It has been a wet fortnight since I last sat down to ramble on here.  My heart goes out to all those affected badly by the flood waters as I grew up in flood area and it is certainly no picnic.  I do not know how my mother coped with it year after year as I have had stormwater damage in my house twice now and when it happened the 2nd time it took me ages to get over it.  My mum must have been one tough cookie as I can remember some years we moved out of home 3 times and she was rescued off the roof a couple of times.

I have started back at the markets and the first weekend was great as we had a lovely sunny weekend for a change.  It was great catching up with everyone again as I have missed you all.  I didn't do Markets last weekend due to the weather being bad again but will keep trying each weekend to go to markets.
Have not made much soap as it gets very sticky in this weather but have been busy putting Colleen's Bags
up on the website and Facebook.  They have started to sell so if you want a unique one off transfer on a very handy Tote bag or if your children need a library bag then check them out.

Have also been busy working on the Sensitive Skin range these will be only available on the website or Facebook in a complete set although I will take a few single items to the markets. I will let you know when they are available.

Had a few days off last week as had some family matters to attend to.  While I was driving down south I could not get over how clean and beautiful everything is from the rain.  After years of drought and hard brown dry land I was amazed at how green and bright everything is.  makes me wish I could paint but unfortunately I missed out on that talent in my family.

Well not much else has been happening at my place just the normal everyday stuff that keeps on going so bye for now and remember keep on bubbling

Well this has been a busy week of doing up gift packs and posting them out to the lucky recipients hope you all enjoy your lovely gifts and don't forget to tell everyone where they came from.

Also spent time adding Paypal payments to my website so now you can pay as you go as once you click the button it goes straight to Paypal for payment.  Unfortunately me being an "oldie" and new to all this I cannot add the postage in so will have to sort that one out as well but is progress. Meanwhile once your invoice is paid and sent to me I can quickly get the items together and work out the postage.  It is not the best scenario but will do for the time being and I am learning as I go.

Have also been busy taking photo's this week for Colleen's Handmade Bags.  I will be progressively
putting these up as time allows so keep your eyes peeled as there are some lovely bags in the lot I have and Colleen has more that I have not seen yet.

Also am still putting together a Sensitive Skin range this is coming along nicely and should soon be up on the website  plus some new products that I am playing with at the moment so lots happening.

I will be starting the Markets again from next week first one will be over at Rosewood then upto
Toowoomba Queens Park Market on Sunday of course if the weather is kind that is.   Come along and have a chat as I love to meet people who buy my products.

Speaking of the weather we have been getting storms most days over the last week not a lot of rain and no damaging stuff but it does make it hard to do my packaging as hand made soaps are notorious for sweating.  This is a good sign normally as it means the soap has it's glycerine intact but not when I want to shrinkwrap and label them.  Luckily for me I had Solar panels installed last weekend so have been able to use the Air Conditioner with a clear conscience as at the moment I am not hooked into the grid with it so have all this free power to use each day.  Of course this will change when I am hooked into the grid and I will have to watch when I use it then so as to avoid the high rates. 
Well that has been my week so do hope you have all had a good one to until next time when I ramble on again.    Keep Bubbling along.

Weatherwise we had a great weekend hot but not to much humidity so my soaps could dry off from the sticky humid days we have been having.  I was even able to get some of the shrink wrapping done.
On the home front I finally finished the mowing and doing the whippersnipping and even was able to shovel about a metre of soil I got in to make a new garden bed.  Shovelling and wheelbarrowing dirt certainly gets the kinks out and while I only do 4 or 5 barrowloads at a time I feel so much better for doing it.  Even finished mulching some of the older garden beds.

The most exciting thing that happened on the weekend was getting the solar panels and inverter installed.  I have wanted to do this for such a long time and was one of the reasons why I moved to Qld from Melbourne but what with working and moving and just plain living never got round to it now once I am hooked upto the grid am hoping to be able to generate my own power usage and also extra.  I have installed 5kw which I am told should be ample for my usage and I will be able to use my air conditioner now without worrying about the cost of it....bliss in this horrid humid weather.

Even though it was the weekend one doesn't stop working on one's products I was finishing off orders
for Valentines Days ready to be posted on Monday when I had an urgent call for some Comfrey and Calendular Balm to treat some horses that had need of these products.  I am assured these products are great for horse ailments and injuries so have been making some on trial.  Calendula is a wonderful healing balm suitable for all sorts of rashes and skin conditions and Comfrey is used for Qld itch and also healing.  Calendula is already available on the website but only in 100 gm jars so I make bigger batches for horses.  Comfrey Balm will be added soon.

I  also made some soap batches a couple of sample batches for a friend and then I must have done something stupid although I have no idea what as I was just mixing a batch that was going to be a salt scrub when I added the flavour it turned into a volcano and was rising faster than the flood water from wivenhoe dam.  I had to quickly grab a much larger container and watch hopelessly while this bright yellow foam continued to rise.  Thank goodness i wear full safety equipment as i had no idea what caused this to happen or what it would do next.   I added a bit more water and it went down flatter than a sponge cake when you slam the oven door.   Needless to say this batch was disposed of as I did not know what caused it I certainly wasn't going any further and wasting more expensive in redients than was necessary.    That was the end of my soapmaking for the day as I decided must not be concentrating enough to be making soap.

I have also been madly infusing Rose Petals, Comfrey and soon will do Lavender which is drying in my shed.  All these and a few other herbs I infuse myself.  I grow some of the comfrey but the rest and the lavender plus rose petals come from my brother and his wife's lovely garden.  All grown organically and so good.  I am trying to grow my own calendulas as well but need to get some more more seeds now that I have done a few.  I love growing things and doing it myself as I then can categorically say what is in things.  Well thats my weekend I do hope yours was a s exciting as mine Stay safe and well until next time

I am anxiously waiting for some of this humidity to disappear as it is not very conducive to making soap so while I am waiting have been catching up on some of the myriad of household things that are always waiting to be done.  I cleaned some of the windows as the humidity has everything going mouldy the rest can wait as I have decided to do a little each time I try instead of trying to do everything in one go.  This way I am acheiving lots of things in small doses and the list does not look so big.  See method in my madness.     Also spent time in the garden as the ground is nice and soft so the weeds come out much easier and I finally mowed the lawn after the ground dried out enough to allow it.  My god the grass has grown so fast that it was almost to long for the mulcher thingy on the mower to cut it as it all bunched up underneath the mower and the blades couldn't turn.  I had to do some raking to thin out so the mulcher thingy could turn. Finished off the mulching that has been waiting until we got enough rain to give the ground a good soaking so now garden is looking better except for some pruning that I will get to soon.
 
On the business side have been busy doing up Valentine Gifts and taking them to the Post Office to send to the lucky recipients.  Hope those who are receiving them like all the goodies in them.  Still have plenty left if you want to check out the website and while you are there I have added a new page called
 Colleen's Hand Made Bags.  

 Colleen is a friend of mine who makes all these lovely tote bags and they have fantastic transfers on them so keep watching as I will be putting them up individually once Valentine's Day is over and done with.  Am also working on a new range of cremes and body products for sensitive skin.  These will have no colour or flavour in them so as not to irritate any inflamation that you may already have.  they will be ready soon.  There are few other things in the pipeline but to soon to tell you about these yet so keep checking and I will tell you about these soon.

 Well that is all for today so Stay Safe everyone until next time.