Making candles

 I started making candles, yesterday, to give as gifts to local friends this year!  

I bought some pretty, frosted jars, and a kit with a wax pitcher, long spoon for mixing, thermometer, wicking, and soy wax.  I also had a stash of bees' wax on hand.

Yesterday, I made an unscented one for a friend who is allergic to fragrances.  That one is a 50/50 mix of soy and bees' wax.  It turned out beautifully.

Then, I made one that was all soy, with a few drops of essential oil added for a light scent.  It also turned out well!

I'll be making at least one more today.

Our two dinner guests for Christmas Eve will get that one, along with some nice, warm gloves. 

Just got word yesterday that our Christmas Eve "mini ham" will be delivered on Tuesday!  I might have mentioned that I ordered the petite, pre-cooked one, because we just don't need a 15 pounder with all of the bones.  It's a sad fact. 

My brother usually sends me a big one, but with everything that's been going on with him this year, he was unable to do so, which is TOTALLY FINE.

Anyway, I need to get gifts wrapped and put into boxes to mail next weekend.  Hopefully, I can work on that a little bit today.

My treatment went well on Thursday, but the sweats that night were the worst they've ever been. It's odd how they just keep getting worse. 

I had to get up three times and change my soaked pajamas.

Stripped the bed Friday morning, and washed everything.  Ugh.

The weird part was that I actually slept between waking up drenched, but the insomnia hit me on Friday night instead.

And again last night....  

SO, I am pretty tired today, but feel okay. 

I got all of my chores done yesterday, and made a big pot of beef stew, and a batch of chicken stock.  I am reheating the chicken stock this morning, and will put it up this afternoon.

In other news, Dave likes his new therapist, and seems to be making a little progress.

He's also asking for a meeting with his human resources department to discuss further details of retirement.  

It seems odd to me that they don't offer a schedule of meetings to help their employees work toward that goal.

Most big companies do that, I think, but he is mostly being left on his own, and doesn't know what to do about stuff like carrying over insurance for me, and what to do about medicare for him, etc.  SO, he is pursuing them for help.

This coming week, I will have two office days, and Thursday is our holiday party at work.  

We didn't have one last year.

In fact, nothing at all happened last year, not even an email from the director.... so it's nice that they're doing something for us this year.

We get to take the afternoon off, basically, with a catered lunch, and stupid games, HAHA!

For out gift swap, I got a package of expensive ($9) cookies from Trader Joe's.

If I don't get all of the refund checks mailed that day, I honestly don't care!  I still think it's absolutely ridiculous that they make me go in twice a week, just to do that.

I am off to make french toast for brunch.  Have a lovely week!