and now it's time for

just read one of the magazines i receive from voice of the martyrs 
( i don't know how i get it but i do).

praying for the Christians and churches in africa that are suffering under assassinations, mob attacks, acid attacks, and other persecution.

kenya, uganda, tanzania, zanzibar, egypt

so thankful for missionaries like the boisverts who go to these countries and train national pastors despite the risks and the pastors who risk everything to be a faithful witness.

in other sad news.  a picture in the lives of women in pakistan: outlawed in pakistan
i recommend watching it (adults).
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my aunt told me recently that she enjoyed reading about my kitchen experiments.
i said that i haven't had any explosions or errors recently but that i was probably due for one soon.
this one is for you auntie, you know who you are.
one day later:
any one ever watch veggie tales?

you know the 'and now it's time for silly songs with larry'...

well

now it's time for kitchen katastrophes with kassandra part 112.

i've been experimenting with dish soap recipes for a while.

natural dish soaps are expensive so why not make my own (this does not extend to sun block... i was going to and then i just forked out the cash for the natural pre mixed stuff).

so i tried a recipe and i thought it worked well except that after a while it would get kind of... funny.

like clumpy.

and i couldn't figure out why.

then i found out that vinegar un-saponifies soap.

guess whose recipe contained vinegar.

it's not like i didn't get my google fingers on when i was looking for this recipe.  i 'searched' away and a lot of them, read: all, called for vinegar.

i guess a lot of people don't mind a curdled looking dish soap.

(this curdling effect also started happening to p's shampoo and i switched to using straight liquid castile soap and then a vinegar rinse.  curdled shampoo equals really waxy junky hair.  if she was 13 she would have never forgiven me)

so i had to put my google fingers back on to find a different recipe.  it seemed to be working well and i added my fav essential oils.

one of them happens to be lemon.

yep.  apparently the whole lemon in milk thing wasn't connecting in my brain with the vinegar in soap thing..... and what did i get:

curdled soap (well technically it's still useable but very weird).

i didn't realize it at first but as i was doing other things and noticing the weirdness of my soap dispenser i couldn't let it go.

it took a while for the light bulb to go off.  

at least i figured it out in the same evening.

so i remade it sans lemon essential oil and it was much much better.
thicker texture, easy to work with....
that is until the next morning.
when i found it completely gelled to almost solid.
every other recipe was very watery (which took some getting used to) and i wasn't expecting it to happen despite the recipe warning saying of your house is too cold soap might thicken.
you can say that again.
i had to melt it the same way i de-crystalize honey.
well if a soap recipe can't take 60 degrees then it's not for me.
it would never survive the winter.
time to start over, again.

owa tagu sami

now i have to figure out why you have to use liquid castile soap and lye soap.  why can't you just use lye soap in a larger portion?

is one better? why? what's the difference (besides the ingredients... i know that part) does one work better?

lye soap vs. castile soap.

let the googling battle begin.

my new now workable but still tweaking to be not too thin and not gelled solid recipe:
1 1/2 cup boiling water
poured over 1 Tbsp grated lye soap
1 Tbsp super washing soda
1/2 cup liquid castile soap
one dropper full tea tree oil
drops of eucalyptus ess. oil

i'll be fiddling with soap amounts to get a thicker more like store bought dish soap liquid... now that i know that it is possible to get the stuff to gel.
i'm going to try doubling the lye soap and eliminating the castile.  my previous recipe would leave a 'film' on my metal counter that i could easily wipe off with my vinegar spray but if i don't have to do that i don't want to do that.  and liquid castile soap is expensive.

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i fully realize that by making my d.i.y. dish soap tendencies public my mother will never do dishes at my house again.