How Time Flies

This was my mum, 7.00am yesterday morning, at the start of her long 2 day trek from Wales, UK, to us here in Massachusetts. She's in her seventies, has never flown before in her life, and is traveling all by herself. What an incredible role model.

This is mum on the coach, saying goodbye to her part of the world. It'll be a few weeks before she'll see Wales again. My brother and his family saw her off. It's great to see her looking so excited.
And so the trip began. My daughters, Gayle and Shez, kept in touch with their techy savvy Nan as she traveled, and by the end of yesterday she was in London.

It's air day today, and she's on the plane as I type. We're gonna be spending a great few weeks, catching up on the last decade of stuff each of us never ever thought we'd do together. She's gonna see places she's only ever seen in films. I'm gonna see my mum. It hasn't hit me yet. It'll probably all catch up to me the moment I see her walking through the gate at the airport terminal later today. I'm stoked!

Holiday Hours Reminder

Just a reminder that the office closes at the end of today for our annual Holiday break. All orders placed before 5.00pm today will be packed and shipped by Friday the 16th. Happy Holidays!

A Bit Of Raw Video

You'd think having a techy guru like I have in Jason, that we'd have a state of the art video camera. We don't. Jason's a still-shot kinda guy.

On a "Snowflake" photo shoot in the workshop a few weeks ago, Jason switched his Nikon over to movie mode. He was experimenting to see what it did, and gave me no cue at all other than: "I wonder what it'd be like if I switched to video. Hmm...okay, we're live".

The first minute of film was me asking him what was he talking about, and then a short back and forth happened between us about testing sound and focus etc. While the movie mode continued its few minutes run, I picked up a log of the Snowflake soap Jason had just been photographing and started talking. Surprisingly, when we played back the three or so minutes of film, we found a half decent minute's worth of raw video worth sharing.

The movie mode on the Nikon only runs for a few minutes, but it's shown us that it's long enough to give a proper glimpse of life behind the scenes. There's the camera placement to sort out and some restrictions on focus that will need to be respected, but with a bit of understanding of what our limitations are, I can see me doing more of this kinda thing.

A Mug Or The Soap

A good day's soapmaking is always measured by the mess left behind for the clean up. Oh, and the tea mugs. It wouldn't be a work day without an army of empty ones scattered about the workshop.

And office.

And packing room.

And... oh, every room you can imagine. Yes... it's a close call between which I love best - making soap or a cuppa. Please, don't ever make me choose!

Beams From Honey and Sonny

Nothing beats the wide smiles of grandchildren to get the day off to a good start. Here's Honey and Sonny with some early morning feel-good cheers, straight from my email box. I love today's technology!

Holiday Season Ahoy

Order boxes from the Thanksgiving sale have been packing today. Shipping notices are flying tonight. It's been a busy week of it all. Having the office closed for the four day weekend gave me the chance to really go to town on a soapfest. I did get the chance to watch some television too.

December is almost upon us. Are we really ready for the festive season? Somehow it still feels like summer's end. I haven't a clue where the Fall went to. I know the winter is here though... the trees are bare, and it's frosty in the mornings.

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was as nice as mine. It won't be long before I'm wishing everyone a Happy Christmas!

Blade Runner

Trimming the block of Orange Tree Blast with my blade, Art House style of course. Other batches waiting in the wings for the same are: Almost Sunset, Sweet Neem, Twist of Lemongrass, Ooh La Lavender, and Golden Jojoba. I love this part of the art... I could do it all day long.

Seasonal Buy 2 Get 1 Free

Get into the Thanksgiving mood with a "buy 2 get 1 free" special on our Seasonal page.

Just select your flavor, "Sugared Pumpkin" or "Hot Apple Spice", enter 2 into the quantity box and we'll give you a third one free. Use coupon code "BUY2GET1" at checkout. Offer ends midnight on Thursday November 10th and applies only to the products on the seasonal page.

Keep dry skin at bay the Manor Hall way. Happy shopping!

Lost Week Of Snowmageddon

Well, that was certainly the week that was! It's just like a lost week.

Friday the 28th came and went as normal. Saturday was productive, and we left late afternoon to attend a neighbor's Halloween get-together. We walked over the threshold to an eerie "Hah Hah Ha!" coming through speakers as the front door was opened, and less than five minutes later it was absolute Bedlam outside with tree limbs crashing around, falling on cars, garages, rooftops and power lines to boot. To add to all this craziness was the thick falling snow, set against a pretty backdrop of gold and reds of the Autumn leaves - still on the trees.

Snowmageddon. Complete power out for six full days and nights. No electricity, heating or phones. National Guard called in, and power workers from states far and wide traveling in convoy to help put things right. Incredible. Absolutely unreal!

And so here I am, where I was expecting to be a week ago... only it isn't Monday October 31st. It's Monday November 7th, and it's like we just skipped a week. Puff. Gone. Just like that! The website changeover is waiting in the wings. New Holiday products are waiting to go live on the website. Oils weighed out in the pans waiting to soap, and shea butter whip about to be whipped.

I'm pleased to say that all orders held up because of the Lost Week of Snowmageddon are packed and ready to ship. Yay! Tracking numbers will be sent out this evening. Thank you everyone for your patience and understanding. Normal service has now resumed!

Falling For Snow

Tall white pines and beautiful Fall trees. It's 2:30pm in Springfield, MA and the snow is here.

Posh Frocks For The Stocks

Just sharing more of the new look with you from the cleansing grains page.

It feels like a dream as a more uniformed look is beginning to place around the stock room. I can't wait to see them make it to the shelves in shops around the country as our drive for more wholesale accounts gets underway.

How convenient would it be to have your Manor Hall faves in stores local to you, hey? I hear you. We're working on it!

Manor Hall Talk On YouTube

Here's Lindsay from blackandblondeone talking about a couple of her Manor Hall faves. She's posted it to her youtube channel. Like wow! Thank you so much, Lindsay!

Holiday Weekend Tears Of Joy

I've just received an email from my mum in the UK. A cancer survivor of 12 years, she's never been able to come out here to visit us because of health insurance issues.

It was huge surgery that she had - whipples surgery. She's over 70 years of age now, and she's just found travel insurance through her cancer society. Flight for April looks certain.

I'm all of a blubber right now. My mum is gonna get to see where I live and what opportunity America has given to me. Wow!

Hearting Family

Today is a birthday, and yesterday was a birthday too. This was in the mailbox today. Family are so wonderful to have, and it feels good to know that there's a whole generation of little ones to continue the traditions through tomorrow of the things we hold so close today.

Meet "Midnight".

Remember the black squirrel I told you about a while back? Yes, well... Jason snapped him as he was paying our birdbath a visit. He's a fast cutie, but wasn't quite fast enough the other day.

Meet "Midnight", our very own black squirrel. How handsome is he then, hey?

My Memorable Monday

This isn't Family Friday, but it is a memorable Monday. With a mound of work ahead of me today, I get this in my personal email box. It's from Gayle, my eldest daughter, and it's a smack bang up to date pic of my grand children, Honey and Sonny.

Plowing through work is always much easier when braved with a smile, don't you think?

Bouncing Back In Pink And Black

Being a soap maker means I don't get to have a wardrobe of posh frocks to parade around the workshop in... but that doesn't mean I can't have great clothes to choose from when starting my day. I'm a Reebok girl, and have been for a number of decades. My working week sees me sporting either pink and black, or grey and aqua. Colors can do an awful lot to the mood of the mind, and I wear my working day colors according to how I think I'm gonna need to be feeling for the day ahead.

It's a pink and black day today. Pink and black gives me a determination that I don't get to feel when I'm in grey and aqua. Same clothes stitch for stitch, but yet change the color scheme and my head just doesn't seem to yield the same focus throughout the day. If I'm in a business call, you can bet I'm wearing pink and black. If I'm spinning plates, you can bank on the same. If I have a mountain to climb, then it's pink and black all the way to the summit. Needless to say, I'm in another nineteen hour day today.

The mood-fueling color doesn't stop at my work clothes though. I have a color that begins in my morning shower. Way back in the early days of Manor Hall I created an essential oil blend specifically designed to bring instant oomph on those days when the only letters my body could assemble spelled out a weak "phhtt". I'm as human as you are, and although I love my work and my business I do get days where I just feel blah.

The mood boosting energy essential oil blend of cedarwood, pink grapefruit, lavender and patchouli has stayed with me and Manor Hall all these years. You'll find it in the Take Five Collection under the scent of "Bounce Back". Yes... this guy is pink for a reason, and I always reach for it whenever I want to go from the slump of "blah" to a rally crying "Rah Rah Rah!"

Today I'm dressed in pink and black, and head to toe in full Bounce Back. What color does it for you?

Posh Frocks And Soap

More order boxes going out today. For now, it's a nice early start for me as I climb into my soaping clothes. Yes... beats a pretty dress any day of the week!

Just Another Manic Monday

First of the month means a new order box freebie page. Jason will be updating today.

Order boxes are also on the move, and all orders placed since the website launch date will be shipped by the end of this week. Thank you so much for your patience.

Yay! Hello to August!

Oh, To Cool My Heels

I'm still dreaming of the ideal day away from it all. I'm packing order boxes right now, and I have to say... it's not a bad second choice to being barefoot on the swing. Have a great weekend, everyone!