A Peak at Panama

sloths  monkeys  spanish  leaf cutter ants  taxis  fevers  anteater  ice cream  grandparents  surreys  sand  noisy buses  christmas  santa will find us anywhere  tall empty buildings  ships ships ships  rain forest  tinytinytiny frogs  howler monkeys in a storm  budget hotels  luxury hotels  giant woodpeckers  more fevers  worried mommy  malaria?  long plane rides  nikos  parades  bounce castles  cabana  lost reservations  being together  birds  canopy  train  canal  babies  food

The Candle Post

 

  

I've been wanting to write about my candle making experience, but first I needed to put some distance between myself and 12 lbs. of beeswax.  I was making candles almost daily before the holidays.  It's not that 12 lbs. is sooo much, but when you only have a few molds, it's a drawn out process and my product seemed to get increasingly worse as I went along.  So, by no means am I an expert, but in the end they turned out pretty well (and once they were lit all the flaws that I was obsessing over just melted away).  Here are a few things I learned along the way...

The wax...
I got a bulk discount at a great store in Portland called the Portland Homestead Supply.  I LOVE this store, it has all of the things you can't find anywhere but online and they offer lots of great classes, like pig butchering (I found myself interested in signing up, but only if they started with a live pig.  Is that strange?) Initially, I found beeswax a bit cheaper online, but after they said they'd give me a bulk discount it was much cheaper to support the local guy and not pay for shipping.  I paid 8.00 a lb.  BUT, I have recently discovered that I could get it from a local beekeeper for around 4.00 a lb.  I'll go that route next time, but thus far the beekeeper hasn't returned my calls. 

To break the wax it was easiest to put it in the freezer for a bit and then use a chisel and hammer to break chunks apart, and satisfying too.  Cutting it with a warm knife did not really cut it (pun intended).  I must say though that my first batch of candles used from the wax that I didn't freeze before cutting turned out the best.  I'm not sure if it was beginners luck or if freezing the wax somehow changed the chemical structure.  I couldn't find any reference to this, but I also couldn't really figure out why after the first batch I got more cracking after the candles set. 

The tools...

I just picked up some molds, wick and wick holders from Portland Homestead Supply and got the melt pot from Goodwill.   Lots of people suggested using a separate pot as your double broiler, but I found that if I just warmed everything I used in the oven afterwards that the wax came off easily with a dry towel.  I guess if I was using other waxes I wouldn't want it to mix with our food ware, but I wasn't too worried about beeswax tainting our food. 

At first I tried to tie the wicks to skewers, but that didn't really work.  I found that wooden clothes pins were the best option for the votives (just clip the clothes pin before pouring wax, hold it aside and then center it after the wax is poured).  I also had some pillar molds, but they came with wick holders and putty to keep them in place. 

As mentioned above, I did get lots of cracking in the candles.  For the life of me I can't figure out why.  I troubleshooted left and right, but couldn't come up with any resolutions or conclusions.  The best thing about the candles are if you really don't like the way it turned out you can just remelt the wax and start over, sometimes the wick is even salvagable.  But, having this option meant that I poured about twice as many candles as I ended up with.  The other nice thing about having cracking problems, as opposed to other problems I read about is that once the candles were lit and then cooled you couldn't tell at all.  

I did some calculations as to how much money I saved making my own and depending on what source you went with for prices, it was a lot.  Wax isn't cheap and the molds aren't either, but store bought beeswax candles are expensive! 

I think I'm ready to harass the beekeeper some more and go for another round (without the pressure of an early Christmas gift exchange).  I loved the way the house smelled like honey for the month leading up to Christmas.  And they are very nice to have lit around the house. 

Oh, and the candle holders were just some burlap stamped and cut to fit a glass candle holder and then glued with a hot glue gun.  I kind of like the way they turned out, maybe a bit too plain?  I made a few of these too from an idea I found over on pinterest.   I really liked the way they turned out.  It's a great use of extra thread on a bobbin.  I didn't make a mold, I just wrapped the thread around the glass and then painted some modge podge on.  I was a bit worried the glue would melt when they were lit (or smell bad) but neither occurred. 

Snow Days

What's we've been up to...

There is a back log of blog entries I've been wanting to write, but just haven't had the time or I've had the time but have been just too tired at night to sit down and write.  So, here is a quick flashback of what we've been up to the last month. My plan is to do some detailed blogs on these in the future. 

Eason and I made these magnets for Christmas gifts using paper scraps we had in the paper box including some origami paper that I got from our exchange student when I was in 7th grade!

Our house turned into a beeswax candle making factory for about three weeks in December.  I loved the smell of honey that filled our house, but after making 12 lbs. worth of candles I'm ready for a wee break from candle making.

Eason, of his own volition, began to write.  My idea has been to follow the Waldorf philosophy on learning letters and reading, but after staving him off he decided to take it upon himself to copy down all of the letters that he sees on signs, boxes, in books, etc.  He walks around the house with a paper and pen and loves to have us read back the gibberish "words" that he forms.

Pears, pears, pears.  We now live in a huge pear producing area and have benefited from it.  We've been poaching pears, drying pears, eating fresh pears and...

making cranberry pear sauce from a great recipe that a friend gave us (that I would include, but can't locate at this moment.  

We also made some mulling spice sachets for stocking stuffers.  And just mysteriously found them in the art box after having given up on them for good.  Late January stocking stuffers are always appreciated.  

We rode the Polar Express.  Thanks Aunt Michlain and Brent.

Eason started to sew and wowed me by embroidering his name when I wasn't looking. 

We played in the leaves and decided not to bag these up as yard debris as they were too pretty and now they've been incorporated in to our snowmen and snow forts.  

We found new ways to use all the chestnuts we collected (that were horribly bitter when we roasted them making Mommy question if they were really chestnuts and decided instead of poisoning the family they should be relegated to decoration only).  

Threw this together after being inspired to do so over on soulemama.

Spent Christmas in Panama.  

And last, but certainly not least, Eason started school.  We are one of the newest families to join the Gorge Discovery School, a two day a week program for homeschooled kids.  It's amazing, a shockingly perfect fit for us and just one more thing to make the move last year much easier.

five years

I have now been a mother for five years (and change, this is a bit overdue).  We were able to celebrate Eason's fifth birthday with lots of family and friends this year. This was the first event since our wedding that both sets of parents and our brothers and sisters (now all referred to as grandparents and aunts and uncles) were together. We had an amazing, amazing time enhanced by the face painter that came to the party.  She was such a nice addition to the festivities.  The kids and adults alike enjoyed seeing her completely transform many faces at the party.  Just in case you're in the Hood River/Portland area and would like to have her at an event you can find her at shiningfaces.  I really like to pretend that I'm writing to this vast audience out there (hi Dad!). 

My mom made the fire truck cake.  It was a big hit.   I remember being around the same age and having a very impressive Halloween (my birthday is the day after) cave cake made for me.  I'm always so impressed by how my mom can make ANYTHING and do it perfectly from the get go.  She also made Eason a pair of really cool wooden stilts.  I think she should have an etsy site where you just request something, anything handmade and she makes it.  Too bad etsy doesn't offer health insurance. 

A friend of ours also made a homemade pinata for Eason. I mentioned Eason was interested in a pinata for his party and voila our friend told me he's made around a dozen for different parties and he'd love to make one for Eason.  Talk about ask and ye shall receive. 

We've been busy making lots of things lately and trying to fight off colds.  I've got lots of posts I'd like to post, but I've just been too too tired in the evenings. 

Five years, wow can that really be true?

leafy, watery, wet

It's been surprising how well moving back to the NW fits, despite all of the stress and losing our house (and the greatly increased work hours), we still really feel like this is right.  I'm definitely a wet, rainy, slightly decaying gal rather than a bright, sunny, dry gal.  I've always loved sweaters and jeans and sort of loathed shorts.  I had a tough time giving up my NW status and found it strange that we were planning on staying in California for the duration and that we had California boys, but we had it really good so I was resigned to it.  I do miss Sonora and all of our friends there, but as for natural surroundings, this just feels so easy to fall right into. 

When I told a friend of mine we were moving back here she said "that makes sense, California didn't really make sense."  I sort of agree.

I'm am also positive that living in Hood River will not suddenly turn us into kite surfing, extreme mountain biking, para-gliding, white water fall kayaking adventure seekers.  We've commented that we're not quite cool enough to live here.  But, if we do stay here I am pretty certain a three foot tall boy of our will definitely become an extreme sportist.  He's already tried to convince us to buy skateboards for the family, an ultra-light, kite boards, snowboards, etc. and he can't seem to tear himself away from all the extreme sport videos that seem to be playing in half the businesses in town. 

(The "bumps" coming out of the water in the photo are spawning salmon.  I've been amazed at how much salmon activity there is here and even though I grew up only an hour away it wasn't on my radar). 

mountain adams

One of my favorite things about the house we are living in right now is the view we have of Mt. Adams (Mountain Adams according to Eliot).  Part of my morning routine is to creak out of bed after much cajoling from my two children, slip on the coziest clothing I can find, open the blinds of the bedroom window, wipe off all of the condensation with an old burp rag that I keep close by for this very purpose and then see if I can see the mountain that morning.  I get very excited when we can see the mountain. Sometimes I don't realize it's out until we are in the driveway (the other really great place where the view can be seen).  I shout about the mountain being out today and how beautiful it is and how lucky we are to be able too see a mountain like this from where we live.  The boys are not too impressed, they are, but they don't really see why their mother must carry on and on about this mountain almost daily.  I've gone so far as to keep a tally of how many days we can spot the mountain (Eason does get into this part of it).  Thus far, we have seen Mountain Adams 33 days since we've lived here (according to my ability to remember to make a mark on the calendar).  I almost feel obligated to leave a little note to the owners of the house "hey just so you owners know when you aren't here in the winters you can see the mountain xxx number of days."

In addition to finding a permanent rental, with oh three bedrooms, a really great kitchen with a gas range, a room for our crafting stuff, a fenced yard, walking distance to town, good gardening spot, energy efficient, very reasonable rent and good character, I think I must now add view of Mountain Adams to that list of necessities.

Notable quote relating to this:

"Mommy, I hope somebody in Hood River loses their job."  -Eason
"Why Sweetie." -Me (sounding concerned and perplexed)
"Because, how else are we going to find a permanent rental?" -Eason

Sometimes I sort of think they are a bit too young to really soak all of this in and then one of them will make a statement like this.  I really hope we do find a permanent place that we can settle into, but I also hope that if we don't we can all find a way to really feel like where ever we are is home and to let go of some of our attachments to having "our permanent space" on this planet.   I think as a mom, if we don't find a more permanent situation, I need to get really creative about how the places we are in can feel a bit more like ours.  At least for Eason I think this will be very important (okay and me a bit too).

So here it is.  Dut da da duh... the view we see from our bedroom window *it looks a bit more impressive in person.

Oh yes, and I really do like being able to see the river too.