blissmorgan. Entries tagged with perfume

Precious few minutes this morning, and I am choosing to spend those which remain with you.

Yesterday was a rarey day off - no work, and the children at school, and SALM at work, and so I granted myself leave to sit in my chair and watch Blacklist in marathon mode while, stopwatch app running to keep track of my time, I finished a blanket that I had been commissioned to make. I'd already done the pattern once before, but this time I added a border as well, which made a world of visual difference IMO in terms of giving it a really "finished" look. It is the size of a throw:

Finishing the blanket made me nervous because the commissioner agreed to buy it not actually knowing what the final price would be, only that it would require me to time myself and that I charge $20/hour for most of my fiber arts work (which, considering that I have over 30 years' experience, might be undercharging, but eh. ::le shrug::). I finished, took pictures, sent them, and they were effusively excited. Then I let them know how many hours it had taken to make, and how much they owed outstanding after accounting for the down payment they had already sent. They went silent. For over an hour. I hate that silence. It is one of the loudest, and most uncomfortable silences, for me. I resisted the urge to fill that silence with offerings of any kind of discounting.

When they messaged me again, it was to let me know they had sent the money. ::falls down:: I'm still not used to people understanding and appreciating the huge difference between a handmade item and something they would pick up at the store, and being willing and able to pay for that amount of work and care. It is both one of the great and terrible things of a highly industrialized society that prices are so low. Great, because it means so many people have access to so many needful things. Terrible because the idea of what a thing "should cost" can get so skewed because we are used to the pricing of things mass-produced, and so unique and handcrafted items seem to be too expensive in comparison, rather than accurately priced for what they are.

I have an additional skein of this yarn on hand, and am making a scarf in the same pattern, albeit with the dragonflies offset. I made a short scarf with the remainder yarn and someone called dibs within five minutes of me posting pictures of it, and paid me so promptly my hair blew back.

Here is my face for no reason other than that I am feeling cute today, and therefore it makes me cranky that my webcam is so shoddy as to not even really pick up my hair.

Alas, you cannot smell me through this picture, which is truly your loss. I plucked a bottle at random from the collection today and came up with Spiked Nog Nutmeg from Solstice Perfumes. I smell gorram delicious.

There was more I wanted to write about, like the Spawn and a tornado project, but alas. I must be off.

Hello, Blisstopia.<3

Mood energetic
Location in the rain

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This continues to be a week that needs to be fired. It has included a miscarriage, a stroke, a financial blow, and a sudden pacemaker surgery. None of the medical occurrences are me, SALM, or the Spawn, but they are all people whom we are close to, and I think we are getting collectively emotionally ragged.

I am propping myself up as best I can, which includes spending as much time at work as they will give me because work means both money and immediately tractable problems, as well as spending time on making myself look my best because it is something over which I have a semblance of control. Today I am pairing red jewelries with a dark blue maxi dress, and my hair (which was up all day yesterday drying in a clipped bun) is down loose and curly and moussed to stay that way.

Today I'm also back to experimenting with my smells. I could not find the One Smell I Wanted (which, come to think of it, is probably in my winter coat). Instead, I combined CBihateperfume's In The Library, which smells like dust and old books, with ZOMGSmells' Jäger #1.

In The Library: In the Library is a warm blend of English Novel*, Russian & Moroccan Leather Bindings, Worn Cloth and a hint of Wood Polish
Jäger #1: Clean as freshly-washed dirt, sharp as a brick. Lemon oil, oak moss, patchouli, white aniseed, and a pink rose in the lapel, because...well, yu never knows...

This, I smell like a Jäger in a library, which would quite possibly a confused but intrigued creature in such a place. It's an off-kilter sort of smell, which suits this week quite rightly.

Ooof, my back just reminded me that I have pulled a muscle somewhere in the vicinity of that awful area between left shoulderblade and base of neck. And there is something going on in the outside edge of my foot, too; hurts to stand. Hurts to sit criss-cross-applesauce with any amount of pressure bearing down on that side of the foot. WTF, meatsuit?

The one thing in the list of woes over which I might possibly also exercise some control is the financial hit. That hit is this: My car needs some massive repairs, to the tune of nearly $3K according to the dealership. I applied for a loan; it was approved, but only as a counteroffer of $1K. I'm going to accept, and have another half a grand in savings, but am trying to figure out ways to make up the rest of that money to actually get the repairs done. I'm going to take it to a different mechanic, because I have no doubt the dealership's pricing is padded (they have a lot of space, a lot of people, a lot of expenses to cover) but I still expect it to be pretty expensive because among other things they say my whole exhaust system from tailpipe to (but not including) the manifold needs swapping out for new.

I'm trying to think of some small but easy-to-produce thing that people might have interest in. The Lost Souls skull motifs could be one, especially if I just stick just to the face part without the border. I'm trying to find other small fun things that I could make up and stick in the shop; I was thinking a flat heart motif with a long tail like a balloon string, a la floatyhearts, could also be fun.

Maybe there will be some slow time at work today and I can research other such small things. Suggestions welcome!

Hello, Blisstopia.<3

Mood pensive

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Holy crap I smell good, y'all.

I was going through my tin of perfumes, sniffing one after another and getting increasingly dissatisfied. They were all musk and citrus and sweet, and not at all what I was after....and then I realized that what I was after was probably among my Solstice Scents vials, not my BPAL vials. So I went to my array of SS smells and picked through, and pulled out Manor.

Now, I basically haven't touched most of my SS smells for the better part of a year, some of them two or more. That is why the oils in the vial? Had separated. I spent a few minutes tilting it back and forth, upending and righting it, watching the bubble swirl through light and dark oils to mix them together in slow, thick swirls. I thought about the bubbles found in the tubes of carpentry levels, and tilting them back and forth this same way when I was a child. Is it not funny how disparate things can have something so in common?

Finally the oils were all enough one color that I felt confident to open the vial and put some on. And I smell. So. GOOD. According to the site, it is a combination of "Woody-Vanilla Musk, Vanilla & Glorious Aloeswood." According to me, it smells as if I am that woman playing hide and seek on her wedding day and have hidden within the cedar chest in the attic, nestling in the dark amongst the scent of wood and the softness of my own silk gown and the rich aged vanilla that I am wearing for the first time, unaware that the lid has latched and I may not be found for years.

SO GOOD.

Wednesday weirdness is a thing. The Spawn have a half day of school, which means they will be arriving home just around when I am leaving for work. Except for Youngest, of course. When I went to wake him he was already up, and informed me that he had vomited about an hour before. He has vomited twice since then, poor dude. :(

...wait, it's not Wednesday. It's Thursday.

It's Thursday, right?

Hi.<3

Mood awake

Tags:

For the last couple of days, Beyond the Sea has been dominating the brain radio. This morning, though, it started to swap over to Swinging On A Star. Therefore when I got in the shower I put on a YouTube mix rooted specifically in the Hudson Hawk version of the song, and let me tell you that was a great decision to start the day. That, Bobby McFerrin, Israel kamakawiwo'ole, Stealers Wheel, Smashmouth with interludes from the Mystery Men movie, Four Non-Blondes... this is a good mix. My mood is amped. My face is puffy from too much bourbon last night and angry because I had the dumbass idea to try to deal with the lots of loose dry skin on it by using the pumice stone on my face while in the shower.

But.

The good music, the being able to pick out exactly the scent profile I wanted from my several hundred little perfume vials (Master Bedroom from Solstice Scents, for the curious; I wanted something cedar and spice, and this hit that nicely), the good lipstick I stumbled on by accident having forgotten I have it, and having a little downtime before heading out to work? I'm feeling good, friends. Here, have my face:

It also helps a lot that my writing partner for a story that I am really enjoying messaged me back after I sent out a "Did I lose you?" feeler yesterday, and apparently thought they had already written back and weren't ignoring our story at all. So, VERY excite about that.

I am probably not making a novel happen this month, but I am getting writing done in my own way, and that's good; sometimes one must need come to a thing obliquely.

What one good thing is in your day, Blisstopia?

<3

Mood good
Location Living Room
Music We Didn't Start The Fire

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I caught myself trying too hard to perform “pretty” and so this is what you get today.

Alas, I did not have the foresight to stick out my pinky and so you cannot see the fabulous goldenglimmer made-for-me-specifically nail polish that I am wearing. I have gotten to the point where half the bottle is gone, now, and I am therefore using it increasingly sparingly so that it will last longer.

Today’s perfume is Scherezade, from BPAL. They say it is “Saffron and Middle Eastern spices swirled through sensual red musk.” I say it is dragonsblood with the sweet yanked out and a little extra of a particular incense thrown in. These descriptions are different, but not necessarily in disagreement.

I had yesterday off, except that there was a work meeting at five that I DEFINITELY forgot about until my calendar chimed at me at 4. Modern technology reminders FTW! Going to the meeting also meant I got to pick up an extra shift today yesgoodgivemethemonies.

The dragonfly blanket was such a hit that a distant relative is facebooking me asking to pay me to make one. I’m going to reply and agree, of course, but I am nervous about whether to give her an actual price right up front, and then discount it, or simply to discount it for her out of hand. I’m worried she will say it is still too much.

This is all complicated by the fact that I definitely did not time myself while making the first one, so I do not know exactly - or even approximately - how many hours I put into it. *facepalm*

I’ve been keeping up my prompt postings for Nightmare Fuel, but the number of people responding to them has dropped off sharply. I, too, have stopped writing. The nightmares have started, but I’m still staying asleep so…. IDK.

I brought the plants in last night; it was too late for the basil, which went to spotty and then fully brown within a day. The rosemary and, of all things, the deer hoof fern are absolutely thriving. I pushed it with the spider plant, but I think it’s going to be okay, even if some of the legs and babies are shrivelling.

I need to look around Dreamwidth and find some active written roleplaying communities. Because I have a need.

Hello, Blisstopia.<3

Mood awake

Tags:

Last night I went over a new friend’s house for game night with him, his wife, and two other folks I had not yet met. I was Very Nervous, because STRANGERS! but I was also Excite because Gaming And New Friend(s)! We played Oregon Trail: The Card Game, which I have played a few times before and none of them had ever played. We watched a How To Play The Game video before we got started, and they giggled about how much the guy says essentially “Y’all gonna die,” and then noticed that the official instructions basically said the same - that if at least one of you get through 50 Trail cards to the Willamette Valley card, you win the game, but more probably the game ends when everybody dies.

Two people died of snakebite. One person died of I think Typhoid. And two of us made it to the end! WE WON! We were flabberghasted and delighted.

It was also really nice to go out to do a thing, and have everything totally fine and taken care of at home. No phone calls in the middle of things, and in fact no actual trouble that needed handling; SALM is a good Bonus Parent, and got all the Spawn to bed without issue. And he is Awesome Partner; he encouraged me to go have fun with people, and there was no resentfulness or any sort of sense of debt incurred when I got home. He’s glad that I’m maybe building a little bit of meatspace community, and he’s looking forward to when he can do that himself. I’m looking forward to that, too.

I must note before I forget the layers of scents on me, because they are so GOOD together:

Roadhouse from BPAL: Truck stop sleaze. Weedy dandelion and hops with a whiff of tobacco and hemp and a swirl of booziness.

Windward Passage from BPAL: Breezes blowing off of the waters of the Caribbean: marine accord, seaweed, and bladderwrack.

Susanna Dean from SailorZeo on Etsy: Her happy ending is receiving a cup of hot chocolate sprinkled with nutmeg. Her scent has notes of chocolate and nutmeg, as well as rose for the ka'tet, musk, and moss

I do not work today. This is the first week in a long time that I have not been asked to take on any bonus hours; the woman I was largely covering for on her maternity leave is back, and so they aren’t asking me to come be there and do the thing. This is inauspicious, given the large probable vehicle bill that I need to save up for. I’m nervous and a bit unhappy about this timing. On the other hand, the vehicle still runs; I can save a little and get the brakes done, and then save like WOAH and get the exhaust taken care of before annual inspection in May. Assuming I don’t get the loan I applied for, that is. Jury’s still out on that one.

But not being at work today and tomorrow is weird, and sort of.... disconnected feeling. I am going to spend some time being useful around the household - try to clean up the living room one day, and the kitchen the other. Today I started in on laundry, and am glad this was a load I was at home while it was running because it was off balance. I ran into the room and tried to rebalance it. I did it ass-backward and made it worse, and in the process of trying to steady the laundry robot (we have a stacked single-unit, dryer above washer) it rocked so hard that the nearly-full family size laundry detergent container came crashing down from where we keep it atop the machine. I just barely managed to put my hand up and....not catch it, really, but slide-slam it down onto the lid of the washing machine. It would have hit me right in the head otherwise, which is a scary though. What if concussion? What if knocked out and then the already rocking laundry robot fell on top of me?

It does not do to dwell on the awful things that did not happen unless I am brewing them up to write into a story.

I have laundry to sort and fold, and also bunches of yarn to sort through. I need to bulk-destash, and start figuring out what to do, project-wise, with what remains. Otherwise it is merely clutter.

But so much of my headspace today is concerned with the fact that I do not have a kitty and this is Not Right. I need a kitty. Does anybody know anybody whose kitty made some new kitties that need home? I have a home in need of a kitty.

Hello, Blisstopia.<3