time keeps slippin' away

I'm making a batch of liquid soap with olive, sunflower, castor & coconut oils. Should be yummy, and ready for the Violet Crown Spring Festival next weekend! I'm going to make it in two scents - Lavender Tea Tree (essential oils) and a fragrance oil. The testers who tried the Enchanted Apple scent really liked it. That scent is Ellis' favorite bar soap. Another thought is watermelon - it's light and fresh. Great for kids of all ages. Any thoughts?

Speaking of Violet Crown Spring Festival - I will have plenty of bar soap, just not as many varieties as usual.

You know, I thought when I retired that I'd have more time for soaping. I guess technically I do, but other pursuits/demands/interests have presented themselves and are gobbling up my time.

One soap-related pursuit is making liquid soap. Developing and testing the liquid soap really ate into my "regular" soap making time these last few weeks. Making liquid soap is a different process, and requires frequent (every 20-30 minute) tending for at least 4 hours. I'm not experienced enough to try to have a pot of liquid soap going and make my regular cold-process bar soap at the same time. Hope I'll get to that point one day. Multi-task!

My teaching schedule this semester is different and takes more time, because I'm teaching two different classes (Principals I - Financial and Principals II - Managerial). I've taught both classes before, but I still have to prepare assignments, tests, and quizzes, grade said assignments, tests, and quizzes, and prepare for two different lectures each class day. NOT COMPLAINING. Love teaching this stuff and my students are great. Just saying it's more time consuming this semester than in recent experience.

And baseball with Eric takes big blocks of time for games. Again, not complaining because I love, love, love watching him & the other Wings players play ball. But we've had a couple of out of town tournaments, and we played last Sunday in San Antonio. No soap-making last weekend.

Point is, everything seems to be taking more time. Only so many hours in a day and not enough of them.

All this adds up to less time to soap. I'm hoping I'll have your favorite when you stop by at the Festival next weekend. If I don't, I hope you'll find something new to try and love.

This and that...

Not much exciting to report on the soap making front...things are rockin' along, though. Making soap and stuff in between teaching and watching Eric play baseball.

Violet Crown Spring Festival is coming up just in time for Mother's Day - Saturday May 8 in Brentwood Park. Lot of fun stuff and a great way to spend a few hours on a spring Saturday in Austin.

Had a great time at Martha Cole's spring show this past weekend - thanks for letting me participate, Martha. The beautiful necklace featured above is one of her creations. In case you didn't make Martha's Spring Show, or just want to see more of her work, here are links to Martha's etsy shops:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/motsdots

http://www.etsy.com/shop/notsodotty

And thanks to my wonderful friend Kathleen Johnson for selling my wares while I was pulling baseball-mom duty for Eric.

Speaking of Kathleen - is anyone out there interested in paper crafting (rubber stamping, cards and such) but you don't know where or how to start? Get in touch with Kathleen! She has monthly "stamp camps" that are way cool. And fun. And no-stress. You can see some past projects and a schedule at http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/kathleenstamps

Here's a sample:

I'll post more details about the festival soon.

Peace!

Liquid Soap Test Batch...FINALLLYYYY

Yes, my test batch of liquid soap is diluting as we speak! Keep your fingers crossed. If this works out (and so far it's looking pretty good) Violet Crown Soap will add all-natural liquid soap to our line in the very near future! I hope to have it available by the end of the month...definitely in time for the Violet Crown Spring Festival in May!