Am I A Control Freak?

It's hard to be lying in bed all sweaty and achy while my husband mans the shop and puts together the orders I almost completed on Saturday. I know he's competent. I am just so used to me doing it all myself that when I am not there, I feel like I have no control. And I don't. So this whole idea of control is really a bigger issue.

Since I'm already in a lying down position, there's no need to sit down to think about control. I'm here, in the most relaxed and exposed position known to man. On my back. Like a turtle. So I'm thinking, "Am I into control? Do I need to have things go the way I want them to go? Do I need to maneuver situations in order to guide things to my desired outcome?"




My answer is no. I am just not one of those people. I mean, I'm not someone to be walked all over or just shrug my shoulders at any idea. I am not a slug with a lack of input. I just don't carry agendas that are inflexible.

So why is it that when I am not at work, and others are doing my job, do I feel a bit worried, like somehow it might not be done right? Again, super competent husband doing really easy packaging and labeling work.... I suppose if we had a bigger staff and we had individuals doing specific jobs, I could let go of the control.

Ok, I am achy now and my little moment of stress should have been a moment of Zen. My oatmeal and water must settle and now I need to nap.

I hate fever aches. :(

***

A Macro Detail

Shop's Curtain

Sometimes it's just good to stop. Look closely at where you are EXACTLY and see the beauty in the regular, ordinary things you see day in, day out.

Pretty In Pink Or Just Overkill

I've been on a cupcake bath bomb kick like a LOT of people. I'm still working on getting my peaks (frosting) much higher. I have to tell you, when I leave out the bubble bath portion, I can get them much taller, so i think I'll stick with the original formula I started with.

Thought I'd hit you with el carnival cuppy cake! If you are in the neighborhood, I have 4 individual ones and a 4 pack wrapped up in a cupcake box tied with a pretty ribbon all ready for a party!

Now, I am ready for a real cupcake. DD, my cupcake friend who has a cupcake shop around the corner, I need a red velvet with cream cheese frosting - aaaaaaahhhhhhththththh!

Chez Salt - What It's Good For....

If you get waxed at all, on your legs or your bikini area especially now with the Summer coming, you may want to start using a salt scrub to avoid ingrown hairs. Because...ow, those are no fun, and they are ugly. Yup - it's really true. And if you don't believe me, ask a spa manager, although, they'll try to sell you the salt scrub they carry in their spa.

Because I own Product Body, I'll suggest our salt scrub with soothing shea butter, Chez Salt. I made some FRESH this morning in juicy pink grapefruit. Just for your poor freshly ripped off skin that now feels like baby's skin.
:)

That's my skin tip for the day.

A Few New Things

We have been so busy in the lab whipping up goodies. My daughter was on Spring break last week and decided instead of vacationing, she wanted to come to work with me every day. She helped make bath bombs, clean up, wrapped and cut soap. She even designed and came up with a fragrance for her Toffee soap which I will post here next week. The soaps we made aren't shown in this post because they aren't cured, but they will be. They include Toffee, Clean Sweet and Ginger + Amber with Star Anise. They all came out very nice. Most of these can be found in the Product Labs Etsy shop by the end of this weekend.

Hot Process Yuzu Maui (with cp yuzu bits)

Sweet Lemon Pie Bath Bombs with calendula petals made and decorated by Nina, my daughter

Hefty half circle bath bombs in Passionfruit Guava (over 5 oz)--- sha shaaaaaa!

All natural lavender soap with rose clay and lavender buds

Bath bomb cupcake

Hot process soap:: Citrus Circus Squares
(tangerine, orange valencia, yuzu, grapefruit, ruby red grapefruit + lemon)

Have a great weekend and happy soaping, slathering or scrubbing! Also, if you are not following me on Twitter, get to it to get the April coupon for Crush On You!!

Dumping

It's like the old days when I first started concocting formulations. I did the research, created a "masterpiece", then dumped it in the trash bin. This was a good summary of the many batches of body goo I made for myself. Luckily, I didn't give up, yeah?

It felt like a little of that beginner's unluck muse was on my shoulder watching me on Friday and Saturday because I tried to make a huge batch of bubble bath cupcake frosting for my bath bomb cupcakes for the shop and I failed miserably. I don't know what happened except that I think I completely misread the recipe and added way too much water, then compensated with all the other ingredients, which never worked and just wasted ingredients..... all I can say is... I threw out over a gallon of frosting. That was a killer because I was all ready to have the prettiest cupcakes on the planet. (well, in Jupiter anyway, which is a planet but not on this planet.)

Then on Saturday, I went back to my original bubble bath royal icing recipe and it came out beautifully. It was a recipe for four cupcakes. When I was done and cleaned up the blender, I had my daughter (who was on Spring break and needing to make these cuppycakes with me) triple the recipe so we coud finish icing the rest of the bombs, I was mixing and mixing.....and what....was.....happening......the icing was.....all........ wrong. Oh mother of GAWD. Now what!?

I reviewed her math after the mixing had been done and realized she quadrupled one of the ingredients. Scrambling around and compensating for the mistake, mixing in more of the ingredients that hadn't been properly added, the darn icing just never got to where it was meant to be. It was thick and foamy looking, not silky and sticky looking the way it's supposed to look.

Hence, more dumping and more wasting.

I hate wasting.

Honestly, I have been quite preoccupied with a couple of medical issues, but now, hopefully that is behind me. So, with this coming week of recovery, I shall dream big and think positive with big fluffy peaks and those cupcakes will be grand.

YES!

(hey thinking positively can't hurt)

Lemon Bomb Is Green & For The Belly

We are in the current issue of Pregnancy & Newborn magazine :: The GREEN Issue!


Lemon Bomb for bellies (and super dry skin, too) ... When we get the magazine, we'll scan it for you all to see and post it up, but I couldn't keep it to myself. You know how I get with the press. Gitty is how I get!

xx Joanna

Crush On You Is Officially #1

Crush On You has topped the charts at Product Body. It is our top seller, it is the top discusser, the top raver, it's all anyone ever talks about these days. In fact, I am making it everyday just keeping up with the demand of the master exfoliators out there. (You know who you are ;P)

I originally made Crush for the body, but found myself using the scrub mostly for my hands at the kitchen sink because we are tuna fish eaters and garlic lovers here and that Crush On You takes odors right off the hands. Oil, too. Since I make the stuff, I have a tub of it at every sink in the house. I also love using it as a pre-shave for my legs. I love the roughness of a scrub on my lower legs especially. The rougher the better ...they are in a constant state of inner itch, so the scrub just eases the tension (hard to explain, so I'll just drop it so I don't bore you all).

Since Crush On You was born a few years ago, it's been just a body scrub, or so I thought. This year, my cousin tells me she's been using it on her face and has been for months. People at work keep stopping her and asking her where she's getting her "work" done. "Are you going to a dermatologist or getting plastic surgery or botox, or what!? I need their phone number!"

Get outta here!

She says to me, "No, Jo. Really." Then she tells me her son (who is also my Godson and 16 years old) has been using the Crush On You and his acne cleared up since he started using it. WHAT!? Get out. Okay, now, looking younger and beng acne free? Give me a piece of that Kit Kat bar! So guess what? I started using Crush On You as a facial scrub every night before bed for about 2 months, and my skin is way softer, looks smoother and my pimples are at bay. Hormonal acne can't be treated... those come from within, but the excess ones? They are gone!

SO if you have a Crush On You in your possession, try it on your face for a few days and see how you feel and look. Then write me an email if you have any feedback for me. I want to hear what YOU have to say.

I do.