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.

Update on MamaV

MamaV had a really rough February. The bad luck started with her Dad's stroke on 2/1 and ended with watching a stranger die on the street on 2/28. Given all that transpired in that evil month, we expected her to be far more bitter. But she's really not. She's rather calm. Which could be scary.

So, we hope that MamaV has a better 2009 now that February has slunk off. We also really, REALLY want to see her get back into the soap kitchen. We've scooched the coconut oil closer to the hot water pipe and it's nice and slushy...

Rest in Peace.

Bob died Friday night (2/27/2009) at 11:55 PM.


February was a very crappy month.

Please read quietly - Mama is resting

Bob decided to get back to death. He's again exhibiting "Medically Appropriate Symptoms" so can stay in the hospital for little longer.

If we may: The state of death and dying in NY is abhorrent. People die. It's a painful process for all involved. Why are there no local free standing hospice facilities? Rumors bound that they exist in he Western part of the state, but here in the Capital Region of NY, there is NOTHING.

So the Bob status. He's medicated heavily. He was seeing people that weren't there and pulling out his own hair. In a more comical moment, he "told off" the nurse that taped down his feeding tube (he had tried to pull it out). He can't speak, but his eyes cleared, his face became cross, and he made a very definite motion with his hand to say "Stop".

Moments like that kill MamaV's soul just a little.

Bend over and appease the insurance gods...

Hi folks. MamaV is a little...erm...infuriated right now. We'll try to translate.

Bob can't stay in the hospital. Because he's not dying correctly. He's hanging on and comforting his family in spite of the fact that he's on little liquid and no nutrients. So the insurance company says he needs to leave the hospital. There's nice dumpster over behind the ER. Maybe that will suffice?

Actually,MamaV and Mama's Mama will bring Bob home. It's going to suck, because MamaV is NOT a very compassionate woman, but she's on Bob's side right now.

We also witnessed a touching moment today. Bob was alternately checking his wrist (Mama thinks he's checking his watch) and answering an invisible phone. But then he looked at MamaV. She thought it was the pink and purple shirt, but he grabbed her wrist in a death grip (the man has an insane amount of strength!) and pulled her closer. MamaV sat on the edge of the bed and he proceeded to touch her hair and face. It was touching, tender, and absolutely heartbreaking.