Yippee!

I am very excited to be working on my first large order for HomeMade*HomeEc. I am providing 50 spa gift sets for a baby shower being thrown in CA by a very nice couple that just moved here to Winston-Salem!

I was super excited when I got the order, but now I am even more excited because all of the natural ingredients that I will be using to make up body oils, bath salts, lip balms and body scrubs are now in Greensboro and en route to my front porch! I hope the UPS guy makes it to my house before 6:00.

Reviews Needed!

If you have told me how much you love HomeMade*HomeEc products or put a review on Facebook, please let me know if I can include your comment on the blog. Thanks!

I had my first HomeMade*HomeEc intern this past Saturday.  I came up with this (crackpot) brilliant idea to have an intern after having (a glass of wine) a flash of brilliance during Tuesday night bunko.  The idea was to have someone sit with me for an hour or so sometime during my Saturday stint at the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds Farmers’ Market.  They would learn about my ever expanding product line (now including lip gloss flavored with chocolate and win) and get to witness the cavalcade of awesome that is the farmers’ market.  The bunko ladies smiled politely, but when I mentioned the idea the next day at work, Anne took me up on my offer.  A few hours later I found a nicely worded email from Anne requesting acceptance into the HomeMade*HomeEc internship program.  Of course I accepted her application (after marveling that someone actually took me seriously.  Who does that?).

Anne showed up before 8 am and the fun started as soon as she got there.  After meeting the vendors on either side of my table and getting acquainted with the products, she was promoted to Executive Assistant by Sue, the baked goods lady.  Then Anne got into a lengthy conversation about alternative medicine with a guy I remembered from my days as a cashier at Whole Foods.  And then we met Sam the Dot Man.  Anne and I were both besides ourselves — he was so cool and invited us to his house to look at his artwork.  Wow!

Then came Bart.  Bart, Bart, Bart (said in my best Sideshow Bob voice).  Bart was walking around the farmers’ market with three cats perched on his shoulders.  Cats that needed good homes.  Now, I am not a cat person.  I have even go so far to say that I “hated” cats.  I didn’t spend my time drowning them in burlap sacks, I just avoided them at all costs.  Well, my intern/executive assistant decided that I needed to hold one of the cats.  An hour or so later, I was . . . less  rage-filled at the idea of having a cat in my house.  An hour after that and I told Bart that I would take the cat home.  The other cats were adopted by Anne (now that is commitment to your job) and my hoop teacher and hoop maker extraordinaire, Kelly.

I suppose that the other farmers were happy for me/felt sorry for me because I went home with a few grocery bags of free produce along with a free cat.  So now I am learning how to live with a cat (so is my dog, Iris) and how to cook with tomatillos.  Lucky me!

Now that Anne has completed her internship and passed the tests (remembering every available scent of HomeMade*HomeEc Body Oil, nodding and smiling at customers who may or may not be mentally unstable, saying hello in new and interesting ways to passersby), I am looking for a new intern.  The intern will work for an hour or so and should show up some time before 10.  Drop me a line at HomeMadeHomeEc AT gmail DOT com if you are interested.  I promise that you won’t go home with a cat.

Fun at the Farmers’ Market

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Originally uploaded by Renee Antoinette

I have been a vendor at the Dixie Classic Farmer’s Market since this May. While I don’t enjoy waking up that early on a Saturday morning (or the teasing I get from the farmers when I stroll in at 7:30 am), I enjoy just about everything else about being at the Farmers’s Market every week.

I described it as Facebook, but in real lfe. Do you ever put up some random status update and you get responses from someone you worked with eight years ago, your best friend, your co-worker, that guy you know from . . . you can’t remember where, and half of your book club? Well, that’s the Farmers’ Market for me — a steady stream of friends and acquaintances. Do you wonder why I love being there?

I also meet a host of new people. I guess I am one of those people who tend to put others at ease. So I get total strangers who come up to me to tell me their stories. I’ve met a 94-year-old faith healer, a woman who found lasting friendship on ebay, and many more people with interesting stories.

All of this fun stuff happens AND I occasionally sell something. Awesome.

Homemade Deodorant Experiment

This jar used to hold pomegranate jam that I canned a few years ago.

On the hottest day (so far) of 2010, I did a crazy thing. I used homemade deodorant.

Why:
1) I am crafty and I used to work at Whole Foods. It was only a matter of time before I made my own deodorant.

2) I have sensitive skin and most store-bought deodorants give me a bad reaction. The only store-bought deodorant I like is from Kiehl’s and it costs $17 (plus shipping) for a two month supply.

3) I wanted to get away from the scary ingredients in regular deodorant without using a “natural” deodorant that usually makes people smell worse than no deodorant at all.

How:

I mixed up a batch and put it in a small lidded jar (an up-cycled jam jar). The whole process took less than 10 minutes. I applied the deodorant in the morning and then did the following:
1) Told my friends at work (including two people with incredible senses of smell) to sniff me during the day–discreetly–and let me know if I smelled.
2) Had lunch on a semi-covered porch in 80 degree weather.
3) Did a 30 minute hoop dance class after work.
4) Did an hour long Bhangra class (Indian dance class that consists of A LOT of bouncing and general sweatiness).
5) Had dinner outside.
6) Taught a few 25 year old guys how to hula hoop.

Results:
– Odor: All day, I asked friends to sniff me (from a reasonable distance). All day, people said that I smelled fine. I smelled my t-shirt once I got home tonight and it was A-OK.

– Perspiration: I didn’t feel really sweaty despite the two dance classes, so I think it may have some antiperspirant qualities for some people.

I think I have found a great homemade deodorant that actually works! To me, it is on par with the pricey deodorants.