Soccer in the Rain

You may not be able to tell in this photo, but it's raining :)

We were positive that Haley's game was going to be canceled today. It's been raining for 2 days, and there was a 100% prediction of rain for today. But when I called the hotline this morning, the games were on. It ended up being pretty fun, in a cold and wet kind of way. Several kids didn't show because their folks were sure the game was canceled, so the team didn't have any subs until a couple kids showed up at halftime.

The score was tied until the last few minutes, when the other team kicked a shot that slipped out of the goalies hands. Both teams played hard (with lots of missed kicks due to slipperiness) and it was a good game :)

Going to the Eye Doctor

So I had an eye appointment today. Not because I really wanted one, but because my optometrist wouldn't sell me any more contact lenses without a current prescription. It wasn't just the little exam either, but the full on, eyes dialated, after-images-like-a-bar-code-floating-in-front-of-my-vision exam. Haley's comment? "You look creepy!"



The doctor didn't like how extensively I wear my contacts, but was surprised by how well my eyes were doing given that info. He did recommend that I switch my contact cleaner to another brand. It's actually pretty cool. You put your contacts in a little cage, which is then suspended in a tube which you fill up with a special hydrogen peroxide solution. The case includes a gear thing which is coated in something that reacts with the hydrogen peroxide and causes it to separate into oxygen and water. It kills all the germs and then subsides into a solution that won't cause agony when you put it in your eyes. The catch is that you have to let it sit for at least six hours, so you're not sticking H2O2 into your eyes. But I'm a "desperately need more than six hours of sleep" kind of person anyhow, so that's not really a problem :)

The neatest part is watching it fizz :)

Seat Sacks aka Chair Pockets

I was going to order my chair pockets off eBay. I had email exchanges with several vendors. I finally decided to make them myself, however. That way I know the fabric is prewashed (and preshrunk!) and the pockets will look the way I want.

I ordered green canvas from hancockfabrics.com. When it arrived I took it to the laundromat and washed it and dried it on hot. (One of the vendors didn't prewash her chair pockets -- the finished products were dry clean only!!!). Now I'm in the process of ironing, cutting, and sewing 39 chair pockets.

Surprisingly, the fabric didn't shrink at all horizontally, it just got shorter. So I really can cut out 3 20" pockets side by side from my 60" wide fabric. The sewing is pretty easy, but the ironing and cutting are miserable. I finished one last night and took it to work today. It fits perfectly on my chair, and looks pretty snazzy :) When I'm finished, the math textbooks will have a place to live where they're easily accessible, and the students won't books scattered all over their tables :)

Body Butter Batch #2

So my palm butter and essential oils arrived, so I made another batch of whipped body butter :) This time, I ended up with a much thicker batch.

Ingredients
100g	Shea Butter
60g	Palm Butter
40g	Coconut Butter
2 tbsp	Corn Starch
1 tsp	Vitamin E Oil
1/2 tsp	Vanilla Powder
1 tsp	Crème Brulé Essential Oil
1/8 tsp	Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil
100 g	Shea Butter

Method

Just like the last batch. I measured out 100 g of shea butter, 60g of palm butter, and 40g of coconut butter. This time I used a bigger bowl, to make whipping easier. Unfortunately, that meant I had to use my crockpot bowl as my ice bath. It used a lot more water, and I ended up not having as much ice as I needed. Next time, I want to make sure to have 2 trays of ice before beginning.

I added the essential oils and the vitamin E. As I mixed, it didn't harden as fast as I was expecting. Next time I'll let it sit for a few minutes and see if that fixes it, but this time I melted another 100g of shea butter and added it (since the shea is the most aggressively solid of the butters). Eventually, it cooled and began whipping properly. I have mixed feelings about the different proportions of shea butter to the last recipe. It's less creamy, and more solid. However, I think shea butter is the big good ingredient, so having more of it is probably just great as far as the skin is concerned.

The scent ended up bordering on too sweet. Definitely too sweet in the jar, but once on it leaves the skin nicely scented. Haley loves it, of course. Is there a scent too sweet for an 8 year old girl?

Anyhow, the next day I brushed it through Haley's hair before her shower, and then shampooed it out. After the shower I melted some in my hands and ran it through her wet hair. It's been 2 days, and her hair is smooth (not greasy!) and feels really moisturized. It's much less tangly than before :)