Hi!

Wouldn’t you like to know???

I think it was Autumn 2008? Or 2009? That was the big one. An entire month being told that I was forbidden to spend time outside unless it was to buy groceries. That was when swine flu hit northern China pretty bad.

And here you thought it was something dangerous! I still get a laugh remembering when the police showed up on my door step wanting to search my house as I ordered something like five kilos of lye online and they swore I was up to no good.

How are you doing in your book? I’m melting my lipstick Base down now to finish off the lipstick portion. Then all that’s left for me to make is the gel stuff. Silly me. For some reason I thought guar gum was xantham gum so didn’t preorder it! Grrr!

Christie, stop talking about your house in the mountains. You might get a visitor knocking on your door with a box full of goodies! I miss the mountains.

Hi Marie! Hi fellow DIYers! I’m Misty: North Georgia girl, respiratory therapist, single mom to a wonderful 20-year-old son, and enthusiastic DIY skin care newbie. I’ve only recently started my foray into skin care but since I have an all-or-nothing kind of personality, my selection of ingredients has exploded over the last couple of months. In fact, the growth of my collection has far out-paced my rate of production given that I work 60-80 hours a week. But wow, how awesome is this hobby!

I’ve found that I really love gifting, even when there’s no reason to gift. I’m supplying my department with hand cream, which manages to keep our hands moisturized nicely even in the face of hundreds of hand washes/hand sanitizer applications per 12-hour shift. I’ve whipped some up skin care gift bags for a few favorite patients who were heading home after an extended hospital stay. I randomly pass out clay masks and such to colleagues. Fun!

I’m looking forward to “meeting” all of you who share this addicting hobby. Thanks, Marie, for the forum and for all your hard work.

Lol! I was like that for years. Everything was soap, soap, soap. Now? It’s lotions lotions lotions!

Is that apple fritter stand still there? Oh and that conastoga fries?

Now that’s wicked bonkers! Three of us from the K-W areaish? Truly a small world!

Hi Cyn! I love visiting Florida! We tend to get there about every other year to relax at the beach. We love the beach at Cape San Blas. Or going to Orlando and Disney World. The Tampa/St. Pete area is great too. I’d like to visit the Keys at some point. What area are you in? I’ll take Florida humidity over Memphis humidity any day of the week!😀

I’ve heard of Lakeland! I have friends/family in Mt. Dora near Orlando, Tampa, and Miami. And yes, no snow is great! My husband is from Indiana, so when we go up there for Christmas, a lot of times there’s snow. My daughter LOVES it! Her mom, not so much. It snows occasionally here, which shuts down the city. My husband finds this greatly amusing! Luckily, it goes away quick.

Jenn and Penny — whooda thought we’d find the three of us KW’ers all here together! lol! But back to St. Jacobs … Yes to the apple fritters, and YES to the Conestogo Fries. OMG, but and lest we forget the perogies and cabbage rolls inside. MMMMMM.

Yes, I’m a huge fan of Marie and all her crazy fun ideas! EVERY time I read a new blog post I’m cringing, just knowing that there will be something ELSE I now am yearning to make but don’t have time for! AArrgh! Life’s FULL of awesome good things to do! My friends and family are always willing guinea pigs (well, except for my daughter, who would choose MAC over Mom any old day. Her loss.)

Jenn, the fact that you’re from the Sault is crazy too, because I know two people who grew up there!

Hello everyone and nice to meet you! I’m Sophie, a civil engineer from Greece. I’ve been following Marie for the last 3-4 years, but haven’t had the chance to DIY as much as I’d like. To remedy that, i’ve decided to try soapmaking and see how it goes!