LOCAL FAMILY IN RUNNING FOR UNCLE BEN’S® BEN’S BEGINNERS™ COOKING CONTEST, SEEKING ONLINE VOTES FROM COMMUNITY

Reese Daily knew that he loved to cook. He had a "palate" for food! But this has special meaning since Reese was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. He's been through 12 surgeries. That doesn't stop him from doing what he loves and cooking is one of those things. Reese Daily’s family, residents of Boswell, Oklahoma have entered the UNCLE BEN’S ® Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest, a movement designed to help children learn to make healthier choices, at an early age, by getting them interested in cooking.
Parents with children who are in kindergarten through 8th grade were asked to submit a home video that showed the family together in the kitchen introducing a rice-based dish they prepared and discussing their experience cooking together. The contest received entries from families throughout the U.S. In an effort to help the Daily family strengthen their score and give them an opportunity to be chosen as a finalist, they are asking the community to vote for the video they submitted titled Reese’s Hawaiian Style Short Ribs. The link to the video is athttp://bit.ly/1aiYOLU. If selected as a grand prize winner the Daily family will receive $15,000 cash and a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for Boswell Public School. Two members of the Daily family will also appear on “The Rachael Ray Show!”
From October 9 through October 27, 2013, individuals can view all the contest videos and vote for their favorite by visitingwww.unclebens.com and searching for the recipe name. Individuals are encouraged to vote once per 24 hours. For more information on the Ben’s Beginners™ Cooking Contest, visitwww.bensbeginnerscontest.com.

Please share and let's see how many votes this young man will get!

My amazing son!

My son once again has amazed me! For those of you that have missed my previous posts, he has a bilateral cleft lip and palate. He decided this last year to once again enter public school since we moved to Boswell, Oklahoma. He wanted to give the kids' one more chance to be nice and we found the greatest, most amazing kids here in Boswell, Oklahoma! He has quickly made friends in this small town! He has competed and won medals for speeches in 4H! He jumped at the chance to help his school!

Reese entered the UNCLE BEN'S® Ben's Beginners™ Cooking Program by making a short cooking video. Vote for his video and help him get in the running for great prizes, like $15,000 for our family and a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for his Boswell school. 

http://bit.ly/1aiYOLU    SEE HIS VIDEO NOW and VOTE STARTING OCT 9!!!

Vote daily at the link above, after October 9, so please bookmark his video page and set an alarm on your phone to help remind you to vote for Reese! 

Please help spread the word. He even cut down branches to the Boswell sign so he could make this video! That in itself shows community pride because you couldn't see the sign before! 

I will send out a reminder the day of voting!

Autumn Daily

PS. Watch his video RIGHT NOW! It's only 3 min long!

Okie Suds Fresh Snow

Okie Suds is a soap company in Boswell, Oklahoma. Made in Oklahoma! We are dedicated to bringing products that are moisture packed and good for your skin. 100% biodegradable, Vegan, and super moisturizing! We use sustainable oils so you can feel good every time you use our bars. We love animals and DO NOT test on them.

Our products contain some awesome ingredients and a shoe in for gifts for teachers, nurses, students and the hard to shop for. We have several all natural bars which contain essential oils.

We just made Fresh Snow in Oklahoma today. It will be available for sale on October 20, 2013. There is limited quantity, it will be on a first come, first serve basis. Once they are gone, they are gone for the 2013 holiday season.

Topped with Jojoba beads (which are biodegradable), these bars mimic real life snow, capturing the beauty of crystal topped pure snow. The reason snow is blue has to do with the light that it reflects. White light truly is all the colors of the rainbow, snow reflects blue hues and gives us the impression of blue in some places.

The scent of this is a clean smell, like you just stepped in a snow covered meadow. It mimics fresh laundry or clean cotton.

What is in your handmade soap?

Ever wonder what is in your soap?

I only purchase handmade soap, so it's got to be good for me....right?

I am making a business plan for my soap company and got to research the competitors! My main concern was 'what do they put in their bars!?' and boy was it a shock!

Without naming names, here is what you should try to avoid when purchasing handmade soap (in red)!

EDTA: 
"Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, widely abbreviated as EDTA (for other names, see Table), is anaminopolycarboxylic acid and a colourless, water-soluble solid. Its conjugate base is namedethylenediaminetetraacetate. It is widely used to dissolve limescale."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylenediaminetetraacetic_acid

Did they just say "DISSOLVES LIMESCALE?" Do you want to suds your baby up in that? I think not!

Triethanolamine:
"Reports indicated that TEA causes an increased incidence of tumor growth in the liver in female B6C3F1 mice, but not in male mice or in Fischer 344 rats.^[11] A 2004 study concluded "TEA may cause liver tumors in mice via a choline-depletion mode of action and that this effect is likely caused by the inhibition of choline uptake by cells."^[11]"
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethanolamine

Again, why would you put a product that has studied on 'animals' in your finished product? As a manufacturer of handmade soap, you should be aware of the contents of your soap. Why would anyone want to put an agent that is known to cause tumors in their product? 

Another company had this: 
Our soaps are handmade from virgin vegetable oils (olive, coconut, soy, palm, sweet almond, sunflower, apricot kernel, and/or avocado), lye, and distilled water. Additions are noted with descriptions.

You can't even read the ingredients within the soap until you purchase it! Are they from sustainable oils? I'd avoid this one all together!

One company claimed they were all organic and then I read this in their Sandalwood soap:

Phalate-free Fragrance

"Fragrance oil(s), also known as aroma oils, aromatic oils, and flavor oils, are blended synthetic aroma compounds or natural essential oilsthat are diluted with a carrier like propylene glycol, vegetable oil, or mineral oil. Aromatic oils are used in perfumery, cosmetics, flavoring of food, and in aromatherapy."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragrance_oil

Key word: synthetic! I have fragrance in some of my soaps! I use it in my Orange Sandalwood soap because I refuse to be a part of the destruction of the Sandalwood tree. But if you are going to say you are all organic and natural...Don't put a fragrance in your soap! 

So what I am trying to say is ...before you lather up, make sure you know what is in your bath with you!

Okie Suds contains some/most of these ingredients: 

Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernal Oil, Canola Oil, Water, Sodium Hydroxide (lye), Essential oils, Fragrance Oils, Dead Sea Salt, Grade 1 Lavender Buds, Jojoba Beads, Shredded Loofah, Pink Sea Salt, and Iron Oxide.

Please look on my website: www.okiesuds.com for an entire list of ingredients. Click on the soap and it will come up! I will be adding more clays in the future for colorant. I will also make more soaps that contain only essential oils. We have two soaps that contain only essential oils: Lavender Oatmeal and Rosemary Sage.
We are committed to your health and safety of your family and friends! Choose Okie Suds for all of your homemade soaping needs! 

September 30, 2013 Giveaway

Hey readers!
Okie Suds (my soap company) will be having a giveaway of one of my favorite smelling soaps: Orange Sandalwood.

100% Biodegradable, Vegan, topped with jojoba beads (also biodegradable), contains fragrance Sandalwood oil because Okie Suds will not participate in the destruction of the Sandalwood Tree!!, Contains amazing, SUSTAINABLE oils, Proudly MADE IN OKLAHOMA!

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE: (Let her know you came from Autumn in Oklahoma blog!)
https://www.facebook.com/teesxxoopartylite?hc_location=timeline

Soaping adventures

My new business is up and running!
www.okiesuds.com

I couldn't be more thrilled! I've made my first dollar and I am starting to explore retail opportunities.

Right now Okie Suds is in: Boswell Flowers and Gifts located in Boswell, Oklahoma

We are retailing our soaps at $5.25 (tax including). With holidays coming up, we make an amazing stocking stuffer, just perfect for that picky shopper since we are made of natural ingredients and sustainable oils.

I've also made some amazing soap in the last couple of days. This is my Frankincense and Myrrh. I added Turquoise to the color and it is absolutely a delight. We top this soap with Sea Salt for exfoliation.

We also created a stunning batch of Orange Sandalwood. 

Then we also had a wonderful surprise when we cut into our Lavender Oatmeal soap. This only happened to three of them, but it was super great and it made my day. 

These soaps were so happy they were a part of Okie Suds, they smiled at me! 

Tissue Paper Holder For Crafters

I have tissue paper in large quantities that have just taken over my soap business room. www.okiesuds.com They are cluttering my beautiful pallet shelf! (from a previous post!) The tissue paper are in stacks and I know that it won't be long before they will get torn up. I looked online to find any suitable holder and much to my shock, could not find anything. Some Pinterest users suggested using shoe racks. At 15 bucks a pop, I decided to buy a piece of board ($4.00) and some dowels (80 cents each) and make one that not only I could adjust, but put a bunch on!  Total cost was $10.40 since I got 8 dowels...You can use less by making this project smaller! 

Here is my one board I used. And one of the dowels. 

I first measured the dowel, which was four feet. I decided to make my cut at 21 inches down to allow enough dowels to be placed on the rack.

I make two marks.

I made some marks two inches apart all the way down. If this doesn't make sense...just look at my holes! They are staggered all the way down.

I place the boards on top of each other and drill down, through the first board. It will leave a mark, which will help be your guide on the second board. Do not go all the way through the bottom board or it will damage the tip of your bit.

I am using this type of wood drill bit. I honestly don't know what the proper name is for it. When you are drilling, make sure to bring it up once in a while, to let all the sawdust out of your hole.

When doing the second board, lay it on a scrap piece of wood so when you punch through, it will hit this board and not the concrete.

The result is to perfectly matching drilled out boards.

Take your dowels and chop em in half. I used my miter saw...cause I'm dangerous. 

Get your slave labor to help put the dowels in.

Place two pieces of wood on the top and bottom and screw them into place.

Then find a studs in your wall and mount. Guess what!? You now have an ADJUSTABLE tissue paper holder. You can remove and add dowels however and wherever you need them.

The final result.

BTW I am showing four different tissues paper patterns with 250 sheets each. ((Yes it's a load of tissue paper!)) It will lay nice and flat if you only have smaller quantities.