All Things Hold Together

Slice ‘n bake cupcakes?  Bakerella investigates.

A few months ago, a long-time resident moved out of the apartment downstairs from me and someone new moved in. She smokes and, unless I close all of my windows, it comes into my apartment. And it often, too often, triggers a migraine.

I just don’t know how to deal with this. She has a right to smoke, but I am in agony here. I just don’t know what to do.

Keeping my windows closed is sort of an option, now that it is getting colder, but having the place shut up all of the time causes its own problems. (This place is very damp and mold-prone.)

Any ideas?

No, besides moving. (I’m already working on that.)

I have to write down these cute things Little E said before I forget.

This morning, he came into my bed with his pillow and said, “My pillow is stuffeder than yours.” (As in, is more stuffed.)

Just now, he was going into the bathroom, but the light switch has a short and wouldn’t turn on. He came out and said, sternly, “I think you forgot to pay the electric bill!”

It is worth noting here that I have never had my electricity turned off, so I am not sure where he learned that. And, yes, I did pay my electric bill.

The other day, we were talking about our phone number (which he knows) and our address (which he does not). I asked him what street we live on. He told me. I asked him what number our house is. He looked at me, puzzled. I told him to go out the door and look at the numbers next to the door. After a few minutes of hard thinking, he came back in and asked, “Eleventy-four?” (It’s 114.)

Ah, I love this age!

If you are like me, you are too cheap to start the heater yet, even though the nights are COLD.

This cool weather makes it hard to find a nice warm place for the bread to rise.

Here is what I do.  Set a timer for 1 minute and turn the oven on at 400-degrees.  Go about your dough-making business.  When the timer goes off, turn off the oven.  It is now the perfect temperature to put the bread dough in to rise.  At least, it works for me!

Head on over to Rocks In My Dryer for lots more Works for Me Wednesday tips.

I realized that I never posted pictures of my cold process soap.

For my first trial, I did not use any fragrance or color. Those additives can change the rate of the chemical reaction, so I decided to do a naked batch first. It kind of smells like fried food, though. I think there was too much excess oil for super-fatting. It is rich and creamy, but too oily smelling.

my homemade soap

I used stamps from a stepping stone kit to make the “soap” imprint.

The funny thing is, now that I have all the stuff to make cold process, I have a revived passion for the melt-and-pour. It is not related. I had a great time making the CP. I want to do it again. It’s just that I have some new ideas for the melt/pour.

I also have some new MP soaps that I want to post pictures of, but I can’t find my camera.

Little E went on the porch this morning to see what the weather was like, so he could get dressed to go outside.

He came back in and said, “It’s like summer and winter mixed together… at the same time!”

That’s fall, I told him.

I know this sounds crazy, but I am starting to think about what I want to make for Christmas gifts this year. I’m not usually thinking about it this early, but every other year, I run out of time, so I thought I should give myself more time this year. Some of the gifts are quite time consuming, so I want to start thinking about what I want to make, so I can order supplies.

I normally give soaps that I make using melt and pour, but this year, I want to make some cold process soaps, too. They take 4 weeks to cure, so I need to plan accordingly.

I was also thinking about making massage melts. Has anyone every used these?

Back in March, I made some lip balm using beeswax that my father-in-law bought for me at a local apiary where they (my parents-in-law) live.

Well, the next time we visited, he gave me a huge brick of beeswax and a giant jar of the raspberry blossom honey that I loved so much.

Yes, that is a dinner plate under there.

Yesterday, I finally got around to making some more lip balm. I used round containers this time.

For the how to and a link to a recipe, check out my original post (linked above).

I was looking for something new to make with Italian sausage. I found the most delicious recipe from MarthaStewart.com for Tomato and Sausage Risotto.

I did not have any white wine, so I substituted 1/2 cup of water with 1 teaspoon of McCormick chicken base (or bouillon).

It was fantastic.

Is it me, or has it been forever since I blogged over here? It has been a very tough week. Almost tough enough to make me use the period. after. each. word. blogging device that I don’t mind reading, but hate to use on my own blog for some reason.

The D, my 11-year-old son that has ADHD, does not like transitions. Yeah, I know, what kid does? No. I mean act-like-a-two-year-old, stomp-his-feet-and-cry, bring-everything-to-a-screeching-halt-with-his-temper-tantrums does not like transitions.

Yesterday, we had an appointment with the nurse practitioner who handles his diagnosis and medication (which he is no longer on, BTW. I stopped that after a month or so. I can’t remember if I ever updated about that). It was scheduled earlier in the summer as a check in. Talk about good timing. It gave me a lot of hope that this is just temporary and we talked about some strategies to make the transition easier for him.

This has been a tough summer for us. Things were starting to settle down and we were working with an ADHD expert on behavior issues. Then - boom! - his father showed up in Vermont, wreaking emotional havoc and all but ruining our summer. (He was here for 2 months.)

Once that was over, D’s seasonal allergies kicked in and kicked his butt. This is an awful year for ragweed. It must have been all that stinking rain we got. He has been miserable, poor kid. Actually, we all have been hit, but he is by far the worst.

Now he is freaking out over the transition away from the summer fun and into the school year schedule. (I think we will start doing year-round schooling.)

Will we ever get a break?

I am sure that we will, but I have never been wishing for the first hard frost to hit in the beginning of September. (You know, to kill the ragweed.)

In happier news, I am going to be doing a year-long discipleship program with a woman I know. I am very excited. I so need this right now.

I also have some more eraser stamps to post pictures of. You have to try it - it is addicting!

And, for the feed reader crowd, did you know that I changed my theme?  I went with simple, this time.

That’s about it for now. The other stuff needs a full post of its own.

So, how has everyone been?