A Mother's Work is Never Done

With spring FINALLY setting in I get to walk about in the mountains discovering new flowers and birds each time I venture out. A walk to the mailbox is half a mile there and half a mile back...the back part includes a brisk climb back up the driveway which is about a block long and sloped about 35 degrees.

Today was a beautiful day after church so I put on my new Asics and headed down the drive. All afternoon I noticed some tiny birds flitting around...so did Coco the cat. With the cat around the birds would not sit still long enough for me to get my binoculars focused to identify them and list them in my bird book. So off down the road I went with my binoculars to see if I could perch myself on a rock somewhere to get a good look at the newest birds to the mountains. Suddenly, there was a flurry of wings and loud quacking down the hill just above the ponds on the Bassett property. BELLA, the dog, was there and had scared a mother duck out of the brush...more flapping and squawking and flying...oh my!! My heart was still pounding as I watched the mortified mom fly down to the bottom pond which was deeper and offered her some protection. BELLA, the dog, however, was sniffing around and acting strangely...digging and scratching...OKAY...I had to look...sure enough, the mom duck had been sitting on a nest of eggs!! Some of the little ducklings were hatched already and I could see the other eggs were almost ready to hatch, as air holes were already present and little bills were busy at work. I took BELLA, the dog, home but not until she had eaten two of the sweet little things...OOOooooo...but she's a dog. In all the commotion, my sunglasses had broken, which I discovered after I got home. OH NO!!! I'm completely blind in the bright sun without them!! Where is the super glue when you need it?

I ran into town visiting Office Depot (sorry Mark) because it was the closest place for glue but on the way back I stopped the car, parking at the bottom of the hill. I had my garden gloves and a box in the car...I just had to see if the mother duck had returned...if not, I had to save the babes. There was no mother duck on the nest and it had been 2 or 3 hours...DANG. But, all the eggs had hatched and the little cuties were mostly in the nest. I dawned my gloves, gathered up parts of the original nest materials and some dirt for the box. Carefully, I scooped up the little guys and brought them home to keep them warm. I counted 10 little fluffy ducklings.

Having some experience with baby ducks, I know that they swim almost instantly. The Bassetts will take the box down to the pond tomorrow to see if the mom duck will come back to the pond and talk them into the water. Stay tuned for the further report and more pictures tomorrow after work. Quack!

The Friends You Make That Make You

I'm so glad for the fall holiday shows to begin. My house is a mess but I just don't care when I start making wonderful things to make us clean and smell good. I count on seeing several of the people that are always there. While the below isn't new, it is a new rendition of the old.

Body Butter, Shaving Cream Soap, Grimy Cream Hand Soap, Rich Facial Cream, Minty Foot Cream, Bath and Shower Soothers, and lots of great soap.

I met Deana Kossel at one of my very first showes sitting with her dad selling the most wonderful handmade toffee. She is a peach. I love talking about how our businesses are changing and what we did that was new for the year. And, did I mention she is one of my best customers?

And another 'best' customer is Chris Richardson. I can always count on her to be the first one at my booth when I'm at the Wesleyan.

Wesleyan Show 2010

Time marches on...and the showes just keep on . This year at the Wesleyan Church Holiday Show were the usual people...those you love to see...and some that were missing. The bean lady was no where around and there were many new people trying for the first time to please the shoppers. I had been working on new fixtures (really a remake of the old version with more real estate on the upper shelves) with new products. Overall, a successful show with only one mishap, but we'll leave that for another post.

A Tree, A Bush, and A Rock

(Essential design elements, I understand, from my friend, The Artist)

Sort of reminds me of camping...aahhhhhhh :-) New Shampoo with Silk Protein, Provitamin B6, and Caster Oil/Olive Oil

New Autumn Spice Potpourri (and Eternal Spring as well)

New Shaving Cream Soap in Minty Bay Rum and Patchouli Citrus...WOW

Summer in Colorado is a wonderful time ushered in by the geese flying north to visit Brittany, my younger daughter, and millions of flowers, both wild and domestic, coming into bloom. When my family lived here, we took the "Spring" picture with everyone standing on the front porch including me after running from the camera to join the group. In keeping with that tradition, the Ortons posed for the traditional photo when they visited this year. Please take special note of Amaya's wonderful vampire teeth. RRaarrahhh!!! Another "usual" picture in front of the aspen trees in the front yard.

Britt and the children arrived early enough to attend the yearly Greeley Stampede Parade that starts with 50 (or so) Texas Longhorn Steers marching down the parade route accompanied by several cowboys...there are no restrains on the steers!! Everyone waits in anticipation. The crowd is completely silent as the herd passes preparing us for flag bearers for which we all stand. This year they included a replica of the space shuttle...I thought cousin Derek would like to see that.

We visited Estes to escape the heat and to check on the Nana Bear Soap display. Mostly we wanted to walk around and be together. We found a great Mexican food restaurant and enjoyed more than we were capable of consuming. Afterward, the kids found a wonderful playground right by the river and we sat for sometime just being grateful for the beautiful mountains. We celebrated Amaya's 5th Birthday with cupcakes and presents...

...and hung-out in the back yard, eating cherries and strawberries, and carrots, YUMMY. The kids had fun with a small swimming pool and found some old toys to play with.

All in all, the visit was a success. There were no injuries to report and very few disagreements. Wish you could stay, or at least be closer. Maybe the next posting will bring you closer to home!

Wesleyan 2009

Since I have been involved with making soap, my family has always liked going to the Wesleyan Church Show. The Wesleyan Church here in Greeley opens the entire building to artisans and craftpeople once a year for this great 'Juried' show. That's right...unless you make the cut, you will not be at this show. But I have been here for several years and have formed some warm friendships with other returners...the bean lady, who packages wonderful formulas for making things to eat out of beans, etc....several jewelry people (this year I got a beautiful pink Rodochrosite - the Colorado State Stone - and sterling silver necklace, bracelet, and earrings)...of course our friend Wendy who does vinyl lettering on lots of wonderful wood pieces, and various food vendors. There were record numbers of artisans this year, 65-70, more than ever before. The people who attend this Church volunteer to make wonderful homemade foods that everyone enjoys. This year they had extra soup so they brought around steaming containers of soup for us all to eat - yummmy. And especially great because I had forgotten to make my sandwich beforehand. It was an exciting show, busier on Saturday. I was pooped by the time I got home.

I have two of these shelves that I already have had a dream about how to make them hold more merchandise...but you really didn't just read that I dream of making shelving...really!!

These two store fixtures are new this year. Note that there are 32 baskets all with different kinds of soap...so, ok. When I'm not dreaming of making shelves, I make soap!! My family has been the beneficiary of my soap making to which they have been happy recipients!! And lots of gifty things for Christmas and other presents. While in October when the weather is still 75 degrees, not many people were thinking of Christmas, they did buy lots of soap and lotions.

I was fortunate to have the entire corner of this room to myself so I set up my cash stand in the corner of the room to give myself some space to work. I was thankful for the return people who looked for my soap and products. Repeaters are always welcome.

I must admit, I really missed my family since they live too far away now to just run over to the show or help me pack and move boxes back to the car at the conclusion of the show. But I know they think about the wonderful times we've had doing things together just like this. And, they will move again...I hope closer to Colorado...so we can include the GChildren in the great free (ha) enterprise system we enjoy in the US.

I thought it was time to show everyone what I have been working on in my "spare time". HA!

This is the newly wrapped Toasted Coconut small soap. What the picture can't possibly demonstrate is the wonderful quality of this paper. The leaves you see running thoughout the wrap are actually the under wrapping showing through the opaque portions of the paper!! WOW. Things just couldn't have worked out better for this little soap...but wait...

I have also been working long and hard on these wonderful little boxes...homemade and all. Then I wanted to have some kind of bling on the box that made it uniquely mine. I struggled making the first stencil but then quickly became an expert!! Hand-made hand-stenciled with a home-made stencil...it just can't get any better!! ...until I added my signiture stamp at the end of the cute boxes. Just look at how cute these are!!

What can I say? Just amazing! So amazing I quickly made 10 more and then converted to making a bigger box (stay tuned for these pics). The bigger box holds the large bottle of lotion and a large bar of matching scented soap. OH - I tell you - it just keeps getting better and better. Eat your heart out MMS

Russells in Washington

So I went to Seattle to visit the family there. We had a great time celebrating

Sydney and Kaiya's Birthday a little late. Kaiya got 'girl' Legos...how neat.

We went to Dairy Queen for icecream and sundays...yummy.

This is the New Russell house in Maple Valley, Washington. Wonderful place except...

They have these wonderful critters!!! Look at the size of this slug compared to Derek. He wouldn't even get any closer than this. EEEUUUUUWWWWW!!! How would you like to step on this in the middle of the night?