Part 35 (1/2)

1 cup colloidal oatmeal

11/a cup Epsom salts

Scant 1/4 cup dendretic salt

1/2 teaspoon liquid glycerin

1/2 teaspoon essential oil (lavender, orange, balsam peru,

sandalwood, fir needle, or rosewood)

In bowl large enough to provide plenty of stirring room, combine Epsom salts and dendretic salt. Stir together with a metal whisk. Dribble glycerin and essential oil over salts. Stir well with whisk. Add oatmeal and goat's milk and stir with whisk. This makes enough for at least three baths.

Dendretic salt helps avoid clumping and distributes the fragrance more thoroughly in the mix. The liquid glycerin does the same thing. Colloidal oatmeal suspends in the bathwater, and most pow dered goat's milk is full fat, which makes it very softening. For immediate use you can also make this without the dendretic salt and glycerin, and subst.i.tute nonfat dry milk and baby oatmeal cereal for the goat's milk and colloidal oatmeal. The result will be a little different, and you will have to rinse a little oatmeal fiber out of the bottom of the tub when you're done, but it's a wonderful, soothing soak!

EASY LIP BALM.

1 oz. beeswax

1h cup olive oil

1/4 to 1/ teaspoon essential oil-peppermint, spearmint, or

lemon

Melt wax and oil together over very low heat. Stir in essential oil and pour into small tins, lip balm tubes, or any other suitable, lidded containers. Allow to cool.

This recipe will fill about twenty-five .15 oz. lip balm tubes.

STOP'EM IN THEIR TRACKS LOTION BARS.

3 oz. beeswax

3 oz. coconut oil

3 oz. cocoa b.u.t.ter

Heat wax, oil and b.u.t.ter together over very low heat. Pour into six 2 oz. molds. Allow to harden and remove from molds. Given the 1:1:1 ratio of ingredients, it's very easy to increase or decrease this recipe.

Using non-deodorized cocoa b.u.t.ter gives the lotion bars a yummy chocolate scent, but if you can't find it you can add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of an essential oil or oil blend of your choice.

In addition to soothing ”garden hands”, try rubbing a lotion bar on rough feet and putting on cotton socks before going to bed.

SUPPLIER WEB SITES FOR INGREDIENTS, PACKAGING,.

AND LOTS MORE RECIPES!.

*

If you enjoyed Lye in Wait, read on for an excerpt from the next Cricket McRae Mystery Heaven Preserve Us *

ONE.

”You DON'T HAVE TO fix any of the callers' problems; you just pa.s.s them on to someone else who can.”

I nodded. ”Got it.”

”Okay, babe. I'll leave you to it. I'm going out back to have a smoke.”

Smiling through gritted teeth, I tried to ignore the acrid stench of cigarettes that permeated his clothes. Philip Heaven could spend the whole evening toasting his lungs in the alley if it meant I wouldn't have to listen to him call me ”babe” one more time in that gravelly, know-it-all voice. I'd handle every incoming call to the Heaven House Helpline if I had to. I mean, how hard could it be?