A Girl And Her Big Screen...

Any techno-dorks out there?

I'm not a huge electronics person (I can barely work my DVR) but I must admit I like my computer stuff.  A few years ago I bought a Gateway PC with a gorgeous 24" LCD monitor.  Going from a 17" to a 24" is a big leap.  I felt like I was working on a big screen TV at first.  I always buy Gateway stuff because until they started branching out and making low cost PCs to sell to Best Buy etc., they always had great quality and really good customer service.  Now it's a crapfest, to my dismay.  But I digress...

I loved this monitor.  I would walk into my office in the morning, and I swear it would sparkle at me like Johnny Weir in a headband from my desk, and once I think I even heard it ask me how I wanted my coffee.  Tons of features, great colors, like 4 extra USB ports on it, big as buick....loved it.  Well, the sucker crapped out on me after only three years.  Gateway was unapologetic, and the repair chick basically said I might as well use it as a doorstop because fixing it would be as costly as a new one.  Ugh.  Three years?  Really?  Unacceptable. 

So, the hubby and I went to every store in town to find a replacement that didn't break the bank.  Nothing really jumped out at me.  I tried hooking up an old monitor I had stashed in the closet that weighs roughly 10,000 pounds... and wow....did I really use to use this thing?  Was it back when I was spearing pterodactyls and perfecting my cave drawings? 

Awful. 

I was having serious separation anxiety.  Today I found my new one.

Now, I give my sister crap for buying HP computers (don't even get me started) but I do like their peripherals.  Meet my new 25" best friend.  :) 

Maybe now I can post some decent soap pictures.  I suppose it won't change my photography skills, will it?

Who put dressing in my blackberries?

I'm on a mission to try more scents than I normally choose.  Yeah - I'm one of those.  I'm a citrus girl.  I admit it. I head straight for the kumquats and guavas and starfruits, with the occasional foodie scent thrown in when I'm hungry.  I gotta cut that out, and expand my soapmaking horizons.  So in an effort to make something differen't (and because a customer ordered it...heh...) I made a decent sized batch of blackberry & sage soap.  Yeah, I know....more fruit.  But hey!  There's sage in there too!

Baby steps....

CRS

So I'm getting to that age where little lines are beginning to frame my eyes, my underwear is getting a little higher, sweatpants are becoming my ensemble of choice, and I am aquiring a wicked, searing case of CRS.  (Can't Remember Shit, for the uninitiated)...

A regular customer of mine put in a special order for goat milk soap the other day, and this afternoon I got out my arsenal of pots, pans, ingredients, and molds and set to work on a lovely swirled batch of blues, sages, creams and black - scented with blackberry and sage.  I tell ya though - this sucker just would NOT trace.  I whipped that batch half to death and it's still runny...hmmm...come to think of it, the frozen goat milk took forever to melt too.  And....hmmm....it's in the mold now and it STILL isn't setting up!

Uh....are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?   

Yeah.

Did I forget to add the lye? 

I'm seriously beginning to wonder about myself.  It ain't normal, I tell ya. 

I'll keep ya'll posted on the soap.... (and my hastening brain deterioration) ;o)

UPDATE!:  Oh yeah.....it's a goner.  Complete toast.  Ugh.