As a stay-at-home mom of 4 young kids, I understand and know, first hand, how hard it is to make time for yourself. There are days when being able to go to the bathroom alone feels like a mini-vacation! We push ourselves to get things done-cleaning, cooking, shopping, keeping the kids alive...it can take a toll on even the most "together" mom. Taking time to recharge should be a top priority. I know how hard it is to put yourself first because I'm also guilty of not taking enough time for myself. Here's the catch, if we don't do these things for ourselves, we can't be our best for our families.
Guilt is one of the reasons a lot of people, moms especially, don't take the time to do things for themselves. You may feel like you are being selfish, and that's okay. You need to be selfish sometimes. If you continually take on more than you can handle without taking a break, the consequences can be horrible. The stress will catch up to you and you will find yourself feeling very overwhelmed. You may start getting extra snippy with your children or spouse. A sense of resentment may start to build inside you, which is never a good thing. We have all heard about the moms that snapped and harmed their children. We all know that they had to have had a mental breakdown to harm their precious children. So what can you do to protect yourself from this happening to you? Make time for yourself a priority! Whether it is 20 minutes in the morning of prayer and meditation or making a monthly appointment to get a massage or pedicure, it is never a waste of time or money to do something to boost your mental health. Massage is one of my favorite ways to recharge and I will be the first to admit that I don't do it nearly enough. Massage has many health benefits from helping relieve pain to helping combat depression and anxiety. If you are planning to get a massage, make sure the therapist has had training and is licensed. Massage is wonderful for the body, but can cause harm if performed by someone who is not trained in massage therapy. If you decide to go for massage, be very open with your therapist about what you are wanting to achieve with the massage. Don't be afraid to speak up if the therapist is using too much pressure or not enough pressure. Communication is key to having a pleasurable massage and your body getting the most benefit from it. If something is painful, speak up. You won't offend the therapist, I promise. As a massage therapist myself, we are here to help you. If we are hurting you, it is not helpful as it cause you to tense up more. There will be times of discomfort in some modalities of massage, such as deep tissue, when trying to get a muscle to release, but there shouldn't be unbearable (or nearly unbearable) pain. Another idea is to take time at the end of each day for yourself. One of my favorite ways to unwind after a long day is to get my kids to bed and take a long relaxing bath. When I take a bath, it is for the purpose of relaxing. I line the backside of my tub with lit candles, put a bath bomb or bath salts in the tub for aromatherapy, and just relax. I like to find some calming music on pandora and just soak for a while. It is my way of recharging. You should make your bath into an oasis so you can allow yourself time to relax and unwind. Whatever you decide to make your "me time" to be, try to be consistent. Be it having a weekly coffee date with a friend, nightly stretching and quiet time before bed, or getting a pedicure every few weeks, do not deny yourself of this precious time. Don't feel guilty for making your mental health needs a priority in your life. If will enhance not only your life, but the life of your family. If you feel like your mental health is not what it needs to be, please contact a mental health practitioner. While the aforementioned ideas can help relieve anxiety, if you suffer from depression or other mental health issues, please seek out help. Don't be ashamed to admit if you feel like you don't have control of your mental health. Reach out to someone and ask for help. Below is a list of hotlines if you would like to speak to someone anonymously. Good Samaritans Hotline 212-673-3000 Parental Stress Hotline 800-632-8188 Suicide prevention hotline 800-784-2433
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Have you ever wondered about the ingredients in our soaps? Well, wonder no more! Today, I will run down a list of the oils we use in our soap recipe with a little information about each one. I've chosen oils and butters that have amazing properties for moisturizing the skin. I have included their INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) so you can become more familiar with the scientific names we use when labeling our products. Sometimes seeing large, unfamiliar words can make some leery of purchasing products. Rest assured that the oils we use are all natural and have fabulous skin benefits. Let's get started.
Olive oil, Olea Europaea, is an amazing oil. It's so amazing that we use it in a number of our products. From soaps to lotion bars, this oil is top notch when it comes to moisturizing the skin. Olive oil has naturally occurring antioxidants. Vitamin E, polyphenols, and phytosterols are the major antioxidants found in it. Antioxidants may help protect the skin from free radicals and help to smooth skin. The fatty acids allow it to penetrate the skin while the squalene softens. Rice bran oil, oryza sativa, is a moisturizing powerhouse! It is filled with Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids that allow it to deeply penetrate the skin and nourish it. It is also high in Vitamin E which can make skin soft and supple. Rice bran oil is used in some products as an anti-aging ingredient. With its high vitamin content and array of skin nourishing fatty acids, we love using this ingredient in our soaps, lotions, and other products. Coconut oil, cocos nucifera, is an often used oil in the soaping world. Because of its ability to produce a stable, fluffy lather, it is often used in a majority of soap recipes. But coconut oil is so much more than just a bubble booster! It has fatty acids (capric/ caprylic/lauric acid) that have been shown to have antimicrobial and disinfecting properties. That's one of the reasons why 100% coconut oil liquid soap is popular as a cleansing soap for household use. It also contains vitamin E and is a nourishing moisturizer for the skin. Lard is made by rendering fat from pigs. Did you know that pigs are very similar to humans? Lard is easily absorbed into the skin because it's molecular make up is our own. Many of the commercially available skin moisturizers contain animal fats because of the easy absorption and nourishing moisture it gives to skin. Cocoa butter, theobroma cacao, has been used for centuries as a natural moisturizer. It is high in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, and E which can help moisture penetrate deeply. It is used in many skin healing creams such as stretch mark creams because it creates a barrier that holds in moisture and allows the vitamins and fatty acids to help repair the skin. Castor Oil, ricinus communis, is often used in soaps to help,increase lather, but it does so much more than that. It naturally has humectant properties which draw moisture In while the fatty acids enable the moisture to penetrate. It enhances other oils, when combined with them, to allow skin to absorb all of the natural vitamins and minerals while drawing in moisture. It also has antibacterial properties. Most of our soaps contain either a fragrance oil or essential oil. When we use fragrance oils, we only use high quality, phthalate free, skin safe fragrances. Whether we use fragrance or essential oils, we always stay within the IFRA (International Fragrance Association) guidelines for skin application. Some of our soaps also contain colorants which are skin safe and made of natural ingredients that are soap stable, due to the ph level of soap. We hope you have enjoyed learning more about our soap oils. If you would like to know more about any of these oils, I encourage you to research skin benefits of specific oils. If you have any questions or comments about any of the information or would like to know more about our goat milk soaps, please feel free to ask. Here I sit again with really great intentions to get things accomplished today, but somehow time got away from me. It's 11p.m. and I'm finally stopping long enough to write this blog post before crashing for the night. Today was full of homeschooling, laundry, cooking, order filling and soap labeling. Tomorrow will bring more soap labeling, order deliveries, grocery shopping, and other errands. On a good note, I did remember to file my sales taxes today! Life always is always busy around the homestead, but tends to get a bit more hectic when my hubby goes back to work and has to leave town.
So, let's talk a little bit about soap making, specifically about lye. Lye, aka sodium hydroxide, is essential in soap making. Without lye, there is no soap. You see, lye is an alkali. When an alkali is mixed with a fat (your soap making oils) it goes through a chemical reaction which produces a new molecule that is a salt. Once the soap has gone through the saponification process, which generally is complete in 24-48 hours, there is no longer any active lye left in it. The lye has bonded with the fats to create a new molecule which is soap. One way that a lot of soap makers test their soap to make sure that has gone through saponification is the "zap test". The zap test is conducted by touching a small piece of soap on your tongue. If the soap still has active lye in it, you will feel a zap similar to touching your tongue to the tip of a 9 volt battery. I know it sounds pretty strange, but it is one good indicator of the presence of lye (and it doesn't require any special tools). Working with lye, we must use precautions as we make our soaps. We wear protective goggles, gloves, and other protective gear to ensure we don't get injured. A lye burn is no joke. It can cause damage to the skin and there have been soap makers who have had lye water splash into their eye and it has caused damage to their vision. Most soap makers, when creating their recipe, add extra oils to the soap called a superfat. A superfatted soap has more oil than the lye can change into soap. The extra oil is what makes handcrafted soap feel so moisturizing to your skin. You see, every oil has a specific saponification number. This number is used to calculate how much lye is needed to turn that particular oil into soap. If you have more lye than is needed during the saponification process, it will create a bar that will not only be very harsh and irritating to the skin, but generally the bar will crumble when trying to cut it. Handcrafted soap makers take a lot of time experimenting and creating their soap recipes to not only cleanse the skin, but to also be a hard, bubbly bar that makes the skin feel moisturized. There is a lot of chemistry and a bit of artistic flair put into every bar of soap we make. If you ever come across a soap that says it is not made with lye, it is not a true soap. It is either a melt and pour base (which more than likely was originally made with oils and lye), or it is a detergent based bar that is packed full of surfactants. Your skin will feel the difference once if you ever put the two up against each other. Although lye can sound like a scary thing, it is important to remember that after the initial 24-48 hours, there is no longer any lye left in soap. Knowledge about lye and soap making makes you a better consumer and allows you to not fall victim to some scare tactics that can be used to sway you away from using a more natural soap. I hope you have gained a little insight about soap making. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them below. I just spent the last hour writing up a wonderful blog post. It was full of great information as to why handcrafted soap is more beneficial for the skin than store bought soaps. I broke down each ingredient I put into my soaps and told about the different benefits of them. It was a well thought out, informative blog. Then I hit the post button, like I do each day. I clicked on the link, only to find that over half of the post did not transfer over. Are you kidding me??? It is now after 10pm. We made it home from the campground this afternoon. We were busy checking all of the animals, cleaning the camper inside and out, doing laundry, making supper, and my hubby preparing to go back on shift tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm pretty beat. I don't have it in me tonight to go back and rewrite all of that information, so I will plan on having that as my blog post tomorrow night. When we got home today, one of the first things I did was go out and check on all of the animals. Somehow, our dog Maggie, had found her way into our neighbor's yard and couldn't figure out how to get back into our yard. I can only assume that she went in to the pasture and snuck through the fencing somewhere. Luckily, our neighbor is my husband's aunt and Maggie is a good dog. Her decision making is sometimes questionable. When I started observing the goats, I noticed Holly was slightly limping on her front right leg. I brought her into the barn and got her up on the milk stand to check her out. I couldn't find any sign of injury, but she will only put a little weight on it. We assume that maybe she sprained it or stepped wrong while we were gone. I will continue to monitor her condition to see if she needs to be looked at by our vet. There is no swelling or tenderness in the leg, but she did push back against me when I was feeling around her shoulder area, so she may have just stepped wrong or possibly been butted by another goat. My crew enjoyed the camping getaway immensely. They are already planning their next trip, although I'm not sure when it will be. They were more than happy to help wash the camper, get laundry going, and bring in items we needed to take out of the camper. I'm very proud of my little crew. It didn't take them long to pass out once they hit their beds tonight. We will all be getting some much needed rest in our own beds tonight. There is nothing quite like coming home after a trip. As much fun as it is to be gone, I love being in my own environment with my family and my farm animals. Now, I'm going to say a little prayer that this post will go up correctly since this will be the 3rd attempt. Until tomorrow, may you all sleep well and wake up feeling renewed in the morning!
In case you were wondering why you are seeing so many blogs over the last week and a half, this is why. I decided to take part in a 30 day blogging challenge. Blogging is not really my forte as I feel more comfortable talking to people than I do writing. I would even rather talk on the phone to a person than to text....I know- it's crazy! I guess I am a little old school because having a conversation with a person, to me, is so much more personable than texting or writing. With speaking, you can use your tone to give inflection to your words. That is often not the case in writing. Just scroll through any feed on social media and you will see how people get offended by the written word that may have been meant as a sarcastic comment but was misconstrued.
I do not see myself as the writing type. In school, I always procrastinated when it came to writing assignments. It isn't my "thing". This blogging challenge is making me step out of my comfort zone. I'm hoping over the next 30 days it will help me develop better skills when it comes to blogging as it is very important to keep blog content if you are a small business with an online business. If you have any tips or advice, please comment below! I uld love to hear your constructive criticism as I need to make sure that my content is relevant to you as a reader! Over the next few weeks, we will do a bit more exploring about soap making, the ingredients we use and how they are beneficial for your skin, and throw in some funny farm stories along the way. Today, we are enjoying our day at the campground. My husband is off at the pool with the kids while I'm back at the camper making lunch. We had a little thunderstorm come through earlier so we came back to the camper from the pool, opened all the windows in the camper, and enjoyed the breeze. Our boys were ready to go back to the pool the moment the rain stopped falling, so I stayed behind. Last night, those boys ate so much more food than they normally eat. I guess the afternoon in the pool made them extra hungry. Even my youngest, who is normally hard to get to eat, was munching down on everything he could get his hands on. We are really enjoying the campground. We are camping at Cajun RVera in New Iberia. The boys love the pool area which includes a splash pad, lazy river, and regular pool. It is not crowded at all. In fact, we are pretty secluded at our campsite with the closest neighbor being about 10 spots away. It's pretty perfect and we can't wait to be able to come back and camp again. Tomorrow, we will take the boys to the pool again in the morning, then load up and head the hour back to the farm. It's been a nice getaway for all of us. The boys are already planning out our next camping trip, although we aren't sure when that will happen. It's been a good learning experience getting used to the ins and outs of setting up the camper. I think we could definitely get used to this! I'm glad we were able to have the opportunity to come to a campground before we start going to our out of town shows. It not only has given me the opportunity to get used to packing and unpacking the camper, traveling with the camper in tow, and backing into a camp spot, but it has allowed us to make little lists If you didn't see my announcement the other day, we decided to make an investment this week. This fall, I have a lot of shows that are out of the area. Most tif the shows are 3 days long, plus setting up,the day before it starts. We started discussing purchasing a toy hauler camper so I could have room to load all of my products and displays and be able to find a campground to stay at once I made it to our location. Most campgrounds run around $20-$30 per night where a decent hotel room is usually $100 or more per night. We decided it was in our best interest to go with the camper because between rooms and trailer rental, we could pay 6 months camper notes from what we would save renting a hotel in the month of October alone! I have to say, the size of this thing behind my suv is a little intimidating. I've pulled cattle trailers with livestock, regular trailers, u-haul trailers, boats, and even our big hay baler, but having this behind my vehicle is a new adventure! It's definitely longer and heavier than most things I've pulled, but it's not too bad. I picked the camper up on Tuesday, by myself, since my husband was out of town for work. I made it home after taking the long way home along the interstate to get a feel for pulling it. Once I made it home, I then had to get this 26+ foot beast parked. The area where my husband wanted me to park it is a little precarious to get to because of different objects in the yard. While I can back up a trailer, it takes me a bit. I sometimes have a hard time judging distance. I am not as smooth with backing up as my husband is. He has had much more experience doing it than I have! Needless to say, after about 20 minutes of maneuvering, I finally got her in place without taking out the barn.😊 After I got her in place and unhooked from my truck (which turned out to be another adventure), I went to go pick the boys up from my mother-in-law's house where they stayed while I went for the walk through and pick up. You have never seen 4 boys more excited. It was like Christmas morning! They couldn't wait to get in and explore. We got in and started adding some of the things that will stay in the camper like towels, toiletries, etc. By Thursday night, my husband had finally made it back and he immediately hooked up a receptacle in the barn so we could plug her in and get the a/c going. My oldest son came outside and met us in the camper as we were turning everything on, lowering the bunks, and putting the canopy out. To say he was giddy with excitement is an understatement! He is usually the level-headed calm one but he couldn't contain his excitement. He helped make beds and put stuff up. He wanted to sleep in the camper that night, but we told him he and his brothers could sleep in it the following night.
Friday came and all of the boys were in and out of the camper all day long. They explored, hid under the beds, watched tv, and just hung out. Jon Paul told them that we would all sleep in the camper Friday night. We all loaded into the camper and went to bed. It was a bit of a rough first night with Tristan waking up in he middle of the night in a panic thinking he was by himself in the camper. He came and wedged himself between me and Jon Paul and fell back asleep. A couple of hours later, Ethan-the youngest, came and wedged himself between me and Tristan. Trying to wedge 4 people in a short queen bed is not the most comfortable sleeping conditions. Last night, the boys asked if we could sleep in the camper again, to which we agreed. Sleeping went much more smoothly last night. Today, we are headed to a local campground to try out We've made it to the last of the girls. The last set were all born here this spring. Jake is the father of each of them and they are all so distinct in coloring. From completely white to brown with splotches, we never know what we are going to get when birthing season comes around. I love the surprise when they are born. Leia Leia is the daughter of Holly. If you look back, you will see that Holly is a Lamancha/Saneen cross but has the Lamancha ears. Leia ended up with Nubian ears like Jake. She is a fun little goat to watch. She's one of the few new babies that doesn't get into too much mischief. She tends to hang close to Sally in the pasture. She has a sweet disposition and I could just kiss that cute face! We hope she will one day be a great milker like her mother. Sunshine Sunshine is the granddaughter of my most favorite goat we've ever had. Her grandmother, Moonlight, was one of our first goats. Moonlight was the most amazing goat. She was an excellent milker, super friendly, and loved being around people. I'm hoping some of those great traits have been passed down to Sunshine. I can definitely see the resemblance in their looks. Sunshine is still a bit timid, but will come to us for feed and treats. We are still working with her to be a little more sociable. If she inherited her grandmother's milking traits, she will be an amazing milker for us in a couple of years. Joy Joy is the daughter of Emma. We gave her the name Joy because by a couple of days old, she would hop around like she was full of joy. She and a couple of her buddies are a little mischievous. They are very quick to figure out how to escape from fencing, which is never a good thing. They have figured out how to get through hot wire fencing without getting shocked. Because of her and her little friends Houdini-like skills, we've moved them to a different pasture that is completely field fenced in. Yesterday, they figured out how to push the gate open, so we had to reinforce that. She's obviously a pretty smart little cookie. We hope she will grow out of her mischievous phase. Jolie Out of all of the new kids, Jolie is the most timid. She is the daughter of Minnie. She also hangs out with the mischievous crowd and likes to test the old theory of the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. We have been working with her to have her build more trust with us so she will not be so timid. She will come with the herd to get feed but always keeps a close eye on where we are. I'm hoping to help her overcome her timidness. One cool thing about her is she has wattles like her mom and her grandmother. I hope we can keep this line going with more females with wattles. It's like their little piece of natural jewelry.
We've met everyone! Raising goats has been such a blessing to our family. We love them all and each one is special to us in their own way. We are always on the lookout for new goats to add to the herd. I'm hoping that one day we can add a couple of other breeds of dairy goats to see how each breed's temperament differs. They definitely all have their personalities just like every person is different. I hope you have enjoyed meeting all of the goats! We are getting closer to meeting all of the girls. I told you there were a bunch! Lucy Lucy has got to be one of the most difficult goats we've ever owned. We bought her and her mother from a friend when she needed to get rid of her goats. Her mother was apparently used as a roping goat. Roping goats are used to train kids how to eventually rope calves. Her mother had a huge distrust for humans, which I totally understand, and passed that down to Lucy. She does not like human contact. She will not let you pet her and will stay at the back of the herd. Funny thing is, I was able to milk stand train her this year. She had her first kid in February while we were away on vacation. After letting her baby feed for 8 weeks, I decided to try to catch her and start milking her. It was a constant struggle for the first few weeks. We would have to chase her to catch her, pick her up to put her on the stand, and hobble her feet to keep her from kicking while trying to milk her. After the first week and a half of milking daily, I was able to stop hobbling her feet. Over the following week, I no longer had to pick her up to put her on the stand, although she still would make me chase her. By the end of the 3rd week, she would come to the gate and most of the time would come out on her own and run into the dairy and jump on the stand. She didn't give a ton of milk as a first freshener, but I'm glad we were able to get her on the stand to milk her. The goats understand that being on the stand means they get a special food treat. That's pretty good incentive for them! I hope that she is easy to retrain next milking season. Ivory Ivory is one of our newest does that we purchased this year. We've never owned a Saneen goat, so we didn't really know their personality. She is very laid back. She was so timid when we first got her and would only come to you if food was involved. After a lot of work and plenty of treats, she has broken out of her shell and become people friendly. She tends to hang back when the rest of the herd goes out to pasture. She really doesn't like to be close to the rest of the herd of the bigger goats. Before she gave birth to twins in early May, we had her in with our kids that were born this year because we didn't want to take any chances of one of the alpha does headbutting her in the side and hurting the babies she was carrying. Yes, a goat can abort her babies if she gets hit in the side during pregnancy. She is not a goat that challenges others. She will generally run the other way, but that doesn't mean the other goats won't try to get in a cheap shot here and there. Most afternoons, you can find her patiently waiting by the gate, letting out her subtle cry to tell me she's there and ready to be milked. She really likes a lot of attention from me in particular. She has become very bonded to me and my oldest son. I'm anxious to see how much milk she produces next season. Rey Rey is one of Ivory's twins that were born in May. She has a very sweet disposition. She and her brother are very bonded to my oldest son because we gave him the duty of bottle feeding them for a month. Like her mother, she and her brother tend to hang back from the herd. They stay together most of the time and do their own thing. They know that if they hear us calling for goats to come running because there is a treat involved. I love her cute face and the ears-I just love the "flying ears" on the Saneen. Belle Some of you have had the pleasure of meeting Belle. If you visited us at Fire and Water Festival in Arnaudville in April, you may have seen her with us on Saturday. She is a sweet soul and loves attention. She even helped one little boy get over his fear of animals at the festival! Belle had a little bit of a rough start. She apparently aspirated on some amniotic fluid during birth which caused a cough. Her mother rejected her because of it, so we had to pull her to bottle feed her. To this day, more than 5 months later, she still coughs occasionally. One vet told us that it's possible that some scar tissue formed because of the aspirating. That hasn't slowed her down any. She is very bonded to all of us because we took turns feeding her. Even my youngest boys took turns bottle feeding this sweetheart. We can't wait to see how she grows up and how her personality develops the older she gets.
I'm a little late blogging tonight. My hubby just made it in from being sent out on a job this week and we were taking care of a few things once he made it home. We had been talking the last few month about investing in a toy hauler camper for my business. Something I could put products and displays in and transport to the shows and have a place to stay without having to spend a fortune on hotel rooms. We had originally planned to wait until next year, but with all of the shows I have booked out of town during the last quarter of the year, we decided it was more economical to put those funds into a camper. So, meet the new camper. In typical fashion, we are going to have to name her. I can tell you that I have some very excited little boys that are ready to go do a little camping! Now on to meeting the girls? The three I'm introducing tonight all came from the same farm. In fact, they are mother and two daughters. These are 3 of the sweetest girls. We bought them from a wonderful family in the Baton Rouge area. Beauty Beauty is the mom of this crew. She is such a sweetheart and has the personality of one of my first goats who passed away. She's a little older, but still in great health and has had easy births. When she's in milk, she gives about half a gallon per day! We love her Dalmatian-like coloring with her dark colored head. I'm very excited to see how she does during our next birthing season. Cocoa Cocoa is Beauty's older daughter. She's quite a character and is very loving. I love her brown coloring. She is another one who loves to come up and rub her head all over you. It's like our own personal goat masseuse! When we first got the trio, she was not timid at all coming into a new family. She was an alpha in her herd and the other goats figured that out and some of our herd alphas tried to challenger her by headbutting her. She showed the others that she was a force to be reckoned with.
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