Smile, Nobody Likes a Crab.

Recently, I went to Costco to do a little grocery shopping. While I was there I kept passing by a family (mother and four children ages 5-14ish). Each time I would pass them I would smile at them and maybe nod. The first few times I usually caught the eye of the oldest daughter (teenage) and she would never smile back. Not even a smirk. Once, the oldest boy was looking at me as I passed by them to get some milk, so I smiled. Literally, all I saw looking back at me was a blank stare. Finally, the mother and I made eye contact at the second to the last pass. I smiled, thinking surely SHE would have the courtesy to smile back. Nothing but a blank stare, as if I wasn't even there.

O.k. so I'm insecure and need to be noticed by all people. No, not really. I remember growing up in the 80's. If a woman went past me and smiled and my mother noticed, I was told to smile back. Not necessarily giving way to talking to strangers, but just paying forward a common courtesy. My mother was always friendly and kind toward people no matter where we went. She ran a beauty salon in the town I grew up in and I always remember her being kind, outgoing and helpful to all her clients. She taught me to be friendly and by her example, respectful, to those around me.

What is wrong with people today? Well, religiously I believe I know, but casting that aside (since that's not my job to say here), I think people are just down right selfish and inward thinking. If I bump into an elderly person when I'm out, and I smile, they almost always perk up and smile right back. Many of them have told me that just seeing a smile has brightened their day. They come from a generation that was taught to be cordial; That was taught to keep the negative away from everyone else and don't dump all over people; To smile, when you feel like frowning and keep others on a level higher than yourself.

Ahh to live then. I'm glad to be a part of history now, but my grandparent's time seemed much simpler. Life was life and people weren't made to think it was a Cinderella movie. When the Titanic sank people died, it wasn't a big saga of romance and adventure. It was a tragedy. Yet, one that people handled with stride.

I hope to raise my kids to be kind the way my mom raised me. Its not easy and I seem to stink at parenthood, but I am going to keep at it, and hopefully, when they're all grown up, they will smile at everyone they meet. I too, need to up the ante next time I'm out. You never know who you will cheer up just by being kind.

Insanity is Insane!!!

I'm writing to tell you that hubby and I are embarking on a life changing exercise program, either designed to kill us or to make us healthier than ever! Insanity is the name of the program and it was designed by the guys over at Beach Body, the company responsible for P90X. Why am I telling you this? To give myself some accountability. Hopefully, since I am sharing this endeavor with you, I will be more likely to take the bull by the horns and not let go. Here's a pic of us now. They claim that within two months you will be in the best shape of your life. 2 months! Can I do Insanity? Will I do it? Let's hope so...

A Newer, Better Desert Soapstone is Coming

So we've been doing mega reading and research on natural and not natural. My personal conclusions on the subject have become increasingly clear. When I got into the soap making business a few years ago, my intention was to create products that were unanimously safe for the whole family. Then (conquering music please), I discovered fragrance oils. I was quickly led away from my goals of creating the safest and best, only to slide in next to everyone else. Yes there are natural soapers too, but fewer than the fragrance oil soapers. Honestly, I personally don't think they are that harmful, but when my young son developed a terrible cough that would not go away and we removed all traces of fragrance from the home he suddenly got better. I just think there are some people that cannot tolerate some of the chemicals in them.

That brings me to another issue involved in this choice to naturalize the biz. I was talking to a friend of the family recently and he was telling me that apple seeds have arsenic, but not to worry, its only enough to kill the parasites living in our bodies. Therefore, needless to say, he eats the apple seeds. I was thinking, although good not to have parasites, maybe there is a reason the water companies alert us when there is too much arsenic in the water. Its a poison that can build up in our bodies and my personal feeling on the matter is, if its a poison, its a poison, end of story. Whether I put a little in my body or a lot, there will still be some effect from it at some point in my life so why take a risk? I'm thinking maybe this is part of why most people don't eat apple seeds and don't even know it.
What's the point?! You must be asking. Well, the point is, I don't want to dally around with what God made. He made plants with natural fragrances and gave us the ability to extract those natural essences for things like aromatherapy and well, soap.
We are so over sensitized to scents that when we initially make the switch we feel like we stink. We probably do, until our bodies get used to the lack of over fragrancing. Its kind of like when I first quit wearing makeup about 13 years ago. At first, I felt like my eyes disappeared and then all of a sudden I began getting acne, which I had never had before. Of course not! I had so many products on my face all the time there was no place for the poison to go. O.k. some of you may be rolling your eyes at this point, but in all honesty was Eve created with a little makeup bag? No. Instead she was taught the right way to eat, the importance of exercise and many other life enhancing habits. Let's get back to nature, back to reality and see if our health doesn't improve.

So the next step? For the next month we are going to be adding all natural soaps, body and room sprays, scrubs, and even deodorant to our shop. Literally remodeling the shop. We will be offering a few fragrance oil soaps in our clearance section until we run out, then our shop will be all natural. Join us in our quest to be healthy, both in the products we use and make and also in our daily lives.

Our next post: Insanity. The program we have started to either kill ourselves (hubby and me)or make us more fit than ever!