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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Sunday, February 22, 2009 Another of those days . . . when I washed dishes all day long. I want a kitchen that's big enough to shove all the dirty dishes out of the way while I'm working on other things, so I can wash them all at once at the end. I don't know whether the kitchen addition that I'm contemplating will allow that, but in any case, it's still months down the road.This morning I washed out the Bosch mixer bowl in which I made butter last night, so I could make bread in it today. Should have washed it last night, but I was wiped out after a long day. Then I washed the breakfast dishes and put everything away, and then I made bread. Then I washed the Bosch mixer bowl again, and the scale tray, and the big bowl the flour had been soaking in, and the counters that I messed up in the process of making the bread . . .And then I made lotion. I use lotion very seldom, but it is nice to have on hand when the weather is very dry, as it has been lately. Unfortunately, I don't trust even the so-called natural products any more, now that Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox, and Tom's of Maine by Colgate-Palmolive. But in spite of making my own soap, I had never made any kind of cosmetic product, so I wasn't sure what I was going to run into. Some of the directions on the net call for six different kinds of exotic oils and waxes and scents, most of which I didn't have on hand and wasn't going to order just to make a little pot of hand lotion. Finally I found a very simple straightforward recipe on the LearningHerbs.com website, How to Make Lotion with Herbs. It requires some kind of oil (like olive oil), a bit of beeswax, a small amount of distilled water (or the water in which you have soaked some dried herbs), and if you want, a few drops of some essential oil. I had everything except the distilled water, and a brief stop on the way home last night took care of that.The recipe mentions that the lotion may be a bit greasy if made with olive oil. I didn't think I'd mind that, but I had a mostly full six ounce bottle of jojoba oil, so I used the rest of that, and filled up the cup with olive oil. The lump of beeswax that I bought on impulse a couple of weeks ago turned out to be exactly the right weight, and after melting it in a saucepan with the oils, I dumped the combination in the blender. About that time, it occurred to me that I might find it difficult to clean the blender (and the saucepan) sufficiently well to use them again for foodstuffs. Oops. Once the oil and wax had cooled a bit, I started the blender on low, added the distilled water a tablespoon at a time, and watched as a mayonnaise-like concoction began to form. Everything would have been fine, except that Clarence chose that moment to bellow from the bedroom. "I've got my hands full!" I yelled back. "Can it wait a minute?"No! he said, so I resignedly turned off the blender and went to see what he wanted. By the time I finished with him, the emulsion had solidified all over the inside of the blender, on the lid, on the counter where it had splashed, and on the front of the mixer. I scraped most of it down into the still soft lotion in the bottom of the blender, dumped in some jasmine essential oil, mixed it again for a few seconds, and then managed to get most of it into an old Chateau Morrissette mustard jar.It looks like nothing more than a jar of ordinary mayonnaise, so I probably should label it very clearly. LOTION!! NOT EDIBLE!! Or something like that. But it feels wonderful on my skin, and the jasmine is very pleasant and unobtrusive.And then I heated the big kettle to boiling and began cleaning all the utensils. I believe that I have gotten all the lotion out of and off of them, but I should probably play it safe next time and use the stick blender that I make soap with instead. Now I must decde whether to make the marmalade today, or let the oranges go until Wednesday, the next day that I'll be home even part of the day. There's plenty of time to do it now, but I'm ready to take it easy for a while with a glass of wine and a chunk of my homemade bread and butter.And then I still have to wash the bread pans and Clarence's lunch dishes. Maybe what I need is not a bigger kitchen, but a maid. Dream on. posted by Liz @ 3:28 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
when I washed dishes all day long. I want a kitchen that's big enough to shove all the dirty dishes out of the way while I'm working on other things, so I can wash them all at once at the end. I don't know whether the kitchen addition that I'm contemplating will allow that, but in any case, it's still months down the road.This morning I washed out the Bosch mixer bowl in which I made butter last night, so I could make bread in it today. Should have washed it last night, but I was wiped out after a long day. Then I washed the breakfast dishes and put everything away, and then I made bread. Then I washed the Bosch mixer bowl again, and the scale tray, and the big bowl the flour had been soaking in, and the counters that I messed up in the process of making the bread . . .And then I made lotion. I use lotion very seldom, but it is nice to have on hand when the weather is very dry, as it has been lately. Unfortunately, I don't trust even the so-called natural products any more, now that Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox, and Tom's of Maine by Colgate-Palmolive. But in spite of making my own soap, I had never made any kind of cosmetic product, so I wasn't sure what I was going to run into. Some of the directions on the net call for six different kinds of exotic oils and waxes and scents, most of which I didn't have on hand and wasn't going to order just to make a little pot of hand lotion. Finally I found a very simple straightforward recipe on the LearningHerbs.com website, How to Make Lotion with Herbs. It requires some kind of oil (like olive oil), a bit of beeswax, a small amount of distilled water (or the water in which you have soaked some dried herbs), and if you want, a few drops of some essential oil. I had everything except the distilled water, and a brief stop on the way home last night took care of that.The recipe mentions that the lotion may be a bit greasy if made with olive oil. I didn't think I'd mind that, but I had a mostly full six ounce bottle of jojoba oil, so I used the rest of that, and filled up the cup with olive oil. The lump of beeswax that I bought on impulse a couple of weeks ago turned out to be exactly the right weight, and after melting it in a saucepan with the oils, I dumped the combination in the blender. About that time, it occurred to me that I might find it difficult to clean the blender (and the saucepan) sufficiently well to use them again for foodstuffs. Oops. Once the oil and wax had cooled a bit, I started the blender on low, added the distilled water a tablespoon at a time, and watched as a mayonnaise-like concoction began to form. Everything would have been fine, except that Clarence chose that moment to bellow from the bedroom. "I've got my hands full!" I yelled back. "Can it wait a minute?"No! he said, so I resignedly turned off the blender and went to see what he wanted. By the time I finished with him, the emulsion had solidified all over the inside of the blender, on the lid, on the counter where it had splashed, and on the front of the mixer. I scraped most of it down into the still soft lotion in the bottom of the blender, dumped in some jasmine essential oil, mixed it again for a few seconds, and then managed to get most of it into an old Chateau Morrissette mustard jar.It looks like nothing more than a jar of ordinary mayonnaise, so I probably should label it very clearly. LOTION!! NOT EDIBLE!! Or something like that. But it feels wonderful on my skin, and the jasmine is very pleasant and unobtrusive.And then I heated the big kettle to boiling and began cleaning all the utensils. I believe that I have gotten all the lotion out of and off of them, but I should probably play it safe next time and use the stick blender that I make soap with instead. Now I must decde whether to make the marmalade today, or let the oranges go until Wednesday, the next day that I'll be home even part of the day. There's plenty of time to do it now, but I'm ready to take it easy for a while with a glass of wine and a chunk of my homemade bread and butter.And then I still have to wash the bread pans and Clarence's lunch dishes. Maybe what I need is not a bigger kitchen, but a maid. Dream on.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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