Because everybody needs a little cowboy in their life

They really do jingle jangle.

Musings

I have been pondering the future of Smelly Stuff as an internet business. As those of you who got packages know, the shipping was ridiculously high. In order for me to cover the shipping costs, I would have to charge a fairly high price for my products and I question whether or not I could build any kind of clientele with higher prices. Still, I have an idea that I would like to bounce off you guys.

I am thinking that I might offer an initial jar of bath salts at a fairly high price. The jar would be larger than the 16 oz one I used this time. I would probably buy a nice glass jar about 26 oz to use. Examples are below. Then I would offer refills, which I would ship in a ziplock bag.

















I think in order to make this work, I would charge about $35 for the jar and one free refill. Refills would probably be about $12 each. Initial shipping would be $10. I think I could charge shipping the refills for about $7.50. All of these are significantly below the actual cost of shipping, but I should be able to make that up in the pricepoint.

So, testers, what do you think?

I hope this isn't a sign of age

But I really want a tea cozy. Two, in fact; one for my gold teapot and one for the smaller green one. I am tired of my tea getting cold before I finish the pot.

Ahem. I don't suppose there are any knitters out there who would want to make something like that?


Edited to add: Eeeeep! I have a photo up on Cute Overload. Go check it out, it's the one titled "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhnnnnnnnn!"

Bad blogger!

No cookie for you.

Now that we have finished the hardwood floors and the face lift on the bathroom, Grant and I are just about ready to tackle the kitchen. Since we are so happy with the bathroom cabinet, we have decided to go ahead with trimming and painting the cupboards in the kitchen. I have chosen a simple shaker-type design, most likely in off-white. All we need to buy are some plain boards for trim, some paint and something to trim the bottom of the cabinets. Labour-intensive, but cost-effective.

The focus of the kitchen, and the place we are spending the most money, will be the counter and backsplash. We have pretty much decided to go with all tile, rather than using a Corian or other kind of counter. Some of you may recall the tile on the left. It is a Talavera tile, handmade in Mexico. I bought it ages ago as my highlight tile for the kitchen, but when I started looking for other tiles that would work with it, I really had trouble. Most tiles are much thinner than the Talaveras and I worried that it would be too difficult to even out the surfaces. Then I found two resources for Talavera tiles right here in the GTA. Yay!

I spent hours working out a design that Grant and I both liked. The backsplash will have an off-white background with green, red and gold tiles accenting the patterned tile. The counters will be green. I really wanted to share the design with you all. I created a design template in Word, but I can't figure out how to post it here. But here is the catalog with the tiles. I am planning on using Blanco Mexicano, Verde/Blanco, Amarillo Brillante and Terracotta. I am very excited about it all!

It's funny, a few months ago we were seriously thinking about moving. Now, I may never want to move!

What to do, what to do...

I really need to mail my absentee ballot soon. Real soon. I have only marginal faith in the capabilities of the Canadian postal service, so I want to allow 2 weeks for my ballot to reach San Francisco.

Although I really don't know why I am worried. My tiny little vote really won't make much difference in the outcome of the primary. It also doesn't really matter who wins: either way, I am voting for the Democratic candidate in the next election. Still, I take my voting very seriously. Which leads to my dilemma: who the heck should I vote for??

I have watched both the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries and the speeches of the various candidates. Barack Obama is one hell of a speaker; inspiring, articulate, clever. Sometimes too clever, methinks, but I admire the technique. I read The Audacity of Hope over the summer, and I respected his ideas, but he didn't entirely sweep me away. I am not overly concerned with the lack of experience tag, because heaven knows there are plenty of presidents with lots of "experience" who sucked donkeys' eggs. I like the idea of voting for a black president.

Then there's Hillary. I have no objection to Hillary on any basis, unless it is that she is a political animal to the core. She doesn't have anything even resembling Obama's public charisma, although I suspect that one-on-one she could be devastating. She is smart, she is relentless and she has Bill to back her up. I find myself thinking "Hey! the Clinton years? Pretty damn good." Except for all those Republican-fueled scandals. Those got seriously boring. And finally, I really like the idea of voting for a woman president.

I could vote for Edwards; no quarrels with him either. And if he is still in the race, and the convention is essentially tied between Hillary and Barack, it would be fascinating to see his role as kingmaker. So, that vote would just be for entertainment value, because I think he is not viable as a candidate anymore. As for the rest; I don't really feel strongly enough about any of them to make a "sending a message" vote.

I would love to hear what other people think. I just finished reading the responses to John Scalzi's post here, and it was interesting, but I am not sure it really helped. I am tending slightly one way, but it is only by the slightest of margins. Talk to me.

Home at last!

Actually, we got in yesterday, but I promised a certain Sheltie that I wouldn't go on the computer at all last night. Anyway, we arrived safely, as did our luggage. The house was relatively clean (empty house = poker night for kid) and our own bed felt wonderful! All good. Still, if I can work up the energy, I just may email some airlines and bitch and moan a bit. After all, we would like to get back to Arizona over March break...

Just like The Amazing Race

...but without the fabulous prizes at the end.

It is 9:30 pm Sunday night and I am writing from a Holiday Inn Express room near the Dallas/ Fort Worth airport. Grant and I have been trying to get home since we first arrived at the Tucson airport yesterday at 9 am. Yes, folks, that was 36 hours ago and we are still not home. Yesterday we waited for 6 hours before United finally decided that they couldn't fix our broken plane. We rebooked with US Airways and went back to the house in Tucson. Today, we had yet another broken plane and although they found us another one, it wasn't in time to make our connection to Toronto. We went to Phoenix anyway, in hopes of finding another alternative, but oddly enough, there seems to be little call for flights to Toronto in Phoenix. Our absolute best option was to fly to DFW, stay overnight and fly out the next morning. We will arrive in TO at 2:50 pm (as long as the plane isn't broken, a mere 39 hours later than we had planned.

Damn. I think we might be eliminated on this leg.