Busy Day In Kitchen Chemistry!

Today hubby and I each had half the dining room table occupied... He was on his side siphoning off some homemade blueberry wine that has been setting for about a month (time to separate the good stuff from the stuff that's settled to the bottom!) and I was on the other side whipping up a new sea salt soap concoction in my crock pot... I got Oldest Son to help out with that, he zested some orange peels for me while I mixed up the soap and hand chopped some lemon-balm... What we created was something that I hope turns out really well (though in the next batch I may add some citrus essential oils for added fragrance purposes!)... We made something of a Citrus Sea Salt Scrubbing Soap! Working title of course, so bear with me if it sucks, haha...

I put a little White mica in with the stick blender to add a tiny bit of a shimmer, but didn't add much... when we added the orange zest the soap mixture turned a light orange, not sure how it will look once it finishes curing, though it looks a bit more yellow now in the  mold... Put some chopped Lemon Balm in for looks and a little citrus-like fragrance... mixed in fine sea salt and sprinkled coarse sea salt over the top... What do you think? I'll be able to cut it tomorrow, and I'm hoping it doesn't crumble!

 I cut the Cocoa-Mint Swirl soap first thing this morning and FELL. IN. LOVE. - Third time's a charm with that one... I've attempted it twice and it didn't work out either time, but oh my word, it smells DIVINE! Here's a picture!

 While sitting at the table with hubby and smelling this wonderful new soap of mine, we discussed our plans to move... which I realize I haven't announced before now, but that's because it was a completely out of the blue decision! A piece of land and a gorgeous historical house and barn were offered to us at an absolute STEAL of a price... and all I can say is two words... OCEAN VIEW! *Swoon* - We got in contact with the person offering us this huge deal the other night and confirmed with him that we wanted to go ahead with things. He emailed us this morning with some numbers we needed to consider, such as approximate utilities, taxes, maintenance costs, and then some other details he wanted to work out with us... it was a very good email and we are feeling much better about the idea of moving, and the potential income it brings us... during our talk we decided that I will be getting my very own soap lab (OFFICIALLY!) in the new house, where I don't have to worry about picking things up and putting them away so we can cook dinner or eat dinner, or anything else like that, haha... We also discussed the potential (if business keeps on at the rate it's been) to expand to the point that we have an actual retail presence for Lupine Ridge Botanicals right from home! It's all very exciting!

Aside from that, I've spent my day fighting with an almost 3 year old who doesn't want to take a nap, processing soap orders (I got more this morning, AND found out that my soaps are selling well at Madlyn's, a Consignment store in Waterville, Maine... AND, Annie's Consignment Corner, in Derry, New Hampshire contact me and ask about selling them as well!) and next on my list is tweaking some little things on my Soap website and adding some new content pages...