Garden Update

The past several weekends have been rainy, cold, windy, or some combination of all three. Because of this, it took almost a month longer to build the last section of our garden beds and fill them than we would have liked. However, this past Saturday dawned sunny and warm, so we grabbed some breakfast, got dressed, and headed off to the local Lowe's to get the chicken wire, topsoil, and compost we needed.

Within an hour, we were back home and getting to work. We guesstimated we would need 20 cubic feet of soil to fill the bean bed, so that's what we got. You can see it there beside the bed materials in the heaps of bags.

Starting Our Seedlings

Two weeks ago, we built the frame for our garden bed this year. Well, we built the main part anyway. We ran out of chicken wire before we started on the last 4 x 4 bed because we'd ordered a 4 x 12 bed, and we didn't realize it would come with enough materials to build a whole other bed. Anyway, we decided to start a few plants from seed last week.

We decided to start our beans indoors since they're a bit more "picky" than the radishes, which will be fine being planted directly into the beds this week. And the pumpkin won't be ready to plant for another month or so. We will be purchasing tomato, pepper, and cucumber plants from the same nursery we did last year in another few weeks, and we  plan to purchase several lettuce varieties while we were at Lowe's getting dirt in a couple of days..

Building a Raised Garden Bed

If you were around last year, you might remember we spent several days building a patio garden only to have an unusually wet year drown everything. You see, Alabama summers are notoriously hot and dry. So when we picked out pots for a patio garden, we thought having ones with solid bottoms and putting drainage rock in the bottom would be our best bet. Things didn't turn out so well, and this year is shaping up to be just as soggy. So having a patio garden for vegetables for the next few years doesn't look like it will work.

This was the garden about a week after planting and few days before the downpours began.

According to the schedule, this year was supposed to be the chamomile bed, a fire pit and attached patio, and the old patio garden. Then next year, we'd build a pergola with built in planters and benches for grape vines and blackberry bushes to climb over. And in 2018, we'd look into raised beds for other fruits and vegetables. Hubby and I decided to change up the plan's schedule. 

Longing for Nice Weather

This winter's been a bit warmer than it has been in the last few years, but it's been much wetter. We've had the occasional nice day. However, most have been rainy, windy, bitterly cold, or a mix of the three. Typical winter weather actually, when you look at it on the whole. It just makes you want to stay inside under the covers, and after nine or ten weeks of it, you can't help but begin to long for the return of nice weather.

The girls and I have been feeling it for a couple of weeks now. Sneak in particular is practically climbing the walls in anticipation. She's been begging to go to the park for two weeks straight, and she doesn't seem to understand not everyone is as hot natured as she is. Boo Bear and I feel the cold, and we feel it intensely.

Yet on days like this past Saturday, nice weather doesn't seem so far away. We woke up to frost, but it was warm enough to not need a jacket by lunchtime. The sun was shining so brightly, it hurt to walk outside without wearing shades.

So, the girls and I have come to a deal. If they can consistently finish their daily schoolwork within the allotted time, we'll make daily visits to the park, or at least the road that runs beside our house, for a walk when the weather cooperates. And if they can keep up with their lessons and chores without whining or fussing amongst themselves, we'll start going to the playground on Saturdays when the weather cooperates and we don't have other obligations.

If nothing else, we could all do with a bit of exercise and sunshine. Bring on the warm, sunny days of spring. We're ready.

Symphonic Weekend

The local symphonic orchestra and ballet company held a free, first come/first serve family event this past weekend. The concert didn't start until 11 a.m., but the doors opened for family friendly activities at 9:30. Music has always been a big part of my life, and the girls have been showing interest in musical instruments and learning to play. So Hubby and I thought we'd get everyone up early and see if we could snag seats.

We were running a few minutes behind, so we decided to handle an errand we'd planned to run before the concert afterward. It's a good thing we did because the place was packed! If we hadn't rearranged our plans, we may very well have made the twenty-seven mile trip, one way, for nothing otherwise.

Give Sneak a violin, and she's all smiles.

Stations were set up all around the theater lobby. They had a booth where you could learn how to conduct, an "instrument petting zoo," face painting, hula hoops, musical chairs, a coloring booth, photo ops, dancing scarves, and more. 

Cinderella's carriage has seen better days.

The girls had a blast. We nearly had to pull them away from the "instrument petting zoo," and then Boo Bear fell in love with playing musical chairs. Sneak got bored after a game or so and wanted to make sure she explored everywhere. So Hubby stayed to keep an eye on Boo, and I took Sneak around to explore. She gave conducting a whirl, played some percussion instruments, had her photo taken in Cinderella's carriage, and played with the dancing scarves. Then we met back up and found some seats.

Boo Bear was excited to see the show.

Sneak, ever the explorer, soon grew bored with watching the musicians warm up and wanted to go back out to make sure she didn't miss anything. However, the theater was starting to become crowded, and I was afraid we wouldn't be able to find seats together if we gave up the ones we had. So I started pointing out different features of the concert hall's design and different instruments to distract her the few minutes until the concert began.

View of the hall from the stage, taken by symphony staff fifteen minutes before the show began.

Once the lights went down and the music began, the girls were entranced. The symphony played their first couple of pieces without accompaniment, but it wasn't long before the ballet group began sharing the stage. They used clever, minimalistic puppetry and costuming to bring the characters to life. The theme of this particular concert was animals, which is just perfect for the ten and under set.

Mr. Hedgehog enters during, "Mr. Bear Squash You All Flat."

In different parts of the concert, dancers came down into the audience or entered from the back of the theater, allowing the children to see them up close. Between songs, the conductor stepped off his podium and led the audience in music making with simple instruments provided at one of the booths in the entrance or just drumming on their laps. A couple of the puppets, fish puppets to be exact, thrilled the audience by producing bubbles as they "swam" down the main aisle of the theater.

The concert itself only lasted an hour, just long enough to have the kids leave still on a high from the show without growing bored. We made it back to the car, ran our errand, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before the lunch rush was in full swing. Then we went back home, pleased and grateful for having had such a nice morning out.

Homeschooling Chat: Cross Curricular Projects

Now that the girls are approaching ten and have the attention spans to match, we've decided to swap from doing a whole slew of small projects throughout the year to one big, cross curricular project. This isn't to say they won't still do some small, short single subject projects. They'll always have short essays, papers, and experiments going on. No, we're talking about a group of smaller projects grouped together covering a range of skills and subjects, all under the same theme.

Here's the girls' finished food pyramid poster.

We decided to start with one of the five basic needs as the basis of our first cross curricular project: food. No matter who you are, you have to eat. Shouldn't you know something about what you're putting in your body well before you're out of elementary school? We think so.

Starting Fresh with the New Year

Hello again. I hope you and yours had a merry holiday season and are having a happy new year thus far.

It's a time for new beginnings, and I thought I'd bring up a few of our fresh start goals for 2016. Some we technically started at the end of 2015, because why wait? Others we only started today, the first Monday of the year. Some may become new habits. Many are likely to morph or fall by the wayside. There's really no way to tell this early in the game, but still we try.

I have a horrible track record at keeping up with resolutions, so this year I'm trying picking a word keep at the forefront of my mind throughout the year. It's no secret I'm more than a bit scatterbrained, so I figure "focus" is a word I can use more of anytime. Therefore, it is my 2016 word of the year, and I intend to implement it in multiple areas of my life and the girls.

DIY Poinsettia Ornaments

I've been stitching these time consuming but inexpensive and easy poinsettia ornaments for years. I love the look of poinsettias, but I'm bad about remembering to water plants and didn't like the thought of having poisonous flowers around with small children. So these felt beauties were a way to bring them into our home for the holidays with minimal cost, fuss, and worry.

The materials are simple. For every two ornaments you want to make, you need one 8.5x11 inch sheet of felt in green and whatever color you want your poinsettia to be. You'll need a pack of acrylic gems, a roll of thin ribbon, a needle and thread, and a hot glue gun with plenty of glue sticks.

Creating Memories

We instituted a weekly "family night" just over a year ago, and it's been a rousing success. The girls look forward to it each week, and not just because that's the night we have our weekly sweet treat. They're still at that age where they want to hang out with their parents. Even when we've been together all week, they still crave time and connection with Hubby and me, and they see more as more.

From our Lord of the Rings Marathon Christmas 2013

I have a confession to make though. I've been getting lazy with planning our family nights. It's so easy to fall into a routine of popcorn and a movie. I only managed to participate in the first retro game night a time or two before the controller that worked with our Nintendo emulator got to where the rumble was a constant thing. That'd freeze my hands up inside five minutes, so we tried using our hand-me-down Wii, but then one of the controllers stopped working back in the summer. And our balance board died sometime last month, so video games are pretty much out. The girls have usually used up their focus for the day before Hubby gets home from work, so the board games and puzzles we have get frustrating for them late in the evening, relegating them to a weekend and holiday only thing. So, what's a mama to do?

Event Recap: Con Kasterborous 2015

This year's Con Kasterborous was this past weekend, and it was bigger than ever this year!

My Con Kasterborous setup for 2015.

July in Alabama is always hot, and this weekend was no exception. How all the cosplayers managed it in so many layers when outside the cooler confines of the hotel, I have no idea, but let me tell you, they were there and just as magnificent as always. Sadly, I'm kind of a chicken when it comes to asking folks for photos, and my camera gave up the ghost after overheating sometime last spring. So the only photo I have is the kinda sad set up shot above, which is the best my phone camera can muster.

Opening ceremonies was as fun and entertaining as ever. The guests were great this year and all seemed kind and charming. Unfortunately, thanks to it still being the middle of summer semester for Chris' students and his taking over the school's website and social media maintenance for the upcoming year, he was busy with grading and communicating with parents most of the weekend. So as much as both of us would have liked to take turns attending what we heard were wonderful panels, we really only got to see and hear as much as went on in the dealer's room.

We did get the chance to catch up with friends we haven't gotten to see in a long while and meet a bunch of new folks. We got a kick out of seeing all the beautiful cosplays as well as seeing Dalek Braun and R2-D2 rolling around the lobby.

There were a couple of disappointed mentions of lotions missing from our table this year. We've discontinued those and the guest sets from our usual line up. Unfortunately, the smallest possible batch of lotion makes four bottles, and the majority of the time only one or two would sell within the ten months before they became too close to their expiration dates to sell. If someone wants to order a minimum of two or three bottles, I can make a custom order for them, but otherwise the lotions just seem wasteful.

Also, discontinuing the lotions and guest sets has allowed us to keep more fragrances this year than we would have been able otherwise. My inventory closet is just a teeny tiny linen closet, so space is at a premium. The trim down freed up an entire shelf for new fragrances, meaning only one old scent had to be discontinued this year and room is still left for seasonal items and next year's line.

There is one thing I love about the new Westin location. The tables are large and sturdy, and the tablecloths provided are amazing. They don't slide around on the tables, and they provide enough friction to keep stuff from wobbling. We missed being as near the action as we were last year, but the new dealer's room was large enough that they could scoot the tables farther away from the wall than we've ever been able to before. Between that and having a parred down selection, it was a lot easier to manage the busiest times because Chris and I could slide by one another without tripping over chairs and open the cash box without knocking a shelf over.

All in all, Con Kasterborous 2015 was yet another good year, and we're looking forward to going back June 25 and 26 next year.

Fragrance Introduction: Summer Reading

Today's fragrance is the last one for 2015, and it was inspired by the notion of reading on the beach during a summer vacation.

Summer Reading Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The soaps are goat milk and glycerin, and you'll find some of the things you might see at the beach in the design: sea shells, tropical flowers, the sun, glistening sand, and clear blue sky. The fragrance is a fresh and welcoming blend of sea spray, coconut, old books, orange, hyacinth, heather, and leafy greens.

This is another design which may be subject to change. My insert molds turned out to be a good deal bigger than expected and curved, so bubbling was more of a problem than anticipated. It just plain didn't come out the way I'd envisioned, and you know me, I can't leave anything alone until I've gotten it down.

Fragrance Introduction: Magic Time

Here we have the last of the Doctor Who inspired fragrances for now. Magic Time was inspired by Peter Capaldi's current version of The Doctor.

Magic Time Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The soaps are goat milk and glycerin patterned to resemble the 12th Doctor's outfit, which he refers to as "looking like a magician." The fragrance is a warm blend of marine, ozone, juniper, sage, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, fresh cut grass, orange blossoms, citrus, French lavender, and musk.

Fragrance Introduction: "No More!"

Now we're on to the incarnation of The Doctor who refused the name. Inspired by John Hurt's "War Doctor," No More is a deep but still fresh blend of sea spray, cedar wood, sandalwood, leather, amber, cashmere musk, rose, tobacco blossom, caramel, mandarin, honey, grape, peach, and plum.

"No More!" Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The soaps are made of goat milk and glycerin. The design is comprised of two marbled sections: black and gray to represent the worn leather jacket and burgundy and cream for the scarf he wears. These sections are separated by an abstract bandolier, a stark contrast that separates the War Doctor from his other twelve incarnations.

This separation is also marked by substituting sea spray for the marine and ozone that ties all the other Doctor fragrances together. It's similar, but also notedly different. And, of course, I had to include a heart note of rose considering Bad Wolf's role in his story.

Fragrance Introduction: The Clown

Today we're moving on to the last of the Classic Doctor Who inspired fragrances, The Clown, inspired by Patrick Troughton's turn as the second incarnation of The Doctor.

The Clown Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The name comes from the first incarnation's comment toward the second in The Three Doctors. "So you're my replacements; a dandy and a clown?" The soaps are made up of both goat milk and glycerin soap in black and baby blue since Troughton was the first Doctor to make the transition to color. And as he was also the first incarnation to rock a bow tie, I had to carry over the motif amidst the swirls of black and blue.

The fragrance is a light and slightly fruity blend of marine, ozone, blueberry, Indonesian teakwood, falling leaves, citrus, patchouli, amber, bergamot, and white tea.

Fragrance Introduction: Doc Foreman

Those of you who have known about Contented Comfort for any length of time have probably come to expect these next few fragrance introductions. For the past three years, I've been working my way through the various incarnations of The Doctor from Doctor Who, and 2015 will bring this tradition to a close until the end of Capaldi's era.

Doc Foreman Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

Doc Foreman was inspired by William Hartnell's iconic turn as the original version of The Doctor. The name comes from his first human companions, Ian and Barbara's, confusion regarding his name after finding the TARDIS in Foreman's Junkyard. The design was inspired by the opening graphics of the day as well as this first incarnation's rather uptight nature.

Fragrance Introduction: Shinigami

Inspired by the "gods of death" from the anime series, Death Note, Shinigami manages to be both fruity and earthy.

Shinigami Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

The design is an apple the Shinigami are so obsessed with surrounded by swirls of smoky black, electric blue, and white. The fragrance is a blend of fresh apple, blackberry, sage, tea, cedar wood, sandalwood, leather, amber, dirt, moss, and cashmere musk.

Fragrance Introduction: Amazon D

Today's fragrance was inspired by the famous Amazonian, Diana, otherwise known as Wonder Woman. This deep, complicated, and feminine scent is a blend of lily of the valley, strawberries, grapefruit, orange blossom, citrus, lavender, white sandalwood, cedar wood, patchouli, frankincense, rosemary, and musk.

Amazon D Goat Milk and Glycerin Soap

The soaps are largely glycerin with a couple of goat milk stars inserted into the blue. This was another experimental technique born out of attempts to use molds I already had on hand. I attempted to use an insert wedged into the mold and held in place by a thin layer of clear glycerin to separate the red and blue. Unfortunately, a slice long enough to suit this purpose will push up from the bottom of a silicone mold, and any even a millimeter too small allows color leak through. Additionally, my small star molds are rounded, which led to problems with small bubbles getting trapped in the rounded portion of the stars that couldn't be seen until the soaps were removed from the molds.

Fragrance Introduction: Through the Wardrobe

Today's fragrance is yet another request. It was for a scent honoring winter in Narnia.

Through the Wardrobe Goat Milk and Glycerin Soaps

A color pallet of cobalt and creamy white with golden flecks of sparkle entered my mind at the suggestion. The fragrance is a crisp, cool, and refreshing blend of white gardenia, evergreen, crackling firewood, and peppermint with just a hint of raspberry and vanilla.

I was afraid directly inserting the snowflake patterns into the goat milk would hide or distort them, so I experimented with using a thin top layer of clear glycerin. Unfortunately, displacement thickened the glycerin layer enough to create a seam between the insert's backing and the rest of the goat milk soap. I did insert one directly into a bar of extra goat milk soap to see if they turned out differently. That one, though undersized, turned out to be my favorite. The snowflake showed up almost perfectly, and there wasn't much of a seam between the insert and the rest of the bar at all. So, there will likely be a slight adjustment to the design next go around.

Patio Vegetable Garden: Getting Started

We've been talking about starting a patio garden for two or three years. It's one of those things that can be a bit pricy to get going. So, we've been accumulating pots, tools, and bags of drainage rock here and there over the last few years. While irritating, it's been for the best since it gave the girls time to grow into being able to take active roles in tending the garden with us.

The girls learned how to transplant seedlings. They were so gentle with their beans!

Thus far, 2015 seems to be the year to get started as things finally fell into place with only bags of high quality potting soil and seedlings left to go. So with the girls' bean plants outgrowing our kitchen table, we devoted Friday afternoon and just about all day Saturday to setting up our first patio vegetable garden.

Annual Christmas Sale

If you missed the annual Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale, don't feel bad. There are still some great deals to be found in my annual Christmas sale.

Set up for the open house Friday.

Yes, the discounts might not be as high on some items, but everything in the store is still anywhere from 10-75% off now through December 12. I always end the sale on that date to ensure everyone who orders receives their packages before the holiday.