SierraSnowSoaps

Happy Holidays

2011-12-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

Posts have been far and few. I had a health issue in my immediate family and I was needed more at my folk's home than in the soap shop. I feel so blessed that the people in my life feel that family comes first and I was given time off from work to be with my parents. My dad is on the mend and while I will still be spending my days off with them, I will be making soap. Not as much as usual, but it will have to do for now.

Please have a peaceful and wonderful New Year.

Tis the Season

2011-11-26T15:58:00.000-08:00

To run out of soap! There have been some wholesale orders from my Reno stores. Add in a few local shops in Gardnerville and my one craft show this year and the shelves are looking a little empty. Time to get a move on and make more soap. This Sandalwood soap came off the curing rack this week. Smells delicious!

To purchase our soap in Reno, Nevada please visit these stores.

The Flag Store

The Nevada Store

Many Changes

2011-11-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

It has been forever and a day since I have posted. There have been many changes in my life. My number 1 helper (or rather I helped her), Darling Daughter (DD) has gone off to college. She had been doing most of the soap making for me the last couple of years. She was saving money for college. I miss her very much. I also started a new job in July. I am working 40 hours a week on the graveyard shift. This leaves little energy or time for soap making. Did I tell you I miss DD very much? I have managed to make a little soap but I have a lot of "out of stock" notices on my web site. I work the weekends so I will only be doing one Christmas show. My favorite high school, Douglas High School, right here in Minden, Nevada, has a wonderful one day show and I asked for that Saturday off. Hope to see you there!

A New Year

2011-01-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

A time for new beginnings. I have already cleaned up my work space. I have started using some of the ingredients I have been hoarding to make new products. And....... I have been contacting new businesses to carry my soap. You know the old saying, "Talk to 100 people to find 10 interested people to find 1 person who will DO it."

I found that person here. The owner of Body Language, Debbie Nalder, is now stocking SierraSnowSoaps in her incredible day spa.

From massage and skin care

salon and nail services

to laser-medical services with Dr. Nita Schwartz

this spa has it all.
Right from their website

"philosophy…..
health, wellbeing, and beauty come together at bodylanguage. more and more people are discovering the enduring pleasure and benefits to be gained from professionals whose sole purpose is to make you feel and look your best.

bodylanguage features an array of treatments designed to enhance your health and wellbeing inside and out. enjoy the healthful, rejuvenation of massage, reflexology, or infrared sauna. treat your skin to a fabulous, renewing european facial or one of our cosmetic medical treatments. let our hair and nail design professionals help you look your best.

whatever your needs, bodylanguage is committed to your health, wellbeing, and beauty. come in, relax with a cup of tea while we help transport your senses to a place of calm, nurturing bliss."

And I believe it. Coming in the front door is like walking into peace and quiet. The colors, sounds and decor is soothing to the soul. You almost hope your appointment is running late so you can relax in the sitting area.

Stop by and pick up some soaps

and stay for some pampering.

Body Language is located in the grey building at 1478 B 4th Street, Minden, NV
The spa phone number is 775.782.8485 and the salon number is 775.782.2641.

Check out their service menu.

The "Forever Place"

2011-01-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to downsize a bit. I have piles of items that can be

1. thrown away
2. donated to one of many local charities
3. put away in their "forever" place

I have bought a few shelves and moved a few dressers in an attempt to make a place for every item when it is not in use.

I started with this.

messy room

After a bit of cleaning, vacuuming, and shampooing it was time to move everything back into the room. This time the goal was to have a place for each item to help reduce clutter.

What do you think?

This is the room all cleaned up.
This is the closet which is now my shipping and packaging station.

I think I did a fabulous job and I intend to keep the room looking neat. It really is a lot easier to work in a room that is not cluttered.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T21:07:00.000-08:00

Sitting here watching the ball drop in New York on the television, I was thinking how very blessed my life is. I have a wonderful family who are all fairly healthy and many friends. I have two great kitties and a little dog who likes to cuddle like a baby. I look forward to the the country getting back on track and finding a job, along with the many other unemployed Americans.

I plan to get more organized in my life and look forward to the many changes I have planned. You see, I have a plan. A roadmap of sorts. I know I will succeed.

Whatever you have planned for the next year, I wish you joy and happiness, and of course success.

Happy New Year!

Did You Survive The Holidays?

2010-12-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

It was a fast paced holiday season with craft shows, filling orders, restocking the shelves, and making soap. I found the time to wrap some gifts at the fair grounds for Project Santa, did some baking (oh, the crack candy at my house was awesome), had family dinners, and even read a book.

I love to make soap, it brings out the creative side of me. I like to wrap myself up in a scent and close my eyes and "see" the soap I am going to create. It is really cool when the soap turns out the way I "imagine" it.

While setting up at one of the holiday craft shows I found myself next to Katie Spencer. She is a wonder woman who used to sell to HUGE chain stores. She now sells her handmade items at Tumblewinds on Esmeralda St. in Minden. One item in her booth just fascinated me.

I love the origami feel to the ornament. I love the sharp angles. I love the bright colors. I just love these ornaments. Being the wonderful person that she is, Katie mailed the instructions and I made 11 ornaments to give as Christmas gifts.

Did I tell you I love making these ornaments?

Hold That Thought

2010-12-23T11:51:00.000-08:00

You know, the one about not having much money. What to do, what to do.

I found myself with a little time, that would be because we are not exchanging gifts this year due to lack of funds. The real problem here is, I LOVE TO WRAP GIFTS. I found a way to get my wrapping fix without spending any money.

In our little town we not only have service clubs like the 20/30 Club, Elks, Minden Fortnightly Club, Rotary Club, Lions Club, Kiwanis, we also have all the schools hold food drives around the holidays. We have a food closet that runs year round helping those people that need a lift. But the best project of all.......

is Project Santa.

I meet up with Marilyn Malkmus, organizer of Project Santa. The program helps provide Christmas gifts to kids living in Douglas County. There are Angel Trees at many stores throughout the county, people can pick an Angel and buy the gifts listed and then drop them back off where Marilyn makes sure they go to the right family. There were 786 children in the program last year and she said there are 100 more than that this year. She directed me to the book wrapping station. Every child will receive at least 1 reading book but judging by the thousand of books I saw there will be no shortage of books. Marilyn has many helpers that volunteer every year, and the rest are like me. I went for 8 hours one day, but anyone can go, even if for one hour. I saw so many friends there and made some new ones, Hi Katie and Steve! I got my wrapping fix taken care of, that is for sure.

It was a great way to get into the spirit of Christmas. All the gifts wrapped and sitting on the family's number brought tears to my eyes. I remember a friend of mine who was in the program a couple of years ago. Her little boy would not have had anything under the tree, if they had a tree. The generosity of the community overwhelmed her and made her Christmas.

So...even if you don't have money to spend, you can spend your time by volunteering for one of the service organizations. It is a great way to give back to the community you live in.

Merry Christmas

I May Not Have Much Money, Handmade From The Heart

2010-12-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Every year the Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO) gets together and makes up gift bags for the teachers at Douglas High School. This year with both my husband and I being unemployed I was not able to pick up the usual gift items. Still wanting to do my part I looked around the soap room and found some 2 oz. bottles I don't use any more. So...I spent the day making 150 bottles of lotions for the teachers. I know many of them and I thank the Lord my dear daughter has such dedicated and knowledgeable people to teach her. It was an honor to be able to bring a little of my handmade items to them.

First I sterilized the bottles and caps.

Second, I whipped up some lotion and scented it with a spicy cranberry scent, perfect for men or women.

Third, I poured into the clean bottles, labeled and packed them up.

Thank you Teachers of Douglas High School.

Tis The Reason For The Season

2010-12-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

Long, long ago, in a far away land, my mother and father labored over a task of love for their children, of which there are 5. How my mother got my dad to work on ceramics, I will never know. But I am so happy he did. This is a true labor of love and something my family treasures. We only see it once a year, but the memories and thoughts and good wishes it brings lasts the whole year.

Thank you, mom and dad.
I love you.

You Are Never Too Old To Learn

2010-12-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

I have been a bit remiss in my postings. I let life get in the way. Here is a bit of what was happening in the Carson Valley. My orange painted toe nails did the trick. The Douglas High School Volleyball Team did not lose a league match this season. Yes, they won every match.

Including the Nevada 4A State Championship.

Our girls went out with a bang beating 2 teams from Las Vegas, Nevada, Bishop Gorman and Green Valley High Schools to win the title of Best Volleyball Team of the State of Nevada 2010.

It was very exciting and the result of many long hard hours of practice and conditioning. After all was said and done the league coaches pick "All League Teams". 7 of our girls made 1st team, 2nd team or honorable mention in their league. 1 girl made Player of the Year in our league.

What does that make the coach?

A coach much loved and respected. A coach who asks the girls to push it a little farther, work a little harder, but never asks more than she is willing to give. That makes the coach the COACH OF THE YEAR in our league. And she deserves it! Balancing home life, coach life, teaching life, girls, parents......quite a balancing act.

It was an incredible year. I learned a lot from these girls. Their work ethic will serve them well in their future. They made me realize I need to work a lot harder to reach my goals. That is why I am cleaning the computer room.

"Really?" says Tiger.

"What is all this stuff?"

More to follow later.

Thank You

2010-11-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

To my dad, my husband, my uncle on my dad's side, my two uncles on my mom's side, my brother, his wife, my other brother's wife, and my dear nephew for their selfless service to our country. Without people like you we would not enjoy the freedoms we have in this vast country. You give up so much of your lives to make this world a safer place, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

A Busy Couple Of Weeks

2010-11-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been very busy for our family. My dear daughter is on the high school volleyball team. They just played in the Northern Regional Playoffs and took first place. Yea Team! In honor of this occasion (which last happened 8 years ago), and to show my support for the team while they play for the state championship, I painted my toenails. The school colors are orange and black so....

While waiting for my nails to dry I melted up a few oils and made this.

Right now it has wax paper on it to cut down on white ash. It is a wonderful fragrance call Kauai Ginger Blossom. You can get it here. Suz from Oregon Trails Soap Supply has some killer fragrances that soap beautifully. This is what it will look like tomorrow.

You can buy it here.

After putting the soap up I finished something I started last night. I found this wonderful, easy bread recipe from this site, Noshings. She has a great blog and her photos and recipes are to die for. And yes, she makes soap, too.
I made one loaf last night, just plain. This morning I added in a few extras.

Yum Yum Good!

Howling At The Moon

2010-10-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

I am in Yuma, AZ for a few days last year with my sister DDD, mom and dad. DDD and I drove my folks down here from CA. They winter in the warm weather. We have a "honey do list" a mile long. But it is really a blast. My sis is a very healthy person and I have been jogging every morning. Then we spend a few hours with my dad hooking up propane tanks, rebuilding steps, laying carpet, running cable lines for TV, you name it and we are doing it. The other night on our way to get a soft serve ice cream we were blessed with a howling moon. It was beautiful.

A Long Time Ago

2010-10-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

in a far away land (well, across town) I took and still am taking a SEO class from Cricket Walker. I learned a lot from Cricket and her very patient helpers. She is the reason I now blog. She is also the reason I gained 25 pounds in the last few years. Cricket introduced me to a blogger one day by saying "hey check out this blog!"

I fell in love with the writer's style and wicked sense of humor. And her husband looks great in a pair of chaps, sorry but I had to say that. The blog is The Pioneer Woman. I have been reading her blog for quite a few years, I remember when she only had 1,000 comments instead of 40,000 every time she ran a contest. Ree posts the funniest and saddest stories and fabulous recipes. I always get lots of compliments when I make one of her dishes.

While visiting my mom a couple of weeks ago I stopped by my sister and brother-in-law's house, to raid their garden. My BIL can grow some serious vegetables. I left with ALL of their tomatoes and a huge bag of these beautiful red jalapeno peppers.

So......I had to make Ree's Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. They are to die for and with the red peppers I used they are just as wonderful. Thank you Cricket, Ree and dear brother-in-law.

First you cut them in half. Taking care not to squirt any juice in your eye.

I then take a spoon and clean out all the seeds and veins. This is what makes the peppers hot. Next time I think I will leave a few seeds in to give them more heat.

Add a dollop of cream cheese.

Wrap in 1/3 slice of bacon. These are small peppers, for larger peppers I use 1/2 slice of bacon.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 1/2 hour.

Yum, Yum, YUM!

Every Once In A While.......

2010-10-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

You meet a person who has the gift of giving. I don't mean they give you gifts. I mean they give of themselves. They share their passion, their knowledge, and their gift of giving.

I meet one such person through a soap making forum I belong to. I have learned so much from her blog. She does such intense research and provides an overload of information that you can't help but learn something.

Susan is a wealth of information about cosmetic chemistry. As she says, "often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron." I have been enjoying my journey with her and share her obsession of crafts and the bath and beauty industry.

Now this person does not just give online. She also reaches out to children, and that is a subject near and dear to my heart. Her program is called "Rated T for Teen."
From their web page
"We provide different programs to youth at the Chilliwack and Yarrow Libraries (in Chilliwack, B.C., Canada) and most of the funding comes from the volunteers’ pockets. We offer craft groups to teens, tweens, and pregnant and parenting teens. We provide two card and board game clubs, two video game clubs, and a Japanese pop culture program, as well. We also offer parent-child crafting programs."

Part of her fundraising program has been the Aviva Community Fund Program. Here you can vote for her program to receive community assistance.

As part two of her fundraising plan, she put together a 122 page e-book entitled
"Back to Basics: Anhydrous Products."
" The book includes over 50 recipes and explanations for making lotion bars, whipped butters, balms, oil based scrubs, bath melts, bath oils, oil based sprays, solid scrubs, and facial sera, as well as all the carrier oil, exotic oil, and butter profiles and everything I've gathered about the chemistry of our oils including fatty acids, mechanisms of rancidity, phytosterols, and polyphenols."

For a $20.00 donation that all goes into the project you will recieve a e-book that you will be able to use for years. I am so excited for this opportunity to purchase this collection of facts and information AND to help her project to bring the wonderful world of crafting to their youth.

CHECK IT OUT!

A New Opportunity

2010-10-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

I went to Sacramento, CA this past weekend to watch my daughter's high school volleyball team compete in a tournament (They came in second place). It was a fun time hanging with my family on Friday night and all the girl's parents on Saturday during the games. They started at 8:30 am and played until 8 pm. A long day, but nice to know you can hang with the big schools. I heard several comments about "that Nevada team"!

My husband and I drove down Friday and stopped at Apple Hill, CA. I wanted to check out some sites for craft shows and some year round gift shops. We stopped at Jack Russel Brewing Co. located in the Sierra Foothills near the town of Camino.

Picture is from their web site and taken by Lisa Richmond Photography

I have been wanting to try making a beer soap for quite a while. I talked to the girl serving beer and she introduced me to Dave, the owner. He was kind enough to give me a six pack of his favorite beers to do a little R & D. I have 3 different types of beer open in the fridge and I am going to make 3 unscented batches and 3 batches of scented beers. What scents do you use in your beer soaps?

It's going to be fun around here! I should have all 6 batches done by the time I return to Sacramento in a couple of weeks and I am stopping by the brewery to drop off my samples for a little tasting session. I hope they love them and want to carry my soap in their gift shop. Once those beer drinkers see how wonderful beer soap lathers I know they will be buying my soap by the boatload!

Stay tuned for lots of pictures as I venture into the realm of "Beer Soap Making"! I'll be taking notes and lots of pictures on the scents and behavior of the different brews to see which holds up the best. I am hoping the Blueberry Beer does well!

For A Good Cause

2010-08-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the Carson Valley from Kingsbury Grade, Hwy 207. Can you see my house? It's there on the left.

I love living in Nevada. I love the seasons, you know, winter and road work. Just kidding. I love the sun shining 337 days a year, the snow falling, the incredible sunsets,

the mountains, the wide open spaces, cattle being herded across a highway from one pasture to another, kids in rodeo, Lake Tahoe, and lets not forget, the wild horses that roam our valley.

Here in Gardnerville if you want to eat the produce from your garden, you had better put a fence around it. Horses run free in the BLM lands all around the Carson Valley. They are magnificent creatures, strong and proud. With our unpredictable weather and many drought years they sometimes need our help. That is where many of the organizations to promote and save our wild horses come in. I am doing a craft show sponsored by the Wild Horse And Burro Organization. I am a member of the Made In Nevada Program and we were offered spaces at the show. Made In Nevada is a nonprofit marketing cooperative consisting of small and large businesses throughout the state. They call Nevada home and through their efforts, contribute to the economic well-being of Nevadans in communities across the state.

The show is called the National Wild Horse Center WESTERN STATES WILD HORSE AND BURRO EXPO. It is held at the
Reno Livestock Events Center.
August 20-22, 2010
1350 N. Wells Ave 1721 Reno, NV 89512

From their web site
The Western States Wild Horse and Burro Expo has these objectives:

1. To promote the successful adoption of wild horses (mustangs) and burros who have been gathered from public lands:
A. To educate the public about wild horses and burros through entertainment, showcasing their many fine qualities
B. To improve the success rate of adoptions, by providing educational opportunities with top trainers
C. To provide an opportunity for Federal, State, and Local governmental organizations, as well as for private rescue groups, to offer their wild horses and burros for adoption to the public

2. To raise public appreciation for wild horses and burros - both in the wild and in captivity and/or domestication

3. To promote public acceptance and appreciation for Mustangs and Burros as breeds with strong merits

4. To provide a Showcase for successful owners, trainers, and adopters of formerly wild Mustangs and Burros

5. To provide a venue for people who love wild horses and burros to come together for fun, education, entertainment, sharing, and friendly competition

6. To raise funds to help support wild horse and burro rescue, advocacy, and preservation projects

7. To provide an educational and informational forum for non-profits and other groups who work in horse welfare, nature conservation, and other areas relating to wild horses and burros and the Adoption program.

I set up my table

and then stopped to watch a couple of gals in the arena. I walked down and asked if I could take a few pictures and got to talking. What else is new? The girls work at the Nevada B Ranch, owned by Steven Bourne. With the help of Sheri Avis, executive director, they have turned the ranch into a haven for horses that need a place to recuperate from starvation, illness, injuries or abandonment. The Nevada B Mustang Sanctuary has taken in 47 horses. I meet Kelly Lyon and Courtney Kemp.

Lets see if I can get this right. Kelly Lyon, a teacher with a degree in biology, trains horses and is chairman of the board of the Nevada Mustang Sanctuary. She is here with Kobe. He has only been ridden 35 or so times. He seemed very well mannered to me. Kelly was showing him the signs along the rail and letting him get used to the noises and size of the arena.

This is Courtney Kemp. She is a certified horse trainer with an extensive background in the handling of Mustang horses. She holds the secretary of the board position at the sanctuary. She is riding Sassy. Sassy only has 30 rides under her belt and she seemed very well behaved to me, too. They are from the Dann Shoshone Family that had their home taken away. The horses had gone to several places and ended up at the Nevada B Ranch.

I also stopped to talk to a few other people that were setting up at the show.

Horses for the Spirit from Reno, NV, is a charity dedicated to offering Equine Assisted Learning programs to youth in Washoe County. They teach positive life and social skills to primarily kids at risk of failing in traditional settings, but it is their dream and goal to serve all children in the community. Graduates of their programs have increased their skills in leadership, teamwork, problem solving, managing behavior and more.

The Center for Adaptive Riding specializes in lesson planning for individuals with physical, emotional, developmental or learning challenges. Adults or children diagnosed with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Traumatic Brain Injury, Learning Disability or Multiple Sclerosis can enjoy the out of doors while working with the horses, volunteers, staff and other riders. Brain neuropathways are activated and stimulated while the students brush, feed, lead or ride the horses, helping with balance and body awareness. They are located in Washoe Valley, Nevada.

I also saw a very cool vendor booth, Nancy's Horse Blanket Laundry and Repair. Stop by and see everyone if you are going to the show!

I will be taking more pictures tomorrow, so come on back!

This is the way I set up my soaps this time. Do you like it? I always wrap the soap before a show and then you can't see how cool they look, so.... I thought I would leave one unwrapped.

I Confess, I Am A Scent-A-Holic

2010-08-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have always loved scents. This is Chai fresh out of the pot. I think the nose and how it works is a fascinating thing. When I first ventured into the soap making addiction I scented with a few Essential Oils.

Ok, maybe more than a few Essential Oils.

I joined a few soap making forums. I sold soap in a few craft shows. Everywhere I looked people were talking about scents. On the forums fragrance oil suppliers were advertising the latest popular fragrances. At my craft shows at least one person would come up to me and ask "Do you have ****** scent." I have very little will power. I had to try this blend, then this blend.....Before I knew it I was carrying over 70 different scents of soaps.

The past few years I have been trying to cut back and just carry the best sellers, and my personal favorites.It has been a hard job, but I am down to only 40 different scents.

My biggest problem now is what do you do with all the bottles?

I have great suppliers that ship with great care. Scent Oils are best kept in dark glass to protect them from the light and other elements. I have enough dark bottles to transfer any oils I get in larger containers. Does anyone need any 2, 4, 8, and 16ounce bottles?

Ummm, yum, Kauai Ginger Blossom.

My Lucky Day

2010-08-12T20:52:00.001-07:00

17 years ago on a Friday the 13th I was blessed with a dear daughter. I had been trying to have a child for 10 years and as I approached 40 I was starting to panic big time. I had 2 miscarriages and my dreams for having a big family never seemed farther away. I never stopped praying and in the early hours my dreams came true and I delivered a baby girl.

My mom always told me "You will never know how much I love you until you have a daughter of your own." And boy, was she right.

I loved you the minute I knew I was pregnant. I loved you the minute you were born. Then I saw your face and fell in love some more. You were only a minute old but I knew I would die for you & to this day I still would.

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet daughter.

I am going to make her some of these cookies from Tartelette. Yummy.

Other things that happened this day were:

1966 The Beatles
Unhappy with John Lennon's comments comparing the Beatles to Jesus, radio station KLUE in Longview, Texas organizes a Beatles Bonfire. Later that night, the station was struck by lightning. The station manager was knocked unconscious and the station had to temporarily shut down due to damaged equipment.

1965 Jefferson Airplane makes their first professional appearance, at the Matrix Club in San Francisco.

1961 Berlin Wall
East German Communists begin building a wall through the city to prevent the flow of people seeking the freedoms of the West.

1930 National Beet Grower's Association is incorporated.

1898 Spanish-American War
Fighting ends when the Philippines surrender to Admiral George Dewey.

1782 First Welsh immigrants to America arrive in Pennsylvania. They were Quakers and settled near Philadelphia. Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1587 First American Indian converted to Protestantism is baptized into the Church of England.

Births
1959 Danny Bonaduce American actor, radio deejay. TV: The Partridge Family (Danny).

1951 Dan Fogelberg American singer. Music: Longer (1979, #2) and Leader of the Band (1982).

1930 Don Ho d. 2007 (Donald Tai Loy Ho), Hawaiian singer. Music: Tiny Bubbles (1966, #8). TV: The Don Ho Show (1976-77).

1929 Pat Harrington Jr American Emmy-winning actor. TV: The Jack Paar Show (Guido Panzini) and One Day at a Time (handyman Dwayne Schneider).

1926 Fidel Castro Cuban president. He was so opposed to capitalism that after conquering Cuba he ordered the destruction of all Monopoly games on the island.

1921 Neville Brand d. 1992 actor. TV: Laredo (Ranger Reese Bennett) and The Untouchables (Al Capone).

1919 Rex Humbard d. 2007 American televangelist, founder of the Cathedral of Tomorrow (1952). He was the first televangelist to have a nationally-broadcast TV show (1952). Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1899 Sir Alfred Hitchcock d. 1980 British Oscar-winning director, "The Master of Suspense." Film: Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960, with its famous shower scene). TV: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-62). Quote: "Television has brought murder back into the home - where it belongs."

1897 Detlev Wulf Bronk d. 1975 American scientist, educator, "Father of Biophysics." He served as president of Johns Hopkins University (1949-53).

1895 Bert Lahr d. 1967 (Irving Lahrheim), American actor. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939, the Cowardly Lion).

1888 John Logie Baird d. 1946 Scottish inventor, "Father of the Television." He gave the first demonstration of true TV in London (1926) and later patented a 3-D TV system (1944).

1860 Annie Oakley d. 1926 (Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee), American western performer, member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

1818 Lucy Stone d. 1893 American woman's rights activist, abolitionist. She and her husband founded Woman's Journal (1870). She allowed her New Jersey property to be sold for non-payment of taxes, asserting that she was being taxed without representation.

1814 Anders Jonas Ångström d. 1874 Swedish physicist, for whom the angstrom (a unit of length equal to 10-10 meters) is named. He showed that hydrogen is present in the Sun's atmosphere (1862).

1655 Johann Christoph Denner d. 1707 German woodwind instrument maker, credited with inventing the clarinet.

1422 William Caxton d. 1491 the first English printer (1475).
From the website ThisDay Trivia

Drumroll Please!

2010-08-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting patiently and checking my mail box ever since Lynn from Lynn's Lovelies let me know she mailed my package. Lynn makes beautiful hand made crocheted items and I knew as soon as I saw a hat and bootie set that I had to have it for Baby Mia. I meet Lynn through Link Referral. This is a site that lets your blog or web site review and be reviewed. It helps with your rankings and drives traffic to your site. I loved Lynn's shop and told her that. We started talking about how much we liked the other's products and.....a trade was born. Rats, she wrapped them so good I have to wait for Mia to see them! Wow, there is even rose petals in the package, smells so good! That is a very nice touch, I don't have to hunt around for wrapping paper and ribbon, it is already done! She even put in a hand made card for me. Thank you Lynn, I did have a blast! In her Etsy Shop Lynn makes and sells a variety of crocheted lovelies for babies, preemies, dolls, and ladies. She also makes crocheted roses, flower and leaf motifs that can be be used in your crafting, scrap booking or sewing projects. Lavender is one of her favorite flowers and she makes Pretty Lavender filled sachets, pincushions, and small pillows that can be custom made in the colors and size you desire. She also has hats, pins, scarves, neck warmers, ornaments and keepsakes. Oh no Daddy, I am tired! Do these make my feet look big? I need a new photographer, Daddy, help! Can I go back to sleep now? Now Mia is already 2 months old but she was born a premmie so is still a newborn, just larger. Lynn had to adapt her pattern to fit Mia as she is over 10 pounds now! We live in the high desert near Lake Tahoe and the summer times can get a bit hot so I asked Lynn to make the baby set big enough to fit Mia this fall and winter. Thank you so much Lynn, trading with you was a blast! To see the soaps I sent Lynn, check out her blog!

Something I Do In My Spare Time

2010-08-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have always read blogs. I love blogs. I guess I am a voyeur, I like reading about other peoples lives. So when I saw that Anhoki (a soap maker I greatly admire for her beautiful soaps and all the help she gives to fellow soap makers) had her site on a "link referral" site I had to check it out. This is a picture of Anhoki's Animadikaci, an awesome beer bar.

Link Referral is a site where I review other sites and they review mine. It has brought a lot of traffic to my blog and I like the creative criticisms and atta-a-boys I have received. I reviewed an Etsy site, which is all hand made items, the other day and boy was I impressed. Lynn of Lynns Lovelies makes the cutest baby items

and when I saw one that was everything Mama Beth would want for Baby Mia, I had to tell Lynn in my review how wonderful it was and how I would love to buy one for my little girl, but being on such a tight budget I could not. And.....Lynn answered me and said how much she loved handmade soap and maybe we could work a deal. So.....I am waiting for my package in the mail, and I have Lynn's package all ready to ship.

So....if you would like some reviews on your web site or blog, go to LinkReferral.com and join up. And if you need some beautiful hand made crocheted lovelies for babies, preemies, dolls, ladies and keepsake gifts, go visit Lynn here or her blog here. And if you would like to try some fabulous soap, other than mine, visit Anhoki here.

When I get my package in the mail, after I give it to baby Mia I will show you all!

And yes, I love using other people's soaps!

As If I Don't Have Enough To Worry About

2010-07-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

This bill, The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010' (H.R. 5786), was introduced this week by Democrat Representatives Scharkowsky (Illinois), Markey (Massachusetts) and Baldwin (Wisconsin). You can read all 47 pages here. It has not been voted on yet, and I need your help. Please don't support this legislation. It may be well-meaning but is written in such a way that I won't be able to stay in business because I won't be able to keep up with the requirements.

Here are the reasons I, and other business owners in the handmade sector, do not support the bill.

1. The cosmetic industry, which includes my soap, has a huge variety of choice for customers. It is already illegal to not show contact information and ingredients on labels. That makes this bill unnecessary.

2. This bill would handicap small manufacturing businesses, that would be ME! I would not be able to keep up with the reporting requirements! I am a one woman show!

3. The reporting requirements would ask your annual sales, number of employees and even the names and addresses of your vendors. I must have over 100 vendors, some I buy ONE small ingredient from, but they are the only ones to carry it.

4. 'Detectable' trace elements must be included on labels. Since almost everything is detectable, labeling will be confusing to end consumers (even more than it is already). So, "Water" on a label would look like "Aqua, Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc" (boy I would hate to see the label I would have to print, our water is well water and our county is all ag, I bet there is enough methane to blow up the state!).

5. Ingredients that are considered carcinogenic when ingested (eaten) will be unable to be used in skin care products. You can still eat them, you just could not put them on your skin. Like an apple, they contain small amount of cyanide, so you can eat them but they could not go into a face mask.

6. While I use a basic soap formula that took me years to develop to perfection :) I like to experiment. This morning I made a soap with Cocoa Butter, 5 Fold Vanilla Essential Oil, and dark Cocoa Powder. With the new bill ingredient listing and registration information must be listed for each and every cosmetic, soap, lotion and potion made up, it does not allow for changing of formulas without creating a paperwork nightmare.

7. There is no full exemption for small businesses, who often are on a strict budget to bring their creations to you, for an affordable price.

SierraSnowSoaps opposes this draft legislation as written. Please help by writing your Representative opposing this legislation as it is currently written (not sure who your Rep is? Click here to find out!). Let them know you do not support a bill that will affect so many in the handmade Bath and Body industry.

Thank you!
SierraSnowSoaps

We Are So Blessed

2010-07-20T13:23:00.001-07:00

Thank you for all your prayers. Yesterday our girl came home! She was gaining weight, her temperature was holding steady, her breathing was fine. Why did it take so long for her to come home? A funny little thing most of us do not think of, it just comes naturally. She had to drink, swallow, AND breathe, all at the same time. Sounds easy, but not when you are born pre mature. That is something that comes along in the 34-36th week. Thank you for all your prayers. It is hard to see good friends going through hard times and I think your prayers helped our friends during their trying times.

Moving Can Be Traumatic On Animals

2010-07-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

We moved into the new house and I am sorry to report the animals are not taking it well. They are nervous, scared and just can't relax, and I worry about them.

This is nervous.

This is scared.

And this is just can't relax.

I did find time to deliver my Dog Shampoo Bar to Max's Pet Supply. They told me what they Essential Oils they wanted and I created an exclusive soap for their shop. You can find it here.

Max's Pet Supplies
1363 US Hwy 395 #4
Gardnerville, NV 89410
ph: (775) 782-8088
fax: (775) 782-8083

When Is A Supplier Not Just A Place To Buy Oil?

2010-06-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

When they are having a contest, that's when!

Cibaria Soap Supply is having a fantastic contest with some fabulous prizes and I want to win them!
It is the
Cibaria Soap Supply’s Summer Contest.
You get points by passing the word and posting in several places.

The prizes are

First Prize: Free Consultation w/ a Veteran Web Designer and Internet Marketer on how to spice up your website (or start one), track your website visitors, and how to market your brand online! Get Ideas, suggestions, and build a powerful brand!

Second Prize: 35 Lbs of high quality Pomace Olive Oil

Third Prize: $5.00 OFF Of your next Order at Cibaria Soap Supply!

You can get full details here.

Cibarias Soap Supply's Summer Contest.

I first ordered from Cibaria a couple of years ago.

Their web site is so easy to navigate and they just have some of the best prices on oils. I loved that the shipping did not cost me an arm and a leg. I just wish I lived closer so I could pick up my oils. What a savings that would be! I have used their Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, and Olive Oil. They come in 5 gallon pails but the best part is they also box them up so there is not extra shipping charges for the pails. Isn't that silly when the pails cost more than a box? I do think the boxes are easy to carry and stack, so thanks Cibaria!

Check them out on Facebook and Twitter!

Tell them Michelle at SierraSnowSoaps sent you! :)

Here are a few pictures of soap made with oils purchased from them.
You can purchase them here.

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

My family is spending this Father's Day working on an old 1983 Ford 3/4 ton pickup truck we are trying to sell. It has been sitting for a year so we are gassing and cleaning and changing whatever needs to be changed. I say we because my husband, daughter and myself are all part of the process. Everyone expects the dude of the family to work on cars but I have worked on cars all my life. I am teaching my 16 year old daughter to do the same. And where did I learn how to work on cars?

Why my dad!

My mom and dad did not believe in gender duties or tasks. For Mother's Day my dad would buy my mom

a new pipe wrench. For Father's Day he got a new vacuum. Before any of us kids (and there were 5) could get our driver's license we had to be able to change a tire. Or better yet, rotate all 4. My daughter can change a tire, because I taught her how. She will never be stuck out in the middle of nowhere, scared and not knowing what to do, because she has changed lots of tires. My daughter also checks her air pressure, changes her oil, checks her coolant, fills her washer fluid, and does not think that is a big deal. She also knows enough about how an engine works that when she has to go to a mechanic she will NOT be clueless.

I owe a lot to my dad. One time I told him that every time we get a little money ahead, something breaks. He said "No, every time something breaks, you have extra money." He always looks at the half full cup, never the half empty. Because of him (and you mom)

I try not to sweat the small stuff. Things will always work out, somehow. My family has gone through a lot of things in the last 40 years or so, both financial and medical. How your parents handle the problems of life teaches the children how to handle the same things that might happen later in their lives. Thanks to my folks, I feel like I can handle just about anything.

Happy Father's Day dad. I love you.

Markleeville Art Gallery Grand Opening

2010-06-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

Yup, you guessed it. I put a soap display in another gallery. They are located in beautiful Downtown Markleeville. The owner is Evelyn Yonker, artist. She makes some of the most beautiful fiber art ever.

The gallery is located at 14841 Hwy 89, Markleeville, Ca. Hours will be 11 am to 5:30 pm. Friday through Tuesday, closed Wednesday and Thursday. Phone is 530-694-2782.

Items available are original paintings and prints in oils, pastel, watercolors and acrylic. There will be photography, greeting cards, sculpture, pottery, hand painted silk, jewelry, and books from local authors.

Some of the artists include Pam Brekas

JoAnne Wood

Lorraine Felix
and of course SierraSnowSoaps

The Grand Opening is Saturday. Take a drive and visit the wonderful town of Markleeville.

When is a heater not a heater? When it is covered by fine art!

A bit about Markleeville.
With the Sierra Nevada mountain range seperating Alpine county seat Markleeville and Woodfords from the rest of California they have developed a close association with Western Nevada. Jacob Marklee established a toll bridge across the Carson River in 1861 during the silver mining boom and the town served as a supply and shipping center for mining, lumber and local ranches. When the mines shut down Markleeville assumed the county seat and today is home to a mix of local, state and federal government employees, ranging from the U.S. Forest Service to the state highway department, and small businesses catering to the tourist trade and visitors to the nearby Grover Hot Springs State Park.
During the winter months, the community is only accessible from the north via Highway 88 & 89, as both Monitor Pass* and Ebbett's Pass close for the season due to heavy snow.

I Am Putting Soap Into A New Store

2010-06-11T05:56:00.000-07:00

I put a soap display into a shop in Gardnerville the other day.

Heartstrings Gallery Gifts
1572 US Highway 395
Minden NV 89423
Phone: 775-781-0861

Long-time artist Lee Lewis opened the shop in October of 2009 in the Copeland Center site that now is home to the Arts Council. She makes and sells her own work: silk scarves and ties, jewelry, wall hangings, mosaics, hand painted glassware, candles and original watercolors and prints.

Her partner is photographer Rich Farrar.

She features several other artists.
Laura Burt shows her glass art and fused, leaded, etched and stained glass.

Kim Johnston shows her ceramics and pottery.

And now there is me.

The store is bright and the colors are brilliant. It makes you happy just walking into the door. And now it smells good, too! Lee has the eye when it comes to decorating. The store flows from one treasure to the next. It draws you in, you know there will be another delight to the eyes right around the corner. I am so happy to be here.

As with all the shops I put my soap in, this one is community friendly too! We all believe in shop local and support your local businesses and friends. This is Lee donating a painting to the DAWG representative for their fundraiser. I love our no-kill pet shelter and try to support them any way I can.

Lee will have the shop open for Carson Valley Days, so stop in and say hello!

Heartstrings Gallery Gifts
1572 US Highway 395
Minden NV 89423
Phone: 775-781-0861

It Is All About Choices

2010-06-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

A crisp clean scent, Mountain Lake.

While stocking the shelves at one of the stores I sell my soap, a customer walked by and started smelling the different scents I sell. Upon checking the price of a bar of soap she asked me, "how do you stay in business selling soap for $6.00 when a person can buy soap much cheaper at the grocery store?"

That is a good question. First I have to think about the product. Soap is a reusable product. Everyone uses it. Everyone buys more when they run out. I need to be the one they come to when they run out. I can not compete with the stores on price so I have to have a better quality product. My soap sells for $6.00 for a 4 oz. bar of soap. It has been over 10 years since I bought soap at the store but I am sure you can buy something for $1.00. I make sure my soap uses the finest ingredients. I buy local whenever possible to reduce the impact I make on the environment. I support local merchants to keep my money in my community.

A sweet tart scent, Sunkissed Currant.

My goal is not to compete with a grocery store when it comes to selling soap. They can sell a basic bar of no frills soap for a cheap price. I want to sell a quality, luxurious bar of soap that will delight your skin, overload your senses with pleasure from the soft silky bubbles to the heady scents I use. I want you to breathe deep and imagine yourself in a spa instead of your shower. When you are drying off I want your skin to feel soft and pampered.

I want you to have a choice. I want to make the best soap possible so you don't have to settle for less. I guess that is how I stay in business. There will always be people who will not settle for anything but the best. I will be there for them.

A fresh green scent, Clover.

School Is Almost Out

2010-06-01T18:57:00.001-07:00

And it is still snowing! This has been crazy weather in the Carson Valley this year. Now that school is out and the volleyball season is done for my dear daughter I will be able to spend a lot more time on the soap business. I am going to show you how I make soap and a few other bath and body products I make. It should be fun, for me that is.

An artist I work with at the Brewery Arts Gift Store made me some soap dishes. They are adorable and functional too. Let me know if you want one!

Update on Mia Anna

2010-05-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Mia has been taken off the ventilator and is breathing on her own without a oxygen hood. That is good. She is still in the hospital but is now eating and should start the weight gain. Like all babies she lost a little water weight after being born. Beth and Stebel continue the daily drive to Reno from Gardnerville. Jolene and I continue to tag along whenever they let us. Things are looking good!

Moms first day out of the hospital and on her way to see Mia for the first time!

Before they let you into the ICU to hold a preemie baby they have you wash up to your elbows with a scrub brush for 2 minutes each arm. But, boy is it worth it.

Ahhhhhh, now that's better!

They even let papa hold her. Isn't he cute?

With Arms Wide Open

2010-05-24T03:07:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago Creed recorded the song "With Arms Wide Open". It tells the story

Well I just heard the news today
seems my life is going to change
I close my eyes, begin to pray
tears of joy stream down my face

With arms wide open
under the sunlight
welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
with arms wide open

With arms wide open

Well I don't know if I'm ready
to be the man I have to be
I take a breath, I take her by my side
we stand in awe, we've created life

We want to welcome Mia Anna Stebel!

To start at the beginning....I met this guy 5 or 6 years ago at work one night. He says my name is Maciej Stebel. I said "What!?" He says "call me Stebel." That was the start of a great friendship.

Stebel is one of those guys, you know, that you would like to wring their neck sometimes. Funny, witty, snide, and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. If your car breaks down, you can call Stebel any time and he will come help. He is a great photographer and owns his own busy business, Stebel Photography, but if you need some great pictures on short notice, he will be there. He donates his time and product to the community. He is also a nut.

Can you say "extreme"? Yeah, he is the one driving the jeep!

Then Stebel's girlfriend Beth came to work with us.

At first Beth seemed a little shy. But oh no, we soon learned the truth. Beth would come up with the funniest one liners, totally shocking everyone. She is a strong, beautiful, intelligent, and talented young lady. She makes a mean cake, too. This was my dear daughter's 16th birthday cake, made from scratch by Beth.

Don't ask me how Stebel took this photo of the two of them, but they sure enjoy life.

Beth is a pretty extreme girl, too. I mean, how many young ladies do you know that buy a house, get married, become a United States citizen, get laid off from their job, and get pregnant. All in one month! Yup, that's our Beth. Cool, calm and collected she takes everything in stride. Now our other friend, Jolene and I are another story. Both of us are Geminis and when all 4 of our personalities get in a room together (you know, the twins) there is trouble. We were so excited Beth was going to be a mom. Beth was a little sick in the beginning, like for 3 months, but that made us more excited because that meant she was going to have a girl! They say (the old wives tale) a daughter is jealous of the mom and tries to rob her of her beauty by making her sick. It did not work with Beth, she was always beautiful and once she got through the first trimester everything was peachy keen, until Saturday, May 22, 2010.

On Saturday, while I was at the fundraiser I wrote about, Jolene texted me and asked if I had heard from Stebel. It seems Beth was not feeling well so they went to the urgent care. At 8:00pm Jolene called me and asked what I was doing. By 9:00pm I had driven to the east side of the valley, picked Jolene up, and we drove (never over the speed limit) to the north end of Carson City to the hospital. Beth was in big trouble! They tried to helicopter her to Reno but with the May snowstorm they could not fly. Beth had been having trouble with her blood pressure and she was in distress with Preeclampsia which is a pregnancy condition in which high blood pressure and protein in the urine develop after the 20th week (late 2nd or 3rd trimester) of pregnancy.

Symptoms of more severe preeclampsia:
•Headaches that are dull or throbbing and will not go away
•Abdominal pain, mostly felt on the right side, underneath the ribs. Pain may also be felt in the right shoulder, and can be confused with heartburn, gallbladder pain, a stomach virus, or the baby kicking
•Agitation
•Decreased urine output, not urinating very often
•Nausea and vomiting (worrisome sign)
•Vision changes -- temporary loss of vision, sensations of flashing lights, auras, light sensitivity, spots, and blurry vision.

Beth had all the symptoms.
The only way to cure preeclampsia is to deliver the baby. So that is what they did. Beth had an emergency C-section and a 5 lb. 2 oz. baby girl was born. Mia Anna Stebel. The hospital in Reno sent an ambulance with a premature baby team to Carson City and within a couple of hours the baby was on her way through a snow storm to the Renown Health Hospital. They are the only Children's Hospital, Children's ER, Children's Specialty Care, Pediatric ICU, and Children's Infusion Center in the region that caters to the many pediatric needs in northern Nevada. They like to keep premature babies in the hospital until their due date so Mia might be there for 6 weeks. She had a breathing tube the first day so she would not forget to breath, but Stebel called last night and she is breathing on her own now. It will be a long month for the new parents but with their extended family, us and all their many friends, they will get through it. Mia will get stronger every day and she will soon come home and Jolene already has enough little dresses to last the first year!

We are so proud of Beth, and Stebel too. He insisted on taking Beth to urgent care and saved her life. Even with all the pain she was in, she did what she had to do to keep the baby safe. They are going to be great parents, they already are!

Here are a few pictures.

Beth is still in Carson City so Jolene came up with the brilliant idea to print some pictures of Mia so she will have her near. Jolene is a smart girl!

The proud papa! As you can see, the baby has Beth's good looks, thank goodness!

The nurse told us that light strokes to the baby are too stimulating for a preemie and to "cocoon them" which is the feeling they have in the womb. Stebel demonstrates.

Mia has beautiful color!

She may look small here but she is 5 lbs., did not need a hood on her basinet, and has quite a grip already!
This is a picture of the proud aunties! (I have not decided if I am an auntie or granny yet) Jolene in red and me in white.

Well Stebel, I know you are the man you need to be, I am so very proud of you! And Beth, I told you I wanted the baby born on my birthday, you were close. But at least we have another Gemini in our group! And Jolene and I are going to teach her everything she needs to know! Oh boy, are you in trouble mom and dad!

Happy Landings Unique, High-Value Home Decor and Art Fund Raiser

2010-05-22T03:25:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy making product for a fundraiser later today. Yes it is 3:27 am and I am wide awake. A by product of working the graveyard shift for over 13 years is you love being awake in the middle of normal sleeping hours.

The Carson Valley Vanguard Coalition, Inc. is raising money to protect and promote the Minden-Tahoe Airport as a recreational and general aviation facility. There has been the huge debate on what weight aircraft should be allowed at our little airport.

So, if you are in the area, we will be at the Holiday Inn Express, Minden, Nevada from noon until 5 pm.

Sapphire Wizard Fired Arts

2010-05-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sapphire Wizard has moved to town! Their new location is 1459 US Hwy 395, Gardnerville, NV 89410.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Ann, the owner of Sapphire Wizard Fired Arts Store, at a Wine Walk at Three Rooms Gallery. She has been a Ceramic Artist for over 30 years, she grew up helping her mom. She knows the business from the ground up. Mary Ann not only paints ceramics, she creates the figures she fires to bisque. We stopped by her 2000 square foot store in the Gardnerville Ranchos, and just loved it. I can also help her host birthday parties, clean the clay before she fires them, and hang out. Her husband, Ken is an engineer by day and clay artist by night.

Mary Ann and Ken own over 1200 molds

and pour their own "paint your own pottery". They start with a thin clay called slip. This is poured into a clamped mold,

then left to coat the inside for 20-30 minutes. When the slip is poured out it leaves a thin layer of clay called a shell. When this clay shell becomes leather hard, about 1 hour, the mold is taken apart and the figurine is taken out and dried for a couple of days. These are then cleaned and fired. This is called bisque and it is now ready to paint.

The puppy on the left just came out of the mold, on the right has been fired once.

At Sapphire Wizard there are thousands of figures to choose from.

They are also licensed to pour and sell Disney Characters.

Mary Ann has over 100 different non-toxic, kid safe paint colors.

You can create a one of a kind masterpiece for yourself or a to give as a gift. Mary Ann also offers gift certificates, a perfect gift for any age!

It might be a little overwhelming when you walk in the door, but go right in! Mary Ann has opened the front of the store to retail. You will find many artists selling their products. At last count I saw handmade beads, painted ceramics, jewelry, and of course soap!

This is also where Birthday and Special Occasion Parties are held. Mary Ann has seating for 45 and has held many community functions in the store from baby showers, church get together, office parties, boy and girl scouts working on badges, girls (and boys) night out, and of course birthdays.

Once inside Mary Ann or Ken will show you the great selection of bisque. Pick a piece and you are off.

The price of the bisque and a small studio fee is all you pay. The studio fee covers any paints you need and the final clear glaze and firing of your piece. Sapphire Wizard Arts differs from most ceramic stores. Here you paint at your pace. If you finish in 10 minutes, 1 hour, 3 days, it does not matter, you pay only one studio fee per piece. The studio is family friendly. Mary Ann also has a room for little ones to play while waiting for mom to finish up. There are toys to play with in a contained, safe area.

There are on going classes being held at the store. Camille Howard, local and famous Ceramic Artist, teaches brush stroke classes. There are also clay hand building, bead, and jewelry making classes. They have a bisque sale during the first week of the month, teachers get 15% off on Fridays, and Tuesdays are 2 for Tuesdays.

You can see more photos and get the latest information for Sapphire Wizard Fired Arts on their website Sapphire Wizard and their FaceBook.
Check out the tiles going up on the wall at CC Meneley Elementary School. The students had the opportunity to do a self portrait tile that will be permanently attached to the wall. Mary Ann supports the local community. When you buy a raffle ticket from a school or club, you can be sure a gift certificate from Sapphire Wizard will be one of the prizes. They donate to the Fishing Derby, Bun co For Breast Cancer, Boys and Girl Club, Relay for Life, 4H Scuba Club, Douglas High School Volleyball, and many more.

The store is located at 811 Short Ct. in the Gardnerville Ranchos, near the Pizza Factory. The phone number is 775-265-6972. The summer hours are Tue. thru Sat. 10am till 6pm. They are also open evenings by appointment only.

Without You

2010-05-09T05:54:00.000-07:00

It was at a late age that I was blessed with a child. I had always wanted a large family, but after 2 miscarriages as I neared age 40 I was starting to fear I would never be a mother. Then my miracle happened and on a Friday the 13th I welcomed my little girl into the world. I was so happy I had a girl. My mother always told me I would never know how much she loved me until I had a daughter of my own. Boy was she right. That little girl had my heart from the moment I saw her, screaming her head off. She still is, even at 6'1", my little girl, and always will be.

My husband came from one of those families that grew up during the Great Depression. His dad rode the rails going from town to town looking for work. One day after sneaking off the train he found a silver dollar. He told us that was the cat's meow. He got a room, a bath and a shave, and a steak dinner for that dollar. A dollar bought a lot in those days, but he never wasted it on something frivolous, like flowers, or a card, or candy. So....my dear mother in law only got 1 card during the over 50 years they were married. Since we learn by example my husband is not a card, gift or flower giving kind of guy, either.

I am from a family that celebrates everything. We may not have had all the money in the world, but when you have a mom that can make everything you will never lack for anything. Birthdays at our house were an event. We would hide gifts all over, write notes and have treasure hunts. As we got older we made sure Santa brought gifts for our parents. Even now, there is a celebration of some sort at my folk's house every couple of months. It does not matter if they are there or not. And, with 5 kids, we made sure my mom knew we appreciated her, even if for only that 1 day a year.

I made sure my dear daughter knew the joy of celebration. Her first Mother's Day I took her to a florist and let her pick out a corsage for me to wear to work. Yup, starting at age 10 months old she was able to pick out the flowers, order, pick up and pay for flowers for her dear old mom. She always knew what I wanted.

This card was handmade by Delores Henderson. She is a featured artist at the Brewery Arts Center Artistian Store in Carson City, Nevada.

As she got older she wanted to go out on her own, so with her dad she would get me some beautiful cards and heart necklaces. I still have them all. But sometimes it is the handmade things that get to you. She wrote me this poem many years ago, I think she was 10. I would like to share it with you, and wish you all the very happiest of Mother's Days.

Without You
everything you do for me, amazes me
you are always in my heart, together or apart
I love you more than words can say
so I'll just kiss you and walk away
but truly, honestly, deep down
I know exactly how I feel
I just can't make it form a word
you are my sun, stars, and world

love
it is stronger than lightning bolt
stronger than a hurricane
earthquake, tsunami
I could survive it all with you
but if you weren't here
I don't know how I could
live without you

Happy Mother's Day

Jumbos Sub And Catering Shop

2010-05-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

On a brighter note, there is Jaime and John Anzelone. With their daughter Aleassa they opened their deli in June of 2002. Jaime and John both worked in a casino and were looking for a way to become their own bosses. They found something they both loved, eating and eating sandwiches specifically, and with some of John's secret family recipes in hand, they offer much more than just subs. Homemade soups, Italian dinners, homemade pasta and potato salads, chips and sodas are on the menu, along with a huge variety of meat and veggie sandwiches and wraps. They also offer catering. They have a wide selection of veggie, sandwich, and wrap trays to choose from.

Located in the Tillman Center near the bowling alley, 1281 suite #10 Kimmerling Road in the Gardnerville Ranchos, the store is open Mon.-Sat. 10:30am to 4pm. You can call in orders 775-265-4511 or fax in an order 775-265-6553.

John has gone back to a 9-5 job while Jaime runs the shop full time with a little help from family.

They have had offers to move the shop but they had Aleassa in local schools and she started to help at the store when she was 11. No child labor here, she was well paid and always had her spending money.

She has since graduated high school and is finishing up her degree in Fire Science at Truckee Meadows College and is still working part time at the Douglas swimming pool. Jaime says they would not consider moving now to a different location after all the support the community has shown them even when times were tough. They have a good loyal customer base because the food is delicious.

Of course there is always room for more! After 8 years in the same location they are truly part of the neighborhood.

The shop is proof of their love for sports. With a TV tuned to sports channels and with the walls covered with the souvenirs of their sports travels it is fun to browse the shop while your lunch or dinner is being made.

They continue to support youth sports and have sponsored sports teams and donated to raffles. Stop by on your next outing, picnic or lunch and sample good food from your neighborhood sub shop.

Jaime with Aleassa hard at work!

I Am Sad Today

2010-05-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

We closed Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery. The economic times just got to be too much for the owner and the artists. This seems to be a slow time for shoppers in a good year.

Flowers are blooming, weather is warming up and people tend to spend more time outdoors, not shopping. This year is even worse. No one would come into the shop for days. Not the way to run a business. So...the building is up for sale. It will be open for "Ring in Kindness" on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays from 2:30-4:30 PM so join us for some clay time.

We will miss seeing you all and visiting during the wine walks. It has been a great couple of years. Thanks for you business.

I do sell my soaps in a few other places around town.

My web site is www.sierrasnowsoaps.com

I have soap at the following places

Sapphire Wizard

Artisan Cafe & Gift Shop

Lake Tahoe Visitors Center

Catching Up

2010-04-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

The shelves are a little bare.

A gift basket company has been ordering some of my products. But....they only want purple. I do make a lot of soaps with purple. I make 10 pound batches and that makes about 50 bars of soap. I am cutting down on the scents I carry, weeding out the slow sellers and not restocking them when they sell out.

So when they ordered 200 bars of soap I was scrambling to find purple colored ones. I have since made some purple bars just for them. Now I am restocking all the others I ran out of. I have been making 15-20 pounds of soap a day. It has been fun. I love making soap.

But I am taking the weekend off for this. I love it too.

What Is A Fragrance Oil?

2010-04-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

A fragrance oil is an aroma compound (a chemical compound that has a smell or odor) that, unlike the essential oil that comes from a plant, is a synthetic blend. Like the essential oils it must be volatile so it can be smelled through the olfactory system in the upper part of the nose. It also needs to be a high enough concentration to interact with the olfactory receptors.

Chemical synthesis is using chemical reactions to get a product. Using physical and chemical procedures one set of chemical substances is transformed to another. This helps insure the product will be able to be reproduced in other labs and the end product will be reliable. The process begins by selecting compounds know as reagents or reactants. They are "substances or compounds that are added to a system in order to bring about a chemical reaction or are added to see if a reaction occurs". The difference between the two is specifically a reactant is a "substance that is consumed in the course of a chemical reaction". Compounds are mixed in a reaction vessel such as a round-bottom flask. This link shows a list of the most well known reactions and reagents in organic chemistry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reactions

Some examples of Aroma Compounds are Esters, Terpenes, Cyclic Terpenes and Aromatics.
Esters include Methyl Butyrate (fruity, apple and pineapple), Ethyl Acetatea (sweet, solvent, also found naturally in wine), and Isoamyl Acetate (fruity, banana and pear). The Esters do not have many of their scents, except wine, occur in nature.
Terpenes include Myrcene (woody, complex, found in Verbena and bay in nature), Geraniol (a rose, flowery scent found in geraniums and lemon), and Citronellol (lemon scent that is found in lemongrass in nature).
Cyclic Terpenes include Limonene (orange fragrance), Terpineol (lilac), and Thujone (minty).
Aromatics include Benzaldehyde (almond), Vanillin (vanilla), and Thymol (thyme).
There is also the Amines, but with fishy, fecal scents I would not use them for fragrance in soap.
A list of aroma compounds can be found here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroma_compound

Aroma compounds are found in food, wine, spices, and flavorants to improve their appeal. Scents that are not found in nature can be provided by synthesized odorants. Essential Oils that are very expensive, such as Rose, or are an endangered plant, such as Sandalwood, can be substituted with a Fragrance Oil. While plant scents vary by the locations and times they are harvested, synthetics are more consistent.

I first made soap using Essential Oils only. Until I started learning a bit about scent and fragrance and blending my selection was limited to the oils I could afford to buy. I was introduced to Fragrance Oils on a soap forum and soon became a "scent-a-holic". I soon had 60 different scents lining the shelves and more soap than I knew what to do with. Some of the fragrance oils smell so good in soap I would walk by some curing soap and take a deep whiff!

This is Cucumber Melon Soap. You can buy it here http://www.sierrasnowsoaps.com/11.html.

My first supplier of Fragrance Oils was Cybilla. Ummm, her Cucumber Melon and Dragons Blood went straight to your head. Her line was bought out by Anne-Marie, the owner of Brambleberry Soap Making Supplies. http://www.brambleberry.com/ I buy a lot of my Fragrance Oils here. They smell terrific, behave well in soap making, and the prices are in my budget.

This is Sunkissed Currant Soap. You can buy it here http://www.sierrasnowsoaps.com/11.html.

Another supplier I use is Oregon Trail Soap Supplies http://www.oregontrailsoaps.com/. Suz is the owner with her husband Rick. I had the pleasure of meeting her one year while in Oregon. It was incredible being around the supplies in the LARGE sizes.

The third supplier I use is Southern Garden Scents http://southerngardenscents.com/. They used to be Tony's Fragrance oils.

All three of these suppliers are wonderful to work with. They ship quickly, everything is packaged in wrapping to insure nothing breaks or leaks. They all test their Fragrance Oils to give the customer the best information on how it will behave in different types of soap. They all are in the "know" about which fragrances are popular and all add new scents continually. That is where I get into trouble. They all just smell so good, it is hard to decide which scents to use.

First Impressions Can Be Deceiving

2010-04-19T05:22:00.000-07:00

I took a little road trip to Arizona in April 2009. Now the road from Gardnerville, Nevada heading south can be a little, should we say, ugly? But if you look hard you can find the beauty in everything. This is from the road on Hwy 395. Not very pretty, is it. Raise the camera a bit and it starts to look a little more promising. Then you look up a little more and you get this view. Quite a difference. Although I love rock formations, not everyone can see the beauty in a pile of rocks. We go from this to this, just by widening the picture. This is a desert plant. Not too pretty. This looks downright dangerous. All those thorns are hiding this. This is how this plant's flower ends. This is how it starts. This is the in between. This little guy is this littler guy's big brother I guess you can see the resemblance. We all judge things by our first impressions. We just have to remember to have an open mind so we can see the beauty in life when it stares us right in the face.

Essential Oils Are Fabulous In Soap

2010-04-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

If you are not making unscented soap or using herbs for your scent you really only have two options (well not really just two, but we will talk about those later) to use to scent your soap. You can use Essential Oils or Fragrance Oils. Today we will talk about Essential Oils.

Essential Oil Here are several definitions of essential oils you will find on the world wide web.
•An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants.
•Aromatic liquids extracted from flowers, grasses, fruits, leaves, roots, or trees. The oils maintain the odors and tastes, and thus the essence, of the plant they are extracted from.
•Aromatic volatile oils extracted from the leaves, stems, flowers, and other parts of plants. Therapeutic use generally includes dilution of the highly concentrated oil.
•Oily or non-oily, volatile aromatic substance constituting the chemical principle of the plant, extracted by distillation or expression.
•An essential oil is the volatile material derived by a physical process (distillation or expression) from odious plant material of a single botanical form and species.

Essential oils do not have anything in common with each other, other than than they lend their plant material to give a scent. There are no common chemical properties, but many of the explanations use the same wording. So lets explain the explanation.

Essential Oils
A distinctive scent, or essence, of a plant makes an oil "essential". So Essential Oils are "the oils of a plant".

Hydrophobic Liquid
The chemical definition of hydrophobicity is the repelling from a mass of water of a molecule. The molecules are non-polar and tend to cluster together. Examples include fats, and greasy substances.

Volatile
Volatiles are chemical elements and compounds with low boiling points, that change. In this case volatility is the tendency of a substance to vaporize.

Aroma
This is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor and known as a fragrance or flavor. The compound has an odor when it is volatile so it can be transported to the olfactory system and it needs to be high in concentration so it reacts with the olfactory receptors.

This means an Essential Oil is a liquid that comes from heating plant material and changing or vaporizing the chemical compounds of the plant. This is most commonly done by steam in a distiller. As the heated water, or steam, passes through the plant it vaporizes the compounds and flows through a coil. The vapors then condense back to a liquid where it is collected. It most often is clear and not oily at all. Before the discovery of distillation, plant material was pressed to get the oils. Most citrus essential oils are still cold pressed and because the oil comes from the peel, there is a lot of it, it is easy to grow and harvest, the cost is less. Flowers contain the least amount of volatile compounds so cannot be cold pressed. They are too delicate to be steamed so a solvent is used to extract the oils. It takes a lot of flower blossoms to make a floral essential oil so they are typically the most expensive of oils. One ounce of Rose Essential Oil can cost $700. I use 6-8 ounces of scent in every batch of soap! That would be one expensive bar of soap.

You can purchase Essential Oils many places. My favorite suppliers are the following. They have great quality oils, purchase from fair trade countries, have the best customer service, and have the information you need to make informed decisions.

Brambleberry

Essential Wholesale

New Directions Aromatics

Essential Oil University

Many sites aid you in blending techniques. Here are a few of my favorites. You can also purchase oils from these suppliers.

Bo Jensen

Natures Gift

Rainbow Meadow

Sydney Essential Oil Co

And one last fun site!

Treatt

The Nose Knows

2010-04-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

Even though the nose has been around a long time, little was known about HOW we sense scents, even with a nose as big as Jimmy Durantes. That is until 1991, when Richard Axel of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Linda Buck at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center took the theory that different odors are attributed to different shapes and sizes of odor molecules that stimulate the olfactory organ and added the cloning of olfactory receptor proteins and pairing of odor molecules to specific receptor proteins. They discovered about 1,000 genes that encode for olfactory receptors inside the human nose. They found that each receptor is tuned for only a small number of odors. Odor receptor nerve cells function like a key-lock system. If the airborne molecules of a certain chemical can fit into the lock, the nerve cell will respond. They went on to become the 2004 Nobel Prize winners. Research is still being done to uncover the secrets of olfactory perception.

How do we smell?

Olfaction, or the sense of smell, is the detection and perception of chemical molecules floating in the air. When you take a breath air is sucked up into your nostrils over bony ridges called turbinates. They add more surface area. The molecules that enter the nose dissolve in mucous cells within a membrane called the olfactory epithelium (a tissue composed of cells that line the cavities and surfaces of structures throughout the body). It is a stamp size sheet of olfactory receptor neurons. In humans this is located up the nose from the nostrils on the roof of the nasal cavity. The cells have small hairs called cilia on one side and an axon on the other side. Humans have about 40 million olfactory receptors while a German Shepherd dog has about 2 billion olfactory receptors. The activity produced in these hair cells is transmitted to the mitral cells in the olfactory bulb, which sits underneath the front of your brain. From there the signals go to the brain areas that are part of the limbic system. When you smell something that reminds you of something it is because the limbic system is involved with emotional behavior and memory.

When your nose is stuffed up or you have a cold the molecules that carry smell cannot reach the olfactory receptors and your sense of smell decreases. Humans can recognize 10,000 different odors. No two people sense anything the same. Several factors, including genes, skin type, and diet are related to how smells smell. Even the weather can alter an odor. When we're hungry, our smell sense grows stronger. Women have better sniffers than men. Our sense of smell is at its worst in the mornings but improves as the day goes on.

And you thought smelling was something simple.

For more technical information go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfaction#Olfactory_epithelium

For a simpler explanation go to
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/nose.html

All In A Days Work

2010-04-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Since being laid off last October I have been been taking my soap more serious. I am actively looking for work but Nevada is now at 15% unemployment with the county I live in very near that number. Unemployment is fast running out and the Republicans just voted down the government extension. If I can not find a job I would love to be able to make soap full time. I have been visiting shops with samples, posting in the bath and body product forums, and telling everyone I know (and some I don't know) that I am taking the leap into wholesale selling. I have been contacted by several businesses who are interested in my products so I spent today making up samples to send out. I made lotion sticks which are beeswax, cocoa and shea butter, almond, grapeseed, apricot seed, and jojoba oils. They are waterless so there is no need for a preservative. It doesn't get any better than this for adding oils back into your skin. The sticks come in a large 3 oz. deodorant tube so the balm can just glide on and rubbed in. It works great on the heels of your feet, elbows, cuticles and any other body part aching for moisture.

You can buy them here. http://www.sierrasnowsoaps.com/3.html

My daughter sprained her ankle on Thursday. Iced for a couple of days, warm compresses after that and a little boo boo balm made with Arnica Flowers. I am infusing the oil now and will make a balm this afternoon with a little menthol and lavender essential oil.

Arnica montana is also known as leopard's bane, wolf's bane, mountain tobacco and mountain arnica. It can be grown in herb gardens and has long been used medicinally. Arnica should not be taken internally but when used in a balm it was found to have some anti-inflammatory effects similar to NSAIDs(ibuprofen). It contains the toxin helenalin. Helenalin is a sesquiterpene lactone (a class of chemical found in many plants that can cause allergic reactions and toxicity if overdosed but in moderate amounts the chemical can work with vernolic acid and other compounds in plants to reduce inflammation and improve the cellular structure of smooth muscle of blood vessels). Arnica is used for strains, sprains, and bruises by professional athletes and has been demonstrated to act as an anti-inflammatory and assist normal healing processes by facilitating transport ( by widening the blood vessels) of blood and fluid accumulations through a dilating action of subcutaneous (the layer of tissue that lies immediately below the dermis) of skin blood capillaries. (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I also have a friend whose dear husband works on my daughter's car. We owe him oatmeal cookies so I made a double batch. Some for him, some for us, and some to freeze. I put these in plastic baggies and all you have to do to make a cookie or two is pop them in the oven.

We don't have too many left!

Come By And See Me

2010-03-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 1 (no fools day either) at Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery for a Meet The Artist Reception. I am the featured artist and I will be making some wheat weavings. Starts at 4 PM ends at 6 PM, come join us for a snack and glass of wine. Hope to see you there.

They Comes In Threes

2010-03-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

I just realized my life contains a lot of 3's.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
3 in my family
3 pets
3 brothers
3 sisters (well it feels like the 1 I have does enough to be 3 people)
3 really close friends
3 cars
3 motorcycles, until I had to sell mine :(
3 rooms in our home
3 drawers in every dresser
3 books by my bed that I read at the same time
3 days a week my daughter goes to practice 45 minutes away from our home
3 soaps in my pictures
3 Dave's in my life

my daughters birth date has a 3 in it and the year is divisible by 3 and that was the luckiest day of my life

So I think I will continue on with the 3 theme and try to post every 3 days.

What Is Your Favorite Scent?

2010-03-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

We have the oils or fats and our strong alkaline solution (sodium hydroxide or lye) ready to mix. Now the comes the question "Do you want a scented or unscented soap"? I have made several unscented soaps. The first was a beautiful hunter green swirled soap. It was unscented because I forgot to put the Green Apple scent in and it was so pretty I did not want to mess it up to scent it. There are several ways to scent a batch of soap.

Infuse Herbs or Flowers
I like to use several herbs and flowers for use in soap. I am not a patient person so I like to use the crockpot for infusing. Most people use their crockpot for slow cooking, not me. I take 1 cup of clean dried plant material and put it in the bottom of the crock pot. I cover it with olive oil and gently stir. I let it cook on low, stirring once in awhile for 2 hours, let it cool and strain. I then repeat the method several times using the same oil with fresh herbs or flowers. This gives me some of the benefits of the herb or flower and any color that the material can give.

Herbs I use in soap are

Calendula Ca-len-du-la, also called pot marigold (in the Asteraceae daisy family, not the Tagetes family), means first day of the month. They bloom in under 2 months during the summer and into fall in bright oranges, yellows and reds. Plant studies have suggested Calendula has some of the anti properties (viral, toxic, and inflammatory) and are often used to soothe acne and inflammed skin. The fresh petals have a spicy aroma, not sweet. I like using them for any benefit they may give to the soap and the pretty bright yellow color.

Chamomile Cham-o-mile is the common name for a daisy like plant meaning "earth apple" for its apple like scent and is often said to be soothing. The U.S. National Library of Medicine, working with National Institutes of Health, lists over 100 ailments and conditions which Chamomile has traditionally been used for. But....they list only 15 as having undergone scientific study on animals and/or humans. "Topical chamomile preparations have traditionally been used to soothe skin inflammation. The existing human evidence shows that chamomile may be of little, if any, benefit while animal studies support its anti-inflammatory action. Additional human research is needed in this area." So it works on animals and more human research is needed so I guess I will continue to do research on my human self. I'll let them know what I find.

Lavender Lavandula angustifolia or English Lavenderis the most common grown and yields an essential oil with sweet overtones. It is one of many of the 39 species in the mint Family, Lamiaceae. It means "to wash". Lavender has many traditional uses. Lavender is said to repel insects, soothe and heal insect bites, soothe headaches if applied to temples, aid sleep, help heal acne, and treats skin burns and inflammed skin. Scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of some of these remedies, especially anti-inflammatory effects, but they should be used with caution since lavender oil can also be a powerful allergen. Care must be used as Lavender is cytotoxic (the quality of being toxic to cells) and increases photosensitivity (sensitivity of the skin to the sun).

Patchouli or Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth, is a bushy herb of the mint family. it has been used for centuries in perfumes due to the heavy and strong scent. Chinese medicine uses the herb to treat headaches, colds, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and is used to induce relaxation. It has an earthy, sensual fragrance and is used as a balancing oil. I did not like the scent the first time I smelled it and dreaded making soap, of which I sell a lot. I participated in a co-op to buy Patchouli to get a better price right before it went up to $109 a pound. I bought 4 pounds and as the essential oil has aged it has almost taken on a sweet smell and I can see where people fall in love with it. I like to use it in essential oil blends as it is a base note, one that anchors the blend.

There are a few other plants I use for soap but mainly just for color. I use many more for balms and salves.

Next soap post I will discuss Essential Oil and Fragrance Oils.

Pictures are from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on the web.

March Present And Past

2010-03-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

They say March "comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb" but the beginning of our March was motorcycle riding weather.

This was me and my dear daughter 13 years ago. My hair is a little shorter, it is red again, and I am a few (I'm not saying how many) pounds heavier, and the motorcycle has long been sold due to economic conditions. I did love riding my motorcycle! Wind and bugs in your face, nothing like it!

My younger brother has a motorcycle, my youngest brother has a motorcycle, my other younger brother had a motorcycle, my husband has 2 motorcycles, and my younger sister's husband wants a motorcycle.

It is almost as bad as my brother David, my husband David, my brother-in-law David.

I think I know where we get this motorcycle gene. It is my mom. No, her name is not David. I remember being 18 years old and just going into the workforce while attending the junior college at night. I had made a bunch of friends at the speaker factory where I worked and when my dad opened up his own business I got mom a job at the same place so she would have something to do, well OK, so she could help pay the mortgage while the new business got off the ground. It is funny how we can change history in our story telling, isn't it?

I had the early shift and was at mom and dad's house when I hear my friend's motorcycle come roaring around the curve and pull in front of the house. I look out the window and here is MY MOM getting off the back and handing Alistair his spare helment. Now my mom was not old by any means (I now consider 50 young and she was not even close to that), but all I can remember thinking is "Oh great, what are the neighbors going to think!" For my dad's 75th birthday she bought him an ATV. Then for his other gift she bought herself one, too. They ride them all over in the desert in Arizona.

My mom was and always will be a rebel. She married my dad, moved to Germany, then moved 3000 miles from her home out to California, and many miles from her family. She raised 5 kids as a SAHM (stay at home mom), and while we may not be the rebel she is, we turned out pretty darn good. We may not have had the most money in the world, but we had a beautiful home, a wonderful school and church, a swimming pool, dogs and cats, bikes, friends galore, and a mom who loved life to the max. Growing up we knew better than to eat our lunch on April 1. Pity the poor fool who traded with us. Soap covered in chocolate, love notes between the ham and cheese were standard for the tricky mom. My dad got even worse, he had no one to trade with for his tricks. Lets see, one year she ironed a hole in his hanky and when he went to blow his nose there was nothing in the middle. I still like the year she sewed his fly shut on his dress pants, with the sewing machine.

My mom is still full of it, life I mean. She is a little older now (I now consider 80 middle age) but you would not know it. She volunteers at the thrift store, makes cards for the Chemo Angels ( She is a Chemo Angel for this organization http://www.chemoangels.net/ ), serves up holiday dinners for the homeless, and any other thing she can do to help someone out. For her 80th birthday the kids are going in on her gift. We are going to get her a tattoo! Yup, my mom the rebel.

Now they tell me we will be getting snow next week! So much for "going out like a lamb". Well, at least we still have April 1st to look forward to. I wonder who my mom is making lunch for?

What Do You Know About Liquid Oils?

2010-03-24T02:13:00.000-07:00

By definition liquid is one of 3 states of matter. The other 2 are solid and gas. We talked about solids and in soap making I don't use gas, well maybe natural gas for the stove. A liquid is a fluid where the the molecules are bound temporarily allowing it to flow. A liquid assumes the shape of but does not always fill every space in a container, forms it own surface, does not compress, and does not always mix with another liquid. Liquid particles are able to move around one another freely because they are bound firmly but not rigidly. Upon boiling the bond breaks and the liquid turns to gas. Decrease the temperature and the molecules lock into a specific order, the bonds become more rigid, and the liquid crystallizes.

An oil is any substance that is liquid at room temperatures, has a high carbon and hydrogen content, is non polar, and does not mix with water. All oils can be traced back to organic sources and include vegetable, essential, and petrochemical oils.

I use vegetable oils in soap. Vegetable oils are lipid materials composed of triglycerides and come from plants. This is the general structure of a triglyceride.

Factoring the properties of oils determines which ones a soap maker will use in their formula. You find most of the oils lend a conditioning property to bars of soap and condition the skin.

I use some or all of the following oils to make a bar of soap. The percentages used by different soap makers are personal, they come upon them by research and by trail and error until they make the "perfect" bar, and that is what makes that bar of soap your favorite.

Castor Oil A colorless to very pale yellow liquid with mild or no odor or taste, Castor Oil is obtained from the bean of the Castor Plant, Ricinus Communis. It is a triglyceride in which approximately ninety percent of fatty acid chains are Ricinoleic Acid, the fatty acid that gives soap its conditioning and fluffy, stable lather. Due to its low molecular weight it penetrates deep into the outer layer of the skin. It also acts as a humectant, a hygroscopy substance, meaning it has the ability to attract water molecules from the surrounding environment.

Olive Oil Olive oil is obtained from the Olive (Olea europaea; family Oleaceae) Tree. It is composed mainly of the mixed triglyceride esters of oleic acid and palmitic acid. It is produced by grinding olives and extracting the oil by mechanical or chemical means. It is an excellent moisturizer as it attracts external moisture to the skin while still allowing the skin to perform normal functions.

Rice Bran Oil Rice bran oil is the oil extracted from the germ and inner husk of rice. It contains a range of fats with 42% Oleic and 39% Linoleic, which give it it's conditioning properties. It has a long and successful history in Japan as a base for soaps and skin creams and is purported to reverse the effect of aging by slowing the formation of facial wrinkles thanks to rice bran oil's rich concentration of Vitamin E and gamma-oryzanol, a mixture of plant chemicals called sterols and ferulic acid esters.

The oils pictured above are some I use in lotions and lotion sticks, butters and balms. They are 1 gallon size and some have a short shelf live so I either use them up quickly or keep in the fridge. The oils I use in soap making I buy in 5 gallon pails. You know you have made it in the soap making world when you buy these oils in 55 gallon drums. That is my goal.

Life Is Full Of Small Journeys

2010-03-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

As I woke up this morning to a dark, silent house I remember why I am not a big fan of daylight savings time. I am an early riser thanks to working the graveyard shift for the last 14 years. I still finding myself waking up at 2 AM ready to start the day. Of course now there is no job to go to. I was laid off Oct. 12, 2009 from my job of 6 years. Before that I worked at the same casino for 26 years. I don't like to change places of employment. I guess I like the security. Now I am unemployed and jobs are hard to come by in this economy. I guess that is not a big surprise to anyone.

But.....being home in the morning has it rewards. I have a 16 year old daughter. I have never been home in the mornings to get her ready for school. Her dad and I thought we were doing the best thing for her by working different shifts so she would always be with us and not at a daycare for 10 hours a day. I never woke her up, made her breakfast, fixed her lunch, combed her hair, walked her to the bus stop. I missed a lot the last 14 years. She would get herself up, dressed and ready to go, make her own breakfast and lunch, and walk to the bus stop by herself. I am making up for it now. I set my alarm 5 minutes before her alarm is set to go off and turn on the heater. I make her breakfast and bring it to her in bed. I make her lunch, start her car, scrape her windshield, and turn on her headlights. I kiss her goodbye and wish her a wonderful day. And I LOVE it. I believe a kid's job when they are young is to get good grades in school (as good as their ability allows), do the chores that make them a part of the family, and have fun. I think my daughter does that.

Here is her lunch today.

A turkey sandwich with mustard and avocado on a french roll, nacho tortilla chips, lemon bar, kiwi fruit, juice box.

That leads us to another journey. When first starting my soap making 9 years or so ago, I built a web site. It was not a very good one so I looked for ways to improve it. I found a free SEO (search engine optimization) class on Yahoo given by Cricket Walker. It was incredible. Cricket is also a fantastic blogger http://www.cricketwalker.com/ with some of the best pictures I have ever seen. I did learn a lot from her and she has since moved on to v7n forum http://www.v7n.com/forums/. It is full of "what to do" info about working on and with the world wide web.

Cricket has another group called "the coffee shop" that was related to the SEO group but it was only to get to know each other, not work shop. It was here that I learned about "The Pioneer Woman", Ree. She is a blogger http://thepioneerwoman.com/ that when I first started reading her had 200 to 2000 comments on her funny tales of ranch life in Oklahoma. The last time she had a contest there were almost 40,000 comments. She has some great contests. Her story "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" has just been picked up by Columbia Pictures and rumor has it they want Reese Witherspoon to play Ree. It is quite a story and has been so fun to follow Ree all these years. It's like having your little sister make it big.

So.....from there I traveled to The Tasty Kitchen http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/about/. It is the offspring of Confessions of A Pioneer Woman. It is a community of cooks of all sizes and talents that share everything you wanted to know about food. It was here that I found BareFootBelle and her blog with this tasty little dish http://belleofthekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-can-see-clearly-now.html. Now if there is one thing my daughter and I love more than anything, it is lemons. So I had to make this last night. AND it is so YUMMY I am having it for breakfast too.

In fact there isn't much left, but I did put some in dear daughter's lunch.

Life is full of small journeys. What are some of yours?

Solid at Room Temperature

2010-03-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

Oils and Butters that is. There are several favorites among soap makers. They are tried and true and consistent.

Palm Oil comes from the the oil palm family and is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (palm oil) and the kernel (palm kernel oil).

It is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats and a natural source of palmitic fatty acids. This makes it ideal for soap making as it adds conditioning properties as well as making a hard bar with stable lather. It a solid oil at room temperature except in warmer climate where it appears as a liquid.

Palm Oil cultivation is a controversial topic. It is a valuable economic crop which allows small landholders to share in the profits, but it is also causes damage to the natural environment. To make way for the palm oil plantations forests may be cut down, loss of endangered species may occur, and there can be an increase in gas emissions. In Indonesia and Malaysia forests are cut down and bogs are drained. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is trying to address the problem. This international organization consists of the palm oil producers and distributors who promote environmental friendly farming of sustainable Palm Oil. All the suppliers most soap makers use are responsible about using sustainable palm oil and are members of the RSPO.
http://www.rspo.eu/index.html
Palm Oil is also used for bio fuel. The pictures are from the RSPO site.

Palm Kernel Oil oil is found in the kernel or the seed of the fruit of the palm tree, as opposed to Palm Oil which is from the flesh. The fatty acid composition of Palm Kernel Oil resembles coconut oil and is often used instead of, or addition to coconut oil.

Coconut Oil is a pure white solid oil. It is extracted from the kernel or meat of matured coconut harvested from the coconut palm.

It has a high amount of saturated fatty acids with a high melting point. It is very heat stable, slow to oxidize and resistant to rancidity. It gives soap a cleansing fluffy lather and used at a lower percentage is excellent as a skin moisturizer and softener. A bar of 100% Coconut Oil will even give a great lather in salt water.

Shea Butter is a light yellowish or ivory colored natural fat extracted from the seed of the African shea tree by crushing and boiling.

The tree starts bearing fruit when it is 10–15 years old and will continue to produce nuts for up to 200 years after reaching maturity. It is a complex fat containing many non-saponifiable components (substances that cannot be fully converted into soap by treatment with alkali). It melts at body temperature and is rapidly absorbed into the skin.

1. The outer pulp of the fruit is removed, then when dry the nut is separated from the outer shell. A social activity, this is done by Women Elders and young girls by break the shells with a small rock.
2. Shea nuts must be crushed. This is done with a mortar and pestle. It is very hard work with hours of lifting heavy pestles and slamming them down into the nuts so they can be roasted.
3. The crushed nuts are then roasted in huge pots over an open wood fire. Stirred constantly with a wooden paddle so they don't burn, it is hot, smoky work, done under the sun. This is where shea butter gets the slight smoky smell.
4. The roasted shea nuts are ground into a paste.
5. The paste is then kneaded by hand in large basin where water is gradually added to separate out the butter oils. The butter oils are curd like and float. They are taken and the excess water is squeezed out.
5. The butter oil curds are then melted in large open pots over a slow fire. A period of slow boiling will remove any remaining water, which boils off as steam.
6. The shea butter, which is creamy or golden yellow at this point, is ladled off the top of the pot and put in a cool place to harden.

The process for making shea butter is long. It can take 20 to 30 hours of labor to produce one kilogram of handcrafted shea butter. A woman working 30 hours a week may not even make $1.00 for her efforts. Buying from a supplier of Fair Trade Handcrafted Shea Butter insures the women who process the shea butter receive a fair price for their labor. http://www.alaffia.com/

Our supplier is http://www.agbangakarite.com/index.php

What Comes After The Lye?

2010-03-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Remember when we talked about "Saponification"? Saponification means "soap making". The root word, "sapo", is Latin for soap. It is the chemical reaction that occurs when a vegetable oil or animal fat is mixed with a strong alkali, in this case Sodium Hydroxide. The final products of the reaction are soap and glycerin.

From the About.com Chemistry web page this is the chemical structure.

They also comment that in the industrial manufacture of soap once the saponification reaction is done the glycerol is removed.
They remove all the naturally-occurring glycerin so it can be sold separately. Why? Greater profit. An important difference between most commercial soap and my hand made soap is that I leave the glycerin in and it retains its natural moisturizing property.

I use all vegetable oils in my soap. I tried many different formulas over the years until I found one that is mild yet cleansing. I like a soap with a lot of lather, so that is what I make. I do not have to use any lotion when using my soap, and that is saying a lot here in Nevada, dry skin capital of the world.
Vegetable fats and oils are lipid materials derived from plants, extracted primarily from seeds. They are composed of triglycerides. For making soap you want a variety of oils and choose them for the properties they bring to the finished product.

Lauric Acid is also called Dodecanoic Acid.

It is solid at room temperature, has a long shelf live, and is believed to have antimicrobial properties. It is found in human, cows, and goats milk. It is also found in coconut and palm kernel oil and helps to create a hard, cleansing bar of soap with fluffy lather.

Myristic Acid is also called Tetradecanoic Acid CH3(CH2)12COOH and is a common saturated fatty acid.

It is found in nutmeg butter, palm oil, coconut oil, and butter fat. It helps make a hard and cleansing bar of soap also.

Palmitic Acid or Hexadecanoic Acid CH3(CH2)14COOH is one of the most common saturated fats found in plants.

It is found in Palm and Palm Kernel Oil. It helps to create a hard bar of soap with a stable lather.

Steric Acid or Octadecanoic Acid C18H36O2, or CH3(CH2)16COOH is a saturated fatty acid that is found more in animal fat than vegetable fat, except for Shea Butter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shea_butter, which I use, whose fatty acids consist of up to 45% steric acid.

Stearic makes a hard bar of soap with stable lather.

Ricinoleic Acid (12-hydroxy-9-cis-octadecenoic acid)is an unsaturated omega-9 fatty acid that naturally occurs in mature Castor Plant Seeds.

It creates a conditioning, fluffy, and stable lather.

Oleic acid or elaidic acid CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)7COOH is a mono-unsaturated omega-9 fatty acid found in various animal and vegetable sources.

Oleic means related to oil or olive. It is Olive Oil and makes a very conditioning soap.

Linoleic Acid is a polyunsaturated fatty acid. It is abundant in many vegetable oils found in the lipids of cell membranes, especially in Rice Bran Oil.

Linoleic Acid makes a conditioning bar of soap. Research points to linoleic acid's anti-inflammatory, acne reductive, and moisture retentive properties when applied topically on the skin and has become very popular in the skin care industry.

So that is my soap formula. Easy as pie. I make a soap that is high in conditioning and had soft, creamy bubbles. Oh yes, it also cleanses. Try it, you'll love it and never go back to store bought cleansers again.

Something Else I Do In My Spare Time

2010-03-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I used to go to the Candy Dance in Genoa, Nevada.
http://www.genoanevada.org/thecandydancestory.htm.
That was before I became a vendor. One of the first years my daughter and I went I stopped by a booth and could not believe my eyes. There were row after row of "corn dollies" hanging on hooks. They were all made from wheat. As I walked through the booth I was fascinated by the wheat dolls, wall hangings, and baskets. I found one wall hanging, a house blessing, that I could not live without. I asked my dear daughter if she would like one for her room. After looking around she told me "no." So I bought my wheat weaving and brought it home and hung it on the wall. After a week or so it disappeared and I found it hanging in my daughter's room, "to bless it" she said. It hung there for years. The next year while at the Candy Dance I spent a whole day looking for the vendor, they never came back. Was I the only one that loved this ancient art form of honoring Mother Earth and all the goodness she brings?

Fast forward a few years to my pottery days. While in the library reading pottery books I stumbled on a........yup you guessed it, a Wheat Weaving book. I brought the book home, followed some of the links to online sites and enjoyed my journey into the wheat world. I ordered a kit from one of the sites, made my house blessing and being the craft addicted personality type, I ordered 50 pounds of wheat from North Dakota.

I still have a little wheat. I have made many weavings, large and small. There is something about working with your hands that I just love. The repetition of the stitches, the cat batting the wheat pod as I work. I love it.

This is my latest creation. I have her for sale at Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery. I am going to list her on Etsy and Artfire, too.

She is Earth Mother. Many ancient wheat woven designs were born from a belief in an Earth Mother and in this design the elements of primitive African and Indo-European Earth Mother figures are combined.

For more information on Wheat Weaving see these sites.

http://www.nawwstraw.org/
http://www.illinoiswheatweavers.org/membership.html
http://www.best-spinning-weaving.com/1/wheat-weaving.html

and of course the book I found.
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Wheat-Weaving-Straw-Craft/dp/157990078X

This Is A Cool Thing To Do With Your Pictures

2010-03-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

A blogger that I read, Cathy, takes incredible pictures. A friend painted a picture from one of her photos. Take a look, it is breathtaking.

http://homestretching.blogspot.com/

She wrote about a Japanese site that ages your photos 100-150 years. It is very fun, and it is free!

This is the view from my front room.

This year my daughter decorated the Christmas Tree. I think she did a great job!

Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery store Downtown Gardnerville

Our kitty, Killer. We miss him so.

http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds

It is a lot of fun. Try it.

What Do You Do If You Are An Athlete Without Legs?

2010-03-10T02:13:00.000-08:00

Why you play Sitting Volleyball, of course.

Sitting Volleyball was first played in the Netherlands in 1956. It is now played in more than 60 countries. By eliminating jumping and putting all players on an even playing field Club Sitting Volleyball can be played by anyone, both disabled and able-bodied. It was demonstrated during the 1976 Paralympic Games in Canada, was included in competition at the 1980 Paralympic Games in the Netherlands, and has been in every Paralympic Games since. The USA entered its first team in the Games in 1984. In 2004 the USA Men's team finished 6th and the Women's Team finished 3rd.

To be a member of the USA National Sitting Volleyball Team or to qualify for the Paralympics athletes must have a physical disability. This includes athletes who have major muscle loss, knee tears, knee or hip replacements, polio, or loss of an arm or leg.

I was at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver this past week at the Colorado Crossroads Volleyball Tournament where I had the pleasure to watch the Men's USA Sitting Volleyball Team play against Canada and Brazil. It was quite exciting to watch these skilled athletes play. Even the warm ups were incredible to watch. Pushing with their arms, rolling all over the court to reach the balls, stretching higher than some people can jump, these men are an inspiration. Never give up on your dreams, just make them happen.

The USA and Brazil team before the final game.

Stretching, warm ups, and signing autographs.

Serve!

Set!

The Kill!

The USA Men's Team came in second in this tournament, losing to Brazil. I was so impressed with the way the team played the game and the crowd. Talking to the spectators, signing autographs, having their pictures taken, the whole team showed their spirit and pride in their accomplishments. They don't let a little thing like losing an arm or a leg stop them from reaching their goals. I want to be just like them.

Times Are Tough, But What If

2010-03-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

Everyone followed the 3/50 Project whenever possible?

The 3/50 Project is one that starts with you.
http://tinyurl.com/ld3b6n

3
Think of a store here in Gardnerville that you have shopped in and found the perfect gift, pair of pants, candle, or bar of SOAP :). Remember walking into that store and being greeted with a smile, asked how you are, can I help you find anything question, I am here if you need any help. Now can you think of 3 of them? I sure can. Would you miss them if they disappeared?

50
Now $50 isn't a drop in the bucket these days. With the economy still trying to make a rebound times are still a little (or a lot) tough. But.....what if 1/2 of the employed people in the United States spent $50 each a month in a locally owned business? It would generate over 40 billion dollars in revenue. What if only 1/4 of the people did it? Or if everyone spent $25 a month. I spend that on candy every month. Yes I buy it at a local store, but what if I spent that $25 at a small local business to show my support and let them know that I appreciate them.

For every $100 spent in locally owned business $68 returns to the community. Spending the same amount at a chain store returns $43 dollars, and shopping online returns NOTHING.

Main Street Gardnerville, NV has 10 reasons to shop local.
http://www.mainstreetgardnerville.org/

1. Local taxes from spending your money helps fund local police and fire departments.

2. Local merchants contribute to local organizations. I know I give to many non-profit organizations every time they ask. I run the raffle for the Douglas High School Volleyball Team Fundraiser, The Mud Fest Volleyball Tournament http://tinyurl.com/yex5wsd and I asked over 50 local business for donations. Do you know how many I got. Over 40. Now that is community involvement!

3. Shopping keeps more cars off the road, less pollution.

4. Taxes from businesses pay for road improvements.

5. By supporting local merchants your keep them employed and help increase their income. Then they can come to your restaurant to eat, or buy your house, or have you landscape their yard. In short, they can shop local too.

6. Shopping local is a chance to see your friends! Keep in touch and see and meet others that live in Gardnerville.

7. When you buy from a local business you are talking to the owner most of the time. What a great way to get good customer service.

8. The tax dollars paid to the town from the local businesses pay for the up keep of our beautiful parks right here in town.

9. Money spent local keeps our economy strong and creates jobs. Wouldn't it be nice if every kid who wanted one could get a part time job local and pay for their own gas and insurance? Wouldn't it be nice not to have to drive the HWY 395 corridor to Carson City just to make a few bucks? Just the time saved would give them time to get a lot more homework done!

10. By shopping local you take ownership in your community.

Invest in your future and make this community yours! Shop Local!

Thank You Carson Valley

2010-03-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

Monday night's Block D Memorial Scholarship Dinner was a great success. I just love this community. The people that live in this area remind me of my parent's neighborhood, a place where everyone knew your name. They cared about you and your family. If one of yours was hurt, they hurt too. They would do anything in their power to lend a helping hand.

This community showed last night how much they cared by giving their support to the High School Athletes of Douglas High School. This dinner was for them in honor of the many athletes we have lost over the past 10-15 years.

Mr Ernie Monfiletto, Block D Advisor, informed us that over 400 tickets were sold for the dinner.

A raffle with fantastic prizes was also held. Tickets to a Giants Game, tickets to a 49ers game, a year boosters pass, golfing at Edgewood Golf Course, and a Senior Portrait Package by Stebel Photography http://www.stebel.com.pl/ were just a few of the prizes. Over $9000 was raised last year by this event and Block D's other fund raisers. It could not happen without you. Because of you a child that wants to play high school sports can, even if they can not afford the new shoes or equipment needed. Because of you a young adult can continue on to higher education because they were given a helping hand. It turns this community into a village that helps raise our children by giving them opportunities they might not have had otherwise. Give yourselves a big pat on the back. I am so proud of you all!

A big thank you to Mrs. Kerry Stack and her Culinary Arts Classes for the spaghetti dinner. The food was delicious and I didn't have to cook!

The Floriculture class, guided by teacher Allyson Lammiman, provided the beautiful table centerpieces.

The Booster Club manned the Beverage Table.

The PTSO was in charge of taking and selling tickets at the door. This is me working my fingers to the bone.

And last but for sure NOT LEAST the Block D members.

They pre-sold tickets, decorated the hall, set up tables and chairs, manned the buffet line, bussed the tables, sold the raffle tickets, cleaned the tables, tore down and put away the tables and chairs, mopped the floors, AND cleaned the restrooms. Then they went out and played a game of basketball. Not bad for a nights work.

Douglas High School Block D Memorial Scholarship Dinner

2010-02-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

In Memory of:
Those who are no longer with us and have passed through the fields, courts and halls of Douglas High School.

"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy."

This is from a Facebook page of Molly. Molly passed away April 23, 2009 after a swimming accident. She will always be remembered for her blue eyes and ever-present smile. “I’m convinced God gave Molly this infectious smile and put her on earth to make us happy,” her brother Pat said.

Molly was a friend of my daughters. On Monday, March 1, 2010 we will be helping the Douglas High School Block D Letterman's Club put on a Memorial Scholarship Dinner in Molly's name and many other Tiger athletes that left us way too soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of these outstanding kids who made such an impact on our lives.

Ernie Monfiletto is the Block D Advisor. On March 1, 2010 at 6:00 PM he, along with the Block D athletes, their families, and friends invites you to a spaghetti dinner, catered by the Douglas High School Culinary Arts Program, at the CVIC Hall, 1604 Esmeralda Avenue, Suite 101, Minden, NV 89423. Tickets are $10.00 each and may be purchased at the door. The money raised will be used for student/athletes that are in need. There will also be a raffle with some fabulous prizes. Please join us for an evening of sharing and caring, laughing and smiling.

It May Not Be Much

2010-02-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

But it's the best I can do right now. I'm talking about helping someone out. Donating. Giving to charity. Whatever you want to call it. Whether it be money, time, or goods does not matter.

I learned from an early age that giving is a big deal. With 5 kids in the family you are always giving something up! OK not really the same thing. My mom was a stay at home mom so we were never rolling in the dough but my parents decided on an amount they could commit to and donated that amount EVERY month of their lives so far to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital http://www.stjude.org/ On their web page it says "Finding Cures. Saving Children." That was important to my parents.

Growing up as kids we were always involved in the Scouting experience, both Boy and Girl Scouts. We would visit old folk homes and read and just talk to some of the people who had no one to visit them. We all went to Catholic School and were involved in many community projects.

I like the Thanksgivings in our adult years that all of us girls would get together and walk in the Walk for Hunger in Sacramento, CA. http://www.meetup.com/downtown/calendar/8747282/
And not just because the guys would have all the cooking done by the time we got back.

When I first started making soap, one of the soap groups I was on had a soap drive and we sent over 500 bars of soap to overseas soldiers. That was very cool.

My brother and my parents have both spent Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays serving meals to others who don't have a family to share with, some don't have a home.

My folks were great travelers with the Habitat for Humanity program. http://www.habitat.org/ They would hop in their RV and drive all over the USA to help out other folks build homes for someone who otherwise would never be able to own one. Two weeks here, two weeks there, they had a great time, made many new friends, and made memories that will last a lifetime. My mom learned how to hang sheet rock when she was 60. She already knew how to paint and wanted to learn something new.

I love when my dad would tell me he had to go over to some old folk's house to crawl under his mobile home and fix his cable for him. They were volunteering at the senior center in AZ at that time. I did not have the heart to tell him that at age 70 some people might consider him old! He would just tell them that to stay young you have to act young and stay busy.

My dad has gone through a lot of cancers and with the first one my mom became involved in The Chemo Angels. http://www.chemoangels.net/ That has been over 15 years now. She is still making cards and sending "pick me up" gifts to her chemo pals. Anything to brighten their day or make them smile. I like when she sends a big plastic soda bottle full of M&Ms or other bright candies. The post office loves her. They call her their Angel.

Here in Gardnerville there are many ways you can give to the community. We have the "Ring in Kindness" program being held at Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. http://www.partnership-resource.org/RinginKindness.htm

My daughter is waiting for a "little sister" from the Big Brother Big Sister program. https://aim.bbbs.org/einquiry/einquiryzip.aspx Their school clubs also have them collecting and donating Thanksgiving Meals, Christmas meals and gifts, coats, and food for the Food Closet of the Carson Valley. The Animal Shelter, The CASA Program, The Boys and Girls Club are just a few of the volunteer opportunites listed here. http://www.douglasvolunteers.org/volunteerorgs.html

With both my husband and myself laid off the past year, things are a little tight but I still try to donate to local organizations when asked for raffle prizes or gift baskets. After Christmas I had an extra $25 and I was able to start something I had been checking out for a while. It is the Kiva Organization. http://www.kiva.org/ I loan my $25 to another business owner and when they pay it back I can re-loan it to someone else. It is way cool. I have only loaned to one person so far. I was looking for a woman owned business. I did not care what country or what business as long as a woman owned it. I found one and loaned my money. I just got a notification that it was already half way to being paid back. I went to the site and read about "my" lady and the weirdest thing caught my attention. She has the same birth date as me! I had never looked at all the details on her profile, just the type of business and location. I thought that it was cool we were born on the same date. I guess it was just "meant to be." It is fun to track her progress and will be very rewarding to me to be able to help out someone build up their business.

There are many ways to give in your community. You can donate your time to drive seniors to the store or doctor appointments. You can read to people in the hospital. You can teach someone to read through the reading programs at the schools. You can mentor a child or teenager. There are clubs such as the Rotary Club of Minden http://fourinfo.cioc.ca/record/HAL0039 , The Carson Valley 20/30 Club http://www.carsonvalley2030.org/ or the Elks Club http://www.elks.org/lodges/ContactUs.cfm?LodgeNumber=2670 .

We are all busy, times are tough right now, money is tight. The rewards for giving of yourself to help someone for no other reason than you can, are indescribable. Try it, you'll soon become addicted. And what a good addiction to have.

You Can't Make Soap Without Sodium Hydroxide- And That's No Lye

2010-02-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

OK, a little cornball humor to begin the post.

What is soap?

According Wikipedia, "soap is an anionic surfactant used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning, which historically comes either in solid bars or in the form of a viscous liquid." And that is clear as mud.

Soap is the reaction of glycerides (fatty esters) with sodium hydroxide (strong alkaline solution). The process is called "Saponification." Vegetable oils (lipid materials derived from plants) and animal fats (rendered tissue fats that are obtained from animals) are fatty esters in the form of triglycerides. Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), also known as lye or caustic soda is a caustic base. The alkali breaks the ester bond and the product of the reaction is glycerol and fatty acids. Fatty acids in the soap emulsify the oils in dirt, enabling the removal of oily dirt with water.

Sodium hydroxide comes in pellets, flakes, and granular form. It absorbs water from the air and should be stored in an airtight container. It is very soluble in water and heats up to over 200 degrees in a matter of seconds. Solid sodium hydroxide or solutions of sodium hydroxide will cause chemical burns, injury or scarring, and blindness if it contacts unprotected human tissue.

Sodium Hydroxide, or Lye, is nothing to fool around with. Protective equipment such as rubber gloves, safety clothing and eye protection should always be used. It reacts with certain materials so it should only be mixed in glass or plastic, never aluminium.

You might have someone tell you there is not any lye in their soap. Don't be fooled. What they mean is they use a soap base and melt it and pour it into molds. There is no actual saponification occurring in the process. The soap has already been made, with lye, by someone else.

Lampworking Demo Makes "Whine About Winter Wine Walk" a Lot Warmer

2010-02-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

We had our wine walk last night here in the Carson Valley. Six of us artists cleaned and decorated the store with bright lights, grape vines and luminaries. We just took plain paper bags and cut designs on the sides, filled with sand and put a candle in the middle. We only set one bag on fire so that was good.

We had the white wines chilling, the red wines breathing and the chocolate hidden all over the store. Melissa was at the desk handling sales, Renee was taking care of the raffle tickets and answering questions, Andy was pouring the wine, I was at the door marking off tickets (and flattering the ladies by asking if they were really 21 years of age even though they had to show ID to get a wine glass), Mary Ann was glazing some ceramics,

and Danielle was

playing with fire.

Danielle Reich is "A Self Representing Glass Artist" in the Lake Tahoe area. From her web site "I love working with glass in anyway that I can but enjoy sculpting it most!!! I teach basic and intermediate Lampworking, fusing and slumping, small glass sculpture techniques and glass blowing. My work has been featured in The Flow magazine and The Country Register." It was great fun having her demo, it really makes people stop and smell the roses. She makes the most wonderful glass beads for any occasion. Her web site is. http://www.upsydaisyfarm.com/

Lampworking is an ancient form of glass art that has been around since the 1st Century in Syria. It uses a gas flame to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. It was widely practiced in Italy in the 14th Century. Lampworking manipulates glass either by the use of tools, gravity, or by blowing directly into the end of a glass tube. Early lampworking was done by the flame of an oil lamp, with the artist blowing air into the flame through a pipe. Modern artists no longer use oil-fueled lamps, most artists today use torches that burn either propane or natural gas and air (which can be produced by an oxygen concentrator) as the oxidizer. Lamp working is used to create artwork, including figurines of animals and botanicals, trinkets, curios, Christmas tree ornaments, beads and scientific instruments. Lampwork techniques were extended to the production of paperweights, primarily in France, where it became a popular art form, still collected today.

So thank you everyone for stopping by last night and visiting the shop. We love the wine walks held every "Third Thirsty Thursday" during the months of May-September so this was just an added bonus to chase away the Winter Blahs.

Let's Whine About Winter Wine and Chocolate Walk

2010-02-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

I just bought the chocolate for the Main Street USA Gardnerville's Let's Whine About Winter Wine & Chocolate Walk. I will be in the store, Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery on Thursday from 1:30 PM until 8:00 PM pouring wine and visiting with all our lovely townsfolk who will brave the winter weather.

Wait a minute, this is February. It seems like this is the month that all the spring flowers bloom, the calves are born, the buds come out on the fruit trees, motorcycles galore and then....March roars in like a lion and the flowers freeze, the calves shiver, the fruit trees frost up, and the motorcycles are put back in the garage.

They have been keeping temperature records since 1/1/1928 for this area and the average minimum temperature for February is 21 degrees and the average maximum is 51 degrees. BUT I know it was 60 degrees yesterday when I drove through town. The birds were chirping and swooping and diving and singing!

So dress warm, bring a flashlight and gloves and join us Thursday, February 18, 2010 for a glass of wine and some dark, luscious chocolate. Visit with friends and shake off the Winter Blahs. Cost for the event is $10.00 plus $5.00 for a commemorative Main Street wine glass. Register at the Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center. The address is 1477 Highway 395, Gardnerville, Nevada.

Some Things I Read Every Day

2010-02-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

I was going to continue on Soapmaking 101 but I got called into work the store. So...I am going to share some blogs that I read everyday, for different reasons.

While taking an SEO class from Cricket Walker on the Yahoo Groups I started reading her blog.
http://www.cricketwalker.com/very-proud-to-be-an-american/
She has wonderful stories but the photography she has on her site is incredible. Her pictures grab you and pull you in, some even leave you in tears. She has been pretty busy on the http://www.v7n.com/forums/ forums for SEO so no new blog posts. Maybe soon.

From her I learned about Pioneer Woman. I have to say, Cricket and I were reading her when she only had 200 to 2000 comments, not the 39,000 she gets now. I have followed Ree for a couple of years now and watched her grow from calf nuts to writing a cookbook. I still ask her when she is coming to Nevada for a book signing.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/

I read many soaper's blogs. This one is from Australia and I have ordered soap from Patti Flynn because it is wonderful! The scent blends she makes up while on vacation every year, each soap has an interesting story, her ingredients are to die for, and it is such a treat to start each day with a magnificent bar of soap that turns your shower into a spa treatment. She just got back from Korea where she taught soap making classes!
http://www.patti-flynn.com/blog/

I used to babysit this little girl about 45 or so years ago. She is all growed up now! Her photos and wonderful finds on the internet and life in general keep my coming back for more. Her trips with her mom and her club are fascinating and you know she is on one of her many adventures if she has not posted in a while.
http://homestretching.blogspot.com/

One of my favorite and most used suppliers is Anne Marie. She owns Bramble Berry Supplies and has a fabulous web site with so many tutorials and information I could spend all day there. But her blog has even more information on it from how to make a cake to how to make a soap cake. I love hearing about her and Mr. Fabulous as much as I love hearing about Marlboro Man! She is funny, informative on what is happening in todays world of the bath and beauty industry, and she even has her own Soap Queen TV.
http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/

This blog is written by Susan, I know her from a forum I am on. Her knowledge of the soap making industry is from a chemistry background and I am so impressed by her knowledge I have to not only check in everyday but have spent hours going through post she made before I started reading. I just made a facial moisturizer to use on my dry but oily skin based on one she posted. Thank you Swift!
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/

Another soap maker I admire. She has taken her business to a new level and her branding is beautiful!
http://www.blog.faeriemadesoaps.com/

These are the blogs I check on every few days or if I get a notification email of a new posting. Wonderful information on all.
Tina writes my favorite herbal magazine. She is living a wonderful life filled with nature and I admire her so much.
http://theessentialherbal.blogspot.com/

Kayla of Essential Wholesale is another favorite supplier so when she started blogging I was right there with her. She is a ARC Registered Aromatherapist (my hero), chief formulator, and co-founder of Essential Wholesale and Essential Labs.
http://essentialu.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Another photographer-soap maker is Moni from up north (Canada). I love her photos.
http://eeniemoni.blogspot.com/

These are just a few of the blogs I read. I find so many interesting things and I like seeing or hearing how other people view the world. I hope you enjoy them.

I Lost A Friend Today

2010-02-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

I have known him almost 5 years. A nicer guy would be hard to meet. He died on Friday. These hard times affect us all different. But why would you think your family would be better off if you were not around? I am sad and my heart is breaking for his family.

Making Soap 101

2010-02-11T06:44:00.001-08:00

My daughter and I bought a "soap making kit" 10 years ago and had a lot of fun grating, melting, scenting, coloring, molding and using our soap. The local Michaels store and our other craft store had many kits for making soap at a reasonable price.
But....I was interested in learning how to make the soap making kit. A work buddy's wife is the Director of the Douglas County Library system so I paid her a visit and we combed the shelves for books on natural soap making from scratch books. I came home with 5 books and read them cover to cover. A couple were melt and pour books and a couple were the "cold process" method.

I was intrigued by the cold process method of soap making where you mixed your sodium hydroxide (lye) with distilled water and set it off to cool to 100 degrees and then melt your solid oils, add your liquid oils and let cool to 100 degrees. The chemical process is called Saponification and I fell in love with the word as much as I fell in love with making soap.

Off to the health food store for a couple of oils, butters and essential oils and then to the grocery for the rest. I started with cocoa butter, lard, coconut oil, olive oil and sunflower oil as my ingredients along with distilled water and sodium hydroxide from the Red Devil line. They no longer sell Red Devil Lye at our store, too many drug makers using it. Now I buy 50 lbs. at a time from a chemical supply house in Sparks. They require paperwork and I think that is a great idea! I wore long pants, long sleeves, tied up my hair, put on goggles and gloves, had my recipe from the book and dove right in. I already had a scale so I used a heavy duty plastic container with a handle and weighed my distilled water. Then I slowly poured the lye into the water and stirred until clear. I was very surprised at how HOT the water became, I took the temperature and it was over 200 degrees in a matter of seconds. I put the lye water aside and weighed my oils and put them on the stove to melt. I added in my liquid oils and put them aside to cool to 100 degrees. Waiting was almost impossible and in the future I would cool the oils in a sink of cold water to hurry the process. I added in a little lime essential oil.

Essential Oils are steam or cold pressed plant oils and can be very expensive. I just got an email from an Essential Oil supplier saying they are selling a Rose Oil and the cost is $1129.00 for 16 oz. of Rose Essential Oil. Now when you take into consideration that it takes a LOT of rose petals to make an ounce of oil the price is not unrealistic but I make 10 lb. batches of soap and use 8 oz. of scenting oils so even selling a 4 oz. bar of soap of Rose Soap for $30.00 would not work for me. I don't know any one in the Carson Valley that would pay over $30.00 for a bar of soap, no matter what it smelled like.

My first mold was a plastic drawer that I lined with parchment paper and the soap turned out fantastic. It was creamy and looked just like a thick pudding. I covered it with wax paper, wrapped it in a wool blanket and let it sit for 2 days. OK, I did peek a couple of times. The soap continued to heat up and the drawer was warm to the touch. The color darkened, I later learned this is called "gelling" and all my soaps do this. I let it sit another day and then took it out of the mold and cut it into bars. I let it cure for 8 weeks and then used it for a month. I took it to work with a questionnaire and handed it out to fellow employees and asked them to use the soap and fill out the paper, did you like it, the scent, how did it make your skin feel, did it lather, how long did it last, would you use it again, and so on. I worked at a casino so it was a smart ass group of people so I also told the guys if it hurt their privates don't come to me for help, it was use at your own risk.

I was sooooo happy when later in the month one of the guys came up to me and asked if he could have another bar of "that soap". I was "doing the happy dance" until he told me that he had put the bars in his shoes in his locker and they worked great as a deodorizer. Well, they were good for something.

I spent the next year reading online and as many books as I could find about soap. One site, Kathy Miller's Handmade Soap http://www.millersoap.com/#Soap%20Contents was a wonderful place to spend hours reading about the different methods of soap making, looking at other people's soap, questions and answers about problems you run into, and most important, online suppliers. Many of the suppliers have yahoo groups and the soap making community on the whole is a warm, generous group of people. They are willing to share information, answer questions, give opinions, and help out anyone who is willing to take the time to learn the art. I continued to make soap over that year trying many different formulas and ingredients until I found a formula that was so mild I didn't even have to use a lotion to moisturize my skin, had so much lather I never wanted to quit washing and smelled so good it turned every shower into a mini spa experience. I was making so much soap there was no one left to give it to and we were running out of room. The next step was to find a place to sell it.
That is a story for another day.

The Pictures Are To Die For

2010-02-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine is a photographer. He takes some incredible pictures and has asked me to help him out. He is going to have a booth at the Bridal Fair in Reno this coming March. I went with him and his lovely bride to the last fair they had to get an idea of some set-ups and lighting effects, colors, and just general ideas. We watched what attracted people to what booths and who stayed, or did a quick glance and walk by. We spent hours there doing research, and eating the free samples. We liked the colorful booths, the booths with smiling people that were quick to say hello and easy to talk to, knew their product and had an air of excitement around them. And we liked the booths with FREE samples. We got lots of pens, magnets, candies, and so forth. So my friend decided to give away free samples also. He wants to give away MY one oz. hearts. They are a Victorian Heart and I package them in an organza bag. They are perfect and he wants 500 of them so I have to get cracking so they have time to cure.
My friend is Stebel and this is his web site.

http://www.stebel.com.pl/

Of course I am giving him a great deal as it is going to be advertising for me. The hearts I make as wedding favors and I have 5 molds and can make 70 at a time. But.........my husband informed me I have to tell Stebel part of the price is the picture in the gallery under "automobile and 4 x 4" and then "classic cars", the shiny green Cadillac with the buildings reflected in the side is TO DIE FOR. It is an incredible shot and my husband really loves it.

This is what I do.

2010-02-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

I have posted a few pictures of the Carson Valley, a few of Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery, but I have not shown you what I do.

I made the Heart Soaps for a wedding.

My normal everyday soap looks like this.This soap is made with Lavender Essential Oil. I have been working on the apperance of my soap. I want it to look interesting, not just smell and feel fantastic.

This is Bay Rum.

It smells just like the men's aftershave lotion.

This is Cucumber Melon.

The scent is a fruity melon and green cucumber blend. The light floral notes are jasmine, lavender, and lilac. The base note is a soft woody musk.

This soap shows how fun it is to make. I was trying to get 3 colors of straight lines but when I poured in the final color, this is what I got.
I call it my Salvador Dali soap scented in Coconut Lime Verbena.

This is how the soap looks when I take it out of the molds. I make 50 bars of a scent at a time.

This is made with Peppermint, Orange, and Rosemary Essential Oils.

This is my curing rack for some of my soap.

I am a little out of control with scents. I LOVE them so I have a lot. Hand made soap made the cold process way (I will go into more detail on how soap is made in the next few posts. I will also share my favorite suppliers ) should cure 4-6 weeks. The longer a soap cures the harder it becomes. The benefit of harder soap is that is lasts a lot longer.

This is the last soap I made. The scent is Sun Kissed Currant. I was trying to get a warm yellow color with a dark red sun. It turned out just the way I pictured it. I love when that happens.
What do you think? Does it look like the sun to you?

Did You See That Moon The Other Night?

2010-02-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

I think The Carson Valley has the biggest sky. Why aren't we "the big sky state"? Elevation is 4751 feet above sea level. On a clear night, of which there are many, you can see the man in the moon's eyelashes. I took a few shots of the full moon drifting in and out of the wispy clouds.

I love living in Gardnerville.

It is the last day of January

2010-01-31T15:13:00.000-08:00

I guess it is time to take down the tree. We never seem to want to let the season go, so we put it off a little too long. A friend is coming over Tuesday and we are going out to lunch. She is picking me up because she wants to see the kitchen cabinets I am painting. I asked her if I had to clean the house (I normally only clean when my mom and dad are coming to visit). She said "heck no", but I know the tree would shock her in February. She puts her tree up right after Halloween because she loves the season also. Why is it everyone thinks it is OK to put a tree up early but not keep it up until, say March or April? My friend is definitely in the majority and I am in the minority.

I am the eldest of 5 children. I have the youngest child. She is spoiled, but not rotten. My sis and mom have been buying her Angel Ornaments since birth and as I was wrapping them I had to take a picture. My daughter has enough ornaments to decorate a tree all on her own.

Here are a few of MY favorites. She loves them all.

Everything is packed and put away till next year.

Valentines Day and Some New Events at Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery

2010-01-30T05:04:00.000-08:00

The Gallery is involved with The Winter Wine Walk On Feb. 18, 2010 in the Gardnerville downtown area. The hours will be 4:30-7:30 PM and the theme is "Let's Whine About Winter-Wine & Chocolate Walk." Registration is located inside the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 1477 Main St., Hwy 395, Gardnerville. Wine Walkers will pay a $10 registration fee and purchase a $5 commemorative wine glass. This same glass can be used for
the 2010 "Thirsty Third Thursday Wine Walks" that resume the third Thursday of each month May through September. Wine Walkers visit participating downtown businesses to receive their sip of wine and are given a chance to browse the stores. This gives town people a chance to meet the owners, and in our case the artists, see what is available for them when they shop "local", have a few treats, taste different wines and chocolates, and have an evening out. Dress warm, wear comfortable shoes, and bring a flashlight!

Many of the artists at the store are ready for the Valentines Day holiday with a great selection of products in every price range. Here are a few pictures.

Of course we have to start with a little soap. This soap is made Monoi De Tahiti Oil. Monoi De Tahiti Oil is a unique blend of cosmetic quality coconut oil and the natural essence of tiare flowers (Tahitian gardenia). No preservatives, emulsifiers or animal products are added. This is poured into a Trillium Flower Mold and packaged in a red organza bag. Perfect for gift giving.

Next we have many different jewel artists. Here are just a few pictures of the perfect Valentines Day gift.

Some other gifts include photography, ceramics, paper and fiber art.

Come join us for a fun filled evening. Shake off the winter blahs and come enjoy some fresh air, the company of good friends, good wine, wonderful chocolates, all right here in our town.

Lorraine Felix "Potter Extraordinaire"

2010-01-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

When I think of Lorraine I think of "Sunshine". I do not believe I have ever seen Lorraine without a smile on her face ( I sure hubby Bob has ). The two of them have owned the building that is now "Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery" for 18 years. They bought it from a man who lived and painted in the house, using the front room as his gallery. They rented the building to a few antique stores over the years before they opened it up to the artist community. Now the "Little Yellow House on Main Street" is home to over 30 local artists and craft people.

I make soap.

Lorraine makes this.

Confused? Don't be, these are a couple of close up shots of Lorraine's signature Horse Hair Pots. She takes a chunk of clay and makes a beautiful shaped vase or bowl, then using different organic materials to give it color, she places horse hairs on it before she places it in the kiln to fire ( don't worry, the horse hair if from a local groomer who saves her the hair pulled from the horse's brush ).

This is the whole picture.

I know, not a very good picture, but you get the idea. They are incredible. Each one is a work of art. I just wish she had more time to make them.

She is very busy with the store right now, she is the treasurer of the Main Street USA program, and is now involved with The Partnership of Community Resources.

They have brought the "Ring in Kindness" project to Gardnerville, NV.

Ring in Kindness is inspired by the Ben's Bells Project. http://www.bensbells.org/About.html

Ben Packard, of Tucson, AZ, passed away before his 3rd birthday. His parents began trying to cope with their loss. They came up with a design for Ben's Bells and started making them in their back yard studio with friends. The bells are hung randomly in their community twice a year to encourage kindness to others. Since Ben's death, it has been the kindness of others, strangers and friends, that has helped them begin to heal. Each bell is created by many hands, all volunteers, and are hung in the community twice a year.

You are invited to get involved in spreading kindness through handmade pieces of art, each piece touched by many hearts and hands. If you find one take it home and hang it up. Let it inspire you.

Community Participation Days are the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month from 2:30-4:30PM at Felix Pottery 1459 Hey 395 Gardnerville, NV 89410
Felix Pottery's phone number is 775-782-5434
and Partnership of Community Resource's phone number is 775-782-8611

Lorraine of Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery

2010-01-26T07:15:00.000-08:00

I talked about how I meet Lorraine years ago a couple of days ago. OK maybe a week ago.

Lorraine started her pottery adventure in high school. She enjoyed the classes very much.

After school she meet Bob. He swept her off her feet and soon they were married. Lorraine had the opportunity to take some time off work and she filled that time taking.........pottery classes, of course. She took so many classes and progressed so quickly the art center in Carson City offered her a JOB teaching a children's class. Lorraine is great with kids, she treats them like the mini adults they are. She respects them and expects them to respect her and the studio, too. Soon Lorraine was organizing the studio, which lead into ordering supplies, which lead into taking over the artisan's shop. She was now teaching classes, taking inventory, ordering supplies, stocking shelves, working with artists to sell their creations, and working the store. This made for a more than full time job, but for volunteer pay. So...Lorraine took the plunge and opened a studio in Gardnerville, NV in a little shop by the old car wash in the Anker Building. This is where I meet her. She was teaching adult classes at night and children's classes through the Rec. Center during the day. We had many a fun kid's class and birthday parties, the adult classes were a riot. She had this shop for years until she and Bob built a house with a studio. Lorraine closed the store and taught private classes at the house and the children's classes at the Rec. Center or at the schools.

Fast forward a couple of more years and we find Lorraine and Bob with their adorable yellow house downtown empty (pictures in previous post). The antique shop had outgrown the space and had moved. Lorraine had stayed very active in the artisans community and felt there was a need to showcase the local artist. With her downtown store right on Main Street Lorraine quickly became involved in the "Main Street USA" program for the Downtown Gardnerville area. This program works with other businesses in the downtown area to promote our town, shopping local, the Museum and Cultural Center and many other events which include many programs to support our schools and our children.

I guess you could say Lorraine has been involved with the program before it even started. She made clay "memorial crocks" for the 125 anniversary of the town.

Tomorrow I will talk a little about Lorraine's personal art. I will also show more of the gallery and some products made by other artists.

We are Blessed

2010-01-14T07:32:00.001-08:00

As the news came out yesterday about another natural disaster I thought about how quickly our lives can change. Without us having any say, control or thought going into it, in the blink of an eye everything we have worked for is gone. Things may not be perfect in my life right now, or yours, but I do know I have the love of my family and friends. Knowing someone cares about you and how you feel, makes everything OK in my book. Making a difference in someones life makes it all worthwhile. I pray that this next year is a healthy and smooth sailing year for me, my family....and you.

Three Rooms Gallery-Felix Pottery

2010-01-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

A long time ago I took my 7 year old daughter to a pottery class. There were 10 young children there for the class so I asked the teacher if she wanted me to stay. She smiled and said "Sure, if you want to." Watching the kids was a lot of fun and before too long one of the boys looked at me and asked me "How do you make a cow's ear?" I was more than happy to help and moved to answer him when the teacher leaned into him and said in a soft voice "What do YOU think a cow's ear looks like?" Watching him close his eyes and think, then open them and start making a cow's ear the way HE saw it taught me a lesson I have often used dealing with my daughter. You do not always have to give an answer. You can let a child show you what they see and boy, oh boy, do you get some interesting results.
That was the beginning of a great friendship between me and Lorraine Felix. I love watching her teach and have taken classes myself. She brings out the best in her students. She forces you to be creative. All with a simple question. "What do you think it looks like?"
This is Lorraine.

Lorraine's dear husband, Bob does all the handyman work at the house they own in the Downtown area of Gardnerville. The next few days I will show the store, products, some of the happenings, and give some information about this treasure. I am proud to be a part of it.

A Beautiful Night

2010-01-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

This is the view from our front porch.