fun with templates (or, get a life already)

So, you know the opening scene of the movie Jaws? The scene where the teenagers are all partying on the beach, and then two of them - Chrissie and some useless drunk guy trying to keep up with her - go running off toward the water? And the guy goes, "Where are you going?" (pant pant), and Chrissie is all, "Swimming! Come on!" And before you know it, that chirpy little teenager dives into the water, and you're all Uh-Oh. Because you've been hearing the nuh-nuh, nuh-nu, nuh-nuh shark music while the opening credits have been rolling. You know the scene I'm talking about? The one where she gets violently pulled under the water and EATEN while the useless drunk guy naps on the shore? Yeah, that one.

Well, that's pretty much what happened to me recently when I discovered the new Blogger templates. Okay, so there was no drunk guy, no shark, and I was wearing my clothes. But the general tone was the same, because I don't even want to think about how much time I lost trying out first one and then another and then switching up the background colors and font and...

Am I made of free time? Heck no. But it's a stealthy, powerful thing, that Blogger template collection, and it'll pull you right under if you're not careful. Anyway, for now I've chosen the wildly swirling one you're experiencing while reading this post. Too much? Perhaps. But there's nothing that says I won't decide to change it again soon. I think I picked the swirls because they remind me of some soaps I batched recently called "Snowdance." Here they are in "tray" form before I cut them into loaves and then into individual bars to be packaged up for my upcoming holiday shows:

And here are a few of the finished bars, not yet packaged.

Hmmm...dare I say...they look a little...ocean-like.

Nuh-nuh, nuh-nuh, nuh-nuh.....

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fat n' sassy farm animals, etc.

It's been a good long while...again...since I've updated the blog. And I've decided I need to be okay with that, because I'm rediscovering that doing perfectly all the things I want/need to get done at any given time is just not possible. The good news is that a lot of imperfect, gorgeous things have been going on since I last checked in. Things like the kids starting back to a school year that's going very well. I'm proud of our little rural school for being one of the top performers in the state - and that includes private and charter schools! We have a pretty amazing blend of teachers and administration, and I always feel that my kids' education is right at the top of the priority list where it belongs despite the budget crunches and other woes the American educational system has been facing for way too long now.

The all-school field trip to the County Fair happened last week, and even though Zzari got out of the pasture and decimated a good chunk of my corn crop while we were gone, it was still a great day: The 4-H kids from our school and other districts showed their animals while we were there, which is always fun. I'd had some big fun judging the 4-H County Fair horse show the previous weekend, and it's always neat to see horses and young competitors from all of the county showing off the skills they've been honing all year. So, life has pretty much been all about fat and sassy farm animals more than usual for the past month or so.

What else? Oh! Laurie Halse Anderson had a writing challenge going on her blog for the month of August, but I didn't realize it until it ended! No matter. I'm going back to day one and starting from there, making part of September and October my own personal writing challenge month. This will be fun especially since I'm still undecided about NaNoWriMo this year: it's going to be a super busy soap season for me in November and December, and I've learned the hard way that trying to soap, write and teach at 100% capacity all at once is not conducive to also maintaining my sanity. And I need my sanity, thankyouverymuch.

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friday soap giveaway and cucumber melon winner!

Our soap winner for the Cucumber Melon bar is...(drum roll, please)...

Haley Rae - a prolific young blogger and commenter if there ever was one. Congrats, Haley! Send me your address via email, and I'll get this bar in the mail to ya.

There are only two more comments needed for the Cranberry Fig bar to find its forever home, so if you haven't commented on that giveaway, be sure to do it now!

Onward...

Today's Friday Soap Giveaway bar is Floral Fiesta!

I seem to be on a bit of a spring thing. Perhaps it's denial of the cold weather. I don't know why that would be, though, since I do love fall. Ah, well. Regardless, I've noted on the labels of these bars that they are "Ginger-Lime and Wildflower-Scented" - a pretty, heavenly blend if there ever was one. Plus, I figure we'll all be inundated with holiday-themed stuff soon enough, so why not enjoy normalcy while we still can?

To have a chance at winning this bar, leave a comment telling what you plan to do and/or be for Halloween. Happy Friday, Everyone!

:-)

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the twin fire & friday soap giveaway

Last weekend, parts of the city of Williams (aka "Gateway to the Grand Canyon") were evacuated due to a prescribed forest burn that got out of control. The Twin Fire was finally contained when it reached about 1,000 acres, but it was a little dicey there for a while. Part of the price of being surrounded by National Forest is the possibility of fire danger. On the way to son's soccer game in the Old Route 66 town of Seligman, we drove through this:

...and on the way home we drove through this:

I wish I'd had my camera with me when we were in town and saw the slurry bombers flying overhead and the helicopters sucking up water from the nearby reservoir to drop on the flames. The local Williams/Grand Canyon News had some good pictures of the choppers, though. At night, the smoke was thick and heavy in the air. This was the view from my front door:

...and this was the view from the back:

Those dastardly forest fires sure do pretty up the sky.

So, on to the Friday Soap Giveaway. Fall is here in all its glory, and I don't know about you, but around here at Writer/Rider central, preparations for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and various fall birthdays are in full swing. Seems like pumpkins, cranberries, warm spices and all things orange, black and purple are constantly on my mind lately. So, here's one of my top sellers being offered for the giveaway - Cranberry Fig:

Wanna join the ranks of previous soap winners whose mail smelled reeeeeealllly good the day their bars arrived? Simply leave a comment telling me what kinds of things you'd like to see more of here on the AWAAR blog. Remember, there need to be at least six comments from different readers in order for the bar to get sent.

Happy Friday!

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friday soap giveaway: cucumber melon

In honor of this morning, pre-sunrise, when I went out to feed my horse (yes, my boy is home again - wheeeeeeeeee! (more about that later)) and found the first ice of the year in his water bucket, I proudly offer my most summery, warm-weathery, couldn't-be-less-winter-like soap for the Friday Soap Giveaway:

I've recently re-designed these bars after a customer requested them as part of a larger order. The fragrance is the same as always - classic Cuke/Melon combo - but the bars are now a ripe, delicious cantaloupe color with cucumber-green swirls (which, for some reason, are not registering well in the photo, even after I played around with hue and saturation in PhotoShop to get the most accurate color representation possible).

To win a bar of this little slice of warm weather, simply leave a comment for this post, telling us all about what the changing of the seasons looks like now where you live. Remember, I won't mail the bar until there are at least six comments, because I'm stubborn that way.

Oh - there aren't quite enough comments for the Falling Leaves bar yet, so be sure to go comment there, too!Follow @nicole_mcinnes

calgon, take me away

This weekend, in a fit of winterizing, The Boy and I took this:


...and turned it into this:

I know, I know. You're terribly impressed. You're thinking, Oooooooooooo.

That's a heat lamp and a sled on the back wall, so you know we were serious. I even built a mini-stack, mainly because I was too plum tuckered to carry the last of the wood into the shed:

It was not an easy task peeling myself from the bed this morning, let me tell you. But, after a mug full of bracing "cowboy strength" coffee and a little Mary J on the radio (don't need no hateration, yo) while driving the kids to the bus stop, I was good to go.

Oh, be sure to go comment on the soap giveaway post (the one under this one), so I can get that bar in the mail!

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friday soap giveaway: the return

As promised, I have decided to officially reinstate the Friday Soap Giveaways here at AWAAR. There's going to be a bit of a change in the ground rules, though. In order for the giveaway to work each week, there must be at least six comments by different readers in the comments section of each giveaway post. This will, hopefully, prevent bars from constantly going to the the same two people (I'm talking to you, Maiden and Ken). Do be sure to let me know if you're having trouble commenting, or if the process just seems too laborious to make it worth your time.

Oh! I've opened my Etsy shop, too, so go check it out. There you can behold a picture of yours truly in the mid-1970's in my Brownie uniform and all my buck-toothed glory. In fact, go check out Etsy in general if you haven't done so lately. It's chock-full of cool creations by all sorts of amazing artists!

This week's giveaway bar celebrates two things: 1) The opening of my Etsy shop (it's the first type of soap I listed); and 2) The coming of the autumnal equinox, which happens in just four days (squeee! I love fall!). Here's what's up for grabs:

Interested? To play, simply leave a comment on this post describing one of your favorite fall memories.

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