26 posts from October 2006

I always love to cook.  My mother was a professional chef, so I started making mistakes at a young age, but have been told I've gotten better.  ;)

This morning, after I stopped by the craft store to get some of the "crafting" pumpkins, to replace the real ones which have become the base for a whole new form of moldy life, I stopped by a market in the that town rather than the chains I hate in my little burb.  They had an entire organic produce section, and range fed, hormone free, non big farm milk, cheese and meat.  It was so exciting.  Like shopping in a real city, instead of somewhere where avocado flavored doritos count as a vegetable. 

So, instead of soap, today I'm going to make a hearts of romaine salad with caramelized pears, apples, and walnuts with an orange vinaigrette from my mom's recipes, pan sauteed chicken breasts with an orange pecan crust, and a citrusy polenta.  If time, I may even get ambitious enough to make apple pie. 

I've got to learn to stop shopping when I'm hungry...

Whoo hoo!  I'm forever getting questions from Europeans about buying stuff, and usually I pass them over to my friend Beth who lives in Scotland, and thus had easier access to shipping inside the EU, because the costs of shipping from here were spooky high. 

But, the US Post Office now has a large Global Express envelope that will hold 6 bars of soap, 2 soapy socks and samples...and I can ship anywhere outside of the US for about $8.00.  Whoo hoo!  (Yes, it took me a day or two of fiddling with customs forms to figure out how it all works, but as of the shipments I sent out this morning, Soapy Hollow is now WorldWide.  (Hee.)

Yippee!   (Does the Happy Post Office dance.)

Humidity is at 100% today, so soap is going to be a challenge, but damn it, I'm determined to try and get this Rose soap to work.  Today, I'm going to try it with floral waxes, rather than fragrance oils.  (All the benefits of using Attar, but a significantly lower price point.)  

Also, even thought the light is kind of wonky because we've got water falling from the sky, I'm going to try and get some shots of the Raspberry Chocolate Ice.  Without setting up the big photography lights, I'm not sure it's going to work though. 

Every once in a while, I do something so stupid, it beggars the imagination.  It doesn't happen often, but I'll admit, I know before I do it, it's a bad idea.  Thinking about doing it is a bad idea, and it always leads to me doing it.  It's a weakness.  I am ashamed.  Yes, I'm talking about buying hair color, and tinting one's own hair. 

See, I have a problem finding people to do my hair.  I have difficult hair.  There's a lot of it, and it's very curly if it's not fairly long.  When I say very curly, I mean I could do a good Carrot Top impression with the wrong haircut.  A veritable flock of hair, is my point.  And I found a colourist who is also a god at cutting hair, except that 1.) he works at a studio 300 miles away, 2.) it's a couple hundred dollars to walk in the door, 3.) while his cuts are absolute genius, it requires 45 minutes every day to make it look like he's cut it to look...and I didn't even own a blow drier, which suggests the likelihood of my actually spending almost an hour on my hair is slim to nothing. 

So, it's been about four months since I had my hair done, which meant I had 4 inch roots...a thing which I could no longer abide.  And thus, I colored my own hair.  It turned out a little dark, but I think the color is mostly even.  It's not right, but it'll do until I can either schedule a trip down to Austin, or find a nice flamboyant gay man in Dallas.  Yes, I know it's a stereotype, but every flaming gay man I've ever had do my hair has been a genius, and every straight person I've let near my hair has given me bangs.  I want swish with my snip...and if that's wrong, I don't want to be right.  For the record, a lot of my friends are gay, and almost none of them are swishy, so it's not that I think gay=swishy, it's that I think swishy=hair genius. I'm fully aware that it's probably an act, but to me...it shows a certain level of dedication to giving suburban moms that TV experience.

That said, if you know any swishy genius hair stylists in the Dallas area, I would be your best friend if you tell me about them.  ;)

Working on recreating with essential oils, an herb sachet used during the Black Plague.  (Well, because working on recreating the black plague would be in bad form.)  I've gotten one blend back from the chemist, and it's very, very antibacterial, in fact it's more antibacterial than most antibacterial products on the consumer shelf.  The problem is, it just doesn't smell right to my nose. It smells "good"...but it doesn't smell "fantastic".  Fantastic, AND virus killing is what I'm shooting for here.  (Do you think "Bring out your dead!" is a bad name?  Hee. It'll fit on the label better than "Look, you'll be stone dead by Tuesday...)

Tomorrow is "tricky soap" day.  I've got requests stacked up for Rose and a few Rose blends.  I've never, ever gotten a rose soap to work and look good.  Rose FO is a nightmare to work with, and I just cant' afford to use Rose Otto in soap.  (Because, I don't know about you...but I don't know anyone willing to pay $50.00 for a bar of soap, and at $4,000.00 a pound, that's about how much I'd have to charge.)   I have a teeny amount of Otto, and I'm going to save it to use in the Essential Oils line I'm introducing next year.  I can barely force myself to open the bottle.  I think my first car cost less than this teensy bottle. 

So, I've planned a small batch of Yellow Rose, and then on the EO side a small batch of Seduction: Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), Bergamot, Clary Sage and Ylang Ylang Complete.  I need to remember to blend the EOs tonight, the scent will be significantly more complex that way.

More pumpkin soap.  That soap, just from preorders is almost completely sold out.  Whoo hoo!  I love making pumpkin soap, makes the house smell like pie.  Sweet, sweet, inedible pie.  Hee. 

The Joy To the World (or Galilee) soap turned out amazingly well.  I need to get it up on the site.  I suppose I better settle on a name.  Three Kings is doing ok in preorders, but not as well as last year.  Holding off on making more until after the drop ship date of the current batches.  I don't want to end up with a ton of Myrrh soap in January. :)

Also on the agenda, tackle the upstairs.  I got the kitchen and the living room spotless yesterday.  Now my goal is to clear out enough junk from the "game room", that I can set up my pilates stuff.  This will be the winter I don't gain weight.  That's my goal.  Now, I just need a good workout area that's close to my painkillers, and I'll be all set.  (Stupid fibromywhatsit.)  Man speaking of...I've been trying to find a good walking stick for those times when I have to be on my feet a lot, or if I'm doing a lot of up-down-up-down action...and there is almost nothing out there that isn't just ugly.  Walking sticks used to be a fashion item, you'd think I could find some groovy Victorian era stick once wielded by a cranky aristo, wouldn't you?  But no...everything looks like something grannies would use.  Bleh.

Custom glycerin bars...yummy ones.  They turned out gorgeous.

Cut the weekend batches.  Good Morning Sunshine turned a little more orange than I was expecting, but it smells amazing.   The Chocolate Raspberry Ice looks astounding.  I got a bottom layer of  milk chocolate color, and the top layer where I had some trouble with the soap seizing turned out really cool looking, creamy white with raspberry speckles.  So, it's pretty neat looking right out of the log, but only time will tell. Thus far it's pH testing normally, so...Yay.

Hiya, some of you may know me as mild mannered Dejah420 on Mefi.  I've been a member there for 5 or 6 years I think.  I've participated in some other MeCha writing projects, and have "done" the Nanowrimo thing, but probably won't do it again as October through December is probably my busiest time of year.

I've done a few writer's workshops and group writing things, and I think it's a really great way to flex your brain, get some ideas out, and perhaps even collaborate on a masterpiece.  I look forward to seeing what groovy stuff we do together.

Which cartoon character best represents you? 
Submitted by Know It All.

Heh...probably Slappy the Squirrel.  ;)  Not that I'm an octogenarian, mind you...but I do resonate with the cranky and the commentary. Plus, she's a speed demon in a red sport scar, and she drops anvils on those who annoy her.  If only I had anvils...