Absinthe Treasury

I was thrilled today to find my Absinthe soap in an Absinthe Treasury -- take a look at all the wonderful handmade things!

We are back from new student orientation at USF. Lots of walking tours in the broiling hot sun, sitting in hard stadium chairs and endless PowerPoint presentations. The kids were separated from us parents right away and spent the night in dorms. I didn't read the pamphlet that said to bring bed linens for the dorms, so I spent a frantic lunch hour driving around Tampa until I found a K-Mart where I got a sleeping bag, pillow and towel for Vicky.

I don't know that the orientation really needed to be two days long, but I certainly learned a lot about the university. They put a lot of time and effort into the presentations. I just wish they spent a little more time on presenting academic aspects, and a little less time on athletics, "involvement" in the more than 500 clubs and activities and weekend party buses to Ybor City.

I'm so happy we're home now. I love to get away and see new things, but within a day or so I miss my routines at home and familiar belongings.

Off to Tampa

I'll be gone 6/16-6/17 because I'm taking my daughter to Tampa for the USF new student orientation. Apparently this is a big deal, the kids see advisors and register for their courses, learn about where they get their meals and stay the night in a dorm. Parents are in a parallel program and don't stay with the kids. Somehow I anticipate a lot of walking in the next two days. This thing starts at 8 am tomorrow. I was going to drive up starting at 5 am, but now I'm wondering if we ought to go tonight instead. I'd still be up driving late though. Argh. I don't do well without sleep anymore. It should be exciting, though.

Graduation Photo

Here's a photo of my baby girl receiving her high school diploma. :)

I've been a soapin' fool lately, trying to keep my inventory up and trying new soap fragrances. I've added Sea Sprite Beach Confetti (shown below) and Lilac to my shops recently.

I just soaped a new fragrance, Celtic Moonspice, which presents an interesting soap swirl challenge. The main soap will turn brown eventually as it cures because of its vanilla content. So I held out some of the soap and tinted it with white pearl mica and swirled that in, but you can't see what's going on with the swirl because the whole mass of soap is white while you're doing it. Thus, it's a "blind" swirl. Now that it's been sitting for a couple of days, it's darkening and the light swirl is holding up. It looks pretty, very delicate and feathery. I wish all my swirls turned out that well!

Today I need to make some more Cuppa Chai soap. It's one of those fragrances that you just can't use in CP (cold process) soapmaking because it turns my soap batter into instant "soap on a stick" when you pour it in. Goes from fluid to solid in a heartbeat. This is a fabulous fragrance that I adore and that sells well, but one I have to make in the crockpot via HP (hot process), then the fragrance gets added after the cook results in saponification. I used to make all of my soaps this way, but I find I really do like the fineness and semi-translucence of CP soap more. Still there's something to be said for the slightly lumpier, more rustic look of HP soaps. Well hell, I just love soap period. I'm addicted.

English Language Fun

Did you ever know someone who left rude notes for everyone else to find, like a snotty roommate or the lunch room martinet? If so, you'll love Passive Aggressive Notes. And to round out your reading pleasure, blogs about the abuse of apostrophes and quotation marks. I would like to see someone do something on random capitalization too, like those sites with random words capitalized and you think you might be reading Elizabethan English until you suss out the content.

The past week was a soaping blur. I have almost caught up on all the soaps that were low or completely gone. Today I added White Peach, Vanilla Latte and Cioccalata e Arance back to the shop.

Graduation

I admit it, I've been scarce the last few weeks. Things have been hectic around here, and finally on Friday evening our daughter, Vicky, graduated from high school. It was more moving than I'd thought it would be, to see the kids all walk up to the front of the auditorium to receive their diplomas. There were 491 seniors graduating, so many that it took almost two hours to read their names, briskly, and get them all up to the podium to walk across the stage.

Now we will all relax for a week or so, then gird our loins to get her ready for college. She'll be going to USF, in Tampa, in the fall. We have new student orientation next month, decisions to make about dormitory or off-campus housing, meal plans and just how it's all going to work. I'm already starting to feel the pangs of empty nest syndrome. I can't imagine what it will be like to know she's not living in our house anymore.

Next year Geoffrey will be a senior and we'll get to go through this all over again. It's one of those bittersweet times in parenting.

While I've been distracted with graduation, I've sold lots and lots of soap and now I'm either low or completely out of some kinds. I'm going to be soaping like a maniac in the next week or so to catch up.

Absinthe Handmade Soap

First, to all the moms out there, Happy Mother's Day! I had a wonderful, relaxing day. My family took me out for a late lunch, then I read a while, watched "Ace of Cakes" and took a snooze. My kind of day!

I just added Absinthe Handmade Soap to my shop. It smells divinely decadent, strongly of anise and touches of wormwood and other herbs in the background.

Flower Lip Balms

I've always loved those violet pastille candies, the kind you can only find in specialty stores like A Southern Season. I thought it would be fun to develop a lip balm that tastes like violets, and was so happy to find a supplier who makes high quality flower flavor oils for premium chocolates. My order arrived the other day, so I'm pleased to tell you that I've added Violet Lip Balm to my Etsy shop.