Making Soap and Sewing

Good morning! Beautiful day here. Sunny with some clouds hanging out and a temperature of 37°F. Just lovely!

Well. Deeeeep subject. Especially for shallow minds. Good thing there aren’t many of those around.

Soapmaking Monday was good. I’d planned on Simply Sandy, Simply Soap, Simply Swirls, Grandma’s Rose Garden and Amena’s Baby Bars but neglected to note that Simply Sandy and ABB take jojoba oil and I had only a small amount so Simply Sandy was replaced with Cinnamint Shaving Soap. As it was, part of the jojoba oil in ABB had to be replaced with olive oil. Not a huge big deal but a change, nonetheless. Right now they are all sitting in a lovely row on the table awaiting the moment when I take them out of the papers.

I’d entertained thoughts of making more soap yesterday but when I checked Monday’s labors, they were not ready to take out of the molds (which I rather expected because I hadn’t actually started making soap until noon Monday). That put soapmaking off to today. I have now a limited supply of coconut oil so I will probably only be able to make two or three batches. I’m going to weigh what I do have and figure out what I’m making based on that number.

I have been thinking about the palm oil that I use in making soap. Almost every soap I make contains palm oil and palm oil has been in the news as of late. I have considered, and am considering still, not using palm oil because of the effects of harvesting it. I have more palm oil left right now than I do coconut oil. I could just use what I’ve got and then replace it. That will mean reworking every single recipe I have. As with many things, however, there are many things to consider. I am a minor player in the use of palm oil. The relatively small amount that I use does not contribute much to the deforestation in Asia. And we won’t get into the supposed effect that this deforestation is having on global warming. Not going there, people, sorry. There is some debate as to whether or not companies boycotting the use of palm oil will really have any effect on deforestation because if there is no demand for palm oil, the forests would likely be burned and used for something else. So, what should I, as a minor maker of soap do? Cut palm oil out entirely? Use a lesser amount of it? Unilever, the world’s largest consumer of palm oil, uses 1.36 million tons of the oil each year. Holy cow. That’s 2720000000 pounds. I currently am using less than 40 pounds per year (2719999960 less than Unilever or 1.470588 x 10^-8 [I think I did the math right]). Not even a drop in the bucket.

Isn’t thinking while you are writing fun? Based on my current thoughts, I think that the small amount of palm oil that I use does not make much difference. But surely I should do my part to be environmentally responsible. And it might not be a bad idea to look into the harvesting practices of the other oils I use. Maybe I should only make castile soap (I hope you can hear the sarcasm on that one because there is no way I could afford that much olive oil).

In other news, Saturday is the Trunk or Treat at church so I think I’d best be getting a move on with construction of outfits for the boys. Yesterday I sewed the side seams on Seth’s breeches inside out so I’ve got to either do the flat feld on the outside or take the stitches out. Still undecided at this point but leaning toward taking stitches out. Shirts are done other than buttons and buttonholes. Waistcoat linings are together. I’m working on breeches. My goal is therefore to finish breeches today (other than buttonholes which I’ll be doing on the other machine), and get waistcoats going. If I get everything to the point of just needing buttonholes, I can get all of them done Friday as well as buttons. Except the breeches which need some buttonholes before I finish sewing the waist. Anyway, should be tons of fun.

No soccer practice for Cedric today and we have a half day so we’ll see how the day goes.

Have a spectacular day!

Doula Training Thoughts, Etc.

Good afternoon! Are you ready?

The biggest difference in the actual material covered in the two doula trainings is...almost nonexistent. The general information is pretty much the same. The slant is definitely...different; but not as different as I expected. I think the reason is because I was expecting something different.

toLabor doula training was good. I am very glad that I took it. Both times. I am also very glad that I just completed the doula training program at Heywood Hospital which is done through Birth Arts International.

Thérèse Hak-Kuhn is awesome. She’s a little bit crunchy and very open and honest. She has a lot of experience and has been teaching doula workshops for a lot of years (since 1996). The toLabor workshops that I attended were both taught by Thérèse and were very similar. Not identical, of course, because they were in different cities (Jamaica Plain and Shrewsbury) and there were different women in attendance. I won’t bore you with names but the first time most of the women there were ones I’d also been attending classes with as part of the Basic Course sponsored by the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance. Those of us who had been attending classes together had gotten to know one another pretty well by the time we took the training and those who were not part of the MMA classes integrated somewhat but not to the degree of the rest of us. I have a list of those who were in attendance and I think it was in the neighborhood of twenty. The second one I attended I missed the first day because children watchers fell through for Friday. There were nineteen women there according to the list but I know that two who were there Saturday were not there Sunday. While I liked the women there, I was not as comfortable the second time, I think for two reasons—one, I was not part of the main group of women taking the MMA course and two, I missed the first day. I now also think that part of it was the size of the group. I do not do well with large groups. Granted, twenty women is not a huge group; from my point of view, five or ten would be better.

I do not believe that Thérèse is one of those doula’s who has a secret, subversive, or ulterior motive. I do believe that she is a doula in order to help women have the best birth experience possible wherever she chooses to give birth. However, I think she has had a lot of experience and some of it has been in/with hospitals that are not friendly toward anything other than what they prescribe. I now believe that this can produce people with a jaundiced attitude. She did stress the importance of working with hospital staff. Still, the overwhelming sense I had from her is that hospitals can be good but often push their own agendas far too often and too hard. This has been my attitude as well based on what I have learned through reading, watching movies, documentaries, etc., and listening to women tell their stories. Not to mention my own experiences, which admittedly have been minimal.

Karen Beaton and Meredeth Boudrieau are equally awesome. I don’t think they’re particularly crunchy but they are open and honest. They are also somewhat more holistic in attitude and practice than you might expect to find in the general medical community. Quite frankly, I was happily surprised by this. As I told the women there today for the closing circle, I was somewhat skeptical going in to this workshop. I’d taken the toLabor training but was basically looking at this as a way to get some actual birth work under my proverbial belt so I could certify. This skepticism stems directly from how I feel about hospitals and doctors and the general attitude they have about pregnancy and birth. What I discovered is that Heywood is different and the reason for this is largely through the efforts of Karen and Meredeth. This group of women was smaller; there were only nine of us. In spite of the fact that I was somewhat reserved at first, I liked the smallness of the group and the fact that it is easier to cover more material and easier to have all-inclusive conversations. The age range was wider; the youngest one there was 20 and the oldest 70. Both of those are impressive to me.

I still want to be a midwife. I still whole-heartedly believe that women deserve to have choices when it comes to where they give birth and that one of the choices should be their own homes. I also believe that they deserve to have a hospital like Heywood to choose from. I asked today what Heywood’s cesarean rate is; Meredeth wasn’t sure exactly where it is right now but it was right around 18%. Compared to the national average of 32%, that’s pretty good. I think there is still room for improvement but that’s not bad. I understand why many doctors and hospitals have attitudes about midwives—they all aren’t good. We heard a story today of a midwife doing something she ought not to have done because she was frightened. Well, I can understand being frightened. I cannot understand letting that rule you to the extent that you attempt to hide from the circumstances. Because there are midwives out there who aren’t so great, I think it is even more important to have midwives who are wonderful. THAT is my goal. Bearing that in mind, I think that working at Heywood as a volunteer doula will help me accomplish my goal and while I am doing that, I can also help women to have the best birth experience possible.

Paul is reading a book to the boys in the back room. Cedric didn’t want to listen because he thought the book looked boring. Joseph wanted to listen yesterday and was annoyed when Paul wouldn’t read yesterday afternoon. He just came in to report that Seth took a Lego from him and won’t give it back. I told him that they would all become my Lego’s if Seth didn’t give it back. As Joseph began to relay this message to Seth a bit too loudly, Cedric said, “SHHHHHH!!!”

Joanna and Amena are going through things in their room and getting rid of stuff they no longer want.

The counter that was lovely and cleared off Thursday is no longer. It won’t take as long to get back to what I need it to be but it has been collecting things. At least it won’t take three hours to clear off tomorrow morning. I do have other things to get done tomorrow, though, and I don’t really want to spend any time clearing off counters.

There is, as always, more that I could write but I think I am tired of writing for the moment. Have a spectacular evening!

Not Your Typical Saturday

Seth. (All pictures at the rec field yesterday.)

Good evening! What an interesting day.

Joseph.

I was wondering how the Heywood doula training would compare to toLabor and I am finding out. Basically, I am impressed with Heywood’s attitude toward birth and that they have a low rate of episiotomies and Cesarean-sections. I would like to know specific numbers but it appears that Heywood has at least one of the lowest, if not the lowest, c-section of rate of all hospitals in the state. Karen Beaton, RNC, BSN, MS is the Director of Maternal/Child Health and one of the doula trainers and she admits that one reason for the low rate is most likely due to the fact that they don’t really have high-risk women. I would think it also has something to do with the attitude of the doctors who work there. Anyway, quite interesting and I’ll give you more later. Probably.

Seth’s team won their game today. Seth said the score was 12 to nothing. I would not be at all surprised if that is indeed the score (he’s pretty accurate in reporting these things). Cedric’s team lost, 1 to 8. He reports that his coach was ready to quit because Petersham was cheating so bad. Something like that, anyway. I don’t remember exactly what he said earlier and he’s too engrossed in Harry Potter to repeat what he said. He actually told me to talk to the coach.

When I got home this afternoon, I walked in the house and Joseph was on the front porch. There was no one in the house and I could hear no noise. I could tell that Joanna had been cleaning in the living room (the Jeep was here and no one else voluntarily cleans other than her). I went upstairs and there was no one up there. I went outside and I could then hear voices. They were by the woodpile, stacking wood: Joanna, Amena, Cedric and Seth. Joseph was supposed to be going to the bathroom. I helped some even though I hadn’t changed yet.

Paul was down by the creek with the backhoe filling the bucket with more wood to bring up to split. He arrived at the woodpile and dumped what he had gathered and the wood that was already split was piled and then children kind of split the scene. I went inside and changed and went back out where I moved a couple of pallets so that we could go all the way to the end of the whole pile. Paul was splitting again so I stacked. When he quit, the fourth row was almost done. Four rows ought to get us through a fairly typical winter. We’ve heard this one is supposed to be cold, white and long so we probably ought to have more than four rows. I’d be happy to have five but we’ll see how it goes.

And that is all for now. Have a splendid evening/night!

Pampered Chef and Public School

See? Some days you just can’t get rid of me. Sometimes, if I don’t commit my thoughts to paper (or an electronic storage device), I just won’t remember when it comes time to write in the morning. Or whenever I get around to it. Sooooo, two topics for now.

As anyone who knows me very well (this might be limited to immediate family or those who can read my mind) knows, I love my Pampered Chef pots and pans. In spite of the fact that they were made in China. And I do love them. They are heavy and they clean up nicely and they have glass lids and the handles are long and I just like them and use them often. Daily? Probably.

However, when it comes to making hot chocolate (which I am doing as I type), I can’t pour out of my Pampered Chef pots for anything. I spill and make a mess all over the place and waste far too much lovely hot liquid. Such a bummer.

The next one deserves a title.

Thoughts on the Values Taught at Public School

As I was sitting sewing the inside of the collar on Seth’s shirt for Halloween, I was pondering the values that my boys, and girls, are or have learned while attending public school. Many of you know that we went to a Revolutionary War reenactment a couple of months ago. It was really cool and is an excellent way to learn about history for that period of time. While there, I got a pattern for the boys which includes breeches, shirt and waistcoat and sizes just right for the three. They were pretty excited about these outfits for a few weeks. Then, as we worked our way through the calendar and Halloween looms ever nearer, Cedric informed me that he doesn’t want to wear that for Halloween.

Why?

He would rather be Wolverine or one of several other characters from movies.

Why?

Because that’s what kids at school are going to be.

What happened to originality? What happened to using your imagination? Must we all be sheep?

I do not think that this is just because of public school attendance. I think we would have the same problem if my boys attended public school. We might even have it if we homeschooled and were involved in homeschool groups. By and large, however, I think that children are too influenced by movies and games; social media and media in general. They play games and watch television and movies at home. They go to school and they play that they are in the game or television show or movie. They come home and because everyone else is going to be an Angry Bird for Halloween, that is what they want as well.

Are you kidding me? They’re being taught to appreciate crappy, cheaply made costumes from China more than something I can make for them. I really want to use bad language here. Crap hardly seems strong enough. What the heck is going on here, people?

Okay, I get it. Not everyone has time to make costumes or period dress or whatever for their children. If I had a job, I might not have time. However, when I was working full time, I made almost all of my own clothes and almost all of Alisha’s clothes. We were well dressed happy. And I didn’t hear any crap about Angry Birds. (I realize that Angry Birds weren’t around 20+ years ago—it’s called generalizing.) My favorite Halloween when we were on our own is the year she was the cutest little witch the world has seen and I was Medusa. And guess where we got the costumes? Yep, that’s right—the fabric store. I made them. And didn’t hear any crap about Angry Birds.

So, if the problem is that people don’t have time, then we have our priorities screwed up that we have to spend so much time working that we don’t have time to do things for our children that involve time. It only takes a few minutes to buy crap from China but it might take hours to days to produce quality costumes that will last forever (well, a long time, anyway).

That isn’t the only problem, though. We also are losing real-life skills. How many people know how to sew anymore? How many people are teaching their children to sew? My guess is not a lot. I taught the older girls how to sew. Laura is quite good. Joanna probably would be if she spent some time doing it. I’m not sure about Alisha. Amena is not interested because her peers are not. Their parents are buying them crap from China and calling it good. Guess what? It’s crap! It’s not good.

After a deep breath and a few sips of lovely spicy hot chocolate, I think I’ve come to realize that the problem really does not lie within public schools. It lies within society. As a society we have forgotten what is really important. We seem to have come to believe that having a lot of things is the key to happiness when the reality is that being happy is a choice we make and that having a lot of things will not cause us to choose to be happy.

I love my family. I am going to make costumes for my boys and they will wear them for Halloween. I hope that one day they will realize that it is because I love them that I do this.

Incredible

Good morning! I decided to come back this morning after all. Some days you can’t get rid of me, some days you can.

I have decided that people who think children can be stubborn have never had to deal with goats. Actually, they have a lot in common. They are both cute when they are little. They both have moments when they are incredibly stubborn. They both have moments when they can be incredibly sweet. They both have hard heads but even if the goats have been dehorned, the goats would still win in a head-butting contest. Children do not produce milk so we put up with them only because we love them. Goats produce milk so we put up with them.

I have also decided that it is incredible how much difference five minutes can make in a day. Yesterday I got up just before my alarm went off at 5:55. I got up, got dressed, got Amena a lunch ready (and she told me that she’d be late next week on Tuesday and then the following week on Monday [to follow the pattern of being late every six days] and then never again; I told her that wasn’t a good idea—she said she was joking; I told her she wasn’t funny), got ready to milk, milked, fed Kitty, and then it was time to wake boys up at 6:30. This morning I decided to lay in bed until 6:00. I got up, got dressed, got a lunch ready for Amena, got ready to milk, Cedric and Seth were already up, milked, fed Kitty, went up to wake Joseph up at 6:40. Clearly, getting up at 5:55 and being done with things at 6:30 is better than getting up at 6:00 and being done at 6:40.

Right now there are three boys all ready to go at 7:30 and the bus hasn’t been arriving until 6:38ish. Cedric is on his way down to the end of the driveway; Seth and Joseph are playing with Kitty on the porch. Scooter is standing at the door looking like she wants out. She always thinks she wants out and then decides that she wants right back in. She thinks she needs to be wherever the people are so if they go out, she wants to as well; if they go in, she goes back in. Kitty tries to play with Scooter but Scooter can’t see so it doesn’t work very well. Kitty does successfully ambush Scooter sometimes and it is absolutely hilarious to watch because Scooter never has a clue as to what hits her.

Joseph just came running up the driveway and into the house. Very out of breath he said, “Mom, did you feed the cat?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” very relieved, “Good.” I’m pretty sure Cedric told him to check because Cedric said he wanted to feed Kitty but then got busy doing other things. It’s part of the routine by now.

I am not going to bore you with any of my opinions this morning but what do you think about the state of the volcanoes in the world?

Have a great day!

This and That

7:12 am

Good morning! The good news is that Amena did not miss the bus this morning. The bad news is that Joanna is home and will need to take my computer soon.

Yesterday was a typical Wednesday in many ways. Margaret Armstrong called in the morning and we probably were on the phone for more than two hours. She had some yarn she thought I might like and some fabric as well. Her mother-in-law died and her husband has been cleaning out the house (her father-in-law died also) and it seems she had quite a stash of fabric and yarn and while Margaret is glad to have some of it, it is a daunting task in the sheer volume of stuff. She said she’d send some things to the fireside at Nally’s.

While we were on the phone, I cleared off the counter in the kitchen. That is a job that has needed to be done for some time and it finally was done. And I do mean done. I even cleaned the cast iron pans that have been waiting for a few weeks. They are currently in the oven waiting to be put away.

Awesome pictures from last night. I didn't realize I had an antenna right in the way.

Cedric had soccer practice after school as usual for a Wednesday afternoon. Seth and Joseph played at the park and I walked with Dominic’s mom around the trail. She said she’d seen me walking and thought that she probably ought to do the same. It was nice talking while walking. I think we did four laps.

Joseph had scouts at 5:00 which is a fairly typical occurrence for a Wednesday afternoon. When he was done and we got home (Seth went too, which I don’t think is really the best thing but he behaved even though I told him he could not play soccer with a couple of children outside) it was time to eat before I needed to take Amena to the fireside.

The fireside was outside by the fire. It was cool but not bad by the fire. I’m actually kind of glad that I didn’t stay (the boys were at home and Joanna wanted to leave) because I didn’t realize it was going to be outside by the fire. I suppose I should have figured it out since they were having s’more’s for refreshments. I was leaving as Jared arrived and he asked if I could give him a ride home. Never a problem so of course I said yes. I delivered soap to Drayton Troop for his mom and Jeremy West. (One of my motivations to get the counter cleared off is soapmaking next week.) When I went back to pick Amena up, I asked Steve Trivett if he might be able to give Jared a ride just because Jared lives so close to the Trivett’s and I had some boys at home in bed. He was happy to.

And now Joanna wants my computer so I’ll be back.

The moon was so bright. It is tonight as well.

8:49 pm

Took a while but here I am. Joanna had class and then she had tutoring and then she had class. By the time she got home, I was gone. Orientation was pretty exciting. Kind of repetitious. But different. We got to get our pictures taken for our name tags which we will get tomorrow when we go in for the first part of our training. Pictures were taken in Human Resources so I checked to see if there were any phlebotomy openings. It said there was one pending. I’m not sure what that means but I got an application just in case and I’ll find out tomorrow.

We actually got done early so I could have just had the boys ride the bus home but they had fun at Riley’s and it sounds like they behaved and they probably wouldn’t have gotten their homework done if they’d ridden the bus home because I wouldn’t have gotten here until whenever I did. I think it was approaching 4:00.

This morning I got Joseph’s shirt done for their Halloween ‘costumes’ (I like period outfits or clothing better). Cedric’s took two days; Joseph’s took half a day. I think it’s because I was kind of experimenting with Cedric’s—finding out what would work and what probably wouldn’t. With Joseph’s I definitely had ideas of what to do. Seth’s ought to be slightly faster even and that is going to be my project for tomorrow morning.

Since I’m here so late today, I probably won’t be back in the morning. So, have a slumberful night and a spectacular day tomorrow!

Great Start

Well, Amena is off to a great start—she missed the bus again. The light was still of at 6:00 when I went in to investigate and, sure enough, she was asleep. I don’t know when she is going to learn that she cannot stay up as late as she does and still get up in time to get ready for school. She always assures me that she can and we are in the second full month of school and she’s missed the bus twice and come close a few times. I don’t know... I didn’t mind hurrying to take Daniel when he missed it once because I knew that he went to bed at a reasonable hour (8:00, just like everyone else) on school nights and got up at 5:30 and ate breakfast, got ready, and was always out waiting for the bus. Once in an entire school year. Not twice in the first two months. Joanna took her again and I told Joanna that she’s too nice. She said, “Well, do we make her walk?” No, but if she can’t be bothered to get up in time to catch the bus, I’m not going to bust my butt getting everything ready for the boys; I’d let her be late. Anyway, hopefully she will learn this time that it doesn’t matter what time the clock says, if the bus is there, it is time. Also, it does not pay to take your time and rush right before it is time.

The good news is that I think Cedric will be more like Daniel. Their brothers, I’m not so sure about.

In other news, I went in yesterday to pick up a packet of information for the doula training at Heywood. There is a lot of stuff to read and a lot of it is repetitious. After reading, there are a lot of forms and papers to fill out and did I mention that it is repetitious? Holy cow. I think I read about standard precautions (but never called that) three times, blood borne pathogens at least twice. What to do in the event of a fire was covered two or three times and how to safely pick up heavy objects at least two times. Did I mention that it was repetitious?

Tomorrow I get to go in for orientation from 1:30 to 4:30. Seth and Joseph are going to go home with Riley and his mom will take them to practice. I’ll meet them at the rec field when I’m done and won’t have to worry about Seth being late.

The actual doula training is Friday from 5:00 to 7:00 in the evening, Saturday from 8:00 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon, and Sunday from 8:00 in the morning to 2:00 in the afternoon. The hours are fewer than the toLabor training so I am curious to see what is covered and what toLabor covered that Heywood doesn’t. I asked my mother if she thought it was somewhat hypocritical for me to do this program though Heywood given my thoughts and opinions and feelings about hospitals and birth. The more I thought about it, the more I think not. After all, many women choose to give birth in the hospital for whatever reason and they deserve to have a good birth experience. Doulas can help ensure that they do. So, while having a doula in a hospital might not be what I want, it could very well be the best way to help some women. Even if I think they’re crazy for being in the hospital in the first place.

Today I need to make some phone calls and get some sewing done. Other than that, not much going on.

Have a wonderful day!