The Sinister Scribe

a box of teas from Adagio. Mmmmmm…. genmai cha, earl grey green, darjeeling and (a new one to me) kukicha. *mmmmmmmm* Thanks, mom!

Maybe it will help me get through my insane ecologically-minded decision (made this week) not to use any wrapping paper this year… but to sew fabric bags to cover gifts instead.

OK. I was able to fix the problem with the comments. The error was actually helpful (for once). Thanks, Dayle, for letting me know. I really should have checked that before putting the new blog up. *blush*

I don’t know how you pronounce it. It is prounounced, KAY-lee. (Thanks, Ismay) But I do know it was fun and there was live music.
We all went. Sam and I danced. The steps are simple to do… or they were when we had no particular direction to go in. But I found when I had to do the steps AND go in a specific direction. Well. I could do one or the other. LOL!

Anyway. Here’s a link with more info. I hope to drag the family out there again, next time.

Just wanted to mention that it is NEGATIVE two degrees F this morning. NEGATIVE TWO! Freaking brrrrrrrrr! I am in awe, but not regretting the move. Also, weighted myself this morning. I’ve lost 20 pounds!!! Huzzah!

I’ve had a change of heart about WordPress. There are a few things I haven’t figured out yet but on the whole I am very happy with performance and configurability.

The recipe section was easier to incorporate than I expected. But the links are a hard-coded page/entry thingy. *meh*

Photos will probably be moved to yahoo photos. Unlike Flickr, I can store (and view) more than 200 photos for free.
Time to fix dinner. Gotta go.

I have a thing about peanut butter. It MUST be JUST PEANUTS. Dunno if you’ve read peanut butter labels lately, but that is very hard to find.

I am lucky to have a Vitamixer and can make my own. Which I’ve done with great results.

Usually I get the big tubs of dry roasted peanuts but this week, the raw peanuts were on sale so I picked some up. Well, raw peanuts do not make good peanut butter. The results are a gelatinous, dough-like substance that I’m hoping the birds will like.
So, the other bag of raw peanuts is roasting in the oven as I type. And OMG! They smell soooo good! Instructions were found here.

The new printer arrived today. Woot! Wasn’t expecting it until next week. But now that means, I have everything I need to start working on my entry for Queen’s Prize.

Ilaria came over tonight to pick up some preprints I’d done. She gave me some gum arabic too! How sweet was that! So now I have a period gold size too.

This is what I’m going to try to recreate. It is from the Aberdeen Bestiary. If I were to let my imagination run away with me, I’d plan on doing this same one over and over until I’m using all period materials. Or each time I learn to use a new period material, I do another illustration from this bestiary. But I’m not going to let my imagination run… just yet.

Ingredients:
1 part Oil of choice
2 parts Aloe Vera Gel
Essential Oils (optional)
Grapefruit Seed Extract (optional)

Directions:
Whisk together until you get a translucent white gel. Add essential oils and grapefruit seed extract, if you wish. It absorbs completely and quickly.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. grated beeswax
2 Tbsp. lanolin
1/2 cup almond oil
2 Tbsp. lavender infusion
2 Tbsp. witch hazel
1/8 tsp. borax powder
8 drops lavender Essential Oil

Directions:
Combine the beeswax, and oil in an ovenproof dish and heat until the wax is melted. The best way to do this is in a water bath. Place the dish containing the wax and oil in a pan with 1 to 2 inches of water. Once the wax is melted, remove from heat and add the lanolin. Allow the lanolin to melt and mix well. Combine the water, witch hazel, and borax and heat until just boiling. Slowly pour the water solution into the oil mixture while whisking briskly. Add essential oil, stirring well and then quickly glop into your container. This is a very, very thick cream! You will need a wide mouth jar.

Ingredients:
1 cup Salt
1/2 cup Oil
1/2 cup liquid Soap
2 tsp Glycerine
1 tsp Fragrance or Essential Oil
1 tsp dried bits (like mint leaves, etc)

Directions:
Mix together your oil, liquid soap, glycerine and scent. Then add your salt and dried bits (completely optional) and mix well. This is not a soupy mixture, but rather like damp sand. Of course if you prefer soupy, add more oil and soap.

Notes: Kosher salt doesn’t work for me here. Its not scrubby enough. Don’t use baking soda in this! I thought I could just use my basic bath salt recipe (equal parts epsom, salt and baking soda) and add the oil/soap mixture. NO! I don’t know what kinda weird chemistry happened, but it was too weird and would not wash off.

Dr Bonner’s liquid castille is what i use for the soap, but I think you could also use liquid hand soap or replace with oil.