Joy Lane Happenings

“Sh#t? Sh#tt? Sh#ttt!” We were in the (very crowded) paint section of Home Depot, and Emma, our intrepid two-year-old who is learning new words every day, was asking to sit in the car cart. Emma’s first trip to a store in over a year was to The Home Depot, and her lollipop, ride in a cart with steering wheels, and father’s jubilance for shopping at the orange store may have given her a false impression of what errands are like. This was her second time, and this time around she had to share the cart with two sisters, and right...

There was a swoosh, a rush of foaming water, and the back of our kayak sank beneath the surface. “We’re sinking!” I shouted. Makayla was in the back and already had water up to her chest. I buoyed Kelsey out of the center where she was sitting with me, and Makayla half jumped, half swam overboard. A second later the entire kayak capsized, and the three of us bobbed like corks in the reservoir. (Thank you, life jackets!). Ten minutes earlier I had been lazily paddling along with Emma enjoying her first kayak ride. Ominously, we saw a huge, dead...

From the girl’s room, I heard a howl of pain. It was after bedtime, and we were down in the living room wrapping soaps for the Common Man Inn with Downton Abbey playing in the background. I raced upstairs to find Emma, our two-year-old, wailing. There are lots of different kinds of crying, and this was the sound of someone who had been intensely and unexpectedly stung. Using a mixture of words and hand motions, she said, “Kelsey bit me,” and pointed an accusing, reddened finger at her sister. I was shocked. Kelsey has never bit anyone before (we're lucky...

Someone stole a bunch of stuff from our orders that were out for pickup. So, keep your eyes out for a shifty looking character with moisturized skin who smells of Mint Garden and Vanilla Bean. Imagine stealing a bar of Stress Relief Soap? Maybe they needed it more than we did. If our lotion highway woman/man is reading this, please keep the products with our complements. They’re certainly not worth a guilty conscience, and while we might feel a tinge of grrr, we remain mostly grateful for the kind, caring customers we serve on a daily basis, and hope you’ll...

Friends, that's a 450 bar batch of soap. 100% goat milk, no water. Over 40 pounds of olive oil. In four days, we'll take it out of the mold and find out if it worked. Big batch experiment #1!