I wish I had a more attractive shot of my soap but a) the lurgy, b) a two year old and an 8 week old in the house and c) the murky day means that this is all I have if I am to have any chance of posting this before FB wakes from his nap.

The important point to take away is I MADE SOAP!

I have been wanting to do this for ages and ages. But frankly I was very nervous about it, because I’d read lots of things that said ‘omg it’s dangerous and scary’ which what they really mean is ‘lye should be taken seriously so you need to know what you’re doing before you do it, and then be careful.’

And so I was, and thus I finally made soap!

I have to give a huge amount of thanks to Rhonda Jean at Down to Earth for her posts on soap making, which really demistified the process and made me feel it was very much something I could do.

The recipe I used is from here, and is specifically ‘Camille’s Sure-Fire, No Way You Can Lose, Castile Soap Recipe‘ (Scroll down) which did what it said it would.

I got my ingredients from The Soap Kitchen, but I’ve since realised that I can get caustic soda from my local hardware shop, and obviously olive oil from the supermarket (so I’m going to keep an eye out for decent offers.)

Then it was just a case of getting FB out of the house for a couple of hours (he went to the allotment with his dad) and I was away. (This was back in september, before LR was born.)

It took about six weeks for the soap to be ready to use, but since then I’ve been using it as my shampoo and general soap, and it’s really really wonderful stuff. SO much better that shop bought and fraction of the price of handmade artisan soap. I few of these bars are going to be christmas presents for very special people but the rest I’m clutching to my chest, since it’s going to be a few more months before things are calm enough here to make some more.

I started writing a very complicated post that contained too many things.

So complicated that I gave up and walked away.

However if I do that then it will be another few days away from the blog, and frankly I’ve been away for too long as it is.

And I have lots to say…

So – keeping it simple – I’ll split what I was going to say into two posts.

Firstly we all have the lurgy here, except for lovely little LR (aka no2.). So things are all over the place at our house right now.

But hopefully in a few days we will be fine. In the meantime there is alot of calpol and calprofen being consumed here.

However there is also a great soup which I will try and post about in a few days, since it’s a huge hit in our house, and might be good for your house too.

HOWEVER – however what I really came here to say is that LR is 8 weeks old tomorrow (!! already!)

Look how much she has changed:

(Yesteryday.)

(And now I think I’ll go and eat a mince pie, and write up the other half of what I was going to say which I can post tomorrow.)

(And I need to start writing my christmas cards.)

LR (a girl!) born last wednesday, 20th October 2010, at 7.39pm, at home. Weighed 10lb 1oz and yes – all that hair!

Mum and baby doing well, FB coping considering he’s only just turned two, and Dad wishes there was more help on hand, and that the weather would stay fine so that all the washing had a chance to dry.

We’re all feeling our way forwards, trying to find a new normal, and yes there have been tears because it really is harder and easier at the same time. But it also feels like she’s been here forever.