Sympathetic Soap

We are creating our own soap and body care company! I'm am totally excited! And we have spent a lot of money, with no end in sight!

The past few months, Jesse and I have been creating all-natural, no-synthetic soaps. We feel that a more natural approach is the right way to go. Did you know that many soaps cannot legally be called soap? Many are really classified as detergents because of the chemical content.

Anyway, we enjoy our hobby so much, and others seem to really like our soaps as well, that we decided just to jump right in. We're calling it Sympathetic Soap, and then Sympathetic Body Care will be our body care line.

I thought it would be cute to have some fun shaped soap, so one of my batches I molded in cupcake holders. And they are adorable! The only thing is we are still playing around with some recipe formulas, and this one didn't allow for the soap to set properly. The muffin pan let out too much heat, so they are taking very long to cure. I think they will be a great moisturizing soap, though.

Last night we tried our hand at a honey-oatmeal mixture. I wasn't sure if we needed to add scent, so we added a bit of eucalyptus...but we totally didn't need to! Serious, our soap smells like honey graham crackers, it's crazy. The honey helps with moisturizing, and the oatmeal is used as an exfoliant. I am super excited to try this soap, but as it needs to cure for at least 4 weeks, I'll be waiting awhile.

In the meantime, we are gathering lots of materials in preparation for the other soaps and body care. We want to have a ton of product ready for when we open our business and webstites.

The websites right now just consist of the names sympatheticsoap.com and sympatheticbodycare.com. We still need to figure out where we will host them and what the sites should look like. I've already started writing copy for the products.

Go team Sympathetic Soap!

Soap Nuts!

Have you heard about these?! I totally want to try them!

More TKB Trading!

I received my other order from TKB Trading! I really wish I could get our camera to catch these colors as perfectly as I see them in person. In any event, here are the latest shades, complete with swatches (although not the two whites and the black).

Drat you blasted car!

My "service engine soon" light popped on the other day, so I scheduled an appointment with the dealership, thinking that since it's a Nissan dealership, they would be more well equipped to handle my precious car. I get there and they tell me it will be $60 for diagnostics, and then that price will go toward any repairs. I'm thinking, $60 is a lot, but ok.

Jesse and I are in the Walmart when they call me and say that my thermostat isn't working, and that's what's causing the warning light to stay on. It's not something that will kill my car, and will cost about $280. Then they tell me that my engine belt and bolts are cracked, and that *will* kill my car. I'm freaking out but figure I already have $60 into it, so I might as well give them the go-ahead.

Maybe 7 minutes later, I change my mind about the thermostat because Jesse is telling me how easy it is to fix that ourselves, so I call the dealership but unfortunately they have already started on the repairs and can't stop. Of course.

Now I'm starting to feel upset because apparently the parts are NOT expensive, and it's not a hard repair. I pick up my car the next day...and the total was $409!!! According to my receipt, the parts total was $90. That's right, that is $319 for labor, which more than likely did not even take an hour to do.

I am pissed. And apparently in the wrong business. And upset at myself for not just taking it to some random, small mom-and-pop mechanic shop. Because really, all they had to do for diagnotics is hook up my car computer to the main computer, and my car computer tells the main computer what the problem is! Even had I gone ahead and not had them do any repairs, it would have been $60 for the diagnostics, and then $90 for the parts (although we probably could have gotten them cheaper due to the price markup) and it still would have been $259 cheaper. *sigh* And the whole time Jesse is like, why did you take it to the dealership anyway? Don't you know they will always charge more than any other place? And I'm like, "You are not helping! Point taken! Stop talking about it!"

So, if anyone knows of a reliable mechanic shop in the SLC area, please let me know for any futures issues. Dang it all.

TKB Trading micas are here!

Planetary sampler: The "Travel To..." series
After Twilight Green:

Aster Hue:

Bishop's Violet:

Coral Reff Blue:

Crucible Red:

Cyprus Green:

Forged Gold:

Patagonia Purple:

Sagittaire Mica:

Taurus Orion:

Verdegris Gold Mica:

All the colors in alphabetical order, except the Planetary sampler:

These colors are so vibrant and pretty, I CANNOT wait to buy more of them. These are the sample size bags for $1.50, most of which have a full tablespoon of color (some of the more expensive-to-make colors are one teaspoon). Most places you buy samples sizes at are 1/4 teaspoon, so to get an entire tablespoon, and at $1.50 to boot is one heck of a deal.

As they are full-on micas, you need to wear some kind of eyeshadow base/primer for the mica to adhere to. I use either the MAC Paint Pots or the L'Oreal De-Crease primer.

Again, TKBtrading.com folks!

Mica powder

Hello, friends of mine. While browsing the 'net yesterday, in constant search of more eyeshadow colors, I stumbled across TKB Trading. Can I just say...this site is AWESOME! They have literally hundreds of great colors, most of which can be used in cosmetics. And, you typically get a one-tablespoon size sample for $1.50. One tablespoon might not sound like much, but let me tell you, it would probably last well over a year, even using it every day. And for $1.50, that is great!

They are a wholesale company, so you have to have a $25 minimum order I think it is, but that shouldn't be too hard for me. I had thought that any Christmas money I got would just go straight to paying off my credit card for my last cosmetics shopping, but now I'm thinking maybe I'll just do it in an installation plan, so I can still have some fun with my Christmas cash. Oh course, I'm just guessing I'll be getting money...

Jess' folks bought us a recumbent exercise bike, and that arrived at our doorstep yesterday, so I'm pretty excited to put it together and see how it moves. Or doesn't move, rather, as it's stationary.

We still have a couple Christmas gifts left to buy, and then quite a few we need to get together and mail to our people in Oregon. I hate packaging stuff up and sending it through the mail. I'm just wicked lazy.

More fish pics