Body and Beauty and Living-Naturally

With all the activities yesterday, I didn’t cut the soap when I should have so it ended up way too hard. When I went to cut as per normal using a knife…this is what I got:

It was -as salt soap would be rather crubly. I wasn’t in the mood to rebatch this so I was trying to talk myself into believeing that the rough looking cut soap was okay…afterall it was for me mostly…Then, Mr. NiEriu suggested having a go… and this is what we got:

Yep, they are as smooth as any other soaps…and I am thrilled. He used a saw. Yep…a regular ol saw!

 There were a few crumbs-see below which I reckon I could use in scrubs.

I am now off to make sure I don’t burn my coconut rice for tonight…

HAPPY NEW YEAR all!!

May your blessings be many in 2010!

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Made the Salt soap bars I’d mentioned on twitter this morning.

Here’s a pic of them just after.

These are scented with lavender and bergamot essential oils and smell lovely and fresh in the mold.

Will update with unmolded pics later.

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…or something along those lines…I am told that is the greeting you offer  in the days following christmas in Denmark…I won’t attempt the Danish version!

Anyway, you get the sentiment. I hope you had a quiet christmas with those you love.

It’s been great spending time with the family after the time we’ve had. We had friends over as well on christmas day so kids were occupied the whole time and it only really came unravelled when it was bedtime. My son was so tired he was in tears and said he was crying from tiredness. Had to hold him to sleep, bless!

On the 26th, I headed out to the NEXTsale with my usual partner Ms. J and didn’t get much though. I needed to pick a few jeans for DS but didn’t happen as there was as usual nothing to suit her.

Tomorrow, having a party to meet up with friends before the new year. We decide that since it was unlikely that we’d get a chance to all meet up, instead of sendin those texts promising to be more sociable, we’d make an effort and actually get together so we hired a venue, got an entertainer and will be hooking up tomorrow, Kids will be occupied and the adults can chill out with a wine or two or juice….that’s the plan anyway.

As I type this I am sitting here smelling of garlic.  I took out my braids on christmas eve, and since I can’t go one more day without combing my hair, I am applying the intensive conditioner as described here. This time, I’ve changed the ingredients though  as I don’t have those used in previous recipe.

Here’s the new one:

*2TBS Milk
*2 TBS Virgin Coconut Oil
*½TBS Garlic powder
*1TBS  Manuka Honey
*5 drops of essential oil mix (eucalyptus, ylangylang, lavender)

After doing a regular wash using a bar, and a rinse with diluted acv, I rubbed in  the mix, combed it through and then put on my shower cap …that was about half an hour ago at this stage.

Lie to me has just come on so I’m probably gonna leave it on for another hour and then wash it off….

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Lovely Handmade chocolate truffles made by Fionnu. I could not help trying out the lemon one….it’s gorgeous. Will beg /pester/blackmail…Fionnu to showing me how to make them and then I might treat them at home. Maybe some of you who read this might help me beg her to give us a recipe?!? If so, post your comments and I’ll use it as ammunition.

Not much else can be said so just look and salivate!

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It’s been a few days now but it still feels surreal. Still hard to believe that Paraic is gone, I keep expecting to wake up to find it’s a bad dream or there’s been a mistake….or something….

It was completely unexpected.  I had never known the man to have so much as a cold or a flu.

His death is all the more painful because unlike the other deaths we’ve had to deal with in the last couple of years, he was only 53, and he was Paraic .

Read report in the wexford people

Paraic was a genuinely nice guy with with a heart of gold…when you say someone hadn’t a bad bone in them, that was him. He was also a genius, seriously gifted and I say that completely without bias.He really had  midas touch, as any old rubbish could be transformed into something of value once Pariac had worked on it for a while. We looked forward to visiting him as you could bet that he had something he was crafting and ready to show!

Below  are  some of the things he made for the kids which were mentioned in the article.

And the tree house of course!!

Rest in Peace Paraic. You are and will always be missed but you will not be forgotten.

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I love handmade cards but haven’t a hope of making…apart from the fact that there are only so many hours in the day, I don’t think I have the constant stream of creativity that it requires to make them.  For the last few years…three or four, I’ve got handmade cards from onlyone peson. I’d give her a theme and she’d always deliver something that exceeds my expectations.

This year, I’ve been really disorganised, and I hadn’t even begun to think of cards so I was pleasantly surprised to get apackage yester from my Di at tulip-designs.

Here’s a sample of what she sent.

Thanks again Di:-)

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Got some goatmilk today from Bridget and the Caprine scene. Perfect timing too as my skin has been playing up -excema patches have been doing thier usual thing.
Seems to be responding to oatmeal though.
On the plate here there’s baking soda, powdered goatmilk and oatmeal.  I can’t be bothered trying to get colloidal oatmeal so I make my own by putting my oatmeal through Mr NiEriu’s coffee grinder till it’s really fine.
It would be really cool if I could use it tonight but not gonna happen as I have another bath of guinness soap cooking so instead I’ve mixed it with a little bit of water to make a paste and I’ve smeared it on the patches as a mask …will rinse off later in the shower.

Following along the same theme, made some soap -goatmilk, oats, honey…here’s a picture of some of them.

 This batch very lightly scently with ylangylang.

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Continuing on the Santa thread…

Yesterday we were lucky enough to be invited to visit Santa in Durrow by the Makebelievers.

The Make Believers are a group of volunteers who  as far as I understand, organize events for kids who have had a rough time…whether they’ve been hospitalised, bereaved, ill…
Yesterday, we were at their Christmas event and even as an adult I found it to be such a lovely almost magical day…

First of all, we drove up to this magnificent house…in Durrow, and from the front door, there were volunteers to take your coats and the kids just disappeared. Santa was not there when we arrived but there was so much for the kids to do…from face painting, crafts, games(play-station, etc), entertainers that they just had such a great time. When Santa, Mrs. Claus, the elves, and Tin man arrived in a fire truck no less, everything going on  inside was put on hold to allow the kids go outside to welcome him. Santa said hello to the kids outside and spent a few minutes chatting to them and then went inside to his grotto.

The kids could hardly wait for their turn to see Santa! Although we arrived at about half two and didn’t get to see Santa at about seven, and the kids were keen but because they had been sooo entertained, they were fine. And the highlight of all the entertainment was getting to ride on the firetruck through Durrow…that was really seriously cool!

Remember last week , I spoke about my daughter and her lack of belief in Santa? Well, Santa had a word with her…and it turned out that it was a combination of things-  between TinMan’s forgetfulness and the elves’ playfulness, and the sleigh breaking down, they didn’t pick the letter as they should have done! And this apparently happens to some kids sometimes! Santa and Mrs Claus were quite cross with their helpers and assured our DD it would not happen again. So Mr. NiEriu is one happy camper as he hopefully has another year of her believing…although she was sceptical, she is accepting it as she can’t figure out how Santa knew so much!

Here are a few pictures from the day:

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I was talking to a friend about Santa Claus. Now, I didn’t grow up with the whole santa belief system and I have struggled with it as long as I’ve had children and till now  I was not comfortable with it as a fat man in a red suit who sneaks into my house to leave stuff. Growing up, I went to see Santa or as we called him “father christmas” once and I remember screaming and tearing out of the grotto in our local superstore terrified leaving my iro (wrap-skirt) behind! Iwas aboout 6 or 7. I still remember this today.

However, my other half does like the idea and so we decided he’d do the whole santa thing with the kids.  A  year or a couple of years ago…I forget which, my daughter came home from school upset because she had an argument with her friends…they had asked her what santa was bringing her and she replied there was no santa and they insisted there was and were cross with her for saying there wasn’t.  She went further to experiment t verify the “claims” of santa’s existence and left a message in the chimney without telling myself or her Dad. She reckoned if Santa was real, he’d come and get his message or send one of the elves. When she met the letter still there the following day, left it for another day and it as still there…so if Santa existed he should have been able to proove his existence by picking his mail…QED

So, I explained to her that while he might not exist as a fat man in a red suit, he did exist in the form of the spirit of christmas. The spirit that makes that time of year feel different and magical and which brings out the best in many people. She did agree that people seemed nicer and everything seemed different at christmas.

Anyhow, this topic came up today while talking with my friend and she pointed me to this letter below…Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus.

I’ve printed it out to give to my children, and I inserted their names in place of Virginia’s and this year, I can look them in the eye and say “Yes, there is a santa claus”

See Letter below

from Virginia:

“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

To Virginia from The Editor, Francis P. Church

“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

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