Millie’s Moonstone

Today I'm talking with Angela at Millie’s Moonstone.

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00:00
After listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This Homestead Holler is a shout out to North County Marketplace. North County Marketplace's mission is to partner with and provide local farmers and zero waste slash clean ingredient products. You can find them on Facebook at North County Marketplace or online at NoCoMarketplace.com. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe.

00:29
Share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Now I'm talking with Angela at Millie's Moonstone. I love that name so much. Good morning, Angela, how are you? Good morning, I'm fine, how are you? I'm good, how's the weather in where you are? It's actually a beautiful day today. Yeah, and I forget where you are, sorry. I'm in Southwestern PA, like close to Uniontown, Pittsburgh area. Okay, yep. You told me a message and then I closed it and I forgot to make an order in my brain, sorry.

00:59
That's all it is going to snow in Minnesota tonight. That's where I am. Well, I actually love snow. So I'm the, like the only weirdo around here that's like missing this thing. Yeah. Well, it wouldn't be unusual. I wouldn't be so excited except that last winter we got maybe six inches total for the season. And this winter we've gotten maybe six inches and they're saying three to five tonight. So.

01:24
It would be really nice to get the last hurrah done, have it be pretty, and then just roll into springtime. I would be so excited about that. Right. I love the changes of the season, but we just don't seem to have winters like we used to anymore. As you'll find out through this, I'm very old fashioned for my age, so I miss the old times and always having snow on the ground all winter. Yeah. Somebody called it Grandma Cor to me the other day. Yeah.

01:53
At first I was like, you know, I'm 55, I'm a grandma. I don't know how comfortable I am with grandma core, but it's okay. I decided it was very cute. Yeah, like I'm still like fun and immature in a sense, but like I just, when it comes to like the values and the gardening and you know, things like that, it just, that's always been like super important to me and stayed with me.

02:22
I'm kind of surprised nobody's called it nature core yet, but maybe they'll start doing that too. I dig that. Nature core. That way it's not grandma core, it's not kid core, it's not an age specific thing. It's just an everyday thing. Okay. So everybody stop calling it grandma core, call it nature core. We'll start again. All right. Millicore. Yes, exactly. Okay. So I'm assuming that your grandma had a lot to do with your...

02:49
take on all this. So you named your business after her. Yes. So growing up, she lived walking distance from me. So that was, you know, super nice. And we were super close. She she always just had a way of like how everything is just so busy now and everybody's on their phones and just, you know, like busy working for corporations and different things. But like when you were at grandma's house, it was like you were at a pot like you were almost on vacation.

03:19
Um, she did like Sunday dinners every Sunday. Um, she would make a soup we called Sunday soup, but it's actually like an old hunky soup recipe, um, that was passed down like generations. Um, you know, we didn't always have that. She had other things, but you know, everybody was always welcome at her house, um, a lot of homemade cooking and, you know, gatherings. So.

03:46
I always wanted to be like her and be that type of person. And, you know, there was, like I said, like that always sense of pausing and not to get your thoughts and, you know, identify with people and yourself versus just being so busy and on the go. So that's something I really miss about her. Yeah. My husband's grandma was Grandma Kyle. My husband's name is Kyle.

04:16
the family surname. So if Kyle has his family surname, he would be Kyle Kyle, which wouldn't work. But she was Grandma Kyle to everybody, but to people who actually spent time at her house and to people who spent time at her house, she was Ma. M-A. Ma. And my husband told me the story and I was like, that is so sweet. And everyone was welcome to come.

04:44
to her house and sit down and have a cup of something and talk. And I liken her to the town therapist because she would listen to anyone. Right. So I think your grandma and my husband's grandma probably have a lot in common. Yeah, sounds like it. And she had like a love for the earth and that kind of...

05:07
how I started all of this. So like we would do a lot of gardening and snapping beans. And when they say snapping beans is therapy, they're not kidding. I feel like that was some true therapy I had growing up. And she just thought at least taught me things from the earth are better, you know, like versus going to, like even her apricot filling at the store. She was like, if you just throw some apricots in a pan with sugar and boil it with water, you're gonna get that filling versus.

05:36
then she would read the label and like you can't even pronounce half the stuff on the label. Yeah. And her stuff always tasted so much better. Like she did catering for weddings, catering you know, cookies. And you know that her her bread was to die for. I'm getting close because the problem was every time she'd come into my house and try to teach me she would end up doing like I'd get busy with the kids and she's like, Oh, just let me do it. And she really wanted to do it.

06:06
And it's like everyone in the family is trying to match her bread recipe. But, um, but that's where I got a lot of my product ideas. So I started making a tattoo cream, um, cause my niece does tattoos. She has real ink in union town. She does beautiful work and, um, and I have a mental health piece on my arm. And so I started making a tattoo cream and then.

06:32
I was like, I feel like grandma adding the different recipes with the, you know, essential oils and coconut oil, because I didn't want to stick to the recipes. And then I was like, oh, then it all just kind of clicked. And then, you know, in addition to the recipe thing and grandma, I got the moonstone from just my love of the earthen and, you know, I'm into the gems, the stems, or oh my gosh, the stones and gems.

07:01
Just different things like that. So I kind of put it together to make the title. I love it. It's so pretty. Thank you. Okay, so I know that you make like, like Lutians and Sabs. Do you make jewelry too? I haven't got into the jewelry just yet. So like I said, it started out with tattoo cream and now it's over 50 products. A lot of soap, body wash. I do the whipped beef tallow.

07:31
And I get the tallow from the local butcher. So I cook it down myself, you know, and then I use, yeah, I use whatever's left, like the impurities. I use that to make the bird seed cakes. And I also sell those. You know, I do the better than Botox. The ladies love that. What? Tell me, tell me, tell me about that one. So it has about seven different ingredients, cucumber seed oil, carrot seed oil.

07:59
Different plant extracts that literally it has taken the fine lines and wrinkles like I Was about to go get Botox myself being 46, you know, and I I skipped it now Yeah, I always feel like I have baby skin is the way I describe it. Like it's reversing back to That's good stuff Yeah And then I sort of took that with the whipped beef tallow that everybody was getting into and I combined the two and I call that magic in a jar

08:29
So you're getting the whipped beef tallow, the honey, and the seven ingredients from the Botox. Can I ask a question? Is clove part of the ingredients? Not for that, actually. But I do have a soap called the Witch's Apple. And I have clove in that. OK. The reason I ask is we made a clove sweet orange and cinnamon soap a couple years ago. Oh, that sounds really good.

08:59
delicious smelling like I Well, I didn't even wait for it to cure the six weeks I pulled apart for a week and I stepped into a hot shower with that and lathered up and I was just like, oh my god I'm so awake. This smells so good But the surprise was that clove is actually really good to take fine lines out of your skin, too Oh, okay Yeah, I might have to add an ingredient and it smells really good. So yeah Okay, go ahead. Keep talking you were saying

09:28
And then I do like a men's line too. So I have the beard balm, the beard wash and surprisingly, I just was extremely shocked about the number of men that are into the organic products. You know, so they would message me and be like, hey, well my my place is far away, so I want to check your stuff out, you know, meaning they had already been into it. So I was happy to see that.

09:55
They sort of, you know, they respect like what I'm doing, like being a small business and using all natural stuff. And so it's been a really fun experience. And the reason I got into it as I did do mental health treatment for 20 years. And I hate to sound like it was a gel sentence, but I feel like that was a lot of time and energy out of my own mental health. Yeah.

10:22
Cause I kind of got away from the whole, when grandma passed away, you know, like I was literally working 5am to 8pm at night, you know, not getting to have family with the dinner or dinner with the family. Sort of living the lifestyle. I didn't really want to live the work life balance. Yeah. And I, I got to a point where, you know, I had to choose myself and my family and, and I chose to do this and, you know, it's been

10:52
I don't regret the work I did. I feel really good about helping people and everything I've done. It's just something I needed to take a step back from. Yeah, I was going to ask to clarify what you said because you worked in the mental health field. Yeah. Okay. So 20 years in the mental health field. Got it. Okay. And now you're doing other kind of health work. Yes. And this does end up kind of being like therapy, like you said.

11:21
You know, just talking, now I kind of advocate for people that are busy like that and, and just trying to help them and realize too, like, I think society has set it up to where we, they don't want us to know this stuff, you know, like they don't want us to be self-sufficient and, you know, it's amazing how you can, like, I can make a bar of soap or a thing of deodorant and still make a home-cook meal for my family. Yeah. I don't, I don't need to be. And

11:50
You know, I can even do like a time study. It does sound overwhelming, like it does. Like, oh, where do you have time to do all that? I just don't have the time. But if you took a Sunday, your day off, and you know, a few minutes, you're really done with all of that, you know? And you feel better, you feel more grounded. You feel like, I did this, you know, this stuff's homemade, it's coming from me. And it feels better to do that for your family. Yes.

12:18
And I'm gonna I'm gonna share a hint for people if you think that something is gonna take you a long time to do get a get an egg timer or one of the ones that you twist and it clicks backwards and Make it set it for what you think it's gonna take you time to do and then start doing the thing And the reason I'm saying this is back when I was younger. I really hated standing at the sink doing dishes And it always felt like it took or freaking ever

12:47
And I finally was like, how long is it actually taking me? Is this just me, you know, psyching myself out about it? And I grabbed a timer and I set it for five minutes and I filled the sink with water. And then I turned the timer on. It took me three minutes to wash the dishes. Literally three minutes. And there weren't a lot, but at least I had a gauge now for if there's this much on the counter, it's gonna take this many minutes.

13:14
And now I just stay on top of the dishes because I'm like, if I do them now, it's going to take me three minutes. If I wait until tomorrow, it's going to take me half an hour. So time is measurable and time is weird. I was talking to my folks yesterday and my mom is 78 and my dad is 81. And they were like, where does the time go? And it reminded me of that when I had my first baby.

13:43
They put her in my arms and I thought 18 years is a long time. And then she turned 18 and I was like, nope, it's the blink of an eye. It really is. So when people say, I don't have time, it's not, that's not really what they're saying. Yeah. So the framework needs to be, needs to be understood to understand what they're actually telling you when they say, I don't have time.

14:11
Right. And I feel like too, like our jobs want us, I mean, I had, I had very good experiences. Like I said, I love the work I did. I worked with schizophrenic bipolar addiction. I love the work I did, the people I helped. It was when I became a manager that I became like five years ago, that I began to see how corporations really don't care about, you know, like I actually had a

14:40
you know, write this nasty email, this is how you handle it with your staff, you know, and I felt pressured being in that position, like I had to do that, you know, like, or they were going to think bad of me. But my supervisor role to me was to coach and to show by example and to thrive in that way, you know, and I built really good relationships with the team I was on, certain ones, you know, that were open to that. But like you

15:10
I feel like you just can't be, especially with people working in mental health, you can't just be like uncaring toward them or their feelings or needs, you know, and expect them to go out and be caring and, you know, and do that stuff for the clients. So my style was a little different and that was hard on me to see their style, like firsthand being a manager. Well, yes. And you worked in the mental health.

15:39
field for 20 years. You probably gained some really good tools to encourage people in that 20 years. Right. And that's the thing too. Like I never went to college straight out of high school. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I had my kids when I was in my early 20s and I worked myself up, you know, from I worked one-on-one with an autistic kid and just felt like I really wanted to help and that's what I wanted to do. And I raised my kids, worked full time and went to school.

16:08
to get my degree. So when my staff came to me for help, then I wanted to be like, well, I did that before and this is how I handled it because I did have a lot of experience and I was where they were at. You're a giving spirit. I love that. Definitely. So are you out of that field now completely? I decided that since I did have a bad experience with that upper management, I just...

16:36
I felt the need to take a mental break and do this for a while. I'm definitely getting back into it. I just hooked up with a company in Morgantown, West Virginia. Something I let go of many, many years was getting my license as a psychologist because I just kept working my way up without it and being so busy, I never took the time to do the hours and the tests.

17:03
And they actually heard my story and want to help me with that. So I thought that was very awesome of them. So I'm, I'm taking another month off doing this, and then I'm going to slowly, you know, work on getting my license. Okay. Cool. That's amazing. And yeah. And I swear everybody has like six or seven things that they do for work in their lifetime these days. So you're right on the ball here.

17:31
So when did you start making all this stuff in your business? So when I stepped away from, you know, work in November, I'm into, I don't want to call it witchcraft in a dark way because Facebook and my, some family members were like, oh my gosh, that's devil worshiping, blah, blah, blah. You, like, you can't explain to people. And it's a book called the green witch. Of course I took over my grandma and we have a huge garden. I mean, you.

18:00
I can't even fit it all in one photo. And then we have since put in three more gardens. We have a cornfield. So I'm out in the garden, I'm doing a lot, and I got a book called The Green Witch. And I love it. I use a lot of it for my garden. I got into a lot of the manifestation and the prosperity oils, the love oils, more for self-love.

18:30
And I just, it's just something that clicked with me and it kind of helped me through that period. And, and it kind of inspired me in it, you know, in that book, then there's a lot of good recipes. You know, I also make the lip balm too, meditation balms, all the oils. So getting into that book then, and then sort of using grandma sort of way to, to change up the recipes is kind of where I got inspired. Nice.

18:58
Oh, I have no issue with you using the term witchcraft because I'm the same way. Okay, good. I am supposedly, again, I've mentioned this a couple of times on the podcast, supposedly I am descended from the first male accused, tried, and hung for witchcraft in the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Oh, wow. Wow. Supposedly. Yeah. I can't trace it back definitively because no one really can.

19:27
But yeah, and so I have done a lot of reading on the Salem witch trials, on the way things used to be done, on midwifery, on wise women, and honest to God, witches get such a bad rap because so much of it was so good. Right. You know, making soups was considered witchcraft. There was a lady who made soups and, you know, cured the little kids from colds.

19:57
You know, they looked at that as magic and she was actually helping. You know, there was nothing dark associated with that, but she's labeled as a witch. So, yeah, yeah, I sort of went through that, which was fine, because I just feel like I'm doing this for me, not other people. Nobody really has to understand. I mean, you know, it hurts your feelings when people are thinking a certain way. But in the end, I'm so healed right now that I'm in a very unbothered state right now.

20:26
I'm doing this for me and to spread the word and about my passion. Yeah, that's a fantastic place to be in your psyche. The other thing is that homesteading is all about doing things for yourself. And you're not necessarily a homesteader, I guess, but you are a crafter. And you're doing things for yourself and you're also sharing those things to help other people. I see nothing wrong with this plan.

20:56
Thank you Yeah, and and the thing that's funny is you are you are a very fancy crafter I was looking at the things that you make and they're beautiful and You put intention and you put really good ingredients in them and you make this wonderful thing or things And what's funny is people don't quite know that they have a lot of things that can help them in their house in cooking ingredients, right

21:25
we use coconut oil for things. And coconut oil is like magic. It is great for dry skin. It is great for healing wounds, especially if you mix a little honey in it. Great. It's great for lip gloss. It's gonna be slippery, but you just have some of it off and it's lip gloss. It's not that hard to get coconut oil at the store. And it comes in little tiny containers and great big containers. So. Right.

21:55
You could just use coconut oil for a lot of things. Right. Yeah. Like my witches apple soap, I mean, everything's out of the kitchen. Ginger, honey, cinnamon. People love that smell too. Like one of my customers bought it and said she sniffed it like driving. Like it was an addicting smell. Yeah, absolutely.

22:24
Any of those fall or autumn scents, people tend to really love them because they remind them of cozy and warm and good food and good company. Right. And that's a lot of things about this too. Like I find myself if I have a bad day, I'll just go over and sniff that mint soap or my essential oils. I have them in the diffuser. It really is a mood changer, you know, like for sure. Yeah.

22:54
You know, it's really funny because stores sell air fresheners all the time. They have all kinds of things in them that are not good for you. Right. And, and a lot of the time not good for your pets. If you have cats or dogs, air, the diffusers are not great because they can actually make your pets sick. And, and I had to actually look up a bunch of things when we started making candles because we have a dog we love. I haven't mentioned Maggie.

23:22
Well you probably hear mine snoring in the... I actually can't hear them but that's fine. Okay, good. But when we started making candles and soaps, I was like, before we open anything in this kitchen, we need to look up what effect that will have on our dog because I am not going to poison my dog. I spent a lot of money on my dog. I love my dog. I want her to be around for as long as she can be around.

23:52
is really bad for dogs. Like you shouldn't even have a bottle of it open anywhere because just breathing it can make them feel yucky. Right. So I also learned the other day that tea tree oil is really good for toenail fungus of all things. Yeah, it's like a natural healer. I've put it on. I had a belly ring piercing, you know, that just... Yeah. It did not want to cooperate.

24:21
I had lost weight a couple years ago to be, you know, my cousin's wedding. Um, and I was like, Oh, I'm going to read, you know, do that because I had that when I was younger and had to take it out. And I got that. It was just so like, it was fighting me every step of the way.

24:40
It was hurting so bad and I went and got antibiotics at the doctor, and I bought a cream in the past, nothing worked. And I was just about ready to take it out and I just put that pure tea tree oil on it and it healed it up like within two days. Yeah. Yep. So I found out that it was really good for toenail fungus and I was like, huh, well that's a good thing to keep in your back pocket of information, right?

25:04
And then I was like, great, if I ever have that happen to me, I'm going to want to put it on my toenails and my dog is going to smell it and then she's going to get sick. So teacher oil is probably not something that we're going to do a lot within our house, but it is a really good oil to have on hand if you don't have pets. There's just so many things that are so readily available to us that we don't know is a thing to have on hand.

25:33
Now, speaking of pets, I have Cooper. I rescued him three years ago now. He was a puppy. He was found under an old man's trailer, like abandoned with the mother dog. Aw. And his siblings, and all his siblings got adopted out. We did a DNA test and like, weirdly, we had this little group chat and all of them came back the same breed. So it's pretty accurate. Yeah. He's a great paranese, boxer, and foxhound mix.

26:00
He's 158 pounds. And he's kind of like Clifford, like every time someone sees him, they're like, how'd he get bigger? Like, isn't he supposed to be done growing? He gets bigger and bigger, but he had a severe allergy to the flea and tick meds. Um, so I took him several vets and they, you know, and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, he's going to get Lyme's disease from ticks. I can't put nothing on him. And.

26:26
I was at the dog park one day talking to a pharmacist and he said, well, if you think about it, we're literally putting pesticides on our dogs. Yep. So I was like, oh, you're right. So even before I started all of this, I, for him, I had to research natural, you know, ways and it's apple cider vinegar. So he gets a bath with that and the Castel soap. And then I

26:53
you know, I make a flea tick spray for him. And I would say he's had one tick on him of all this time. And that was due to just like once I was sick and I wasn't like spraying him regularly in the summer or I had a back injury. But other than that, he's, I mean, I feel like it's worked pretty good. I have never seen a flea on him. Yeah, fleas are weird. I'm gonna share a story real quick.

27:20
We have barn cats because we have a pole barn and we knew there were mice in there. We could see them running around when we turned the light on. And, uh, we got a couple of barn cats to, to deal with the problem because that's what barn cats do. They hunt mice. Right. And our barn cats have never had fleas in four years and we don't treat them with anything. We don't do anything with the barn cats except feed them and pet them when they want pets. That's pretty much it.

27:48
And we don't feed them a lot because they're getting the mice and the stuff. But we've never treated them for anything. And nature is no fleas on these animals. And we've had three or four batches of kittens. The kittens never got fleas. Wow. So I don't know if it's because of where we live. Maybe there's just aren't many fleas around or what the deal is, but fleas are weird. Like.

28:13
I can remember my mom flea bombing our house when we were growing up because the cats did get fleas in Maine where we live. I don't know what the deal is with that, but either way, yes, we're putting pesticides into our animals' bodies so that the bugs bite them and die. My dad actually has a border collie and he gives her the NextGuard Plus stuff or whatever it is because that's what's available. He said, honey, I hate doing it. He said, I just...

28:41
He said, these bugs bite her and fall right off dead. And I'm like, yeah. I was like, what is that doing to her? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. Well, if he's ever interested, Cooper has a line here. Uh-huh, yes. I do the paw, the paw ball, mean it, to help with the paw pads. I do the flea tick spray and the wash, the doggy wash. Yep, exactly.

29:08
Is Cooper on the picture on your label? Is that what he looks like? He is, yeah. That's him. Yeah, on your Facebook page. If anybody wants to see what Cooper looks like, very happy. He is the bearded guy that I guess the universe thought I needed because I'm single. And I'm like, I want this bearded tattoo guy, but I get Cooper and that's fine. Yeah. And since we've gotten onto the pet thing. Yeah.

29:35
I want people to buy things from makers, obviously. But the other thing is that if you can't spend the money to buy it from a maker, you could probably make a paw bomb yourself. Out of a little bit of beeswax, a little bit of coconut oil, and some honey, I guess. I put honey in everything.

29:59
That beef tallow is great too. It's good for everything. Anything that will stay harder at room temperature. It's not an oil, it's a, it's a, it's like a chapstick texture. And dried marigolds, I plant a lot of those in the garden to keep like, you know, the rabbits and stuff away and different bugs they keep away. But I brew a lot of that juice from, you know, cooking, you know, like brewing the,

30:28
the dried marigolds and that has a lot of healing powers too. Yeah, and in the winter time, man, if you're walking your dog and it's cold, their toe beans hurt. Right. And if you can put that stuff on them when you get back, you know, warm their feet up and put it on their pads, it really helps. And like I said, Maggie is the love of my life right now. I have four adult children. She's my fifth baby out of the children. And so I'm always like, what can I do for her if something is up?

30:57
you know, right. Right. So but there are so many things we can do for ourselves with ingredients we probably have in the house. And it doesn't take all that much time and it takes talent, but it doesn't take like, I don't know, brain surgery talent, it takes being able to follow directions. Right. And you the filling you'll get is indescribable. Like it's almost like a grounded filling. But I offer that to like,

31:24
A lot of my friends, because they're like, can I buy makeup wipes off of you? But I don't sell that kind of stuff, because I would just feel so bad selling, like my laundry softener, it's literally two ingredients. You know what I mean? Like you're taking white vinegar and you're mixing baking soda and then you just add whatever scent you want.

31:45
So I'd feel so bad selling that. So certain things that I am making myself, but not selling, I would have no problem sharing recipes or helping with that because, like I said, this is my passion and I wanna sell this stuff, but I also wanna help people see that they can do this stuff on their own. Yeah, exactly. And I'm not gonna lie, I used to have a favorite lip gloss that I would buy.

32:14
And then I started making my own lip balms and I haven't bought any any lip product in I know it's like it's a game-changer The lip balm is I've had like reviews where they're like, you know I've went to Walmart this winter and spent over three hundred dollars with this cracked lip, you know like on the corner and your your lip balm cured it in three days And in my recipe is so simple, you know, like it's probably four things Yep

32:43
Exactly. And it doesn't take long to make magic lip balm. A lady messaged me or emailed me, I can't remember, a couple years ago. And she was like, do you have any more of your, I think it was vanilla lip balm? And I said, sure. I said, how many do you want? And she said, like 10 or 15. And I said, are you buying them for stocking stuffers? And her answer made me cry.

33:11
It wasn't for stocking stuffers. She has had a reaction to every lip balm she's ever used, but not ours. Aw. That was awesome. She wanted to have a bunch on hand in storage so that every time she ran out, she could just grab another one. I almost sobbed my face off. So when we're making these things, we don't know the actual impact that they might have on somebody. Right.

33:38
My brother, I named one after him, it's called Freddy Free. Because he, he works out in the cold and I feel bad. Like I, you know, men that do that, it's just amazing to me to be out there doing that kind of work in the bitter cold and his lips are all chapped and cracked. And I was, he said he couldn't find one that worked. And, and then I said, well, what scent do you like? Cause I'll make you one. And then he said, well, that's the problem. I can't stand any.

34:08
any type of flavors or scent, you know. So I was like, oh, I'll just mix you up one and not add the essential oil. That's really easy. So that's why I named that one after him. He'll just text me one, you know, randomly, I'm out of lip balm. I'll just whip and whip another one. Yeah. And the thing is you never really think about lip balm other than when you're, I don't know, 13, 14 years old and a girl and you're not really allowed to wear makeup. You get to get that.

34:37
first lip balm of your life. It's like a luxury and a rite of passage thing. But lady, if you live in a northern tier state when the temperature can get to minus 30 real temperature, lip balm comes in really handy and it's actually important. Right. Well, that brings me into the makeup.

35:02
I wouldn't say like I'm super good at makeup, but I just always wore makeup, you know, and liked it and go to Ulta and all of the places. But like once I realized like I can make lip gloss out of beet powder from my own garden. Yeah, yeah. I feel like a million bucks putting that on and it lasts longer, you know, like it than anything I've ever bought. And the color, the color. The shade. Yes. It's very earthy.

35:32
Now I do eye shadow, you know, I do the regular lip balm and then the tinted stuff and the tinted lip gloss, but I pretty much can make all of my makeup now. Yeah, it's so fun. I mean, when we were busy two summers ago really working on lip balms and soaps and candles and stuff, after about two months I was like, I can't do this anymore. Every day we were making something.

36:02
And my husband was like, well, we kind of need to, we bought the ingredients and we need to sell this stuff. And I was like, I know, but my house always just smells so intently of whatever oil, you know, scented oil we're using. And he was like, which ones really hurt you? Because some of them would give me headaches. And I said, the lavender just kills me. It's supposed to, lavender is supposed to be really good for headaches, but not in that kind of intense sense.

36:30
He said, okay, we won't make any lavender for a while. I said, okay, that'd be great. Can we not make the lilac either? Cause that was a fragrance oil. And he was like, yep, nope, we don't have to do that. I said, mint is good, coffee. We had a multi-pea fragrance that was amazing. I said, you can make coffee scented flavored, anything you want every day of the week. It doesn't bother me at all. So.

36:54
So why I'm saying this is when you commit to having some kind of business where you're dealing with things that are scented, you really have to either suck it up and realize you're going to have a headache with some sense because it will bother you or you have to be strategic and be like, okay, which one are the ones I really love? Let's do those today. Exactly. Yeah.

37:17
And then my like the headache stuff I have it I called it feel better because literally I had the flu and I'm like I have to have all of this stuff like I made the soap the mad head relief it's like a natural Vicks and I put the lapis stone in that and then the shower steamers that I could smell like every day but you're right like the lavender sometimes it gets to me like I'm not a

37:47
And what's nice about today is somebody's allergic to it. Not that that's a nice thing, but that's the stuff I'm making today is lavender freeze. So you're right, like it's a nice time to like step away from it. Yeah, and the other thing is that when we make our stuff, we would make it in our kitchen. And if it was cold out, we didn't have our windows open. People, if you're gonna make anything that has a scent, try to do it when you have your windows open because that helps too. Yes.

38:17
Absolutely. My mom had passed away a few, well, I'd gone through a pretty bad breakup like four years ago and had to move back home. And my dad was in the process of remodeling and my mom was on hospice. So I look at it like a bad and a good time, but just because like coming home gave me that time with my mom that I can never replace, you know, like. Sure. Yeah. So.

38:45
which I do have some plans for her this summer. I know I named the business after grandma. I haven't really fully grieved my mom yet. I know that sounds crazy because we're going on year three, but for me to name something after her right now or do something is almost reliving her death to me. But she was Italian and she made the best spaghetti sauce you could ever imagine. Everyone in the whole family loves it.

39:13
Um, so my plan this year with my tomatoes we can is to start, you know, I'm going to get my license for selling the food and make her spaghetti sauce with her picture on it. Nice. So that's a little reveal I have for the summer. Um, but anyway, we quit remodeling at that time. We have like an upstairs and downstairs that's sort of, sort of like apartment style.

39:42
There's everything upstairs that there is downstairs. The only difference is the upstairs isn't fully remodeled. So that's the kitchen I'm working out of. I have one little burner that works still. And then I don't have to be around all the food either. You know what I mean? It's nice. It's kind of like a little workshop. And then most of the cooking I do is with my dad downstairs. Well, keep cooking with your dad because those are the things that are really important to have too. Yeah. He's a great guy. Like...

40:11
You know, I'm real fortunate to have a really good family, but he's just always been there for me. And I think that's hard for why I'm having a hard time dating right now is just, not that I compare to him, but like, just those values and stuff, you just don't see them anymore. Or like being a gentleman or, you know, you just don't, or making sure you're taken care of. And I'm like very independent, I'm self-sufficient obviously, but like.

40:40
It's that feeling that someone has your back, you know what I mean? Like that.

40:47
you know, like that comes from you have a partner that wants to make sure you're okay. Uh-huh. Yes, absolutely. And I have, I'm really lucky too. I have a great dad. My dad's the best guy I know and he's 81. And he is in great health right now and I hope he stays that way for another 30 years, but that's probably not true. So, but no, I get it. Having a dad who, when you call, he says,

41:14
He says, what's up, honey? Or how can I help? It's so priceless. Right, and people laugh. I'm not gonna lie, like from Southwest PA, we're not, you know, there's not always people into the organic stuff. So I had this vision and, you know, eventually I want to get a shop. Right now I'm just working off of Facebook and doing online orders and deliveries. But my end game is to get a shop and...

41:42
I was like, I want a soup and soap shacks. And everybody, everybody's laughing at me. And I'm like, I could even throw the joke in. It's not cooked in the same pot. And they're like laughing, but not at me, not with me. And, um, my dad says, you know, well, you could be like Cindy Crawford and you could build an empire. And I was like, I needed that dad statement. Everybody's laughing at me. You know, like, and he just has a way of.

42:12
That made me feel good, you know, like it's, yeah. My goals aren't a joke. Yeah. If you do the soup and soap shack, you should do a cauldron as the graphic. I know, right? I thought of that. Yep. That would be adorable. I think you should do it. I want you to do it. Okay. I'm definitely, that's my goal. I'm working on it.

42:35
All right, Angela, we are at 42 minutes and I tried to keep you to half an hour, so I'm going to let you go. But thank you so much for chatting with me today. I appreciate it. I really appreciate you. All right. Have a great day. You too.