Saponification Sunday and My Three Sons

I am basically an unstable gal.

Rather than just conquering ONE hobby and staying with it for eternity ( or at least a whole year) I am still trying out new things. The soap thing for example. I have not nearly mastered the skills required to call myself an "artisan" soap making. Partisan is more like it as I do have parts of the creative soap making process fairly well nailed. But there is still so much to learn about the chemistry of lye and oil, the art of essential oil aromatherapy, the skill of getting more liquid soap into the mold instead of on my feet and my floor.

So do I stick with the basics until they are perfected? Of course not. I see a felted soap at a soapers booth and I am off on a tangent. One that requires needles which I must admit, I've been missing since I retire from nursing almost two years ago.

I mean really, there is nothing like a good sharp needle that when held at the exact right angle and pushed with the perfect amount of force will give you that inexplicable joy of seeing blood flashback....whoops....talk about flashbacks.....

In-a- godda-david-da honey...

So, needle-less to say, I was very interested in taking my soap hobby up a notch or 6 by trying my hand at felted soaps. It is the cleanest of fun. Taking large wads of raw wool and wrapping them around a bar of soap (great use for that perfectly good bar of soap that came out looking oh so ugly) one dips the bar slightly in very HOT soapy water and begins to gentle rub.

Soon the fibers will grab onto each other. After a few minutes I will encase the whole woolly bar into the end of a tight sock and rub it all over a rattan mat. This speeds up the felting process and gives you mounds of fluffy lather to clean your sink, floor and three loads of laundry with. After about 10 minutes of hard rubbing the wool will have become a solid piece of felted wool. A drying period of 24 hours makes it ready for some artwork.

A felting needle, more raw wool and a head full of random art and soon enough the felted bar is complete. So what is the big deal about felted soap? It's the lazy persons dream come true. Soap and scrubby in one. Let dry between use and it will last for weeks. Great for campers or those of you who have washcloth issues.

In other parts of my world, I celebrated  the break in cool weather with a 21 gun salute. My Three Sons and I spent this Sunday afternoon as all moms should; with rifles in hand and targets in place.

Yeah, I know, the old lady grey pony tail makes me look uber tough

I'm not completely new to firearms, my dad the occasional cop, taught me how to shoot at age 12. But I never kept up with that skill until oldest son came home from the Navy and offered to teach the old dog some old tricks. . He was and still is a patient and kind instructor, But once again I got distracted and let my skills rust.  My husband even bought me my own rifle last year for Christmas but it remained in its original box I am embarrassed to say.

Oldest son who has the most guns and therefore wins.

Two weeks ago, after our farm store was robbed I decided that the gift wrapped gun, although a lovely piece of farmhouse decor, was probably not very useful in it's currant beribboned state so I arranged to meet with all three of my sons for a refresher course.

My other two fine male offspring.

My aim was not so hot at first but improved along with my comfort level as the afternoon progressed. Came home and bought myself a nice new scope for my rifle and a super cool rifle case. Nothing says "serious gun owner" like pink toile' don't you think?