crayons for little hands, more poppies, fruit flies, and more

I bought some crayons for Phillip's birthday, and we tried them out this afternoon. He did really well with them, but they just looked too good to not take a nibble. Or two. I'm expecting some interesting diaper changes tomorrow. To make it less tempting to bite them, I decided to unwrap them, and melt them down in silicone muffin tins, so now they're a little less stick-like. I just broke them up, sticking similar colours together (my favourite is the grey / black / white one above). I had the oven on 350 for ten minutes, then turned the oven off and left them in, for maybe another ten minutes or so. Let them cool completely, and you're all set! And here's Phillip's first picture (being held on the fridge by Plato):

These crazy and oh-so-fun poppies are back.
As are the fruit flies. Death toll so far: two. My trap: 1/4 cup cider vinegar in a glass jar, with a piece of paper rolled into a funnel.
And this little poppy seed pod was in the garden. I love its little cap!

"A frontal system over Nova Scotia will continue to give periods of rain tonight. The rain will be at times heavy with thundershowers especially over southwestern sections overnight." Tonight's forecast, as issued by Environment Canada.) A tropical storm, Cristobal, with a ton of rain is on the way. I love the sense of battening the hatches before a storm.

more roses

Have I mentioned that our roses are open? We have so many different ones which are out, but I think these are my favourites.


I bought these sweet clips for a sweet little girl on Etsy from BabyKDesign's shop. So sweet and very well made. And they even stay in this fine hair!

soapy news and a couple of fun new things

I bought this great bag for $5 today. I love summer sales! It's perfect for throwing my wallet, keys, phone, and a book in, and there's lots of room for a couple of diapers, some snacks, and Phillip's water bottle. It's tricky to see through the pattern, but the shape is similar to this beautiful bag which I adore, but couldn't afford. And can you see Phillip in the picture?
Phillip and I went walking downtown today, amongst the Seafest fun, and we stopped at Frenchy's. I found this super-cute summer skirt and a few things for P.

Yipee! My soaps are now available at Yarmouth Natural on Jenkins Street in downtown Yarmouth! They have Spiced Rum Shaving Soap, Happy Carrot Complexion Soap, Simple Simon, and Chai Tea bars in stock, and I have some Chocolate Peppermint and Cherry Almond bars which are curing and will be delivered mid-August.

my dream kitchen

I just came across this kitchen from New Old House via The Inspired Room. This, my friends, is my dream kitchen. Right down to the tulips.

summer miscellany

The pea blossoms are out and beautiful, and some peas are well on their way. It is so satisfying to grow your own food!

I borrowed these two books from Ingrid the other day, and am especially enjoying The Food You Crave. Really, the only thing I don't like about it is the title. The recipes are amazing - simple and delicious and quick, as well as creative and healthy. The pictures are gorgeous, too. I think I just might order a copy for myself.

Speaking of Ingrid, Phillip and I went to Th'Yarc yesterday at lunch time for a bite to eat and two short plays (one of which Ingrid was in). All for $8. P was extremely well behaved, and we had a good time.

After making toothpaste yesterday, I was looking at this funny little assortment of recipes for lotions, scrubs, salves, steams, and other homemade potions for various purposes. Mother-in-law gave this box of recipe cards to me awhile ago, and it's really quite good. There are 50 different cards, with lovely pictures of each recipe on the back of the cards. I think I might try whipping some more up this week. Happy Thursday!

how to make your own toothpaste

Toothpaste is the easy-peasiest thing to make, and you can customize it to your taste! Here's the recipe I used.

3 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp salt
1.5 tbsp glycerin (available at drugstores)
a few drops peppermint oil
water

Mix the first four ingredients together and add enough water (not much) to make a toothpaste-y consistency. I'm going to store mine in a little glass jar - you could use any type of container. Happy brushing!

Note about the oil: I found these tiny little bottles of peppermint oil at Bulk Barn. They have some natural and some synthetic flavour oils, including everything from watermelon (you guessed it, fake) and cinnamon (which I will try next time) for $1.99.

lilies and peas

"You've made me the happiest man in the whole restaurant."
The peas are doing very well, thanks!
And I found this sweet little pitcher for Ingrid at Value Village last week. I gave it to her tonight, and by golly, I think she likes it!

a seriously cool mobile

-- from spoolsewing - (?)

I love this sweet bird mobile posted on flickr by spoolsewing. She has tons of other gorgeous sewn things, too. Her flickr page is here, her website here, and blog here. A free pattern (for personal use only) for those cute little birds is at the top left of her blog, too!

ahhhhhh...

There was a whole lot of this over the past week or so. That beautiful body of water is the Belleisle Bay in New Brunswick. Such a gorgeous place - I've never wanted a house on the water more. What you can't see in the picture is East of Eden on my lap, and a warm breeze on my face.
We picked strawberries, which was short and very sweet. I love this picture.

While we were away, Phillip started holding our hands to walk. He had never shown interest in this before. We think it's because we weren't walking fast enough for him. Hmm, do you think he might take after me? He also now repeats EVERYTHING that's said. It's painfully cute. He had such a nice time with his Nanny (who just might be forever known as Nan-ooo, since that's what P insists on calling her) and Papa and all of our wonderful friends and family who came over to visit. It was so great to see you all, and the next visit can't come soon enough.

I'll be updating my Etsy shop over the next few days, and listing some of the things I still have on hand after the Wedgeport craft fair last weekend. I'm also excited because I booked spots at two local Christmas craft fairs, one in October and one in November. I'm already getting excited!

glass scrub jars

So much for not posting this week! I was too excited about this find not to mention it. I'm not a fan of plastic in general, although I do recognize its many convenience and sanitary benefits. I've been looking for short, wide glass jars to put scrubs in for ages, and happened upon these ones at the grocery store with Phillip this morning! A plastic one-piece lid would be ideal (I know what I just said, but metal rusts in the shower) but these look great! Now that I look closely at them, I wonder if the coating might resist rust? I'll try it out. I don't yet make scrubs and such to sell, but I do give them as gifts and make them for myself. I might start selling them if people are interested... any local people who might be interested? Just out of curiosity.

wedgeport craft fair

-- from knittinging - (?)

Thanks so much to everyone for coming out to today's craft fair! And a special thanks to Ingrid and Blogless Annie for helping with everything and spending your day with me. For the scoop on today's craft fair, check out my post on my other blog, here. Thanks so much!

We'll be on vacation for a week or so, so there will most likely be little to no posting this week. I'll be back with lots (and an update to my Etsy shop) next week! Happy July!

free soap for blog readers!

Here are some of the sets I've put together for tomorrow's craft fair. And I have a special treat for blog readers! Come on out to the Wedgeport Fire Hall tomorrow between 9:30 and 3-ish, tell me that you read my blog, and you can have two free bars of soap from my Bits and Pieces Basket! This basket is full of end bars (the slices off of either end of a soap log) and soap which just didn’t turn out as perfectly as I had hoped, but is still perfectly useable and lovely. So come on out and get your free soap!

garlic curls and 'thank you' from Phillip

Did you know that garlic grows these lovely curly tops? We've never grown garlic before, so this was a pleasant surprise.
Some water droplets stuck around on the pea vines this evening.
A bug sniffed the peonies,
And this is what Adam spent a bunch of his day working on.

I spent much of the day getting gift sets together for Sunday's craft fair (none of them are completely wrapped yet, but all of them are almost there) and hanging out with Phillip. He's one heck of a cute baby, you know. And polite, too!

well, naturally update

I called my credit card company this morning, and they are in the process of completing a charge-back to Well Naturally. See here for the details, if you missed the story. This involves them sending me a statement which I have to sign, attesting to the fact that I paid for goods which have not been received, which I then send back to them and the credit is made to my card. What a hassle, but here's the great news - the Well Naturally site is down! Hopefully this won't be happening to anyone else.

what your fridge says about you (thanks, S!)

What Your Fridge Says About You

You aren't greedy, but you don't really deprive yourself either. You strike a good balance with the stuff you buy. You are a very thrifty person. You don't like to waste money... or food. You are a very adventurous person. You love to try new things, and you get bored very easily. You are responsible, together, and mature. You act like an adult, even when you don't feel like it. You are likely to be married - and very busy.

What Do the Contents of Your Refrigerator Say About You?

popcorn enlightenment

Reader (R): "So what's up with the popcorn?"
Sherrie (S): "Oh, I've been eating it every day for the last week or so. I even had it last night for supper. Yup, just popcorn for supper. And those pieces in the picture? I set them aside, and had to finish the rest of the popcorn before I could pause to take a picture. It's that good."
R: "Why? It's just dry corn."
S: (eyes widening at the shock of hearing such a statement) "Dry corn? It's so much more than that! I've moved far beyond the monotony of butter and salt, the icky flavoured powders, and even Tex-Mex seasoning. This is different."
R: "Why?"
S: "I've discovered the secret to making the absolute best snack in history."
R: "Uh-huh."
S: "No, really! You try it. Air pop some organic corn kernels, top with butter and then - oh, then! - liberally sprinkle it with sugar. The more butter, the better the sugar sticks. The salt in the butter and the sweet of the sugar combined on those little bumps called taste buds is divine!"
R: "You do tend to get a little bit excited about things. Is this really that good?"
S: "Oh, my, yes!"

And you must try it. The idea was inspired by Magzy's Kettle Corn (see a pic on Flickr here), which is my favourite new food for 2008.

strawberry jam day

Phillip watched as we (Annie, Adam, and I) hulled the 18 boxes of strawberries we picked this morning at Wood's U-Pick.




And then there was jam, and it was good.

the kite runner and other summer reading

I finished reading The Kite Runner last night, in a reading marathon. I started when Phillip went to bed, and I couldn't even put it down during 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?' (It is the only show I've made a point to watch, like, ever. We usually only have the TV on for movies, which works out to be, oh, a few times a month. We're radio folks.) I haven't done that in a VERY long time. I stayed up until 11:00 and the book was done (wild, I know!) Here are my scattered thoughts.

It's always refreshing to be reminded that we're all human, and this book certainly did that. It's an incredibly quick read, which often (for me, anyway) means that a book isn't that good, just plot driven and fast. This story was completely engaging from beginning to end. The characters were thoroughly developed, but not in that fake way where you're reading along and thinking "Oh, the author is developing this character." All of the events were woven together in such a way that it felt like real life. Details were described so vividly that you really felt that you were there and observing the events unfold, but not in so much detail that it was distracting. The writing was pleasantly clear and succinct. I also found two typos in the copy I was reading. It's so satisfying to find typos in a printed book. It's also a disturbing book, and I almost didn't choose it for summer reading because of this. But since I borrowed it from a friend a few months ago, I thought it was high time I returned it. To sum up: highly recommended. And apparently there's a movie from 2007 as well. I don't know if I could watch it, both because of the events in the book, and also because I feel as though I've already watched it. I don't know if I want to let go of the movie of it I have in my head. Isn't it funny when you're reading a book and you picture events happening in places similar to those you're familiar with in real life, but it's this unconscious dream-like sort of thing where you have to make a point about thinking about it before you realize that's the case? Anyway, I'm rambling. My apologies for publishing this accidentally before it was finished. Next up is In Defense of Food and East of Eden (I've already read it, but feel the need to again. Another human book.) Happy summer reading!

roses

Some of our roses are in bloom. Once again, I wish you could smell them! You can tell from the light in the picture what kind of day it is here - foggy and kind of gloomy. And windy.

All of the advanced orders have been shipped, and I had some time to tidy and organize some soap things this weekend, which feels very good. It's my first weekday of summer vacation, which is always really satisfying, too. I think I'll take P to the library this afternoon. I'm sure he'll say 'buh, buh, buh' (book) many times over.

school's out for summer!

Yay! All of the details have been squared away until September - I'm on holiday! From my non-soap work, that is. I'll be busy this weekend, packing up advanced soap orders for the perfectly cured bars which were ordered earlier in June. Then a craft fair in Wedgeport the next weekend to prepare for. Did you catch that, locals? On Sunday July 6, I'll have a table at the Fire Hall in Wedgeport. I'll have all kinds of goodies, gift baskets, and other wonderful things. I'll post pictures once they're all set, so you can know what to be excited for. Happy weekend!