My house doesn't stink anymore!

We've ripped up the carpet in the office, torn off the baseboards and moldings, pried up the carpet tacks and scraped the glue off the concrete. I've patched, primed, and painted the walls. Tonight I put up some shelves on either side of the window (need to get two more sets of brackets for two more shelves, I think that would look better). The wall color is grayish/silver with just the slightest hint of lavender. It's slight enough to suit brad, and just enough to suit me. Tomorrow I start on the flooring.

This week I also was able to start on some Christmas soap. I'm trying to emulate starlights mints. I think I did an *okay* job of it. If I had to do it again I would make them a little more intricate, but I'm still happy with how they turned out. It was a multi-stage process. First I had to pour the white soap and let it harden just enough so that it was solid, but warm enough so that I could cut and mold it easily. I cut each mold into 8 pieces and then shaped them so that they had a little swirl to them and let them harden completely. Then, I filled just the bottom of the mold with clear soap and arranged half of the white pieces and let that harden. Then I came back and filled the mold the rest of the way with red soap, scented peppermint, of course.