New And Sure To Be A Favorite!

Good day and a quick check in to announce the debut of a new goats' milk soap from Lora's Beauty!

Introducing Spearmint Loofah! A clean, refreshing bar with a piece of loofah embedded in it for exfoliating dry, dead skin.

You're sure to fall in love with the awakening scent of spearmint but don't overlook the skin benefits of this essential oil. It's anti-fungal properties will help calm most rashes and acne and it has a nice cooling, relaxing feel on the skin.

A dusting of blue mica is added; you may feel as though you've stepped into a seaside vacation!

Grab a few bars and enjoy a little luxury in your life!

Website Updates!

Good news! Google has enabled custom URLs for personal google sites!

Remember this post where I unveiled my new Lora's Beauty website? Well, good news, you can now access it by typing lorasbeauty.com in the address bar. No redirect necessary.

So, as promised in my previous post, Lora's Beauty is having a sale to celebrate!! Starting now until Labor Day order at least FIVE all-natural, skin moisturizing, herb infused, essential oil scented bars and get one free! In addition, if you order over $30 you'll get FREE SHIPPING (discounts taken automatically!) Oh yea, it's your birthday, it's your birthday! 

We're clearing out the stock to make way for some major holiday soap making and celebrating the new look so click on over to the NEW WEBSITE , order some while supplies last and add a review to share the Lora's Beauty love.

Outdoor Aviary

We knew when we got our birds, Ed and Olive the cockatiels, and Harlan the grey parrot, that we wanted them to fly and experience the outdoors. So it was only a matter of time before we started thinking about outdoor aviaries.


We have a very small yard and when we started to look into outdoor aviaries it was apparent that finding a place to put one wasn't going to be easy. We also had specific requirements we wanted which were hard to meet with an already built aviary.

We wanted an aviary that could easily break down and store in the winter. We also required a double door so moving in and out of the aviary would not pose an opportunity for the birds to fly out. Lastly, we needed stainless steel or galvanized stainless steel mesh that was small enough for the cockatiels.

After many Google and Amazon searches, we decided the best solution was to build one and to build it under the maple tree along the front pathway. Right there where Jeff is sitting.

The first step towards building the aviary required the removal of the stones, leveling the ground, and installing pavers.

We placed weed barrier fabric on the ground then sand and gravel, and the pavers over that. We used fairly large pavers to minimize the cracks so the aviary had a sturdy surface.

Using 2 X 2s that were 8 feet long, we built 9 panels that made up the aviary's sides, doors, and roof.

We primed and painted the panels so they would withstand the weather better.

Jeff found a place on the internet that sold a large roll of after weld galvanized steel mesh that met our needs. It was delivered on a large truck and yes, it was heavy.

The mesh was cut and stapled to the panels overlapping the edges to secure it even better as Harlan could most certainly pull out staples. The panels were then bolted together.

The aviary was Jeff's design and he did most the work. It consumed the better part of two weekends and the Fourth of July holiday to make.

Naturally, the birds love it!

Come October, once it starts raining, we can unbolt the panels and store them in the garage.

Right now, while the weather's nice, these caged birds are enjoying the outdoors!

Summer

With the official start of summer happening last week, I thought I catch you up on what's going on around here.

I'm still loving my new pellet grill! For Father's Day I tried my hand at smoked salmon!

It cooked for several hours on the grill at 180 degrees and the result was spectacular! I used this recipe for the marinade.

I also pulled out the old Spirilizer and made a new take on the ever popular caprese salad.

To three sprilized zucchinis I added cherry tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella pieces. For a dressing, I used a tiny amount of olive oil and vinegar with some sea salt flakes.

In other news, the birds are all doing well and will soon be even more spoiled! We're in the process of making an outdoor aviary for them. Olive is overcome with joy about it, just look at that smile!

We've leveled the ground, put some pavers down, and are now awaiting the arrival of the very special, galvanized after-weld wire mesh.

This weekend we hope to get the 2 X 2s and start building it.

Also this weekend I will be replenishing my stock of Pine Tar Goats' Milk Soap as this was an unexpected popular addition.

Hopefully, if I have time, I've got a new bar I've been wanting to make for a while with embedded loofah!

The new Lora's Beauty website is up and running and I've added a redirect to it from the old site. That means if you go to www.lorasbeauty.com you will automatically be redirected to the new site. Please take a look, share the site on social media, and leave a review, oh and place an order if you're in need of some awesome, skin-loving goats' milk soap!

Lora's Beauty ships free with orders over $30 (in the US.)

For those celebrating, have a great Fourth of July. I'll leave you with a photo I took from the Eagle Creek Lavender Festival last weekend.

Get out there and enjoy summer!

Memorial Day Visit to the Portland Japanese Garden

Monday we took a visit to the Portland Japanese Garden. What follows are some photos I took of the garden and the International Rose Test Garden across the street.

Lora's Beauty ships free with orders over $30 (in the US.)

Just In Time For Memorial Day Weekend; Pellet Grill!

I'm beginning to think I have a problem. I reread some of my past posts and noticed there's been a lot of kitchen gadgets purchased lately. Not counting my new range, there's been a sorbet maker, a pressure cooker, an ice cream maker, and even a Sprilizer! So, I write today (a little embarrassed) to say, I bought a pellet grill!!

Keep in mind that although there have been a lot of gadgets purchased for food making, they've been used a lot! In fact, we don't eat out near as much as we used to so I believe they haven't just been frivolous purchases (well, maybe the Sprilizer....)

Ok, now that that's off my chest, back to the pellet grill.

It all started with an innocent statement from my son, "you should go to Home Depot, they're demoing Traeger Grills and you can cook pizza on them." Whaaaa!?? Fast forward two days later and I'm at Home Depot talking to the Traeger guy.

Needless to say, at $800 I didn't leave the store with one that day. I did what every normal(?) person would do and stewed on it for a couple days then took to Google and started researching them looking for a good, less expensive one. And I found it! The Davy Crockett Green Mountain Grill!

At $350 this grill is a bargain! It's compact as it's meant to be portable, but it's still large enough for a 15 lb turkey. I gave it a good test last weekend to celebrate my son's birthday. I smoked ribs, grilled chicken, sausages, and corn on the cob. It was delicious! The ribs literally fell off the bone.

Prior to this purchase, I wasn't real big on barbecuing. I hated how messy it was what with the lighter fluid and charcoal and besides that, recent studies have shown that eating food chard over a charcoal grill may not be all that good for you or the environment. Consequently, we seldom barbecued.

The pellet grill is so much easier to use! I add pellets to the hopper, turn it on, and set the temperature! Once the grill gets to cooking temperature (about 15 minutes to reach 350 degrees), I add the meat and set the timer on my phone app (yes, you heard that correctly, there's a phone app where you can control the temperature and turn the grill off and on!) While the grill is getting up to temperature, there is smoke, but once it hits temperature and is cooking there is very little smoke leaving it.

Supposedly you can bake a cake, pie, or even bread in it. I haven't tried that (yet) but yes, we made pizza!

I grilled the pizza on my stonewhich I just laid on the grill grates. At 420 degrees, the pizza was ready to eat in about 15 minutes

The pizza had a nice brown crust and a smokey, wood-fired taste. Grilling the pizza on the pellet stove will definitely be a weekly occurrence around here this summer and may even extend into the fall and winter!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Lora's Beauty ships free with orders over $30 (in the US.)