What the heck is going on?

Okay, I'm really starting to get a complex now. I'm convinced the powers that be in the skin care industry are out to get me! I don't use a whole lot of creams and lotions and stuff, I'm just not disciplined enough to slather up every day and night, but I do use something when or if I remember and when I get out of the shower.

So anyway, my body lotion of choice for the last couple-three years has been Aveeno, specifically this one:

Aveeno Positively Smooth moisturizing lotion. Great stuff, non-greasy, gently fragranced, and keeps my bone-dry skin relatively moisturized for awhile. I really like it and keep a bottle on my desk for my hands and one in my bathroom for the rest of me.

Used to be I could just pick it up at the drug or grocery store. Not anymore! The damn stuff seems to have gone underground and is becoming impossible to find. Their regular daily moisturizing lotion is all over the place, as well as the positively smooth shaving cream (uh, no thanks) but not the stuff above.

So, I checked out Amazon and yea! they had it! I quick put a 3-pack in my cart Friday night and don't you know before I could buy the stuff yesterday, the seller no longer had it!! Grrrrrr. Okay, so I found another seller who said they had it in stock so I quick grabbed three and ordered them. We shall see what happens.

But wait, there's more.

I'm also picky about the lip balm I use. Years ago Vaseline had a stick-type product that was wonderful. Creamier, smoother, and not as dry as Chapstick was at the time. Anyway, guess what? Yes, of course... they discontinued it. Okay, so then I used Chapstick for awhile but I never really liked it. Then I discovered Neosporin LT about three years ago:


Lovely stuff. Comes in a tube, like regular Neosporin, but it's specifically for the lips and works great for healing chapped, dry lips, especially in the winter.

Think I can find it in my neck of the woods anymore? Oh, nooooo. It too seems to have disappeared (though still listed as a current product on their site) and all that seems to be available is their Lip Health hydration SPF product, which is fine if you're gonna be frying in the sun. i want my Lip Treatment for chapped lips!

So, while I'm doing the lotion thing at Amazon, I also found the lip treatment and put a 3-pack of it in my cart. Would you believe the same thing happened?? Another notice from Amazon that that listed seller doesn't have it anymore!! Okay, so now I'm getting crazy! Why does this keep happening? Fortunately, I found another seller and quick ordered the stuff when I ordered the lotion. I really don't expect to get either one, but maybe I'll get lucky, we'll see.

Talk about your conspiracy theories. How come everything I like abruptly disappears? Why can't the manufacturers just leave a perfectly good product alone? They're out to get me, I'm telling ya...

(Mis)adventures in the kitchen

*sigh* So I'm all gung-ho to try a new recipe, a Holiday Eggnog Bread that I found over on Mommy's Kitchen blog.

I gather all the ingredients, get the oven going, grease my pan, and go to it. Ummmm, smells good even before it gets in the oven! Pour the batter in the pan, pop it in the oven, and start to clean up the mess. Oh, s%!$#t!!! I forgot to add the pudding! So I quick pull the thing back out of the oven, dump it back in the bowl, add the pudding, wash and regrease the pan, and put it all back in the oven. Whew! Averted a major screw-up there! Or so I thought...

After 45 minutes, I check to see how it's doing. Hmmm, getting a little dark around the edges, but waaaay...uhmmm moist... in the middle. Moist, as in thick soup! Okay, so I leave it in for about five more minutes. Still soupy. Leave it in for another few minutes. Still soupy. And, I might add, getting browner by the minute. Several gloppy toothpick tests and about 20 minutes later, I give up, turn the oven off, and leave it sit to do whatever the hell it's going to do. This thing is nowhere near "golden" -- not burnt yet, but definitely beyond golden.

After sitting for a few in the turned-off oven, it finally tests clean and at the moment is cooling its little brown heels while I decide whether I'm going to add the glaze or just chalk it all up to a bad experience and finish watching the football game.

Maybe those couple of minutes in the oven before I added the pudding really did make a difference? Or maybe it's the dark pans? But Tina baked hers in dark pans. I dunno. I'm sure it's a perfectly delicious recipe and whoever decides to try it? . . .

"You're a better (wo)man than I am, Gunga Din!!"

-----

P. S. it actually tasted a whole lot better than it looked!

Time marches on...

You know you're getting old when a familiar product, one that's been on the market for nearly 60 years, and one that you've been using forever, sloooowly starts disappearing from your retail shelves. When you find yourself scouring the Internet trying to find what you want, you know it's only a matter of time before another of your favorites goes the way of the dinosaur... total extinction.

I don't know if it's a consequence of geographic location or demographics or what, but it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to find Evyan's White Shoulders scent a.n.y.w.h.e.r.e in Frederick County!! I used to be able to pick it up at almost any of our local department stores, but the last place I found it was on a visit south, at one of those discount stops off the highway in North Carolina. Now, I know I live in farm country, but surely - surely even farm folks like to smell something other than cow manure!


Anyway, occasionally I wear it, but for the most part, I like to spray it on the pillows when the beds get made or changed. It's one of those special little indulgences I allow myself because I love sinking into the soft aroma as I drift off to sleep. Guests tell me it's a nice welcoming touch and my grands think it smells like mommaw's house. :) In recent years, I've also switched almost exclusively to White Shoulders bath/dusting powder, because ironicially, (a) it was easier to find than my primary powder of Tova or L'air Du Temps, which for some reason have become more of a Christmas special-packaging deal, and (b) it was a heck of a lot cheaper. Hah! It's still cheaper, but so much for easier! And, cheaper won't matter when it disappears altogether!
So, here I am, bemoaning what appears to be inevitable change, and resorting to the Internet to fill my smell good needs cuz I'm diddly-damned if I'm going to drive all over the east coast looking for the stuff.

You also know you're getting old when the highlight of your day is receiving a couple of boxes of bath powder in the mail!! ;) (scroll down and check out the post beneath this one.)

Moronic mentality

Well, I've joined the rest of the country in the battle with insurance company morons who think they know more than doctors. Mine refused to cover the MRI my doctor ordered for my leg and insisted I get an ultrasound instead.

So, in addition to an X-ray, which apparently showed nothing serious, I got the ultrasound yesterday and, of course, guess what? Everything's hunky dory, no blood clots, and the blood flow is "beautiful," according to the tech. While that's all good news, and getting an ultrasound was a neat, new experience for me, it still doesn't address the issue of my mega-painful leg and the misery I'm in because we still don't know what's wrong or how to treat the damn thing! Plus, I'll still have to get an MRI at some point and now they'll be paying for two tests instead of the one my doctor ordered in the first place!

Aarrgh! Stupid should definitely hurt!!

In the meantime, the good doctor put me on a different painkiller, essentially Tylenol w/codeine, which really isn't doing much, and I'm still one hurting puppy... about ready to rid my body of it's painful appendage or slit my throat, whichever comes first!

No more - I'm done - I want it gone...

I've had, had, had it! Get this piece of crap out of my life!

In the summer of '05 we had a new heating/AC system installed - a heat pump. I am soooooo NOT impressed! While it performs acceptably in terms of heating and cooling, this beast is the noisiest piece of equipment I've ever had the misfortune to have to listen to!! It consists of an inside unit, which is fine and lovely and... quiet; so quiet you hardly know it's on. On the other hand, the outside unit more than makes up for the lack of noise inside. The damn thing sounds like a jet plane revving up for take off and has gotten progressively noisier in the last season, particularly during the winter months.

The final straw came recently when we got a cold snap and temperatures dipped into the teens. The monster kicked on in the middle of the night and woke me up from a perfectly good, sound sleep! So now I've got the distinct pleasure of being served my nightly noises in stereo - my foghorn snorer on one side and this miserable beast through my bedroom window on the other.

Not only is it annoying as hell to me, but I'm sure the neighbors just looooove us as this thing roars throughout the neighborhood! It's embarassing.

At the moment, I'm patiently waiting for the HVAC guy to come and DO something about the situation ... he'd better not tell me "well, that's just the nature of the beast." I swear, I'll smack the snot outta him!