Non Soap Local Rant

MamaV lives in Schenectady, NY in a nice little house with her happy little family. When she moved to Schenectady (10years ago), the house cost less than $100,000 (significantly less). Somehow, with no improvements, the house is now magically worth $119,000. Her taxes now account for half of her mortgage payment and MamaV is not amused.

So to the government of Schenectady: Fix this. We have 60,000 people living in the city. If only 2,000 pay taxes, that's a problem. Screw the Metroplex and their "Payments in Lieu of Taxes". The homeowners need some help. Or we will sell our houses to the lowest bidder and go elsewhere. Out of Schenectady and probably out of New York State.

Our school system is a joke and driving around on any weekday (when school is in session) shows how seriously school officials take truancy.

Our roads are crumbling. Stop paving half blocks. Would I like a new sidewalk? Sure thing! But you can't afford it. Pave the roads and pave them correctly (I can see the trolley rails that were buried along Eastern. Why are they still there?).

My name is MamaV and I am a tired tax payer.

Day 2 - It walks...

So after poking MamaV with sticks, Juan the Soap Elf abandoned all common sense and went in with a sniffie of tea tree/cedar wood that MamaV has been working on. MamaV's first intelligible words of 2011 were "Needs lavender".

Then she scooped up the essential oils, some Polysorbate 20, and a pipette, stepped on Juan the Soap Elf, and raced to the soap kitchen where she tested the blend in some liquid soap.

We're hopeful that she'll stay on this path of productivity. But if not, we'll keep the poking stick handy.

Happy 2011!

MamaV had all sorts of grand plans today: soaps, bath bombs, lotion bars...but we've been poking her with a stick since the ball dropped over the Big Apple and there's no movement. Some snoring. But nothing we can really call awareness.

So from all of us hiding in MamaV's cupboard, Happy New Year (and please hide the cooking sherry next year). We expect great things and much activity from MamaV. Just not today.

Slacker!

MamaV has been a super slacker lately. She knows it. We know it. Now you know it. Also, she appears to have deleted a linked photo. So she's stupid and a slacker.

We hope to see her in the soap kitchen soon. We're out of bath bombs and liquid soap. So if you see her, giver her a glare for us.

Where's Mama V?

Sorry, Waldo. No offense.

Mama V seems to have a craft fair this Saturday (9/11/2010) in the "Little Italy" section of Schenectady. To be honest, we're a little worried that she won't make it.

We've seen evidence of soap making as seen in a (since deleted) hastily captured early, early morning shot:

The coffee indicates Mama V was nearby.

But will she be ready?

Latest Ramblings

Tropical Vacation wafts through the soap room. The new mold arrived and was christened. Mama over-estimated the volume so instead of 25 little bars, she created 50 FABULOUS bars. Word on State Street is she ordered 4 pounds of new fragrance.

After the alpha batch finishes curing, it'll be dressed up and sent out to hustle.

Mama has also been bombing again. But these are successful. Mama Has a new technique in mind to create Bath Bomb Pearls. So far, we're not seeing the pearl part, but we love bath bomb testing so we're not telling her.

The Creature - She Walks!

When last we saw MamaV, she was a bit outside our realm of comprehension. Not exactly around the bend but nowhere near sane. In the interim, the dog died, her church closed, several fish swam to the light, and her grandmother went home to Jesus.

But MamaV is better now. If one of her "sassafrassing" soap molds ever arrives, she's all set to soap her face off. We even caught her folding waked paper in the shape of her old log molds. Will she soap? One can never tell.