NATURAL SOAP COLORANT: ALKANET ROOT

Ok, my every Friday natural colorant posts aren't working out like I planned. Life is getting in the way. So, here it is. Natural soap colorant #3... Alkanet Root. I apologize for low picture quality, I took these photographs with my cell phone.

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DOs & DON'Ts on a RESUME

One thing that I learned in college that stuck with me more than interview etiquette is how to put together a resume. You'd almost think my professors beat the "protocol" into me because I've become a very nit picky person about how resumes make a potential employee appear to potential employers. I've put together a list that doesn't include what lots of other sites have covered. These are just the things I think that most people either don't know or are confused about when they put their resume together.

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NAME THE APIARY

I've decided to name my apiary and so I need help from my readers. I am requesting that you share an apiary name in the comment section of my blog and at the end of august I will let my kids choose their favorite name from the list of comments. Whomever gives the name that is chosen will receive a bar of handmade soap and one 4 ounce aromatherapy candle. I will put up a sign with the chosen name in my apiary.

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BEE DRAWINGS BY MAYA VALADEZ

Check out the cute little bee drawings my oldest made for me.

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INTERVIEWING ETIQUETTE

I decided after talking to several people about this that I wanted to share some information on putting a resume together and doing interviews for potential employers. I am surprised how many people are not aware of interview/resume etiquette. At first I thought it was a generational gap but it turns out that many of my peers are in the dark on this. I'm going to do this in 3 separate posts. First: Interviewing etiquette. Two: The do's and don'ts on a resume. Three: The "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" Interviews I've had.

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HONEY

Although honey isn't something people usually reach for when they "think" natural colorant and I hadn't plan on blogging about it as such but I was making milk, oatmeal and honey soap this week and so I decided to include this in the blog posts on natural coloring.

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I KILLED LOTS OF BROOD TODAY!

The only thing keeping me from throwing in the towel on this beekeeping venture is thinking that the death of all these brood really wasn't my fault. My hubby likes to tease me about it but I just didn't see any other way.

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BEEKEEPING: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

While I was out weeding the backyard tonight I saw one of my bees crawling around on the ground. Odd I thought, considering she was about 4 feet from the hive. I went to pick her up and she tumbled off my glove only to land on her back. She buzzed vigorously and managed to right herself. She started walking about so I let her climb on my glove again, this time with success, all the while begging her not to sting

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HIVE INSPECTION WITH LOTS OF INTERESTING PICTURES

I'm wayyyyyyyyy too emotional to be a beekeeper. I crushed a bee and I really hate that but what makes me feel sick is the fact that things aren't going according to the book. I inspected the hive again today and things are happening that I either forgot what they mean (which is probably the case) or didn't learn (less likely the case). I found drone cells, about 5-10. More frames are FULL of honey, no queen in the third

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NATURAL SOAP COLORANT: Parsley

This week I made soap using Parlsey Powder. Parsley, as you probably already know, is commonly used as a spice in cooking. I always confuse it with cilantro even thought they really look nothing alike. I'm just goofy that way. I'm not a fan of the way parsley tastes but I like to use it when I want to color my soap

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PROPOLIS, BEESWAX, BEE POLLEN, HONEY & ROYAL JELLY

I had someone on facebook ask me about propolis and royal jelly so I thought I'd share a bit about them on my blog, as much as I know anyway. I keep hearing about all the health benefits and have looked into this a bit for myself so I'll share what I know in that area as well. I'm going to give the short version since the long version can be googled or found in several books. I'm just going to post the nitty gritty.

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HODGEPODGE POST

Some of the flowers I planted. This is butterfly weed. I thought it was so pretty growing around the lake, I decided to plant some in the yard.

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BEE YARD MANIA

It is hard to fully appreciate the scale of which my bees have multiplied in just a couple months in this picture. I video taped but the sound effects didn't transfer well. There was a nice humming sound coming from the mass of bees flying about outside the hive. I stood only 4 feet away when I took this picture but as usual because the sun was finally shined and the air was warm the bees were too busy to notice me standing there. 

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THREE STINGS AND NO CAMERA

Of course, the day I decide not to bring out the camera to the bee yard I get stung three times in my hand. Well, I did have gloves on and THANKFULLY the stingers didn't penetrate the goatskin or else I'd be in misery right now.

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THE CHAIN GANG

I just thought this was the cutest thing. The bees connecting to each other to cross frames. And here my primitive brain just figured they walked all the way to the bottom and crawled back up the other side. 

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NATURAL SOAP COLORANT: HIBISCUS

Hibiscus is my favorite natural soap colorant. Not because it creates a vibrant color in my soaps but because hibiscus has so many beneficial uses. I learned about hibiscus as a tea when I was a student living in Mexico during the early 1990's. In the town I lived in the Jamaica Tea (hibiscus) was plentiful, at every

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