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Daily Archives: November 2, 2011

Oh crap

I was killing time today, waiting for my doctor to come into the room (45 mins on a hard chair – so thankful for the cane). I get all nervous about moving around while waiting (I’m not exactly graceful unless I’m dancing and always have these embarrassing scenarios play out in my mind), so I sat and took a break from my thoughts to look around the room. I ended up staring at the calendar in awe. I don’t have a whole lot going on in a daily fashion, so I tend to lose track of the day. So when I looked at the calendar it dawned on me that the craft event is next weekend!! Oh crap, oh crap. Not exactly the best phrase to keep racing through your mind as the doctor comes in. *grin* I know I looked guilty for thinking it, as if he would know or care. Probably wondered if I stole a magazine or some tongue depressors lol. Anyway, it actually sunk in that it’s right around the corner.

An odd thing about my illness is that one day seems to be forever long, since I sometimes don’t sleep or sleep only a little, I never sleep very soundly, and pain often will wake me and keep me up until I can ease it enough to ignore it. On the flip side, a week flies by. It’s the weirdest thing ever. So what was a month of prep time before the event is now suddenly a week.

So after getting four prescriptions filled I hit Wally World to get the little things that I wanted to do right before the event. We had bought another 4 ft table and a rolling tote earlier in the day, so I am set to start packing up for the event. (Hey, with chronic fatigue it takes a week to do what used to be a few hours worth of work lol, so I’ve learned to start early.) I found some nice tablecloths in a sharp red and green plaid (do you all ready know that I’m obsessed with Scotland and love plaid?), got some garland to lay around some of the products when I set up the tables, and some ribbons and bows. I have recently gotten a wild hair to put a little effort into presentation for the event following reading a neat library book. (You can roll your eyes now. I understand. *grin*) I picked up a few coffee mugs for the coffee combo and got some wet wipes. Odd to put them in the same sentence, but what the heck. Lol. I decided after the cancer stroll that I would have wipes and a small trash can for people that don’t like the smell or texture. You’d be amazed, or at least I was, at how many people slather on a lotion and then sniff their arms to see if they like the smell. I am well aware of natural chemistry changing a scent, but it won’t change it enough to be radically different from sniffing it in the bottle usually. Cucumber melon brings to mind cat pee when I use it, but when I sniff it in a container, I all ready know there’s gonna be some funk, so I’m not going to dive on in. Buh! Here’s your sign village idiots…anywho….*grin*

I’m not letting myself get overwhelmed on trying to accomplish all of my goals before the event. I really have a whole lot of options. The only things I really need to do is set up the cash box, massively update my website, and pack stuff. The rest just makes the cake look pretty, so to speak. It’s still a pretty awesome cake all ready ; ) So I will put the “frosting” on my little cake soaps (by the way, I decided on scooping a little refrigerated bath whip for the ice cream. It has a great consistency when refrigerated that will work great with the melon baller and won’t get really firm like the scrub or soap would.), package and price what I have on my project table, and package the remaining “coal” once my Oriental Trading order gets delivered, since I ran out of bags. I want to make a few Twilight combos and the “sweet treats” baskets, which I can always disassemble if they don’t sell.

Miss Ash won’t be able to come to the event and is really disappointed, so I think I need a test run. *grin* Set up both tables with the tablecloths, so she gets to decorate when she comes in from school. It’ll be a fun surprise for her and give me a chance to decide how I want the lay out at the event. I’m hoping to pack most things actually in their baskets, so set up is a breeze. Knowing how I want the baskets arranged isn’t quite as easy. Plus, I think that my needing her input on how to lay it out will give her a nice boost after having a cruddy time at school lately. I think it’ll be kind of smart to find out what lay out will help catch the eye of preteens too.

The part of me that sees the small mound on my project table and keeps counting the days continues to panic a bit. I’m keeping a relatively level head about it, for me at least, although the spreadsheets and lists help the most. It helps me feel like it’s all under control. Oh, by the way, if you’re laughing about my spreadsheets (yeah, I know who is), I don’t mind. *grin* It’s a quirk that shows that it’s really me writing this. Lol. Sweet dreams and a peaceful tomorrow. I’m gonna go start a list if my lists. *teasing wink*

Progress

I pushed myself and made some progress Tuesday while Larry was installing some insulation in the attic. I don’t typically work on products on his day off, but I pushed myself to take advantage of having some alone time to hit a few more goals. I made 6 bottles of lotion. I realized while doing inventory the other night that I didn’t have enough lotions to make the Twilight lotion combos for the event, so I made up a few of Edward’s Kiss. After that I decided that I really wanted a Cherry on Top lotion. Wow! It turned out absolutely fantastic! I’m tickled. *grin* The maximum amount of the cherry FO under the guidelines, which I technically don’t have to fully follow yet try to, is .3 ML per every 2 ounces of lotion, so I was really nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get the scent that I wanted. However, I did the math and added up to just below the max, and balanced the chocolate mousse and maraschino cherry FOs wonderfully. *happy sigh* I unmolded the soaps I made yesterday and actually remembered to update my inventory spreadsheet too. Rock on!

The little dessert cake soaps came out kind of cute in their first stage. I got a dark devil’s food cake color with the clear soap base, so I managed to avoid the unwanted pastel that I accidentally made during my first effort. Lol. I’ve been debating between making a complimentary scented sugar scrub and using my mini melon baller to scoop a tiny bit on top of the cakes to look like a la mode, then drizzle the soap glaze down the whole bit. I’ve been mentally running pros and cons of scrub or doing a small pour of soap and making the ice cream out of it after it does the first set up. I am leaning toward scrub since it is more forgiving than soap. With some force scrub can be manipulated rather well. I might spend some time making shapes with the scrub when in the shower. I’m not saying that I do, but I might. *cheesy grin*

I was preparing to make another batch of acne soap when I heard a crash in the living room. Larry came through the ceiling part way and my couch was covered in the nasty, crumbling, old insulation and chunks of the sheetrock. I ended up cleaning that up instead of finishing the soap. Man was there some impressive timing. I hadn’t heated or poured the soap, so no loss and I can jump right into the batch tomorrow or Thursday. Plus, if I hadn’t pushed myself to work on soap I would have been buried under the fallen ceiling and insulation. I recognize the blessings. Larry is banged up, but I’m fairly well experienced with pain management, so it won’t be too bad. Things could have gone a lot worse. I also now am thankful that I’m preparing for the event. Lol.

One last part before I post and head to bed. I made a coffee and cocoa face mask today. It requires milk to be added to it, to make a paste. I have been going through stocking stuffer-like product options and have been itching to start some coffee products. I mixed up the powdered ingredients and put into cute little plastic bags with a holiday print on them, then twist tied them (metallic red twist ties to stay in theme of course *grin*), and will print out instructions to attach to the bags. I personally would be irritated to get just one treatment in my stocking. I really that it sounds bratty, but it’s more of a desire to make sure I can duplicate the good results before I buy the replacement and stick with the line. It may not sound logical to people, but it’s my logic and I’m cool with that. *grin* In light of my own preferences I put a double batch in each bag. The customer just pours half out into a bowl, stirs in some milk to make the paste, and applies to cleansed skin. I’m going to put a little side bar on the instruction sheet. I personally couldn’t stand having it sit on my skin for a full fifteen minutes (supposedly that’s how long it takes for the ingredients to firm, tone, and soothe the skin, but seriously? That’s rather subjective in my opinion and I’m not going to listen to the governmental person that decided to tell crafters how long their customers should leave stuff on for. Buh.). I used it more as a thick scrub and decided to finish cleaning up, and then rinsed it off while I was all ready in the water. I’m going to mention that option. I did one side and not the other, and there was a true difference that could be felt. Not to mention that I loved smelling what is basically a mocha. Ohhhhh yeahhh. Okay, I’m done cheesing. Anyway, I was talking with my mom and she’s absolutely delighted to hear about this new product. She wants me to start with at least 6 bags at the event. Whatever doesn’t sell she’s going to buy for Christmas gifts. *grin* If they all sell, then I have to make another batch pronto. Lol. I absolutely love when people are excited about stuff that I make! It brings back that elation that I use to get from doing poetry readings and competitions, or when I did my artwork. It’s small, but you touch someone’s life, and have a good impact. That’s such an awesome gift for both people. I’m all ready blessed to know that you will be reading this and interested in my little adventures. *smile* On that note, I hope that you have such a blessing today!

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