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Archive for April, 2012

Let’s Do Lunch

Posted in Everyday, Food, tagged , on April 20, 2012| 4 Comments »

Yeah, lunch is good. Except don’t go where I did the other day. I don’t want to mention any names, but I couldn’t get past this “food” without having to take a few pictures and wonder out loud in front of the internets how this can pass as acceptable.

A small hamburger, with a little cheese. That’s all I wanted. I hadn’t had a small hamburger with cheese at this place in a long time so I thought I’d give it a try. This is what I got:

It’s a wrinkled bun. The only thing hamburger about this is that it’s a hamburger bun. A wrinkled one.

There is so little meat in this thing they had to press it to the thickness of paper. And even then it didn’t even cover the surface of the bun.

It wasn’t bad tasting, but it certainly wasn’t a hamburger. It was more of a burger-flavored wrinkled bun. It gave me an appreciation for marketing people and the photographers who can make burger-flavored wrinkled buns look like actual food in ads and commercials.

I’m going to be doing some photography this weekend too. I need to get some updated pictures of my products for my Etsy shop and wholesale catalog, as well as get some new tabs on this site filled with the fun things you can buy from Auntie B’s Wax. I’m not anywhere near as good a photographer as those who shoot the wrinkled buns, but I also don’t need to make my products look better than they actually are for the sake of luring people in. You’ll get no wrinkled buns from me!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

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Wax Lace

Posted in Candles, tagged , on April 19, 2012| 2 Comments »

I like making candles.  In fact, I have big plans to create a few this coming weekend.  I think the fragrances will be Sandalwood, Cinnamon, and some kind of floral or fruit aroma like Sweet Pea or Mandarin Plum. 

One of the perks of being a candle maker is I get to keep all of the shop-worn candles that aren’t suitable for sale anymore.  Don’t be sad for me getting “dregs.”  They burn perfectly fine and of course they smell divine.

A Gingerbread votive was burning in my powder room a few evenings ago.  Instead of putting it in a votive cup (which you should always do with votives to increase the burning longevity) I put it in a shallow bowl-like container.  The candle was made of palm wax.  That, along with the circumstances of my burning it in a less-confining holder resulted in this:

Because palm wax is a very hard wax it doesn’t soften when heated by the flame like paraffin, soy or beeswax would.  Palm wax is either solid or liquid, which accounts for the lacy prettiness created after this votive was burning for a few hours.

Don’t expect this effect with a palm wax pillar though.  Had this votive been in a cup (like it should have been) the melted wax would have been contained and would have continued to melt the small lace patterns where the candle wall blew out.  Pillars are made in a way which prevents candle wall blow-out.  However, anything is possible, and in the event a hole does form and the wax spills out, always put a plate or bowl or other such candle holder under pillars before you burn them.

For me, a super-duper expert pro at candle burning, this was a lovely occurance, but also a lesson in the importance of using votive cups with votive candles.  You can see at the base of the candle how much wax had poured out of the holes created by the heat of the flame.  Had this been in a cup the wax would have remained liquid, more fragrant, and the candle would have burned much longer than it actually did.

If you have any questions about candles, what goes into making them or how to burn them properly, please let me know in the comments.  I’d like to hear what your experiences have been with candles.  Do you hate them?  Do you love them?  Do you buy they by the dozen but never burn them?  Tell me your candle stories.

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Wordless Wednesday

Posted in Wordless Wednesday, tagged , on April 18, 2012| 2 Comments »

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If I’m Going To Have Too Much On My Plate I Want It To Be Cheesecake And Cherry Pie

Posted in Everyday, tagged on April 16, 2012| 12 Comments »

Mary Poppins says, “once begun is half done.”  So true.  Half done.  The killer is in the completion.  In addition to my To Do list I also have a Finish list.  Seriously.  Something goes on my To Do list, I do it halfway, then I put that same project on my Finish list.  There’s something terribly wrong with this.

I pour a batch of candles but neglect to shrink-wrap and label them.  I print out magnet images but don’t cut them out.  I don’t really consider this procrastination because I actually start the project.  I just put off finishing it.  I guess that’s procrastination after all.

When I start and finish a task in one chunk of time I feel like an actual grown-up.  Like today, I was cleaning my bathroom and was so tempted to just do the countertops and sink and leave the tub, toilet and floor for another day.  Why does my brain think that way?  It’s counter-productive!  What makes it worse is I know a half-finished task nagging at me drives me out of my mind.  And yet I continue to do it.

Be assured I cleaned my entire bathroom all at once.  I was so proud.  I also did loads of laundry and folded everything, but they remain in the basket.  I made dinner and washed dishes afterwards, but the dishes remain “air drying” in the sink.

There has to be a name for this disorder.  Some may call it the too-much-on-your-plate syndrome.  I don’t want to call it that because I dislike the phrase too-much-on-your-plate.  Others may call it disorganization disorder.  That’s more to my liking, but makes me feel really badly about myself.  I’ve vowed to become more organized on many occasions; I start to get myself more organized but then don’t finish the plan.

Maybe I’m being too hard on myself.  The past few weeks have been muddled with the decline and demise of Husby’s dad ~ that’s a pretty good excuse isn’t it?  Maybe now our lives will slowly regain some normalcy and I’ll get back on track and see tasks and projects through to their completion.  I can only hope.  If I have a household and business filled with unfinished projects I’ll absolutely lose my mind.

What do you do to keep yourself on track?  Are you able to start a project and finish it to completion all in one sitting…on a consistent basis?  Do the tasks you don’t have time to start and/or finish drive you crazy, just sitting there begging you to do them?

One good thing: I finished this blog post.  Yay me!

PS ~ I always finish everything eventually.  Except for putting photographs in an album.  I’m pretty sure I’ll never, ever finish that project.

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In Lieu Of Flowers

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , on April 13, 2012| 5 Comments »

It’s 3:30 in the morning.  I find it hard to maintain my regular sleep routine after someone has died, not getting back to it until after each stage of their passing is complete.  Last night was the ritual of the wake.  The remains of that event, although out of my direct vision, linger throughout the house.  Sure, we told them in lieu of flowers send memorials to this charity or that organization, but if everyone had done that I wouldn’t be here surrounded by the fragrance of fresh flowers.

Being nostalgic and traditional as I am, I think a funeral without flowers is like a birthday cake without candles. Cut flowers and flowering plants are always appreciated by me. Thankfully Husby has a green thumb because a few of the attendees chipped in and got a full-blown shrub!

While I remain in the I-can’t-maintain-a-normal-sleep-routine-because-someone-just-died state it’s nice to be surrounded by something so lovely as flowers and the fragrance they carry.

As far as I’m concerned, if you feel like ignoring the “in lieu of” message and want to send flowers to a funeral, just go for it. They’re beautiful, fragrant, and are a perfect symbol of the whole circle of life thing. Husby and I will enjoy these plants and flowers for a long time.

Addendum: One of the organizations suggested for memorials in Husby’s dad’s name is the Como Park Conservatory. Talk about flowers!

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