Home Health Aids

Hank and I took a sick day today. We have colds. But they weren't really so bad that we couldn't have gone on with our normal activities. Sometimes, though, I feel like I just want to give it a day--like go ahead and rest and just have a cold--and then bounce back the next day. And you know how you always feel worse first thing in the morning? At six thirty, I was like, "I can't gooo ooooonnnn...." I knew Hank was feeling the same and I made a game-time decision that we would sleep in today. I figured that if given the chance, he would cough all over everyone in kindergarten, and that's no way to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week. So I fell back asleep with a tissue sticking out of one of my nostrils.

Laura got up, got her own breakfast, made her own lunch, and went to the bus stop unassisted and unheralded.

I have numerous elixirs that I dosed myself with throughout the day. They are of varying levels of efficacy and intensity. Some are just warm beverages. My favorite is just hot water, lemon juice, turmeric, and honey. For some reason, I call this hot ham water, in homage to "Arrested Development."



I mean, I don't call it hot ham water in the sense that I ever have occasion to say this aloud. But while I'm whisking in the turmeric with my little bamboo whisk, I think, "hot ham water," and chuckle inside. Watery, with just a smack of ham.

For some reason, that is the main thing I wanted to tell you.

It was wild and windswept here all morning. A good day to be inside. Just us and the rats that may have been trapped in the attic when the roof was sealed up yesterday. You know, cozy.

Hot ham water.

Parenting Hack: Bread Heels

Last night I was preparing to serve Laura a supper of grilled cheese sandwich and applesauce. Yes, I know it sounds like a lot of work, but for my children I go the extra mile. I realized that I had two bread bags, each with both heels left inside and nothing else. Tell me truly, isn't it always the Mama in your house who eats a sandwich made from the heels? Sure, you may like the heels (such a grown-up opinion to have!), but the heelwich will not be eaten by children, in my experience. When I make myself a sandwich using the heels, I do so with a faint sense of noble sacrifice. Anyway.

So I thought, hmm, a grilled cheese sandwich made from heels is less-than-optimal, because the diminished porosity of the heel side makes for less butter absorption. It is also, I admit, less cosmetically appealing than a sandwich made from the mid-slices. Then I had a fiendish realization: I could turn the heels over and hide them on the inside of the sandwich. Then the child would not notice the heeliness, as it would be sealed inside by the melted cheese, and the bready side would be soaking up the butter in the pan. Why had this never occurred to me?

So I did just that, and the heels went unnoticed and were consumed whole. The real test will be whether Hank will eat a covert PB&J heelwich. Is everyone already doing this but me?

I just realized that I tend to post about grilled cheese a lot. Two times is a lot, I think.

Go check out more of these little problem-helpers at the Works for Me Wednesday round-up.

What Actually Works

That blog carnival Works for Me Wednesday is a weekly collection of great household and lifehacker tips--things that make life better and your day go easier. Sometimes I contribute, when I have something to offer. But today I thought, "What if we just all got real about what is TRULY working for us, on a daily basis?" So with tongue only partly in cheek, I offer a partial list:

What Actually Works for Me

1) Money
2) Smiling a lot
3) Alcohol
4) Selective laziness
5) Having a spouse who is nicer than I am

There. I won't put my link on the WFMW thing, because I don't want to pollute their sweet round-up of helpful information with my post today. I love those guys.

So how about it? What's really working for you?

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream

Here are the reasons we moved from California to Atlanta:

1) Close to family.
2) Cheaper houses.
3) Chick-fil-A is here.

Not a week goes by that I don't favor Chick-fil-A with my business. We love them. And I am not even mad that they are closed on Sunday, because of God. What's more, around these parts, customer service is already way better than in some parts of the country (yes, I'm looking at you, Cali) but at Chick-fil-A, it's extra SUPER nice. One guy at my local Chick-fil-A used to work at my local Target. He was a stone-cold jerk at Target. Such a jerk that even my little children noticed he was a jerk. Now he serves up chicken sandwiches, and he is sweet as pie. Magical. It's the culture at that place. The God-fearing and sullen-teen asskicking culture.

And now I have another reason to love them. As usual, when I discover something life-changing, like the thing with the foil, I suspect that everyone may already know this. But here it is: When you get a kid's meal at Chick-fil-A, your child can take the little book that comes with the meal, if it's still in its wrapper, and exchange if for a free ice cream cone. It's a kid-sized cone, and they will put it in a cup for your toddler, who only wants "ice cream juice." There. Bam. Free kid ice cream majorly Works for Me!

This isn't posted anywhere, that I can tell. It's like a secret that I suddenly just discovered. If you live out of the range of Chick-fil-A, I am truly sorry that this knowledge will not be of help to you. But maybe this is a good time to examine the direction your life is taking? I know you may have a full and wonderful thing going where you are. But I am saving you a seat in the play place, and if you hurry we can split my kid's waffle fries.

And am I troubled by the transaction of exchanging a book, and all the enrichment it promises, for a dessert? Do I think it's a bad economy to model for my children? That would be a nope!

Slacker Dip

Last night I glanced at my blog stats and noticed that somebody was, at that very instant, perusing the posts under my "food" tag. In that moment I felt inadequate, and like I was letting that somebody down. It's rare that you know the exact moment you are disappointing someone, when she's miles and miles away and you've never met her. Thanks, Sitemeter! Or I assume she was disappointed, because I'm not such a wiz in the kitch. I do feed my family, and they seem to like it, but I don't really enjoy cooking, and I'm not an innovator.

I am all about doing something easy, but that makes it look like I care. (I do care!) So in the tradition of my Slacker Fudge, I offer you this Slacker Dip, for when you need to bring a little snack to someone's house, and you don't want to walk in with a tub of Heluva Good. Sure, you could just mix a tub of sour cream with a packet of French onion soup mix. But why not fancy it up a little?

Here's the whole trick: Use a pack of cream cheese instead of sour cream. (Somehow, this makes the magic happen.) About ten minutes before you have to leave your house, take a brick of cream cheese (not the super huge pack), put it in a large mixing bowl, and sprinkle on a packet of onion soup mix. Blend it in with a fork, mashing the cream cheese as you go. Blend well. The texture will be somewhat stiff, but dippable with crackers or something sturdy, and it will soften up on the way to your destination.

Then put it into a cute dish. And stick in a little spreader if you have one. Presentation is everything, as all Slacker cooks everywhere know. I have this little boat-shaped dip bowl, with a giant fish-shaped chip bowl.

How is such a little boat going to land that fish? I don't know! See? Cute! I brought this cream cheese dip to a thing at a friend's house, and everyone was like, "Landsakes! That dip is DIVINE!" And they scraped the bottom of the boat with their fingers.

Dude, it Works for Me. If you have another two-ingredient dip thang you do, please share it.

I'm Going to Rock Your World. With Foil.

Gather 'round, friends. I've learned something that I need to share, because I am a river to my people. You know how aluminum foil, and plastic wrap too, is kind of a pain in the butt, because when you pull the end of the foil you often pull the roll out of the box? And plastic wrap REALLY does this because it sticks to itself, and then when you're putting the roll back in the box you risk severing an artery on the crazily sharp cutting edge? Well, look at this.

See the little tab that says "Press here to lock end"? Well, go on, press there. Push in the tabs on both ends, and the roll of foil will stay in the box. You can turn the open box upside-down (I tried it) and the roll really DOES stay locked in. And my box of plastic wrap has the same tabs, the same magical tabs.

Why didn't I ever know about this? Is everyone doing this but me? Because I don't think so. As many commercials as I've seen extolling the mystical properties of various food wraps, they never mentioned this. So, consider that little problem solved. Now on to more pressing things, like watching Lost.

This has been my Works for Me Wednesday, "Where Has This Been All My Life" edition.

Updated to add: LATE BREAKING NEWS. Some folks in the comments report that not all store-brands have these tabs. Target heavy-duty foil and Publix foil are said not to. But my Target plastic wrap, the kind that says "Compare to Cling-Wrap," does. I wonder if the size of the box may matter too? More field research is needed--let's fan out across the country, y'all, and get an accurate food-wrap census.

Be Ye Nice: Tip The Mailman

Yesterday our mail lady Margaret slid her annual Christmas card into our box. The first year we lived here, I was like, "Oh how nice, Margaret wants us to 'enjoy the peace of the season.'" I didn't realize that this was her way of saying, "If you would like to give me a little holiday something, that would be great." For some reason, tipping at Christmas is a very controversial topic. Do some Googling and you'll see. The question of whom to tip and how much elicits the kind of bitter debate usually reserved for questions of breast vs. bottle feeding or whether or not to "Ferberize" your baby. You know what I'm talking about, and you do not want to get in the middle of that. (BTW, put me down for all-breastfed, but formula is not poison; infant cosleeping; yes to babywearing, but not in anything that has been batiked; and modified cry-it-out, but not before six months of age.) Bombs away!

So I tip our mail lady at Christmas. It is not required. The mail carrier is not going to throw your mail down the storm drain if you don't tip. It may not even be customary where you live. But it is nice, and I absolutely think it is smart. I get great service from that lady, all year long, and if you've ever suffered at the mercies of a not-so-good mail carrier, you know what I mean. Your box of checks from the bank? They're at somebody else's house. Priority mail envelopes? Accordioned into your box and reeking of cigarette smoke. Dealing with a bad mail carrier is a constant, low-grade irritant. And a good one is, well, good. I get a fair amount of packages, which Margaret brings all the way up to the door, and when I'm shipping things out, I schedule carrier pickups online (if you're not doing that, check it out because it is wonderful) and she comes up to the garage and takes things away. I don't think it need be a major amount of money, and some people just give cookies or something. Anything is nice, of course. I think last year I gave her a $25 or $30 gift card to Target. Target gift cards are like legal tender to me, but as Matt often says, "Nothing spends like cash." Maybe this year I'll do cash. But it's not a high price to pay for a lot of goodwill.

If you tip at this time of year, who else do you tip? When I still had my cleaning lady, I gave her a gift card (Target of course) for one session's pay. And she usually brought us a bowl of cookies and candy she made. I could see how this could really add up if you had a cleaning lady, the mail person, a nanny (lord I wish), and whoever else. I have heard that people give things to their garbage men, but how does that work? Someone told me that she makes cookies and puts them on top of the can where they'll see them. Something about that is unappetizing, but maybe that's the way to go?

It makes sense to me that plenty of people don't tip, whether because it's not the thing to do where they are or because there is no extra money for that kind of thing. But the people who attempt to justify their not tipping and get all righteous about it. . .I hate to say it, but they often sound like jerks. A glance around the intertubes turns up the following reasons for not tipping:

"I look at his government pension as his tip." What does his pension have to do with you and how you might say thanks?

"The mailman uses our poolside bathroom during his rounds. That's tip enough." Is that you, Donald Trump? You are tacky.

"I tip her every time I pay taxes or buy stamps." Sigh. You probably aren't really a jerk but you sound like a real "Get off my lawn" type. Or one of those people who hates the fact that they have to press one for English.

"I don't tip them because they are overpaid." I think being a mail carrier probably is a good job, but I doubt they are "overpaid."

So, not to get all lecturey up in here, because I think there are different good ways to go about thanking the people who help us everyday, and I'd love to know what you do. Tipping our mail lady is what Works for Me!

Oldies But Goodies

We've been having fun digging up classic cartoons on YouTube. The kids and I started out in October looking for Halloween songs, and now we're building a favorites list of Christmas stuff. We especially like old Disney Silly Symphonies.

They're about 8 minutes long, which I find is the perfect length of time to park Hank in front of the screen when I need a Sanity Moment. Some of the Silly Symphonies go back to the 1930's. They give an interesting glimpse of the times they were made in, and they're just good, retro fun. For this Works for Me Wednesday, here are our top faves.

• Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952). Featuring Chip and Dale. Hank loves it when Pluto attacks the tree.
• The Night Before Christmas (1933). All the toys coming to life is a real attention-grabber.
• The Three Little Pigs (1933). Not Christmasy, but this one has me completely riveted. It has the song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf," and at one point, when the Wolf dresses up as a Fuller Brush salesman to try to get into the brick house, he is clearly supposed to look like the stereotype of the hook-nosed Jewish peddler. The image is jaw-dropping. Oh, the golden years! (There is actually an interesting history to this scene, and how it was taken out, put in, taken out, and actually put back in the cartoon when it was rereleased in 1996.) Also, Hank is fascinated by the end where the Wolf burns his butt in the pig's fireplace.
• The Ugly Duckling (1939). This is the sentimental favorite of mine, and almost a tearjerker. Laura won't watch it because she thinks it's too sad, even though the baby swan finds his mama at the end. The great thing about finding these cartoons on YouTube is that they tell stories and fables that cartoons today don't adapt. I didn't know until we watched this that Laura didn't know the story of the Ugly Duckling. The classics really are brand new for those who do not know them.

So, classic cartoons on YouTube work for me! The kids really enjoy watching these, and they love being able to choose what they like off the little list we made for them. With more and more TV available over the internet, I am this close to canceling the cable. Once I've watched my entire Tivo'd backlog of "House," that is.

Par-tay! Free Christmas Music from Amazon

Harken, my peeps! One of Amazon's FREE mp3 downloads right now is a Holiday Sampler with five great songs. It is really fun, especially the Les Brown "Nutcracker Suite." I've been listening to it while tearing apart a chicken carcass (for stock) with my bare hands. I feel a little Clan of the Cave Bear here, but more festive.

When you're on that Amazon page, down below you'll see several other free albums. The Celebrating 10 Years of Music is great if you like classical. I don't have an iPod, but one of our computers has big speakers, and I play music on it all the time. I think the Holiday Sampler mixed with the classical stuff would make a nice little playlist if you're having people over for some 'nogg. Or wassail. Do people still do wassail?

The excellent Southern Savers tipped me off to this and I wanted to pass it along. Free Christmas music makes a Works for Me Wednesday!

How To Clean a Toilet the Right Way

In the weeks since we said goodbye to our cleaning lady, I've been refining my toilet-cleaning technique. And I'm convinced that commercials for toilet-bowl cleaners are misleading us with all their talk of disinfecting the inside of your toilet, as though you could keep it free of bacteria for any length of time considering what goes on in there. They're distracting us from the real issue, people. What you really want is for the inside of the bowl to LOOK clean, and for every other part of the toilet to BE clean. You know, the handle, the seat, the lid, the interactive parts of the toilet.

Allow me to digress for a moment on the subject of toilet-bowl cleaners. I bet that the home cleanser industry has done serious focus-grouping on the whole potty situation. Judging from the products on the market, it seems that people must have expressed anxiety with getting the toilet cleaner to cover the inside of the bowl. Like, a sprinkle of powdered comet won't do. I'm guessing the focus groups wanted a pepto bismol effect--coats, soothes, relieves--like, folks out there want to be able to cover the whole inside of the toilet bowl with the cleaning product. That's why we're getting more and more viscous toilet cleaners, with oddly-shaped spouts that are supposed to deliver the product up under the toilet rim, where it will then run down the inside of the bowl, fighting germs all the way. Lysol even has a product called Cling. It's a gel that promises to "stick to the bowl for better cleaning." Like, you're still going to need to use a brush on that, hon. Lysol also offers a bottle of cleaner with a even longer spout, called, seriously, Deep Reach. Um, we're still talking about cleaning the toilet, right? And not going right to the source?

Okay, so here's what I do:

1. Remove everything from around and on top of the toilet, that is, the wastebasket and the Ikea catalog. Keep the wastebasket nearby, with a plastic liner in it, to hold the paper towels you're going to use.
   
2. Glove up and bring a roll of paper towels into the bathroom.


3. Flush the toilet to wet the inside of the bowl, and sprinkle in some Comet. Close the lid.


4. Then, using the spray cleaner of your choice--409 works--spray the entire toilet: top and sides of the tank, back of the seat, outside of the bowl, and those weird spaces where it's bolted to the floor. Let it sit for a minute.


5. Open the lid and seat and scrub the inside of the bowl, using your brush to get up under the rim. When you're satisfied, flush again and rinse the brush off in the water. Put the brush in its little brush holder, which becomes the dirtiest and most untouchable object in the entire house, right? (That's why I store mine in the garage.)


6. Get a handful of paper towels and start wiping the toilet. Start at the top, with the tank lid, and work your way down. Use plenty of paper towels--don't skimp. Wipe every inch of the outside of the toilet, and pay special attention to the back of the seat where the hinges are. This part can go fast, because you just treat the whole commode as one big, dirty object.


7. Now it's time to open the lid again and spray the underside of the lid, the seat top and bottom, and the rim of the bowl. Wipe everything with your paper towels. Remember, by this time you should have flushed the Comet away--if you haven't, mixing the spray cleaner with the comet will make noxious fumes. I don't know if anyone ever died while cleaning her toilet, but how embarassing.


8. A nice finish to this is to clean the floor. I damp-mop with a sponge mop that I use only for the bathroom. But more paper towels would work too.

De-glove, wash your hands, and fix a drink. Announce to your husband, or whoever is around, "I just cleaned the toilet." No reason to let your work go unheralded.

Now that I'm doing this myself, I am interested in whether anyone has found some "green" bathroom products that work. Are there any that really do as well as their toxic counterparts? I had been using this Seventh Generation glass cleaner on my breakfast table, and it just did not cut it, so I went back to Windex. I am sorry, Mother Earth! But with a two year-old, I need the power of ammonia. I am seeking suggestions, though.

So that's my potty-cleaning strategy on this Works for Me Wednesday. Scoodle over there for more useful stuff.

Toy Worth Buying: Magnatiles

Good toys are so few and far between. I see all these commercials for bulky, unattractive, and complicated plastic toys, like Dora's Interactive Singing Volcano (okay I made that up), or Jack Sparrow's Spinning Dagger (that one's real), and something inside me says, "Oh heck no." Happily, my kids don't have too many of those kinds of things. Hank has tons of cars, and Laura has a metric buttload of Barbies and dolls, and they both have lots of dress-up stuff. We stick to what works, but I'm always on the lookout for toys that will really occupy them, especially Hank. A busy two year-old makes a happy mama. And Rocks in My Dryer has a great Works for Me Wednesday today: Toys Worth Buying. I am going to be looking over that list.

My recommendation is Magnatiles. I've already raved about these to my friends:

These are kind of spendy--the 32-piece set above is around $50. I don't know why they cost so much, but they are worth it. We have ours in a tray on the coffee table in the sunroom, and everyone who comes in wants to play with them. They are magnetic around the edges, and snap together in all kinds of ways. A great, open-ended toy. I think the best buy might be the 48-piece set, which is $64.50. Some of the sets come with round pieces and little cars. Santa might be bringing one of those. I first saw these clear magnatiles on a preschool's light table. If you happen to have a light table, they're awesome with that.

Other things on my list are this easel from Ikea. It has a chalkboard on the other side, and it's only $24.99: Also, I would like to get a cool Doctor's Kit for Hank, though I can't quite find the one I want. And more giant pads of paper are always needed around here. Laura is tricky. At seven, she really doesn't ask for things unless she sees them. Like, if we went to the American Girl store, she would probably say, "I want a Julie doll!" or something. But she has two AG dolls, and they don't get played with every day. She likes to read, play on her bike and scooter, run around outside, do Webkinz, write and draw, play karaoke, and put on "shows." She is pretty well-supplied for all those things. I did get her this Lands End fluffy robe with her monogram on it. She loves that stuff. Hurry, it's $19.99:

I would like to give her just one thing that delights her. But I am kind of stumped. Anybody have a girl this age? And we're definitely keeping it simple around here. That's why it's so important to get worthwhile things, I think. And Santa, if you're reading, I would like hardwood floors upstairs, a bigger deck out back, Jonathan Adler needlepoint pillows, and a laptop battery that lasts for hours and hours and hours. And peace on earth.

Girls on Wheels

Just yesterday, Laura finally got the hang of riding her bike. So fun to watch! I can still remember that feeling of realizing my dad had let go of the seat. She's had the bike for a long time, but she's been a little afraid of it, preferring to ride her scooter. Our streets are really hilly, and not conducive to the parent-running-and-holding-the-seat method, but a neighbor gave us this tip and it really worked:

Out on the sidewalk, have your child sit on the bike holding the handlebars. Let her push herself along with her feet, taking short glides forward. You don't need to be touching the bike. She can practice balancing for a few moments when she pushes off with her feet, and she can put her feet back down again when she wobbles. She will start to zoom for longer distances, lifting her feet up higher. Then encourage her to try to pedal during a glide. She'll try it, she'll try it some more, and suddenly you'll be shouting, "GO GO GO, YOU GOT IT!"


This position--starting with feet on the ground--seems to reduce the nervousness that comes with the "pedal while Dad runs" method. And granted, Laura is 7, but she did this all herself in two afternoons. I just watched while she got herself ready and went for it. Along the way, I said, "You're really getting it," and she said, "I feel like I'm halfway between getting it and losing it." Pretty much how I feel about most things.

Later, Matt and I watched her circling the cul-de-sac, and I could not stop offering advice. Matt said, "She's doing it, she's got it." And I was like, youth is wasted on the young, 'cause I could ride the heck out of that bike. My turn!

So, an easy bike-riding tip for Works for Me Wednesday. Other things that work for me are here, here, and here. And hey, let's be careful out there.

Super-Quick Egg Sandwich with the Microwave

Because if I see another bowl of cereal, I will cry. And I love my steel-cut oatmeal, but the 25 minutes it takes to cook is like, an eternity. Sometimes you can't make that kind of commitment. And sometimes you don't want to use the stovetop, because, say, you don't want to handwash a frying pan from last night's dinner that didn't get loaded into the dishwasher. But Mama needs to eat. So here you go.



Into a cereal bowl--one with a rounded bottom will make for easier egg removal--break an egg and add a tablespoon of milk. Beat the egg with a fork. Put bowl in microwave and cook for 3 minutes on 50% power. (Cook for slightly less time if you like it a little softer or if the egg is smaller. Sometimes I do 2 and-a-half minutes.)

While your egg is cooking, toast two pieces of bread. When the microwave beeps, you will have a light and fluffy egg patty. Slide a fork under the edge of the egg and loosen it from the bowl. Careful! The bowl is hot. Ease the egg out onto your bread, and you are ready to rock. Add cheese, mayonnaise, salt 'n pepper, it's up to you. Warm and delicious.


My seven year-old likes eggs this way, and she can make it herself. She loves breaking and beating eggs, but I still handle getting it out of the bowl. It's yummy on a Works for Me Wednesday!

Brown Apple Slices: The Bane of Childhood

I just brought a lot of apples back from North Carolina. They are a favorite food around here, and I often send sliced apples and a cheese stick to school for Laura's snacktime. But she won't eat them if they've turned brown from oxidizing, and neither will Hank. You would think that someone who used to sneak dogfood out of the dog's bowl would not be quite so picky about his fruit.

I have only a few food tricks up my sleeve, but Alton Brown taught me that lemon or lime juice will keep fruit slices from turning brown. (I love Alton Brown, and I know that if neither of us were married we would be dating.) So what I do is slice and core the apple with one of those corer/wedger things and put the wedges straight into a baggie that I've squirted a few drops of lime juice into. Lemon juice works too, of course, but I have the bottle of lime juice around for cocktails. Then you press the air out of the baggie, close it up, and rub the apple pieces all around so they make contact with the juice. It takes so little juice that you can then just leave the slices in the bag and send it off as a snack. Or you can take those slices out and do another apple in the same baggie. Today I am cutting several apples to keep in the fridge as quick toddler food. The slices stay nice and unbrown for a long time.

Now, what I need is a trick for peeling apples. How does one do this in an elegant way, without a peeling machine? I do it the way someone who had never even seen an apple would do it if you handed her a knife and said, "Peel this." It's a pain. Sometimes I take the wedges that the corer/wedger makes and peel them individually. If I give my two year-old apple with a lot of peel on it, he will eat the apple, but keep a growing bolus of peel in his mouth, until he decides to spit it out, usually either on the couch or in my hand. Thanks, buddy! So I need a peeling trick. Lime juice on apples has been brought to you by Works for Me Wednesday. Go over there and check it out.

My Beauty Autobiography: Sell a Child and Buy This Stuff

When I woke up this morning, and saw myself in the mirror, my first thought was, “Who is that enchanting vixen? Her pores are microscopic!” So I decided to tell y'all of my love for Origins skincare. Specifically, for the Dr. Weil Plantidote Mega-Mushroom products. (No, I did not make up that name, and I am not getting paid for this endorsement, but I am not against the idea. . .take a note, Origins).

Let’s just say the Lord laid it on my heart to tell you this. Plus, Origins.com is having an awesome deal right now (more below). First, a brief history:

Through much of my twenties, my skincare regimen was minimal. In the shower, I washed my face with Dove soap. Then at night, I blotted it with a wet cloth. Then I used this Olay alpha-hydroxy lotion. This was when alpha-hydroxy and fruit acids had just been invented. Also, dirt was new and God’s dog was a puppy. Anyway, I thought that it was all about constantly sloughing off layers of skin. Or sometimes I didn’t do ANYTHING at night and tumbled, carefree, straight into bed. I only wore sunscreen when I was at the actual beach. So I looked fine, but who doesn’t in her twenties?

It dawned on me in my late twenties and early thirties, after having my first child, that I needed to, um, try a little. While I was actually pregnant, I felt like Charlize, but afterwards, not so much. My skin no longer felt as smooth as an angel’s bosoms. I hardly EVER wear foundation or anything like that, so how my skin looks all by itself is a big deal to me. Thus began a long relationship with Neutrogena products: Pore Refining Cleanser, Anti-Wrinkle cream, and Antioxidant this and that. I was naturally skeptical of more expensive stuff, and I figured that drugstore products were good enough. I was all about minimizing my pores and preventing wrinkles. And they worked great. Honestly, if I hadn’t moved on to harder drugs, the Neutrogena would still give me a fix. I still wear their sunscreen every day, even if it’s cloudy.

Then last year my awesome sister-in-law went to work at Origins. Though saying that Kate worked at Origins is like saying Michelangelo worked at the Vatican. She’s since moved on, but I really think that skincare and beauty is her spiritual gift. So she gave me some of the Dr. Weil products, in their pleasingly medical-looking containers, and I really liked them. Ever since Christmas (as with crack addicts, my first hit of Origins was free), I’ve been using the Plantidote cleanser, face serum, and moisturizer. And seriously, it is awesome. Then, last night, I took it to the next level. I used the Clean Energy cleansing oil first (it’s an OIL that washes your face, people. What a country.) Then I patted on some Plantidote toner. So two new products. And this morning, I was all tiny-pored and smooth—like noticeably so.

I feel sheepish, and like I’m betraying my interests in frugality and simplicity. (You didn’t know I was interested in those things?) This isn’t one of those “great beauty uses for Vaseline” posts, though I love those. And for those of us who play the CVS game, it’s hard to imagine paying money for beauty products. I know. I’ve tried my share of free Olay, Garnier, and Boots products in the last few months. Meh. So I can’t tell you, “Buy this really cheap thing and it works!” I’m more saying, “Spend a wad of money on this Origins stuff and you will love it!” So aren’t you glad you came by?

Anyway, from now until September 3, shipping is free on the Origins site AND with any order you get a free sample set from either their Organics or their signature line of products. (The Dr. Weil sample sets are all gone.) And the samples are pretty big. For $66, you get a bottle of the Plantidote Face Serum, which will last you a year. That’s the key item, I think. Then another $30 gets you the Plantidote toner. Split those into two online orders and get two free sample sets, then you can try out the other stuff.

So if you are not happy with your complexion and/or your current beauty regimen, and you have some cash to spend on it, consider it, because I think you get a great return. OR, if you have an Origins store near you, just go in and ask for some samples and pay nothing. I am actually kind of low-maintenance, and I am not crazy for products, but I like this stuff. I’m just saying. You will notice a difference.

The only potential downside, other than the price, is that men might not like the smell. It doesn’t smell perfumy—but it has a more high-end, kind of fresh smell. Like some kind of greenery. I don’t know how to describe it. But when I got into bed last night, Matt said, “Mmm, it’s like I’m in bed with Dr. Andrew Weil himself!” So there’s that. But I will say, dude must really have a thing for Dr. Weil.

(This has been my first Works For Me Wednesday post.)