Soap Week

Hello Readers of my Stories on this sunny Saturday in the foothills. I'm sure you've heard of Shark Week on TV, but around my house this week, it's been Soap Week.

Momma Sharon has been on a soap-making tear off and on since late November.  Back then, she made 5 turns of soap:  Cinnamon Sugar, Cranberry Fig, Lavender Forest, Rosemary Mint, and Sandalwood Vanilla.  That soap has fully cured and is ready to use!

New Drying Rack Is Working Beautifully

In late December, she created 3 batches of soap:  Coconut Lime Verbena, Colonial Confetti, and Patchouli.  Those bars are curing and will be ready by mid-February.  For the Colonial Confetti Soap, she grated a bar of leftover peppermint French-milled soap from Williamsburg and incorporated it into the recipe.

Leftover Soap From Williamsburg About To Be Grated

Two Ounces Ready To Incorporate

This week she experimented with some colorants and tried five new recipes:  Bayberry Forest, Double-mint Castile, Green Tea & Cucumber, Peach Mango, and Peppermint Tree.  Those bars will be ready by the first of March.  She also got to try out her new soap cutter for the very first time.  It cut ten absolutely perfect 1-inch bars at the same time.  My Soap Mom also found a great new mixing bowl and spatula at Bed, Bath, & Beyond that make mixing and pouring easier too.

Beautiful Oak Soap Cutter From Bud's Workshop

Ten Perfect Green Tea & Cucumber Bars

Good Grips Bowl & Spatula 

Lately, Momma Sharon has been concocting her own recipes, blending together her favorite oils and fragrances.  She has a book where she writes down her recipes and her notes about each batch that she makes.  She got to finally use her half cylinder molds on the Cranberry Fig batch.

Recipe Book With Measurements & Notes

Trying Out A New Recipe With Red Palm Oil

Cranberry Fig . . . Miss Elaine's Favorite

Needless to say, her Studio smells heavenly!  We are both looking forward to our camping season starting back up in March and making sure our Camping Peeps are well supplied with soap from the 6th Street Soap Company!  Three batches are still in the molds and will need to insulate under that blanket for another 24 hours.  Then they will get cut and will cure for about 6 weeks.  Eventually they will all be stored in plastic containers for easy transport to our rallies.

Controlling The Temperature During Saponification

November's Soap Is Ready

That's all for today y'all.  Until I am back with another little Story, always remember . . . 

"Peace, Love, & Camping Soap"

Daydreaming On A Gorgeous Day

Greetings on this unexpectedly beautiful Sunday.  Good thing the weatherman is wrong from time to time.  Today is one of those times!  I'm really, really glad I live where I do, because I don't think I would survive temperatures like -5°.   That's the temp in Minnesota where there's a little football game today.  Can you say BRRRRRRR?

I'm not here to talk about football or cold temperatures though.  I thought I'd show you some super cute camping-related items that I saw on Etsy while working on my Story about The Pillow Lady .  It's always fun to look at stuff online and daydream about camping.  I randomly picked out some items that I liked and Momma Sharon threw them into a little collage for us to share.

Charms for my Camper Mom's bracelet, pillows for my couch, a brown Thermos for The Coffee Cup, towels, vintage aluminum drinking glasses, a campy book, words of wisdom . . . the fun stuff camping daydreams are made of!

I appreciate you dropping by today for another itty bitty Story.  It's almost time for kick-off, so I'll scoot. Until we chat again, always remember . . . 

"Peace, Love, & Camping Daydreams"

The Pillow Lady

Happy Friday y'all. I hope you have had a good week.  It's been a bit nippy around the Foothills this week, but that's ok because it's winter and it's supposed to be cold . . . LOL.  I'm not complaining one single bit because it gives me time to write Stories since it's siesta-season.

I've got a fun little Tale for you today about The Pillow Lady.  Some of us met Mavis Stevens down on Tybee Island while on our recent Coastal Caravan. Mavis is a fiber artist and makes all kinds of cool stuff, including pillows.

She made Duke a pillow for his T@B that is precious and captures him with his red frisbee.  Duke always gives Momma Sharon the stink-eye, so she tends to keep her distance from him, but that's another Story. Here's a photo of Duke on his personal sleeping pad and one of his personalized pillow.

I know . . . cuteness off the chart!  On Thursday morning after pulling out of Tybee with my Beach Peeps, we stopped for breakfast at McDonalds before heading down to Jekyll.  The craziest thing happened. Mavis, The Pillow Lady, was getting coffee at Starbucks, saw us, and ran over to greet us all.  She said that we had "made her day". Momma Sharon was snapping photos left and right (surprise, surprise) and captured this one Mavis and another one of her creations!

Once we were back home, we found Mavis on Facebook and then visited her Etsy shop.  It was there that my Camper Mom spotted something that she fell in love with . . . long pillows.  Long pillows perfect for ME!!

So Momma Sharon got in touch with The Pillow Lady, exchanged ideas, talked about design and colors, and here it the result!!

Is that cool or what?!!  Everyone that comes to visit me when we are out camping is going to see it and I get to tell this Story all over again. Now if you'd like Miss Mavis to make you a special pillow, go HERE to her Facebook page or go HERE for her Etsy store called Miss Mavis Fun House or go HERE if you are ever on Tybee Island.  I meet the nicest people when I'm camping!! Until I have another Story to tell you, always remember . . . 

"Peace, Love, & Fun Camping Pillows"

Happy Birthday Momma Sharon

It's me, it's me, Splash T back for another Short Story!  We are on the downside of the week and I snitched the computer once again . . . tee hee.

Momma Sharon celebrated another birthday last week and one of her presents was something she has wanted for us, yes I said "us", since last summer.  While camping with R & T & Pod off and on last year, she really fell in love with the rainfly for their PahaQue Cottonwood. Check it out here . . . 

So when Miss Wendy asked what she wanted for her birthday, my Camper Mom immediately said, "a PahaQue rainfly!"  It slides neatly and quickly over the top of the Cottonwood, sits on the frame allowing it to breathe, fastens to the four poles with ease, and gives added protection on wet camping days.  

Even though our first trip of the 2016 season won't be until March, the rainfly has already arrived! When Aunt Becky asked Momma Sharon what she wanted for her birthday, she immediately said, "two Pahaque sidewalls!"  But we have run into a snag with that order because everyone is out of stock.  Jason at PahaQue said it will be another month until they are back in production.  No worries, I'm sure we'll get them before our trip to Cheraw State Park.

Here's a photo of our Cottonwood from the recent Coastal Caravan. Just use your imagination and add the rainfly on top and two roll-up sidewalls.

Happy birthday to my Momma Sharon (and I benefit too) . . . LOL. Thanks for dropping by for some more Story Time and until I pull out another Tale, always remember . . . 

"Peace, Love, & PahaQue"

My Very Own Patch

Hey Storytime Peeps!  I have something exciting to share with you today . . . my very own patch!!

Let me tell you why I'm so excited and give you the backstory of how this patch arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

First of all, Momma Sharon and her Dutch Oven Peeps are all about cooking and earning patches for their efforts.  She has an apron that she wears when cooking that has all these cool patches sewn on it.  A lot of other Chefs display their patches too.

Secondly, the mom of my AirT@B friend called Breezin', used to work in the movie/video distribution business.  When a new movie was released, the studios used to give them gifts.  One of the gifts was a denim jacket from Disney with patches of all their movies.  When the movie "Splash" was released in 1984, a patch for it was created.  

Thirdly, Momma Deb was doing some housecleaning and decided to part with the jacket, but this splashy (pun intended) patch caught her eye.  She snipped it off and sent it to Momma Sharon!!  And that's how it came to be.  Did you happen to notice it's in my colors too?!

Momma Sharon told me that she's going to sew it on her Chef's apron so everyone can see it and that just makes me smile.  Thanks Breezin'. Thanks Momma Deb for sending me my very own patch!!  Happy Wednesday everyone and until I have another little Story to share, always remember . . . 

"Peace, Love, & Personal Patches"

Countdown To The Blue Ridge Rally

Afternoon everyone!  Momma Sharon has been cruising around online today.  When one of our Blue Ridge Peeps mentioned on Facebook that she was counting down the days until our big party in May, Momma S got to thinking.  Hmmmm…what did I think about having a countdown clock that would tell us exactly how many days, hours, and minutes until we would gather in the mountains for the 9th Annual BRR.

I told her I thought it was a groovy idea and to find one for us.  The one she liked the best, because it matches me, comes with a little watermark in the upper corner, but I told her I didn't mind if she didn't mind.  So look over to your left and you will see it sitting there all prim and proper.

If you are in a daydreaming kind of mood and wishing the Blue Ridge Rally would hurry up and get here, then you can take a peek at the clock and see exactly how many more days you'll have to wait.

Thanks for stopping by today and until I have another little Story for you, always remember . . . 

Peace, Love, and 131 Days Till The Party!

My Year In Review

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your 2015 was as much fun as mine was.  Momma Sharon and I had a terrific one together and we racked up some impressive stats.  Take a look…

With 5 trips already on our 2016 camping calendar, we will be ready to hit the road in March after my little winter siesta.  I'll be back from time to time with some Short Stories for you between now and then. Until we meet up again, always remember . . . 

"Peace, Love, and Great Camping Memories"