A product report isn\’t necessarily about something brand-new. Better Basics for the Home is, in my personal opinion, a wonderful book. I\’ve had a copy of it for many years. Just today I made the coming Winter\’s supply of hand cream, using a variation on Basic Waterless Wax Formula (pg. 76).

Want to scrub the bathtub without having to inhale nasty fumes? No problem! Just mix baking soda with liquid soap or liquid detergent to the consistency of creamy frosting. Viola!

This book even includes instructions for making soap, and I made my own soap for about five years. I stopped when the people in the unit adjacent to me started having children; I didn\’t want to risk having an an energetic, curious kid appear on the scene just as I was mixing up the lye solution (I always did that outdoors, per instructions). Sometimes I wish I could still make my own soap; it was the best bar soap I\’ve ever had.

BBH, as I call it, was written by a woman who developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivities following accidental exposure to a gas leak, and then to pesticides. My guess is that the fumes from chain lubricants and such would be intolerable to her; thus BBH isn\’t cycling-oriented.

But what does that matter? Sometimes I wish I had my own house to paint, so I could try milk paint! And then I could write a product report about it.