Big deal, give me the food

I have taken up a new hobby! It all started with Costco discounting the price of their bucket of coconut oil down to 15.99. Oh, the things I could do with that stuff! I bought it and decided it was time to do that which I have been secretly pining to do for a little while . . .  make soap! My cousin's wife starting soaping a few years ago and she posted the pictures on facebook and they were incredible. What a great skill to have! I really long to create something new--does everybody have that desire to make and build--and soap is a necessity. Practical hobbies make sense!
So, I began my soap journey. The great thing about soapmaking is that everything you need to learn is online and on youtube. And you can buy the ingredients from Amazon. I don't have to leave my house and in three days, I can have made something totally different and new. And there are lots of other side products to make with almond oil and shea butter and various essential oils. Whoppee!

By now I have made maybe 5 batches of soap, several pounds of bath bombs, dozens of lip balms and several different facial cleansers. Not everything has been a success. But I have had fun. And just about everyone but Husband loves my version of Burt's Bees lip balm. Plus, I'm washing my face with coconut oil, honey and baking soda. Pretty cool.

The funny thing about all this is that everything I am learning is online (I did buy a book, but only because I wanted to step back and get a bigger look at it all). And all articles are on websites with names like: homemademommy.com and hippysoapgirl.com. These ladies are fabulous! I commend them for their soaps, their pictures, their cool websites, their great families and their positive energy. But I have one thing to say. And this also goes for people with super recipes for lasagna and crockpot refried beans and wedding and egagement photographers:
LESS IS MORE
Give me the recipe! Show me the pictures and prices! I'm sure you have a lovely family, but I'm afraid I am skimming past all of your details about your outings and your cats and your husband's funny ways and the hopes and dreams of this or that couple. I just want the recipe! I just want to see the pictures and prices.
Of course this is ironic that I am blogging about frustrations about blogging. But first of all, no one is reading this. Second of all, I'm not promising you a recipe. Though maybe I'll post some recipes once I know I have some that I like.
I guess I can't criticize people for sharing their words. It's a beautiful thing to share your life. And maybe I should slow down and read. But not today!


And on a different topic, here are some pictures from our trip to the Yucatan. It was perfect. I loved it and would be thrilled to go again. Go yourselves! Stay at the Playa Maya in Playa del Carmen (unless you hate stairs and the beach).

I loved the Yucatan

Swamp Tour Pix, Baby!

The swamp tour in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana was exceptional, otherwordly, beautiful, amazing, extraordinary, enchanting. I would do it again and again and again.

My Magic Moment

I loved many, many things about our Southern Tour. As I retrospect, there isn't much I would have changed. I have a hard time picking out the memory that is my very favorite. But there were these few minutes in New Orleans. . . .  We had been walking around, and we were looking for a place to eat and I felt almost overwhelmed with the responsibility of properly experiencing this one-of-a-kind place. And then we get close to Jackson Square and we hear these street musicians. And they were peforming a song I have come to love, especially since the arrival of my youngest. So we stand and listen, appreciate deeply, and then look to my toddler, and there she is, dancing away. Ahhh. It was perfect. Thank you NOLA.

Proud Momma Time

I don't know why I can't just post this on facebook, but I really hate putting anything up. Sometime soon, maybe. Things have been happening here! Beulah is almost finished with her first year of college. She has done well and I am so proud of her. She has already interviewed for a good job and more interviews lined up. Janey is performing a lot ; tomorrow she is going to play with her youth symphony at the Covey Center and then this coming weekend she is performing in several different competitions. Plus she is one of six finalists for the speech contest for the Freedom Festival. T-Bone is in the pit orchestra for his junior high musical "Shrek" and he is our official beekeeper. Cheeseball just performed wonderfully in the Hope of America and he has a band concert coming up. Goose just turned 8, had her ears pierced, will be baptized soon and is enjoying Pippi Longstocking and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. The baby is sweet and perfect and fun and knows everyone's name and always has a hug and likes to sing the ABC song.

I Love Abraham Lincoln

When I was a little girl, we had the big, illustrated book about Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Paurin d'Aulaire. I loved the pictures, especially how Lincoln looked so kind and strong and singular. I felt connected to him (the strange way I felt connected to blue whales and elephants). As an adult I have always admired him in a broad way, but I have to admit, I didn't know much about him or his life. When I went to Hawaii in 2010, we went to the Punchbowl, which is a big memorial to WW2 veterans. And I read this quote:

"The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom." These are the most beautiful lines about the cost of freedom that I had ever encountered. Wow, "Lincoln was really good," I thought to myself.

A couple of years before this, I had read Killer Angels. It made me very curious about Gettysburg. I wanted to go there and see where the hills and battles were and feel the ambient emotion that I thought must be present there. I wanted to imagine Longstreet brooding and see Pickett with his curls charging the Union forces and I wanted to see Little Big Top, where Chamberlain led a desperate group into battles with bayonets because it was all that they had.

So....

In 2012, we decided to take a trip across the county, calling it "The Circle Tour." We all picked where we wanted to visit. Beulah chose New York City, Janey wanted to see Niagara Falls. Husband wanted to go to Nauvoo. Cheeseball and T-Bone were game for just about anything but wanted Washington, DC the most. Goose wanted Mt. Rushmore. I wanted the Sacred Grove and Gettysburg. We were able to see all those places and more and packed it into 13 days on the road and in hotels. It was amazing, truly, and I made the family listen to Killer Angels as we traveled.

I had also started to read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book on Lincoln's politics Team of Rivals. It was a very, very good read and Man it made me love Lincoln. His genius and sacrifice and wisdom and amazing craft with words were inspiring.

So, on our trip we visited the Lincoln Memorial, and on the walls on either side of Lincoln are his.Second Inaugural Address and the Gettysburg Address. Beautifully written with an unmatchable economy of words. Lincoln was goooood.

A couple of days later, we drove into Pennsylvania and stayed at a fine Motel 6 in Gettysburg (the best Motel 6 we've experienced, btw, with donuts and juice in the morning and an indoor pool and spa that smelt like water chestnuts!). The next day we drove to the visitor center and visited the battleground, using a CD for an audio tour. It was fascinating. We met civil war reenactors and saw cannons and I did get to Little Round Top.

A year ago, we went to DI and T-Bone showed me a framed copy of the Gettysburg Address. How I love that boy! We bought it for a dollar and put it up on our hallway way. Whenever I read it, I am moved and am grateful for Lincoln's vision of keeping our country together and proving that government of the people can work. I am glad my kids are being encouraged to memorize these words, there weren't many better written. Ever. 

Pictures in Autumn

For the past few years, every October we head up American Fork Canyon to take family and individual pictures. This year, we altered the tradition a bit and took the family pictures up Rock Canyon, because it was closer to Beulah, who is not living with us at present. I love my family, I love taking pictures together. I'm annoyed that so many of my pictures are out of focus because it shows that I don't know how to adequately use my camera. But here are some pictures: