Truly Touched By You

I want to thank all of you who took the time (and courage, I know for some of you) to come out of your comfortable place and tell me what you want from this blog. From me. I was beyond blown away by the things that were said. I have to admit to you I wasn't really prepared for the emotions that surfaced. Perhaps I am a bit more emotional at this point in my life, or this time of the month or this time of the year or whatever... I've put more of myself into this blog than I realized... Maybe I need this more than I care to admit to and that actually seeing that people are really reading this blog kind of stuns me even though google analytics tells me so. Those analytics are numbers... Comments are real. And so were the heart felt emails I received from people that were inspiring, life changing, incredible stories they shared with me that I am so honored to have been even part of their soap and life journeys that they are on. It brings me more joy than you know.

So as a part of my life is pivoting so is my blog and I am pleased to have you with me as we move together and I don't feel alone doing this. I absolutely love this and as long as I do, I will keep doing it so no worries about me stopping. Really, the point of me asking was to make sure I was touching the wants and needs of all of you.

Soap Porn
I think I hear you. We definitely need to keep the soap dope going. Porn is a good thing. We all love to look at the pretty soaps people are making and I love to gather it for hours every time and share it with you so it works out really well that it's my job.

check!

Reviews. Yes. It has been very rare lately and I will tell you why. For a long time I was getting loads of soap to test and review and it was going great. I was doing reviews all the time. Remember those days? Well. Life became busy, work, life, you know...reviews slowed down and so did deliveries of soap. Then I received a number of soap packages that I couldn't review. Didn't like the soap. This really stinks when this happens because I really do not want to make anyone sad and tell them I couldn't use their soap or review it. My policy is that if I don't like it, I won't review it. Period. I just won't bash soaps and their soap makers. Unfortunately, during the move into the new soap shop I lost 2 or 3 small soap packages and now no one knows whose soaps were lost or if theirs were rejected by me. Typically, I have an organized list and a soap cabinet where I have things labeled but when we moved the list went missing as well. My memory is like a sieve so all I can do is fess up right now and tell you that if you sent me soap and I have not reviewed it, please don't just assume I hated it. Get in touch with me, pleeeeease.

We will work it out.

So reviews will be back up very soon. That being said, I do need soap to review if you want your soap to be reviewed, this may be a good time. I will be taking a vacation from this Florida place for one week starting on Monday August 3rd and returning on August 10th. After the 10th I can receive soaps at my shop.

I need to start fresh.

Techniques and Tutorials
These are all thanks to guest bloggers which I try to get periodically because we need flavor over here. FLAVA! We all need to learn new things, teach new things, try new things. We have so many talented people among us, we have to dip into the vat of goodness, dont you think?

So, thank you to all of the tutorial makers of the past, and I urge any of you who would like to create tutorials for the future for The Soap Bar. It is good for all of us. Think about it, then get in touch with me.

I keep telling you: I don't bite.


Contests
Contests and Give-Aways... I haven't had those in awhile, it's true. I had some good ones, though, didn't I? My favorite one was the cereal challenge. :P Did you play that? It was more fun putting it together than playing scrabble. My kids had too much fun trying to stump you all with picking the cereals, too. I guess with postage going up and business costs increasing I just got cheap. Lame, I know. I will spice it up and do one soon. I'll try to think of something fun while I am on my road trip relaxing and unwinding....

• Business Tips, balancing home/work. Great topic. I hadn't thought about that. Should really talk about that. Didn't think anyone would be interested in me rambling, really. Just SOAP SOAP SOAP.
• My hair? OK, I will post a picture of me soon. Not crazy about my hair right now.
• oil properties: I can list those.... list more resources and guides...

I have a lot to do here with you. For you. But I think I have been going in the right direction and I am so glad that you have spoken your mind. I urge you to continue to comment and tell me what you'd like and what you want to share, whether it be your experiences, thoughts, pjhotos or soaps.

This is not just my blog. To me, you are my community. You.

And thanks for making me cry.

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