I think this photo sums up how I feel on most days (in a good way). In fact, I’m beginning to feel that the word “busy” is way overused and I’ll need to find some other way to describe the state of my day-to-day activities.
(In case you’re curious, here are some words you can use instead of “busy”.)
Reuben’s a bit under the weather, soldiering rather cheerfully through a cold. He still can settle himself to sleep without much help from me, just a piece of cloth with a dash of eucalyptus essential oil placed by his pillow to help clear up his nasal passages enough to let him breathe a little easier. Poor darling. I’m managing the brood on my own this weekend as my hubby is away in Langkawi for his company’s annual retreat. They’re living it up at the Andaman (but I hear that they haven’t kept the place as well as they should have for a 5-star establishment).
As for myself, I’ve been working in as much soaping time as I can while all three children are fast asleep, and have finally replenished all my soap varieties (phew!). They’re now curing. This coming week, Tangy Lavender and Summer Fizz will be ready to ship—and while they look a tad different from the current product photos, they still have the same lovely scents that you have come to know and enjoy. I’ll be working on new photographs soon and will put them up as quick as I can.
This photo of my curing rack was taken just last week. Today there is another rack identical to this (they’re both from IKEA, RM69 each) next to it (we removed the towel rail you see to the left of this rack), and they’re both chock full of soap! Haven’t had time to photograph the new setup, but what’s even more amazing is the whole cocktail of scents floating about in my office these days.
Alas, it will take more than heavenly or invigorating scents to keep me going at all that needs to be done. There’s just no substitute for an uninterrupted night’s sleep.
Since it’s rather late in the day for this Music Monday post, I thought I’d share Sarah McLachlan’s rather pensive song, “Angel”. I sing this to my children almost every time I put them to bed. It’s also a favourite to hum or sing when I’m walking down an empty hall or in an echoey car park—the acoustics are closer to the track itself.
Phwoar. I’ve enjoyed every moment of each day for the past few weeks, but oh my, the amount of things I end up cramming into my 24 hours is approaching near ridiculous. Even finding time to reply e-mails has proven to be tricky! Thank you for your patience—you guys know who you are.
Anyway, just to let you know that I’ve finally managed to squeeze in some soaping sessions to put these on the curing rack:
Tangy Lavender (ready by 23rd July 2010)
DreamTime (ready by 27 July 2010)
Summer Fizz (ready by 30 July 2010)
I’ve also had to stock up on my essential oils to cater to some wholesale orders and enquiries I’ve received. As a bootstrapping operation it hurts when you know that you could have gotten a much better deal if you bought supplies in bulk… but at the end of the day, managing cashflow is all important to a small business’s survival. There’s no doubt that the old adage of ‘cash is king’ rings true!
Apart from that, we’re enjoying moments like these:
From left to right: my dad, Brandon, my brother, his wife, and Andrea. That was taken after a home-cooked bak kut teh dinner at our place, the first meal I cooked for my dad and brother since I got out of confinement. The kids adore their uncle and aunt, and vice versa. Grandpa is always tickled pink by the things that Brandon and Andrea say.
It’s all good, but I can’t help but think that my mom’s missing from the photograph. I do miss her so.
This, ladies and gents, is a 15g bottle of pure vanilla planifola CO2 extract. Professional chefs use this in their creations—none of that vanilla essence you find in supermarkets. It smells like a slice of heaven, and it WILL be appearing in at least one new soap that I’ll be making soon. Will have to experiment first.
It cost me RM215, but if it turns out well in my test batches, you can bet your bottom dollar that you’ll be getting a truly luxurious, “scent-sational” bath experience like no other!
I don’t know about you, but I get goosebumps every time I hear Sting’s “Desert Rose” being played. There’s something bewitching about Cheb Mami’s smooth vocal acrobatics weaving in and out of the masterful use of digitized music and violins. And the lyrics are so sensual!
And I mean this in a really good way! While I was away on confinement for the better part of June, I had a backlog of orders both retail and wholesale that have pretty much cleared off all the soap I had on my curing rack.
Time to schedule some hardcore soapmaking sessions! But I reckon it will be more of sneaking them in while all three children are slumbering.
Say hello to Reuben, our newest little love bucket. He’s grown so much in just one month!
Starting Thursday, June 24th, my confinement period is officially over and I will be moving back to our home. It’s been a blissful time of having peace and quiet for the better part of the days, taking my time to get to know Reuben, and catching up on rest.
Initially, a few days after my delivery I was psyched up to jump straight back into the soap business. Now I know better! So I do hope that you’ll bear with me as the family adjusts to our new routine, and I figure out how to manage my time between the household and Kinder Soaps.
To all who have placed orders with me during this past month, thank you so much for your patience and kind words. I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I can about your soap, but please forgive me for any delays that may crop up.
I thought I wouldn’t blog much from here while in confinement, but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you all without at least a Music Monday post! Today’s song is a gorgeous Italian a capella number called “Le Regazze” (“Girls”) by Neri Per Caso.
(You simply Have to forgive them for sporting mullets after listening to that.)
I was first introduced to Neri Per Caso while in university by a senior, whom I had a crush on (then later sort of dated). So I have quite fond memories associated with this group’s music. Summers with my hostel room windows open, and spending warm afternoons lying on the grass watching friends play football in the fields nearby, then hurriedly packing up our stuff before it got too chilly to be outdoors.
Our baby boy made his way into the big, wide world at 6am, Thursday May 27th, weighing in at 3.15kg. We’re both very well, and my hubby is doing a fantastic job taking care of Brandon and Andrea while I spend my confinement month at my in-laws’.
So Kinder Soaps will be ‘closing shop’ until June 25th—I won’t be able to ship out any orders since I’m away from my work area (and I’m meant to be resting up anyway). But you can still browse the shop, place your orders in advance or get hold of me via e-mail, which I will respond to as quickly as I possibly can.
In the meantime, I may be blogging occasionally from my personal website, and you can read about Reuben’s arrival here.
I chopped up a few red cabbage leaves and boiled them for about an hour in all, to be left with about 30ml of a deep purple liquid. Purpose: to experiment and see if it will indeed turn into a shade of blue when added to my soap mixture.
I’ve read a few websites where people have tried it out and it worked. Like this blog where a mom dyed eggs using red cabbage and they turned out blue; or this other blog where someone made a Rainbow Bento using various vegetable dyes, including red cabbage for a nice shade. The bento does look really pretty:
But by far the most interesting to me was finding this page, where it gave a rough explanation about red cabbage dye being used as a natural pH indicator in labs. Here’s the photo that caught my attention:
Is that cool or what? Now, seeing that soap is basic, when I add it to my soap mixture at trace, it could turn blue (pH8), green (pH9) or yellow. Yellow is most likely at this stage since saponification may not be complete. But will its colour change when the pH drops to the 8-10 range after the soap has hardened after 24 hours?
EeeEEE I CANNOT WAIT to try this out and take some photos!
He’s grown so much in just one month!
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