Give aways and goodies

Day 21 of the advent calendar

A warm good morning to you all, on this 21st of December. Again: You can win here a sample discovery set. 5 scents, 1.5 ml, spray vials, your choice!

Three more times going to bed and then we are there, on Christmas day. Here, in the house of Andy, we are getting ready, but are not ready, yet. We got the presents for the kids in town, but will need to make more soaps for friends and neighbors. The soaps, mentioned here before, are called “Perfume in a soap
MANDARINES ambrées”

Perfume in a soap is kind of the name of the soap line, if you wish. I do not want to be pretentious there, but I just liked the idea of turning things around a bit. It is not about the soap, but rather about the perfume in there; these bars are not just fragrant soaps, but like my scents  immersive.

These soap bars sell hot cookies at medieval art&vie these days, the bookshop where the fragrant tauer things began. Thus, more soap packing over the weekend. Which is fine. It is part of the holiday preparation rituals here.

But, in the end, soaps are not really part of the Tauer business, yet. It is one of these “funnel projects” that one of my former bosses always warned me of. These funnel projects sneak in, place themselves in the chorus of projects and action items, and start to drain energy and resources. They get bigger and bigger, are out of controll because you did not start them by defining clear timelines and milestones and expected returns on investments….That makes them dangerous. They are also difficult to stop and turn off.

Sorry for the project management blurp here.

But the same applies in a private house, for instance, where you might start a little funnel project like painting this a little corner over there without bothering to ask your partner,  and ending up reshaping your living room’s ceilings.

Thus, I am always careful when it comes to these side items that might develop into something bigger that in the end might menace what I love most: Perfumes, fragrant sculpture, or – to use my claim- immersive sculptures(®). The same applies for candles, room sprays, et al. Although, to be honest: I am always, always, always tempted to one fine day do a candle.

To finish this post: This weekend will also see me doing sort of a project plan for 2014. I learned it this year (again) …many funnel projects, a lot  happening at once, a couple of milestones that were missed, …. So there we go: Happy planing 2014 ahead!

And yes: I know…. Man proposes, God disposes.

Today’s picture: a close up of the card board sleeve, hot embossed with relief printed, protecting the tin box with the pentagonal bottle inside.