Wonderland Burlesque Spotlight: Heaven Scent Soaps

Wonderland Burlesque Spotlight: 

Heaven Scent Soaps

Minneapolis, MN

The first weekend in November, I had the pleasure to attend the grand opening of Heaven Scent Soaps new studio and store. This is the brainchild of The Ex. He took a soap-making class through community education years and years ago and has been hooked ever since.

After operating out of our laundry room and doing local farmer's markets and pop-up shows, he's finally gotten the opportunity to operate a store. Located in the Minnesota Arts Building, a few blocks from the warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis, he, along with two other artisans (a furniture restoration expert and a jewelry artisan), The Ex has carved out a cute little shop, distinguished by a welcoming pair of antique French doors.

His space is divided in half; store in the front, studio in the back. It's tight and cozy, but the store front has been furnished in The Ex's distinct style - softly lit and colorfully appointed. 

He offers over 30 different certified-organic, natural soaps (scented with essential oils), scented bees wax lotion bars, and scented bath salts. along with assorted bath accessories, such as teddy bear loofas and handmade ceramic soap dishes.

Phenomenally bedecked gift baskets (local delivery only) are available, and this year, for the holidays, he's doing a group of festive gift boxes (shown below). 

His website can be found, here. (https://heavenscentsoaps.com/) Pay a visit and learn a bit more about him and all he can do. 

Wishing him the best of luck, I purchased 4 soaps (orange blossom, apple blossom, mango, pink grapefruit.) If you have skin issues, allergies - these soaps can work a bit of a miracle. Made of simple, basic ingredients (listed on the label) they contain no harsh drying chemicals, as found in commercial soaps. (The lye used in the curing process is not present in the actual soap.) Made in small batches and hand cut, I adore the lovely round shape, as they are easy to use and a welcome sight in any bathroom. They lather like crazy - I even use it's lather in place of shaving cream, (as the soap doesn't dry out my skin.) And the scents make for a lovely start to the day.

I took a few pictures during my visit (not much of a photographer, I'm afraid), but I thought I'd share them with you all today. 

Wishing The Ex all the very best on his new adventure! It's very exciting.

(And I got my laundry room back!)

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Soap / Training Wheels - Melanie Martinez

A Little Bit Of Soap - Showaddywaddy

Water Wings Not Optional

A couple of lesbians posted in the M4M room at Craigslist last week. They were looking for a sperm donor so one of them could birth a child. They explained that their previous donor (they already have one child) was no longer available due to medical issues. They didn't want their current child to grow up alone. I replied.

But I doubt they liked what I had to say.

Basically I told them they were bucking the system - that the universe had made them lesbians for a reason - to get their genes out of the gene pool. Which sounds a tad harsh, I know, but biology/nature is, indeed, nothing if not harsh.

You see, at one point, I, too, wanted children. I was willing to ignore my gay self in order to procreate. I wanted to get married (to a woman) and have children. But, despite my best efforts (yes, I had several serious relationships with women), it never came to pass. And, now, I'm so glad that it never did. I fear I would have been a horrible parent. (But not for the reasons the Christian right would have you believe.)

I am now of the opinion that one of the reasons the universe chooses to make people gay is to remove their genes from the gene pool in order to stem the growth of the population. This is not a bad thing - especially not when one looks at the big picture. When I think of the state of the world, this world that is to be the legacy we leave for future generations to deal with, I am SO grateful to be gay and to not have procreated.

I would have been heartbroken to see my offspring inherit this planet.

One would hope that the drivers of all those SUV’s and obnoxious, fuel-guzzling Dodge trucks would share my concern for the earth’s future. But I have a feeling they are the same selfish bastards helping to overpopulate it.

Then, there are the sheer numbers of people pooping out babies without the means to take responsibility for them. Babies born into dysfunction will in turn carry on that family’s dysfunctional traditions. As long as we, as a society, subsidize parents who fail to have the means to support, raise and care for their children, we, the people, are just encouraging these cycles to continue.

Our compassion becomes a means of enabling bad behavior, and worse... the destruction of our planet.

That is why I don’t think lesbian and gay men should contribute to this problem by breeding. Of course I also don’t think our gay tax dollars should go to fund public schools for children we aren’t sending there either. Or to subsidize their food stamps. Or their medical care. If anything - families with children should be taxed MORE -not given a yearly rebate. They should be taxed - not rewarded, not cut more slack (aren’t they slack enough?).

The breeding practices of these irresponsible parents are placing burdens on our society and our ecology - why shouldn’t THEY have to pay for it?

Now, saying that lesbians and gay men should not breed is not the same as saying they should not be parents. Quite the contrary -they make the best parents - especially if they have worked through the whole sexual identity challenge. Adversity and struggle helps develop great problem-solving skills – a necessary skill when raising children.

Adoption is a great option. There are tons of children who would benefit greatly from the loving home a gay/lesbian couple could provide. And if they should opt to adopt, then, like those heterosexuals that choose to breed, they would have to kick into the kiddy-tax kitty.

But the logic behind all this will fall on deaf ears. Those who need to hear this message won’t be able to due to the fact that they have had to turn up the volume on the television set, in order to drown out one of their kids who is screaming uncontrollably, again. Heaven forbid they should miss an episode of Jerry Springer or Cops and actually supervise their brood.

These parents will stubbornly insist on pursuing their own desires in spite of their children (literally), just as gay and lesbians will stubbornly continue to buck mother-nature’s intent (literally).

I believe that every time we ignore the edicts of the universe/nature and put our own desires before the welfare of the world as a whole - we pay for it. We are punished, and we create more problems for ourselves and those with whom we share this planet. The world continues to produce more unwanted, poorly-educated, poorly-supervised children who go on to live less than spectacular lives. These adults go on to produce more toxic gasses which deplete the ozone which hastens global warming. These adults go on to create tons and tons of garbage -and not just the type that ends up as landfill, but also that of a cultural nature that eats into our collective, ever-dulling grey matter. These adults also go on to poop out more children which in turn grow up and do as their parents did -in ever increasing numbers.

Have you ever grown bacteria in a Petri dish? The bacteria’s population size starts out small. However, as it grows larger, it consumes more and more of its environment. Also keep in mind that, even in the early stages of development, the members of that population not only consume their environment, but also end up poisoning it with the waste their consumption creates. This population grows exponentially until such time that its numbers exceed the environmental resources to support said population.

And when it reaches that apex?

It dies.

It all dies.

There is always a price for such stubbornness. For such arrogance. For such selfishness.

Well, kids, in the immortal words of Peter Gabriel? Here comes the flood.

I hope you all brought your water wings.