Soap, Soap and More Soap

I made a batch of Rosemary soap today. Looks like it will set up okay. The Clary Sage with Lavender from yesterday is perfect. Soap making is a cross between cooking and a chemistry experiment, so one can only hope that everything goes alright. Sometimes I think the alignment of the planets has a lot to do with it. I had a couple of batches go screwy last winter and it totally freaked me out. The soap was hard as cement and wouldn't cut right because it was so hard...but the soap was amazingly wonderful. Very good lather and the bars are lasting forever. I finally figured out my olive oil amount was off. Now the soap cuts fine. I will have to invest in molds one of these days, but for now my primitive milk carton molds will have to do. I take my soap for granted - after all, it is everywhere in my home. When I go to someone else's house, or go travelling, and have to use commercial soap I realize how nice mine is. Soap is good thing. I was just talking to Gretchen the other day about a WWII movie with Cate Blanchett and a host of others. A group of women being held in a Japanese prison camp were fighting over a tiny sliver of soap. It kind of brought home how important soap is to all of us. Yes, I am thoroughly spoiled with my soap dish and bath tub piled high with every kind of soap I make.