Attar of Roses

I've been waiting so long for these to cure, but today I added Attar of Roses handmade soap to my shop. These were made in Celtic and plain hearts, as well as a Celtic Oval, tinted a tender pink naturally with French Pink Clay. This is a fresh, "green" rose fragrance, not one of those overpowering, overly sweet, cloying roses you find so often. It is truly beautiful and would make a perfect Valentine's Day gift -- or even a gift for yourself.

My shampoo-making efforts yesterday turned out pretty good, but not perfect. I have to get the formulation a bit thicker, but even my picky 18 year old daughter liked it. She likes the scent especially, which is a wonderful Clementine Lavender blend. So I'm going to have to keep tweaking this shampoo until I get it just right.

I've been keeping a handwritten soaping journal since I began soaping back in 2001. I keep track of every batch, the ingredients, the FO characteristics like discoloring or acceleration, anything unusual that I'd like to know next time I make that soap, etc. I keep all my B&B formulas in there too. My journal was finally filled to the brim and I needed a new one. Thanks to my $5 Border's coupon and another 25% coupon, I found the most beautiful Laurel Burch designed journal today. She's always been one of my favorite artists. Now I have hundreds of pages to fill up again with soaping information. I wonder how many years it will take?

I was bummed out to read that the skater, Christopher Bowman, died. He was only 40 years old. I can remember watching him skate when he was only 14 or 15 years old, a slim young dynamo, a hotshot, a cowboy and a very cocky but talented young skater. He always blew it on big performances, but when nothing was at stake he was really quite brilliant. My mother and I used to love to watch him skate. Reading about his death, I am reminded once again how much I miss my mom and the many, many things we used to share.