Maria's Nutritious and Delicious Journal: The Cholesterol Myth

Two very good articles on Maria Emmerich's site about cholesterol


The Cholesterol Myth and Cholesterol Part 2 - What Causes Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), there is a third section coming too.

Yes, I should think of a better title than SOAP!

My soap buddy Gabbie has been putting me to shame, she started soaping a week before me and has already made over 30 batches!!!

Ok, since my last lot of pictures, this is what I've been up to...
I did make my tooth soap, and I've even been using it, that soon after making it, and it's just simply wonderful. You have to try to not put your tongue on it too much as it does taste soapy, but I like it so much better than my favourite toothpaste!!!

Then after that I made a great Coconut Oil soap... 100% coconut oil, with a twist... Thanks to my new friend Justine who inspired someone by the name of Irish Lass, who has been singing the praise of Justine's idea!
This is my rendition of it. Yes, I'm still trying that elusive swirl! Oh, and I used a rubber stamp to decorate this bar!!!




I then revisited my first batch, making it a bit different, with no oatmeal (though I do love some oats in my soap!!) - I attempted a 2 colour ultramarine swirl in that one, but something didn't go quite right! Though it looks like it'll be a nice soap if not a pretty one!


And then came the disaster!!!!!!!
It all started with my coconut soap (which I now call Extra Cocolicious)... all went fairly well though I didn't really manage a swirl this time either (the elusive swirl!)... and I thought I'd gotten a really nice gel:

When I unmoulded it, it looked not quite completely cooled down, but still nice enough (and definitely NOT displaying a very nice swirl, but I can live with that)

but when I cut my first slice, oil came oozing out!!! You can see the pool of oil (upper right) above the soap

So I turned to the savvy soapers at The Dish and it turns out I soaped way too hot (it was HOT indeed on Sunday!!!) I forgot to cool my water, my oils were too hot... just one silly little mistake after another which yielded a mistake larger than the sum of its part!!!
So I thought, nothing to lose, let's try a rebatch!!!
That's when you take your botched soap (though some people choose to do this with good soap!) and you cut it in slivers:

and you put it in a crock pot (which ended up in the oven as the crock pot temperature wasn't high enough on LOW and I was too scared to put it on HIGH!

and you melt it in the oven until it ressembles goop!!!
You then slop it in a mould, and well, to my surprise, the resulting soap is not bad! A bit grainy, a bit ugly at the top, but I adore the scent I used (Ancient Sedonia and Vanilla Select, from Bramble Berry, which I get via AussieSoapSupplies!)....

But tonight, I think the Soap Goddess is with me as I made a Goat Milk soap -- they are notoriously difficult, from what I read, as milk makes soap overheat but I figured, after the disaster of Sunday, let's jump in with both feet... and so far, so good!!! The soap even looks really nice!!! I scented it mildly with some lavender oil, took my time, and so far, so good, but it's in the fridge to prevent gel!
Photos will have to be shown tomorrow...

and on a completely different note...

now, why is my banana sad?


can you see the face ?

OH!! GIVEAWAY UPDATE!!! well, I tried my coffee soap, and it's slightly exfoliant, and I am waiting for a couple more soaps to come to maturity so the winner (when I draw the name) will have a bit of a choice, as I'm not sure everyone will like soap with scratchy coffee in it :) it's not scratchy really but you can definitely feel it... so if you haven't entered, please do here.

Fun facts and a friend's digi shop

For all you papercrafters out there, I have a good e-friend (Heather T) who just opened a digi shop, she sells beautiful digital kits she made herself.
Her shop is here: http://oohlalaartsy.wordpress.com/
her blog is here: http://oohlalaartsy.blogspot.com/
She's got some gorgeous stuff and I think it's really reasonably priced! it can even be used for non-(s)crapbooking applications!!! LOL!
Now i have to learn Photoshop!!
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Another interesting piece of news (well, it's not new news, but it's new info to me!) fancy my reaction when I found out that Crocs started in my homeland of Québec!! (oh yeah, don't mind, I think sandals are spelled "sandals" but the journalist spelled them "sandels". There used to be a time where spelling was an integral part of a journalist's tools? I make typos all the time... but I'm not a journalist ;) bee in my bonnet, that...
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Last night I got a good reminder to not believe everything I read on the Internet, that everyone who publishes on the 'net has their own agenda, some people's agendas are quite simple, share, have fun, etc. Other people's agenda is to incite you to believe in what they believe, and slyly do so... I got really upset last night about something I read on a website, about some policy (yes, I should know better!), then reading further than that one page on the site, I realised that the website in question seemed to have an agenda, and that the article that got me so upset might have been written (it was also translated from another language) in a way, and using words, to make us tend towards a different understanding than what was actually written. I do hope that's the case for that site as the article was quite disturbing. Anyway, thanks for letting me air this out... and remember, it's not all true, but the truth is out there somewhere... it's just very hard to find.

Again, the Internet, for all the crap and smut it serves up, is also a great place for information, inspiration, and opening our eyes to new concepts. New ideas. So Freedom of speech/expression does have it's place. Just check your facts, or scratch the surface a bit, if you're about to get upset about something :)
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SOME OLD, SOME NEW
I'm uploading some stuff on Etsy, hopefully all month, a piece a day: DESTASHING!!!
My last upload was a fun pair of toad earrings, which I called "Handsome Prince Earrings"... for $5! And if you are in Australia, and you ask (just say "I read on your blog that I could pay in Australian Dollars" or smoething), I will let you pay postage and all in Australian dollars. Not a huge discount, but it means you can DD without having to worry about currency conversion. Sadly this is good only for australian addresses.

ON THE CAR FRONT
we got a great deal from Tony's Car Hire in Fremantle... it's not a cadillac, but it runs and it's cheap and it'll do us good while our car is getting all fixed up!!

Ok, enough rambling, just really wanted to tell you about Heather's shop but I got carried away. It happens :)

My Cursed Pen

This turned out to be a long post, and rather than make it three different posts, I've divided them in sections.

1) My "Woe is me" story :)

I tell you, sometimes things just don't go the way you want them to!
Yesterday, I decided to have fun with Polymer Clay. It had been a while, and I had been inspired by this display and by the tutorial "Covering Pens with Polymer Clay: Bamboo Skewer" here on Youtube.
So I get some clay out, the purple and pink are right there, as is my translucent and pearl, sounds like a good mix. Looking good. Tutorial instructions are good, I'm doing great, baking goes well, nothing burns (Yay!), I take the skewer out (no problem there) and place the first "ink pen bit" inside to see what it'll feel like... ok, feels great, let's remove the "ink pen bit"... OH HORROR!!! The METAL bit of the "ink pen bit" comes out, but not the plastic bit containing THE INK!!! it is starting to come out - oh, and yeah, I'm right in the middle of making dinner at this point and have meatballs about to get a bit too cooked. Ok, don't panic, put the pen on some (hopefully) scrap paper, go and turn over the meatballs, and insert a skewer to see if the plastic bit will just get pulled out by some kind of magic, why not, my logic is wood bit inserts into plastic bit, sticks cos of the gooey ink, and it all comes out a treat. NO! IT DOES NOT! And I didn't use a crap brand, I used Paper Mate?!
what can I do, it's disgusting..... I have visions of the mess!!!
Ok, CUT a bit off the pen at the other end, and push the plastic-inky-bit out...
Get my blade out, try to do a nice straight cut so that it'll be easy to glue back.
OK, cut is made, and oozing blue ink (YUK!), push out the plastic bit, ok, put it in the bin, make sure it's in the big bin, the one lined with a plastic bag, and thankfully it's rubbish night that night!!!
Ok, check on dinner, all's well, nothing burnt, I try to rinse the pen shaft and yeah, looks like the water comes out clear. *phew*... serve dinner, eat dinner, yum yum yum...
after dinner, glue the bit I had to cut off back on, with Supa Glue... I am scared to death each time I pull out the Supa Glue! I won't want to end up looking like Edward PenFingers or anything like that! Ok, that works well. Can't think of any elastic I have on hand (nor could I find any I would have thought of) so I opt for a Buna cord to tie the lid. Good idea. Ok.
Sand, first off to sand off the ink on the OUTSIDE of the pen! Luckily it works great. Sand, Pledge One Go, one coat, two coats, yup, I'm on a roll.
Pen assembled, little eyelet glued on too, though I hesitated there because I wondered ... how long my pen would last. IT promised to be a kilowriter, i.e. to write more than 1000 words (hmmm, well, in this age of computers, it's not too bad? maybe?), oh well, it'll last as long as it'll last and I'll probably lose it before the ink runs out!
Wow, it works great, I showed it to hubby and I got a "that looks like stone or something" rather than the "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say" when I present him with strange projects like an altered bottle (I can't blame him!).
This is my pen:

Well, this morning, I take it out of my bag to make a phone call (need to take notes during this particular phone call) and, you'll never guess what, it is not writing words anymore! nope, none, nada, done, dead... AND SUPA GLUED IN THERE!!!!! *sigh*
That's pretty much the end of this story. I now have a gorgeous pen that I can't even use!

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2) My "My Megalomania Inspired Me" story


Well, you know, sometimes you're just in a funk, you can't create, you create and things like the story above happens, or you just don't have time to create, or even maybe you question why, having no time and no inspiration, you still don't want to pack everything away or put everything up on eBay. Other than the fact that 1- I'm too much of a scavenger/pack rat, and getting rid of my supplies would mean I wouldn't "have" them anymore, and putting them away in boxes would frustrate me if I ever want anything from out of one of those boxes (let me tell you my new storing method is not making me very happy, even if it has cleared up a bit of the kitchen! I always have to go to the other end of the house to look for something I've put away (seriously though, it is an improvement, but it doesn't have to always make me happy, does it? at least now we have room for our dishes in the cupboards!). Anyway, having everything packed far away would not suit me, and my other reason is that if I don't have time to create, why would I have time to put my craft stuff on eBay? And if I'm going to have time for eBay, wouldn't I be much more satisfied if I took this time to create...
Anyway...
Another angle to this story requires me explaining that I wanted a screen saver for my computer because my screen was too bright, and given the position of my computer and the position of the hallway and our bedroom, it was bothering me to see this bright screen when I have insomnia. Yes, I can turn the screen off, but those new screens can also stay on all the time... (some argue that turning off the comptuers for the night is also a good idea, but not when you have downloads trickling in!) ANYHOW... that's when I decided on my current screen saver:
I have all my scanned artwork in a folder, so I used the Microsoft "Slide Show" Screen saver option (don't quote me on its name though), and pointed it to the folder where I have my artwork. At first I thought "hmmm, isn't that a bit weird, having your own artwork up there?" and then I thought "it's the only organised enough folder to be able to do this with!".... well, seeing my artwork when I get up, or when I've not been at the computer for the amount of time it takes for my screen saver to kick in (dunno, can't remember, but it's adjustable) I get inspired, seeing old creations, recent ones, ones I'd completely forgotten about, seeing stamps I'd forgotten I'd owned, stamps I sold and was happy to have done so, background and stamping techniques I'd forgotten.

example, this piece from February 2004

or this one below from October 2003

Hmmm, I do like brown tones, I guess!

These little Collections squares from the end of 2006 bring back memories

and this bright cheerful About Art Accents card from the same period was also fun to see because of its simplicity and cheerfulness:

I have found it very inspiring, and it has motivated me to try and find time to create. So yeah, sometimes a little bit of self-centered-ism can be a good thing! Although every now and then I think "ooh, poor so-and-so, I remember sending them this awful card... didn't seem awful at the time, but that was years ago" sort of thing! Keeps me modest.

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3) My work

Many of you are curious about the type of work I do. I am an Assistant Analyst (that's what the job's advert said)and I work for Mining Industry Consultants. I do a LOT of work with Excel, play with LOTS of numbers, and also I receive samples which I have to prepare to send to laboratories, most of which are Iron Ore, I see very pretty colours, though most of it is of a dark brownish red colour. I get to wear a lab coat on the days I play with the pulverised rock, and a mask (so I don't breathe too much in). I feel like I am in a hospital, or that I'm part of the CSI team! LOL! Hmmm, the original CSI probably? Dunno. TBA! hehehe!!! I don't do much analysis myself at work, but I do prepare things for analysis, and once in a while they let me read a report, it's been almost 5 months! And I'm still enjoying it. So I hope that answers your questions, dear friends :)

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As a silly segue and to show some eye candy, here's my "rock", a ring, made with polymer clay, and the small one of AM236 XXLge Oval Set from Krafty Lady. That one was made with Pearl, Translucent, and Maroon clays (Sculpey III), and some Duo Red-Blue Pearl Ex, and my trusted Pledge One Go (if only I used it on my floors! hehehe!)

The ring looks crooked but it has been glued on straight. It was just a wee bit big for my Hand Model this morning, so it sort of slid to one side.

I think I'd better press the "publish" button now!