My new friend

Isn't she beautiful?  She's been coming by to visit almost every day lately.  I've been trying to lure her closer with some apples but she just takes them after I go inside.  She's comfortable enough with me that I can go about my yardwork while she continues to eat.  She loves hanging out by those grape vines and blackberry bushes.

The Corrubtible by Mark Mynheir

I really need to start blogging more about my soap. I'm starting to have more book reviews than soap entries on here. I promise that my next few posts *will* be about soap. For now, here's my latest book review.

The book I read was The Corrubtible by Mark Mynheir. Here's the summary:

Ex-homicide detective Ray Quinn never expected life as a private investigator to be glamorous-but being cornered in a bathroom stall by the enraged philandering husband of a client? That's something he could live without. Retired from the force and living with a painful disability, Ray's options are limited. Stick to the job, keep impetuous sidekick Crevis alive, and spend quiet evenings with trusted pal Jim Beam-that's about the best he can hope for.
As a new client emerges, Ray finds himself in an impossibly large boardroom holding a check with enough zeros to finally lift him from his financial pit. The job seems easy enough: find Logan Ramsey, an ex-cop turned security officer who's taken off with sensitive corporate information. But few things are easy in Ray's world, regardless of the number of zeros on the check.
Ray soon stumbles across Logan Ramsey in a seedy motel room. Only Ray wasn't the first to find him. Now Logan's dead, the client's information is nowhere to be found, and Ray's employer is less than forthcoming with the details. Suddenly the line between the good guys and bad guys isn't so clear. With a foot in both worlds and an illuminating look at an unhappy ending that could well be his own, which will Ray choose?

It took me a little while to get into this book but once I was, I was hooked. Every time I thought I had it figured out, something new was thrown in and I had to rethink my entire theory. There are so many possible suspects and motives that it will keep you guessing long after you put the book down for the day. Great for mystery lovers!

You can read an excerpt HERE.

As a reminder, I was given this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah "Blogging for Books" program. All opinions are my own.

New shirts to promote my shop

Vistaprint is having an awesome $2 t-shirt sale so I grabbed these yesterday. They have over 1000 designs to choose from and you get to customize the message.

Book Review - Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs

I was very excited when this book was in my list of review options since it's historical fiction. If you've read some of my previous book reviews you know this is one of my favorite genres.

As I started reading, I was slightly disappointed. I could NOT get into this book! The chapters are each only a few pages long and after just one chapter I'd put the book down and walk away. I never do that! Honestly, I can't quite figure out what my problem was with the book. It was a decent story, just not captivating. When I finally got interested in the book (at the very end) and kept reading and reading to find out what happened to a specific character, he went away and the author never says what happened to him! There is a sequel to this book called "Mine is the Night", however, I don't think I want to read through it with the sheer hope that she brings the character back.

Here is the summary from the back of the book:

"Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory's many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illuminates the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home."

An excerpt from the book can be found HERE.

If you decide to read this, let me know what you thought!

As a reminder, I was given this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah "Blogging for Books" program. All opinions are my own.

Tutorial: Two-Sided Loofah Soap

Here are instructions for a fun soap making project to do at home. It's a two-sided loofah soap! Scrubby on one side, smooth on the other. Supplies you'll need:

1. white soap base


2. clear soap base


3. loofah


4. a mold that will fit your loofah


5. fragrance oil


6. color


7. rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle

Measure the height of your mold and use a sharp knife to cut your loofah so it's half the size. My mold is 1 1/4" high so I cut my loofah to 5/8". Be careful not to cut your fingers! I got my loofah from Sahara's Supplies. Cut up and measure out enough clear soap base to fill half your mold. (You can purchase cheap melt and pour soap base at most craft stores but if you'd like a quality base I suggest finding a source online) My mold holds 6 ounces so I needed 3 ounces of soap for this step. Melt the soap in your microwave (about 30 seconds should do the trick) and mix in your fragrance oil. I used 1/4 tsp of Raspberry fragrance, also from Sahara's Supplies. Place your loofah in your mold and pour the melted soap on top of it. Spritz with the rubbing alcohol to remove any bubbles that may have formed. Allow this to cool for approximately 15 minutes. The soap will need to be hard enough to pour another layer on top without melting it. This next step is the same as the previous step, but using our white base. I chose to add some color to mine. I used "chameleon" mica from Sahara's Supplies. The picture doesn't do it justice but this is an amazing red with silver mixed into it.

Need a tip on mixing mica so it blends properly? I add the mica to my fragrance oil first. Mix well and then add a bit of the soap base. Mix well again before adding the rest of the base.

Now you're ready to pour the melted soap base on top of the first layer but first, spritz a bit of the rubbing alcohol onto the first layer to help them adhere. Allow the soap to cool completely. After it has cooled, you're ready to remove it from the mold. Congratulations! Now you're ready to hop in the shower with your fun new soap! If you make this project let me know how it goes!

4th Annual Autism Awareness Fundraiser

For the 4th year in a row I will be donating 50% of all Puzzle Soap sales to the Autism Society of America. Please help support this cause! This fundraiser will last the entire month of April.

Pictures and a Poll

As promised, here are pictures of the "swirled soap". It turned out more blotchy than swirled.

And now I need your help! I'm getting ready to order more lip balm flavors and I want your opinions. Please vote for your favorites from the list:

honey
caramel
cucumber melon
coconut milk & peaches
black cherry
anise
pear
coconut
strawberry lemonade
apricot
kona coffee
bananas foster
mango peach
watermelon
lavender
iced pineapple & tangerine
something not listed: ________

Thank you!

My First Attempt at Swirling

For a challenge with a few of my teammates on Etsy, we have to make a tropical themed product that contains more than one color. I had the perfect scent for this...HoneyCocoMango! It's a delicious blend of honey, coconut, and mango. Now the color is where the challenge comes in. I've done layers before. I wanted to do something more unique for this one so I decided to do swirls.

I picked pink, orange, yellow, and green for my colors. Since I use log molds I used the 'in the pot' swirling method. Let's just say it's a lot harder than it looks. I was getting a little flustered trying to get all four colors mixed before the soap became too thick. I think I swirled a little too much once I put it into the pot and now I'm afraid it's going to be a big, ugly mess when I cut it.

Stay tuned for pics to see how it turned out. I'm very anxious to see for myself.

Big Giveaway on Facebook!

Want a chance to win some great prizes? Head on over to Super Coupon Lady's facebook page and see what you can win. One of the prizes is my Herbal Bliss Sugar Scrubs. Good Luck!

Flight of Shadows by Sigmund Brouwer

Time for another book review! This one is for "Flight of Shadows" by Sigmund Brouwer.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The story itself was good. Caitlyn, the result of a scientific experiment, is on the run from bounty hunters and the government. She meets a street-smart illusionist named Razor who helps her escape but she's not sure she can trust him. Razor helps her learn about herself and the unique power of her DNA. It leads her to make a choice between the two men who love her, and whether to keep her freedom or sacrifice herself to change human destiny.

The first few chapters of the book were rather hard to follow. Every chapter jumped to a new scene and introduced new characters. It took a paragraph or two to figure out what was going on. The entire book reads this way but after learning all the characters it becomes easier to follow. I discovered after I started that this book is the sequel to Sigmund Brouwer's other book, "Broken Angel". Perhaps I should have read that first.

There are a few disgusting scenes involving a man eating a rat and the author has an abnormal obsession with coffee. This probably bothered me more than it should have but everytime coffee was mentioned I thought "here we go again...".

All in all it was a pretty good book. I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Read the prologue HERE.

As a reminder, I was given this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah "Blogging for Books" program. All opinions are my own.

Did you find the review helpful? Rank it here: