(I hope not, but it seemed a fitting end.)

Now that I’ve refreshed my memory, I do remember this. It was your typical coming-of-age story, only it centers around a Syrian girl growing up in 1970s Indianapolis. She starts out as a strict Muslim, finds she needs to go outside her community and religion to find herself, and ends up striking a happy medium. Blah blah. Sections of the book were howlingly funny–I remember chuckling on the plane–but Kahf lost me on long passages of political and religious commentary. It was one of those books in which you ask yourself, “Okay, now that she’s written about herself, where does she go from here?”

Which is all to say that this was okay, but nothing spectacular.

I’ve had such fun saying that with a pregnant pause and watching the perplexity on people’s faces because I sound so happy about it.

He’s been making this push for a couple of months, and I’ve been resisting. About a month ago, we were sitting in the hot tub, and he brought it up again. I, as usual, resisted. But he was getting more and more frustrated. First, our house is small and he feels cramped, because he really doesn’t have a place of his own. Which is completely fair. Second, his Mr. Demo-ness has been thwarted, because more than anything, he wants to start tearing into the walls in the bedrooms–and he can’t when one is a bedroom and one is my office.

The thing is, 90 percent about what I like about working for myself is being here–being able to work, then futz around the house, work some more, run errands, go to the gym, whatever. He kept on saying that I need to get over that … and drive somewhere. That was a complete non-negotiable for me. If I had to drive somewhere, I’d still end up working from home–only much less comfortably.

What to do?

I was driving home one day and passed the shack right around the corner that’s been for rent for ages. A light bulb went off.

Long story short, the owner has rented it to me. He’s thrilled to get someone with good credit who won’t deface the walls. I’m thrilled that my commute now consists of walking down the alley. It’s a great solution all the way around. And while the house is nothing on the outside, it’s perfectly functional on the inside. Nothing special, but I’m feeling pretty spoiled that I’ve managed to get a 770 square foot house for about the cost of renting a decent office somewhere (if not less). It’s a great solution on a variety of fronts. First, it’s an office space. Second, it has two bedrooms. I can sublet one if I want, and anyone who comes to stay with us can stay down there. Third, it has a kitchen that I can devote to soaping.

I’m in the process of moving this week; should be completely set up next. Will post pix soon.

Now I don’t sell soap, but wouldn’t these be great Pug Sudz product shots?

So what to do with all the soap?

Trade, that’s what.

I posted an ad on Craig’s List and got a bottle of homemade Kahlua.

Also, during the Georgetown Art Walk, I saw some lovely felted soaps made by Spiderfelt, and promptly contacted her to see if she wanted to do a trade: soap for felting for felted stuff. She needs more consistency than I can provide, but wanted to do a straight trade. Done. I loaded her up with soap today, and got this in return:

Funnily enough, I had fallen in love with it on her site, and she still had one. I’m so pleased.

Also, Becky, I haven’t forgotten to send you soap. I just haven’t gotten to the post office yet.

The only thing I don’t like about this (other than the niggling little details, which even I can fix) is that when you click on categories, or archives, or search, it comes up with incomplete posts appended with a “read more.” Personally, I find the need to click and click and click some more to be only slightly less irritating than reversed out 5 pt type on a black background. So if there are any wordpress gurus out there, PLEASE tell me how to modify. I can’t pay you, but I’ll send you some handmade soap …

Apparently, I am touchy feely:
“Zia needs support.”
“Zia needs to reach the heart.”
“Zia needs to reach out honestly.”

And apparently, I need to drink more:
“Zia needs 30-40 shooters.”

But then I need to drink less:
“Zia needs to be put back in the bottle.”

Okay, five minutes wasted. Back to major soapmaking marathon. I’ve gotten bad about posting soaps, but in the past week I’ve made:

– Lavandin / spruce / orange / litsea / amrys / rose FO
– Another complicated blend that I forgot to write down, and can’t remember everything that’s in there
– Lavender / orange / peppermint
– Another batch of modified castile with beeswax and honey
– Another batch of the all-new the No Stinkum Steve.

Actually, let me waste another five minutes.

The all new NSS is the final NSS. It’s awesome. It’s made with anise, lavender, tea tree, and peppermint and colored with activated charcoal so it’s BLACK. I just cut it this morning:

7.5 oz coil
2.5 oz olive butter
1.5 oz shea
10.5 oz oo

3.75 oz lye
8 oz water

1 TB frankincense powder melted with oils.

2 TB patchouli
1 TB clary sage
1 tsp carrot seed oil

Topped with frankincense and myrrh tears.

The background is worthy of a soap opera, and has been dribbled in by various neighborhoodly sources. Laurie and her first husband lived there. They had a kid. Then they got divorced. Laurie kept the house,married Kevin, transferring the property into his name (probably because she doesn’t work), and had another kid.

Kevin then got another woman pregnant so Laurie kicked him out. About this time, he tried to sell the house for an inordinate sum of money–unsuccessfully, I might add, though this may have been because: a) Laurie didn’t want to move and is so strident and shrill that she puts a fishwife to shame; and b) he insisted on doing a “for sale by owner,” which consisted of a few cheesy signs.

Our friendly sources–including Kevin himself–claim that Kevin then told Laurie he would pay the mortgage for a year, at which point she would have to move out. He and the girlfriend planned on moving in. (Call me crazy, but the last place I would want to live with a current paramour is where I lived with the previous one. But that’s just me.)

She didn’t move.

He threatened her with eviction notices.

She didn’t move.

Finally, he stopped paying the mortgage altogether. He had a buddy repossess the house.

And then he had his new girlfriend buy it.

Should I mention that at some point in this saga he also filed bankruptcy? Does that explain why the notice on their front door states that Kevin and the gf are now 6 months behind on the mortgage payment? I don’t know–but what I do know is that their house has a sweeping vista of Lake Washington and despite various remodels and additions, still has good Craftsman bungalow bones.

And I’m thinking about buying it.

So there I am, on the phone with my bank, walking through the credit application. It takes me awhile to dig out my 2005 tax return, freaking out the whole time. Then I start looking for my 2006 tax return. Where is it? AHHHHH!!!!! The guy tells me I can call back. We hang up.

At which point I realize that my 2006 tax return is NOT missing. It doesn’t exist yet.

204g oo
218g coil
211g crisco
20g rosehip
27g cocoa butter

1 tb patchouli
1 tb bergamot
1 tb rosewood
2 tb lavender

It’s been a week since I made this, and while the scent seems to be fading, I think it’s going to be a very smooth-feeling soap.

280g oo
252g palm
252g coil

114g lye
197-295 water

I added some other stuff to the lime/spruce combo, so:

2 tb rosewood
1 tb lime
1 tb bergamot
1 tb spruce
2 tb lavender

It smells divine.

1. What do you for the birds and the bees? According to the report, we need to plant a pollinator garden to counteract the effect pollution, pesticides and habitat destruction are having on birds, bees and insects. Bees, for instance, like yellow, blue and purple flowers. I attempt to do things, but I kill plants. Steve, on the other hand, has a lot of stuff in the garden that qualifies. I think.

2. Household products. Chemical or organic? Household chemicals contribute to indoor and outdoor pollution.
Whatever’s convenient, to be honest. However, my soapmaking has yielded a lot of green stuff to clean with. I use soap scraps and the soaps I don’t like to wash dishes, counters, the bathroom, and so on. Sadly, organic laundry and dishwasher detergents don’t work as well as their chemical counterparts. I keep trying, but end up going back to the polluting kind.

3. Do you junk?
I really hate all the junk mail we get. I’ve taken us off credit card offers, and as much junk mail as possible, but I really don’t think the “remove me from the list” services work all that well. We still get stuff.

4. Air-dry or tumble-dry? Line-drying saves money and stops carbon emissions.
Tumble, all the way. But I hate doing laundry and do my part by doing it as infrequently as possible.

5. Old gadgets. Recycle or toss ‘em? According to the report, we have to find a way not to fill up landfills with electronic objects. Charlotte says, “Here’s my current solution: fill up the cellar instead.” I concur wholeheartedly. I have good intentions.

6. Lightbulbs – incandescent or fluorescent? Fluorescent light bulbs use 70% less power and last ten times as long.I hate to admit this, but incandescent. I hate the light produced by fluorescent bulbs.

7. Meat or veg? Meat production is energy inefficient. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. After about seven years of being a vegetarian, I’m a wholehearted meat eater now. My concession is that I try to buy meat that comes from local sources.

8. Loo paper. Virgin or recycled? The paper industry is the third largest contributor to global warming. If every U.S. household replaced one toilet-paper roll with a roll made from recycled paper, 424,000 trees would be saved. Recycled. Though it’s still bleached and all that. I do wish all those recycled TP companies would skip the bleach.

9. Tap or bottled water? According to Newsweek, it takes a lot of oil to make and ship water bottles, and most end up in landfills. Tap. This whole bottled water craze is one of my pet peeves. First, the materials and transportation that go into it. Second, the fact that most tap water is cleaner. Just get a Nalgene bottle and you’re good to do. And if you must distill, get a Britta. The exception is fizzy mineral water. We usually have a case of that stuff around.

10. Dating – metrosexual or ecosexual? Newsweek says two recyclers are better than one. Dating? What’s that?