Winter Festival Handmade Soap

This new soap smells sooo good, bright citrus and deep conifers in a lively, wintry blend! Check out Winter Festival, also in my Etsy shop here.

We drove up to Tampa to have lunch with Vicky the other day. It was so nice to get to spend some time with her, since she hasn't been home for a couple of weekends. She got a job at a whole foods grocery store and will start working there soon. She wants to make more moolah to attend more of the many, many concerts available in the Tampa Bay area.

This weekend Geoff and his girlfriend drove up to Tampa to spend the weekend with Vicky. It's so nice when your kids grow up and get along. I remember the first few years, trying to keep her from banging him on the head with her bottle. They are only 11 months apart and it's only in recent years that they seem to have fun together!

Patchouli Raspberry Handmade Soap

New in my shop today, sweetly exotic and luscious Patchouli Raspberry soap! It's also available in my Etsy shop here.

We had quite a scare yesterday. Vicky attends USF in Tampa, where there were reports of a man with a bomb and a gun, and another guy with a knife around the library. The entire school was in lockdown for 3 hours. Fortunately, the school sent text messages to all the students and staff, so she knew to stay put until the crisis was over. The schools have learned a lot from the tragedy of Virginia Tech a few years ago.

Cute Crocheted Bath Mitt

I think this is too freaking cute for words -- A crocheted duckie bath mitt! I got the pattern from one of my favorite sites, Annie's Attic. It doesn't have a thingie for the thumb, but there are little pouches on both sides for your fingers to get a grip.

Last week I made some cute little soaps in a seashell candy mold. I thought I might give them away with big orders over the holidays. Then I got the idea that they would be pretty on top of regular, full sized bars of soap. So I tried it out and these turned out so pretty! They are topped with a light dusting of white gold mica for some pretty sparkle.

Two days ago I had to go to the eye doctor for my annual exam. This visit he didn't have the lower dose eye dilating medicine that they usually use so they can look way into your eyes. I had to have this full strength stuff that messed up my vision and perception for most of the day. I had a terrible reaction to it, including grossly elevated blood pressure, nausea and rapid heart rate. I was really scared about the blood pressure especially. It's finally gone back down to normal, thankfully.

You never think about something routine like that having such scary and potentially life-threatening side effects. But the eye drops contain atropine, and among the side effects which are rarely reported are perceptual disturbances, nausea, dizziness, elevated blood pressure and racing pulse. Just my luck.

No Jury Duty For Me

Just because it's the end of the month, I was thinking I might not get called for jury duty. But last night when I called in to check, I was told to report at 8 am this morning. In Fort Myers, which is a good hour's drive from here. So I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30, got ready, and drove up there.

Just as I'd suspected, no one wants a psychologist on their jury. Not the defendant, and not the prosecutor either. Oh well. It might've actually been an interesting case, a jail corrections worker gouged out the eye of a mentally ill inmate.

Now here is a new low in dolls. I always thought American Girl dolls were adorable and promoted good wholesome ideals for little girls. Uh oh. Meet Gwen, America's Homeless Doll.

Winter Grapefruit and Tassie Lavender Soap

Back in stock after a summer hiatus, my Winter Grapefruit (below) and Tassie Lavender handmade soaps! As always, they are also available in my Etsy shop. I love the smell of Winter Grapefruit, it smells juniper-ish, like a drink!

I made some little seashell soaps from candy molds the other day, just an experiment to see if it would work. They are indeed adorable, and they popped right out of the molds. But they are so teensy tiny that they don't hold much soap. It would be a nightmare to make them in quantity. But I think these will make cute giveaways for holiday orders.

My kids are off doing their thing this weekend. Vicky went to Tallahassee to a football game (basically, to party) and Geoff is hanging out with his girlfriend at school. So no kids at home this weekend. Sniff.

New Fragrances

I'm such a sucker for good fragrance oil descriptions. I recently found a new supplier who has some amazing fragrances with such poetic names. I splurged on Guinevere's Attraction, Winter Festival, Dark Knight, Thieves and Raspberry Patchouli. I made the last one yesterday and will unmold it this morning. It smells soooo good. I get weak in the knees over patchouli anyway, and you add some raspberry, well...you just can't go wrong there!

I spent a long time yesterday re-organizing my soap boxes. I used to use long, narrow boxes like you'd use to store baseball cards. Keeping the soap in boxes, protected by paper towels in between the layers, helps to keep the scent for much longer than storing on the curing rack. And I needed more room on that curing rack because I'm making larger quantities of each kind now.

The solution was new, shoebox size boxes. They are shipped flat, but they're scored to make folding them up easier. Then it was heft the little boxes out, put everything in new boxes with fresh paper towels, label box, etc. Over and over again. I feel a sense of accomplishment that I finally switched to the larger boxes. When my work space is organized, my brain feels more organized too.

Mango Tango Handmade Soap

Back in stock in my shop, Mango Tango handmade soap! This stuff smells amazing. Also available in my Etsy shop here.

Both kids were home for the weekend, and it was so much fun to have them here. Well, maybe not so much fun for Geoff, who is finally recovering from swine flu. Just what you want to happen to your kid during his first month away from home at college! He was pretty miserable for a week or so, and slowly feeling better.

Vicky celebrated her 20th birthday Saturday. She's not a teenager anymore. She was photographed at a SuperVillains concert in St. Petersburg last week by a professional photographer. This turned out kind of cute!