Friday, July 25, 2008

On My Soapbox

I think I'm going to make soap today. Yay! I may even get crazy and make more than one batch. I'm going to do smaller batches, though, so I can play around with scents and have at least 2 different ones, instead of 30 bars of the same kind. I'm also going to use some of my fun moulds. Last time I just used PVC pipe, creating a soap sausage that I then sliced into hockey pucks. I'll likely end up using both, actually, since I don't have a ton of moulds.

Hmm, Mozilla says it's "molds." Isn't that what grows on old food? I am the only person on the planet, it turns out, who cannot intentionally grow mold. I tried for one of our Biology lessons and failed spectacularly. I made mummified bread. I'm still unsure of how that happened, but I may try to patent the process and produce mummified bread on a large scale to sell as survival food. Fortunately, it turns out that I can grow molds UNintentionally, so we finally have something to look at under the microscope now.

I've been teaching myself to play the guitar (at last!) and am moving past the sore fingers point, which is nice. Chordie rocks! I remember several chords now (variarions of F, C, G, G7, Am, D, Em) but there are some I cannot figure out how to play for the life of me, short of pulling a Zaphod and having quite a few extra fingers grafted on, or perhaps having my hand cut and stretched between the 3rd and 4th fingers. That could be the latest "hot" surgery. You know, like tongue splitting, and other body modifications. Yep, I should patent that, too. "Guitar Player's Hand."

9 comments:

SM said...

Yay for the guitar! The first few weeks is hell on the fingers! And if you take a few weeks off and start up again, after you're done playing, fingers will be numb.

I love Chordie - it's my favourite place to get guitar chords. Plus it transposes for you, which is really nice since sometimes I can't sing in the key that the song was originally written. I tried to have my mom show me how to transpose things myself, but it's almost mathematical...I suck at math! So I just rely on Chordie. And I totally agree about some of the chords...if I don't like a combination, I will transpose it so I get "easier" chords! My dad thinks I'm crazy! But yeah - I only have 5 fingers, yo!

lacemase said...

Hey! I recommend making plain soap today (no scent colors or anything), pour it into your logs and let it cure. Then in 2-3 weeks grate it and melt it back down, and you can make as many different scents, molds, color combos as you want. Try googling "hand milled soap".

Radioactive Tori said...

I so want to learn to play guitar! I have been saying that for years now, and still haven't made the time to learn, but I think maybe next year will be the year.

Tongue splitting is gross. I had a friend in college who did that. It makes me squirm around right now to think about it again.

BlondeBlogger said...

Two things I would love to learn to do...make soap and play the guitar. *jealous* :)

tshsmom said...

At least "guitar hand" surgery would have a purpose, unlike tongue splitting and those weird forehead extensions.

C said...

Manda - Mine are kinda numb now, LOL! But I'll take numb over sore. :) And Ooooooooh! I didn't know about the transposition feature! Cool! I honestly don't know how some of those chords can possibly be played. Fortunately, my sis is marrying the lead guitarist of The Getaway Drivers, so I can take my guitar next time we visit and ask him to show me that it's at least physically possible. ^_^

Lacey!!! HI! I should have checked my blog before pulling out all my stuff! As it is, though, it went really well. I'll post about the results, but I used lemon and lime rind, lemon oil, and Brambleberry's grapefruit and kumquat oils. It smells really good. I'm going to teach a few friends and I wonder if we shouldn't just do what you suggested. But then again, the (nearly) instant gratification of yummy-smelling soaps is a fun way to get enthused. :) What a great idea, though, to go through all the precise stuff in one go, and then have fun scenting and colouring later. I'm going to have to start plotting. . . :)

Tori - I've been saying it for years, too, and we finally bought a guitar over a year ago. I was so intimidated, though, I just didn't know where to start. But then a friend of mine gave me a kick in the butt and told me to just start. He started 4 yrs ago himself and is really good now! His hands are the same size as mine, so I had no excuse any longer. ^_^ He told me to go to Chordie (which I knew about but hadn't gotten serious about) and just start with something. It's really fun! :)

Wow! You KNEW someone who did that? **shiver** I thought it was just the fringiest of the fringe, like maybe 12 people. ^_^

Dawn - You can SO make soap. You would not believe how easy and gratifying it is. I'll post the recipe I used. :) The biggest thing is to have a kitchen scale so you can weigh everything.

As for the guitar, Chordie really makes it easy. I can't believe how well it's going. The key was to actually get started, LOL! :) I'm not great yet or anything, but I can already stumble along in a few songs. It's a blast! :)

Tshsmom - True! :) Those forehead things are so disconcerting -- like Star Trek aliens! :-P

BlondeBlogger said...

I do Guitar Hero. Does that count? lol

BlondeBlogger said...

Oh and I can't wait to see your recipe for the soap.

C said...

Dawn - I dunno how it works, so I'll say yes, LOL!

Oh, I have to post that soap recipe!! Especially now that I'm sure it turned out well. :)