October 3, 1998

Today was really kind of a ups-and-downs day. I was waiting on the postman to bring me a box of goodies from South C's - I ordered a bunch of stuff (like coconut oil, lye, lavender EO) on Tuesday and she shipped it out on Wednesday, so I was expecting it today. What I got was a yellow slip. The darn postman walked the yellow slip up to the door. Didn't even knock or anything. My boyfriend was downstairs so he went after the postman and was like, "we're here, I can sign for these" and the postman was really rude and just said "It's at the post office. The post office is closed for the day." (This was about 2:30 PM when he finally came by.) I was so mad!! I was looking forward to getting my new goodies so much!! And the postman didn't even bring it up to my door. They have those hand-carts and Jeeps for a reason. :~~(

So I tried not to let it get me down for long. I hopped on the phone and called Menards...they of ample cheap vinyl gutter. :) They said they carried Red Devil Lye, so I drove on down and bought three cans! (Too excited .. :)

I got home and started right away. I made another one of my little impulse buy side-trips, to Jo-Ann Fabrics to find an apron to wear in case of lye splashes, and I found these cute little 2 oz (?) glass jars. Since I had bought some herbs I wanted to try Elaya's instructions for infusing, I bought the jars too. So I sterilised the jars in boiling water and added the herbs with apricot kernel oil and olive oil. They're sitting in my front window now, where the cats can't get them -- I think they'll look nice with the morning light from the east streaming through the jars.

Anyways, I finished with the herbs and went on to the FUN BIT... making soap for the very first time!!

The recipe I used was kind of big. I didn't have any scent since the postman didn't deliver my package, so I figure I can rebatch some if I really want. :)

The recipe I used is:
6 pounds lard
10 ounces olive oil
4 ounces apricot kernel oil
12 ounces lye
34 ounces tap water (forgot the bottle of distilled -- DOH!)

It took about an hour and a half to trace. Kind of tiring to stir, even with the fifteen-minute breaks.

It fit perfectly in two 2-1/2 foot lengths of vinyl gutter. I can't wait for it to come out!!!! :)