Janelle Keith

Meg Mitchell wrote:IMO the absolute best resource for a beginning soapmaker is Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson. A lot of soapmaking resources are cargo-culting based on things other soapmakers have said in the past, but Anne bases her work on experience and dispels a lot of common myths in the book. To use a totally random analogy, I'd say she's the Sam Thayer of soap. She even has another book about how to make Castile soap that isn't gross (which I haven't tried yet, but she does explain why Castile soap tends to be so gross and yet such a classic of at-home soapmaking).

Anne's book is excellent - probably my favorite book on the subject. She demystified the soapmaking process for me.

For cleaning metal and plastic horizontal blinds - I usually vacuum with a brush attachment (this is the easiest way to keep them dusted). Sometimes the humidity causes the dust to actually stick to the blinds, and that’s when I dust with a wet towel, or take them down and given them a gentle wash in the bathtub.

Cleaning blinds is about as fun as flossing teeth.