The Goddess Professor Speaks

I grew up in a house that faithfully  relied on Bounce dryer sheets when washing clothes.  I never really questioned the habit as I was taught load the clothes, add the detergent, put in a dryer sheet, put the clothes in, start the dryer.  At various times, the laundry detergent we used varied, but it always Bounce dryer sheets... always!  As I aged and started buying my own laundry stuff, I had to switch to the cheaper sheets.  The clothes didn't smell Bounce awesome, but they were static free-- well mostly. In fact, the Bounce sheets and smell are such a part of my parent's house that my dad washed and returned to us a blanket we left at his house that still smelled like Bounce  months  later.  Although I'd had to switch the cheaper, not-so-long lasting sheets that usually reduced static, getting that awesome smelling blanket back reminded me of the house I grew up in, the warm, nice smelling clothes fresh out the dryer. So, as I'...

Upon seeing a poll in The Journal.ie , I started thinking deeper about Apple's tax mess (that has recently come to light despite going on for years):                  if it wasn't Ireland, it would've been some place else.   It's possible Apple chose Ireland to avoid the typical tax-havens (Cayman Islands, Switzerland, etc.), and therefore, "legally" get away with not paying taxes here.  Apple has seriously been on the cutting edge of things lately, so why not be on the cutting edge of tax evading? It annoys me to no end that what Apple did is technically legal, and therefore, they very likely won't be punished in any way.  And what would their punishment be--pay a fine?  Big damn whoop!  Just like that hefty  fine the banks had to pay for their part in the foreclosure nightmare (and ultimately, global financial meltdown).  Never mind that many states used that money to plug budgetary holes , which ...

My most recent lesson in DIY-ing... soap may not always thicken as the recipe says it should. After trying for TWO days to get my homemade liquid soap to thicken, I finally had success today by simply putting it in a foam pump dispenser. Two days ago, I set out to make a liquid soap from this easy recipe: grated bar of castile soap and heated water.  As you can see on the linked page, the recipe calls for two 5 oz bars of castile soap and 1 gallon of water.  Well, since my bars of soap were 4 ounces each and I didn't have a container to hold a gallon of soap once it was made, I winged it a bit.  I used one 4 ounce bar and 56 ounces of water.  (My empty old liquid soap container was 56 ounces, so why not?!)  This did NOT turn out as I hoped it would. Beyond those adjustments, I followed the directions from the page I found to a tee:  heating the water, grating the soap, combining the grated soap and heated water, and letting it sit for 24 hours. ...

Mother's Day is a day I approach with trepidation each year because I never know what my emotional state will be. I'm thankful to say that I awoke this afternoon (yes, afternoon!) to find my phone FILLED with messages of cheer from many friends.   I went to bed last night with the thoughts of the awesome Mother's Day card my hubs sent to me. I was greeted by my precious son with a cheerful Mother's Day wish. I miss my mother daily, but I know that she's proud of who I am today.  So, to all of the mothers, surrogate mothers, aunt-mothers, godmothers, father-mothers and everyone in between, I pray you have a fantabulously blessed day.  And I want to remind everyone to cherish the people in your lives right now rather than waiting until they've passed on to heap tons of praise onto their memory.  Love them while their here and make sure they know it. That is all! :-) Be well and blessed.

You ever been so pissed off that you wanted to cuss, scream, spit, punch, stab, drink, cry, and sleep all at the same time? I mean the type of pisstivity that makes you want to harm someone--not yourself and not to the point of legal repercussions.  The kind that you can't see or think straight more than a few minutes at a time. Yeah.  I'm feeling that right now. Parents are supposed to raise their children and help them be productive citizens, which for many people means getting your child to and through college.  What happens when one of those parents is an impediment to that progress towards adulthood?  What happens when that parent is so beyond asinine that his/her actions borders on child abuse.  Well, maybe I'm stretching it to call it child abuse, but seriously, what the fuck? I wash my hands of it--or at least, I'm trying to.  It actually breaks my heart to watch this unfold before my eyes, but I've lived too much of my life reactiona...

The last time I blogged about baby wipes, I mentioned that I'd be making a new batch with different ingredients because 1) mineral oil (the base of baby oil) is not good for babies and kids and 2) while all in one baby washes are awesome, they too can be harmful for kids due to some of the chemicals commonly used in them.  Now, I'm not naive to think that I can completely rid my life, family, and home of chemicals.  But I learned a valuable lesson from my mom years ago: "you learn better, you do better."  I know a bit better now, so I'm trying to do better. So, in trying to do a different mixture, I again, set out to find the best and easiest recipes.  I found two that I've sort of combined to make my own.  They come from the Kitchen Stewardship and DIYNatural websites. From the ingredients on their websites, I developed this ingredient list: 1-1/4 C. of water (boiled then cooled a bit) 1 T of lavender liquid castile soap 1/2 t. of Vitamin E ...

We've been in the full swing of Lent for a few weeks now, St. Patrick's Day is coming soon, it's Women's History Month, and Black History Month was last month.  Are these things being celebrated in our culture or patronized by companies trying to sell us stuff? Since Lent began last month, everywhere you turn someone is offering a special on some sort of fish: McDonald's has new McFish Bites (REALLY not inclined to try them), Wendy's and Hardee's (and I'm sure others) are promoting their Alaskan Cod sandwiches, among other fish specials at other places.  Plus, there's the Shamrock Shake that McDonald's offers every year.  As far as I know, I'm not Irish so I can't speak from personal feelings on this, but I always cringe a bit whenever I see these shakes and wonder if people who are Irish hate these, love these, or don't really think about it. It's now March, and since St. Patrick's day is coming soon, everywhere you t...