Little Papers, Christmas Soap and Christmas Contests!

First, some exciting news!  The hectic eclectic girl is now listed in the Best Green Blogs guide at http://www.bestgreenblogs.com.  This is a great place to go and find blogs geared toward green parenting, green living, gardening and more.  Thanks to Timothy Latz, the editor of BGB for including us!

Second - I should've included a link in my Healthier post to the Slim Shots website.  Their website is https://www.slimshots.com/ver11/index.asp.

Third -  Christmas Soap!

Which leads me to the first Christmas contest...


I am going to have several contests this month to help us all celebrate Christmas, because I love getting free stuff, and I'm pretty sure everyone else does, too!  The generous folks at Write on Main (http://www.writeonmain.com/) were nice enough to donate some Little Papers card sets to the endeavor (thanks, S!), so be sure to check them out and let them know they are appreciated!

So... your prizes for the first contest are a set of Little Papers cards with envelopes and a bar of Christmas soap from moi!  Three winners will be selected from everyone who responds with an answer to these questions...


Since we are talking about free stuff....  What are some ways that you control spending during the holidays (or DO you)?  And what are the best (and cheapest) Christmas gifts you've ever made or recieved?


Comments must be recieved by midnight on Monday, December 21st to be entered into the contest, but I'll be glad to read and enjoy later comments, too!  Winners will be notified Tuesday. December 22.

For an additional entry to this contest, please become a follower of this blog!  Leave a comment that you have done so, so I can be sure you get your extra entry.

I'm looking forward to hearing your budget saving ideas!


j

Happy Thanksgiving! and welcome back, me.

On the eve of this year's day of thanks, I pause for a moment in the chaos that has become Thanksgiving, to be truly thankful.  What am I most especially thankful for this year?

• That my family has once again, managed to come together in body, if not entirely in spirit, to have a good time, to reconnect, to laugh and sing and play and BE together.  And that this family has come together from near and VERY FAR, safely.
  
• That we have another Thanksgiving with my Nana.  Truth be told, I'm thankful for her every day.
• That, financial struggles and all - we will still have more than enough to go around tomorrow.
• Tha t I am finally back to this blog!  and boy, do we have a lot to talk about!  Here is the flash update, to be discussed in more detail in a day or two... slim shots, healthy you challenge, local food, bad mirena, soap!  

Stay tuned, dear reader, stay tuned.  And know that I am thankful for you during this season as well... and
please let me know - what are you really grateful for this year?

j

What's in a name?.... and my first contest!

I had the great fortune to be a summer camp counselor for several years when I was younger and made some great friends in the process.  Some I still talk to pretty regularly, and some not as much, but they all still hold a fond place in my heart.  One of them got married last weekend and when her invitation came in the mail, it had, of course, her given name on it, instead of the name we know her by.  "Bacon" is a nickname whose origin I don't know, but which has stuck with her since way back when, and has just sort of become her name to us.  Of course we knew her actual name, but it was just a name.  The girl, the person, was Bacon.  And I got to thinking about other people I know with nicknames like that.

I had a nickname with my family growing up, but my friends never really called me by it.  And today, only a handful of my friends even know that it was ever my name.  Only my sisters ever call me Bean anymore.  But I know other people like Bacon whose nickname has stuck with them.  People like Scooter, Spam, Moose, and Grits.  And although some people have unfortunate nicknames that they don't like, these people are, for the most part, happy with theirs.  And I will probably still call them these names when we are old, and trying to be dignified, because, in my heart, that is who they are.  And because I'm a little bit jealous of them...

SO, that said, here is the contest.  I am offering two bars of Jean's Garden Soap to two lucky winners, selected randomly.  To enter the contest, you must:
1.  Become a follower (not in an existential way, just click that you want to follow the blog, if you aren't already)
2.  Leave a comment telling me some fun nicknames you know - they can be your own, or your friends or loved ones, or someone you don't like, but you think they have a hilarious nickname.....
3.  Do both of those by midnight, Monday, September 14th, because that's when this contest closes!

Thanks!
Bean

Lavender Castille Soap

Made some lavender castille soap last week. This is one of my favorites, wonderfully fragrant and very mild. It's also a nice hard bar that lasts for ages. My two boys, who have sensitive skin, can both use this in the tub. My friend's girls call it their princess soap, because it has lavender blossoms all over the top!

There are really two trains of thought about castille soap. Traditionally, castille is made entirely of olive oil from the Castile region of Spain. More modern soap makers, have added other oils and butters, to make soaps that still contain a lot of olive oil, but that make more suds, or contain more moisture, or [insert desired effect here]...

I, myself, am a castille traditionalist, I suppose - not in the sense that the olive oil must be from Castile, but in the sense that the oils used for the soapmaking process, but be exclusively olive. Feel free to disagree. I am not suggesting that soaps that contain olive oil blends aren't great - I make several myself. I'm simply saying that it really is a different type of soap. Soap that is simply olive oil is SO mild and wonderful, that it just seems like it should be in a category by itself. Does it lack suds? Yes, but the "slip" that replaces them, makes it a great shaving soap. My suggestion? Try out some different types of "castille", blends and not, and decide for yourself. Whichever you choose, there is sure to be a soapmaker nearby, willing to supply it for you!

mmmm...rosemary mint soap (with ground blue loofah). It smells so good!