I'm doing another product review - for several reasons.

First, as I've stated here several times before, I'm a complete and total health and beauty product whore. I love browsing hair care products, skin care products, makeup, and all that stuff. I probably tried about 50% of all of the products on the market, so I'm a fairly educated resource. (Ok, I realize even 50% of the entire Health and Beauty product market is still huge, so I may be embellishing a little. But I've experimented with a lot of stuff).

My second reason for doing this review is I'm an avid online shopper. My choice of products shopping online is infinite. My choice of products here in Kutztown, Pennsylvania is limited. Very limited. Since online shopping obviously doesn't allow me to actually see the merchandise I'm buying up close and personal, I'm a big fan of reviews. I read them obsessively. Of course I take some reviews with a grain of salt, but for the most part, they're pretty spot on. Unfortunately, I can find almost no user reviews for my (current) favorite skincare line. So that's where this review comes in. I'm not making any money from pushing their products, I just love them... which brings me to my third reason for writing this review:

In many, many years, I haven't found any other product - prescription or non-prescription - that produces results like this one.

So, this brings us to puppytoes.net product review #2:

B. Kamins, Chemist Redness Defying Lotion, from B. Kamins, Chemist

I've been battling rosacea a very long time, so this review may be a little long. I have fair, sensitive, easily sunburned skin (which is how I ended up with skin cancer). As I've gotten older, my skin has become more and more red and irritated. Many years ago, a dermatologist told me it was rosacea. Great, ok, so how do I get rid of it?

I tried three different prescription rosacea creams or gels - MetroGel, Finacea, and some other cream I don't remember the name of - started with an N or something to that effect. None of them really did anything to calm down the redness and bumpiness. I also tried tons of over-the-counter cleansers and moisturizers - I can't even remember them all - and none really ever did anything spectacular. The dermatologist told me that constant use of antibiotics would do the trick, but I really didn't feel like taking Tetracycline the rest of my life. I also investigated Intense Pulsed Light treatments, but I bristled a bit at the $1500 it cost.

So one day, I'm browsing sephora (that's like the mothership calling product whores like me home...too bad they don't carry the whole B. Kamins line anymore), and I found a Rosacea Starter kit from B. Kamins, Chemist. Apparently they have a whole line of products aimed at people with rosacea, so I ordered it on the spot. If I remember correctly, at that time (a couple of years ago), it came with the Vegetable Skin Cleanser, Diatomamous Earth Skin Masque, and their Booster Blue Rosacea Treatment. Immediately after using the products - we're talking the next day here, I noticed my skin was smoother. Not so much less red, but smoother. The bumpiness was gone! To make this part of the story short, I kept using their products. They've since expanded their Rosacea Skin line, now including a Booster Blue Rosacea cleanser, masque, and moisturizer (I tried the moisturizer - it was a bit too greasy for my liking). But I used the Booster Blue Rosacea Treatment for about three years.

Then, horror of horrors! I ran out of the Booster Blue Treatment. As I was cursing my stupidity for not ordering sooner, I was pawing through my bathroom drawer looking for the little sample baggie B. Kamins usually sends with their orders (LOVE the samples - just enables my habit). I didn't have any Booster Blue samples - damn! - but I did come across a teeny tiny tube of Redness Defying Lotion. I was desperate, and I decided to try it.

Holy sweet mother of God!

The very next morning my skin looked like it does when I'm taking antibiotics (usually when I had a sinus infection or something else that required antibiotics, my skin would end up looking fabulous). Sure, there was a teeny little bit of redness lingering, but I was pale again. And in a good way! I haven't seen my skin like this in years, I'm not shitting you. My skin was smooth, soft, non-flaky, and non-red. The. Next. Day. As in, after the first application. Hot damn!

Needless to say, even though the Booster Blue Rosacea Treatment is lovely, B. Kamins' Redness Defying Lotion is my new mustmustmust-have product. I don't know exactly how it differs in composition from their rosacea line of products, but if they'd create a line of products based on the Redness Defying Lotion, I'd buy every single one.

Of course, with everything, there are some drawbacks - at $75 for 1.7oz, the price is enough to make me flinch a little. I started using the bottle I have right now in the second week of October 2008, and it's just about to go empty now. So $75 is a little steep, but for 3-4 months of use, effective use at that, I'll take it. Another negative is the packaging. The container is opaque, so there's no way to see how much product is left. I went to use it on Christmas Day, only to get air coming out of the pump. I nearly fainted until I realized it was probably just a little air bubble. But I couldn't tell. The bottle feels like it's nearly empty, but I can't tell how close to the end I really am. I just hope the order I just placed will get here before it runs out. And the last negative isn't really a negative. B Kamins, man, make a bigger bottle! Dude, I would bathe in that stuff, if I could, I love it so much. Yes, I will most likely bitch about having to pay a lot of money for a bigger bottle, but at least my face won't be red.

So the final word on B. Kamins, Chemist Redness Defying Lotion? I can't limit it to one word: TRY IT. YOU'LL LIKE IT. Hard to believe the prescription creams were a fraction as effective as this stuff. It's probably been about 15 years that I'm dealing with rosacea. While this stuff doesn't cure it, it certainly beats it down.

I'm blogging about recent events again... someone stop me before I go apeshit.

So, it's disgusting enough that Jdimytai Damour got crushed to death at Wal-Mart on Black Friday. I just saw the autopsy revealed the cause of death was asphyxiation. Imagine, trying to catch a breath while hundreds of feet are pounding on your chest - feet that are racing to get gasp! ohmygod! a LCD TV for $200 off! It infuriates and sickens me.

So yea, that's bad enough. But guess what? Now there's more. And I bet you could smell this coming from a mile away.

Wait for it... wait for it...

Customers injured in the crush are suing Wal-Mart!

I'm trying to figure out why, if I'm so disgusted, I'm sitting here stifling a laughing fit so I don't wake Dave up in the other room. I probably want to laugh because people are so goddamn ugly and predictable.

Attorney Kenneth Mollins said Fritz Mesadieu and Jonathan Mesadieu were "literally carried from their position outside the store" and are now "suffering from pain in their neck and their back from being caught in that surge of people" that rushed into the Wal-Mart.

I bet the pain in their neck and back is nothing compared to what Jdimytai Damour went through.

And even better:

In a claim against the Nassau County police department, the men also contend that they "sustained monetary losses as a result of health care and legal expenses ... in the sum of $2 million."

Wow, that's a nice round number. Health care and legal expenses, my ass. I had full blown knee surgery a couple of years ago - cost of everything, including surgery, drugs, months of physical therapy, and a year's worth of followups with a rheumatologist ran somewhere in the neighborhood of $30K. Sure, not a straight up comparison, but give me a fucking break. My theory? See, since they were "carried from their position outside the store", they weren't able to get that gasp! ohmygod! LCD TV for $200 off, so they figure a cool $2 million should allow them to get any TV they want... even if it's not on sale!

He said his clients and others who were at the scene contend that the police "were there ... saw what was happening, and they left."

Really? So maybe they should sue the police, too!

Maybe Wal-Mart is partially at fault. Who would have thought a business would need full-blown riot control on Black Friday? Maybe the videotape should be investigated and these two asswipes can sue everyone who "carried" them outside the store. If they'd do that, though, they'd probably have to settle for buying a much smaller TV with their lawsuit winnings.

And maybe on their way home from Wal-Mart that day those guys should have stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru and got themselves a nice, hot cup of coffee.

I guess for some, thankfulness for being alive isn't enough.

I usually stay away from blogging about current events, but...

Regarding Jdimytai Damour, the Wal-Mart Employee who got trampled to death yesterday after opening the doors...

From ABC News via CNN:

"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, President of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?" asked President Both. "This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart. UFCW Local 1500 will demand a full investigation by all levels of Government to ensure both justice for the surviving family members and to ensure the safety of current employees and the general public. This can never be allowed to happen again and those responsible must be held accountable," Both concluded.

I am absolutely no fan of Wal-Mart in any way, shape or form. And sure, there should be some safety measures to protect these types of things from happening. But what about the people? The people who needed to shop right that minute, that they couldn't stop and help someone from getting hurt. The selfish, ignorant, savages (to take a word from that article), who just had to get that flatscreen TV for only 500!, or ohmygod that digital camera for only $69!.

So is Wal-Mart responsible? I'll leave that to the lawyers. But maybe, just maybe, Wal-Mart should offer a class in being a responsible, aware, and courteous human being for the low low price of just $19.95! Sometimes people just disgust me.

My thoughts are with the Damour family.

This is a recipe I learned when my boyfriend and I started dating - oh, about 12 years ago. He swore it was his favorite apple pie ever, and it sounded interesting, so I decided to try it. It was the brown paper bag thing that intrigued me:

Brown Bag Apple Pie

Prerequisite: A brown paper grocery bag. No, I'm not kidding.

Preheat oven to 400F.
While defrosting a premade frozen pie crust:

Filling Ingredients:
5c apples - I usually use Granny Smith
1/2c sugar
2T flour
your favorite apple pie seasoning to taste (I have an all-purpose apple pie spice that has cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice)

Mix sugar, flour, and spice in small bowl and set aside.
Peel, core, and slice apples - I have one of those peeler/corer/slicer thingies that literally makes it a snap to do all this. I used to hate peeling apples.
In a large bowl, combine the apples and sugar/flour/spice until apples are well coated.
Now, here's a matter of preference - some people just like dumping the apples into the pie shell, but I found that doing it that way sometimes makes the pie sag after baking. So I pick apples a couple at a time, and lay them in the pie crust so as to make the best use of the space. Yea, I'm a little OCD sometimes! Ha!

When all the apples are placed in the pie shell, top with the crumbs:

Crumbs:
1/2c sugar
1/2c flour
1/4c butter, at room temperature.

Mix the flour and sugar, then blend with the butter to make coarse crumbs. Spoon over the pie.

Now here's the interesting part.

Lay the bag, open end towards your pie, on a large, rigid cookie sheet. Carefully put the pie in the bag - it helps if it's oriented a little towards the back of the bag, but right in the middle side-to-side. Fold over the top of the bag a little bit and staple to close - I usually staple both ends and once in the middle.

Place on the bottom oven rack and bake at 400F for 1 hour.
Note: MAKE SURE the bag is not touching the heating element or sides of your oven. I cannot stress this enough. I have been neglectful in the past and had a corner of the bag just grazing the top heating element. It almost started a fire. That's why I use the bottommost rack in the oven (even remove the top rack). That way there's enough clearance around the bag. So I repeat, check to make sure the bag is not touching the sides or heating element in your oven.

The bag itself will be safe in the oven (as long as you've made sure it's not touching anything). You will smell singed paper. It usually goes away after a half hour. If you open the oven door to check on it, you may also see smoke/steam. It's nothing to worry about - it's the moisture baking out of the paper bag.

After an hour, carefully remove the cookie sheet/bag from the oven. Let it sit a couple minutes to cool, then rip the bag open to remove the pie. Some filling juice may have boiled over the crust edges making it sticky on the bottom of the pie pan, so it may be useful to get someone to help you - one person holding the bag and one person picking up the pie. Put your pie on a wire rack to cool.

The pie is good warm or cold, so in a couple of hours, sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I wouldn't call it "roughing it" exactly.

Last week, we decided to pack up our camper and head out for an extended weekend of camping - 15 minutes from home.

Yea, sounds crazy, but it was actually a good time.

Robin Hill was our destination - they have "Halloween Weekends" all through October. Since we live too far out in East Jebip to actually get any trick-or-treaters, we thought it would be fun to take the camper out, decorate our site, and contribute to kids' overindulgence of sugar. The only weekend we could get was the first weekend in October. The entire campgrounds were booked for the entire month. Except for two sites, last weekend.

We headed out Thursday after work. Unfortunately it was cold as hell - temperatures were dipping down into the low 40s at night. Luckily our idea of "roughing it" includes TV, heat and a bed with lots of blankets. Friday was more of the same, overcast and chilly, and I was seriously beginning to doubt the brilliance of our idea to "get away" for a weekend. Friends came to stay with us on Saturday and entered their kids in a costume contest. Their youngest, a one year old cutie named Aiden, was dressed as a monkey and came away with Funniest Costume and a nice big Hershey bar as his prize.

The thing that amazed me about the weekend was how polite and mature the kids were. After the costume judging, the kids trick-or-treated around the campground. We had a huge tub full of candy - when we saw the number of kids at the costume judging we realized we'd be taking a lot of it back home with us. Either that or we'd all be in sugar comas by the end of the night. So when the kids came around, we told them to just grab handfuls. Most of them took one piece of candy, then looked at us in disbelief when we urged them on to take more. Even the little kids - they'd gaze into this big sea of candy and pull out one piece. Shoot, we even had good candy, like Milky Ways, Twix, Hershey bars, Nerds, Blow Pops, Skittles and stuff like that. When I was a kid, if I only had to actually choose one piece, it would have taken me 15 minutes to decide what I wanted. So we kept urging them all to take a good fistful or two. But we still ended up taking a buttload of candy home with us.

Saturday night we got a nice campfire going - it was quite an interesting sensation to feel like my fingers were being singed while my butt felt numb from the cold. So we did the requisite burger cooking and Smores making over the fire (and the requisite beer drinking by the fire), and headed in to sleep. It's interesting that I go to bed hours and hours earlier when I'm on vacation than I do when I'm at home. It's probably because I"m actually relaxed and not thinking about work or whether or not I have any one of a million projects to do at home.

So yea, it wasn't quite "roughing it", and it may sound a little mundane, but it was just a nice weekend of getting away from all the craziness of everyday life. And only 15 minutes from home.