Soap!

See how I am, I forgot to post about my soap! My lovely happy oatmeal soap!
Beautiful soup, so rich and cream, waiting to harden in a soap tureen! Who for such dainties would not cope? I have to wait 6 weeks for my soap!!!!
Ok, sorry, my apologies to Lewis Carroll and whomever might read this, I am just very excited. Who knew doing for one's self would be so empowering??? It is unfortunate that my camera is not working any more, or I would take pictures. A little oil, a little lye, a little oatmeal, and some time. Honestly I wonder how I let the marketing machine convince me that I was incapable and needed to buy buy buy to be a decent person. So hooray for the internet, hooray for bloggers who are teaching me so very much, and hooray for moving more toward a real life.
Furthermore, I am working on planning my garden. As much of the ground I am going to be working with is totally unprepared, I will be doing my romas and my cukes in upside down planters. That way I won't overwhelm myself (hopefully) and will grow my own pickles!!! Luckily I have been composting and the one (maybe a second a bit later in the season) raised beds I will have will give me some veggies to be proud of. I do know gardening is a learning curve, and I am prepared for a harvest of 3 beans, 1 pea and a sad cuke, but hopefully will do better than that. :)

Sick

Sick child, sick me. Flehhhhh...

Why I love my life

I have the best friends. My friends are smart, funny, expressive, supportive, and great. Nothing is better than knowing there are people who have your back.
In other news, the beans are in the crock pot, and I am going to try homemade tortillas tonight. I am working on the garden plan for this spring. I am going to limit myself to 2 raised beds because if I overdo it I will give up midway.
As far as changes I have made last weekend/this week, I moved the thermostat down another degree overnight, so we are at 67/68 when we are home and awake, and 60 when we are in bed or gone. I think we are going to keep it there for a while, that is about as cold as I can take it at the moment. It is supposed to snow today and warm up a bit, to a balmy 26 degrees today (-3 C) with a high of 37 (3 C) on Friday. It was about ten degrees colder a few days ago. This week the goal is to get the freezer set up and have a menu plan for the following week.

Plans and Accomplishments

Tonight I will be making soap so wish me luck! I got the recipe that I am using from http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/ the blog that has really inspired me to get moving. Good news, last night I was able to clean off some pizza pans that were really nasty with... baking soda!!!! Not one fishy was harmed in the cleaning of my dishes. :) We have been using Seventh Generation (and will continue to do so until my soap cures) but the pans just were not coming clean. Yay for not resorting to chemicals. Other joys for the last few days~ I have made my own fabric softener with vinegar and orange oil for the lovely fragrance~ I finished the booties that I have been working on for my niece (see photo), and have decided how and where to do my first garden grid as soon as the ground thaws a bit (April-ish). The best though, I was really hungry and was out and about and instead of fast food, I went home!! I also found an instructable on a doggie veranda with herbs that grow on the roof. I am going to try to get that done sooner rather than later as it will be harder to do when there is more to do. Did that make any sense??? This weekend my goal is to get 4 aprons done. Wish me luck and see you Monday!

Hooray!

I have decided this year to give only gifts that are handmade. I want all of my gifts to have some happy in them. To that end, I am working on a pair of booties for my niece who is due in late April. I have discovered it is difficult (for me) to freehand embroider matching flowers. Or anything. Oh well, hand made is heart made, right? I am planning on making soap this weekend, and I will let you know how it goes. Pictures by Sunday. :)

Here I go!

Thanks for stopping by! This blog will hopefully help me in my journey from dual-income-family-stressed out-convenience food eating- wasteful living-heavily in debt person to becoming a living with nature/happy/greener person with no debts except the mortgage (and hopefully taking my family with me). I have a child, a husband, two dogs, and a 113 year old duplex that we are trying to fix up. We are lucky to have such a large lot in the city, we have just under a quarter acre. A great deal of it is rock, but there are two large terraced areas that I am hoping to turn into gardens (pictures soon). I am getting ready to start an Etsy store of handmade items to supplement our income as well. More soon!