Making soap with lye and various oils takes a bit of patience and practice. I was looking for a fun activity that would be faster than making soap and just as fun when I found a great tutorial on making candles. After reading through the basics and moving on to the more detailed instructions, I ordered my supplies and waited for delivery.

My first candle making attempt worked out well. The candles were lovely and I thank Candlewic for providing so much information, especially the safety guidelines. If you use these instructions for children, be sure to take note of the History of Candlemaking. Quite an interesting read.

Even though I prefer to buy my container, taper and tea light candles, I’m glad I gave candle making a shot. It was a great learning experience and now that I have the equipment, I can share the fun with my kids and grandkids as fun craft projects.

And then there are those of us who would rather formulate their own beauty products.

I initially became interested in formulating because everything I used seem to make my face break out. I discovered some really wonderful mineral makeup that helped my skin tremendously. At the same time, I began to experiment with skin care that utilized Essential Oils and a few other simple ingredients. One of my favorite resources for Essential Oil information is the Index of Essential Oils

If you’re looking for information on hair care, sore muscles, acne treatment or even how to mix up a “sensual” blend for romantic evenings, you’ll find just what you want here. The site offers many of these oils for sale but provides information even for those oils they don’t sell.

Please be sure to read all the precautions as well as the benefits of each oil. Yes, they are considered “natural” but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful with them. Some are quite potent.

If you’re wondering, my very favorite Essential Oil is Helichrysum. Feel free to send some my way.

She ran out of the soap I’d given her so I dug up some more from that batch and she was thrilled. Now it turns out she knows others who would like to buy that soap from me if I make more. Interesting.

I’m wondering whether this could be a lucrative business or not. I know where to get the basic supplies; I’d probably want to look into custom boxes and labels, too.

The major problem, though, is whether I can duplicate that wonderful bar I made over a year ago. I’m just a hobbyist and not terribly confident about my abilities. Other women are so much more talented and knowledgeable than I am.

Once I’m done second-guessing myself, I’ll get to work on another batch of goat’s milk soap. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Instead, we went shopping. In keeping with the theme of summer and swimming, we browsed the aisles of “seasonal” merchandise like inner tubes, inflatable boats, yard sprinklers and the beloved slip ‘n slide. Kendyll wanted everything she saw. I just wanted the warm weather.

The rebuilding was amazing. We were operating on a shoestring budget since we intended to build more than what the bank approved. One corner we cut was blueprints. I drew them myself using graph paper and a ruler. That’s it. I measured the existing house, our lot, the dimensions of appliances and fixtures and beds and other furniture. And I laid it all out. What fun!

I know that if I designed a house today there’s software to make the job much easier. Even better, thanks to my friend Deb, I’ve been using Floorplanner that lets you design your room or your project right on line. Oh, and there’s even a free, personal account that let’s you save up to 5 plans!

So far, I’ve used FloorPlanner to layout the kitchen in Nick’s apartment. Even Nick was impressed. Next up, I’d like to redesign our living/family room to accommodate some type of home theater chairs to make it more like an entertainment room. Okay, what I really want to do is find a way to combine an entertainment area with a play area with a pool table. Yeah, good luck on that, right?

But really, using this great online service, you just never know what I might design. Go ahead over and play with it a little. Design your dream kitchen or your master suite then stop by here and let me know how it turned out.

Farfel was a floppy-eared dog that was part of the Nestle Quick campaign in the 50s and 60s. Okay, I only remember the 60s but I think he was around before that. He appeard in Quick commercials with Jimmy Nelson.

I have a little bendable Farfel dog on a shelf in my office but what I really want is a stuffed Farfel dog. I had one when I was a kid but my mom {gasp} threw him away when I was a teenager. I didn’t know she’d thrown it out and I probably wouldn’t have cared anyway. But I do now. Luckily, she did save my Farfel mug. But still. I want my Farfel stuffed dog.

If anyone happens to find one on ebay or in their travels throughout the internet, please let me know. I have a spot waiting for it, right next to my Chatty Cathy doll.

Now it’s sitting in my mom’s basement with the other things we picked up at the community yard sale last week. When I go to get it from my mom’s house, I think I’m going to talk her into letting me have the berndes cookware she got from a neighbor on the next block. My sister wants the table lamp so I think I’ll be able to make a deal. I love community yard sales.

It seems that there’s always at least one seating position that can’t see the TV. I know the room is odd-shaped. It’s long and narrow and there aren’t enough solid walls. I really need a better way to visualize this because moving furniture over and over is hard on the back. Any ideas about an online platform that does this?

That’s right. Doug Gilford has every single Mad Magazine cover online. You can look at each cover or you can look at thumbnails of entire years. Or, if you’re really into it, look at all the thumbnails on one page.

This collection starts with the Oct-Nov, 1952 issue and continues right up to this very month. Even if you’re not a Mad fan, you’ve got to be impressed with Doug’s massive collection and the time it took to put them all online. Nice job, Doug!

My current hobby could become a job, too. This time, though, I probably won’t be “hired.” I’ll have to do this one on my own since my hobby is soapmaking. That means I’ll have to do some homework to find the best business card printing offers on the internet. That will take a little work but I’ll get to choose what I like in design. How exciting!