category: crafty

What I Do For Fun And Profit

This candle will soon be going up on my Etsy store, assuming I don't sell it to someone at work first.

I'm planning to do a bit of a holiday sales push on the candles, reminding all my friends and former co-workers that my candles are perfect Christmahanukwanzakah gifts. I can't really do discounts, since the whole point is to actually break even on this hobby of mine... but I have been known to cut deals on gift basket sets.

I've gotten some sample scents from my newest supplier, and have been highly disappointed to find that their Cranberry scent smells like port-o-john, and their regular Basil scent smells like Seabreeze astringent. From what I can tell so far, though, their Eggnog and Christmas Pine and Candy Corn and Caramel Apple and Fresh Basil are double-plus awesome. We'll see for sure when I make test candles out of them.

Think of me when you get your Secret Santa going on at the office, and suddenly need a selection of anyone-will-like-this gifts! (The four-ounce candle in the picture is $4 plus shipping, if you're interested..)

 

Fear of Rejection

Out of my previous list of candle inventory for sale, I managed to sell three: two Kahlua and one Hazelnut Coffee. The rest are in the process of being posted to my new Etsy store:

There are a LOT of soy candles for sale on Etsy, though, and mine don't really stand out for any particular reason. I guess I just wonder how long it's going to take before I actually sell anything.

I know that nothing has really changed about my little operation: I still melt 18oz of wax at a time in my thrifted Pyrex measuring container. I still measure my annual sales in single-digit quantities. But now that I've put items for sale on a much more public scale... I don't know.

I'm really just dabbling in a hobby, and making money to offset what I spend on said hobby. I have no right to feel like I'm a "candlemaker" or a "craftsperson," really. If my candle sales took off, it's not like I'd actually ramp up the operation or anything. So that means I shouldn't feel bad if my three little votives don't sell, right?

Right?

 

Twitter Update (#928946003) Just put my first item up on Etsy! It's a lilac soy votive candle; not very unique. Link read more...

 

Twitter Update (#915133244) Damn. I can't edit blog entries from work. The Hazelnut Coffee candle and one Kahlua are now spoken for. Still have Coconut, Lilac, more... read more...

 

Twitter Update (#915105474) Hey! Who wants some homemade soy candles? I'm blowing out my current inventory: Link read more...

 

Candle Sale!

It's time for the First Annual Soy Candle Blowout! (No pun originally intended... but that does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?)

See, I figure I can justify my candlemaking hobby if I actually recoup some of the money I spend on supplies. My losses have been steadily declining over the years, until 2008 is finally looking like the year I might actually turn a profit on this hobby. Granted, I've spent only a fraction of what I spent on supplies in previous years, but still. It's all about learning how to maximize profit while still having a good time and making smelly-good candles for me and mine. Right?

I've had this idea in years past that I should really make a big push for Christmas sales, since that's when I usually sell (and gift) the most candles. Last year, 72% of my annual sales were made in December alone; the year before, 65% were from November and December combined. So, I figure that if I can increase my visibility in the months leading up to the holiday season, all the better.

I've considered putting up an Etsy store to try to sell my candles, but I have the feeling I'd probably only sell to my friends and family (and co-workers), anyway. So, best to skip the middleman and just try selling direct from my blog!

For sale to the first people to e-mail me (since comments have been wonky lately), I have up for sale the following 3oz votives from my current inventory:

• Kahlua (three two one available)
• Cool Citrus Basil
• Creamy Coconut
• Hazelnut Coffee [SOLD]
• Vanilla Mint
• Lilac (available via Etsy)

The price is $4 per candle. If you need your candles shipped, we can discuss shipping charges via USPS. Along with your purchase, you also will receive a FREE tealight sample of another fragrance (of my choosing). These samples come two to a box and are perfect for deciding whether you like a scent well enough to buy a votive or mason jar candle. (Not so good for smelling up a whole room, though.) Also excellent stocking stuffers. These tealight samples usually sell for 50¢ for a box of two.

My normal M.O. is to take custom orders: say, two eggnog candles in quilted mugs, or a 10oz cranberry candle. I prefer not to have too much inventory laying around for too long; since I don't have very many customers, I'd rather not make candles in advance and just hope they'll sell. But, while I'm making these custom orders, I like to make additional small votives and tealights, either for myself (why do you think I got into this hobby?) or as gifts, or to sell like this. It's helpful to have SOME inventory when a former boss e-mails me and says, "I need a holiday gift basket for the Secret Santa exchange — what can you do for me?" Since I'm such a small operation, I don't exactly have the equipment to make multiple batches of candles, so a gift basket could take me a week to create, you know? Nice to be able to pull out a Cranberry and a Pumpkin Pie and some boxes of tealights and only have to make one or two "big" custom candles.

Point being, if you ever decide you want a soy candle, and you have a particular scent in mind (even a Bath & Body Works or Yankee Candle scent), just ask. Chances are, I'll be able to oblige.

OK, enough rambling about candle crap that you probably don't care about. Who wants some?

 

Twitter Update (#910987593) One 16oz Drakkar candle sold to Rob Woz for $12. He even approved of the fruity sample I included. ...I miss my coworker-friends. read more...

 

Etsy (or, Who Knew I'd Buy Homemade Crafts?)

I first learned about Etsy from Dooce.com. Heather buys lots of interesting and kitschy prints and bags and whatnot, and posts about them on her site. Honestly, a lot of the things she posts about are a little too cute for me, so I didn't really go check out Etsy just on her recommendation.

Later on, Aaron pointed out some video game related items that were posted on Etsy: earrings, specifically, I believe. It was at that point that I realized that there are all kinds of crafty people that make all kinds of crafty things, and I started looking for things that would suit my own style.

While I've found some interesting items that I haven't actually bought, I have purchased an etched Buddha pendant, and I have some more purchases on the way this week, including a hand-thrown bowl (for burning incense on my Zen altar) and a cup/mug, and a triptych of Zen-inspired gicleé prints.

Maybe I'll pull a Dooce and photograph my finds and post accolades as appropriate. We'll see...

P.S. - I can't deny the fact that I've considered making things to sell on Etsy myself — specifically, my soy candles, and maybe prints of my photographs. Honestly, though, I'm not sure they'd sell very well. I'd have to come up with some sort of gimmick to make them more saleable — holiday gift sets, or unique packaging, or something like that. I haven't ruled it out, but I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy right now.

P.P.S. - Along those lines... If I were to start offering a weekly candle sale on my blog, to liquidate my current inventory (and actually make some off-peak income to keep funding my hobby), would I have any takers? Or would it really depend on the price? Leave feedback in the comments...

 

Candle Redux

Just got done making a batch of Kahlua candles. Now the kitchen smells like coffee with a hint of chocolate. Mmm.

I really hate having multiple time-sensitive project ideas in my head, especially when I'm so under-motivated to actually *do* any of them. But... I'd really like to make a minor push for candle sales this holiday season. I have e-mail addresses for all of my former co-workers, and I know they like my candles, and I'd like to offer them some sort of deal — maybe a choice between free shipping and a tealight sampler pack or something.

Thing is, my candle website is horribly out of date, and needs a facelift and a new backend — um, that came out wrong. I mean, I need to redesign the site as well as make it database-driven instead of manually-updated. I need to photograph all the containers I have available, plus include other containers I can order online at a moment's notice (these hex votives have been favorites of mine, for example).

That's going to take some time, and I already have more vital things to tackle. Finding a job, retooling the LSM website (per the Board of Directors and Executive Director's instructions), and NaNoWriMo, which isn't so much an imperative as it is a personal goal/desire.

So, if I ultimately decide to do a sales push, and I don't make time to get the website redone soon, it'll have to be with some sort of catalog-style one-time thing. And I'll have to hope that my former co-workers don't get pissed at me for spamming them.

 

A Quickie

I pulled my groin in aikido on Saturday, while trying to roll. I'm getting annoyed with myself for not "getting" it yet. At least my leg seems to be on the fast track, and feels like it should be healed by Wednesday's class. It really put a damper on the weekend's other extra-curriculars, though.

This week, Monday through Thursday afternoons, I'm attending an outplacement workshop paid for by Sky/Huntington. I was dubious about its actual value, but it actually seems like it's going to be helpful. Among some of the highlights will be resume-crafting, networking and job-searching, and negotiating a job offer. I'm actually looking forward to some of this... plus, it gets me out of the office for half a day.

Rob has requested another manly candle, to be picked up this week. In looking at my records, I realize I haven't made any candles since February (which was the last time Rob requested a manly candle). Candle-making is definitely a seasonal thing for me, being that I don't like to have the oven on in the summer, and my timing mojo gets thrown off if I melt candle wax in the microwave instead. Maybe I'll have to ramp up the seasonal candle-making a little earlier this year, and be sure to give everyone at work a going-away candle with my name and URL on it. :-)

Update, 11:45pm: Rob's candle came out well. I used a blow dryer to even out the surface — I should have tried that long ago.

In other news, bumping up the difficulty in Civilization IV really makes a difference: from me beating all the computer players in Chieftain mode to me getting my ass kicked and barely making it to the end of the game with one city intact in Warlord mode. If it weren't almost midnight (and if I weren't gainfully employed and due at work at 8am), I'd start another game.

 

Crunching Numbers

Listen. I know everybody who reads this isn't all excited about candlemaking. I know this isn't a candle blog. However: this is where I write everything I'd normally write in a journal — well, almost everything. I do have a private file for potentially embarrassing dreams and rants about people who might read my blog and things like that.

But I digress. My point is that I know you're not all keen on my candling exploits. So, if you'd care to read my stream-of-consciousness number-crunching, continue reading beyond the cut. If not, simply enjoy a picture of my 3.75oz hexagonal votives:

read more...

 

More Candle Crap

Well. I'm finally getting some income to balance out the $100+ expenditure on candle supplies in the past couple of months. It's slow going, but I have faith that Gena will singlehandedly pimp my candles to the entire building where I work.

Sight unseen — or, rather, scent unsmelled — Gena decided that she wanted four, count 'em, four eggnog candles in the quilted cups like I made a few years back. She also told me that she's a total nut about Christmastime, and has something like seven trees up in her house during the holidays. She sets up an annual gingerbread-themed display, she said, which got me thinking about making gingerbread candles, too.

So, I ordered eggnog and gingerbread scents, among other fragrance oils, from my new favorite scent supplier. I also hit the local Goodwill for more cups, as I only had two. Good thing that the quilted cups are among the glassware you will *always* find at Goodwill; I ended up buying four matching cups out of the 20 or so they had. All matching.

Made two eggnog candles Monday evening, and brought one to work on Tuesday for Gena's approval. When she drooled her OK (and it *did* smell pretty damned good), I made two more, plus a votive jar for me. Or for selling later, whatever. Brought those to work today, all wrapped up in tissue paper and packed into a gift bag. Got paid in cash. Good deal. Fun times were had by all.

Later in the day, someone else in our department happened to be hobnobbing in Gena's cube, and saw the candle she had sitting on her desk. Gena gladly volunteered that I made the candle, and that I sell candles, and sent Julie over to my cube to smell my wares. Now, my tealights' scents have faded from being in such close proximity to other scents, so most of my tealights had just kind of mushed together into a generic soy candle smell... but the cranberry tealight was apparently strong enough and fresh enough to spark Julie's interest. She requested a cranberry candle, once I told her how much I charge for various sizes. (Four bucks for a four-ounce large votive, BTW.)

In making Julie's candle (and one for me) this evening, I have officially used up all of my cranberry scent. If this is a hit, I'll be needing to make another candle supply order, even though I had told myself that I wouldn't buy more supplies until I absolutely had to. But, shit, if cranberry sells for the holidays, I'm gonna buy more cranberry.

Maybe tomorrow night, I can finally get around to testing that gingerbread... God, I've turned into a craft geek.

 

In Over My Head?

I just got an e-mail from a friend of a co-worker, asking if I do parties.

?!?!

I had to reply that I don't have enough candles made at one time to do a party, and that's the truth. I'd be making candles every night for two weeks to have enough to give a candle party. I remember how those Partylite parties were, back in 1995. They had so many awesome fragrances, and neat candle holders, and overpriced doodads, and you *had* to order something! You just *had* to! I don't know if I have that kind of draw yet.

For that matter, I don't have a large enough bank of OMG-this-is-so-good fragrances yet, either. So far, it looks like this:

Favorites
* Amaretto
* Amaretto & Coke (my own special fragrance combination)
* Spiced Apple
* Drakkar
* Chocolate Java Beans (another special recipe)
* Cranberry (I'll have to make a bigger candle to be sure, though)

Untested So Far:
* Balsam Sandalwood
* Chocolate Brownie
* Lilac
* Very Vanilla
* Patchouli (Essential Oil)
* Lavender (Essential Oil)
* Cinnamon (Essential Oil)

WTF Not Even Close:
* Basil
* Evergreen (smells like fake evergreen, according to one person)

Everything Else That's Nothing Special:
* Banana (intended to use in making a Banana Cream Pie combo, along with the...)
* Coconut (which could also be good with pineapple for a pina colada candle)
* Chamomile
* Eggnog
* Coffee (excellent combined with the Hershey's Chocolate scent, which I may or may not reorder)
* Hazelnut (not bad with the Eggnog, although I need to try some different eggnog scents)
* Pumpkin Spice
* Spearmint
* Toasted Marshmallow
* White Shoulders

As I said recently, I have more stuff on order from various places, so there are more possibilities in store in the coming days and weeks.

I guess I'm feeling kind of like I'm spinning my wheels; but even if I managed to get a bite (like, say, someone wanting a party, or someone wanting me to be their wholesale soy candle supplier — both things have happened), I'm not prepared for "success". But I don't want to stock up for something that's never going to happen... and I don't want this to be the next big idea I have that never comes to fruition... and I don't want to overthink it, either. :-)

I guess the thing is that I feel like I'm on the verge of a fun and creative supplemental income, and I don't want to blow it by trying too hard and not being able to deliver, or not trying hard enough and missing the boat.

Jesus Christ, Diana, it's just candles. Don't sweat it. *rolls eyes*

 

Candle Speedbumps

I know it's to be expected and all, but I can't help but be frustrated when things don't turn out right.

Tonight, I tested out my new Cranberry scent, and made five tealights and one teeny votive for myself. The scent seems to be OK, but the color is off. I made the "cranberry" color as vivid as I could, and it ended up coming out more pinkish than cranberry. Maybe next time I'll try my "red berry" dye and see how that turns out.

Last night, I made up a super-quickie batch of Eggnog tealights. They smelled OK, if a bit weaker than I'd wanted. I totally screwed up the color, though. I'm not used to working with *that* small of a batch, and I'd thought that a little touch of caramel color would look good mixed with the "sunshine" dye in the eggnog candles. Nope — they all turned out looking like somebody left the eggnog on the stove to burn or something.

On top of that, I put five different fragrances of tealights in one container, and the scents overpowered one another overnight. The Coffee totally made the Eggnog smell like nothing, and the Coconut was just barely there. Maybe I should look into a little bitty shrink-wrap machine for the individual tealights in my tealight multi-packs? I dunno.

On Friday night, I tested my Evergreen fragrance. One votive for me, and nine tealights. Doesn't smell like evergreen at all, and the hunter/moss green dye I used came out more on the mossy side than the hunter side.

At least Mark's Amaretto and Coke candles came out pretty good. The color wasn't exact, since I ran out of the french vanilla dye and had to make do with caramel instead, but the scent was just as I remembered it. I also made myself a votive of it, and burned that tonight, and the scent throw is awesome on that one. I lit it in the basement, and the smell came all the way up into the living room. Nice.

Note to self: Don't advertise a fragrance on your candle site until you've thoroughly tested it, approve of the fragrance, and have the dye ratio figured out. I now have some people interested in Evergreen and Eggnog candles, and I'll have to just hope they forget about them until I've come up with something better than what I've got right now.

Pine essential oil, anyone?

 

Business May Soon Be Booming

Remember when Rob asked me to make him a manly candle? Well, that jump-started me back into candlemaking, and I made a batch of Amaretto and Coke candles last night. I ended up taking one of them to work with me, and quizzing my co-workers about what alcoholic beverage they thought it smelled like. Now I suddenly have major interest in my little enterprise — well, four potential buyers, anyway, and at least one person who might just buy a crapload of candles from me as Christmas gifts. Considering I've only ever sold one pack of tealights and one candle, that's major interest.

Now I have to decide: do I gear up for a big run, and potentially have a bunch of candles and containers and scents and packaging material that might just end up taking up space; or do I keep my operation on the down-low, and only make custom candles as requested, keeping my inventory of premade candles at a minimum?

I've already decided that I want to SQL-ify my candle website, making it more easily updateable as I sell candles and as I get new fragrance and container inventory. Not redoing the design, just managing the content.

I guess the big question is, do I ramp up my production, at least of sample tealights? I'm saying that's a yes. On the samples, I mean. Samples are good. Also, do I wait and see which of my current scents sell, and just focus on those, or do I branch out and get even more scents for diversity's sake?

I don't really expect answers from the peanut gallery — I'm just asking them to give myself something to think about, I guess. If you have any pearls of wisdom, though, I'll gladly take them.

I do have a request, though. Name me off some mixed drinks that would smell good as a candle. Ones that I've already thought of:

• Amaretto Sour
• Amaretto and Coke
• Cosmopolitan (Cranberry, Orange & Lime)
• Sex on the Beach (Cranberry, Orange, Pineapple & Peach)
• B-52 (Kahlua & Bailey's Irish Cream)

Any other ideas?

Update, 10/22/06: Additional ideas from my friends/readers:

• Mojito (Lime, Mint, Rum)

I have on order Lime, Kahlua, Bailey's Irish Creme, and Bay Rum fragrances. I already have Amaretto and Cranberry and Coffee and Spearmint on hand. If I can come up with a way to make a White Russian (Mary) or a Jäger Monster (Fries), I'd definitely be up for those. For now, I think I'm going to focus on drinks that are a.) fruity or b.) include Kahlua.

Damn — now I'm going to have to do some "field research" to discover new candle scents... ;-)

 

Return of the Soy Candles

I have a kitty on my lap and the smell of Drakkar candles in the air. Sometimes, life is good.

I hadn't made candles for several months. Then, last week, one of my co-workers approached me and asked, "You make candles, right?" I answered in the affirmative, and he went on to say that he had been disappointed by his most recent Yankee Candle purchase, and was seeking a new supplier of smelly-good and long-lasting candles.

He explained that he required a big, manly-smelling candle. So, I had him sniff the Drakkar tealight I keep at my desk, and he was sold. (I had referred him to the somewhat outdated list of fragrances on my website, and he'd decided it was either that or evergreen.) We agreed that I would make him an appropriately large and smelly candle, and he would give me ten bucks for said candle.

Of course, I was almost out of wax, so I had to make a run to Michael's tonight; and, of course, the pint-sized mason jars I bought at Big Lots for the purpose of candle-making didn't look quite as big when I unpacked them. But that's OK. The price listing on my site says that 16 fl. oz. candles are $10.99 plus shipping, so I'm actually cutting him a deal. ;-)

I always have a problem actually *selling* my candles, being that the only people who buy are people to whom I feel I should just *give* candles. Then there's the random e-mail I got a year or two ago, asking if I do wholesale.   o.O   Um, I melt wax in a glass three-cup measure in my oven, dude. Sorry, but I can't be your primary candle supplier.

I'd forgotten how much I enjoy making candles, though. It's really a cold-weather pastime for me, since I have to have the oven on for a good part of the evening, so I haven't done any candle-making for a while. Tonight was probably the first time in... *thinking* ...maybe close to a year.

Making candles also helps me be more productive in other realms, too, since I have to keep myself occupied while the wax melts, then again while it cools to a good pouring temperature. I ended up going to Kroger while I was out at Michael's, and getting stuff for Friday's potluck (OMG ice cream cone cuppie-cakes with white chocolate chips). When I got home, I made my dinner (also purchased at Kroger — I haven't had imitation crab in ages), did a load of laundry, put the dishes away, cleaned up my desk, and did some maintenance to the LSM website, all while either waiting for the wax to melt or to cool.

I'll have to order up another 10lb bag of soy wax and maybe some essential oils to experiment with. I have a crapload of votive-sized containers in a cupboard in the kitchen, just begging to be made into random gifts...

 

Return Of T-Shirt Surgery

It had been almost a year since my last t-shirt surgery, so I was getting that hankering for some sewing action. I've managed to collect a decent number of XL t-shirts that fit, but are kind of boring. I'd like to turn these into cute Diana-sized girly tees. (Unlike Threadless XL girly tees, which are about two inches' circumference shy of being comfortable for me to wear out of the house. That does not stop me from ordering them anyway and hoping to shrink into them.)

My first reshaping attempt was using my Otaku Generation t-shirt. Aaron and I got matching Otaku G shirts free from the Otaku G crew at Ohayocon in January, and I've been meaning to surgerize it for a while now. It fits just fine, but I wanted to do something to make it a little more distinctive, and easier to tell my shirt from Aaron's in the wash. :-)

I followed this tutorial on resizing a t-shirt, for the most part, although I didn't really have any resizing to do. Mainly, I just wanted to shrink up the armpits and make the sleeves smaller and more girlish. First, I lopped off about an inch and a half from the length of the shirt. Then I put the shirt on and figured out how much smaller I wanted the armholes to be, and pinned the armpit of one sleeve. I then marked the spot with white fabric pencil and removed the sleeves.

Enter the Singer Tiny Serger. While I watched my Logan's Run DVD, I sat on the living room floor and serged up the armpits of my t-shirt torso a couple of inches. Then I adjusted the length and width of each of the sleeves, serging them up the armpit seam. Finally, I serged the sleeves back onto the t-shirt torso — inside-out, of course, so the seams were on the inside.

Three hours later (including movie-related distractions), this is how it turned out. I haven't hemmed up the bottom yet (the "real" sewing machine was having bobbin tension issues), and I'm considering altering the collar and adding white bias tape. Until then, though, at least it's all girly on my figure. I know it doesn't look all that different, but it definitely *feels* more fitted.

As usual, I did have one or two screw-ups. I accidentally sewed the left sleeve on wrong-side out, so the red-and-blue serged armpit seam on the sleeve shows when I lift up my arm. I decided it adds to the character, though, so I'm not redoing it. I also serged some of the sleeve-to-torso seams a little loose (although I'm unsure how to do it any differently with my Tiny Serger). Once I get the Giant Singer (aka the "real" sewing machine) going right, I'll probably straight-stitch next to my serges while I'm hemming the bottom of the shirt. And maybe fixing the collar.

For my next attempt at restyling a t-shirt, I'll probably make the sleeves a little shorter and cuter, and maybe make the shirt itself a little shorter. I'll also adjust the shoulders, so the sleeve attaches a little farther up my arm. I'm thinking my next victim will probably be either my Relay For Life 2005 shirt (once I find it) or maybe my Youmacon 2005 shirt. Should be fun!

 

Mission Accomplished

My Kujibiki Unbalance cosplay costume is complete.

Well, almost. I still have to cut my armbands to size and iron my skirt one last time. But everything else is ready to go.

I put my costume on as soon as I had the last circle of felt glued to the helmet. My shadow had a weird silhouette as I walked up the stairs to the bathroom, to look in the full-length mirror.

I only felt a little ridiculous in my big blue skirt and giant poofy helmet of flannel and felt. Even so, I think my cosplay kicks ass. It has its small flaws — but overall, I'm pleased with my very first cosplay attempt.

Unfortunately, the batteries in the digital camera are dead, so I can't post a picture of my cosplay yet. But we're going to get fresh batteries on the way to the con, and we'll take plenty of pics while we're there. My co-workers are demanding to see a large photo of me in costume, so I'll have to oblige both them and my general blog readership. :-)

 

Massive Update on Stuff In General

I took my final half-day off of work today so I could go to lunch with two women I used to work with. We caught up on each other's lives (mainly work-related), reminisced about the Bad Old Days...

24 September 2002: Just Another Day...

Hey, for once I worked an 8-hour day! Yeah, we were doing so well that we actually took a one-hour lunch and everything. Just for reference, yesterday I worked a 14-hour day. Seriously. My co-worker and almost-supervisor, Loni, worked an hour and a half more than me, since she came in at 6am. Damn, that sucked. Makes the normal 8-hour day seem like a luxury instead of a burden.

...and ate some yummy Mexican food. And despite my lack of a lunchtime walk, I still got my podcast-listening time in, since a.) our lunch meeting was a half hour south of where I work, and b.) I bought a Kensington FM transmitter for the iPod(s).

When I got home, I had intended to work on the LSM site, as it needs some stuff added and updated (like audition info). Instead, I ended up finishing off the cosplay skirt. Yes, indeed, the skirt is complete! Well, except for possibly adding some velcro for good measure, and the final ironing before we leave for Youmacon in two weeks.

Don't worry, I'll definitely post pictures of me and Aaron in costume. :-)

What else...? Oh, yeah, tonight's dinner. I know, blogging about what I made for dinner is certifiably lame, but this was really good. Ten-Minute Szechuan Chicken. It's really easy (even I can do it), and really good... but, now that I think about it, I think I'm going to put the recipe on my next Low Carb Lifestyle podcast, so I'm not going to publish it here yet. If you download this old-school DOS recipe filing program, though, I could be convinced to e-mail you the database file that this fantastic recipe came from. (Thanks, Uncle Pete!)

Yesterday, I told the Acting Executive Director of LSM that I've decided not to march next year. He was understandably disappointed, but he completely understood, which is cool.

I'm sure there's other stuff I should write about, but that's the overall rundown of everything I wanted to mention. Now I'm going to go work on the LSM page. Yay for contact info and audition info and pictures? w00t.

 

Cosplay Update

Since Aaron's Fullmetal Alchemist costume arrived today, custom-made in the mystical land of China, I decided I'd better start work on my skirt again.

I'm not sure how, I but I somehow miscalculated the number of pleats my skirt is going to have. I'd planned on 12 pleats in my six-paneled skirt, but... wait... *thinks real hard* No, that's right. It'll be twelve pleats. I'm thinking I might have sewn the pleats in a little too far, though, because the skirt is supposed to poof outward from the hips, and I have the pleats sewn in for about ten inches down from the waist. I didn't think about the poofy factor at the time; I was thinking about the fact that the heavy material I chose isn't going to hold a crease very well.

Well, if it comes down to it, I do have a seam ripper. I'll burn that bridge when I come to it, though.

I have an idea of how I'm going to make my helmet, but I haven't started it yet. The hardest part is going to be attaching the frame for the helmet to the ball cap I bought at Goodwill. First, though, I want to get the skirt finished. One project at a time.

Did I just say "One project at a time"?

*shakes head*

Tell that to my multiple webpages, soy candle backlog, neglected plants, and my upcoming podcast.

 

Cosplayus Interruptus

I was doing so well. I fabricated a pattern for my skirt. I cut out six flared panels from my blue skirt fabric. I set up the Singer Tiny Serger, serged the six panels together, and serged the waist and hem edges. After that, of course, I needed to sew a straight stitch next to my serging, especially since my cutting wasn't the straightest, and some of the serging didn't go through both pieces of fabric. o.O

Seam #1: no problem. Seam #2: no problem.

Seam #3: Houston, we have a problem. The damn machine kept jamming up. Tried a different seam — jammed up again. Opened up the little cubbyhole where the bobbin lives, untangled all the thread therein, and tried again. Still no dice. Finally, I ended up taking apart the little bobbin cubbie... and couldn't get it back together.

OMG, all momentum had come to a grinding halt. And I had been doing so well.

So, I put the Sheryl Special on the floor and fired up the Schnuth Singer. I hadn't used it before, so had no idea how to thread, how to wind a bobbin, nada. Jury-rigged some sort of threading that looked reasonable, got some test fabric—

And the same goddamn thing happened.

So, all my momentum's shot for tonight. I have a skirt that's pretty much put together, almost, and I have the hard part of sewing pleats still ahead of me. Once I can get one of the sewing machines to work.

This is annoying as fuck. I just need to chill out and clean up my mess and wait for another day.

At least I've gotten this far.

Update, Next Day, 7:20pm: I just located a diagram of how to thread the next model up, and I had indeed threaded it incorrectly. Now the tension spring is doing its job, and all is right with the world. Party on.

 

Futari no HAATO BARANSU...

Every time I walk into JoAnn Fabrics, I get the feeling that I'm a little out of my element. However... I believe now I have all the necessary fabrics and notions to create Ritsuko's skirt (see right). I'll tackle the helmet later.

I think I have a reasonable pattern-plan for making a huge-ass flared pleated skirt. Being a very beginning sewer (er... one who sews? Not a drainage system, kthx), I couldn't really come up with it myself. So, I combined a tutorial for making a pleated skirt with a tutorial for making a flared skirt... and voila! — a reasonable-sounding (looking?) plan.

However, I am determined to do this right, especially as I only have 4½ yards of medium blue cotton/poly fabric, so I can't screw this up. My determination not to screw up was only bolstered by the fact that I just spent freaking $42 on my cosplay supplies — and that's before making the helmet.

One question for those who sew, or who have textile-related ideas: The nice lady at JoAnn's convinced me that felt was the way to go for the white stripe of trim on the skirt. I can't really use ribbon, since the pattern will need to be curved to allow for the flare, and any white fabric I found wasn't thick enough to prevent the blue from showing through when held over it. After buying three yards of white felt, though, I'm having second thoughts. I don't think the texture of the felt will be appropriate to match with the cotton/poly skirt. I was thinking of something more fake-satiny, or the same cotton/poly as the rest of the skirt, but it's all so thin it shows the blue through from underneath.

Any solutions to my conundrum? You have a few days to comment, as I plan to wash my blue fabric before sewing, like I'm supposed to. Strict determination to do it right, after all.

 

Serger Test #1

While I was sorting through some of my random crap last week, I found a Ziploc baggie of buttons. Pins. Whatever you want to call them. I used to collect them, once upon a time — not really as a hobby, just as something cool to have. Kind of like my varieties of Post-It Note pads. But I digress.

It occured to me that it's kind of pointless to keep all this crap if I'm only going to pull it out of a box every now and then, look at it, and put it away again. I have other knick-knacks and keepsakes that I'm planning to make shadowboxes for — but for my button collection, a simple fleece display will do.

I had threaded my new Singer Tiny Serger (purchased at Savers for $3) with hot pink, blue, and yellow thread, so that I could tell a.) how to thread the bitch thing, and b.) if it didn't work, where the problem lay. As it happened, there was no serger troubleshooting needed, but threading it took FOREVER. I really didn't want to have to rethread it for my next project... so I chose a relatively funky-friendly project to practice with.

All I did was serge around the edges of a 12"x18" piece of white fleece, install eyelets in the corners (I didn't use interfacing, and that might come back to bite me later), and thread a couple thread chains from the serger through the eyelets for hanging. Just add buttons. Pins. Whatever.

An extremely simple project, but fun and useful. I'll get this arts-n-crafts thing down yet.

 

XXL tee --> tank surgery

I got it in my head tonight that I wanted to do a t-shirt surgery, and make my "Drum Corps Unplugged" shirt into a tank top. See, I always liked the design of the back better than the front, anyway, so I figured I'd shrink it to fit and make it something I might actually wear, instead of something just taking up space in the closet.

I think this one was more successful than my previous two surgeries because a.) I measured correctly, both the fabric and my body; and b.) I only had to sew in straight lines. :-) Still, though, it didn't turn out exactly according to plan: I had a brain fart while I was cutting the straps, and made them narrower than I had intended, and I failed to note that my hips are bigger than my tits, making the shirt fit kind of tight and funny in places, and causing the straps to become fashion suggestions rather than anything that actually holds the shirt on.

I may wear this to tomorrow night's drum corps show with Donna, or I may save it to wear to next Sunday's drill camp up in St. Clair Shores MI. Or maybe it'll be an around-the-house shirt. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be wearing it in public, mainly because of the fit around the waist, and the straps that seem to be afraid of heights.

I'm definitely improving, though. :-D

 

Projects

I hate that, when I try something and it doesn't quite work right—like, say, fabric paint on fleece—I immediately get really depressed and think I had a bad or stupid idea. It takes me a while to get over that first gut reaction and to start thinking of alternatives to my first idea.

That bothers me.

'Nuff said. I'm not ready to reveal my latest craft project quite yet. I apparently need to go buy some iron-on transfers and see how *those* work on fleece... (Sheryl and Aaron, shh.)

 

T-Shirt Surgery Part II: RCC Halter Top

I've never owned a halter top, as far as I can remember. I know my mom liked them when she was younger (read: before she had me and gained weight). Eventually I figured, what the heck. I wanted to see how I'd look in one... and I'm really kind of getting into this t-shirt surgery thing. Plus, I was curious about Sheryl's claim that halters really are made so that even those of us with ample boobage can go braless in one. O.o

I ended up combining this tutorial for a basic halter top with this one for an empire waist. I knew I'd need some semblance of support, and just having a basic, flat halter top with no tightly-fitted bodice just wasn't going to cut it.

The Process:

Witness the hunter green RCC shirt, intact and in all its 2XL glory.

I took my fabric marking pencil and, comparing the two tutorials, drew in where I'd be cutting and sewing.

I cut off the sleeves and removed the collar, then mostly removed the back and turned some of it into the halter straps. I also took some off the bottom, to make it shorter. Once everything was cut, I finished all the newly-raw edges, then I hemmed the bottom and turned down the cutout back, where the empire drawstring would thread through. (I'm really proud of my hem. It looks tres keen, IMHO.)

This is the finished product! It's not exactly how I'd envisioned, but it was a learning experience. I was thinking about maybe putting a white or gold edging along the neckline, but I don't know if it turned out so well that I'll be into putting a whole lot more work into this particular design.

Witness my flubbery back! No, really, check out my keen drawstring action. The original plan had been for it to tie in the back there, but a.) I'm just not that coordinated, and b.) the drawstring (made from the leftover material off the bottom of the shirt) ended up stretching like a mofo.

Here's a view from the side. Not a bad t-shirt surgery experiment, after all.

I have discovered two things tonight. #1: I like the way a halter top makes my shoulders look. #2: It really might be OK not to wear a bra with one of these; it's really quite comfortable. #3: I should just buy one, instead of trying to make one that will fit properly. ;-P

 

My First T-Shirt Surgery

When was it? Last year? Anyway, some time ago, I got the idea that I could make t-shirts with neat designs, and started a CafePress store to that end. I made a keen design that was reminiscent of a late-70's era tee my mom had:

So, I ordered myself a 2XL jersey with my design on it. And, when it arrived, I thought it was cool.

Then I tried it on.

OMG. I could wear it as a nightshirt. (And I did, on occasion.) I hung it in my closet, rarely to be seen again.

Until now.

When Sheryl took me on Shopping Spree Part One, she showed me a "fashionable tee" she had in her closet, and told me about the people who do t-shirt surgery to make their big, boxy tees into chic and, well, fashionable tees.

It took me a week or so, but I began to resent the oversized tees I own that are too cool to thrift, but too baggy to wear comfortably anymore. (Who'da thunk it?) So, I went to the t-shirt surgery LJ community, snooped around a while, and decided to go for it.

I didn't have the CafePress jersey in mind as my test subject at first, but it presented itself after only a moment of closet-searching.

Look at this thing. It's *huge* on me—and that's saying something.

I chose a new shirt that fits me well, and used it as a template, tracing around it and then sewing on the lines. Good grief, though, look at how *huge* that shirt is!

Voila! I took a few inches off the width and the length, and added a little zig-zag stitch to the bottom for that finished-yet-unfinished look. (Actually, it's really because I'm new to the whole sewing thing and didn't know how to properly sew a hem into the bottom of my shirt.) I had contemplated shortening the sleeves, but decided to leave them for now.

Here's another view of the finished shirt. My slightly surly look is due to having argued with the digital camera for over half a dozen exposures.

Now all I have to do is get rid of the spare tire around my middle, and my shirts will fit even better *without* surgery.

(Next in line for various stylistic surgeries and possible home-brewed silkscreening: my bevy of RCC shirts!)

 

Arts N' Crafts

Via kottke.org: I may totally have to try this.

Cheap screen printing tutorial

I remember sort of enjoying screenprinting T-shirts in High School art class... and this would be so much cheaper than iron-on transfers for my photo printer! (And so much more fun!)

Now I have to come up with a creative T-shirt design... gah!

 

Need My Sewing Fix

I swear to God. It?s like a fucking addiction.

I spent fifteen minutes of my 20-minute break today sketching out ideas for a new totoro hat design.

Part of me is like, didn?t you want to try making those s?mores candles tonight? or practice your mellophone? and part of me is like, OMG I might have the answer to the standee-up ears!

Seriously, though—now that I?m actually fabricating hats, coming up with ideas, and being generally creative, I can understand why it?s impossible to find actual character hat patterns online. Especially since so many people sell their hats for a profit. It?s kind of like with soy candles: it?s impossible to find all the little tips and tricks all in one place, just because individual candlemakers (myself included) are so proud of having figured it out themselves, and they?ll be damned if they?ll share their hard work with budding candlists for free.

I know that, once I get this totoro hat to look just right, I ain?t planning on posting a pattern. Buy one and seam-rip it if you really want to know the secret of the totoro hat. ;-)

But that might be a while...

 

Totoro Hat, Take Two

Attempt #2 at a Totoro hat I'd be proud to wear to the Animarathon in April. Much closer this time. I made the hat *too* big this time, instead of not big enough, so I had to adjust the hems and do some trimming—but, hopefully, I was left with a hat that would suffice for Aaron. I also increased the size of the hatband hem width and the ears, and decreased the size of Totoro's eyes and nose.

I'm afraid I might have to try out some other style of a more form-fitting hat, as having a loosely-fitting hat isn't going to work with those pesky ears. Maybe you can't tell in the photos, but they really like to flop forward and/or backward a lot, and not stay standing up. Rigid, sure, no problem, but upright? Not so much.

Oh, yeah, and I still need to add whiskers. Sticky-outie whiskers, not sewn-on whiskers.

This is fun. Addictive. I *heart* fleece remnants at Hancock Fabrics.

Edit: Forgot to mention one thing. When one is cutting fabric on one's kitchen table, it would behoove a person to make sure that the measuring tape is not unwound and laying about in close proximity to the path of the cutting implement. Otherwise, one may find oneself reattaching the end of one's vinyl measuring tape, said tape having been severed at the three-inch mark.

 

Totoro Hat!

Yay! My very first Totoro hat is complete. Not bad for a first try... Next time, I'll cut the fleece bigger to allow for seam allowances, and try to figure out how to sew the face on with the machine, instead of by hand. (My practice circles on the machine didn't turn out too well...) Maybe make the eyes a little smaller, and the ears a little bigger.

But, for now, I'm happy. Yay, Totoro hat! I can sew... sort of. :-)

 

Hey, Beth!

I scanned in that article about the wax paper transfers and posted it here if you'd like to read it. Someone messaged me on the Pop Photo forums and that reminded me that I'd been planning to scan it in for ya.

 

A little sewing help?

OK, guys—well, girls, probably. I don't sew, but I'd like to. I have a project to complete. My plan is to attend Ohayocon in January all decked out in a homemade Totoro cosplay outfit.

This could take some explanation.

Totoro = wonderfully cute creation by Hayao Miyazaki, featured in his film Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro). One of my favoritest movies. If you'll recall, I did some sketches of some totoros back in November.

Cosplay = where otaku (psycho crazy anime / Japanese pop-culture fans) dress up as their favorite character at a convention.

Ohayocon = the only anime convention I've been to so far, located in Columbus. (It's punny—"ohayo" means "good morning," as well as the name of our state. Erika from the Bluecoats taught me that—it was my very first word in Japanese.) Aaron and I will be attending Ohayocon for the third year in a row next January.

So, I want to dress up like the crazy people. There's a plushie out there of Mei, one of the characters from the movie, wearing Totoro pajamas. Instead of making a giant, ugly, deformed stuffed Totoro costume, I want to make some Totoro jammies. Several months ago, I drafted an initial plan of what my costume would be like, but I've revised my ideas since then. Instead of a more simple sweatsuit-type outfit, I'm looking at more of a one-piece footie pajama made out of plushie pile material, with a hood attached (or separate, if necessary).

I guess my big question is, does anyone know where to get a pattern for grown-up footie pajamas? I'll need to modify it by a.) making it out of plush instead of fleece, and b.) adding a white panel to the front belly, besides making it big enough for my fat ass. I'm starting on this project way early, because I know I'm in over my head.

Oh, yeah, and I need to thrift myself a sewing machine. And learn how to use it. D'oh!

 

Kinda Bored

Lots of shit I should be doing. Don't feel like doing any of it. Definitely bored.

Yesterday, I concocted my best candle fragrance yet, I think: Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans. At first, I thought I was making a Cafe Mocha scent, but it turned out different than I had expected. Guess I need some different fragrances for that one: maybe some Hot Cocoa, Caramel, and Cappuccino scents together. As it is, though, my candles turned out pretty smellerific. I like.

Oh, I know what I need to do. I need to figure out what bills will get paid when, so I can keep from bouncing my dang checkbook. I'm going to end up counting on the good graces of our landlords again to not cash my check before the first of the month (I get paid on the 15th and the 30th). And, since I work for the bank, if I bounce three checks, I self-terminate. That's right—I fire myself. Cute way to put it. Kind of a "you know the rules, and if you break 'em, you pay the consequences" kind of HR bullcrap vibe. Not that I disagree, though; working at a bank, you should have control of your own finances.

Oh, yeah, and I need to print out my check stubs and bank statements for Saturday's appointment with Mortgage Man #2, John at NOIC. Here's hoping we can get a house by April 1st... otherwise, we're either staying here one more year or renting a house for a year or two. *crossing fingers*

Off to take care of business...

 

My Candle Addiction

I've been meaning to mention this for a while, but I keep forgetting:

Ladies—have you ever been walking behind someone, maybe someone at work, and finally taken a good look at their ass? And then you say to yourself, 'My God... I hope my ass doesn't look like that!'

I made another pair of candles tonight (patchouli this time—not exactly Aaron's favorite), and used up the last of my first bag of soy wax. I have another bag arriving tomorrow, along with my new scents and wick clips. Anyway, this time, I preheated my containers and let my wax cool down more before pouring. I still get impatient, though. I know I shouldn't, but I do. I can't wait to see what the finished product will look like, and it's so hard to go slowly and do the process right instead of rushing through to get it done. Freakin' sit there for fifteen minutes stirring to cool the wax with one hand and holding a hot blow-dryer to my empty containers with the other. And I still jumped the gun and may have poured too soon. We'll see in a bit.

Both Kris and Mark, when they found out about my candlemaking, asked me first off, "So, when are you going to start selling them?" Should this be a clue, or is it just an assumption on their part? If I do decide to sell my candles, I'll probably sell them all online by word of mouth. That's assuming everybody likes the Christmas candles I make. Yeah, I'm going for a cheap and simple Christmas: wedding pics and candles.
:-)

I was standing by the printer at work and overheard one guy (the token "do-you-think-he's-gay" guy) talking about chocolates with raspberry creme filling, and chocolate-raspberry coffee. In one moment I wanted to turn to him and jokingly say, "I hate you," but as I was walking back to my desk, it occured to me that Chocolate Raspberry would be a great candle scent. I was also inspired by Kris' coffee this weekend—I believe it was Sugar Cookie Caramel Cappuccino or something equally sweet and scrumptious-smelling.

Aaron made a great analogy this weekend. He said that, with being on the Atkins diet, watching the Food Network is like being single and watching porn. Oooh-ing and aaah-ing over fudge truffles and the like, all very much out-of-reach, but appreciated for what they are nonetheless.

I think I've decided that making candles is kind of like that, too. If I can't stimulate my taste sense with yummy goodness (although there are plenty of good things I can still eat), I may as well stimulate my sense of smell. It's close enough. Plus, it's artsy-craftsy, and makes me feel productive and talented.

Oh, and speaking of talent, Kris brought his trumpet over for me to practice on. I have zero chops left, man. I got nothin'. Of course, iit never helps when you're trying to play softly because you live in a duplex. I may have to bite the bullet, overcome my embarrassment, and go practice in the practice wings of the music building on-campus. Those rooms aren't totally soundproof, and people can easily hear you in the hallway, which is one reason why I never used to like to practice for my requisite two hours per day.

Anyway, I'm going to start out doing sirens on the mouthpiece and thoroughly annoying my upstairs neighbor. Once I can successfully maintain sirens and long tones on the mouthpiece alone, I'll pull out the Bluecoats brass book and do some warmups from that. Once I can get back up to the advanced exercises that I could do in '97, then I'll feel confident again. The trouble, though, is that I was never good at doing solely exercises. But I can't start on the actual tune we'll be playing at the LakeShoremen, because I don't want to confuse my chops by playing it in entirely the wrong key. (Trumpet = Bb, Mellophone = F) Even if I learn the right fingerings, it'll feel different when I go to play it on a mello.

And incidentally, I've decided that once April rolls around and it's time to renew dianaschnuth.com, I'm switching over to HostRocket. I know enough people who've had their sites hosted through them that I'm pretty confident in their services. After putting up with eCom's bullshit for a couple of years, I've had enough. Even if their service would improve if I went to one of the higher-priced plans, I wouldn't stay with them because of their low-grade customer service. Plus with HostRocket, for $9.95 a month (two years prepaid), I get a full gig of storage space plus backend capabilities and unlimited email addies and unlimited subdomains (like details.dianaschnuth.com or candles.dianaschnuth.com).

So, I think I'm going to go check and see how my candles are setting up, and maybe try photographing some of my other candles for posterity. My fingers smell like patchouli. I smell like a hippie... minus the B.O.

 

What Happened This Week

Well, I haven't posted a real, substantive entry all week, and I'm quite backlogged with ideas. So, here I go.

Just today I got my pictures from Signature Color. Yeah, the ones from Halloween? Over a month later, I finally got the prints. I swear, when I ever get a digital camera, Signature Color is so out of my life.

I had a fucked-up dream a couple nights ago. I was on-campus at a grad school, looking for Dan Clouse (I marched drumcorps with him in the mid-90's, and we've kept in touch ever since). I wasn't attending classes there, but the campus had a dorm/hotel where I had a temporary room. Anyway, I finally managed to locate where Dan was living — he had a small, tentlike abode on a hill behind the dorm. Once I found him, he didn't really want to hang out much, despite the fact that our old corps-mate, Jessie Fleming, was joining me directly so we could all hang out together. He seemed to be kind of in hermit-mode.

So, Jessie arrived, and for whatever reason, we went to the Ben Franklin craft store. Except it wasn't just crafts, but included thrifty junk-store stuff like used space heaters. And who should I find in the space heaters but Amy! You know, my college roomie? I didn't even know she was at the school, so I was understandably surprized. I ran up to talk to her, with Jessie in tow, and Amy told me where in the dorm she lived (top floor, far corner). So, I'm catching up with Amy, who's itching to take her space heater up to her dorm room, and meanwhile Jessie is bent on going clubbing, and her nagging is really harshing my Amy mellow. I finally asked her where she wanted to go, and she named some place that I knew was in Toledo, not even in BG (where we apparently were in my dream at this point). So, Jessie bailed, kind of pissing me off, and I woke up.

Why can't I have normal dreams like Aaron, where he got a promotional cat from Lenny Kravitz, or where REM was playing in his kitchen and his cats were requesting songs?

Oh, I suppose I should give an update on my new job, eh? First, though, let me tell you how fubar Lockbox is now. Now, before I left, this was the hierarchy:

1. Loni
2. Me
3. Rama (temp used-to-be-processor but didn't like the hours)
4. Angie (temp & processor)
5. Dawn (temp)
6. Brett (newest temp, at about two months)

In the short span since I left Lockbox — mainly in the past week — several changes have been made to the old hierarchy. First, I posted out. In my stead, Angie got hired in and Dawn got moved up into Angie's temp-processor spot. They didn't get a new temp for a few days. Then, at the beginning of this week, Rama gave her two weeks' notice. Dawn also complained to the bosses about the change in her hours, since she'd been promised she could keep her 8-to-5 and it was changed to 9-to-6. Dawn was subsequently "cancelled," which is what you call it when you fire a temp. Two new temps were brought in after that. So, despite the fact that
Brett has never even watched the processors run work, he was moved up to processor today, and the three brand-new temps were left to prep all the work after Rama left for her doctor's appointment at noon. Oh, boy. So, the new hierarchy, in another week, will be:

1. Loni
2. Angie
3. Brett (temp & new processor)
4. One-and-a-half week temp
5. Few-days temp #1
6. Few-days temp #2

Remember now, Loni is actively attempting to post out, and has a good chance of getting out soon. She may not even be required to give two weeks before she transfers. Poor, poor Angie. :-)

On to my job. It's a little tedious now, but we don't even have several of the reports we'll eventually be going through. Right now, the job could easily be done by one person, but once everything pans out, it sounds like it really will be a job for two. Yeah, it's still a relatively tedious data entry job, but at least it's less stressful. I know I come in at 8am every day, I get to take two guilt-free breaks and a full hour lunch, and I leave at 5:00. The end. Rinse and repeat. This compared to working in Lockbox, where I would come in at 8:30am on Monday and leave God-knows-when, probably around 9:00pm or after; in on Tuesday at 9:30am and out probably around 3:30pm; and in around 9:30am and out between 4:00pm and 6:30pm for the rest of the week, all with half-hour lunches (if any at all) and no breaks (except for potty breaks). I like my new gig a lot better on that front.

Though... I should still be looking for something in my field, anyway. Those other two or three leads didn't end up panning out — I never heard from HCR Manorcare or World-whatever-it-was.

I'm insanely into soy candles now. I just bought another bag of soy wax, three more fragrances, and one dye. —Hey, I was down to two small candles' worth of wax, and while I was ordering that, I mean, what's ten more bucks? Right? :-) So, I found a fragrance oil that'll be perfect for a candle for Mom (just in case she reads my website before Christmas, I won't put which one it is), and I bought some Drakkar-type (ah, reminding me of the days when I sold PartyLite Candles with Mel) and some Hershey's Chocolate scent.

I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do with all these candles. Burn some, obviously. Give some away for Christmas presents. After that... I really didn't intend to sell them, but I guess if my friends know people who'd like some... *shrug* That's how Aaron's mom got into doing crazy crafty shit, but after hearing all about craft shows and the lingering scent of essential oils, I don't think I'm too keen on making it a big business or anything. Although I did always say I want to work out of my home after I have kids... I don't know, though. If I ended up trying this online, I'd have some crazy insane inventorying to do, since I love to thrift unique and unusual candle containers for now.

Curious about my current candle inventory? Outside of wicks, wax and dyes, I have:

Candles: + one 4oz Eggnog + two 4oz Amaretto    (in sundae cups) + two 3oz Rootbeer    (in mini-mugs, above)

Fragrance Oils: + Eggnog (3.5 fl.oz.) + Amaretto (.5 fl.oz.) + Rootbeer + Hazelnut (1 fl.oz.) + Patchouli (1 fl.oz.) + Very Vanilla (1 fl.oz.) + Cola (1 fl.oz.)

After this next shipment, I'm going to lay off of the new fragrances and just try out the ones I have. So far, the eggnog is 'ehh' (I didn't put enough fragrance in the candles), the amaretto is actually pretty good, and the rootbeer is weird. Smells good cold, but the hot scent throw smells... well, not like rootbeer. It's just weird. Anyway, I still have to master the finer aspects of soy candlemaking, which should be obvious from the discolored rootbeer candle. I think it's mainly a pouring-temperature issue. I get too anxious to make the candles, and I don't wait for the wax to cool enough before pouring, so it doesn't stick to the container right. I think.

Oh, no... now I'm going to have to make a web page just for my candles... :-)

 

Yum.

My place smells so good right now.

First, I lit one of the amaretto candles when I got home from work — actually, it's the candle with eggnog-scent leftovers in it, and Iadded the amaretto that wouldn't fit in the sundae cups, plus a new wick. So, walking a few feet from it, you can smell amaretto... which, surprizingly, smells pretty good as candles go. Much better than I'd expected. Then, I started baking my low-carb-brownies-from-scratch again, in preparation for tomorrow's monthly Birthday Treat Day at work. (I love my new department.) So, after you walk through the amaretto smell, toward the kitchen, you're instantly barraged with the smell of chocolate. I'm loving it.

It's a little early to make a prediction, since they're still warm out of the oven, but I think the brownies are passable this time. I'm going to leave a couple home for Aaron, and take the rest to work. If everybody thinks they suck, well, that's their prerogative, and I'll get to take them back home after the day's done. But I don't think they suck. No more so than some people's "regular" brownies do.

Oh, and did I mention that I made hazelnut eggnog this weekend? It's surprizingly simple... as long as you don't overcook it. Then the eggs start to cook, and it gets a little lumpy. Yes, I speak from experience. Over the past few days, it's been sitting in a saucepan in the bottom of the fridge — "getting happy," as Emeril would put it. Tonight, I took it for a spin in the blender to smooth it out and whip it up, and am now drinking my last glass of eggnog with a dash of nutmeg. (Aaron's glass is in the fridge with plastic wrap over it.)

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I had a moment of weakness today at work. All I brought for lunch was two string cheeses, and I didn'twant to go to Jimmy John's again... so I succumbed to the snack machine and bought a pack of Soft Batch cookies. Again, as with my last cheat a couple months back, I wasn't terribly satisfied, despite thinking long and hard about my choice. The chocolate tasted too sweet, and I got a brief but powerful blood sugar spike at my desk afterward. Not shaky, but lightheaded. I knew exactly what it was as soon as I felt it. Let that be a lesson to me... again. It's just not worth it. Heaven forbid I ever decide to "treat" myself to Olive Garden.

Anyway, they've got me actually doing my real job at work now. At least, when there's enough work to split between two people. I ended up actually reading the online instructions for the web forms I use, surfing the Sky intranet, e-mailing HR about my incorrect W4, anything I could do to stretch out my time at the end of the day. Especially being new to the position, once I figure out how to do something, I can't force myself to do it s-l-o-w-l-y just to "milk the clock," because I feel the need to prove that I can do what they've given me with no problems.

So, today's schedule was:

• 8:00am - 8:30am: Turn on computer. Bullshit.
• 8:30am - 10:00am: Highlight reports. Ask Judy what she does with them.
• 10:00am - 10:30am: Training session in Tom's office. Learn how to do my job.
• 10:30am - 12:00pm: Correct missing birthdates in client information database.
• 12:00pm - 1:00pm: Lunch
• 1:00pm - 2:00pm: Look through reports, filtering out non-personal accounts.
  (A company or non-profit organization can't have a birthdate, silly.)
• 2:00pm - 3:00pm: Research Cash Letters for Angie in Deposit Support.
• 3:00pm - 3:30pm: Look through reports again. Seem busy when boss comes by.
• 3:30pm - 3:45pm: Break.
• 3:45pm - 4:15pm: Staple reports for Angie in Deposit Support.
• 4:15pm - 5:00pm: Read job instructions. Surf intranet. Look at payroll info.

And that was my day. Woo-hoo... exciting.

But, you know what? I'm OK with that. Especially since the Post Office has been fucking over Lockbox all this week, not getting them all their mail in the 9:30 mail run, so they don't get their full work to start until 1:00pm. They stayed until 9:30pm on Monday, I'm not sure when on Tuesday, and 6:30pm last night. Loni comes in to my area every now and then, since I'm on her way to the other end of the building, where the restrooms, break room, kitchen, and all that are. She had an interview yesterday (incidentally, for one of the positions I'm helping cover for, the one where I hunt down Cash Letters), and she said it went well. I'm crossing my fingers for her and hoping for the best. She's been with the company for something like seven years, with Lockbox for five (since its inception), and it's about time she moved on from Lockbox.

Angie (the one in Lockbox) was hired in from temp to permanent, effective Monday. (This past Monday, I think.) I'm kind of glad for her, but then again, I kind of feel bad that she's going to be stuck there with shitty hours. Just like I was when I was hired in, actually. I talked with her in the hallway the other day, and she said in no uncertain terms that she plans to stay in Lockbox only for the required six months, then post out of the department to another position. Seems to be all the rage lately... Mary did that earlier this year. (Remember Mary? The middle-aged woman who fell asleep and ran her car into a ditch after a particularly long night in Lockbox?) I've been trying to find an appropriate job to post into for the past six or seven months, ever since I was eligible to post out. Now Loni's looking to post out, and has been for several months herself.

Remember those Ethnic Studies and Sociology classes we had to take in college? Remember the section about immigration? Push factors vs. pull factors? I think that almost every other department loses people to new jobs via pull factors—the other job has a draw to it, something that makes you want it. For Lockbox, though, people leave due to push factors — kind of an "anywhere but here" mentality. Yeah.

And in closing... as I write this entry, the BGSU/Miami game is 35-17 Miami in the 3rd. Sigh.