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Oh My Goodness - It's been awhile!

Hello Friends -
Long time no see!  Life sure has a funny way of keeping us guessing, doesn't it?  My soaping has really taken a backseat to life in general, but I'm ready to start dipping my toes back in again.  Now that my husband and I finally have our house fully to ourselves, I've been able to devote an entire finished room in our basement for my soaping area.  It's not fancy, but it's a big space and it's ALL MINE!  I can't even describe how excited this makes me, but there's no need - you get it!  

Since the first of this year, I've been struggling with my health; eventually anything beyond the daily basics had started to seem way too overwhelming to tackle.  We'd adopted a young shelter dog just before Christmas -  (Rhett Butler - yes... Rhett Butler! ) but despite how much I loved him, it became too much for me to walk and play with him every day like he needed.  Rhett was blessed, as were we, to go to another family with two young girls who love, adore and spoil him beyond measure.  My heart broke for myself to see him go, but he's a happy boy in the perfect home now.

It's taken several months to finally figure out what's going on with my health, but my diagnosis is Sarcoidosis - an inflammatory autoimmune disease that's hit me with some serious fatigue and other symptoms.  We know my heart, thyroid and eyes are effected, but I thank God for my fabulous team of doctors who have started me on a treatment path.  I'm taking a lot of steroid meds and adding an additional drug this week.  This is a chronic illness with no cure; medication management and lifestyle changes are key and then I keep my fingers crossed.  I've spent a lot of time trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm going to have some limitations and overdoing it when I feel good can cause a setback. I've pushed myself all my life, and now I'm learning to rest, listen to my body and just let a lot of things go.  But this week I'm feeling GOOD - so here I am thinking about soap again!

I have been able to make some batches of soap over the summer, and my health issues certainly haven't curtailed my over the top interest (addiction?) in searching for fresh supplies and fragrances.  Most recently I've tried some scents from Nurture Soap and Rustic Escentuals - I love both of these companies.  Nurture has a long list of Lush duplicate scents that's pretty impressive.  I've tried any Lush products, but the scents I've bought from Nurture are extremely complex          and unusual for me.  Rustic Escentuals covers all the basics, but also has a wide variety of unique and appealing fo's I've not found anywhere else. I have a bunch more experimenting to do now in my new workspace. I'm looking forward to spending some long winter days doing just that! Until next time - happy weekend My Friends.

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