And now for something completely different...

I love shopping on Etsy. Have you heard of Etsy? It's a wonderful online experience for shoppers and sellers- and the best part is, it's all handmade goodies! It's really an amazing place, so much so that time seems to simply vanish whenever I go there. You can search for things a variety of ways, including location, color & categories (more than you can imagine, probably). Jewelry, clothing, housewares, furniture, fun and whimsical stuff- the talent here is astounding.
Oh, and I would like to personally recommend a few of my favorites from time to time- starting with a little shop of gorgeously-made crocheted hats, scarves and such, called Creative Hook. Here's a sampling of her amazing work- and she custom-made it for me in less than a week! Please go on over and have a look- you won't be disappointed in Creative Hook!

HARD AS STONE...

I am a wimp when it comes to being cold. I am not used to the chilly weather here on the
Central Coast of sunny California! Of course, it does get cold but usually not this cold. And I made a big boo-boo. Not anticipating this weather way-back in August, I moved my big 50 lb boxes of oils out to the detached garage. I had pre-filled several plastic pitchers with the appropriately-weighed amounts of each of my soaping oils- Coconut, Palm, Olive and Canola. Now I used up my last pitcher and have been dreading hauling everything outside, into the freezing-cold storage room. But I bundled up, loaded up and out I went. After carefully pulling out ALL the boxes, setting up my pitchers, weight chart, scale and large metal spoon & ladle, I opened the first box; coconut oil. Or should I say 'coconut brick'. This stuff was completely impenetrable. :( Oh how I wished I had poured it all into jugs way-back-when, in the warm summer months. I don't know what to do now. Any suggestions? Am I overlooking a completely logical way of removing very precise measures of my oils, now that they are in this frightful state? Help!!