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I have confirmed, yet again, that I feel better about myself - more confident, less like a loser with Things to Hide - and tend to be more open with/to my partner, when I actually get Work done during the day.

So today I've been crafting.

I watched (for a given value of "watched") Practical Magic this morning. But while I had it in the dvd player, I was also making two kinds of soap[1] and about two dozen tea lights (the last of which are hardening up as I type this).

The silicone mini-muffin (two-bite brownies, whatever) pan makes tea-light-sized candles like a charm. They are narrower on the bottom than the holders are, and I'm not entirely sure how to sort that out[2].

My plan is to sell the tea-lights at half-a-dozen for $5. Which should still make me a little bit of profit beyond breaking-even/overhead, and have a basket of them out at one-for-a-dollar as well[4].

Half of me wants to just not use the foil liners and sell them as cute, brownie-shaped tealight candles that fit easily into a foil tealight liner or other tealight holder, but create less waste. But, for now, I've actually got a hundred shiny-and-brand-new tealight cups that I bought specifically for this purpose, so I'm going to use them (dammit). But later on...? Who knows...


Anyway. I'm starting to poke at a grocery list that I probably won't shop for until some time tomorrow morning, and I'm figuring out what to do for lunch, and I'm basically avoiding starting to write.

I'm having a bit of a Time with this novel. I haven't got a clue what to do with it to make it actually interesting.
Me? I want to write her daily diary. Scribble two hundred words for each of the following categories:
Hopes
Fears
Heartache/Romance
Current Events
Hobbies
Plus a list of what she brought in and/or put up from the garden (and, later, what she's pulled out of the pantry/freezer that she put up earlier).


So... fuck it. Maybe that's what I'll do.


TTFN,
Amazon.





[1] Pomander (sweet orange and clove) and Winter Solstice (Juniper, Peppermint, and Cinnamon), both made with a saponified mix of sunflower oil, olive oil, beeswax, soy wax, and coconut oil.

[2] It may involve putting a layer of beeswax pellets[3] in the bottom of each tealight cup, putting the tealight cups in the oven (on a cookie sheet) for a couple of minutes, and then re-inserting the already-made candle into the cup, so that (a) the candle will sink to the bottom of the cup, and (b) stick to it, and then (c) the spare melted wax will be displaced up around the candle to fill in the empty space between it and the wall of the tealight cup.

[3] Which I would have to order, at a much higher price, from somewhere like Skincare Naturals or similar.

[4] Although this will involve making a LOT more candles... I've got four half-dozen sets made, but I would want another two (at least) plus 20-30 to put in the one-dollar "bulk" basket.

I have discovered that, just as a pound of beeswax makes about 30 (maybe more) tea-lights, it will also make about 10 votive (-esque, they're shorter than a standard votive) candles. (I got ten of the little, steel ketchup-holders from the grocery store and used them as votive molds. They're wide enough at the base to be used as a tea-light holder after the candle's been used up, which doesn't hurt, either.

I figure that I can sell them for about $4 each (standard-size beeswax votives typically go for about $5 around here), and still turn a decent profit off of them (per candle, I mean). Which is good to know.

I also made soap. The plan was to do this after having made the candles, because I could use whatever beeswax remained in the pot as part of the soap recipe (thus making it at least slightly easier to clean. In theory).

And I did. (I didn't quite get *all* the wax off, though, which is slightly suck-tastic, but I can work with it).

See, ages and ages ago, back when there was still snow on the ground, I bought a set of 12 silicone mini-cupcake forms with the intent of using them to make both (a) beeswax tea-lights, and (b) miniature/sample soaps.

I think I'm more likely to use them for soaps, really, since I very much like to keep my candles in some kind of a foil/metal liner (I would LOVE to get my hands on a package of foil candy-cup liners as they hold roughly the same amount of wax as a tea-light liner. The only problem is that, most likely, they're a much thinner foil and they might not stand up to the weight of the liquid wax in them. (Possibly I could do 12 at a time and use my silicone liners as back-up until they harden? Thoughts?) That said, if I'm going to custom-order something, I may as well custom-order actual tea-light foils and be done with it.

ANYWAY. That's what's on my mind in that regard.

I did make tiny soaps today, with the plan being to put together four Pretty Little Bags (ideally gold or copper coloured -- will have to check dollarama) with three different soaps in each one (Unscented[1], sweet orange[2], and gingerbread[3]). They are currently sitting, in tupperwares, on my (glass) coffee table. Hopefully they are Doing Their Thing without having to be wrapped, further, in a blanket. they look really, really cute, to be honest (even if I am saying so myself). And, bonus, they're all a slightly different shade of beige. Not massively different, but enough to (hopefully) tell them apart once they're out of their colour-coded silicone forms).



Further to this, I've boiled (30 minutes) then baked (3 hours at 250F) about 2Kg of butternut squash and sweet potatoes[4] and then mashed the hell out of them, adding:

1 large log of soft goat cheese (1.5 to 2 C?)
1/3 C plain 3% yoghurt
1/4 C butter
2 tbsp black pepper
1.5 tbsp dried rubbed sage
1 tbsp garlic-salt


ZOMG they are DELICIOUS!!! (I had a taste, and shared a little bit with Lola the Parrot, who found them quite agreeable, by the looks of things -- she is a cheese fiend, and has enjoyed sweet potatoes in the past).



Lastly: I have taken out the compost, got a new jug of milk (the old jug of milk went off, like clockwork, today. So we are going to mix it with pear cider vinegar and have delicious, delicious fluffy pancakes for breakfast tomorrow morning. (I think this will involve getting a container of vanilla yoghurt, along with a new box of compost bags AND a tri-light bulb (ye gods) chez the grocery store on the way back from Ami_B's pierogie party). It will be the yummiest. :-D


Tomorrow is going to be food-tastic, FYI. I've got a pork roast, plus spiffy sparkling cider, plus (as of this evening) a number of Glorious Pierogies to choose from (which will be fried up with mushrooms and garlic and, maybe, a little bit of broccoli),PLUS I will be (finally) making apple pie[5]. With an almond-crumb crust. It will be delicious. At least that is the Plan. :-)
(Plus, hey, if I keep myself busy in the kitchen, I won't be badgering my girl, who is definitely going to be needing some rest tomorrow! ;-)


Anyway. I'm out of here in pretty short order. :-)


TTFN,
Amazon. :-)


[1] Saponified: Beeswax, soy wax, coconut oil, and sunflower oil.

[2] Same mix as the Unscented, but with added vanilla and sweet orange essential oil.

[3] Same mix as the Unscented, but with added vanilla and essential oils of ginger and cloves.

[4] Which can be grown in Ontario! Who knew? :-D <*plots future dream-gardens*>

[5] Apples courtesy of Ghost's parents' apple trees. :-D