The shoemaker's wife is barefoot...and my husband has no soap!

I love the old Ivory Soap ads...not that I am old enough to remember this particular ad; but I remember the 80's ads for Ivory; they always had the most beautiful pictures, and the cutest babies! Maybe I was always meant to make soap; I've always loved to get a new bar of soap, unwrap it, and display in my bathroom. I remember wanting to keep soap in a pristine condition by not using it; I always loved the designs stamped into the bars, and the "feel" of a brand-new bar of soap....ahhh, but I digress!

The reason for the title of the post is that ever since I've started selling my soap, I have been terribly reluctant to actually use my soap myself! I've gotten such kind compliments from people, and I truly enjoy making something that people enjoy. Meanwhile, I'm looking wistfully at bar after bar of my soap in my drying closet; still working my way through my early attempts, scratch and dents, and slivers of my soap! Although I do always test each batch for gentleness by washing my hands with the trimmings, I must confess there are several varieties I have not used! So tonight, in the spirit of taking care of myself so that I can be the best wife and mother; I took a deep breath; opened my drying closet, and picked out a soap! I have to admit; it was an imperfect soap, one that I was saving for free samples, but I felt like a kid in a candy store! I also used a shampoo bar, and gave my poor husband a pristine, saleable bar of the soap I made with him in mind! Poor thing, he's been using a tiny of sliver of soap for who knows how long; he confessed he was afraid to ask me for soap! I feel terrible! The reason I started making soap in the first place was provide high-quality soap for my family; it seems that I may have lost sight of that a little; I hope to keep balanced in my endeavors and make sure that I'm taking care of my family above all; the rest will take care of itself. I must admit, I feel quite refreshed, after lathering myself up with soap I was pleased with, then slathering myself with mounds of shea butter lotion. I made it after all; I shouldn't be going around with dry skin! What kind of example does that set?  

On a side note; I got so much sewing accomplished last night. I was feeling tired and headachy and grumbling about getting my sewing stuff set up. As soon as I got into the project; I immediately felt energized and wonderful; I truly must remember my love of sewing, and that no matter how tired I may feel, a good project aways gets my creative juices flowing, and it's so worth the effort! I hope to do more sewing after I finish this post; hope all of you have a great evening!

Another day; another lesson learned

Well, I was quite proud of myself and feeling very smug today when I posted last; all about homemade ricotta, soap, lotion, etc. So, I made ricotta; not very sucessfully, I think I got overconfident and need to take a look at the recipe again. The lotion making went better, I was afraid to try, I mean, who makes their own lotion; and isn't this why they can charge so much for a bottle of lotion? It was absurdly easy. The only drawback is that the average person is not likely to have emulsifying wax and a block of shea butter on hand, nor an immersion blender they're willing to devote entirely to the task; whereas, since I am a soapmaker, such things are easily obtained. So that was the major success of my day. The low point? Realizing I had failed to use tags for my lovely, thoughtful, last post (at least I thought it was). Oh well, live and learn. And I spent entirely too long today immersed in looking at vintage patterns on etsy; dreaming of seeing myself in one of those creations. I might as well just go ahead and add sewing back into my list of "crazes"; why not? I did learn, to my relief; that indeed, women who wore my size not only existed in the 1960's, they appeared to be hale and hearty and wearing pretty dresses just the same as the women with 24-inch waistlines. What a relief!