Cooling Mints & Mint Lemonade

Peppermint and Spearmint are both well known herbs. They have been both cultivated for a very long time and have started out in Europe, then spreading to many regions. This is also the pattern for how the herb itself grows. If you want to plant either one, the best thing is to grow it in a container as they are very invasive and will overrun any garden. Just a word of caution.

Peppermint leaves when dried make a fine tea that is very good for a troubled stomach and digestion. European medical research studies have shown that Peppermint Oil has been useful  in treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Peppermint Oil has been used as a flavoring from everything from confections to gum to mouthwash for bad breath to helping teeth and gums deal with germs. Peppermint Essential Oil has been used to treat headaches ( applying several drops diluted essential oil onto the forehead- NEVER use any essential oil directly onto the skin), nausea, toothache and respiratory problems.

The essential oil has a high amount of menthol, which gives the essential its stimulating aroma when used in a spray to help one feel refreshed and more awake. This also helps when one is suffering from anxiety and stress.This same menthol has also been found to have a cooling effect on the skin by stimulating the cold-sensitive receptors in the skin. Another good reason to spray yourself with a peppermint spray or to use a peppermint soap in the bath or shower in the summertime.

Spearmint has also been used as a flavoring in a wide variety of items from gum to confections and its leaves are also great in a tea that helps with digestion. Spearmint Essential Oil is different from Peppermint in that rather being a stimulating oil, it is more relaxing and calming. Just a delightful fragrant oil. It does not have the high cooling sensation as Peppermint and it helps to calm the Peppermint down abit.

OK I went to youtube and was looking around for anything about mint- found 2 videos about making mint lemonade and loved this one because of the great music!  Enjoy!

Have you ever tried mint soaps in the summer ? They do have a great cooling effect and are a great way to wake up in the morning- particularly on Mondays!  Starting tomorrow the mint soaps ( Good Morning - Vanilla Mint- Rosemary Mint- Mojito) will be on sale for $4.75 each starting tomorrow till August 15th or stock runs out. Try one and keep cool!

What are you favorite mints and how do you like them - cakes- Mojitos ?

 

Nuturing Creativity & Artists.....

I came across this talk by Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote the fantastic book "Eat, Pray, Love" and I think it ties in very well with Julia Cameron's book "The Artist's Way". She talks about how the idea of artist's "being" genius has hurt us rather than the idea of "having" genius as in having a muse. She comments on showing up as her doing her part and the muse/genius showing up and doing their part. A really great talk and a look into the person of Elizabeth and writers.

How do you nurture your creativity and show up to work at creating ?

Did you know your body is 90% water ?

 

In the movie "What the Bleep do we know?" there is a scene where the main character comes upon an exhibition on the Mystery of Water and Masaru Emoto's work on water. Mr. Emoto did research on how our thoughts can influence water through showing what shape its crystals can take when frozen. Water that has thoughts of love directed at it are beautiful crystals while the hate thoughts show water crystals that are distorted. This research is similar to what some have discovered with plants when some are talked to and loved and seem to flourish while some are yelled at or threatened and are stunted and wilted. Its amazing how things that we take for granted are influenced by our thoughts and feelings.

What amazes me about water in particular is the comment that we are 90% water and if our thoughts can influence water what does this say about the effect our positive or negative thoughts have on our bodies as well as our emotions and our mind and soul ? I feel and believe that how we perceive and how we self-talk ourselves has far reaching affects not only in our bodies but also in our health and in so many ways affects how we walk along life's path. I think it is allot to really think about and to dwell on. I for sure do not have very many of the answers. only what feels right to me. But I have seen what being focused on something you want to bring into your life can do and I know that we can manifest opportunities that appear in our lives with faith- will- or whatever your want to call it.

I like the part in " What the Bleep.." where the main character is bathing and writing on herself with an eye shadow pencil with symbols and positive affirmations that set her down a new path rather than hating herself. I have wanted to do that as I feel that is a great form of self love and caring for your Self.

What are your thoughts for this mystery of water and how you affect it and it affects you ?

What's in a name.......

and the name is Ritual Waters. I have had people remark about my choice for this my business name and also this blog's name. I like to add that it is Ritual Waters where " all things wild and waterfilled are good for the soul".That part of my name came to me when I was watching the James Herriot series on public television. The series of "All creatures great and small, all thing... and I forget how it goes but the verbiage came to me and just seemed to fit like a key into a lock. So this has stuck very well with me.

Now, where Ritual Waters came from needs abit of background. When I first was thinking about a name for my soap business, I was thinking of all these nature and Goddess names but nothing seemed to fit. I had a list going but kept crossing them off. Started thinking about what I wanted to be my mission for this soap business and what got me interested in it in the first place. Baths - large baths with soothing bath salts- sweet smelling soap- candles- music playing - me time - relaxation - unwinding etc etc. I love making baths a ritual and using that as part of a meditation to recharge my spirit. And Ritual Waters was born and became a reality! Daily water rituals for soothing the soul and  spirit.

The picture I took while in Bath, UK and it was a fantastic tour. I wish to go again soon some day! Now those Romans took the bath to a new level! 

What is your bath ritual ? How do you unwind ?

Ultimate Blog Challenge strikes again!

You may be wondering why there has been such an influx of blog posts this past week as the crickets have been the only noise on my blog since the last challenge in April. That has not been a good sign as I have been a slacker and am now off the couch and at the computer. I joined another blog challenge as is gets me onto my computer and onto the pages of my blog and posting. I am intending to keep psoting after the blog challenge is over and not let the crickets take over again. Sorry to have done that as I really do like writing when I am in the middle of a challenge and get to meet allot of great bloggers and read allot of great posts. So, if you also are a blogger I encourage you to check out the challenge as its free and you get to join a great group and gets daily blogging ideas to help you meet the challenge.

I have also started re-reading The Artist's Way book by Julia Cameron which is a 12 week course on recovering your creativity. Its a great souce for re-connecting back with your artistic self whether its writing-painting-dancing -whatever you do or have done that fills you up. One of the tools is the morning pages that consist of writing 3 pages in longhand every morning -at least to aim for that. So I am busy busy writing writing this month especially and it is a great experience!  Both have been overlapping each other and both are affecting the other- the morning pages and blogging and I think this will be a powerful month for me!

So, are you up for a blog challenge ?

Want to know how I unmolded that beer shampoo soap ?

I thought I had a great plan and it worked! After 48 hours I put the soap in the freezer overnight. And the next day I removed the plastic from the bottom of the PVC pipe. I still have my Mom's old wooden potato masher (I think it must be about 70 years old!) and pushed it through that end to pop out the soap. Since these are 12"long lengths it did not quite push the soap out all the way. So I got my handy StarBucks travel mug and set the masher on top of that with the pushed out mold/soap and shoved it down over the mug and it popped out the soap all the way!  Yeah!  I then cut the soap into bars with my soap cutter so they are all lined up on my soap rack to cure for 3 weeks! And the scent is great!

Some of you may be wondering about a soap shampoo bar and how does that work? To shampoo your hair really wet down your hair, wet the bar and then rub the bar on your head to work up a lather. Wash hair as you normally do and rinse. I use coconut oil and castor oil and you will get lots of creamy lather- I think more than liquid shampoo and with none of those harsh ingredients like SLS -sodium lauryl sulfate and such. I also rinse my hair periodically with an apple cider vinegar rinse- 1 part cider vinegar to 3 parts warm water. Do not use distilled vinegar. After you shampoo use the vinegar rinse and this helps with the tangles. I don't use it every time I shampoo but as needed. The cider vinegar rinse will also restore your hair's natural ph balance which helps to make it more smooth and silky. Try it for yourself.

As I said in my previous post this is a new shampoo recipe with the beer added and I was wanting to ask for some volunteers to try out a sample bar and comment on it for me.

Let me know below if you are interested as the bars will be ready week of 7/22!

What have you got to lose and  your hair may love you for it! 

My Artist Date

Yes its a hodgepodge of things, went shopping. I hit the Farmer's Market about 10AM as well as many other's in the hot sun. Lots of veggies and fruit to tempt my eye and nose. And yes there was a woman you was selling cupcakes, I bought 2 of them and as you can see only one left. :o)  Orange Crush and Strawberry- Yum! The baker is Easey Peasy which I thought was cute name. Bought corn, tomatoes and other things. What was so great was talking to people and laughing and just being out.

I also bought a blue soap dish and Good Luck Oogles. They are cute and I figured I would give one to my granddaughter when she goes away to college the end of the summer. She can use all the good luck she can get with all the changes that will be going on once she leaves home. And also one for my daughter as she will need all good luck with her empty nest. Mine is just for the heck of it!  :o) Artist is Back Porch Pottery- you can email her at hendersongail4@yahoo.com 

There was another soaper at the market selling her soaps- I always go check out other soapers and what they are doing and yes I buy other people's soaps- this is where my addiction comes in to scents.

OK and lastly I went to several fabric/quilt stores searching for that button to no avail. And yes I did buy some fabric- there is really a saying, "she who has the most fabric wins" and I believe I will be in the running for that title. I did not find the pink button I was looking for but I found some pink glass beads that I will make into a button somehow - so that will work I think. But I did have allot of fun and even signed up for a quilt class. I love the camaraderie of being in a class.

Driving back to the house after my adventure I felt really good and motivated to accomplish some things today including writing this blog. I feel like I played and met several interesting people and just had fun and enjoyed myself.

What fun things do yo have planned for this weekend? I know you have a to do list but what about a play list or an artist date list? 

Post July 4th Story

OK I admit not the picture you were thinking of when you saw the headline but I had to share. This wonderful little dog is all mine and her name is Tinkerbell. Last night when I opened the door for her last time to go out which she loves to do as I have a fenced in backyard she was ready to come right back in. I could not figure it out. I was going to make her go back outside but she flipped herself on her back to plead with me not to go back out. Then I heard the boom boom of the fireworks and then got it. To her it sounded like thunder and she was not going out in with that rumbling going on. FYI if any of you own pets they do advise to keep them in doors if they are scared of loud noises. I was not thinking about the fire works up until that point.

But that whole scenario got me thinking about July 4th which I had not done all day- too many chores I needed to get done on my to do list. So me and Tinkerbell spent some quiet time on the couch and I was remembering past July 4th's. I had always tried to catch the rerun of Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney if it was playing. And there was the barbeque or cookout depending on where you live. And of course the local fireworks display. Great day to relax. But thinking back to what our country went through in 1776 to gain our independence and all the wars and fighting since to stay independent, it gives one allot to think about. We are very lucky to live in such a free country and I hope we all keep this dream alive and appreciate what we have. There are many in this world who are not so lucky.

I hope you all had a great Independence Day and celebrate what a great country we live in!

What July 4th traditions did you grow up with?

OK one more, this was in the 80's when I visited my brother in his family in Staten Island, was driving home with my Mom and my kids on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and  was passing NYC. It was so awesome as the fireworks were going off between the buildings that I guess people were shooting off- I was such a really wonderful beautiful site. Such a celebration!

A Creative Path

This week has been a quiet one which for me has been a long time. My daughter and granddaughter are away and I am spending some needed time with myself. I decided I needed to jump start my creativity and have started to re-read the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. In case you have not heard it is a twelve week program to recover your creativity. I need to get back on the path to my
artistic self. The picture above is the path I want to walk down again as I have been running down the work-stress- drama one and need to break free and go in a different direction. 

One tool she recommends is a weekly artist date. This is for your inner artist child and this is something I think I have been needing for awhile. I am so excited about this! I already have the next 4 weeks planned and I feel like a kid in a candy store giving myself permission to taste and try the things on the glass shelves!

I am going to go to the Farmer's Market this weekend which I have been making excuses that I have this or that to do that is way more important and anyway I can get veggies from the local grocery store. Have you ever told yourself these things and missed out on doing something fun and playful for yourself? I know I have been for awhile. And I am also going on a button hunt- I want to make my granddaughter a purse but need a pink button to complete it so I will visit some fabric and quilt stores to find a match!

I want to follow this in the following weeks with a trip to the mountains, some quilt stores that are a distance away and who knows what else ?

What secret adventures has your artist child wanted to get into and check out? What is your favorite candy from the candy store?

Beer is more than for drinking!

Yes that is beer in the pan in preparation to making a batch of shampoo bar soaps ! I selected a bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale from the local grocery store as the bottle appealed to me. From what I have read, I first needed to flatten the beer to get rid of the bubbles as lye and carbonation do not play well together. I added a tablespoon of salt which seemed to help get that process going. After I left it sit out I then boiled out the alcohol so that those sugars would not cause the soap to setup so fast. I decided to go back to an old mold idea for round bars. I have not made these in years and thought they would be a more handy way to use the soaps in the shower! So I went to Home Depot and had a nice gentleman cut in half 2 - 24" lengths of 3" diam. PVC pipe for my molds.

I used duct tape to attach plastic to the end of each length and my molds were made. I could not take more pictures of making the soap as it setup up very very fast. I ended up glopping ( a very technical soapmaking term) it into each of the three molds and pounding the mold on the counter to make sure the soap made its way down to the bottom. One tube  I think I pounded abit too hard as a hole developed in the plastic!  :o(  But I got all them babies filled mostly and put to bed- meaning I wrapped an old towel around them to insulate the batch. Tomorrow I get to uncover the soaps and see how they fared- the scent blend is Rosemary-Lavender-Lemongrass-Patchouli and smells wonderful. The next challenge will be getting the soaps pushed out of the molds and yes I have a plan for that.



I have wanted to try a beer soap as I had heard many good things about using the beer. What I have learned is that since beer is mainly hops, many of this herb's properties and benefits add some good skin cleansing qualities that are also good for your scalp.  Also the old wives tale about washing your hair is beer also pushed me to want to try this. I have been washing my hair with only my shampoo bars for the past 10 years and you will not find a softer head of hair if I do say so myself.

If you are interested in trying a sample of this beer shampoo bar I will be needing some testers and all it would cost would be your time and comments. Always looking for people to try something new. This batch would be ready in about 3 weeks.

SO let me know and and leave a comment below and please share!