Winning NaNoWriMo; great homemade gift ideas

Hope all my U.S. friends had a really nice Thanksgiving!

I have to brag just a little tiny bit. I crossed over the 50,000 words finish line for NaNoWriMo last night! Here's my trophy:And I don't even have to dust it! Not done with the story yet though. My characters are really talkative, which was helpful in achieving the word count, but that means I have more work ahead of me, which is not such a good thing as there are now holiday things to gear up for.

Speaking of holidays, a reminder about my green holiday giveaway, and also there are some tutorials from my other blogging friends for homemade holiday gifts:
Infused oils at Microholding - making soap and living well
Gift from the garden series from Garden Fresh Living
The Soap Queen blog will have several tutorials throughout the season; here's one on making your own lotion

Today is culling day (last one for a while, I hope). Must run. Happy weekend to all!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheimt

Gassner Custom Soaps is having a giveaway!

And it's an excellent one too! Go check out her giveaway and her Etsy site!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

And now a word from our sponsor...

Seriously. ;)

Ambajam, the cute children's clothing store (button to the right) is having a Black Friday Weekend

25% off the entire Ambajam collection (sale items excluded) Friday-Sunday, 11/28-11/30.

Promo Code: BF25

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

A moment of panic

Instead of a Moment of Silence, I bring you...my moment of panic:I...have...too...much...to...do....

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Ow, me achin' back!

You know about the Schwarzchild Radius and that it describes the event horizon - the boundary between the areas of no return and that of achievable escape velocity - of a black hole? I really thought that culling 9 chickens would be my Schwarchild Radius. I thought that I'd teeter between being able to recover from the back-breaking experience and being unable to return to normalcy, doomed forever to hunch over with a sore back (or worse yet, having my back actually break from the labor with such force that it'd shoot blood into my brain and give me an aneurysm...would that happen or should I leave writing medical dramas to someone else?).

I now suspect I'd probably be more like Hawking Radiation and be able to escape even if sucked into the hole side of the radius, a bit sore for the experience, but otherwise, bouncing back sufficiently to do another batch next weekend.

If you think I'm babbling, I probably am. Tiredness does that to me. :}

9 down, 9 more to go next weekend. And if we can't get a hold of a free-range turkey from our health-food co-op, guess what we're having for Thanksgiving? Give you a hint, it's not a Tofurkey (although I've been wanting to try that); it'll be one of these chickens below...(five of the nine today, and nothing like Seven of Nine for you Trekkers)

Wishing everyone in the U.S. a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday week!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Late cake and Shout-out

It's a good thing ds#2 is easy-going sometimes. I finally got around to making a cake for him today...several days after his birthday. But, I think he'll agree it was worth the wait. The Walnut Mocha Torte is very, very tasty!And huge thanks to Anne-Marie (The Soap Queen blog) of my favorite supplier, Bramble Berry, for the shout-out on my sushi soap!! It was quite a thrill to be featured on Anne-Marie's blog! You can see more pics of this soap at my other site.

Now, I really must go to do some writing before I fall farther behind. Happy weekend to all!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Fun play, long day; Tom Kha Soup

Thanks to Meg (Get In, Hang On blog), we got to see the play, Hamlet, yesterday! It was such a great experience! I'm just bummed that we had to rush off as soon as it was done to go to one of our other homeschool co-ops; I would have loved to stay behind for the discussion afterwards.

And, look what Meg made for me: Meg does cool leather-work (I forget the term for it, if there is one), and this year, she made these very pretty tree ornament, and I happen to be one of the lucky recipients! :)

Anyway, ended up being a long day yesterday, with the play, the co-op, library run, and grocery shopping before heading home. I didn't get my word quota for NaNoWriMo in before bedtime.

Per Joanna's (Product Body blog) request, here is dh's Tom Kha recipe, with notes by dh:Tom Kha Soup

I doubt this is highly authentic, but it’s the version that I have winged after having had Tom Ka at Thai restaurants and doing a little reading. I think it’s a pretty forgiving soup, so any number of vegetables (asparagus and carrots come to mind) or meats also could be added. It usually is served with chicken, but that would be Tom Ka Kai. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
- onion (2 medium, cut into strips)
- garlic (10-15 cloves, crushed and chopped)
- ginger or galangal (cut into strips or medallions to be removed, or minced)
- Thai red curry paste (comes in small 4 oz. cans, use 1/3-1/2 of the can)
- vegetable stock (1-2 qts, I prefer Imagine brand) – can also use chicken stock if not making vegan version
- coconut milk (1 14 oz. can)
- tofu (1 lb, cut into strips)
- green beans, julienned carrots, julienned bell peppers, etc, whatever you want for taste and color
- Kaffir lime leaves (10-15, I keep these in the freezer)
- lemon grass (if you have it -- it’s in the curry paste, so I don’t always bother)
- juice of 1 large lemon or several limes
- sugar (a few pinches)
- cilantro leaves (can also use stems with onion/garlic sauté)
- splash of fish sauce for taste if not making vegan version [note by Teresa]

Sauté onion, garlic, and ginger in oil and pinch of salt for a few minutes (I like to keep a bit of crunch in the onions). Add curry paste and sauté for another minute. Add stock and tofu and a few splashes of water. Bring to simmer. Add green beans (or other vegetables), coconut milk, and lime leaves. Bring to simmer. Keep at simmer or below for 10-15 minutes. Turn off and add a few pinches of sugar and the lemon juice. Remove ginger and lime leaves, if desired. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

My baby is 11!

My younger son turned 11 yesterday. How did that happen? Wasn't it just yesterday that it was 1997?? Here's a photo of him as a baby (note - I did not buy that outfit for him!)...He chose a Japanese restaurant in town for his birthday dinner (we're huge sushi fans). While not as much fun as the floating boats at Tsunami Sushi's, which we go to when in Vancouver, it was tasty enough to satisfy our raw food cravings.

Ok, back to work...hope everyone's week is going well!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Sweeeeet!

Life is usually pretty sweet, although I'm too grumpy or tired to notice it 70% of the time. Here are the latest examples of how sweet life can be...

1) Naming a special soap. Carrie at Under the Willow Gifts has a lovely Mud Puddle Girl theme, with faerie soaps to match. She had a naming contest for the fourth faerie soap, and I won with "Nurture Girl". Dear Carrie-Gigi sent me my very own Nurture Girl!!It has an incredible scent and is so feminine and pretty. You can find them at Carrie's Etsy shop, and Carrie's other amazing creations at her Under the Willow Shoppe!

2) Getting an award.. Michelle of the delightful Chocolate and Marmalade Tea blog bestowed a Kreativ Blogger award on me.The rules of the award are to list 6 fun things about me and then pass it along to 6 other deserving bloggers. I can't list just 6 because everyone who visits my blog is very creative. I think it's a prerequisite to being a blogger, really. And many of the visitors are not only creative bloggers, but also do other creative things on the side...sometimes tons of other stuff, like making books, soaps, knitted wear, great foods, fab art, etc. So, nope, can't name 6 people, but let it be known that I think you are all superbly creative. :)

As for 6 fun things about me...hmm, I'm not that fun of a person, so I'll just list 6 random things.

i) I used to love watching horror movies when I was about 7 to the chagrin of my cousins whom I used to spend weekends with.
ii) I was stuck in the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland when I was 19...for about 15 minutes, which is one of the reasons why I will not bring the kids to Disney anything.
iii) We almost named ds#1 "Chance" after a character on a show (Strange Luck, I think it was called) that spun off of The X-Files.
iv) I used to get sick several times a year when I was a child in Hong Kong, but as soon as we moved to Canada, I got sick only once or twice a year.
v) The only joke I can ever remember is one that I can't tell in polite company.
vi) Lately, when I'm lying down, it feels like I'm breathing in water...I think I should go see a doctor.

3) Soaps that even my kids like. Got a bar of the delectable Mocha Espresso Soap from the multi-talented Joanna (Product Body blog)! .Oh, baby! My younger son, who doesn't talk too much about his likes and dislikes, told me how much he liked this soap. Go and get one for yourself; you won't be disappointed

4) Soup is good food. Because Joanna mentioned tom kha gai soup in her Soap Bar blog, I got a hankering for it, and asked dh to make some for me, which he did today. It's actually tom kha, the vegan form:(In an ironic twist, after having our vegan and vegetarian (he also made potato leek) soups for lunch, we went out and culled a bunch of chickens.)

5) Ranking is not just for the military. There was some talk about page rankings on TwitterMoms, which got me really curious. I'd never bothered to check the rank of my blog before because I do it for fun. But, off I went to http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php and discovered I rated a 4 out of 10, which apparently is pretty darned good. Who knew? That's all for now, folks. I hope not to be back to blogging until I've caught up on NaNoWriMo again. I let myself play over the weekend (visiting my blogging friends, etc), and now I'm officially behind. Have a wonderful week, and don't forget about the Green Holiday Giveaway!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

The Monster mish-Mash

Since I'm not blogging as regularly, I have to cover several disparate topics when I do finally post. If I were as eloquent as Diane (Much of a Muchness), I could do it seamlessly and effortless, with plenty of humor. Diane often weaves very different subjects together into coherent and hilarious posts. Since I'm not Diane, you'll just have to bear with me.

First topic at hand is...my prize from Heather (Twin Birch Bath And Body) arrived today!! Feast your eyes on this beautiful package:And the inside was even lovelier!Thank you, Heather!!! Your wonderful giveaways every Friday have been the highlight of many people's lives; thank you for spreading such joy!

I also want to thank Carrie, Ms. Oikology herself, for a very sweet friendship award! Aw, shucks...*kicks dirt with toes*On a totally different topic,Heidi (Soapaholics Anonymous) wanted my almond cookies recipe, so here it is.

Almond Cookies

2.5 C flour
1 C sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1 C butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/8 t salt
1 T almond extract
1/4 lb whole, blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In food processor, mix flour, sugar, butter, salt, and bakind soda until it forms little balls. Add eggs and extract. Roll out dough on floured surface. Cut with 2.5 inch cookiey cutter. Put on greased cookie sheet. Place amond in center of each cookie. Bake for 25 minutes.

Now, that was the recipe verbatim...BUT, it's not very exact. It doesn't tell you, for instance, how thick to roll the dough out. I'd suggest not rolling it out too thin since the almond won't adhere very well if the cookie is too thin. Basically, you'll need your baking know-how to make sure it goes well. :} Good luck!

Since it was a cold, cloudy day today, I made some excuses to keep the oven on, without doing much work, and that included having Quorn Nuggets (faux meat nuggets) for lunch, and baking sweet potatoes to make pulp for pie later. Speaking of our veggies, dh had harvested the cabbages over the weekend and made saurkraut last night. 'Kraut has been a family tradition for a long time. Dh uses the equipment handed down from his great-grandfather - the stomper, the slicer. Since I forgot to take photos this time, I'll just show you a couple of pictures from several years ago. The first is of the unprocessed heads:And this is what it looks like fermenting in the crock:We're still making some soaps for a holiday sale. Oddly enough, the Monkeyand the Cathave been popular (over LEGOs??). I can't understand it.

And lastly, on the National Novel Writing Month front, I've caught up and surpassed the quotas for the day for a few days now - only by a couple hundred word, but I'm so excited!

Hope everyone has been having a good week! I know mine's been fun in that crazy, blurred-days-passing-by way. :)

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Yes, we make pottery!

Come take a peek at Demeter's Dance!

Kids at work

I thought I'd show a photo of Tadpole #1 working on soap making. 

[caption id="attachment_97" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Cutting up soap base"][/caption]

And lest you think the other Tadpole wasn't helping, he was...just not with soap.  He was "shelling" our homegrown popcorn:

[caption id="attachment_100" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption=""Shelling" popcorn"][/caption]

 To show the size of one of the little LEGO soaps (there are 3 of them in each package), here's a photo of the "real thing" and the soap together.  The one on the left is, obviously, the real brick, and the one on the right is the soap. 

[caption id="attachment_101" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="LEGO soap compared with LEGO brick"][/caption]

We continue to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

Not that there's anything really regular about life, but it does seem like November has been an interruption to our usual sort-of routines.

I apologize in advance to my blogging friends for not going to visit as often this month. Something has to give and it may have to be my blog reading.

In NaNoWriMo, I'm behind by about 4,000 words as of today, but the good news is that I've surpassed my total word count for the entirety of November, 2007. I'm optimistic that I'll be much closer to the 50K goal this year.

We've been making more soaps for the holidays, ds#1 and I. Here he is doing his soaping thang:Ds#2, while not really involved with soaping, has other things to keep him busy, such as shelling the popcorn that we grew:We've also been making lovely ceramic creations. Here are some ugly almond cookies (but very, very tasty) that I made, presented on a "quilted" plate that ds#2 made. More photos of the plates we made can be found at my site if you're curious.

Speaking of ceramics, Joanna at The Soap Bar was wondering what soap dishes we like. Well, I don't have an absolute favorite, but I did make one this past spring that I've been using at my sink. Here it is, holding a bar of Heidi's luscious Lemongrass Clay soap:I've also been attempting to knit my first sweater: I realized yesterday, though, that I probably didn't buy enough hanks of that yarn, so called over to my favorite yarn store in town, Yarns Unlimited, to get them to hold a hank for me.

Well, that was a quick run-down of our past 7 days or so. Must run again. Wishing everyone a lovely week! I'll be going through that rough second week of NaNoWriMo and wringing my hands a lot. ;)

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

I wasn't going to blog today

...but a couple of things are worth mentioning.

Firstly, of course, is the historical and momentous occasion of the day. Either result from the election would have been historical - either first African-American president or first woman vice-president. I don't usually discuss politics or religion, so this will be short.

As a minority, I am happy to see Obama get elected because it sends a wonderful message to my children and others like them that they, too, can grow up to be president (although I'm really encouraging them to be farmers, carpenters, or brain surgeons...LOL!). I'm also grateful that he appears to be a genuinely nice person, as I'm generally not fond of politicians. Since various world leaders appear to like and respect him, I am hopeful that we will now be able to repair some of our heavily damaged relations with other countries. I sincerely wish him luck in solving all the pressing problems currently in our country.

Secondly, and, in my own life, no less important, is a lovely friendship award from Trisha of Suds to Love. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm so truly fortunate to have found a community of generous and caring folks in the blogging community. I am supposed to pass this along to 8 others I feel deserving of this award, but I adore more than 8 of you, and you know that! So, I just want to thank Trisha from the bottom of my heart (you should go check out her blog and her very adorable chocolate labs)! And now, I have to get back to soaping and writing NaNoWriMo.

Happy Wednesday to all!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Soapers are so wonderful!

My most recent example is from Under the Willow Gifts. Look at these goodies from Carrie; she must have given me twice what I had bought! (Remember my other post about how she ordered some soaps from my son, and then sent us some presents?) This lady had a heart of gold and a charitable soul.I feel very lucky to have found this community of soap makers who give so freely of their knowledge, time, and products.

Firefly Mom, it's not just that I'm addicted to soaps, but I think I'm addicted to the friendships that result from my love of soaps! :)

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

NaNoWriMo

Day 3: 2329 words, only 47,671 more words to go for the win.

In answer to your questions in the previous post (since I will not forget again and comment in my own giveaway post) -

Meg, the photos are up at twotadpoles.com :)

Julie, you'd be asking the wrong person...LOL! I learn as I go, but it'd be fun to have you learn along with me.

Michelle, are you going to do NaNoWriMo too? How fun to collaborate! How far along are you?

Heidi, they might have an e-subscription...not sure, but I can check if you win. :) This year, I'm trying my hand at comedy. Last year's attempt was too depressing for me.

Stace, it's not that fun of a magazine - LOL! - but it is very informative - really helps one to be socially and environmentally conscious. It'd be totally cool to install some solar panels!

Sangeeth, as Chris Baty, the guy who started NaNoWriMo, would tell you, most of the novels written during NaNoWriMo are less than gems. Many languish in desk drawers for a long time or forever. My last year's attempt...at a palty 5000 words...languishes on my data stick, never to be read by eyes other than my own. This year, if all goes well (yes, the glass is half-full!), I may actually have an ms to edit and, perhaps, one day, send out. So, the long answer to your question is: you can't read my novels anywhere. LOL!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Busy month and Holiday Giveaway

Aside from spending a lot of time making soaps for a friend's holiday sale (see the dove soap above), this is also National Novel Writing Month, in which I'm supposed to spend every other waking minute pounding out my novel. After having spectacularly bombed last year (I wrote 5000 words out of the required 50,000 words to win), I am determined to at least break 50% this year. Do I aim high or what? Hah!

I recently received the Co-op America - soon to be renamed Green America - Quarterly with the topic of 25 Ways to Green the World. Some of the ways mentioned include:
1. Live simply and use less
4. Reduce, reuse, recycle
6. Buy fair trade
7. Green your food choices
8. Put efficiency first
12. Protect the world's poor from climate change
14. Stop sweatshops and child labor
17. Be wood-wise
25. Educate others

Taking #25 to heart, my Holiday Giveaway will be a one year subscription/membership to Co-op America. Please post a comment to win! (Stay off my blog, ds#1.) I'll use Random.org again (thanks, Oikology 101!) to draw a number/name on December 6th.

Because of soaping, NaNoWriMo, and making our holiday newsletter to mail by Thanksgiving, I'll probably not post but once a week this month.

Happy Monday to all!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

Christmas soaps

Here are some of the soaps that Tadpole #1 and Momma Frog made for the holidays:

[caption id="attachment_77" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Dove Soap - Hollyberry scent"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_79" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Puzzle soaps - Litsea Cubeba scent"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_78" align="aligncenter" width="315" caption="Another view of puzzle pieces soaps"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_92" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="3-pc LEGO soaps - Litsea Cubeba scent"]"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_80" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="ABCD alphabet soaps - Hollyberry scent"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_81" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Cat soap - Hollyberry scent"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_83" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Monkey Soap - Hollyberry scent"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_84" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="A Patriotic Christmas Red-White-Blue Stars set - Litsea Cubeba scent"]"][/caption][caption id="attachment_85" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Frog soap (with LEGO soaps in background) - Litsea Cubeba scent "]"][/caption]Litsea Cubeba is a related to the laurel, rosewood and cinnamon trees.  This essential oil has a pleasing citrus scent and is said to be great for skin care, particularly oily skin.  There is currently research being done on its calming effects. 

Love from Heather

The delightful Heather (One Bubble at a Time blog), with her boundless creativity and generosity, has been having giveaways every Friday. And yesterday, I won!! Heather's amazing soaps have been featured at many different places, including Under The Willow, The Little Window Shoppe and The Soap Bar. Check out more of Heather's creations and products at her Etsy Store: Twin Birch Bath and Body!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim

The "My Vice" Giveaway winners

So this time, I was actually able to refrain from commenting on my own post and winning my own prize, BUT, my darned child wasn't. What is with the universe trying to thwart my attempts at an otherwise easy project?

As you can see from above (click on image to enlarge), Random.org picked the numbers 3 and 11 to win the giveaway. Well, #3 happens to be my ds#1, so the prize will go to the next poster, Emily!

And #11 is Chrissy (since I'd plugged in 13 as the number of participants to choose from, before I realized ds had posted twice)!

Congratulations, Emily and Chrissy! Because Emily had asked for the greeting card book specifically, she will be getting that and Chrissy will be getting the Shakespeare pack. I'll send you both emails. :)

I have one more giveaway for the holidays, so come back next week for the announcement! Happy November!

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet." ~ James Oppenheim