excuses for not blogging much this year (the dog ate my blog – Blame It on the Dog) let me catch you up on some of the things that I’ve been up to in 2022.

Daily Yoga – The day after Christmas I began doing yoga. I have never done yoga before but have been told about its benefits and encouraged to try it by two of my sisters and one of my daughters. Since I was no longer experiencing as much pain form the pinched nerve, I decided that it was time to start trying to heal this condition. In order to do so I figured some type of exercise is necessary. I decided to start this 30-day yoga journey entitled breath because for the past two years I have been practicing deep breathing and encouraging others to “breathe deep” as well.

https://yogawithadriene.com/breath-a-30-day-yoga-journey/

Now don’t get the wrong idea. I am nowhere near good at this. I am not graceful. I am awkward at best. I am getting better but it’s not pretty. (That is why I only do it when I am home alone.)

I have been feeling and seeing some of the benefits. I can tell that I am getting stronger and increasing my balance. I also feel good physically and I seem to have more focus after doing it. Once I finished the first 30-day program I started over again and I’m about to finish it a second time. I plan on repeating it again in March.

If you’ve ever considered learning yoga I would encourage you to do it. I would also recommend this program as a starting point.

Sewing Projects– I have completed two sewing projects. The first was this sweatshirt dress made with plush fleece. I did adjust the pattern to make it a turtleneck. This top is so comfortable and warm; I wear it quite often.

(I’m no model so this is what I do when my husband tells me to pose. LOL)

The second is this sweater. I’m not sure what the fabric would be called, but it is a soft knit with silvery threads intertwined to give it the shimmery look.

I have a third project started but it’s way different from anything I have done before. I am learning to work with interfacing and make buttonholes, so this is taking a while.

Garden Planning – We are really looking forward to spring. We have ordered and received all of our seeds for this year’s garden. I found it interesting that we did not receive tons of seed catalogues in the mail this year. (I think we received one.) I wonder if we have been removed from the mailing lists because we hadn’t ordered for several years, or are companies no longer using catalogues as a means of marketing? Maybe some of both?

After last year’s gardening disaster (too much rain) we decided we need to do something different this year. We will be adding some raised beds. We are in the planning stage, and I’ll write more about it once we begin working on them.

Bees – We lost both hives again this year and just can’t explain why. There were just a few dead bees in the bottom of both hives. The rest were just gone. This is an unexplained phenomenon referred to as colony collapse disorder. We did harvest about 30 lbs. of honey that was left in the hives so at least it wasn’t a total loss.

We have ordered three bee packages for this year. They are scheduled to arrive on April 15. The bees we are getting this year are a different breed than the ones we have had in the past, so that gives us a little more hope for their survival.

Chicks and Chickens – Sunday as I looked at the weather forecast, I realized that the weather this week would be right for tapping maple trees. With above freezing daytime temps and below freezing nighttime temps that sap should begin to flow. We are not tapping trees this year, but I reminded my husband that in past years it seemed like at the same time we tapped maple trees the chickens began to lay more eggs. Monday my husband collected 6 eggs and Tuesday five. For about the past two months we had been averaging only between two and three eggs a day. An interesting correlation between sap season and egg laying.

We are going to add about 12 chicks to our flock this year. I will share chick pictures when we get them. 🙂

New Chair – Last week we finally went shopping for a new desk chair. this is the one I selected.

While it doesn’t actually have bells and whistles, it does have lumbar support, height adjustment, arm rests that adjust up and down and forward and backward, and the seat back reclines. This makes sitting at my desk much more comfortable. It is called a gaming chair so as I like to say, “game on!”

Thanks for visiting.

Have you ever done yoga?

Will you be planting a garden this year?

Did you receive any seed catalogues in the mail?

Blame It On the Dog

Dogs, Reflections

I have discovered that, for a couple of reasons, blogging from my recliner is not the best option for me. First of all, when I sit down and lean back with my feet out in front of me it tends to trigger a hidden switch somewhere in my body that causes my eyelids to get heavy. This is not something new; it used to happen years ago, when the kids were still at home, and we would have family movie night. Everyone would enjoy watching a movie together except mom who dozed, and possibly snored, through most of it.

The second problem is that when Ranger sees me sitting in my recliner it is an open invitation for cuddle time. He seems to think that my lap is better suited to a lapdog than a laptop so as soon as I sit down, he comes and puts his paws on my knees and pleads to come up.

Cuddle PUP

Who could resist that face?

Soap Making Part V – Unmolding the Soap

Making Soap, Reflections

If you are like me, you will be eager to see how things are progressing so the day after you made the soap you will be lifting the towel and touching the soap with the plastic wrap on it to see if it has hardened up yet. That’s good. That is exactly what you need to do. If the soap is still soft enough that you can leave an indentation when you touch it then you might want to leave it for another day or two.

When I unmolded and cut this batch I got in a hurry and did not follow that advice. While my soap was solid it was still soft – about the texture of cream cheese.

The best way to remove the soap from the mold will depend on the type of mold you used. With these two plastic molds the soap may or may not simply pop out when you turn the mold upside-down and press on it. I find that it usually doesn’t so I put them in the freezer for an hour or so.

Once the soap is frozen it does pop out of the mold when you turn it upside-down and press on the bottom.

I then use a large knife to cut then into bars.

For the molds that were lined with plastic wrap you can simply turn the mold upside-down, and the soap will fall out of the mold.

You can then peel the plastic wrap off and cut the soap into bars.

You’ll notice that I did not get a clean cut because the soap was still soft when I cut it. This may not be an issue for you unless you want a professional look.

I then place the bars in a box lined with wax paper and put them on a shelf where they will continue to harden and cure as the ph. drops over the next 4-6 weeks. I turn them over once or twice a week so that they cure evenly.

To know when the soap is ready we just use it. I will usually wait about six weeks but my husband will sometimes try it out after four weeks. If the soap is not ready you might feel some tingling on the skin. Another option would be to use ph. test strips but I’m not sure how accurate they are, and I’ve never found them to be necessary.

Thanks for reading and once again please leave any questions you have in the comments section below.

Happy soaping!

P.S. I really love to hear about your soapmaking experiences please let me know how it goes.