Long Time No Blog!

Hey!

It has been a few weeks since I last blogged. I was on vacation/business in CA. My girlfriend and I went to the Natural Products Expo West. WOW! Talk about heaven. I landed right in the middle of it. I have always been this earth loving, granola type. To have the opportunity to attend a tradeshow like that was absolutely amazing.

The trip was a dual mission. One ~ to gather vendor information for possibly opening a store. Two ~ see if that is an avenue I might want to pursue with the Good Earth. I am not sure if our little company is ready to run with the major corporations. Also, it would cost us a small fortune to pull off something like that. I am not sure that is where I want to put my advertising dollars.

It was fun though!

The greenhouse is up and running. Little plants are growing. Spring is in the air. I hear 5o by Wednesday. I can not wait to start running outside! :)

I am back!

I have not written in here for awhile. Wow. Time to get back to the blogging. Well, a lot has happened in the last week. We got our window estimate. I am not even going to blab how much. It is substantial. The plumber and the electrician started working yesterday. How exciting to think in about a week we will have a toilet and running water. We have not had running water in over 3 months out at the house. It really sucks. Finally, we got an estimate on refinishing the hardwood floors. There is no way we are going to take that task on.

Oh and most exciting thing for me was that I got to buy appliances. I bought a front loading LG washer and dryer. A Jen Air professional duel fuel stove and a Jen Air French Door refrigerator with bottom loading freezer. All in stainless. I have waited years for this day. I have been using my grandparents appliances for the last 8 years. I will finally have my own! Jumping up and down with joy.

The house on Lake Michigan is not where we live right now. We live in an old abandoned gravel pit in Maribel. Here is a picture of the last snow storm. Also, I want you to see one of the loves of my life. Gulliver. Doesn't he just look like he is loving the snow!

I have been working on my cream. I don't like my first batch. It is a little to thick and sticky. I need to back off on the Kokum. It first time working with this butter. I need to get a feel for it.

Stay Warm and Safe!

The Weekend

I have to admit I am more than a little disappointed today. I was planning on playing around with my new facial line. I ordered some of my oils from a company in Ohio and another in Oregon. Neither companies sent me confirmations that my orders shipped. I called the Ohio company today. I am fairly sure my order was lost. Intially she said all orders had shipped. Then she called to tell me the reason my order did not ship was because they had to melt down the butters. It would go out today. Of course I will recieve it on Monday. I have very few weekends to have fun with. This is one of the few. Just a little bummed. :(

I am still hoping my Oregon order will get here today or tomorrow. I am going to call to check on it. If it does I can still play. Hopefully, the universe hears me calling my butters and oils to Maribel. I have plenty to do if they don't get here. Lots of filing. Ugghhh... my favorite job.

This will probably be my last post before the weekend. We have had a good week overall. The Pella window came out to measure for our beloved triple pane windows. The house is going to be so beautiful when it gets done. Our bedroom overlooks Lake Michigan and we are opening up that view. Three 6 foot double hung windows will face the east. It is going to be magnificant. I dream of waking up in that bedroom somday. I can not wait to put those windows in. Finish the floors, paint and decorate. Our bedroom will be the first room done. When that is done we can move in.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Sickness Abounds!

I am not sure how many of you are sick, but oh my. I was hit really hard this weekend with a cold. I managed to get a bazillion loads of laundry done and some product made. It was definitely not the most productive weekend of my life.

In my sickness I decided my dry flaking skin needs replenishment. I have decided to make a facial serum and creme. I have picked out my oils and butters. They are ordered and coming very soon. I can not wait to start playing.

As I walked the dogs in the beautiful woods across the river from where I live, a name came to me.

Ephemera Rejuvenating Facial Creme and Ephemera Rejuvenating Facial Serum.

Thinking about how the woods I was walking in will change so dramatically in less than 2 months, brought me to the word ephemeral. I have always loved the spring ephemeral flowers. One of my favorite spring ephemerals is the Hepatica. Isn't she a beauty? So pure and simple.

I will leave you with a quote for today! :)

"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” - Joseph Campbell 1904-1987

Thought...Action...Belief

For those of you who know me, even a little, you know that I fully believe in the law of attraction and energies. I believe if you put your thoughts out to the universe and do not cloak it in negativity you can have anything you desire. This philosophy was introduced to me by my sister in law. I have been living it for the past 10 years.

I was recently watching an episode of Oprah and she and her guests were talking about "The Secret". One of her guests described it perfectly. It is like placing an order in a restaurant, but to the universe. If you order spaghetti and meatballs, you get just that spaghetti and meatballs. If you think you are going to have a unhappy, loveless life. You will. You just placed your order to the universe and it served you exactly what you asked for... an unhappy, loveless life.

The sequel to the original episode is on tonight. I suggest any of you reading my blog watch it. The Good Earth is a product of putting it out there to the universe. Here is a link to her website. Imagine what we could collectively create in this world if all followed these principals!

The Secret and Oprah

We're Back

From the Garden Expo. It was a great show. I was too busy to take any pictures though. We did great, up a considerable percentage from last year. The show seemed very busy with lots of eager gardeners tooling around! It makes me dream of spring. It seems to far off right now, but in reality it is just around the corner.

I can not wait to take new product pictures in spring. We live across from county owned land. There are so many wild flowers in bloom in spring. It is amazing to see!

We are going to start again the remodeling project on our 1900s farmhouse. Here is a picture of it. It is quite a beauty! I love it. It is my dream home. It is completely gutted at the moment. Only the exterior walls are standing. It needs a lot of love. I am sure once Michael is finished with it, it will be a masterpiece. He is so very talented when it comes to carpentry.

I am just completely and utterly exhausted. This week has been crazy, 100% insane. We just got our new labels in last week, after months of working on them. One problem! All of our products need new labels. Ugghhh....is all I can say. I really don't know how we are going to be ready to go tomorrow, but where there is a will there is a way! Another night of frantic labeling. :)

Well... we managed to make it through a horrendously cold weekend. Our house on the lakeshore actually ran out of propane. I do not want to even talk about how much it is costing us to heat that house. bad windows...bad doors....no insulation at all... Yikes!

Made a ton of product for the Garden Fair Expo in Madison this weekend. I really like the show. It is a great break from the winter monotony. There are tons of great vendors and a spring like atmosphere to boot!

I am so excited! I was recently accepted by an online wholesale artist coop. They basically advertise your business to retailers that are looking for new products. Well, we got our first buyer. A gallery from Half Moon Bay, CA! I have been through that town on my way to San Fran. It is a sweet little town. Hopefully, we get 2 more accounts and the money I invested will have paid for itself! Oh... and we have only been on there for 3 days!

I will have to take some pictures of the Garden Fair. It might entise some of you down there! :)

Gotta run....

Brrr.....

It is cold out. -20 with the wind chill. Just ran to get a tripod and camera bag for my Nikon D50. I decided to buy one on Ebay last week after months of deliberating. It was time to bite the bullet. I borrowed my friend's D50 from work. Big Mistake!!! Once a person gets their hot little hands on a D50 there is no going back. I can't wait to take some new product pics with it. I will post some of the pictures once I get it all assembled.

It should be a nice weekend. I will be home with the dogs. Michael will be working at the house in Kewaunee. He tells me he is working on the staircase. He seems a bit intense these days. I guess the work is not going as quickly has he would like. I think there is *a lot* of head scratching going on. Until he gets most of the framing done in the house I am fairly useless out there. Lucky me! I get some weekends off to relax.

I have to get ready for the Garden Fair Expo in Madison next weekend. I have lip balm sliders, lotion bars and some whipped sheas to make. I should be able to get that done on Saturday, hopefully. It always takes me longer to make product then I anticipate.

Have a nice weekend!

Welcome to my blog!

Yee Haa! I have joined the world of blogging. There are several reasons I decided to start blogging. Last week I had a conversation with a friend. In that conversation he told me I really needed to start writing down my thoughts. Hopefully putting it all out there will assist me in getting where I want to be. I am a big believer in putting it out there. I hope you all enjoy my ramblings.