Boxes, boxes, and boxes

I'm on a Marion Zimmer Bradley kick for some reason. Years ago, when I was in high school, I borrowed a friend's copy of "The Mists of Avalon"; on my last trip to the library, I checked out a book called "Witchlight". It is, in a nutshell, the story of a former Wall Street trader who suffered a nervous breakdown and finds herself the victim of a poltergeist. On the surface it doesn't sound like much, but as the story progresses, it becomes more interesting.
Today I reluctantly took a trip to the library and returned my very overdue books and get some more. Once again, I neglected to look at anything but fiction, which means my planned research on Popul Vuh gets neglected once again--guilt, guilt, guilt--and that my research on Empress Theodora also gets neglected--more guilt, guilt, guilt. Not that there's any shortage of material on the Infernal Net, but I'm still addicted to paper and print media.
Books, though, see the listing to the right marked Bookshelf. "Terra Incognita" is from the previous batch of books, but since I didn't read it the first time around, I renewed it and intend to sit down with it tonight and then start reading the new MZB books. Rachael: I know how busy you are with all your projects, but "Terra Incognita" might be right up your street. It certainly seems promising from the jacket blurb; I won't say anything more about it in case you do decide to read it.
Well. Another interesting parcel appeared in the mail the day before yesterday. This one was from a fellow knitter and soapmaker in Indiana whose blog can be found here; I wish I'd taken a picture of the contents of the parcel, but I forgot, and since said contents are now scattered about the house in such places as my knitting basket, the bath tub, and the kitchen sink, I'll have to titillate you by describing the items Christine included.
Soap is always fun; soap that smells like and bears a visual resemblence to oatmeal cookies is even better. Christine's soap is made with lots of oatmeal, cinnamon, and other yummy spices, so it smells wonderful and is delightfully scrubby and lathery. She was also kind enough include a bottle of homemade liquid soap. I've never actually seen this stuff before, but it's pretty darned nifty! It's very lathery, too, and I would suspect it smells quite yummy. :) In addition to these, there was a tube of home made lipbalm (raspberry!) which is equally yummy; I <3>
I've never put silk in soap before, though I'll have to do a wee batch with the silk fiber Christine included in the parcel; she suggested adding just a pinch to the lye solution and stirring it until it dissolves. The idea of something with lavender, vanilla, and silk sounds pretty nifty, I think (I blame Melissa for this.. ahem). Now all I need to do is find a vanilla bean.
So, fank you Christine!