Meet Stephanie Fox!  

You'll all recognize Steph's name (aka The Evil Math Lady) from her regular posts.   We know and love her already, and here you have a chance to get to know her a bit better.

Steph's husband being promoted to an official Major Fox.  That's Steph pinning on his rank!

Tell us a bit about your family - whatever you are comfortable sharing.    
Hahaha...  I share just about everything! Where to start.... hubby and I met in college in a math class. We never really talked, except the day before a paper was due and I was rewriting it while sitting in front of the classroom, waiting for class to start. I was focused, not in a chatty mood... trying to get the paper written so I could type it out on computer that night. Needless to say, I was not very warm and friendly, but short and to the point; had no clue he was even interested. I did think he was cute though, not too many of them in math classes :) . We bumped into each other again during the summer semester and after about a month of talking at school before we started dating. That was 18 years ago this summer! We have two kids. 

The Major Fox in Kuwait City.

Arik is 12 and loves just about any sport we expose him to. His favorites are wrestling and baseball. Baseball always starts right as we are moving, so he ends up missing out on that. 

The next Babe Ruth!  This is Arik in Darmstadt.

Mackenzie is going to be 11 this summer. She likes to try a sport for a year and then she moves on. She did really well in Germany at bowling, made it to the European (military brat) championships and then wasn't interested in doing it again. This year she tried swimming. She learned over the summer and joined a team this past fall. For a new swimmer, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons are rather impressive! She even made it to the state championships! But she's finished with that as well. Now she wants to focus on playing the flute. She took that up this year and seems to want to continue. 

I'm really close with my sister, she's 16 months younger than me. Life would be perfect if she could live next door to me.  

Mackenzie playing the flute.	Mack's second swim meet, doing her best stroke - the back stroke..

Tell us about your kitties... 
I have 3 cats. Mickey is the old guy. He'll be 17 this summer. He's a Maine coon and average for his breed. In his prime he weighed 16 lbs, but wasn't obese. He was a rescue and has been a fantastic cat. He doesn't travel well, but other than that he's very easygoing. Mickey was diagnosed with diabetes right before we moved to Germany 4 yrs ago. I thought that was a death sentence for a cat, but with shots (twice a day) he's just fine. He doesn't mind the injections while he's eating - most of the time he doesn't even know I'm doing it. My daughter learned how to do it so I could go out and take care of my dad while he was  recovering from surgery. it really is easier than I initially thought. 

Boo on Mickey

Then there is Gandalf. He got his name because my husband said that it had to be some sort of magic performed on him to get him to agree on another cat (Mickey was all we had at the time!). We were living on what used to be an Air Force Base in Arizona, it had been converted to student housing for ASU. When the military left, many left their cats and not all were fixed. There was a fairly good sized feral cat population there. Gandalf's mom had left him all day in my neighbor's yard. He was just 6 weeks old and cried all day. I had left my large carrier outside and they grabbed it and put Gandalf in there until we got home. She knew I was a sucker for strays, especially cute ones :) After convincing hubby to let me keep it and tame him (he was hissing and spitting... at that size it was just too cute!) as he would let us hold him if we caught him. He's now 5 years old and turned into quite a nice cat... very calm and laid back.  He loves to 'play' with the old guy... but it's usually one sided. He took to the kitten immediately and spends a lot of time cleaning her. They sleep together a lot too, when she's not biting on him.

Gandalf

And now for our kitten... She's a trip. she's full of energy and demands quite a bit of attention.... usually from me. She was 8 weeks old when we got her and so tiny. She's not 10 months old and only 5 lbs. They don't think she'll grow much more, she was the runt of her litter and this is a small breed. Her breed is Sphynx. She has very little hair. When you look at her from a distance, she looks naked. Close up you can see that she has a velvety 'coat' and her toes, tail, nose and ears are fuzzy. Her ears are really silky and her whiskers look like razor stubble. She needs regular bathing and manicures. She comes out of the kitchen with food all around her mouth, like a toddler that's just eaten a really good cookie! After eating she comes up to me to perch on my shoulder while she cleans her face, then she cleans mine... apparently I'm dirty too :) then it's nap time. If I am not sitting still, she will cry until she gets her way or gives up and goes to sleep in someone's bed under a warm blanket! Her favorite thing to do is to sit in the living room next to the string she pulls out of her toy box and cry until I come to play. This cat has a lot of personality and is a lot of fun, but requires a lot of time and attention. it's a normal characteristic of the breed.

Boo eating!

Where are you living now?
I'm currently in Rhode Island, but in June we are making our way to Texas. Hubby's parents are driving the kids, we are going in the van with the cats. It'll be an interesting trip.

List some or all of the places you have lived.
I was born in Brooklyn, NY but moved to Long Island when I was 5 months old. When I was 10, dad was offered a job in California to work on the B1 bomber. Right after we got there, the contract was cancelled, but we stayed anyway. We lived in Lancaster, CA for 7 years before dad got a great offer in Colorado. But that was my senior year. I didn't adjust well, but it turns out to be a good move... I met hubby there! We met and married and then went to Germany for 3 yrs. Wuerzburg, Germany to be more specific. It's about 1/2 way between Frankfurt and Nurnberg. There we had both children. After that we moved to Augusta,GA for 6 months for hubby to attend a course. After that, back to Colorado Springs, CO for 4 years. Next was to Arizona where the army paid hubby to be a full time student for 18 months. The kids and I stayed and finished out the year so we didn't move in the middle of the school year. I was also going to school, taking math classes and trying to get certified to teach. Then we moved to Germany again, Darmstadt for one year (even though it said he was supposed to be there for 3), then Heidelberg for 2. He was deployed to Kuwait for 5 months and came home just in time to pack and move. Now we are here in RI in our little beach bungalow for 10 months. Texas will be for  a year. They are saying that he will be heading to GA for 2 yrs to teach. If we can, we might extend until he finishes out his time in the army and maybe another two years until the kids start college...

 

What was your favorite and why?  
I think Arizona was my favorite in that it was closest to our parents and my sister. I love the heat and the dry climate. Monsoon season isn't all that good though. 

Living in Germany was a great experience. I don't want to live there again, but it was an incredible experience for my kids. We have seen many different countries (although not as many as I would have liked), and things I studied in history or geography classes were things my children got to see in person. The Coliseum, Venice, Padova (Padua), Paris... just to name a few. Some of the places we went, the kids won't remember... they were too small,  but I remember. Holland was my favorite place to visit... the fields of flowers were incredible. 

How did you get started soaping? 
I don't know what interested me about it in the first place, but I'd been thinking about it for years before I finally did it. I started making candles, thinking that that would be safer and simpler... then eventually started surfing the web for information.  

Here's a sampling of some soaps that Steph made.

What is the favorite thing of yours that you make? 
Soap :) My newest recipe is one I call Pink Ribbon in memory of my mom.  I also like making my shampoo bars, but I'm really the only one using them.

Do you sell any of your products?  If so, where/ how? 

Word of mouth, but that's not going very well. I also give a lot of gifts :) I am on a cancer support list and there are many people on there just starting out in their battle with the disease. So I send them a bar of my soap. Pink Ribbon is the soap I'll be sending out from now on, but the first batch is still curing. I am studying herbs and have ordered some organic oils... I'm going to try to sell in herb shops starting when we get to Texas. I'd also like to look at bed and breakfasts, but I need that mold Marian has first :)

 

What is your most popular seller? 

Among family and friends, lemon poppy seems to be the favorite. My SIL loves the shampoo bar.   As a soap, she loves patchouli.

 
How did you get your nickname "The Evil Math Lady"? 

I've been teaching on and off since I entered college. I taught basic math through basic geometry to students in college trying to pass their basic skills test (high school graduate level CTBS test) in order to get their teaching certificate. Many couldn't pass the math without taking a class, so the Education department started a program and hired a few of us to develop materials for the program. The others left after the first year, but I stayed and kept at it for a few years until I moved to Germany. I taught soldiers basic math and algebra while I was in Germany so they could improve their ASVAB scores. it's a test that everyone entering the military takes in order to determine their education level and their job in the military. (I think that's for just the enlisted, officers take it, but not to determine their job).  

 

I was hired by a community college in Colorado springs to help develop a math curriculum to work with their automotive vocational program for high school juniors and seniors. These were the kids they bus to the college to get them out of the high school. These kids thought they were getting away from academics when they entered the program, but were still getting math credit. They weren't prepared for the math they had to do in the program, so I worked with the other three instructors to develop some applied math activities to teach them the math they needed. Engine measurement, machining, mixing paint...  these are just a few of the things we had to help them with. Since I made them do the work, initially they weren't happy with me. Towards the end of the year they realized that they really did need the stuff I was teaching them, but I still had that nickname. They never called me that to my face, the other instructors told me about it. I wear that title proudly. Some just called me the Math Lady, others added in the Evil... it seems that Mrs. Fox was hard to remember :)  

 

I haven't done much since then, other than tutor my friend's kids in Germany. eventually, I would like to teach JR. College level math. I really enjoy teaching adults the math they should have gotten when they were in school. I don't want to teach calculus... algebra is much more fun to teach.

 

What is something about you that we might all be surprised to know? 

I don't handle change well... change of atmosphere, change of friends, change in anything... I freak out when my plans are derailed and then I deal with it ok.... but I have to freak out first :) and usually end up posting to the list....

Also, I don't think I'm a creative person, not very artistic. :) Before I made soap I didn't really make anything! 

 

Do you remember how you came to join the Soapnuts list? 

While surfing the web to find candle and soapmaking info, I stumbled across recipes... I think it was the library... eventually I joined when I figured out how and got the courage, that was something like 6 years ago. 

 

Do you have any funny soaping story or soaping that "went wrong"? 

Funny? I haven't done anything funny. I did forget to add oils once... I subbed olive for hazelnut ( I didn't have a lot of oils for my second batch of soap) and forgot to add the subbed amount. got a lesson in rebatching. smelled good, but boy was it ooogly! Nothing really funny has happened. Maybe I don't make enough yet. my batches are small (3 lbs) and I make them maybe once or twice a month. 

 

Favorite soaping tip? 

For newbies...  start slow. don't try a big and complicated recipe until you are a little more experienced. use stuff around the house for molds, tools, and don't forget to get a stick blender!!!! my first soap was plain castile. 100% olive oil soap. I learned with the 'nuts help and that's the recipe I tell everyone to use when they first start soaping. 

 

How about a recipe (soap or food) to share with us? 

"Frozen" Pot Roast

1-2 lb beef roast

1 large can of whole or chopped tomatoes (whatever is in my cabinets)

lots of garlic and paprika

1 large onion, cut (not finely chopped, I like to know it's an onion that I'm eating)

baby carrots (a bag of them)

potatoes, quartered (about 3 or 4, depends on what fits in the crock pot)

Place all ingredients (in the order I have them listed) in a crock pot and set on low. Cook it all day long and then turn it up to high for about an hour before serving (a tip my aunt told me, to be sure that you kill any bacteria), and then add some frozen green beans and mix before serving. The stew is hot enough to heat the green beans.

 

My mom used to make this on the stove and it was my most favorite thing she made. I would request it every time I came home to visit. We told a guy I was dating (still friends with him after 20 years!) that it was frozen pot roast, (my mom had a reputation of not cooking :) ).  He went home and told his aunt (my mom's good friend) that he had the best pot roast and that it was frozen! She called my mom asking where she could find it... so it's been a joke in the family  since then. We always call it frozen pot roast :)

 

Pink Ribbon soap recipe:

50% olive

30% shea

20% coconut

 

Swirled with red/blue mica and scented with lavender essential oil.

 

Cut into 2 oz bars, give to anyone fighting cancer. 

I wanted something that would be very good to the skin, but simple so they don't have to worry so much about a reaction to the ingredients. Chemo patients can be really sensitive to scent, so it's lightly scented. 1 tbs lavender eo for a 3 lb batch.

  

Anything else you'd like to add that I missed? 

Can't think of anything! I think we covered everything there is to know about me :)  

~ Stephanie Fox & Jessica Miller