More Soap

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned making some mocha mint soap.

I did, indeed, make some, however I wasn’t sure about the scent at first and decided that it was probably a wash. (Yes, that pun was intended. And yes, I know it was pathetic.)

After a few days I started asking other’s opinions on how it smelled. Most of the comments were the same: “It smells like mint brownies.”

Success!

The mocha mint are on the left. On the right are bars of acne soap.

I have been working on an anti-aging soap recipe for some of us slightly more mature folks. 😉

This recipe has jojoba oil, shea butter (I really wanted kokum butter, but cannot find it locally), vitamin E oil, grape seed oil, among the other more common soaping oils. I used lavender and lemongrass as the main essential oils, and added a touch of rosemary essential oil. It smells wonderful! Even my son likes it. I also added oatmeal and some Spirulina, not only for a little bit of natural colorant and exfoliant, but also for the health benefits.

Unfortunately, right before I started making the soap my large crock pot crock broke. 😦   So I had to use two small crock pots.  Then I had the ‘wonderful’ idea to make one of the crock pot batches with the Spirulina, and the other with the oatmeal. I would then swirl them together.

Just a note…. swirling doesn’t work well in hot process soap. The soap is a bit more ‘rustic’ looking and clumpy.

I ended up with ‘cammo’ soap, not the beautifully swirled soap I was hoping for.

Oh, well, it does smell good. I will use this for a few weeks and test to see if it has the benefits I think it should.

In fact, I will go use some now.  I need to get off and get ready for work.  The manager of the bookstore had her baby last week, so I am now working two days a week so the owner can have a day off.

The kids also need to get moving as they are headed out in a few hours for a weekend missions trip to SD. They will be at an Indian reservation cutting wood and helping to put on a day camp for children.

 

Something better

I know in the last post I explained that I was looking forward to the five hours on the road of silence.

I did something better.

I called my sister. 🙂

I talked with her from right outside McCook to 30 miles outside of Omaha.

It was awesome. I haven’t spent that much time talking with my sister for years. YEARS!

We had both started a ‘sister visit’ fund so my sister could come out and visit us here in Nebraska, however emergencies popped up and both funds were depleted. We need to start that again. I need my sister to come and visit me. 🙂

So, sister, these photos are for you, showing you the wide-open spaces of the Sandhills. And no, I didn’t take these. 😉

On the road to recharging

I am leaving this morning in about an hour (provided my laundry gets dry in time) to head to Omaha for a three-day meeting. I’m looking forward to it, but not necessarily because I like meetings. In fact, I’m ‘meetinged-out’ right now.

Well, let me restate. It’s not that I don’t like meetings; they can be very necessary. However, over the past four to five weeks I have attended more meetings than any one person should have to endure.  😛   Several of them were 4 hour meetings, and I have not had the opportunity to recharge from any of them. This makes for a grumpy, discombobulated me.

Why? Because I’m an introvert. I require about an hour a day of ‘alone time’ to be able to function. (I haven’t been functioning well lately, by the way. 😀 ) Three hours would be wonderful! But I’m married to an extrovert who processes every thought that pops in his mind verbally (and usually requests my presence to process), and doesn’t understand that I have to process every thought that goes through my head, well, in my head. If I don’t process the thought thoroughly in my head first, the outcome isn’t always wondrous, and I end up sounding like a rude, impatient jerk. Not exactly the impression I want to give – especially in ministry.

Many people don’t know that I’m an introvert. I enjoy preaching, teaching, and have learned to enjoy communicating with others in conversation. Consequently, many people are shocked when I explain that I’m really an introvert. Even though I don’t preach every Sunday, after service I am ‘stick a fork in me’ done. I need to go crawl in my hole and recharge. That is why board meetings directly after Sunday morning service, while logical for everyone’s time, aren’t the best option for me.  Being social completely drains introverts.

Thom Rainer has written an excellent blog post on introverts in leadership. You can read it here: http://thomrainer.com/2011/05/12/the_introverted_leader/

So, why am I looking so forward to my three-day meeting?

Because it will take me 5 hours to get there. Five hours of people-free, conversation-free time. Time that I can recharge. Not only that, but I will have evenings to myself. There will be no cats and dogs to demand me get up at 2:30 a.m. to let them out. No one that will be talking non-stop, no one else’s problems to work through. Nothing. I can sit and watch whatever I want on t.v., read till my heart’s content, or just sleep. I can be quiet on my own, and no one will be asking me if something is wrong. It will be quiet. It will be awesome.

Just a note: please don’t misunderstand me, I really do enjoy spending time with my wonderful hubby, it’s just that our forms of mental processing are diametrically opposed to each other.  😀   We have had to learn to respect each other’s way of processing and thinking.  Actually, after almost 24 years of being married, we are still learning. 😉

Now, I must be off! I have 45 minutes to shower, finish packing (again, provided my laundry is dry), and get on the road.

 

I can’t remember the last time this happened.

Something very unusual happened yesterday. I could probably count on one hand the number of times.

Come to think of it, I can’t even remember one time, although it may have happened.

Hubby and I had just one of the kids. Both of us, one of them.

J had basketball practice yesterday in Hastings, and went with one of his teammates to get there. Shan’s practice doesn’t start until November, so she didn’t need to go along.

My son didn’t need to be at his friend’s house until noon, but Hubby and I had a meeting in town at 11:oo, so we left the house around 10:30, leaving J with some money to run up the hill to get some lunch on his own, and Tim’s truck to get to his friend’s house.

We did drag Shan to our meeting. I’m sure it was thrilling for her.  😛   We also took her on hospital visitation with us, but that ended up being a bit hilarious as the gentleman we were visiting is quite a hoot.

I had gotten paid on Friday, so I decided to splurge a little and take Tim out to eat for ‘Pastor Appreciation.’ Hey, he’s my pastor, and I appreciate him. 😉

It was kind of strange being out to eat as both of us and only one of the kids.

Very strange, indeed. But we had fun!

After we were done in town, we decided to head up to N. Platte. Tim wanted to see if the Wal-Mart up there had what he was looking for.

I’m glad we went! Not necessarily to the Wal-Mart, but God answered some prayers yesterday.

Let me back up a little…

My daughter needs some shoes. She had a pair of tennis shoes but they were ruined at  mud-fest  LifeLight. She has had them since 8th grade, so they were about done-in anyway. She has some ‘combat’ style boots, but she can’t really play basketball or tennis or anything else in them. Well, she has tried, but it usually doesn’t turn out well.  There aren’t many stores around here that sell size 11 – 11 1/2 in women’s shoes, and the ones that do have very expensive shoes. She finally found a pair at a local store that worked for her feet, but they were $150. I told her she would have to wear them until she gives birth to her 3rd child. 😛

I could also use a pair of shoes. I know, I know, don’t faint.

For some reason I’m not allowed to go barefoot at work. 😉 (and no, I didn’t ask. I know better.) However, the only pair of shoes I own with any type of support in them are my old tennis shoes that I wear out in the garden, and a pair of flip-flop style sandals my mother gave me on our last cruise. (I love those shoes, Mama! Thank you!) However, I really need a pair of ‘dress casual’.  I do own a pair, which are about 11 years old and work for my typical M.O. – something to slip on my feet to drive to my next location and take off. They do NOT work for standing/walking/climbing ladders all day. They are harder than standing on concrete all day. Last Saturday at work my feet were screaming “I hate you!” after a few hours. I informed them they were just old and they needed to suck it up. An hour later my knees, hips, and back had joined in on the “I hate you” chorus, and threatened mutiny if I told them they were old.  I must have told them as they followed through on their threat. 😦

Mutiny aside, I haven’t been able to justify purchasing a pair of supportive shoes just to wear one or two days a week, especially when my kids have a long list of things they need. (Which is why I got the job in the first place.)

Enter the answer to prayer:

North Platte has a fairly decent Goodwill. We go there almost every time we are in the town. My prayer was that Shan and I would both be able to find a pair of shoes that would meet our needs.

And God answered. And it was with specifics.

Shan found a pair of Reebocks that were in great shape and comfortable. And fit. 🙂 Amazing!

Then I found a pair of Clarks casual dress shoes. Clarks, folks, Clarks. And in my size. Why is this significant? Because I had secretly desired to get a pair of Clarks. They are well-known for comfort and support, and for their high price tag.  God knew what I wanted, and blessed me with them. He didn’t have to. I’m sure another shoe would have gotten me by, and I would have been happy.  But, oh, these shoes feel heavenly!

Not only did we find shoes, but I also found a purple (my favorite color), long, zip-up, fuzzy robe similar to the one I had been looking for to wear on cold winter mornings. And we found two silicone soap molds, which had also been on my wish list. So, for only $16 we were able to pick up over $200 worth of items that had been on my ‘list’.  Yay! God is so good.

 

 

October 17th

I was going to say, “Only in Nebraska…” but the truth is I could see this in Colorado, Wyoming, or a couple of other western states. So…

Only in the West…

would you see this gracing the wall in the waiting room of your dentist’s office.

I actually like the décor. It makes the waiting room seem more ‘homey’ and less stark. It also reminds me of Grandpa.

I needed to take Shan to the dentist this morning. This dentist came highly recommended, and I really liked what I saw today. I like him much better than our dentist in MO.  That dentist wouldn’t ‘allow’ me to come back with my kids, which in hind sight I would have pushed the issue and gone back with them anyway. (That’s a subject for a different day, though.) It looks like we will be making several trips back to the dentist.

When we arrived home it was to this ‘train wreck’.

He was having a good day and was in a fairly decent mood, so I let him be.  The older he gets, the more grumpy and moody he becomes. We have to enjoy these few moments without looks that makes you wonder if you should go to sleep at night. 😉

Tomorrow morning, before I go to work, I’m going to be making a batch of soap. It’s been a few months since I’ve made some, so it’s time.   I’m thinking about making some mocha mint soap for the holidays. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

 

 

Kids are so cute!

I teach 5th & 6th graders in our Wednesday night kids program. I have a group of great – and extremely smart – kids. However part of the conversation last night left me chuckling…. and wondering…

Conversation after I said something about being 42 years old.

Boy 1: Oooooooh, I can’t believe you told us your age in front of all of us!

Boy 2: You’re the same age as my mom. I can’t believe you’re the same age as my mom! My dad’s a lot older than my mom and I thought you were older than my dad. I thought you were about 49 years old.

Boy 1: (elbows boy 2 in the ribs) You’re not supposed to say that to a girl! That’s rude!

Bwahahahahahaha!

Gee, and just the other day I was looking in the mirror thinking that I didn’t have that many wrinkles on my face, and could possibly still pass for someone in my mid to late thirties.  Hmmm, maybe I’m just in denial. 😛

 

 

Youth Trip

Today my kiddos are headed on a trip to Nebraska Christian College in Papillion to attend an event called Turning Point. It is a two-day event that is filled with worship, biblical teaching, and fun activities. Oh, and Chick-Fil-A, which they are especially excited about.

They are going with their youth group from the Bethel Missionary Church in the next town over from us. Over the past several months I realized the need for them to be involved in a church activity where they are not the pastors’ kids.  They have a couple of good friends who attend the Bethel church, so when they came back from Missouri I asked if they knew when their friends’ youth group met, and if they would like to go.  They were excited about the opportunity, so every Monday night one of us relinquishes the keys to our vehicle and sends them on their way.

I find it exciting that there is a sense of unity among the two churches. Our kids attend their youth group, and their pastor and a couple of other men from the Bethel church attend our church’s Men’s bible Study.

Currently, their youth group has a young intern learning the ropes as a youth leader. He has started to teach my son how to ride a unicycle.

I think he may be considering purchasing one of his own. 🙂

Our kids still attend our church’s youth group on Wednesday nights, but I am thankful they have the opportunity to go to another group and just be kids.

 

Housing Update

Several weeks ago Shan was getting ready to start on her school work for the day and asked how long I thought we would be in this rental house. I very confidently told her that I thought we would be here for a while and wouldn’t have to add moving into our school schedule.

Two days later…

Our church treasurer let hubby know that our landlord was putting the house on the market.  She wanted to give the church first option. We kind of had the feeling that the church probably would not purchase the home. Originally, there had been another rental house available, but we learned that option had been taken off the table. So, we started figuring out how we could live in a more permanent arrangement in the Family Life Center.  And before some of you start getting all angsty about that idea, know that we were perfectly fine with that.  🙂   And we had it all figured out.

Sunday, the church voted on whether or not to pursue the purchase of the rental house, and it was decided against. Which was fine. This is only a two bedroom house, and there is no way to put an egress in the basement to make a bedroom down there.  The kids are sharing a room, and while it was good for a short time, it’s not really working well any longer.

We did find out on Sunday that the rental that had been taken off the table is now back on. We will see what happens. We were also told, on no uncertain terms by a gentleman in our congregation, that we would NOT be moving back into the Family Life Center. He was pretty angsty about that idea.  😀   Actually, he was pretty angsty when he found out that we were living there before.

Regardless of where we end up, it looks like we will be packing up again. 🙂

Shan asked me this morning if I was disappointed that we wouldn’t be living in the FLC. I told her I thought it would have been a fun adventure. I asked her the same and she said she was a little as she thought it would have been a bit fun as well…. to a point. 🙂

The hope is that we will be settled into where ever by the holidays.