What are you most thankful for this holiday season?

Life can be cruel, and unforgiving but I have learned that out of every trial in life there is always something to be thankful for. One of my favorite sayings is...What the devil meant for bad, the Lord meant for good. This helps me to push through the hard times which I have had many this year.

1. My 16 year old son was robbed at gunpoint for his tablet while walking home from school. (Jan)
2. I lost my job (one week later)
3. I lost my baby and a tube just as I was embracing being pregnant. (Feb 13)
4. My husband lost his job. (One month later)
5. My husband finds work, but they don't have work.
6. Our car was stolen. (one months later)
7. Our uncle takes a downward spiral in his fight with cancer, with my husband being his only local next of kin. (a few weeks later)
8. My husband is declined job after job because he's deemed over qualified. (all the time)
9. Husband finds work making a fourth of his average pay.
10. Uncle passed and husband is unable to attend due the to new job.
11. Husband finds out he has to take a pay cut because the company really doesn't have a position for all the people they hired.


I can go on and on, and the year is not over yet. But through it all, we are still blessed. The bills are still paid, I still have my son, and I gave myself a job. We have grown stronger as a family unit and as a spiritual unit. Even after all we have been through it was by God's grace, and for that the Polk family is very thankful.



 So here I am enjoying my Thanksgiving Eve with my only surviving child.

Earthly Kisses Making Black Cherry Silk Soap

I had so much fun making this soap. I admit, I was a bit intimidated by the technique but now that I have done it, I'm in love. I have definitely found a passion in handmade soap making. I love it so much, I have totally neglected my first passion which was making body butters. I would have never thought I had this much creativity in me. I guess I got my fathers artistic genes after all.

No Lye is a Lie

Welcome to the new world of naturalism. There seems a to be a new aged movement of converting from chemical based products to natural organic handmade products. I myself have been making this transition. The sad part is, because of misinformation being given out over the internet, many are going about this the wrong way.

I started my transition many years ago when I decided not to use chemical based products in my hair. After doing extensive research, I decided the best route for me was to make my own products. The commercial world wants us as consumers to believe that their chemical based products are what's best. However, with most commercial products you are being deceived by what is listed on the ingredients label.

While many commercial products start off with great ingredients, hence what you see on the label, they are keeping information from you. What you don't know is that they take these great ingredients and break them down chemically. By the time the finish product hits the shelf at your local market, there's nothing nutritious or organic about the product. I could give many examples, but that's the point here.

Knowing this, I made my transition in hair care, which lead me to making handmade soap.  I came to the conclusion that it was better for me know what was in my product opposed to trusting commercial companies. Why, you ask? Well, the best way to ensure that the product I use is natural and organic, was to make it myself.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has come this conclusion. However, I am learning from networking and building relationship with others who make their own handmade soap are being deceived. The deception is that there is a such thing as no lye soap.

Prior to making my first batch of soap, I did extensive research for over a year before I took the plunge to make my first soap. I, like many others, was so terrified of using lye, or sodium hydroxide, to make soap. So I found myself searching and searching for soap recipes that did not require me to use lye.



 



I did find a solution to this matter, it is called melt and pour soap. Melt and pour is a glycerin soap that can be purchased as a base ingredient to customize your own creations. It comes in many variations from clear to opaque. It appears to be a simple ingredient to work with, however for more creative outcomes requires great skill and practice.

Here's my issue. Many people view using this product as a quick and easy way to make beautiful soaps for profit and advertise these soaps as a lye free product. What these people don't understand is that you can not make any type of soap without the use of lye. In order to understand, you have to first understand the soap making process. I'll explain quickly and simply.

All soap products begin with sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide (lye), a liquid such as water, milk, juice, or tea/coffee and oils. We all know oils and liquids don't mix, enter here your lye. The lye creates the bonds that holds the two together, which also creates a reaction called saponification. So the lye is mixed with the liquid of choice and then mixed with oils of choice to start saponification. Once the saponification process is complete, if done properly, the lye is no longer active and has created a byproduct in the soap called glycerin.







In cold process soaps, saponification takes 24-48 hours to complete. In hot process soap, such as melt and pour soap bases, the process can take as little as 30 minutes. Once the soap batter has completed the saponification process you now have soap, whether it be a bar soap, liquid soap or melt and pour.

This is just a simple explanation of the process. Of course there is so much more to know about making soap. However, my point is, there no such thing as lye free soap. You cannot make soap of any kind without the use of a lye.

To those who are against using handmade soaps because they were made with lye, I urge you to do some research. You will not find lye listed as an ingredient on a commercial based soap, as shown above, and this is why.