Reclaiming My Basement Space

I have basement envy from my fellow blogger

 Amy at  Stow and Tell U .

Check it out!

She's also the dear friend that surprised me with this beautiful

speckled mason jar!

It will be perfect for my spring lilacs,

 and also this gorgeous Herb Chart all the way from Salem Massachusetts. 

 I feel almost witchy with this in my possession.  I am now practicing spells!  It still hasn't worked on the basement clean-up but I try everyday.

Pocus mundatis FUNDAMENTUM

That might be Witchcraft for

Hocus Pocus...Clean The Basement!

After weeks of sorting, sneezing, and many

 visits with the local waste engineer,

 A.K.A.(The Dump Guy)

I was left with this horrible floor and 

 a bit of a reputation with people thinking my dump and recycle

 visits were more than garbage drop offs!

And this was a picture of the VERY  best part of the floor!

You can see my first and second attempt of a clean-up  here

and here

A flooring that could possibly cover up those big

 black beetle carcasses seemed like the perfect solution.

  

 I could also just get the vacuum out and suck, which was 

another option I explored.

 I decided to go with option

 number one...just hide the bodies!

  

Part two of the new floor coming soon.  I have a large bookcase that my grandpa built full of books to relocate and then I will be on my knees again.

And no Mr. FT...don't get any ideas....

I won't scrub your shop floor on my knees!

"MOVERE HOC SCRINIUM"

that means move this bookcase in witchcraft!

UNBELIEVABLE.... it worked!

Stay tuned!

Cheers from

Activated Charcoal Soap

I really needed a shower after clearing out my storage room. 

 Wading through the junk and spider webs,

 I asked myself, "Self, why do you have this crap?" 

Self decided that we really didn't need this crap, and made numerous

 trips to the recycle outlet and dump....yes some of it was just plain crap!

Anyways, back to the shower. 

 I needed a bar that could scrub what I am sure is

 spider eggs combined with webs, and dust combined

 with a lot of sweat from my forty ninth time up the stairs.

But on the upside, after all of that exercise.....

  I am one buff chick 

SOURCE

This batch of soap I will title

 "Activated Charcoal Cleaning out the Storage Room Sweaty Dust Bustin Soap"

Please follow all safe soaping procedures with the right safety

 equipment if you are going to make this soap!

1 oz. Pumpkin Seed Oil

1 oz. Cocoa Butter

2 oz. Shea Butter

3 oz. Castor Oil

9 oz. Coconut oil

2 oz. Hemp Oil

8 oz Olive Oil

7 oz Palm Oil

2 oz. Beeswax

2 Tsp. activated Charcoal

1.5 oz Lavender Essential Oil

1.5 ounces Peppermint EO

7 oz Water

4 oz. Coconut Milk

4.8 oz Lye

I mixed my coconut milk with water in a 500 ml. canning jar in the sink.  I slowly added the lye to the water/milk mix and stirred with a wooden skewer.  I was wearing my gloves, long sleeves and safety glasses!

I added all of the hard fats into the bowl.  I used to use stainless steel bowls but found these
 Betty Crocker bowls at our local Dollarama as they have pouring spouts.

The lye solution is poured into the hard fats and stirred until it is all melted wearing all my safety gear.

The liquid oils are added to the lye / hard fat solution.  Using this method, I no longer have to melt the hard oils as the heat from the lye solution does that job for me!  After I stirred it so that the oils were mixed with the lye thoroughly, it was seperated into two bowls.  I added  lavender EO to one half, and peppermint EO and charcoal to the other half.  I layered my mix as I poured it into the mold.....again, still wearing all my safety gear!

and this is the result!

Can you imagine I waited for three weeks before I washed off that sweaty spider web infested dust?

That didn't happen.

  Luckily for Mr. FT, I had a few bars left from my last batch!

Castile Soap

Shampoo Bars

Poppy Seed Castile Soap and Hard Lotion Bars

Cheers!