Got it done!

After four days of frequent interruptions, I finally have the tree done. We had a three-footer for years, but this year bought a six footer. I had forgotten how much work it is to get the lights on, and wasn't sure how many ornaments we had left. But it's done and it looks great!

I was looking at our menus for this week, and I realized that I hardly have to buy anything. If I concentrate on using up what we have on hand, all I need to add is salt, flour, baking powder. We're like a pair of '49'ers panning for gold. Jim grows way more than we can eat!

I made soap four days ago, and it's turning out really well. It was halfway set up before I got all the lye water in it, so it hardened really fast. Guess it's time to dig out the fragrance and color. If you save fat from the bacon and other meat and keep it clean (boil it with a couple inches of water, then chill so the solids sink to the bottom) and keep it in the fridge or refrigerator, all you need to add is a can of lye to make soap. It's about $4.50 for a can. But it makes ten pounds of soap. Let's see, if we cut that into 5 ounce bars, that makes 32 bars. Not bad compared to the dollar or more for grocery-store soap. I saw bars of plain lye soap for sale at the hardware store for $3.99 each. It had a list of things you could do with it, including bathe, shampoo, clean clothes, etc. The last thing was wash out a sassy kid's mouth. Gave me a good laugh. Anyway, this is going to be lavender soap so I can give some for Christmas gifts. Two years ago I gave some raspberry soap to Maryann, and she's been hinting for more ever since.

1 Comments | Post Feedback

Thanks for the soap recipe. I will add that to my collection of things to make. You dear lady just saved me a bundle and gave me something fun to do! Here is a recipe I love to share. I call it "Make a Smile".

Post Feedback:

You need to be a registered ThriftyFun user post feedback. If you are registered, login using the form at the top of this page. Click here to register.