IÂm amazed this thread is still alive almost a year after I started it! I will say now that IÂve had it a year it works pretty well. It would work better if my husband also used it but he will not. So considering itÂs being used only every other shower, itÂs keeping the shower reasonably clean. I was out of town for 2 and a half weeks and noticed buildup on the doors, from no one having used it at all for that time. So now the shower will have to be cleanedÂbut itÂs the first time in many months! I think I will ask my husband to do it since he is the one that wonÂt use the machine! WeÂll see how far I get with that. I am not obsessively clean so itÂs good enough for me if it looks clean. I think how well the machine works must be variable, and have a great deal to do with a combination of how hard your water is plus how it combines with whatever soap you use. We had some stains in the molded fiberglass bottom of the shower that are gone now, too; that took several months to happen. We had tried everything on those without success. It is not perfect at keeping the mildew away but I find that is cropping up high up on the tiled wall where the spray does not reach. Not much of an issue.

I don't bother coloring mine - I put them in colored jars instead. :-) (Actually, for our personal use, they're in a tightly lidded plastic tub under the sink. LOL) Or sometimes I added salts that had naturally occurring colors of their own depending on where they were produced, like the Hawaiian pink, Celtic gray, or Indian "black" salts. I've never used things like artificial dyes. I tend to be more of a minimalist to begin with, preferring my products to be in a more natural state - if I thought something really needed a color, I tended to use a (normally) non-irritating herb that would produce that color. For example, for a yellow-orange citrus-scented soap, I'd add some turmeric or annatto seed, or infuse herbs like rose madder or alkanet root (tricky, as it can stain permanently) into the oil mixture for a pink lotion. But, of course, you can do whatever you like. :-)

ARG - Thank you so much! I really appreciate the information and making me feel better about my architects work too even though I don't feel we are there yet. I am trying to see if he'll do this with us and I will happily pay him for his time if he feels this is outside our contract. It is just trying to convince him without offending him that I need to work on before bringing it up as I'm a very direct person. AS - there is some I like and some I don't like at all. I'd love to see the exterior too as I really dislike the entry as well. He didn't send the elevation, but he is a bit computer challenged so getting this by email was a surprise. I did get a site plan in the mail, but not the elevation. I think there are some bump outs that will make it look odd too. What I like: - Open, kitchen, dining, living area and kitchen close to porch for grilling - Access to lookout from main areas of the house - some storage closets - mudroom walk through - general arrangement of family bedrooms in same area and so it can be on the same ac system for cooler temps at night and warmer during the day - closet separation from the bathroom for the kids rooms and some privacy from the kid's living - regular stairs - pantry not so over-sized as in other plans - storm room size - bedroom privacy - 4' hallways everywhere - size of some of rooms are good and would fit what we need - pool bath have exterior access - m. closet (dressing) has no windows What I don't like: - siting - the clear view is north and the m. bed, m. bath, and bed#2 have the clearest view. The rest is through trees and their canopy and they are mostly live oaks which keep their leaves during the winter so it is a peak of a view vs. a clear one. Seems like the main rooms should take more advantage of the clear view, but maybe that has something to do with west being that way too. Although the western sun is blocked by trees that sit higher about 1/2 mile away (not on our property) so it never hits the house as it is today. It is also moved over about 30 ft from where it was before, not sure why that is which also diminishes the view. Also the new electrical is shown all wrong and would run through the shop as it is placed and the equipment apron is supposed to be on the east side of the shop so we don't have to look at the tractor and trailer. - would prefer sort of a main shape of a house and the others looking like additions to that main shape, but I can let that one go if need be. - the pool is not what we expected as we needed a pool that also has a swim lane - not just a swim lane and where it is placed I'm afraid it would have a lot of drainage running into it and requiring retaining walls to avoid it along with stairs to it. We prefer no stairs for access. - light is blocked from the southeast to kitchen, dining, and living with the hallway wall, stairs, and pantry. - The entry and how it interacts with the porch. Only a few ft in front of the front door and the porch divided into two areas where one is small to not be useful for anything but provide some sun protection. - Kid's bedrooms very far away to go and wake-up in the morning and having to walk back and forth to kitchen and getting to those bedrooms in the morning feels like a maze to me. My mornings are wake-up, laundry, work out, shower, laundry of WO clothes and then meal prep for breakfast and dinner, wake kiddo up, kid eats, then goes and gets dressed while I clean-up/finish up and then I have to keep her on track while doing this or 10 minutes to get dressed can turn into 30 min. Then kid comes back and grabs her lunch and puts stuff into her backpack in the mudroom and always have to go back to her room for something and then we finally leave. The house just doesn't seem like it will make my mornings easier, but rather harder. I'll get a workout for sure and so will the kid. - the kid's living is too far removed from the main part of the house, oversight is just not simple without walking through the maze which could be good for sound, but also not for a quick check-in and a lot of yelling from kitchen or walking to get there for example to tell them dinner is ready. Might also get too noisy for the den nearby with xbox Kinect play which can get very loud at our house. - bed#2 and #3 shape is a bit odd and two different sizes. Haven't measured to double check that 2 is 1 foot x closet smaller, but from looks it appears to be. - some rooms are over-sized such as m. closet, m. bed, pool bath, laundry, mudroom (although we need a lot of closet space here so it would be utilized) - view from 4th bedroom walking out is into the mudroom (door will never be closed to the mudroom) - storm room has an exterior wall (may or may not be important) - longer walk to the laundry than before and more turns and it holds our cleaning supplies as well except the bathrooms has their own. - some other more detailed things, but I don't think we are at the point of details yet.

I can’t recommend a soap because I only use bars and you probably want liquid( I feel everyone always wants liquid) For ragged cuticles, however, I love the Body Shop Almond Oil pen. It‘s so easy to apply, and it is very moisturizing. For full hand extreme dryness best emergency treatment is slathering them at night and sleeping in manicure gloves. Then you’ll be back on track with regular dryness. Then you need a moisture “shield”. Something like “gloves in a bottle” is good and I did learn about it in my candy stripping days, Avon used to make a “shield” too called “silicone glove” don’t know if they still do. But its a shield to hold in the moisture that you need