Sunday, October 18, 2009

Simple Joy Sunday

Finding the Simple Joys that kept me happy this week...

My Thai Basil started to sprout! I've never had much luck growing from seed in the past, so this is kind of huge for me. I have three small pots all growing. It looks adorable!

There were actually a couple of days this week that I got a really good sleep. That's been very hard for me to come by lately so this was much appreciated!


Not only did I finally manage to order my herbs this week, but some already arrived! I ordered the bulk of them from Mountain Rose Herbs and the few things they didn't have in stock I got from Rosemary's Garden. I ordered the herbs that I was studying in my first herbalism lesson plus I got some others to make a memory tincture (figured it would help while during the herbalism studies!), a nervine tea (anything to help the nerves while I'm still at the somewhat hateful job), a facial cleanser, an astringent, shampoo... I think that's everything... Anyway, the order from Rosemary's Garden was a little more expensive than Mountain Rose Herbs, but it arrived stupid fast, looked like a present, and is quality stuff. I should receive the Mountain Rose order by the end of this week.

I'm pretty much self-proclaimed undomestic when it comes to cooking, but I keep trying different things anyway. Friday night I tried the Spiced Pear Sconelettes and Ginger Butter recipes in this month's Ready Made magazine. It was fun to do and I must say, didn't come out half bad. I also used the rolling pin (believe it or not, a first for me) and the food processor (which I've always been a bit intimidated by for some reason).

The gorgeous weather we're having this weekend is making me so happy! We've had a crazy October with 90 degree temperatures, but this weekend is in the 60's and 70's. Of course next week it will be back in the 80's again.

I made some hair gel yesterday! It's made simply by simmering flax seeds until the water becomes gelatinous. I used it once and it seemed to be a light hold gel. I'll try it again, but instead use a bit more and see if it makes a difference. If this works, not only will I be able to use yet another completely all natural product that I make myself, but it is way less expensive than store bought hair gel and I'm helping the planet by not buying another plastic container to sit in a landfill. Taking only about 10 minutes to make, I'd say it's worth it.

Soap making didn't turn out right again yesterday. I followed the directions exactly. I'm guessing that I either didn't stir it long enough for it to thicken (after 1/2 an hour and no change, I got frustrated and gave up) or that maybe it cooled down too fast. I understand that using a stick blender is much easier than having to stir it manually, but I'm not ready to invest in more stuff to do this when I'm not sure what the problem is yet. I'm thinking that I may have to find a class at some point so I can find out for sure what I'm doing wrong. Regardless, I was trying to learn how to do something new and that always makes me happy.

Today, I'm planning on making some beef stew in the slow cooker and we have a ton of apples leftover from a thing at work so Scott will probably make some apple crisp. Healthy, homemade food equals happy.

As always, check out more Simple Joy Sundays over at Cool Zebras. What were some of your joys this week?

3 comments:

mermaiden said...

{sigh}...happy.

Heather said...

I don't think I have the patience to make soap, but I love homemade soaps!

Athena's Armoury said...

In retrospect... lots of happy stuff this week.