Life on Planet Caddick

So, I ventured back into the kitchen to make some more soap. I'm sharing because I want to remember exactly what I did - yay for all of you! First of all, I don't make pretty soap. That's because I hot process in an old crock pot. It's kind of hard to make swirls and fancy things when the soap usually ends up gloppy. I've tried, I've failed, I've decided it's not worth it. Since I make soap just for us, it doesn't have to look good - it just has to work good. =) I like to use things other than just plain distilled water when I make my lye solution. I've made soap using coffee, and pumpkin ale. I don't know why I like using different liquids as bases, but it makes it fun for me (plus I get to say I made Spiced Pumpkin Ale Soap - sounds fancy!). This time I brewed some mixed berry green tea. Also, I made up a new recipe because I was running low on some oil. I never use fancy expensive oil because I like to be able to just grab more w...

This year has flown by. I can't believe it's already October. It's been an interesting last few weeks though. Two weeks ago I had to have an emergency appendectomy. My very first surgery ever. Crazy that I've made it this long and still had all my parts! You know everyone wants one of these sexy hats =) What struck me as weird was that the way they show it in the movies is how it really happens. You are counting down and the next thing you know you're awake and they are asking you your name, doctors name, date, etc. I always thought that crap was fake. Since it's October it's also one of my favorite times of the year - Pumpkin Spice Time (yes, it's capitalized around here)! So I had  to try my hand at some pumpkin spice soap. I used pumpkin ale (which we thought would taste good, but doesn't) instead of water in my newly developed recipe. I had to let it sit out for a couple days to go flat first. It always looks gross when your s...

I've been researching making soap for a very long time. Very long. And there are many ways to make soap. We've been making melt and pour soap around here for almost a year. You can read about our first go round here . I make this kind of soap a lot because I found this bug repellent essential oil blend that works great when Erik is out hunting. But I still wanted to try my hand at lye soap. You can make lye soap two different ways, hot process or cold process. Although the cold process lets you make all these really cool swirls and such I'm not waiting 4 to 6 weeks to use a bar of soap. I think we all know I'm not a patient woman. =) So, I know I want to make hot process, but I also don't want to stand over the stove for a couple hours stirring soap. So, I sacrificed my oldest crock pot to try my hand this 'must try' thing. Now Google is a beautiful thing - seriously - google making soap. I dare you. This is how I found a recipe for crock pot soap usin...