Author: sophiecls418

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Frankincense and Myrrh Soap is Back!

Frankincense and myrrh was one of my first customer requests years ago when I began soap making. Over time, there’s been a few variations in the recipe.

For the first time ever, this year’s Frankincense and Myrrh soap is 100% synthetic fragrance free. Instead, I used pure frankincense and myrrh essential oils. Then, I added a touch of orange Valencia essential oil to sweeten it. The end result is a warm, piney scent. It is a bit more subtle than what you get with synthetic fragrance oils, so the scent isn’t overwhelming. Plus, you get the benefits of true essential oils.

I also formulated this batch to lather up like my other shampoo bars. For travelling, shampoo bars are the way to go. With a bar, there’s no worries about leaking in your luggage or TSA liquid restrictions. No plastic bottles also means no BPA concerns and less environmental impact.

Everyone needs soap. Frankincense and Myrrh handmade soap makes a great stocking stuffer or small gift for teachers or coworkers. Right now, use coupon code “ShopSmall18” for 30% off your entire order at the SubEarthan Cottage shop. 

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Sunbeam Mixmaster Update

Last Thanksgiving I bought a Sunbeam Mixmaster to help with all the gluten free baking. This Thanksgiving, I broke my Sunbeam Mixmaster by sticking a plastic spatula between the beaters while it was mixing blueberry muffins. Broke as in pieces fell out of the machine and the beaters stopped spinning. It’s probably a good idea to turn off a mixer before scraping the bowl.

A quick internet search told me I probably broke the plastic drive gears, and the remedy for that was a dumpster burial. At that point, I figured it wasn’t going to get worse, so I had nothing to lose by taking it apart and seeing for myself if it was reparable.

When I finally figured out how to open it, everything looked fine. No sign of anything broken, and the plastic gear that turns everything had minimal wear. The part that latches the beaters in place looked fine. I couldn’t find anything that looked like it was missing the tiny broken pieces. Little pieces that, after thinking more about it, looked oddly like the little tabs on the beaters…

At that point I grabbed the the beaters and compared them to the rarely used dough hooks. Sure enough, the tabs were missing from the beaters but not the dough hooks. Yay! Replacing beaters is cheap and easy. The only problem was now my mixer looked like this:

Luckily I reassembled the mixer without breaking anything. I tested it with a loaf of banana bread mixed with the dough hooks, and it worked fine. Amazon had replacement beaters for about $10, so it should be fully functional in about a week.

My guess is that those tabs are designed to break under pressure if something gets caught in between. While the drive gear is plastic, it’s pretty thick. Even with my mistake and a year of using it almost weekly, it looks to be in good shape. It makes me wonder if some of the people who thought they stripped the drive gear actually just needed to replace the beaters.

In the long run, if money allows, a mixer with an all-metal drive would be better. From my year of use and seeing how little wear there is on the inside, I do think this Sunbeam Mixmaster is a good budget-priced stand mixer. It has mixed everything I’ve thrown at it, including a double batch of banana bread and a meatloaf (separately, of course) with no trouble. Everything, that is, except for spatulas.

Don’t forget: this holiday season, take 30% your SubEarthan Cottage order with coupon code “ShopSmall18”. Valid through December 10, 2018.

 

 

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Cloth Gift Bags are Available Now

There’s a new batch of Christmas gift bags at the SubEarthan Cottage Shop. This year, you can choose between jute twine like I use for wrapping my soaps, or white satin ribbon for the drawstrings. 

You can find all the Christmas gift bags here: http://s696056323.onlinehome.us/product-category/holidays

That is all the fabric I have in those prints, so if you like them, get them quickly before they sell out. Right now, coupon code “NewSiteSale” is good for 30% off your entire regular-priced order.

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Billboard Art

This weekend we held a rather slow garage sale. It was still fun, though, and we met some nice people, including a gentleman who shares our fondness of TBI Suburbans.

Chris took full advantage of the time to create a few billboard art pieces he’s been picturing for months.

Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts

I think this is my favorite. I love the weathered door.

Show Stopper
Show Stopper

This is the one everyone slowed down to see. He may decide to shorten it from the bottom to make it more manageable. As it is, though, in the right space it is impressive.

Coca Cola
Coca Cola

This one just screams Americana. We held it up to see what it looks like on the outside of our house. I loved the pop of red against our brown. I can totally see this alongside other signs in rustic decor.

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Early Morning Gauzy Tunic Refashion

In keeping with my desire to be more conscientious with my clothing, I shopped my closet for clothes that aren’t bad, but need a little refashioning to make me feel comfortable in them.  I’ve had this gauzy tunic top hanging in my closet for a while. It felt nice and lightweight, but I just never felt like wearing it.

Originally it was a pale, pastel blue. I thought maybe a color change would help, since I’m not big on pastels. I added it to a black Rit dye batch a few weeks ago, turning it a nice, dark grey. When I put it on yesterday morning, though, it still wasn’t quite right.

Early morning=terrible lighting

The sleeves had weird cuffs sewn on that were an awkward length and oddly tight. I decided they had to go.

See the blue thread? That was the original shirt color.

Rather than ripping out the seam, I simply cut away the cuffs as close to the seam as possible. I could have folded and hemmed the sleeves, but I planned to wear the tunic that day, so I wanted a quicker way of finishing them.

Still too dark.


Instead of hemming, I used my serger to make a rolled overcast edge where I had removed the cuffs. Not only was this quick, it gave the sleeves a light, breezy feel that, in my opinion, fits better with the overall style of the shirt. With the new color and sleeves, I can see myself getting much more wear out of this tunic shirt. 

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Like Cats and Dogs

While we were away, Chris did a ton of work on the house. He also tackled a major challenge: making sure our cats and dogs get along. Merlin was old and mean, so the dogs left him alone other than an occasional nose-touch in passing. The kittens, on the other hand, are young and run and jump and play and desperately want to be friends with the dogs.

Shadow is a little afraid of them, so she mostly avoids them. Jake is still a bit of a puppy himself, so he takes much more interest in them. The problem is he is an eighty-plus pound Pit Bull and they are five month old kittens. We have had concerns that he might be interested in them as kitty-snacks, so their interactions have involved kennels or leashes and been limited.

This past week, however, Chris took advantage of the quiet to properly introduce Jake to the kitties. The end result is adorable.

  • I’m a good boy, right?
  • Nap time.
  • Friends.

I do worry about accidental injuries because Jake is so much bigger, so I still keep a close eye on them. He really is very sweet and gentle with the kittens though. When we first let them out together in the mornings, the kittens rub all over his legs and purr while he has his big, goofy, happy pit smile on his face.

Angel is the feisty runt, so Jake tolerating him is awesome.
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Cats are weird

After my kitty Merlin died earlier this summer at the ripe old age of fifteen, we decided we would like to adopt a pair of kittens. I always felt a little sad that Merlin never had a kitty friend. But, by the time we really started thinking about a second cat, Merlin was old and cranky. I wasn’t sure he would like another cat around, so we waited.

Kitty Merlin

Introducing our new kitties.

In July, I began looking for a pair of kittens to adopt and found a local family needing to find homes for their three kittens. How could I just leave one sibling behind? Not possible. So we ended up with three eight week old kittens, one female and two males.

Buffy:

Spike:

Angel:

Angel Cats

Based on our cats’ names, everyone reading now knows my age and that I am a huge nerd. 

Surprise!

Anyway, like a responsible kitty owner, I took Buffy to be spayed yesterday. Spike and Angel aren’t off the hook, but taking care of the little lady first removes the immediate litter of kitties threat. Imagine my surprise when I picked Buffy up and learned that Buffy was, in fact, a boy. 

This news, of course, left me questioning whether Buffy’s brothers were actually brothers. Again, all kitties are destined for that trip to the vet, but females get top priority due to babies and certain health risks. 

After spending a weird afternoon Googling variations of “how to tell if a cat is male or female” and comparing the results to my intact furballs, I am fairly certain I do, in fact, have three males. Typical for me, really. I also think that by their current age, I would have realized Buffy was a boy if I had actually looked. Until yesterday, though, I didn’t see the need to double-check.

When in doubt…

One thing I learned is that, at TCAP at least, when in doubt, register cats as female. If they turn out to be male, they will continue with the surgery. Spaying is harder and has more potential complications, so if your cat is a surprise female, they won’t perform the surgery at that time.

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