Tahitian Petals Handmade Soap

Another new one in my shop today, Tahitian Petals! This is a very soft, delicate fragrance perfect for people who love a subtle soap, one that doesn't hit you over the head with scent. Also available in my Etsy shop here.

This Saturday is Vicky's birthday, so we will have both kids home for the weekend. Yay! I'm going out birthday present shopping today. A little retail therapy always cheers me up.

Scheherezade Handmade Soap

Something new to list today -- Scheherezade handmade cold process soap! It's also listed in my Etsy shop here. It's an innocent-looking ivory bar, but the scent is downright sensual.

I'm still getting used to my new computer (a Gateway SX2800) and re-installing programs and files. Every day I find something that I need to install, like WinZIP or WS-FTP and like that. It was a good opportunity, though to decide which programs I can do without. I am not doing so much 3D work these days, so some of those giant programs can be left off.

Thank goodness for Carbonite, an online backup service that works all by itself in the background. I don't do anything except let it run. I have so much stuff backed up it's going to take a few more days to get it all back.

I've never had Windows Vista before and it takes some getting used to. It's tricky to find your stuff since there isn't a My Documents file anymore. I'm slowly getting to know my way around it. I love this small, quiet little tower on my Gateway. It's got 4GB RAM and a 650 GB hard drive, and I got it for about 25% of what I paid 3 years ago for a custom designed PC. And 9 USB ports, a card reader, great port access, you couldn't ask for more for a mere $449!

Through some alignment of the moon and stars, I was on on-call for jury duty in both the federal court in Fort Myers, and the Collier County court here in Naples. I had to explain to the county that while I'm a really good citizen, I cannot be in two places at one time. So now I'm only on call for federal court. I'm not sure that's such a good deal. I don't mind doing my duty, but I'd sure hate to be sequestered for 6 months 35 miles away from my family in a long trial. I've still got 2 weeks of being on call left.

It's odd that I haven't been called for jury duty in several years, then I get hit with a double dose of it. It's a waste of time to call me. No one ever wants a clinical psychologist on a jury. No defendant ever wants smart people on their jury. I've never been picked for jury duty, even after being a registered voter for decades. I guess there's always a first time, though.

Scrapbooking Graphic Thieves

These thieves make me sick to my stomach. They love to blog and talk about how they "create" things, but they don't create anything. They buy (or steal through illegal file sharing) the work of genuinely talented people who take weeks or months to digitally paint beautiful objects, then think they own these products and can use them any way they like. They take someone else's work, repackage it into a zip file and sell this stuff to unwary scrap book graphics consumers.

If you want to have your eyes opened dramatically to the scope of what's going on, check out this treatise by a very talented friend of mine, Jaguarwoman. Basically, people like this miscreant, Seachell, buy her work, then sell it (or worse, give it away) for half price or even less. So no one needs to buy the original, costing the actual artist loss of sales. The scrapbooking "artist" (what a joke!) gets lots of praise for giving away beautiful clipart that she neither made herself nor altered in any way. Not even a hue shift, fercrissake! Yes, it's very easy to be generous when you are giving away someone else's hard work. This has happened over and over again to Jaguarwoman, as well as to Finfond.

I will never understand why it is so difficult to follow Terms of Use. You can take resources like a painted leaf, a metallic rectangle, and a bow with a jewel on it and put them altogether to make a pretty frame. You can sell that frame and put your own copyright on it. What you can't do is take the leaf, rectangle and bow with a jewel, slap your own copyright on it, then redistribute it as is. It's a very simple concept, really. People who don't get it seem to be either disingenous or willfully stupid.

I don't know where the idea came from that one becomes an "artist" by recycling someone else's art. It's crazy and it's depressingly ubiquitous. Anyone who buys from these people who steal and lie about it are supporting digital thuggery. It's something to think about.

New Wooden Soap Dishes

I was kvetching about the cost of getting new soap dishes and having them shipped here. I like to have them on hand because I give away with larger orders, and sometimes just for the hell of it I'll tuck one into an order. So my DH went to Lowe's and got a 6' length of Western Cedar and made 18 of these beauties for me!

Aren't they pretty? Saved me a ton of money too! :D

Both kids are home for the long holiday weekend. It's really lovely seeing them around the house and getting to spoil them a little with home-cooked meals. Yesterday was Geoff's 19th birthday, so we went to the beach in the morning, early, before the crowds got there. We floated around in the water for a while, saw lots of cow nose rays and baby pompano, gathered shells and just relaxed. I made a chocolate cake and later we all went DaRuMa's, one of our favorite restaurants. It was an idyllic day. This afternoon they both go back to school and I'm feeling sad about it already.

FN Made Me a Better Cook

I swear it has. In the last year I have finally felt like I can cook just about anything, thanks to watching way too much Food Network. Tonight I made a totally vegetarian, gourmet meal that was out of this world. I made a spinach salad with crispy prosciutto, red onions and orange sections with an orange vinaigrette (thanks Giada!). Then I used my organic baking mix from MaryJane's Farm to make a fabulously weird but delicious pizza with asiago cheese, walnuts, raisins and fresh rosemary from my garden! And my DH, the original meat and potatoes guy, loved it.

Now that we've gotten through health crises, kids off to college and various other blocks to creativity, I'm thinking of doing something new. Specifically, I'm reading as much as I can about making syndet shampoo bars. The ingredients are pricey and the learning curve is steep, but I'm determined. It could be a nice niche market.

Catching Up

We were so happy to have Geoff come home for the past weekend. I miss him terribly after 10 days at FGCU. I have never not seen him for more than a day. I spoiled him shamelessly with lots of his favorite foods and it was fun to just sit around and talk. One thing I made this weekend that turned out so good I gave most of it to various neighbors so I wouldn't be tempted to eat it all -- the Neelys Coconut Bundt Cake. OMG. Ambrosial!

Geoff will be home again for the 3 day holiday weekend soon, and his 19th birthday. Vicky will be home too. We might make it a joint celebration because her birthday is 2 weeks after his. They both love DaRuMa's, kind of a Benihana style Japanese restaurant where you sit at a big table and your meal is cooked right in front of you, with plenty of theatrics. It is soooooo expensive, but will create even more happy memories for them.

I just want to mention the power of technology. My son made a Power Point presentation of all the items on his birthday wish list, complete with URL and background music. That boy! I have to say it certainly made shopping a lot easier.

I just took a spin around Etsy's "Alchemy" section to see if there was anything I might like to bid on. Unbelievably, someone wants to pay $80 (including shipping) for 180 vegan lip balms in over a dozen different flavors, all tinted and flavored to specification. That works out to $0.44 each. Are you freaking kidding me? Even a cheap tube costs 13 cents. Not to mention the cost of ingredients, flavor oils, lip-safe tints, and your time, etc. I wasn't surprised to see no bids. It's a sad reminder of why I rarely even browse Alchemy.

I've not been doing much lately except catching up on my soapmaking. On the curing rack are Tahitian Petals, Calabrian Violet & Bergamot, Scheherezade, Plumeria, Secret Garden, Twilight Rose, Beach and (my personal favorite) Chocolate Amber. I'm pretty excited about these! More to come: Cozy Christmas, Rosemary Mint, Mango Tango and Mint Sugar Cookie. Then all the holiday stuff comes next! One thing about soaping, there's always more to make!

Personas for Firefox

This is really clever, if you use Firefox and want to dress it up a bit with colorful "skins." You can get Personas for your browser! I have a colorful Japanese tattoo across the top of mine now. You can get directions on how to make your own, too. I might try making one, just for fun.

I made Calabrian Violet & Bergamot and Scheherezade soap today. I love swirling colors and the first one has purple and green swirls that turned out perfectly -- feathery and delicate! I've got so much soap to make, especially new ones for the holiday season: Mint Sugar Cookies, Ginger Orange, Cozy Christmas, Plumberry Spice and Holiday Candy.

Both kids started classes at their universities today. We won't get to see them now until the weekend. It seems like such a long time.