Homemade Lip Balm...Yum!

I spent last night putting together lip balm for my coworkers (not all of them- that would be impossible and completely unnecessary). They are for the people I most associate with and consider friends and acquaintances. They (the lip balm jars) will be in holiday tins, accompanied with other treats. It was an interesting project to try, to say the least. One of the few Martha Stewart moments I've had in my life. (If you're interested in trying these yourself, check out the recipe here.)

First, I purchased a big, 1 pound block of beeswax from Roberts Crafts. It cost me about $12.00, but I wanted to err on the side of caution. They had these little baggies of beeswax in balls (that looked sort of like Dipin' Dots ice cream) that were $5.00 per bag, but I didn't think that would be enough. I'm really glad I didn't get those. I would have accomplished nothing last night with those little bags of nothing.

The work was in the grating of the beeswax. I couldn't' cut it (too hard), so I grated down the sides, then grated down the middle. (My forearms would make Popeye envious.) The wax had a pleasing, sweet scent that I didn't expect, even though the label said that it was all natural from the bees and could have a slightly sweet smell and may have bee parts but not to worry because that's a good thing to have parts of the bees. Hmmm.

So, after grating onto wax paper (easy clean up) I scooped by measurements into the double boiler and stirred my wax with the Castor oil. Into the measuring cup, I added the essential oil (peppermint for the first batch and almond for the second batch...for Christmas) and honey. They turned out better than I expected. I increased my recipe to fill about ten of the little containers you see in the picture above. I hope the coworkers appreciate the effort and actually use the lip balm. I can envision the precious little jars of love being stored away in a drawer, never to be thought of again until spring cleaning, 2010, where the vial is rediscovered and tossed due to its mystery contents. FYI - The clean up was not fun. Imagine cleaning dishes covered in Vaseline. Soap, soap and more soap.

So, only two more days in the office and then I'm outta here (oh, my two days of training next week are off-site). Not sure how often I'll post during this time off. I'll try to get in and update on the events going on (interesting or not). I like having the journal to look back on in later years. I have paper journals on book shelves in my house. I sometimes wonder if my hubby reads those sometimes...peeking into my life to see how crazy I really am.

The girls watched Meet Me in St. Louis again last night. My eldest really seems to like it. Hubby was eager to leave the room during the musical numbers. He's such a guy. It's sort of funny because I have those songs on disc for the girls and, if he's in my car when the disc is in, I can catch him humming those tunes later. I don't think he even realizes he's doing it.