Saturday, January 17, 2009

Random ramblings on a wintery weekend

I've been pondering my dry, dry, drrrrrryyyyyyy skin this morning. I'm not sure if my skin is closer to this:
this:

or perhaps this: Now, while I've never touched an alligator, they are the animals that one usually sees in the commercials for dry skin remedies. I have actually touched both a rhino and an elephant, and I think overall, my skin (especially in winter, when I'm not as likely to shave my legs quite as often as I do in the summer) is more similar to that of an elephant, as elephants have hairier skin than I recall rhinos having. I remember the rhinos' skin as being surprisingly smooth, whereas the elephants were a bit prickly.

At any rate, my skin definitely doesn't feel terribly human this time of year. Between the weather, the wind, and the more-frequent handwashing/sanitizing due to it being cold and flu season, my skin is suffering. It always does in the winters.

When I mentioned in my last post that my skin is dry and that I have tried many, many products with which to moisturize it, I wasn't kidding.
This is just a random sampling of the products I had close at hand when I decided to take a picture of them today. There are others lurking on shelves and counters, in cabinets and drawers. Some of the smaller tubes came out of my purse, because as well as carrying a small bottle of hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes with me, I also carry lotion to try and counteract the damage I'm doing by sanitizing. As to the rest of them... clearly, I am a woman who is swayed by marketing, willing to believe any promise of smooth, soft skin that resembles none of the wildlife pictures above. Clearly, I am also a woman who does not frequently throw things away. Like, for example, those two bottles of "makes you look tanner" moisturizer/lotion. I'd heard good - even great! - things about those, so I cut out a coupon for them one Sunday and trotted off to the store. I bought the kind designated for "fair" skin, because at my absolute darkest, I'm still pretty dang fair. I did not at all like the color they turned either my legs (the body lotion stuff) or my face (the facial moisturizer stuff). It did darken my skin, but only in a "my goodness, but she looks like she could stand to have a liver transplant" jaundiced sort of way. Haven't opened either of those in years. They're still mostly full. I haven't thrown them out, though, because you never know when I might want to look orangey-yellow again, I mean, maybe the next time I try them, they'll work better.... ha. (Actually, those tanny-tinty ones kind of *do* make my skin look like that Rhino in the picture above!)

Anyhow, thanks for all the suggestions on moisturizers and lotions. Maybe this winter, I will find something that works well and yet doesn't make me break the heck out, too!

***
So, two weeks down, with five workouts a week. I no longer am quite like this, and
with any luck, I'll be all buff like Homer (ha ha ha) in two months, too, though I'm eating oatmeal and drinking green tea for breakfast instead of eating Powersauce bars....


Hee! At the very least, I can pronounce the name of the place I've been dragging myself to each morning after Kiddo gets on the bus..... it's the "why?!?!?!"



***

Hubby and I are planning on going to the movies on Monday, sans Kiddo. (Woo-hoo!) We really want to see Slumdog Millionaire, but we also really want to use our Fandango gift card that my brother and sister-in-law gave us for Christmas, and it isn't playing at any of the local theaters that use Fandango. Grrrr. So, our options are either going to be to (a) see something else and use our Fandango gift card - and goodness knows, we haven't seen *anything* that's playing now other than Bolt, so we ought to have plenty of options, or (b) pay for the tickets ourselves to see Slumdog Millionaire. We haven't quite decided yet which option we will go with, but either way, a movie.....in a theater.....that isn't animated.....possibly with popcorn, even....... *swooooooon*

***

Speaking of *swooooooning* - Ellen has finally landed George Clooney as a guest. I love Ellen, but don't watch daytime TV really, other than the news first thing in the morning (so, before 6:30am) and then the Today Show or Regis and Kelly while I'm at the gym. I sort of vaguely knew that Ellen's had some recurring thing about getting George Clooney to be on her show, and I just read that he will be on this coming Monday. Totally setting the DVR for that one, woot woot!

***
In other TV-related news, only FIVE MORE DAYS until Lost finally premieres!!!! Lost is one of my most favorite shows EVER in the history of television, so needless to say, I'm a wee bit excited. Then, adding to the "oh my goodness!" levels of excitement, I came across this story on E! Online this morning.... The season of Sawyer?!?! Be still, my beating heart!!!

***
It is currently five degrees outside. (That'd be Fahrenheit, for all you international folks out there who wonder why I'm pointing this out. Then again, I suppose 5 degrees Celsius is also not terribly warm.) This cold spell we're in is supposed to end by tomorrow though, with temperatures soaring all the way back up into the 20s. (That'd be a wee bit of sarcasm...) At the rate this weather is going, it will be May before Hubby braves the outdoors long enough to take down the outside Christmas lights. I unplugged them the weekend after New Year's, but they're still up there. At least all the other Christmas stuff (aka the indoor stuff) has been put away for weeks now.

***
We have started giving Kiddo a weekly allowance. She has three piggy banks (thanks to her aunt and uncle who gave them to her for Christmas, knowing this was our allowance plan), designated as SPEND, SAVE and CHARITY respectively. Each week, she gets $.75 that gets divided evenly between the three banks. (Hey, I said we were giving her an allowance, I didn't say it was a BIG allowance...) Her current plan is to save up enough money in her SPEND piggy bank to buy some new clothes for her Barbie dolls (she has three; Birthday Barbie, Surfing Ken and Cinderella Barbie). Right now, the SAVE piggy bank is earmarked for our trip to Disney World next summer, but it may not last quite that long. She wants to use the CHARITY earnings for helping kids who don't have food or toys, so we'll figure out an appropriate charity to donate that money to once there is enough collected.

I never had an allowance when I was growing up. (I did have a savings account at the bank - one of the old-school, passbook kind of accounts - into which I put the money I earned through my 4-H market lamb and other endeavors each year.) Hubby and I think there are valuable lessons to be learned with an allowance, and Kiddo is now old enough to understand the concept of money to some decent degree, so we decided we'd go for it. One of the biggest perks to it for me that I've found so far is that now, if we're out at a store and Kiddo starts asking me to buy her something, I can defer her to her allowance and it makes her stop asking (or whining) and also makes her think more seriously about whether the item that has momentarily caught her fancy is really worth spending money to acquire.

***
So, those of you with kids, do you give them an allowance? If so, how much at what age and how do you do it? Is everyone else sticking with their New Year's Resolutions (if you made any)? If your resolution was like mine - to get in shape - how are you doing? (Thus far, I've lost a measly two pounds, but I haven't been killing it at the gym, though I intend to step it up a bit starting next week. There's a Latin dance exercise class I walked past on my way out yesterday that looked intriguing, and I'm going to see if I can join it for the rest of this session. If not, it will definitely be a next-session goal!) Any good movie suggestions in case we opt for the non-Slumdog Millionaire route? Any hints on how to do better at Wii Mario Kart, like which character to race as and which vehicle to drive? What daytime TV shows do you watch? Anyone else psyched for the start of Lost on Wednesday? (Boy, the PTA meeting better get out on time so I don't miss a second of it!!) Anyone have exciting weekend plans? We're going to Disney on Ice tomorrow, and I can't wait!

In closing, I will leave you with the link to the Human video from The Killers. I caught about 15 seconds of it while flipping channels early the other morning, and the song has been firmly lodged in my head ever since. I am going to download it to my iPod, I think... the lyrics may be silly, but it is downright catchy nonetheless, and I am a fan of the band. So, one last question: Are we human, or are we dancer?

16 comments:

Smoochiefrog said...

Well I suffer from severe dry skin every winter. I have the Gold Bond stuff you have in the picture, and it works but I've found a better one. I bought a small bottle of Jergens Ultra Healing Intense Moisture Therapy and it works like a champ! It doesn't leave me slimy feeling, my skin eats it up quickly, and it doesn't have a strong smell to it. LOVE IT!!!!

Now, as for the allowance. Here's the big question; is she working for the money or are you just giving it to her? If she's not working for it in some way, *I* don't think it's a good idea.

Starting at 5, my tadpoles have jobs to do around the house. Each year on their birthday, they get a new one. Each job is equal to $1, and they get their age in pay. Some sample jobs are cleaning their rooms, setting the table, putting their clothes away, vacuuming the floor, picking up the toys in the playroom, etc. If they don't do the job, they don't get paid for it. Simple as that.

We do this so they get a sense of what it takes to make money. They're earning it as opposed to just being given it. Earning it helps them to see the fruits of their labor so to speak.

But that's just my opinion. :)

RMF said...

I disagree with Smoochiefrog. I think kids should help out around the house because they live in it, not because they get paid. Allowance is to learn about money.

E has been getting allowance since she fell in love with stretched pennies at about age 2 1/2. She gets $0.25 per week, which means a stretched penny every two weeks (I was willing to spot her the penny.) We're thinking of raising it to $0.50 now that her goals are loftier, but I like your charity idea, so I'm going to think that over.

E did just buy her dad a birthday present with her own money (left over from holiday gifts) so she's learning about budgeting and the fact that money is gone when it's spent. She's now saving up for Hello Kitty socks, and WILL NOT spend money on anything else.

As for LOST, I've never been able to watch it, since I know Damon Lindelof and don't want to know that much about his psyche. Whenever I watch it, I feel as if I'm IN Damon's brain. Someday I'll scan those pics from high school plays and put them on facebook...

Unknown said...

I only had time to skim today but - moisturizers for breakout skin (and trust me, I've got an Asian kiddo, she's got the driest breakout skin, she's even allergic to wall to wall carpet of all things!)
Eucerin - it's thick almost like vaseline and expensive but it works (small little tube not the pump bottle kind, I think it's called extrmeme dry skin or something). You can find it Happy Harrys or the like.
My Boo and I use Bath and Body Works C.O. Bigelow®
Dr. Hiosous QUINCE Hand Lotion (not the lemon, though I do have that too). Works like a dream. And it's currently buy one get one on those products :)

Allowance - only if he cleans the toys for me :) he gets a € (about $1.40 or so) a week. He rarely earns it though.
Resolutions - I don't make them, I do goals instead and I met one so far - I actually had the courage to submit a query to a literary agent (yikes). Waiting with baited breath...

Unknown said...

my skin's dry in patches... its my feet that seem to suffer the most. im always looking for the latest and greatest in foot creams! as for an allowance, i dont give one to my kids, and never did... but i do offer plenty of opportunities to earn money. i believe in quid pro quo - if you want something from me, you better be prepared to earn it. it seems to have worked... all my kids have marvelous work ethics, they all know how to do practical things like fold clothes, sort laundry and vaccum and they all seem to have more money than i do at any given time!

Ronnica said...

I put Curel on my hands about 3 or 4 times a night...and it's the only thing I can get to keep my hands moisturized for that long.

Anonymous said...

I always call myself Lizard Girl. Eucerin, trust me, it works!

Other than that, get some shea butter off e-bay or something. Works too!

Kiddo's "spend" goals made me laugh.

nikkicrumpet said...

OH MY you have a TON of lotions and skin soothers there!! I've not found a lotion that works all that great...at least not for my feet. They get so dry they crack and bleed. I gave my kids an allowance...but when they got old enough to work I made sure it wasn't enough to take care of their needs...so that they would HAVE to get a job if they wanted any extras!

Allegro ma non troppo said...

Good luck finding the perfect moisturiser. It'll probably be something very simple and cheap, and just when you're used to it it'll go out of production. That's just the way things happen...

My kids play with their money boxes far too much so they get lost and damaged and all their loot disappears. There also seems to be a large amount of games arcade fake coins mixed in - the value of money may have to wait til they're a bit older!

Paige said...

I do the same thing as you so I too have a million lotions around here. And now for some reason, I have a weird patch on my calf that is so awful, and so dry it hurts, no matter what I put on it.

I did just find a great moisturizer for the face though--expensive at about 50 bucks an ounce, but it is working really well

Unknown said...

My kids are turning 8 and they get 5 dollars a week. I keep talking to them about the need to use their allowance for tzedakah (charity), gifts for each other and us, and saving for the future. So far my lofty plans are falling on deaf ears. I really like the piggy bank suggestion.

Ash said...

Lots of good advice on the allowance thing. Oldest gets $5/week - some chores, but more for money management - he knows it take 10 weeks to save up for a Wii Game. The kid has stick-to-itness, I'll give him that.

And this had me laughing out loud..."That'd be Fahrenheit, for all you international folks out there who wonder why I'm pointing this out. Then again, I suppose 5 degrees Celsius is also not terribly warm."

WheresMyAngels said...

I had to read that 3 times before I realized you were serious about the $.75!! lol

People with down syndrome have very dry skin and Mercede's has just been horrible this year. I have been using a night cream from Avon that is suppose to help prevent aging. It is one of the renew creme's. Then after that sinks in, I cover her face in bee's wax as a preventative. Once the skin gets bad, not much will help. The preventative is what you want to find, what works for you.

Oh Sween cream is another really good cream and works as a preventative. I just hate the nursing home smell of it.

WheresMyAngels said...

Oh I got so caught up in that $.75, that I just realized I didn't read all of your novel, I mean post.

No, I don't do allowances, but I want too.

Cristin said...

I have so many of those lotions in my cabinet! For my hands I've been using Aquaphor, lots of it, at night with cotton gloves...it's helping the cuticle situation a lot...

I don't know if I'll be giving the kids allowance... there would have to be some chores involved...

Anonymous said...

omg - you could use my heels to sand a small boat. Have you tried the moo cream? Forgot what it's called, but it's got the cow colors on the jar? Our daughter uses it for her hands and it works wonders. Udder Cream? Something like that. It's udderly fantastic!

Sigh. I know - that was sad.

Anyway ... we should meet up at a Wegmans sometime. Before we turn into icicles and can no longer move.

(BTW - you're right ... there are an awful lot of Heathers on my blog!)

Femin Susan said...

Hi....
Its really funny... Ok, Good luck for finding the perfect moisturizer.