Odds and Ends

I forgot to post this picture yesterday of my new Lavender Nights soap.

It was poured in a pringles can mold.  I used a faux funnel pour and alternated white and purple.  Each piece looks completely different.  I cut it with a wavy cutter to add interest.

In other news, my oldest child is graduating from our homeschool this year.  He started working full-time last week and we only see him in the early morning before work and the evening after work.  It's been an adjustment for me even though he was only home 2-3 days a week already. 

I've been trying hard, particularly since Christmas though I started this process several years ago,  to give him some space to make his own decisions, to not *mother* him quite so much.  Sometimes I find myself wanting to protect him, make decisions for him, make sure he stays where I think he needs to be...but that was never supposed to be a lifelong thing.  I was supposed to teach him, train him, guide him gently then step out of the way.  As a mama, that's not easy!

I am proud of the man he's becoming.  He's making mostly wise decisions.  He's been given a solid foundation and now it's time for him to learn to stand on his own.

Now that my oldest is working on his own every day, my younger son is gone every day with his daddy working with the exception of Wednesdays and Saturdays when he is home with me and the girls.  We use those days to keep his school work caught up (he does his school work daily) and to make all of the bath/body products for our business.

Which means, most of the time it's just me and girls at home now during the week.  My dc have always had chores to do, but now the girls are doing ALL of that on a daily basis.  And now they are also stepping up to help with the jelly making, soap making, making body products, etc as well as their own school work and home economics projects.  And so the girls and I are BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

We are almost finished with our soap making for a while...and then I need to start working on candles.  I've not made them before, but I am determined to master this and add them to our product line.  The girls are getting busy making knitted animal hats and doll nightgowns/dresses to sell in our business near Christmas time.