Ped Egg for your feet- big zero

I saw one of those Ped Eggs on sale at CVS this week. For under $10 I thought I'd give it a try for in between pedicure time .

SAVE YOUR MONEY. The PedEgg does not work. The time it takes scrapes off the dead skin on your heels with this little gadget which is essentially a mini-cheese grater in a plastic egg is longer than the time spent getting a professional pedicure. And I don't even have really rough feet. And when I turned it over to try my other foot, the dead skin (yuck) came out through the holes.

Spend $1 on a course nail file. Put your foot over a waste paper basket. File. You will get the job done in a fraction of the time and it will be a far better result. Peddeggs- rotten eggs.

To shop or not to shop

It's five o'clock on Christmas. It's really quiet as everhyone is exhausted from all the tumult from the last few weeks. I just read the paper and face a huge dilemma. To shop or not to shop - that is the question. Macys is having a sale that starts at 7am with a coupon good from 7 until 1pm. Bloomingdales has sweaters on sale that would be perfect for my friend's January birthday. And Sears has a some wonderful jeans the kids wear on sale.

IF I get to the store when it opens I have a fair shot at a decent parking spot. I'm not into walking long distances at mall parking lots these days. After that poor woman and her 7-year old were murdered in Boca Raton outside Sears, there is something to be said for Valet Parking - even in the light of day.

I'm off from work all week. I could be productive and buy new sheets, some bras (buy 2 get 1 free) and pick up some holiday wrapping for next year.

Or I could sleep in and pay retail.

Keep your music to yourself

What I cannot tolerate however is the holiday music blaring from my neighbors' houses. Let them keep FPL in business with all the lights - that's their pleasure. But why do the speakers face OUT to the street and not back at their own bedrooms? When it cools off enough here in South Florida we open the windows. I don't want to hear their digital recordings over and over and over again while that can be heard even with our television on.

I downloaded some of Josh Groban's NOEL songs from iTunes to enjoy in our home this December. Why do my neighbors think their music should be imposed on me? I want to hear what I want to hear - not their noise. For even the most lovely music is noise when it's not wanted.

After six weeks (one of the houses starts in early November) I finally said something. The answer was " My kids like it so I play it." Fine, So play it when your kids are home and awake with the speakers in their rooms, not the street.

To each his and her own. Let us each take pleasure in our own songs at our own level.

Merry Christmas

those little grey hairs make me nuts

I have grey hair. Only a tiny bit - in front of my ears, a few at my hairline. I color my hair myself (have been since I'm 27 to give my natural color a boost).

A few years ago I discovered these little crayons that you can color those greys. They're very oily and yucky. Then I tried the mascara type wands that you brush over the grey. A bit better....I use an eyebrow brush to blend it in.

Then, I found JUST FOR MEN, the hair color guys use to color their beards and moustaches. Not the one-application box, but the one with the two little tubes that you squirt a bit of color out and a bit of developer and blend with a little plastic spatula and apply to your greys. IT'S NOT JUST FOR MEN.....Ladies, this is THE best stuff to use in between the touch-ups at home or the salon.

Clairol makes some kind of root touch-up which is crazy because it's just one application. A box of this Just for Men is good for about ten touch ups... I guess it depends on how much you need.

Bed Bath & Beyond vs Linens & Things - no contest

The Bed Bath & Beyond and Linens n Things are on opposite corners in my town, as they are in many communities. Linens and Things makes a big show of advertised specials, but they are no competition for BB&B.

For one thing, Bed Bath always has lots of friendly and knowledgeable employees on the selling floor who when asked for the location of an item, will walk you there to make sure you find it. Just locating help in LNT is a chore.

I was in both stores today, having been given a $20 gift card for LNT I figured I'd go pick up some overpriced Braun Oral B toothbrush replacement heads. With a coupon (which you can use only two) I'd get what I needed and pick up something else to use up the card. It was a challenge finding something useful for under $10. I finally picked out a new clothes hamper for the kids.

Then I went across the street to Bed Bath & Beyond. Coupons in hand (you can use up to six and they can be expired - something LNT doesn't permit), I purchased a new vacuum cleaner. 20% off meant a $30 saving. My son got the retractable iPod ear buds he was looking for (also 20% off with coupon). My biggest delight was the new health & beauty aids section that was introduced about three months ago. I can't believe I hadn't been in the store since before it's debut! Great variety of everyday items ranging from soap and toothpaste to drugstore type cosmetics and hair color. And super low prices made even better with, yes, coupons! My L'Oreal mascara was about $5.69, less 20%. It's normally around 8 or 9 bucks at CVS or Wal-mart. My hair color was about 8.50.... I usually spend 9.99 at the drugstores. And yes, with my coupon, a bargain.

I didn't ask if they accept manufacturer's coupons too, but if so, they'd nearly be paying me to take the stuff out of the store.

I have $1.25 left on that Linens N Things gift card. I doubt I'll ever go in there again to use it.