So sad...

Back in December, on Christmas Eve, while preparing for our annual get-together with Hubby's family, he fell down the stairs. It wasn't a typical case of clumsiness, see half of our house is in a perpetual state of renovation, we tore everything out except the outer walls about 4 years ago, and every time we've thought we might get it done, plans have changed. Over time it's become an unofficial storage area. We were storing some things for my sister-in-law when she moved to North Carolina, and when she came up over the Christmas holiday she wanted to take some of her stuff home with her

Best Christmas Gift ever - Dixie, a rescue dog from NC

So in the process of him helping her bring her things down, she tells him to be careful on the stairs because there is some lumber laying on them. He gets cocky, says he's fine, that he's been up and down that death-trap set of stairs hundreds of times. No sooner does he say this, and he steps on the lumber, slides down the stairs, and then can't walk properly for a good month. After having it examined the day after Christmas at the ER and then by an Orthopedic Surgeon we knew that if it wasn't better by the beginning of February, we'd be looking at surgery.

Luckily for him, it was fine by the beginning of February, and after a month of living on short-term disability we were ready for regular paychecks again. No such luck. Work had no work for him, and he had to use the ONLY 3 weeks of vacation/personal time he gets for the whole year so that we could have an income. After that, still no work. Time for unemployment. It is now March 26th, he's been out of work for over 3 months and home with me every day... As a happily married couple, you'd think we'd be driving each other crazy and just about ready to start calling divorce lawyers by now.... not so much... the last 3 months have been the best in our married life, but alas, it had to end sometime... he went back to work an hour and a half ago, and I'm missing him like crazy already...

However....!

With him being gone, it will be much easier for me to find time during the day to get some stuff updated on the Lupine Ridge website, get some new soaps made, fix some candles that need fixing, and prepare some orders! So thank goodness for the rain today, this momma is gonna be busy!

Soap, soap, soap!

Well, the citrusy soap I made with sea salt didn't work out so well, so that's been put away to be turned into laundry soap or something someday...

Today I got some soap supplies I've been waiting on, and made some much anticipated Lilac soap... I was going to try and experiment with color swirling, but I added the color too late in the game, so I just mixed it all in and made it a light lavender color, smells great though!

In the process of making some Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soap now, with real oatmeal and honey and a honeycomb pattern... excited to see how this one turns out :)

Soy candle materials should be here next week sometime, and in a few more weeks I'll be ordering supplies for making Mineral Makeup! Business has been great, and I'm feeling awesome about the direction things are going in!

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...