She had separated from the Navy, where she worked as a broadcaster, so to fill her time, she decided to try making her own haircare products. After researching sources for natural beauty and aromatherapy ingredients, she went to work in her Florida kitchen, adding olive oil from her pantry shelf. "Marley was my willing little guinea pig," she said.

After days of concocting, Kane found success: "Something that was solid and didn't burn and lasted and didn't make her hair look like a mold," she said.

THE 'NAMELESS THING'

Kane put it in jars and gave it to friends and family for Christmas, 2003.

"Everybody loved it," she said. "But it was so weird — I heard back from friends who used it on their feet, hands, and all over their bodies. Everybody used it for something different. It was just this nameless thing ... and everybody went crazy for it."

The "nameless thing" would grow into a home-based business after the Kanes moved to Waipahu.

Adjusting to the Islands posed another challenge. "I was a city girl, raised in Brooklyn, and I was completely out of my realm" in Waipahu," she said. "I was starting to wig out because of not working."

While unpacking her things in their Waipahu home, Andrea found the natural ingredients for body products she had been making for friends in Florida.

She started experimenting with new products, making bath salts, body lotions and creams.

She tried selling them at craft fairs, but found that "all my stuff would melt because it didn't have any fillers — it's pure. After five hours on the beach at Waikiki it was just a puddle," she said, chuckling. "So I gave it up and spent a year as not a happy camper. I was calling my mom all the time wailing about how useless I was."

In the meantime, her husband, Joe Kane, a Navy public affairs officer, volunteered for service in Iraq. "At first, I was like, OK, whatever. I never thought they would take him," Kane said. "But they did. Like, five days later he was gone.

"It was a total shock to me," she exclaimed. He was to be gone five months.

Andrea Kane's products include Mama's Blooming Belly Butter and Cutie Bootie Overnight Ointment.

MOM KNOWS BEST

Kane grew even more miserable until her mother decided to come and visit — and give her a talking-to. Her mother sat her down and said she had a life everyone wanted, a business of her own and no reason to complain.

And though Kane was battling fears of not pulling her share financially, she decided to go forward. Her mother's encouragement and support convinced Kane to carve out a business from the hobby she loved.

"If my mom hadn't kicked me in the butt, I would still be sitting around here complaining and wondering when I was going to get a job because that's what I thought I was supposed to do," she said.

"Mom told me, 'Don't listen to anyone who doesn't want you to succeed.' "

Fast forward (fast is the only pace at which this dynamo knows how to operate) into a line of 88 products Kane has created, called Marley's Own, and a Web site on which to sell them (www.marleysown.com).

Her most recent additions are products for pregnant women and babies, which she calls Vegan Pregnancy and Baby Care.

In the meantime, Kane learned that she is pregnant, about three months along right now. She looks forward to using her products throughout her pregnancy and nursing. Her husband has returned from Iraq to work at Pearl Harbor, so all is well in her world.

Joe Kane came home to a busy businesswoman and he could not be more proud.

"I think my wife is a wonderful woman," he said. "This year has been one of constant change and huge hurdles for her, and the year is not over!"

While Andrea Kane, whom he describes as "independent — fiercely independent," does not really want his help in the kitchen ("I once let him put on some labels and I wasn't even happy with the way he did that," she guffawed), Joe Kane is a huge fan of the business.

This Saturday and Sunday, Andrea Kane will introduce her Vegan Pregnancy and Baby Care line at the New Baby Expo.

She has immediate plans to hire two people to help with the packaging and mailing as her orders increase.

She has also begun teaching classes in aromatherapy at Hickam Air Force Base and UH-Manoa.

And she continues to face life's challenges. In January, Andrea's mother, Terry Liles, died of cancer, two days before Lile's 48th birthday.

"When I think, 'Oh, this is too hard' or I start to panic and think 'how am I gonna do this,' I think of my mother," Kane said. "She died so heroically. She never complained. She took care of everyone else until her last breath. She was a nurse and that defined her. ...

"When she knew she was dying, her biggest thing was that she didn't want me to have any regrets. She had always wanted to have her own business but she did the thing that she thought she was supposed to do," and kept working as a nurse.

"My mother has given me an appreciation for the life I want to live. She's my cheerleader in my head now," Kane said.

Reach Paula Rath at prath@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5464.

MARLEY'S OWN FOR MOMS & BABIES

New Baby Expo 10 a.m-5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Blaisdell Exhibition Hall, Marley's Own will be in Booth 238 Information: 239-2229 (239-BABY) or newbabyexpo.com $4.50 admission, keiki 5 and younger free

Mama's Blooming Belly Butter: For mothers to put on their bellies before and after the birth of the baby. Contains mango, shea and cocoa butters, safflower, kukui nut and jojoba oils, vitamin E and a blend of essential oils. $12.95

Mama's Blooming Belly Oil: Contains calendula, grape seed, safflower and carrot oils, shea butter, vitamin E and essential oils. Andrea said: "Oil is better than lotion when you're bigger because you can drip it on. This oil is great for women who have had an episiotomy and it can help ease the pain after birth. It's also good for during labor." $14.95

Lavender Baby Butter: For baby scalps or as an all-over lotion: made of shea butter, lavender, vitamin E, calendula and essential oils. $12.95

Cutie Bootie Overnight Ointment: Diaper cream made of shea butter, calendula oil, zinc oxide, organic corn starch, vitamin E and essential oil blend of tea tree and lavender. $10

Vegan Baby Oil: Contains safflower and sunflower oils, calendula and lavender or chamomile (or unscented). $10.95

Nipple Butter: For the sensitive nursing mother. Contains shea, mango and cocoa butters, calendula oil and vitamin E. $12.95