Men

 This is what happens when you send The Mister to the grocery store all by himself. He's like a kid in a candy shop when he gets into the liquor aisles.

 Along with some St Patrick's Day booze he also brought home the last bottle of Christmas hooch they had on the shelves. I'll hide it away for next year's fruitcake.

 This is what he was supposed to go get.

 Dear DIL had loaded us up with goodies on Saturday. We spent the day with the Grands and came home with a feast in the making.

 All of it was new to me but I followed her directions and it all turned out very good.

 It was all so good I forgot to take any photos of it on the plate before we gobbled it all up. Happily there is still more in the freezer for another go round in the near future.

Speaking of good things to eat, The Mister also came home with the beginnings of a garden that he is going put in again this year at his mom's house. If it weren't for this darn cold weather the baby plants would already be in the ground. Spring was off to a great start. What the heck happened?

Lip Service 2

 Before I talk about making lip balm, let me show you the soap that was made last week. This is Tuscan Herb and Honey. It smells lovely and came out prettier than I thought it would.

 Green Aloe and Clover is a bit strong. Maybe that scent will cure out a bit. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. The Mister will like it if it doesn't. He's a big fan of the smellier soaps.

 I got asked to explain the lip balm process and since it is back to winter around here it is still very much in use. The ingredients are coconut oil, beeswax, candelilla wax, almond butter and grapeseed oil. I use about a tablespoon of each for a pretty hard balm. More grapeseed oil will make a softer balm if that's what you want.

 It all gets melted in a pan of hot water on the stove. Beeswax doesn't melt well in the microwave. I use a jelly jar that I keep just for the balm. That way I don't have to keep washing it in between batches. I just put on the lid to keep it clean.

 The only trick to this is to not drop the jar when taking it out of the hot water. It makes a BIG mess if you do. Take my word for it.

 This is a honey flavored balm so I add a few drops of flavor oil and a tiny bit of gold mica for sparkle and color.

  I pour the hot mix into little pots I buy from the online soap store I pretty much get everything from.

 In minutes it is hard enough for use.

 Since I am showing you all my little secrets, let me show you the shampoo I use.

 It's a melt and pour base like the face soap I make only I add lots of strong essential oils and don't worry about getting fancy.

 I also like lots of activated charcoal. Regular shampoo makes me itch. Not this concoction.

I make a couple of bars at a time and they last forever in the shower. It took a while to get the hang of using a bar for my long hair but now that I've figured it out, I'm never going back to the other stuff again. I don't miss the itch.

Starts and Finishes

The mini quilt is finished and on display. Not bad.

The fallish colors aren't exactly doing it for me right now though so I am already at work on a spring mini using up some of my very first paper pieces from way back when. All these little hexies were going to be a quilt. Yeah, right. In my dreams.

 While digging those out, I also decided to get to work on some projects in progress that I have been tripping over in the sewing room for years.

 On an oddball table runner of Daddio's, I am using big thread and a big needle to do some random straight line hand quilting.

 I saw some one do this on a blog years ago and I liked the results. Since I've got nothing to lose with this crazy thing I thought I would give it a try. It can't hurt. The mindless stitching is very soothing btw.

 Then there are my yo yo pillow covers.

I just realized I have been sewing them together wrong and that is why I can't get them to even out on my 12 x 12 pillow forms. I am ripping them all apart and starting over. Stay tuned.

Windfall

 I had a traumatic experience on Saturday. I did my taxes.

 Much to my horror I discovered that I had neglected to have any federal taxes taken out of my Social Security check. I had no idea you had to. You would have thought that the person in the SS office would have mentioned it when I had my meeting to sign up last year.

 Anyway, I had to pay in. A lot. I have NEVER had to pay the IRS. I was sick about it.

 So what did I do? After writing that big check I went on a spending spree.

I am not sure why but I just had to go spend some money on myself. I can justify it by saying I supported a lot of women owned businesses in the process. As you can see, I've picked up some great new additions to the paper crafting stash.

Just in time for some major Easter card production. I am on a roll with those bunnies and chicks.

Seeing Red

Since I don't really do much of anything anymore I couldn't exactly strike yesterday in support of International Women's Day. Pretty much my whole life from now on is a sort of strike. I could however put on some red and go for a long walk.

The Mister and I gathered up the pups and took a stroll.

 The path leads to the Bay.

 It was a beautiful day. We don't seem to be in short supply of these.

 That's one of those pesky streams that lead to the Bay. Now it's legal to dump coal waste in it. Jeesh.

 It was one of those days where the water sparkled like diamonds. If this isn't worth fighting for I don't know what is. Greenpeace got this month's donation bucks.

 On our way home we stopped at our local mom and pop grocery that has strong ties to the LGBT community here and picked up some...ahem, necessities. Yes, that's Manischewitz back there. I like it. As soon as the Passover goodies show up in the grocery stores every spring I have to have a bottle. I've already been through one bag of coconut marshmallows from the kosher aisle.

I finished my hard day of striking by sitting in the sun and knitting. Then a nap. Life is good. At least for now. At least for this woman.

Needle Work

 Clickity clack. Socks are getting done. Slowly but surely.

 I am on the heel flap with both of these. Both pairs are such a joy to pick up, I am in no rush to finish them.

 I am in a rush for my Hap to be done by the first weekend in May but I think it's a lost cause. There are around 75 pattern repeats and I am only getting two or three done a day. If that.

 It's a very easy pattern. It's already a TV/Netflix knit. It will look better when I can get those lacy points blocked out. I like how the green is striping.

I finished plying the last of it and came away with a bit more. Sad to say, but it is woefully under plied so it looks like I reverted back to my old bad habits. I've got my fingers crossed I don't end up needing this because then I will be faced with having to fix it and that doesn't sound like fun.

I shamelessly stole this from Malibrigo's Twitter feed this morning to wish everyone a happy Women's Day. We need a little more of US and a little less of THEM IMHO. Go get'em ladies!

In Stitches

 My tiny needles have been getting a work out. The mini quilt is almost done. I need to start planning another. Time to go stash diving for material.

 I've worked to the center of one of the samplers.

 I've added some green and red yarn to the knitting basket.

 I needed something mindless so I started the bottom border on this one.

These aren't stitches but I have finished the threading of the latest towel. I'm dragging my feet on this because the weaving part looks so hard. I need to get over it though. These towels aren't going to weave themselves.