Each soap comes in its own little round tin and has an art label which is a mixture of vintage images specifically for each product. Anne, the Seattle soap maker, “enjoys making soaps that not only spark imagination and conversation, but put a smile on your face while they do it.” Having a conversation about the soap you use could be Odd. When I wanted to talk about my new tins of soap with my fourteen-year-old, he looked at me like I was, in fact, Odd. Maybe this is more the kind of excitement you share with a girlfriend or mom.
All the soap ingredients are natural with no synthetic fragrances or dyes. Instead of using fragrance, each soap is made using only pure essential oils and natural colorants. Nope, My Odd Family has not been hijacked. In fact, I am drinking a coke and eating M&M’s as I type this. My clothes are in the washer being scrubbed clean with Tide detergent, soon to be in the dryer with their best friend, the Bounce sheet. Maybe it’s Odd for me, but I still like and appreciate these all-natural soaps, so there.
What I like best about Anne’s soaps is they are FUN!
The tin – Fun!
The round shape – Fun!
The labels – Fun!
The enclosed explanatory note – Fun!
The soaps themselves are fun: Bitchin Kitchen Soap contains borax, ground espresso beans to give it texture, and cinnamon essential oils to clean garlic odor from hands. Really, could you want much more? Buck Naked describes itself. There is nothing added to this soap. It’s just buck naked, plain and simple. Haute Goat Soap celebrates the noble goat and is made with a generous portion of fresh goat’s milk. It’s lathery, creamy, mild, and best of all, luxurious. Gender Neutral Soap – Not quite sure what soap category you fit into? This might be the soap for you.
Although I have never met Anne, the Seattle Soap Maker, I like her. Her website made me smile and I bought several tins of her soap. The soap was delivered promptly and it out-delivered my expectations. Now I can point to my fun tins of soap, smile smugly and say, “Oh, of course, it’s all natural, environmentally responsible, handcrafted, and TA DA, certified Roundtable for Sustainable Palm soap.” Wow, that was REALLY FUN!
Glad you were in my neighborhood. Feel free to drop by anytime. I would love to hear from you in the comment section of this blog or on Facebook or Twitter! Odd Loves Company and Odd loves you and you and you!
Glad you were in my neighborhood. Feel free to drop by anytime. I would love to hear from you in the comment section of this blog or on Facebook or Twitter! Odd Loves Company and Odd loves you and you and you!
Joe gave Cole and me the best birthday present: a sign! Cole would have been too young at the time to recognize the reference, but the moment I “got it” and shared it with him, we giggled together (I giggled, Cole laughed-Cole never giggles).
Cole’s 2nd birthday was the first birthday we celebrated in our new house. It was a Mother Goose theme party. Naturally, I was Mother Goose and Joe was Farmer Joe. We invited the parents in my mom’s group. The party included all the trimmings, and the trimmings always included balloons. It was our first real kids party.
Balloons were a potential party risk, since they do carry a warning about being a choking hazard to small children. As most new moms find out quickly, it’s important to at least pretend to be concerned about the same things other new moms are concerned about – especially if the concern is printed on the package. I also knew that one mom, in particular, would probably know and tell the story of another mom whose mom had a friend whose child had almost died choking on a balloon. This story would have all the other moms staring me as though I had just invited this horror to happen in my living room. The easy solution, of course, would have been to say forget the balloons.
Instead, like all new moms are prone to do, I obsessed. I loved balloons! Balloons were festive. How could we possible have a birthday party without balloons? Now, can you start to see Joe’s eye glaze over? He would encourage me to have the balloons, and I would say, “Well, what about the choking hazard?” Then he would say, “Well, don’t have the balloons,” and I would wail, “How can we have a party without balloons?” This went on until he looked at me, reached for my throat and screamed,
“WHO FUCKING CARES IF A KID CHOKES ON A BALLOON? JUST BUY THE BALLOONS AND SHUT UP!”
I screamed back,
“YOU DON’T CARE IF A KID CHOKES ON A BALLOON IN OUR LIVING ROOM?”
And he screamed back,
“NO! I’M SICK OF TALKING ABOUT BALLOONS.”
I was horrified, of course, and accused him of all sorts of things, including not being sensitive or nice. We had a huge blow-up about balloons; a major fight.
However, we did have balloons at the party and we did not lose any guests. When the toddler of the mom I was worried about grabbed for a balloon and said loudly, “NO! NO! Balloons are not for LITTLE children,” Joe glared at her so hard that she meekly watched as her child took off around the room with a bright green ribbon attached to a bright green balloon, holding on for dear life. I stood there, dressed as Mother Goose, gazing at Farmer Joe and thinking, “What a guy.”
The party ended and all the tots left with balloons tied around their wrists. I grinned as I watched Joe tie them tightly around their tiny wrists. The next morning, Joe and I laughed when we looked up into our tree where two balloons were caught together – a green and a pink. Those balloons remained in the tree for several weeks after the party had ended, and often made us laugh at our absurd screaming match.
Yesterday, I looked out my bedroom window, and in the same very tree, caught on almost the very same branch were two balloons – a pink one and a green one. I laughed, told Cole the story, and we both laughed together (Cole laughed, I giggled).
Joe?
What Katybeth?
Loved the balloons, Joe.
I was there, Katybeth.
You always are, Joe.
Love you.
Love you, too.
Glad you were in my neighborhood. Feel free to drop by anytime. I would love to hear from you in the comment section of this blog or on Facebook or Twitter! Odd Loves Company and Odd loves you and you and you!
David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square’s worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the ocean.
David Gallo is a pioneer in ocean exploration, an enthusiastic ambassador between the sea and those of us on [...]
The guests at Cole’s birthday party who asked me if I made his fabulous birthday cake are now my best friends. Although I did not make the cake, a few special people recognized me as a potential future cake maker. This is one compelling reason to grow your friendships past the ones who know [...]
Gnome Birthday Party~Panning for Gold
Happily, if not vaguely, I remember a wonderful circus birthday cake at one of the parties held in my honor. While at another, I remember running over a birthday guest with my go-cart. Joe remembers attending a birthday party and being knocked into the birthday child’s elaborately decorated birthday cake [...]
The Odd thing is I don’t wish for Cole’s younger days because Joe and I used them up. We enjoyed almost every minute of the baby days, followed by enjoying every minute of his toddler days, followed by enjoying every minute of the grade school days, and now having a teen entering high school is [...]
Cole and I are listening to the uplifting story of a plucky, inquisitive girl named Sara, and her teacher, a wise old owl named Solomon.
Sara is a series of three books, written by bestselling authors Esther and Jerry Hicks. The Law of Attraction is explained through the adventures of Sara and her friends. There is something [...]
Dear Mrs. Brennan,
Thank you for your comment. I posted it on Facebook and a lot of my friends did a wonderful job answering you, but I thought it was interesting enough to warrant its own Odd blog post.
Let’s tackle the first part of your question. What gives me the RIGHT to channel my dead husband? [...]
Cole left to go skiing with family for the day. As they drove off, I watched out our big window, holding back the tears and wishing he was off to ski with his dad. Feeling lonely and sad, I thought of the quote by Robert Frost I had posted on Facebook that morning:
“In three words [...]
