Tell us something about you

[shunt2011]

i'm so not a morning person in fact, i find waking up in the morning terribly hard. i like to work when the house is all quiet and everyone is asleep. been doing that for years.

i'm a Moslem by birth. i'm a moderate Moslem and have great respect for other faiths. i truly believe that God is 1 and all humans are created equal. although inter-faiths marriage is forbidden in my family, my ex for 5 years was a Christian and we got along wonderfully at that time.

it took me close to 7 years to finished university, i was too busy "enjoying" life, doing all sorts of things (mostly forbidden) in my mid 30's now, just got engaged, and making soap is something i truly enjoy. although it is not my main job, it is slowly overtaking my life and becoming my main focus. i'm also left handed, an only child, and a pro-choice.

Hey seven, I'm a lefty too! :razz:

 

[jules92207]

Me three!!! Lefty's rule!

 

[Pepsi Girl]

I'm a ranch wife, I use to enjoy raising and training horses, now I enjoy riding well trained horses, and tho they are adorable I am not interested in raising or training anymore babies, horses or human! My wonderful husband and I have 4 grown children and 5 grandchildren. I enjoy drinking a lot of Diet Pepsi, and eating as much dark Chocolate as possible without turning into a blimp. I play several instruments and sing in a local band named The BlueMountaineers. We play everything from old time fiddle music, bluegrass, old rock and roll, and anything in between. At this time my favorite is the fiddle which I started playing only a couples years ago, in my late 50's. (you are never to old). I'm a avid quilter, making 2 or 3 a year, I also enjoy making cards, and scrapbooking. More than anything I enjoy reading and studying the bible, singing songs of praise to my Lord, and helping others find the joyful, blessed life that I have.

 

[lenarenee]

I am in awe. It's such an honor to learn about everyone....this forum is full of amazing people.

 

[Lynnz]

Me three!!! Lefty's rule!

Me four

I am a Registered Nurse working night shift for what seems forever now I have been Married for 21 years to my best friend and have two Children that I love with all my heart. We are Christians and I believe we are living in very interesting times. Outside of soaping I have been making candles for about 20 years and seen a lot of changes in that industry. About eighteen months ago I discovered Card making and I am a total addict............A few weeks ago I was very chuffed to serve as a Guest designer for a stamp company that was releasing new stamps so I got to design cards for the release and it was sooooo much fun, and bonus I received all the stamps and dies for the release and got to keep them

 

[navigator9]

What a fascinating, diverse bunch we are!

 

[fuzz-juzz]

I am student nurse, getting my registration next year (hopefully!). I was born in Europe, moved to Australia ages ago. I am an atheist as well, by choice, born in to religion though, but surviving the war (in ex-Yugoslavia) that escalated over different faiths, made me abandon everything. I still have respect for others and think all the religions are beautiful and peaceful and should stay that way, they shouldn't be used to start wars.
I married young, have stepchildren and one of my own,we are happy and I think I'm done. Youngest is still in primary school, but I hope I will be now able to enjoy my life and to concentrate on myself, my studies and new career. I'm still in mid 30s.
I discovered soap-making 2 years ago and fell in love immediately, with the whole process and being able to use lovely home made soaps.
I also love cats, movies (horror and sci-fi) and Mario Kart 8.
It's been nice knowing a bit more about other members.

 

[smeetree]

As a job I protect wildlife (biology). Birds. Enjoy art and complex systems, too. In the 90s I wrote an album that made it on college radio, in the 2000s I self-published a book, currently working on a 2nd novel. Also like photography and fascinated by economics (probably read 20 books on this subject just this past year), although I'm suffering from depression right now so I don't like much of anything (other than getting lost in soap making). Went through a "prepping" phase a few years ago and now have 8 enormous pails of rice in my closet. Self-taught expert with computers and (musical) engineering, which is just the art of recording audio. I'm trying to combine this with my birding/nature work and make an album of sounds (No nothing like Yani/new age..yuck). When I was a kid I wanted to do standup comedy and was very funny at one point, but the depression killed that dream. Can be OCD at times. Love baseball to the point I hope they spread my ashes on the diamond. Unlike others in this thread, I believe in God (and am pissed off at him).

 

[Logansama]

I write romance novels.

 

[ladieslikes]

hello from malaysia~

i'm housewife~ doing nothing~ taking care of two naughty boy yet having some blogshop~

invented new soap design

 

[jules92207]

This is such a great thread, it's really a joy to read about all you fabulous folks. Its really amazing how diverse and how much I relate to all of you at the same time. Thank you for sharing.

 

[IrishLass]

I love this thread, too! It's so nice to learn more about everybody and their backgrounds- writers, musicians, horse-trainers, etc..... oh my!

And I didn't know we had so many nurses here! I almost went into nursing myself, but changed my mind. My mom was a nurse, and my mother-in-law was as well. I guess I just heard one too many horror stories from them. lol

As jobs go, I've been all over the map. I've worked retail management, been a receptionist, a quality-control coordinator for an upscale hotel (i.e., a fancy way of saying I was in charge of making sure the housekeeping staff was doing their job), a child-care provider, a DJ's assistant (helped hubby spin records when he had his DJ business back in the '80's, which was a lot of fun), and even worked for the family business for a while painting the stripes in parking lots. As old-fashioned as it sounds, though, nothing compares or even comes close to being a wife to my wonderful hubby (he's truly my best friend), and a stay-at-home mom to my wonderful son. And as corny as it sounds, they are the joys of my life, and I am so thankful that of all the people in the world that I could've been saddled with, that I'm saddled with them.

As far as personal faith goes, I went about with a big question mark over my head for a while, although never to the point of being an atheist. I grew up in a household where conversations about God just weren't a part of our lives, at least not in any relevant, in-depth way. But in the back of my mind, I never ruled out the possibility of there being a God, and as a youngster I can remember plying my grandmother with so many curious questions about such things that it came to the point that she thought I might end up being a nun one day (ha ha, no chance of that! lol). For those that are wondering, I am a Christian. The turning point for me came when the famous (or infamous, depending on one's perspective) John 3:16 seemed to come alive and literally jump off the page one night as I was reading the Bible. As weird, sappy, hard-to-explain, and as unbelievable as it sounds, I literally felt the tangible love of God envelope me that night in a very real way (instead of the proverbial, well-deserved lightning bolt coming out of the sky to strike me, lol). It was such a profound, paradigm-shifting experience for me and took me so much aback that my life has never been the same since. Christ's love and forgiveness for me is what makes me tick. I don't belong to any "organized" denomination or anything like that, but for what it's worth, if I were to describe my relationship with God as it were, probably the one book out there (other than the Bible) that I've ever run across that best describes my spiritual perspective is 'God Without Religion' by Andrew Farley.


IrishLass

 

[navigator9]

OK, since most of you included something about your faith, I feel compelled to add to my answer. I grew up in a New England factory town, which was really a melting pot of cultures and beliefs, because back then, immigrants knew that those factories meant that they could make a living and raise their families, and factory jobs attracted people from many different countries. I thought it was a very exotic place to grow up. My mother was French-Canadian, and my father's parents were from Hungary. Then taught me that we are all equal, no matter the nationality or religion. I was raised Roman Catholic and had a strong faith until I lost both of my parents when I was 17. Then I began to question everything that I had accepted up til then. I went through a stretch of many very difficult years, and a period of not believing in anything, but felt an aching void in my life.

Then I stumbled upon a book that changed things for me, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Rabbi Harold Kushner. Part of Rabbi Kushner's job as a rabbi, was to counsel the parents of ill and dying children. He used to say all of those phrases that we're used to hearing, like "God has a plan, and we can't always expect to understand the way He works, but have faith and trust Him." You know, all of those meaningless words that really offer no comfort when you are the one who's suffering. But when his own son came down with progeria, everything changed, and he knew he'd never again be able to look into the eyes of the parent of a dying child and speak those well-intentioned, but empty words. In order to maintain his faith, he had to come up with a new way of understanding God. And that's what his book is about. It offered me a way of understanding and being able to accept that really horrendous things can happen to people.....and know that God can still exist.

I don't belong to any organized religious group and I don't go to church, but I consider myself a spiritual person. One of my favorite quotes is by Meister Eckhart...."If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is "Thank you", that would suffice." And I am deeply thankful.

 

[Earthen_Step]

We moved from the city to the woods with very few around us. It's a nice slow pace and life has slowed down for us. We were sick of life rushing us by and living in areas with somewhat higher crime. We have a goal to slowly build up our land to provide food for our family of 4 w/ 2 kids age 7 and 9. Hopefully in time we will be able to provide an abundance of all we need for survival and extra to share with our friends and family around here. We make very little money so the progress is slow. We are on track to pay off our house/land in the next 5 years. The house we came from we had 27 years to go! Another contrast from our last house we had 0.03 acres or so, and now we have 5.7 acres -- the house is similar in size just not nearly as up to date.

 

[Saponista]

It's great to hear things about everyone, I'm loving this thread. I am a trained microbiologist/marine biologist who is currently not working due to work stress bringing on my epilepsy which I have the misfortune of suffering from. I live in the south west of England with my husband and my cat and I love walking on the moors near our house. I am not a traditional girly girl and love boxing which I've been doing for three years now, I don't not all spar though and I did that for the first time tonight at a new boxing gym so I am buzzing tonight now. can't wait to hear more about other people.

 

[reinbeau]

I am a Pilates instructor by trade now, after my midlife crisis career change from the corporate world (was a business manager and project administrator). I am a Pantheist spiritually, but have no issues with other faiths provided they don't want to impose anything on me. Religions that are actually hiding a form of governance are a nonstarter for me.

I have two grown sons (30 and 34) and am married to my vastly new and improved Husband 2.0 - there will never be another

 

[ronrho56]

I am a registered nurse certified in psychiatric nursing; worked in that capacity for 34 years. I retired several years ago after surgery for a brain tumor, but still work on a casual basis (usually once a month) in an outpatient psychiatric setting. I am also Christian; have three grown children and 5 grandchildren. I live with my second husband (first husband died in an accident 11 years ago), my daughter and her husband and their three children, and my oldest son who retired from the Air Force in August and came back home to live. I am very blessed to be surrounded by the people that I love. Fell in love with soap making approximately one year ago, and have never looked back. I also enjoy gardening and canning. I have learned so much from being a member of this forum, and continue to check in whenever I can as I am always sure to learn something new. What a great group people.

 

[MarisaJensen]

My career has been mainly in telecommunications. I'm a windsurfer and a craft addict. Aside from soap making, I enjoy riding my bike, gardening, being close to the water and making anything that I can use in the bath. I Used to be really funny and outgoing but since the passing of my daughter this year I've become quite an introvert. My dream is to be in a place where I'm happy, not having corporate stress over my shoulders. I consider myself spiritual.

 

[DWinMadison]

Marisa, I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter. Regardless of the circumstances of her passing, I can't imagine anything worse than losing a child.

 

[Lynnz]

Wow wow wow what an awesome and interesting bunch of soapers we have gathered here just want to grab you all and give everyone a great big hug! I have so enjoyed this thread