Castle Chaos – Home of the Duke

So, evidently we survived with minimal casualties, two plates, one glass, a few of the less sturdy toys and ornaments, and one swollen bruised nose.  But only two of the seven of us were sick  with something at all.  The littlest two caught -something- that gave them fevers and yucky tummies.

What else do I need to say here?  There’s so much, but life’s taken a back seat to surviving, and the brain is gone, more than you can imagine.  Creativity is completely absent in the name of this game.  I am so tired…  when does it all end?  

See, there’s the run up to Christmas, then Christmas Eve, and finally, two weeks with the kids home after Christmas, when they should be back in school, or at least not at home driving me nuts…  It’s half way through that two week period, and I’m ashamed to say that I’m not the best version of myself that I could be.  My patience is frayed, and my tolerance is lower than it’s been in ages.  I am without physical outlets, I am without recourse and oppolrtunity to do anything positive wiht my  negative energy (firewood is done, the rest is too cold and frozen to do much outside).

That reminds me, I have to go and pull a plug and faceplate to take to the office, they’re short one there for the boardroom renovations.

There’s so much going on in my head right now that it’s almost impossible to get anything straight.  I was thinking of trying to do -this or -that or -the other thing.  Life is too crazy, and I”m getting to the point where I can’t function on a professional level or a mental level.  It’s about the point where I could manage a walk with them, if they don’t push back too hard with their own complaints.  Being a parent at Christmas time is hard to say the least.  Hard is an understatement I would think.  I am going to go clean things up a little bit, then try to get the kdis to town where I can meet up with Angie and she can bring them home while I get a pile of work done…  that doesn’t sound like the worst idea.  I’m going to go have a shower, then get tidying up and getting moving towards town…

Wish me luck.  I need some space in my soul where I can begin to think forward.  My amazing wife and I set a budget the other day, so that’s one thing we did right for a start.  Now to figure out the professional, writing, and this online income game that I started trying to learn.  There’s so many goals, so much to get straight, and I need a few drinks before I can get it all lined up I think.

I have a date with my gorgeous wife tomorrow, that will help… and getting these two files scanned and lined up, and the GST for the main company lined up will be huge.  So, time to get to work.

Duke.

We’re not perfect by any means here at Castle Chaos. But my wife is one amazing lady. She decided to try something new this year. See, we have been using variations on aromatherapy for ages now, to calm, to cleanse, to invigorate. Bath’s scented oil diffusers, and candles, all of which cost money in varying amounts, but all have good and bad notes to them.

Doing some thinking on the latest purchase she did, she surmised that the scented aromatherapy candles we just burned our way through (literally, they’re candles after all) were having less than desired effects. The paraffin wasn’t a sweet smell, the undertones behind the intended aromas were hard to take, especially for a lady who’s olfactory senses are magnitudes of order more sensitive than my own. Her sense of smell sensitivity is off the charts compared to my own dulled senses.

Bring on the Bees – wax

Some quick details on the naturally beneficial beeswax; there’s oodles of sources to back this stuff up, just google it, or better yet, use your own favorite Search Engine. If you’re more of an offline kinda person, then the local library is a good place to start, there are loads of books like this one,

Briefly, there are three main benefits of burning beeswax candles rather than standard candles made from paraffin or other types of wax.

– All Natural, non-toxic. Some types and sources of candles can produce trace amounts of carcinogens, but beeswax, when burned, is pollutant free, and produces no heavy soot or other carbon residue.

– Air purifier. Beeswax has been shown to produce negative ions when burned, much like Himalyan Salt candles, and like the air purifying effects of the Salt, Beeswax candles help to ease allergen and asthma symptoms, while also clearing the air, so to speak.

– Safety, First. Because of their composition, beeswax candles are naturally dripless, producing no byproducts or other effects when burned.

So, simple, clean, safe, healthy. What more needs to be said?

But can you make your own?

Of course you can. That’s what this post is about. Now that I’ve tried to convince you that it’s worth it, it’s time to break out the double boiler or the crock pot or whatever else you want to get hot with.

There are probably dozens of ‘how to make a beeswax candle at home’ tutorials online. That alone should be proof. Hell, there’s even sub-pintrest realms dedicated to this stuff, so it must be real, right?

All kidding aside, my wife and I found this amazingly helpful article by Brittany

MAKE BEESWAX & COCONUT OIL CANDLES by Brittany Goldwyn

Now Brittany brings up some good points, especially in the execution of the deed. But in its simplest form, the process involves 50% beeswax and 50% coconut oil by weight. First step, melt the stuff slowly in double broiler (we used our slow cooker and filled it with water, then melted the stuff in a disposable container.

Mandatory WARNING: Beeswax, AND Coconut Oil, BOTH Burn, relatively easily. Don’t expose to direct flame or heat source, always use staged melting processes, whatever your choice is.

As the beeswax is melting, you can prep the candle containers. Find some small pretty things to make into candles, metal or glass or ceramic work best. At this point we’ve tried all and they all work great. Once found, warm the containers up just a little to make the candles set best (room temp is too cool, so think, warm coffee cup temperature for the containers you’re making into candles). My wife used random artistic jars that we couldn’t can into if we wanted.

With the wax melting and the jars warming, line up some wicks. We hit up our local bee supply store, Planet Bee, but you can always order something like this from Amazon, whichever works best for you and your project really. With wick in hand, center them up in the jars using something to hang them down the middle so you will have a wick in your candle at the end of the day…

Infusing things?

I mentioned aroma therapy early on (way up at the top), but didn’t’ explain how we did it. My wife has some REALLY high quality essential oils that we just added to the melt for our first efforts. But with a plethora of herbs and medicinal hanging, drying and in various stages of processing, we are talking of infusing the natural ingredients directly into the melted coconut oil next time. Eucalyptus for the coming cold and sniffles season seems to be a good first choice.

So, in closing?

Making the candles is simple enough and the variety is limited only by the strength of your imagination. If a few safety precautions are followed, and a level of care is taken, then the reward is beyond measure.

I’m currently cleaning out the slow cooker because of melted plastics that were left on after the last batch of candles were made (Personally I think the kids turned the thing back on when we weren’t looking, welcome to Chaos). But we’ve a half dozen good sized candles, now to work on some variations on a theme. Once again, my wife’s idea turned out amazing.

Thanks for reading.

Duke.