I was running around trying to find all the ingredients to make homemade soap. Some of the oils were hard to find and the scents that are safe for body use were tricky to locate as well.

But the chemical I needed for the whole process was an adventure all it's own. That chemical is Sodium Hydroxide, or better known as pure lye.

I'm thinking, OK, just plain old pipe cleaning lye. I'll go to the hardware store or maybe even the local big chain to grab a can of drain cleaner. No biggie.

But when I get there, the chain store no longer carried any products that are a 100% pure lye. And to make soap, it must be 100% lye with no additives or the chemical process that occurs to make oil into a solid form, will not happen.

So I ask the store attendant why they don't carry 100% lye and she tells me it's because "dope cookers use it to make meth".

Now that was a mouthful coming from a 5'4" lady with a bun in her hair and glasses on the end of her nose, looking like she just fell out of a library. It almost bowled me over. She goes on further to say, that not only did the store not carry, manufacturers of most drain cleaners were now adding stuff to their products, to actually prevent drug manufacturing.

Living in Missouri, listening to the news, having worked in a jail for awhile, light bulbs are going off for me now. Missouri is in the top of the charts for meth lab raids each year. And that same chemical process that turns all that oil into a solid soap for me, is the same chemical reaction meth makers needed to make dope. OK I get in now. It was my "ah-ha" moment for sure.

Let the games begin.

I go to another store, same story. My disappointment is obvious and I get a suspicious look from the clerk.

Then I hit up another place but the shelf is empty. So I am standing in the isle of the third store I had been to, with my head hung (cussing under my breath), when the store attendant approaches me and asks, "Can I help you find something?"

"Yes", I blurted out. "You certainly can. You can tell me where I can find a can of 100% lye before I pull my hair out," and smiled at him. I am sure I looked all crazy by then as aggravated as I was. I just wanted to make a batch of soap. It shouldn't be this hard.

He was shocked and began to stutter out what two other store attendants had already told me about the meth makers of Missouri. I just held up my hand and politely said that I had already heard all that.

I went on to explain that I understood what he was about to say. I had been well educated about the situation twice already and he needn't waste his breath. I appreciated they were trying to do a good thing, the manufacturers were doing a good thing, but I just wanted to make soap. I asked him point blank, "Do I look like a dope cooker to you?"

This really wowed him and he immediately started in with all the "no mams" he could spit out, as fast as he could without choking. I felt bad. I had politely let him have it, all my frustrations of the goose chase, and it wasn't him I was mad at.

I apologized and assured him I really did just want the lye for making soap, and asked if he knew anywhere that stocked the product I needed. He said that his store actually did stock it, that it came in once per week, but it was sold out as fast as they could get it on the shelf. I had missed the last can only by a couple of hours that day.

He told me what day the truck came in and I said I would be back to see him then.

So I went home and waited until the following week to go back. And when I did return, the shelf was empty.

I flagged down the same attendant I had seen the week before and ask him if they had unloaded the truck that day, and he stated that they had. I asked him if any lye had come on the truck, and he said that it had. I asked him where all of it was and he said "Sold Out."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. The case of lye had been stocked less than two hours before every bit of it was sold. He just stood there and sort of half grinned. When I asked if he was kidding, he said he was not. I must have look like a beat dog. He told me better luck next week, and off he went to his next chore of the day.

On the drive home I was bummed. I had researched buying lye online and the process was crazy because it was a caustic substance and of course highly sought after by people with bad intentions for it's use. I was beginning to think I wasn't ever going to be able to make a batch of soap.

On my way home I happened to notice a small hardware store that I had only been to a couple of time and pulled in. I figured what the heck, it's worth a shot.

When walked it I didn't look first I just asked the guy at the counter if he had any lye. He looked puzzled but told me that he did, and where it was at, and that there might be one can of it left. He went on to tell me he only carried 2 or 3 cans of it at a time because people make ....I stopped him there.

I gave him the rundown on my quest for lye. The boundaries I was facing. I assured him I was not a dope maker and he should be able to tell that by my semi neat appearance and meat on my bones. He laughed and said he realized that but he was just trying to be safe and do the right thing. I told him I would pay him whatever he asked for that last can of lye. I swear I would have give $20.00 for it but he laughed again and rang me up for $10.00.

I promised him if I had any luck with my project I would return with a bar of soap as proof I was on the up and up. He countered back that if I needed any more lye to call him on a Monday and he could order me an can extra than he needed for his store. I thanked him and was on my way.

4 stores and 7 days later (sounds like the Gettysburg Address doesn't it?)  I finally had my lye! Oh my God I had finally done the near impossible.

And I was off to make some soap.