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A Little More Behind the Scenes

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

I thought I’d continue pulling back the curtain on prepping to make products and my processes.  This won’t be nearly as detailed, but rounds out the view.

Storage and organization of the products has been a really difficult thing for me to manage since we have a cozy sized home and the only space we could dedicate was the space for a shelving unit.  It’s a blessing now, because it helps keep me from having too much on hand that can go bad before anyone ever wants a product that uses those ingredients.  I’ve lost a lot of money on expired ingredients and it was a hard lesson, and taught me to budget for my creative endeavors a lot better.  Now that I am getting help on occasion and may utilize product creation as a bonding and learning opportunity with Kiddo once we have placement, I decided that I really wanted to make things easier for locating ingredients.  (If I’m being completely honest, I’m also thoroughly delighted with my label maker and it is soooo satisfying for me to label where things are!  Yeah, I know how weird that is.  *laugh* I figure it’s in the same part of my brain as my love of spreadsheets.  *grin*) 

 

Each shelf has a general theme and then, as you can tell by the labels in the right picture, there are sections for specific items.  My containers are either stored and labeled in that little black stand in front of the shelving unit or in shoebox totes on the upper shelf of the curtained area.  The bottom is kind of my overflow area, especially since containers are much cheaper when purchased in bulk, but take up so much room, and I also put a lot of my creation tools, like pots, the scale, and cutting boards, down there because it’s easier for me to reach than that top shelf.  *laugh* Sometimes, due to my balance issues from my illness, my doctor(s) advise me to not climb, so I’m not always allowed to bring a chair or my ladder over.  So about a month ago I got smart and moved some of those things down.  *grin*  And then my four shelves have a curtain to close them off to the rest of the kitchen, minimize any possible dust contamination to things like pipettes, and it’s another one of my “feels like I’m organized then” things.  lol

 

The night I took pictures of my creation process I also took a few of prepping for experimenting on making some soaps.  The left side shows preparing to handle the base and mix the scent with stabilizer (I bought a cheap set of butter knives to dedicate to this, since I found they work the best in those tiny cups and can actually get into the edges to guarantee that there aren’t oils hiding unincorporated).  I honestly have so much to wash and disinfect anyway that I try to reduce needing to wash equipment when possible, so I use a lot of wax paper.  *laugh* I can toss it out once I’m done or if it becomes contaminated and it saves me one of my few energy “spoons”.  My plastic gloves are right beside the cutting board and then I put the rest of the box in an open gallon bag tacked to the other side of the half wall beside that counter, so I can grab another set quickly and easily if needed. 

To the right are some of the molds I was considering to use in those formulas, plus my box of wax paper sheets and trusty bottle of alcohol.  The microwave is above where the picture cuts off, so I can heat the base, add and adjust coloring, and then add the scent (or blend, herbs, etc.), and pour right into a mold, so the soaps don’t develop issues.  If it cools too much then you can get a funky chunky look to the bottom of the soap, kind of like when you are frosting a cupcake and don’t get that nice little twist end, but instead end up with a blob of frosting at the tip.  Also, if I move a mold when the soap is even barely cooling you’ll see a wrinkled appearance to the bottom of the soap (the exposed area when in the mold).  There are a bunch of other possibilities for epic failures in this stage, but you get the drift, so I try to keep things easily accessible.  Once the soaps are in the mold and they’ve cooled for a few minutes I cover the soaps with wax paper to prevent any contamination or air particles/dust settling while they set.  

 

 

That night/early morning was when I changed my mind on Grandma’s Pie, so I swapped out the pie slice mold for another spoon mold.  They’re by two different companies with different depths and different levels of success.  *laugh* I really would like to do a “Spoonies” soap to offer and to even be able to successfully make to give to people I meet that are newly diagnosed along with the printout of the Spoon Theory.  I’m not happy with either version, which is in the following picture, so I’ll end up reworking the formula and playing with how much I fill the mold I like.

 

As you can tell the two molds are incredibly different.  The brown one makes the really deep and short spoons in the foreground in the right picture.  The purple one is so shallow that the soaps resemble bubble blowing wands despite filling the cavities to the brim.  You can see the best shallow soap behind that thick soap.  Just look for the hole in the middle where it’s a lovely wax white shade.  *grin* The only way I can make the shallow mold work would be to pretty much pour until the whole top of the mold becomes solid and then I have to cut each spoon out of the blob.  Um, Xacto knife cutting is okay for tiny detail work, but I really doubt I could safely cut a whole mold full of soaps neatly.  Okay, I even doubt I could neatly cut those soaps at all. *laugh* I’m realistic.  As you can see with the thick soaps they’re so thick they don’t really look like spoons, so I’m going to see if maybe a half deep pour, instead of filling the cavities fully, will be better.  I wish the color came through better, but hopefully it will if I can get these worked out and then do a photo box photo shoot of them.   They are an eggplant shade with the gorgeous shimmer from the mica.  *happy sigh* They are gorgeous.

 

Since I all ready shared about my labeling addiction, I’ll close with a confession.  I’ve labeled almost every single cabinet and shelf throughout the kitchen and laundry room, plus every fabric box that holds my crafting supplies, and even on pet items like brushes that are used on Teddy only.  If your resolution is to get more organized, send me a note and I’ll help direct you to my favorite items.  😉

 

 

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One Soap Formulation Description

Posted on January 13, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

I thought today I’d give you a little more of a behind the scenes look at my process for a type of soap creation and also describe how I go about creating my formulas for products.

 

I seldom ever use formulas (recipes) created by others for my products, except every so often ones written by the professional soap crafter that created the wholesale supply company that I use.  It kind of ruins the creative and fun side of crafting for me.  Sometimes the epic failures are a bit overwhelming and discouraging, but most of the time that problem solving aspect spurs me on to keep going.  Probably remnants of my days as a Medical Billing Clerk and Coder, plus the HIPAA Clerk responsible for Risk Analysis.  Or maybe it goes all the way back to my love of Nancy Drew books.  *laugh* Any which way, I love the research behind creating a new formula and all of that tedious stuff that most customers never get to see.  

 

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Here I am at about 3 AM a week ago after getting all of the ingredients and tools ready, having finished my research, and written up the starting formulas for the Spoonie soaps and the Maple Bacon squares that I was considering making into embeds for the previously mentioned Grandma’s Roadkill Pie.  At the furthest back of the table is the window and wildly messy bed that one of my cats insisted on making look as bad as possible right before I took the picture.  Since I had just disinfected, I wasn’t about to touch his stuff.  *laugh* In front of that, on the right side, is all of the safety equipment, while my ingredient research book is on the left side.  From those items to me are the ingredients for my mad scientist moments.  *grin* There is vanilla stabilizer, to help keep the soaps from turning brown due to vanilla content, mica powders for coloring the soap, some color soap bars as a backup if the mica didn’t work to my satisfaction, and then the FOs I was planning on using.  

 

When I create a formula (after talking so much with the case worker for the adoption it came to my attention that really I’m performing chemistry and making math equations, and not really recipes, so I decided to go with the name for consistency sake), I start out writing down the basic ingredients that I plan to use.  So I start with how much soap base I want to work with or believe the mold may hold (that’s a fun guessing game some days *rolling eyes*; I really need to go through and just fill with water, and then make a list of each mold’s capacity, but that’d make things too easy).  I then write down which scent(s) I am using with a space for writing in the amount of FO I end up using, plus I look up and write down the government’s allowable amount of the ingredient in the base, and then I follow the same steps when I write down the stabilizer if applicable and what type of colorant I will be using.  There are a lot of scents that would be too overpowering if I used the maximum allowable, so I always write that in as I am in the creation process.  I’m not sure how they come up with a maximum allowable amount for a base, but the government has a percentage allowance for each ingredient dependent on what you’re using it in, and then I refer to a cheat sheet percentage conversion chart that lists 3% of 8 Oz equals 7 ML allowed, etc.  I also have a secondary conversion of ML to teaspoons for the micas and such.  Did I mention that periodically they love to change those allowables and so I have to go back through previously made formulas to check if they’re within the new allowable.  Sometimes I’m creating products when I really shouldn’t be because my hamster wheels aren’t quite running right in my brain and I forget to write down what mold I’m using or how many mold cavities my new formula holds.  Those can be interesting to run across when I sit down to type up everything in my computer.  *grin* 

 

Next I move on to laying out the molds and setting up all of the tools in the areas I will use them, plus getting my trusty scale out to make sure I’m going by weight instead of volume, which I learned to do after my first year of creating products and running into a problem with figuring pricing due to volume since those  weight to volume conversions don’t usually work out right.  *laugh* If I am using a scent that requires stabilizer I need to pipe in the amount of scent I want to start with and then mix in an equal amount of the stabilizer, and then thoroughly mix and let sit for at least five minutes, but no longer than fifteen, so I have a maximum of fifteen minutes for finishing prep and getting to the scenting stage when I make soap.  Thankfully it’s not an issue I deal with in any other product (mostly because scrub is all ready a mucked up color and bubble washes are used up way before a color change could ever take place, but soap color changes happen a LOT faster).  I mix the FO and stabilizer in these little shot glass sized measuring cups, and yep, it almost always looks like a frothy odd color of urine for some reason.  *laugh*

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I move on to weighing, cutting, and warming up the soap base (which was previously created in bulk), almost always in the microwave in a business dedicated measuring cup, although I also have a bulk soap heater, which is kind of like a specialty crock pot.  I like having more control over each step, and the individuality approach, so I prefer all ingredients for a soap in a single large measuring cup instead.  Although there are differing “must follow” instructions for which comes next, I then start adding color after the base has melted, and once the preferred color is reached I add the scent mixture, and stir the tarnation out of the concoction.  If the scent doesn’t seem like enough it seriously sucks, because I need to recheck the allowables, add scent into the emptied cup and then blend with stabilizer again, and try to keep the soap warm while waiting for the blending time frame to finish.  I honestly seriously suck at this part.  I almost always either warm it too much and it boils a bit (which isn’t great for the mixture and it dilutes what scent is all ready mixed in), or I get caught up in another task and the soap sets up partially in the measuring cup and it’s a pain to try to reheat that since it’s not a stage that I can cut up or remove from the cup.  I’m learning to quit trying to multitask and just mother hen during the warming process, which totally goes against my grain.  *grin*  And then I cross my fingers and add the scent blend when it’s time, hoping that it comes out smelling just right.  At times the maximum allowable just doesn’t allow for enough scent if it’s a delicate scent or one with mixed notes, while other times some scents just go funky once added to a base.  Like I said, it’s basically a chemistry experiment.  *smile* 

 

Once it’s as good as it’s going to get I pour into the mold(s) and if I have extra (what I call overpour), I hurriedly grab a random clean mold and pour the extra into that.  *laugh* Spritz the top (which is actually the bottom of the soap) with some Isopropyl Alcohol (yep, the stuff you use for antiseptic), which actually causes most, if not all, bubbles to pop and usually the smell fully dissipates.  Then I cover with wax paper, since I don’t have a separate building to be doing this and who knows what could get into the air or splatter since it’s a kitchen in a lived-in house!  And following that is the dreaded clean up process which is usually killer on my Fibro, since I’ve usually used up all of my energy on the creative part (thankfully I have help sometimes that handles that for me!  Bless you guys!).  The worst part then follows.  Waiting a day or even a few before the product sets up and I can see how it turned out.  I am so impatient with creative endeavors, plus the scent tends to fill the house, and if I created several products with varying scents, sometimes we have a headache inducing, nasty blend of smells filling our house.  *laugh*  Once set it is time for packaging, altering it as needed if being used in other ways, or bagging it up to deal with later if I’m kind of lost creatively at that point.  I can’t tell you how many bags of product I’ve had to toss that I just couldn’t figure out what to do with or wouldn’t work in the concept I had originally came up with and can’t come up with an alternative use.  People have gotten tired of my giving them these soaps, since there are usually several soaps and don’t get used up fast enough to need more soap dumped on them *grin*, and I’m in a location that isn’t that great for donating.  I’ve shipped lots of this soap to emergency areas, but can’t always afford the shipping or run out of room to hold them while waiting for a chance to donate.  The efficient and reduce/reuse/recycle side of me goes ape over this, I assure you. 

 

After this I figure up the pricing of the ingredients in the formula (subtracting the amount of overpour when I figure up the pricing, of course), add my 55% labor charge (yep, I don’t do like most people and have a markup of 100 or 200% since I want to keep the price points lower, and just mostly someday make enough money to cover the costs so that I can keep getting to be creative), and add the tax.  I hate as a consumer trying to figure up and set aside tax for a purchase, so I decided a long time ago to just add it to the product cost and then I’ll just take the extra tax needed out of my profit, if applicable, or get that tiny extra percentage added for a little more profit that I can turn around and spend on more ingredients. And then quarterly I get to pay my quarterly profit tax or notify them I had no sales for the quarter.  So. Much. Red. Tape.  Almost every stage has something I need to keep track of or watch for changes.  *laugh* 

So, in almost full detail, that’s a pretty good look at what goes on for basic mold poured soaps.  Manipulated soaps are a lot more complicated and I’ll tell you about that another day, unless someone comments that this was super boring, because I really don’t want to bore you!  I really hope that it was kind of neat to know what is going on to deserve that labor mark up.  Until tomorrow, have a warm and happy day, and don’t forget to find a few moments to pamper yourself.  You always deserve even just a few moments!

 

 

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Day Two – The Monster Product Line

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

As you may remember from last year I made some Monster Duck soaps as well as some Zombie Bait brain soaps.  A bit gory to some, mostly just funny and interesting to most people, and really interesting to work on creating.  While I was quiet on here I thought a lot about those products and about how proud of them I am (yep, I’m mixing tenses, because I’m still incredibly proud of those little beauties and the fun photo shoots!).  I came up with several ideas of products to add in the same realm, so I decided to make an actual line for these kinds of products and allow my creativity to have full reign.  

 

A few ideas I had to throw out because they’re were too gross even for my macabre and sarcastic sense of humor, and then a few just weren’t logical enough for me to tolerate.  Which seems ironic to most people I tell that to, since it’s all about implausible things anyway.  I have no idea why, but some things have to be logical to me.  For example, I thought about making “Grandma’s Roadkill Pie” soap slices.  At first I thought of just embedding a bunch of different colored soap cubes and chunks of brain soaps, etc., but then I thought about how that would be more like a pot pie for the roadkill embeds to fit in, and all I could picture was how that first crack with your fork of the pot pie always makes the contents pour out almost like a stew inside of a crust.  That just did not work for me with having a pie slice mold and I became obsessed with how it wouldn’t be logical for the roadkill to stay in pie form.  *cracking up* As a result I went a little further down the rabbit hole and want to try formulating a “Dreadful Delights Cake” instead.  It can have things like goblin syrup, eye of bat, rotten pumpkin, and swamp scum in my small bundt cake molds.  Just like with a regular cake you have liquids and then your flour gives it a binding, cake-like texture.  I don’t have any good excuses for why that is so much more logical and reasonable to me, but my brain works in mysterious ways and that’s where it settled.  *grin*  

 

I also came up with some other concepts to play with and hopefully make some successful formulas for.  I’d like to do a Vampire-themed soap that’s black and red.  I haven’t decided if I want to swirl the colors in guest rounds or if I want to try a new technique I watched a tutorial about where you make a loaf of soap with straws making open holes through the soap that can then be filled by another color of soap and it makes a complete stripe of that color.  I could either make it look like bloody veins where a vampire’s fangs had fed, maybe even with those cheesy fake vampire teeth stuck into the soap.  Who knows where this concept will take me.  *laugh* I also want to actually make a product I thought of ages ago called Vampire Tears, which will be a red bubble wash.  I’m debating Vampire Ashes as a name for some bath salts, too, but my mind battles over which genre of vampire lore I’d go with – some depict the ashes as grey ash whereas some (albeit mostly B movies) show it as a reddish substance, which would definitely be more attractive than soaking in grey bath water.  *grin*  I have the same problem with the name/idea of “Gargoyle Dust” salts due to the whole dirty water look.  It might work for a new formulation of the mechanic soap that’s less abrasive.  Rotten Sweets will probably be mini bundt cakes in chocolate for the cake and either cherry or strawberry FO drizzled over as blood or some other gore.  I think I’ll let the drizzle be an unshaped pour, too, instead of having shaped pooling at the base like I did for the brains and ducks.  Partially because shaping hot soap really hurts and I try to limit how often I purposely do stupid things to myself.  *laugh*

A few other product names I am playing with and need to develop some product concepts for are “Deathly Morsels”, “Devilish Delights”, “Swamp Ooze” (or Scum) for a bubble wash probably, “Zombie Stout” (a colored bubble wash using the Ale FO and it even calls for using stale beer in it that theoretically has the liquor part burn off during the heating phase – that’ll be an interesting experiment I suspect!), and some version of a Zombie Repellent, although I need a different name for that, since I found an actual soap made by a crafter named that, so I need to play with the name because I’m not giving up on that one because I love the concept.  I’m also wondering if a “virus” or “zombie” combo would be of interest to customers.  I personally would be incredibly amused to get a basket with that type of theme, but, then again, I’m not the normal kind of girl, as we know.  *laugh* I’m also debating if Zombie Boogers bath salts or bubble wash is too gross or just gross enough that it would really appeal to kids, and in honor of the pride of Kansas, I want to make a product named “Melted Witch”.  *grin*  The great thing with the monster line is that I can have all of these wild things and use any scent that I fancy, instead of actually trying to make a logical connection, like if it’s red people expect a red fruit or a rose scent, etc.  Monsters are a free zone of creativity.  Mawahahaha

 

I’d love to hear any of your ideas or even creative criticisms if you have some. Do you have a name that you think would make a fun addition?  Have any ideas of tweaks on the names I’m toying with?  Or even what kind of product to match to some of these names maybe?  I think it would be a lot of fun to try to make some products inspired by readers, so please bring them on…*in a fake, deep, creepy voice* if you dare…

😉 

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Big Changes

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Georgia's Pampering

All sorts of fun things are happening that I want to share with you.  First off, I’m not starting at the right time, but I’m going to try to do the month of daily blogging challenge again.  Settle in for a wild month!  Kind of like that famous box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get.  *grin*

Second, my website is under construction and will be for a bit longer.  Some is pretty familiar, but I’ve specifically developed a Monster theme line and a Whimsical line, and that’s going to be a main focus for now in my creating, as well.  For some reason that’s what inspires my creativity right now and I’m really excited about them.  So, my overall theme is no longer about pampering with natural benefits; more like making your bath and body routines a little more fun with some creative products.  I haven’t really decided on a tag line yet, honestly.  I also seriously overhauled the shopping content on the site.  It’ll now feature products I have on hand, in my featured themes, or my best sellers.  I’ll give a scent, a price, a description, and it won’t be so complicated anymore with so many options.  I’ll totally welcome custom requests, as always, and will make most of my older products if requested, but there won’t be long pages of scents to choose from anymore or the kind of build your desired product concept.  I’m really liking the organization and streamlining of the site so far, although there are a lot more pages than there used to be.  We all know that I’m obsessed with organization, so I’m totally fine with having a lot more organization!  So if you are interested in ordering anything while the site is in disarray, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I’ll get the information to you, I promise.

Next, I am going to have guest bloggers!  I’ll introduce them soon and give an idea of what their focuses will be, but it’ll diversify the blog content, hopefully help some readers in ways I definitely am not educated in or good at, and also help prevent some of these spans of silence.  We’re hoping our adoption process will progress further soon, so I may have all of my attention focused completely away from my business and blog.  The other ladies will keep things running and interesting.  I’m also facing the possibility of a couple of surgeries this year, so it’ll be a relief to know I have some pinch hitters when I’m bed bound and cranky.  *grin*

Also, I’m going to blog a lot more about my personal life instead of the crazy creation process and epic failures.  Expect some information about adopting that I’ve learned, so it’s out there for people looking for reliable information about adopting teens.  A lot of the research and information we went off of in the first half of our process was all completely inaccurate.  It really lit a fire inside of me to provide a resource for people considering adoption and hopefully even raise awareness of the need for people to adopt teens and youths instead of focusing on infants and toddlers.  You can also expect a lot more tidbits about my Second Life (SL), which is an online community I’ve been a part of for a decade now.  Some will just be my fun adventures, or adventures of those close to me in SL, and some will be helpful resources for SL avatars like free items or where to access some fantastic tutorials.

Basically, it’s going to be Whatever Wednesday any day of the week from now on.  *laugh* I’m excited to add some new dimension to the blog and new insight into my life, especially with my journey of changing my perspective of losing my former life due to disability and instead gaining a new version of life with new abilities.  I’ve struggled a lot in the past year with my health and an unhealthy perspective about it, focusing on the limitations and losses, and hopefully I can help a few others in their changed journey in life.  In one post you’ll even get to see my attempts at making Spoonie soaps (Spoonies is a name used for those that suffer chronic illnesses with a lot of fatigue.  If you’d like a great explanation of the theory, please read this wonderfully written description.).  

So that’s the big update with lots of info that I probably should have broken up to use for several days of posts, but I want to share all of the big stuff together first.  Until tomorrow…happy pampering! 🙂

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It’s Been Awhile

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

To start, I’m really sorry that I promised to try to get back to writing and then dropped off the face of WordPress. I really do try to keep my word, which is why I often don’t give it (knowing that my illness often ruins any plans). I’ve honestly just been in a bad place mentally and physically.

I’ve had some continued complications from the surgery back in March, which is probably partially just my Fibro finding a new place to cause havoc. I’ve also had a sinus infection for probably four months of this year, now. Three antibiotics and one round of steroids later, I am getting a brain and head CT within a few weeks just to make sure it’s all really been a sinus infection that just doesn’t want to give up. That’s a nice little thought piece to try to avoid thinking about, especially after working for a neurologist and being the voracious learner that I am. Yeah, I look forward to getting past that little test and just getting the results.

What’s really been hard is that the adoption has taken so much longer than we ever expected. There is no light in sight yet, although according to everything I read, we’re past the worst case timing scenario and should at least be in visitation, if not placement. One child we were interested in has been adopted, another has aged too far, and now we’re waiting to see what goes wrong with the young lady that we are really hoping for. This process has taken quite an emotional toll, and although it’s been an incredible learning process and we are beyond excited to get to be parents for any period of time, it’s getting harder to hold onto that bright hope. It almost hurts to go into her room and realize it’ll be around a year probably since we started work on it before she even walks into it.

For me the worst has been that we don’t have her in our lives for Christmas. Growing up with rotating holiday visitations and different family get togethers according to who has what days made me always dream of when I’d have my own tiny family unit that can have our own traditions, stay cozy and full of cheer together Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and spoil the living daylights out of our child with surprises and loving tokens. I’ve longed for that sense of closeness, completeness, and absolute belonging. I know that sounds odd, but I’ve never really felt that I fully fit in anywhere and was always being told I had to go somewhere, or feeling obligated to do something else, or whatever. I’m loved and I belong with certain people, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve looked forward to when I’d have my little family and my own little place I’m meant to be. When I was in junior high I told my best friend that the only goal I’d hold myself to was that I wanted my own family; a husband and at least one child. For me, that’s where my life was always supposed to lead, even if I became a war correspondent, a meteorologist, creative writing teacher, or newspaper writer. I was meant to have my own family and they would be my home. When I had the dream of finally having that family Christmas as I came out of my anesthesia from surgery in March, I was filled with such peace and joy that all that I’ve been through still led me to what I felt was my meaning of life.

I know we will still have that, but it’s hard to let go of that dream, and even harder to believe that it’s taken almost the whole year all ready to try and even meet a child in need. It’s mind boggling and makes my heart hurt. Especially wondering if our daughter’s foster family loves her and is going to try to make Christmas special for her, or is she going to be looking at Christmas lights at night and wondering why no one wants her. It’s hard to let go of the conviction I had that we would have her and make this the Christmas that she felt so wanted and loved, that she would never doubt how much happiness and love she has (will, now) give us, despite the hard journeys behind and ahead of all of us.

Since these haven’t been the most uplifting of topics, and so incredibly raw, I withdrew and tried to distract myself, which left me not writing and I’ve actually missed it. I haven’t been physically capable, but at least I have a few ideas for my business in the meantime! So let’s end with some happy notes on that topic! 🙂

First, I want to make “Grandma’s Roadkill Pie Soap”. Yep, I’m still morbid, but I think this should be great. Instead of trying to do the bacon slices that turned out so badly last year, I’m going to do the Maple Bacon FO in pie slice form, with little soap chunks that are either scent free or have a complimentary note. I considered Apple Spice, like one of those pork pies, you know? Or maybe Summer Ale FO, since citrusy notes go so well with pork. Since I have some scent creation strips now (I put dabs of FOs on them and can create my own scent instead of actually having to waste MLs on bad combos), I look forward to trying some different options. Next, I really want to send a little customized gift basket to a YouTube channel called “Sharuf”. It’s a fun show with an Irish entertainer and a muppet, plus guests usually. I thought some handmade items from Kansas would be fun to receive in Ireland, plus he gives shout outs on his small channel, and a lot of his followers are ironically American. I might actually get some customers. Lol Lastly, I bought a silicone spoon mold. When I explained the Spoon Theory for Fibro I told how the spoon is now a uniting symbol for Fibro sufferers. I really like the idea of making some soap spoons and even if they never sell, giving them in an informational support basket to a newly diagnosed person would be a beautiful thing. So, those are the current ideas spinning on my hamster wheels for my business, along with still wanting to do a package for Good Mythical Morning. What do you think? Are there any concepts or scent combos that you think I should try?

In the meantime, thank you for sticking with me through my journey, and always being a supportive haven for my creativity and thoughts. Pink glitter for everyone! 😉

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A Big Announcement

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering
A Big Announcement

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted and I actually have some really good reasons.  First, I had a really difficult recovery from my surgery.  I swear that I started to think I would never recover and the doctor didn’t do the greatest job with the reconstruction, so I was kind of in a funk mentally for a bit.  Second, we’ve been doing renovations to our house and every time I got a bit done, then I’d be sick or flared for a few days, and kept repeating the cycle for the past few months.  It bites to try and take care of things when you have a chronic illness trying to win the contest over your body.  *grin* Third, is the best reason of all and it includes a TON of paperwork and just plain work…

announcement

We’re adopting!!  It is a LOT harder than we expected and a lot more intrusive of a process, but we are so excited.  We had thought and prayed on it for a few years actually.  As I came out of the anesthesia from my surgery we agreed that without a doubt we had been called to adopt a teenage girl.  I can’t really explain it any better than that.  Part of the reason for the age is due to my health issues.  I simply cannot handle taking care of the physical needs of an infant or energetic young child, sadly.  In a way, it’s for the best though, because teens up for adoption are so rarely adopted and have such heart breaking statistics for their adult lives when they’re not adopted.

 

At this time the house is almost completely ready and we start our adoption classes this Thursday night.  Her room is completely ready and is so beautiful.  It’s neutral, but luxurious and has just a few feminine touches.  She can change it up however she wants, of course, but we wanted to have it ready to move in and show the Social Worker/Inspector that we are seriously committed to this commitment.  I’ll share some pics of our journey soon, I promise.  All sorts of things went wrong every which way we turned.  *laugh*  We learned a whole lot though, especially me!  We also learned the hard way that my balance issues are dramatically increased when I am off of the ground, and I’ve had some nasty injuries from working on the ladder.  It’s all been worth it though, no matter what happens.  In 10 weeks, if everything goes right, we will literally be licensed to be parents.  What a bizarre concept!  50 pages of paperwork, a scrapbook, 30 hours of parenting classes, lots of renovations, and a whole lot of tears, and we will finally get more information about our match(es).  That is, if the house passes inspection, so if you’re so inclined, please say a little prayer for us that our house passes inspection the first time, so we don’t have to wait even longer.

 

Since teen adoptions are so needed, in theory the adoption itself should go faster and easier than younger ones do, and we get a little more ability to pick who we feel is a better fit for our family, according to the mini bio we get.  We have one that we are really hoping for (I honestly can’t imagine any other girl but her when I daydream about our upcoming family adventures) and our social worker said that there’s a really good chance that as long as no one else has all ready selected her, we should get matched, which makes my breath catch and my heart thump each time I replay the conversation.  Of course, she has to review our stuff and decide she’d like to meet us, too, so I’ll try to dial back my crazy long enough.  *grin*

 

The agency required us to make a scrapbook about our lives, interests, and home, to help all prospective matches get to know us a bit and have a more informed decision if they would like to meet us.  I went into that part of the process totally lost and believing this would be torture.  Thankfully one of my dearest friends was a lifesaver with tons of information and answers for me, and it turns out that I am a total nut for scrapbooking.  *laugh* I absolutely had a blast making this timeline and visual biography of us, and it helped me feel so connected to this girl.  I actually love a child that I haven’t even met yet.  That’s mind blowing, but the honest truth.  I just hope our teenager will be interested and learn to love us too.

 

We decided to wait until we were starting our classes before announcing, although I wanted to as soon as we had decided, but thankfully Larry is more level-headed than me.  We will also mail out some physical copies of the announcement, but sadly the printing company cut the beginning of a few words on the left side.  At least people can extrapolate the message still and we get to finally share our joy with everyone.  We can’t share any information about our prospective daughter yet, since we don’t really know for sure who we will be matched with, but I really want to share about this difficult journey.  I had a lot of time on my hands during my recovery, so I was able to get far ahead of our class peers and do all of the paperwork and scrapbooking that is required, that they will do during the 10 weeks, but I was also able to do a lot of research.  Sadly there’s limited information about adopting and preparing for teenagers or older children, and I hope that maybe I can put a little bit of information out there and help someone else.  It’s easy to get discouraged with such a difficult process that really puts a strain on your relationship and your own mental health, in my opinion, so if I can offer a little education and reassurance, I can pay forward a bit of God’s blessing.

 

In closing of this big post I want to thank those of you that have helped us on our journey and have been such a big support system.  We thank you for helping us to keep this private until the time was right, for the encouragement, for your happiness, and for your embracing our journey with enthusiasm.  Our daughter will be so very blessed to have you as part of her family and we are so very thankful for that.  Truly, you have all been instrumental in getting us to this point and helping us get to the courthouse soon, hopefully, and we can never thank you enough.

 

“He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother.  Praise the Lord!” – Psalms 113:9 (NLT Version)

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Today

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

Right now we are on the way to take me to surgery. A month ago I had a blood vessel come to the surface and burst, and then created an abscess while I went through seven doctors to finally get this far. It took the sixth, my brilliant specialist, to get it figured out and call in a favor to get me seen by a surgeon he trusts. So in two hours I will be going under anesthesia and right now I’d beat someone with my cane just to have a drink of Dr. Pepper.  Lol. Fasting from midnight has sucked!  Anyway, I appreciate all of the support while I’ve been trying to get to this point and hope to come out the other side of this with a lot less problems in the end. Thankfully one of my best friends kept me texting about other subjects yesterday so I couldn’t think about panicking and canceling. Sometimes knowing too much about all that can go wrong is a really bad thing. *grin* I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day, even if you’re just have some honorary Irish in your ancestry for today. 🙂 

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Finally Some Answers

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

Well, it took my specialist yet again to actually get to the bottom of things and diagnose my problem.  He’s never seen it either, but agreed that it only made sense that I had a blood vessel surface, burst, and get infected, probably due to pressure from coughing, on top of a weak system.  He’s going to call personally to a few surgeons to see if they’d be willing to at least consult with me and see if they can fix the area.  Unfortunately it’ll be a very painful and difficult recovery from the surgery, but at least they’ll be able to cauterize any blood vessels in that area, which will take a huge load off of my shoulders.  I’ve basically been afraid to do anything for fear of causing it, or another vessel, to suddenly rupture, and go through another month of agony.  It’s a relief that he agreed with the diagnosis I had come up with and that he wants this to be handled immediately, instead of dragging it out again.  I have to say every single time I see him I am in even more awe of his abilities and his brain.  He is truly the most brilliant man I’ve ever met.  I will always be thankful for my former boss asking his old colleague for the favor of doing a consult of one of his employees.

 

There is a pain scale from 0-10 that I always have to evaluate at every appointment for my different trigger areas, and even on my bad days I rate those at about a 7, because I’m still making it through the day.  While my wound was bad and I was concerned about sepsis (thank goodness for antibiotics), I rated my pain at a 9 for the very first time.  When I told my specialist that,  I think that’s when he realized just how serious and scary it had been for me.  He said that he doesn’t want me living in fear that any moment anything I can do could put me back at that stage.  At a 9 it’s hard to push to keep trying to get through the day and you seriously wonder if it’s worth it.  Like maybe your body got a memo that your brain and soul didn’t yet.  So I’m thankful that I have a doctor that knows me well enough to know my limits and my needs, and who is taking this seriously.  It was a long path to get there, but I’m thankful he was consulted on this.

 

While I’ve been going through all of this I’ve had an awesome support system and want to thank all of you that have been there for me, have left me FB or email messages, and have given me the encouragement to keep making my way through this journey.  I appreciate every single attempt to contact me, especially since I tend to get even more introverted when I’m dealing with difficult things.  Please know that I am working on not being quite so introverted and that I thank you for being patient, especially when my health takes a turn.  You all mean so very much to me and are true blessings in my life, whether in “real life”, social media, or my “second life”.

 

I’m hoping to hear Monday about the surgeon, so please cross your fingers for me that he is able to convince his top pick to do a consult.  After all of that I can focus on my big marketing idea that I can’t wait to share, but seemed stupid to share when I didn’t know when I’d ever get the chance to actually do it.  So I’ll tell you all about that soon!  In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of happiness and health, and maybe a little extra pampering. 🙂

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I’ve Stumped 4 So Far

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

I’ve gone a bit introverted for the past few months as I deal with things and I’m just honestly not dealing so well. I don’t want this to turn into a whiny blog, so I tend to not blog if things have been difficult…so my blog lays silent sometimes. I realized that this needs to stop. First, what’s been going on. 
I had a sinus infection with possibily bronchitis for a few months. The doctor prescribed the first time she saw me, but it was a short term, and I never got over any of it fully. Went back in and she was uncomfortable prescribing again so soon (oh ye, who hasn’t read five inches of medical records and has little faith in my helpful info), so the infection progressed. One night I had an intense coughing jag and had the weirdest feeling. All of a sudden blood was pouring out of a swollen wound. Thankfully elevation, pressure, and comforting phone chats with my mom and husband, all helped the bleeding stop. I was sick, had just bled a bunch, and really didn’t want to expose my immune system to even more stuff, so I decided it was smartest to stay home. 
During the next few days I didn’t do much moving. I was weak and sore, and every time I did much of anything (oh sneezing was horrific!) I’d start bleeding again. I finally went to my PCP and she was very thorough. I give her that. She really tried her hardest, but said she had never seen anything like it and had no idea what to do, so she prescribed some heavy duty antibiotics to minimize the swelling, to hopefully stop the inflammation and bleeding. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and she referred me on. An emergency consult with a Trauma Surgeon turned into a visit with three of them, and all of them are puzzled. So they put me on more antibiotics and thankfully some true pain killers that allow me to function a bit, instead of staying in bed curled in a ball from pain. Although to be honest I stay in bed sleeping a lot of the time right now anyway, since my system is wiped out. Anyway, they learned that I have my biannual follow up with my hero Dr. Jones on Friday (10 days from when I felt like I joined the circus), so they were just going to put a prescription bandaid over it all and want him to diagnose this. One of the surgeons actually said “You stumped a Trauma Surgeon!” as if that was a feat I had on my bucket list. I have enough puzzling health issues; I was not amused. 
So now I’m mostly out of it and when I’m not, I want to be. The bleeding has improved as the infection has improved, but I still have a massive inflammation of tissue and an odd spot for spontaneous bleeding. Not to mention if I do anything for more than five minutes, even just standing, the pain starts to override the med, and I’m trying to stay light on the Hydrocodones. If it closes I’m afraid they’ll have to open and debrid the area, since it’s still a big inflamed extra area of skin, but if it stays open, maybe there are easier cures. It just depends what the brilliant Dr. Jones thinks. I just hope he remains as awesome as ever and is a stellar diagnostician on this, too. I’d like to be able to resume life again, even if it was fairly limited. I’m hoping (and it’s logical to me) that I just caused a blood vessel to surface and burst with the intense coughing, and that it then got infected because of my stellar immune system. My luck doesn’t generally go that well though, so they’ll probably have to do filet me open for some exploratory surgery (as long as it’s not the one unimpressive Trauma Surgeon!). 
During my “present” times I’ll try to blog about some of the fun ideas I’ve had for when life resumes and I will introduce you to my Second Life sister, who is going to help blog a bit on here. She will test some recipes (she has less limitations and a more diverse palate, so you’ll get some variety finally *laugh*), blog a bit about rejoining an online community (SL), and some other happy topics. I want to breathe a happy air back into this blog and not have as many obvious dead times when I’m down, dealing with health issues. Look for an introduction to her soon and look for me to update my website. She pointed out that it was still set up for Christmas. Ah, the things that get overlooked. *grin* 
This Friday hopefully I get some answers and maybe even get to go back on the Marinol. I lost 7 pounds in the past 4 days, which I could use in general, but not in this way.  At least this time I’m not having to worry about cancer, thank goodness. Just another issue that doctors can’t figure out, much like the years it took to get my CFS and Fibro diagnoses. Been there and they didn’t even give out lousy tee shirts. 😉 

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A Quick Request

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Georgia's Pampering

If you have the time would you please consider signing the following petition for the White House to review at CBD Petition?  CBD stands for Cannabidiol, which comes in two variations.  You can get it “…from medical marijuana plantsor from industrially grown hemp plants.  Both are varieties of Cannabis, but they are grown for different purposes, and each one comes with its own legal status…Cannabidiol from industrial hemp also has the added benefit of having virtually no THC.  This is why it’s not possible to get ‘high’ with our products.   There simply isn’t enough THC.” (via HealthyHempOil.com)

 

Until this past December Hemp derived CBD was legal and helped with a lot of ailments, varying from headaches all the way to Fibromyalgia, and has several options of delivery, such as tinctures or e-vaporizers.  The high CBD is for medicinal use while there’s almost no THC, so it’s not like the users are wanting to get stoned.  This is for people who are searching for alternative treatments for their ailments, and as of December the government has ruled that even Hemp derived CBD is now considered a Schedule 1 Substance (effective January 13, 2017).  You can read the DEA’s ruling HERE.  It was argued that the other parts of the plant has little to no THC, but since it can’t be confirmed that it’s absolutely free of THC, they are including Hemp Derived CBDs in this ruling.

 

I don’t usually get involved in political or governmental stuff, and as a rule it’s on my “no talking about” list, but I’m hoping that the petition gets enough signatures to just get a review at least.  Our government’s views on drugs has grown outdated and maybe a review would help bring a call to action that they be re-educated.  If you don’t agree with this, then delete this post and have a great day anyway.  If you don’t mind taking a few minutes to add your signature a lot of frustrated and hopeless patients will be very thankful.  Either way, thank you for your time and I hope you have a fantastic weekend everyone!  🙂

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