Sometimes it's not always about soap.

So today I came home from work & the kitchen smelled like sausage & things were a mess & I was disgusted & I knew I had a lot of things I had to do & I didn't want to do them & I felt myself getting in a rut & I was getting tired & I was ready to fell asleep on my comfy bed but my cat wanted to play rough & bit me.  Yes, I can complain & complain. So I decided to be productive.

We have a mat outside our front door in our common area that had salt crusted on it from last winter so I took it down to the laundry area & washed it off.  I took all the newspapers & bags they were in from the laundry garbage out for recycling.  I cleaned up all the loose cat food on the floor, put Milton's food in an easy access plastic container, & put the large stock back in the back of the pantry until it actually needs to be used because it was in the way & becoming a mess.

Then I did something I have been meaning to do.  Last year for my birthday, Chris' sister & mother got me a beautiful red gerbera daisy in a red pot.  I have kept it in the common area because there it is safe from my cat & gets more light.  Since then they have redone the common area walls and carpet & Chris also got me a small victory rose pot last week.  I needed a good pot to put the roses in but I wanted something to go well in the common area & also with the daisy.  So we went on a hunt for new pots.  We ended up finding these at Home Depot:

Unfortunately the daisy hasn't bloomed since I got it.  Maybe someday.  Maybe.  This is what The 2 looked like before they were re-potted.  You can barely see the roses.  Once I removed it from the wrapping it was mostly dead leaves anyway.  Poor thing.

Here I am putting the daisy into the pot with some new soil.

 

Here is the finished product!

Very nice!  Now, I also had a vision of tearing down some walls to open up some space between my kitchen & living room.  Then also moving my bedroom furniture into my small bedroom & making the master bedroom like a lounge.  Why waste all that space if all I really do is sleep in that room?

And did I mention (I know I didn't so I don't know why I am even asking) I got 25, YES TWENTY FIVE, bars of soap yesterday?  Only a few of them are duplicates and they all smell fantastic!  I cannot wait to try them out.

I think I will have my bath now & then a nap.  Still feeling quite exhausted.  Here are my flowers at their new home in the common area.

I don't make soap.

The subject says it all.  I don't make soap or fine soap products.  I have pondered the idea but there are SO many other people out there that already do, & do a good job of it too!  AND know what they are doing.  I know very little about it but I do love trying all sorts of products from new people, learning about their processes & what makes them great or different from others.  I love companies who are animal & environmental friendly also & most are these days.

I know there is cold processing & hot processing & from what I have read, cold processing is better, creates a milder soap for the skin.  That it is impossible to create soap without lye. (If I am wrong on this & someone has beat the system on soap making w/out lye, get in contact with me!)  There are body washes, shampoos & detergents that have & do not have SLS/SLES (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate/Sodium Laureth Sulfate).  Castile soaps are supposedly the most gentle soaps created using 100% olive oil.  There is great debate over which is better, sugar scrubs, or salt scrubs?

 I'm hoping once I re-organize all my products I can take some pictures & post them.  When my mother used to do cross stitch she had SO MANY books w/patterns & I used to joke with her & tell her that she must complete a project from every single book & it would take her the rest of her life to do it.  So my father mentioned something the other day about how I have so many bath products it will take me the rest of my life to use up all of them.  He's probably right.  I do stock up on certain things that I do give out as gifts also though.  Eventually I will also post the amazing transformation that my bathroom went when I purchased this place.  It was horrid!

I am expecting some eBay items today.  USPS tracking isn't very good.  Until the mail comes I think I am going to work on some decos.  Eventually I'll explain these.  Oh, I also collect postage stamps, & photograph & try to identify insects in my community.  I hate spiders though.  Like, phobia hate, run out of room screaming at the tiniest one hate.