While Tangerine Dreams

Mood Swing

Here's the crew having a family meeting. I have to be honest. I've been having the most stressful month. I don't even want to begin writing a list of what's been on plate or mind for that would not even be  therapeutic in the least. Let's just say I'm feeling better now though. Then I recalled an email I received from my friend Kristi giving a heads up on Mars being the closest it's ever been to the earth or something like that. Anyone know what's up with that? If that's the case perhaps that explains the crazies I've been experience lately. Indeciciveness, paranoia, drama building. Woo. It was a doozy.

Thank God for Craig (my mantra ever since I laid drunken eyes for him; what's your name again? Craig. Like Egg?) He's my rock and gives me gentle talking to's and get's me back in the swing of things again.

Another angel kicking around (other than my monkey, of course)...

...is Aunti Colleen! Colleen, who should totally start a blog by the way, because she's so smart and funny and has much herbal wisdom to share, has purchased with her family (hubby Ashley and little girl Freya) a little piece of paradise up here in these parts. Thank goodness cause she's one of my bestest friends and I think I would just miss her too terribly much if I didn't get to see her every once in a while. She too has been helping me tonnes getting  perspective during this stressful time. Thanks Craig, Colleen, Edie. Don't know what I'd do without you guys! Smooch.

I'm so touched...

... by all the sweet messages and emails regarding Miss Kitty!'s passing. I had the most healing experience last night. My good friend Lori invited me and Edie over for a woman's circle of chanting and we, after lots of dancing and kundalini coaxing mantras, prayed for Kitty's spirit to be safely guided home. It helped alot, as did your kind words. Thank you each and every one of you.

On a happier note, check this out. We have handed over a painted brush to Edie's eager little nubby hands and look what she's been cranking out!

Mon petite Picaso she is! I'm sure she can net in at least as much as those painting elephants you see on the news.

Goodbye, Sweet Girl

Yesterday, I received some devastating news. My best friend of almost twenty years has passed away. Me and Miss Kitty! have been roomates/girlfriends/mother/daughter to each other ever since I was seventeen years old. She was very much "special" kind of like how Edie is. My mom even agrees with me on that one, and she's not the type to casually huck around the word "special".

Kitty was approaching her 19th birthday this September 11. We picked this date as her birthday way back when. I remember in high school I drove a bright neon orange Capri. I pulled up like a maniac onto our driveway (Idrove like a maniac back then), turned off my car, was about to get out in hormonal infused rush as per usual, then all of a sudden I saw this beautiful "Pepe Le Pew" poofy tail meander across the hood of my car. That's how I met her. She was just an awkard teenager herself and asking for food in her trademark dignified way.

So I gave her milk and she never left. I have so, so many stories about her. Those of you who know me probably heard them all before. For those of you who don't, just believe me when I say the world has recently had to give back a wonderful, incredibly gentle, softest, beautiful, sweet-smelling, nose-kissing, Edie-loving angel.

My first baby, I'll love you forever. Daddy is in Calgary right now, with the intention to bring you back home to us, you know. We couldn't bring you over last month. The chaos would have been hell to you. I know because I know you so well.  I'm sorry I wasn't able to say goodbye to you. The guilt was killing me. Just know I'll always appreciate you being there for me throughout the hardest point of my life when it felt that all I had was you. I'm so thankful you were there to meet and approve of Craig and meet my first born and love her so. You'll be greatly missed. I wish so hard I could hug you one last time, cry and listen to Led Zep's Tangerine on the record player. I hope your eyes can see clearly now my sweet baby girl. I love you so much. So much.

Me So Craft Tea!

Okay, this may come as a shock to some of you, but I'm actually part nerd. I know, I know, who would've thunk but who else but a part-nerd would enter a craft contest? That's what I did and now I have my fingers crossed to win. I don't know why I want to win so bad. Perhaps because I've been knitting around town telling all the locals and new neighbours that I entered a knitting competition and I just KNOW I'm going to win?  Yeah, that would be cool if I win. Then word around town would be that I'm psychic or a witch or something legendary enough so that when Edie starts school the kids will be whispering about her mom being the sorcerass or something kick ass like that.

So here's a link to all the other contestants. The game is to incorporate this new magazine's logo onto a craft project. The mag is called Craft. I made a tea cozy with Craft on one side and Tea on the other. Craft/Tea. Get it? Okay, I do know why I want to win. The prize is a subscription to the mag, cool, and a profile of the artista in the mag, COOL! To me this is kind of a crazy marketing scheme (I'm kind of on this Do Be Clean promotion kick right now with the advent of the new "arrangement"). But also, I simply get excited when an opportunity to publically work a pun presents itself.

Healthy Self-Image

Edie's been doing her lip push-ups like the Fonz to practice kissing her new boyfriend, No-ahhhhh!

Come Display, Please

Look at my pretty soap display! My friend's grandpa is just too cute and handy! What a craftsman. I told him what I wished for and he delivered. What a dreamboat. I still need to stain it but I told him to kick it into full production mode and start pumping these puppies out.

So again, with soapmaking duties off my hands I can now devote more attention to the business in order to let it grow to the size it wants it to be. My soap's too glorious to be kept hidden behind closed shower curtains. It needs to be exposed to different naked bodies. We need some time to grow apart, yet together, for a while. Time to place my nose back into the marketing grind stone so to speak.

Marketing is a part of my background.  A snippet from my resume if you will:

Before I made soap I was a full-time yoga teacher. Before that I worked in the advertising industry for five years after University. Yes, I was a soot. But, the point of all this, one job was to write copy for the voice talent to read for "on-hold" ads. You know, when you're put on hold and you hear custom radio commercials. The trick to writing that stuff is to be as punny and as redundant as possible cuz you never know at what moment people tune-in and what they may have missed. Very important. Also, in case you didn't know, I was a full-time yoga teacher for a while there. Nyuk, nyuk.

Edie Has a Boyfriend

His name is Noah. They like to dress alike (just like her old man and lady) and refer to each other as Mum and Pop (just like her old man and lady). Noah's parents are buddies of ours from the big city and just so happened to have moved out here the same week as us. His parents and siblings are so lovely. Full of light. We always see them at the beach after Craig gets off work - approximately twenty after four usually.

I've been on a creative binge lately. Everything needs to be slightly top secret for at least another week or so. Sorry, but lots of exciting projects underway that I need to keep underwraps for a smidgin' longer.

I have my last session with the soapmaking apprentice tonight. Though I'm just a touch nostalgic due to saying goodbye to the mediation of making the stuff, I'm realizing how pretty much impossible it is to go through a session without being super distracted by the babe. I think the arrangement is going to work out quite nicely! I'll be able to focus on marketing and still be able to lay my attention on some other side projects that will promise themselves to be complementry to Planet Do Be (plus offering some fibre love in the mix - yay!).

Project Do Be Cleaner

Soap log: August 11, 2006.

Lots of soap being pumped out of this tiny house. Smelling pretty fine though! Big plans for this small business. We have a production target, reformulated recipe to make bigger bars, new lables brewing up, display cases to offer our wholesale clients being built by Grandpa (not my Grandpa, my friend's husband's Grandpa), website being upgraded to accept casholla. Hoo, boy. We're going to get huge. HUGE! Do Be Clean is set up to take over the world. MWAAAH HA HA!

Now if I could only find a little time to learn how to knit a sock I know I won't go completely evil.

Water Nymphs

Taking a break from intensive soap making sessions. Edie's long lost babysitter from the big city is out to house sit in the area and what a beautiful reunion it was. So the four ladies went out for a picnic by the river then air dried on the swing. This nature park is a beautiful five minute stroll from our land and  besides the mosquito infestion is heaven on Earth.

I was able to sneak out of bed finally this morning. Part of the reason not being able to post as much as usual is due to the Monkey not backing the idea of sleeping without me within a one inch radius of her. I'm diagnosising teething and full moon as the culprit. So this is nice that last night was normal and here I am in my happy place once more with my Kitty mug full of brew and the laptop keys under my finger tips.

So, more soapmaking with Rayann on the agenda today but first, I have a breakfast meeting! I love breakfast meetings! I'm meeting with my friend to discuss a partnership of running a store here in the downtown district of our new town (you don't want to blink as you drive in or you'll miss it). At least as an experiment over the winter months. As pottery season wanes we're going to try for a soap shop/knitting circle gathering spot/pottery store/local artist gallery type thing. So, we're just going to throw some ideas around about that one. Exciting times!

Edie's Long Lost Cousin

It's Schpangy! My friend Rayann is here to lean the ways of the stick blender (soapmaking) and she brought along her good friend Schpangy for Edie to meat (pun intended for once). Don't they make a cute couple?

So, yeah. That's just one of my top secret ploys these days - hire me a soapmaker/associate. That way I can focus more on the marketing side of things and clean up my act (no pun attended). I'm just really hurting for time and soapmaking plus small child pretty much equals impossible these days.

SO, Miss Rayann is here for a few days (pre-Shambhala, like so many other of our friends) to go through Do Be Clean Boot Camp and it's going really well. She's very sharp and picks up fast. My soaps are in good hands indeed.