bath fizzies

Happy birthday to tow of my fabulous daughter-in-laws, Sara and Brandi.  Our family is much better with you as part of it.

I've tried to make bath fizzies several times without success.  It comes down to a delicate balance of enough moisture to hold them together, but dry enough to not set off the chemical reaction that makes them fizz.  A mix of equal parts citric acid and baking soda are the main components.  You can then add in corn starch, sea salt and any of the healing oils that you like.  After that is mixed together you add in sprays of witch hazel just until the mix will clump together, color and fragrance can be added if you want.  I press mine into mini cupcake pans and let them sit undisturbed for at least 24 hours.  To remove I tap the pan firmly on the counter covered with wax paper. em let that dry several days before packaging.  Kids love these but they are even better for adults who can appreciate the relaxation and skin softening effects.

a no plan day

 Andy and I both work hard.  He works 50-60 hours a week at his real job and is on call 24/7.  I spend many hours each week on VCB, volunteering, school and re-purposing projects to sell.  Our weekends are filled with family, shows, errands and home projects.  When the rare free weekend day pops up we try to spend at least part of that day with no work plans.  That's exact;y what we did last Saturday.  We finished our regular chores pretty early and decided to hop in the car and go for a ride.  No agenda, no errands, no places we normally go.  We just drove where we felt like going.  We saw beautiful fall color, farmers harvesting, old  houses, cemeteries and long winding roads.  If it looked interesting we spent the time checking it out.  We ended up in the town of Casey about 30 miles from home at lunch time.  This was a sleepy farm town that is trying to revitalize itself with tourism.  Someone had the idea to make the worlds largest wind chime and put it on display.  After that it was the worlds largest golf tee, knitting needles and next the worlds largest rocking chair.  It is amazing how many people will get off the interstate while traveling to come and see something like that.  Bravo to the brilliant minds that thought of the whole project and the city for supporting and promoting the whole idea.
It's so easy with our busy lives to just let that take over and miss the small stuff along the way.  Just my way of saying take time to stop and smell the roses.

certified the worlds largest wind chimes, yes they work.

long winding roads on a sleepy Saturday

ringing the chimes

they've started on the rocking chair