My grandma taught my Mom who repeated it to me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!" and... "If you look hard enough, you can find some good in every one." My Grandma (her pet name for me was "Obbie"...for some reason, I didn't pronouce "Grandma" and "Awe-bee" was the name she answered to when I was a small child. Even her neighbors & lots of friends called her "Obbie" throughout the years of my growing up. She was a "hired girl" on farms when she was a teenager...she was married and divorced at a young age...she was widowed after another marriage to my grandpa of 26 yrs...she worked in a bakery, she operated a cafe, she ironed clothes in her home for other families...she was always a HARD worker!...she passed that on to her 3 daughters & family. Here are some of my precious memories of my Grandma, Obbie that I wrote back in 1984 for a genealogy book my Mom created: In the back yard, Obbie had lots of flower gardens. I once found the cactus garden with my bare feet when I jumped a fence playing (where I shouldn't have been)! There were also lots of sour grapes, good ripe strawbeeries and lots of green apples. We were never without homegrown food at Obbie's. And, oh, that homemade jar of strawberry jam. Of course, inside the house, there were always homemade chocolate chip cookies. And on Sundays, the smell of Obbie frying chicken (that my 'grandpa butchered). Anyone was welcome to show up for Sunday dinner! Obbie taught me a few of the things every woman was supposed to know before growing up. The ol' treadle sewing machine put out lots of doll clothes and pin cushions. Crocheting chain stitches (by the miles). Obbie crocheted each grandchild an afghan for graduation. Never being bored at Obbie's, there were always old catalogs for cutting out paper dolls and clothes. (Ok, Gjers, I could go on & on...but I just want you to know that I was very blessed...I was a "crouper" as a child and finally outgrew it at 12 yrs. old...but my Obbie would always come running when I got sick...with "warm 7-up" and hugs. Anyway, I will end this post with a poem I wrote for this genealogy book (she died when my first grandchild was 4 mos. old): "My grandma, Obbie, always had time for her grandchildren. She was never too busy to forget us. I am the lucky one even to have had Obbie for my grandma... If I can be as strong, as you were strong, If I can give, as you have given, If I can be kind, as you always were kind, If I am loved, as you are loved, If I am cherised, as you are cherished, If I am mourned, as you are mourned, Then I can say..my life is truly blessed. Obbie passed on her love for gardening & flowers to me...as my grandpa did also...and my Dad. Here is a pic that I am so fortunate to have of my Grandma holding me in her backyard...I lived in the same household the first 2 yrs. of my life...and her LOVE shaped my life. Ahhh, pretty sentimental stuff...but I enjoyed all of your sharing and wanted to share a bit of this special lady! Thanks, Jeanne S.

pickyshopper - My son and I spent 2 weeks in Ireland in October and I received conflicting information from everyone - even a native Irishman. We stayed at hotels in Killarney and Dublin, and Bed and Breakfasts in Galway and Kinsale. They all had their own hair dryers in the bathrooms and they were hard wired into the wall. Even if I had taken my own hairdryer I wouldn't have able to use it in the bathroom - It's against the electrical code. I bought a set of converters at The Container Store and I was able to use my curling iron with one of them, but I had to use it in the bedrooms, not the bath. My son took his Mac computer and it wouldn't work with any of the converters. He had to stop at a computer store and purchase a special adapter for a Mac. His computer worked but the download times were really slow. I didn't want to take my smart phone with me so for $20.00 I rented one from Verizon and it arrived with it's own convertor. I had heard horror stories of people who returned from overseas trips to discover a huge data bill on their smart phones. The one I rented was just a regular old fashioned flip phone, but it worked great. One travel agent told me to just pick up a converter at the airport. She even suggested that I just buy a curling iron at the airport and then I wouldn't need an adapter. For what it's worth - my trip was wonderful however it was one bad hair day after another. We spent a lot of time on the west coast which is quite blustery in the fall and we were near the ocean the entire time. Dublin was milder and not windy at all. have a fantastic trip - where will you be going?

Maybe hair styles are like politics: Local. That comes to mind because we just flew to and from Maui via Dallas. We saw a wide range of hair and dress styles on our flights and in the airports. I agree with Elmer in liking a 'whole-person' look that is simple, neat, smooth, and not 'fussy' -- on men and on women. It's sometimes called looking 'put together'. HS boys sport sparse whiskers to 'look manly'. HS girls buy every 'beauty' product in the drugstore to needlessly decorate their beautiful young selves. The same insecurities often result in balding men who add facial hair and 'locks' down the backs of their necks -- and ladies with flowing manes who turn their heads and shock you with their surgically stretched faces. 'Simple' doesn't mean childish-- like the haggard country and western singer in a full skirt with her hair hanging down her back, a caricature of the weepy girls in her songs. There is such a thing as the general perception of 'age appropriate' and 'occasion appropriate' in hair styles as well as clothing. Hair styling is one way to 'age' an actresses in a story. In "Victoria", the unformed girl is presented with long hair held back with an Alice band...and she skips and runs. Ah, but to be perceived as more than a child, she 'puts her hair up'...and she walks with poise. Women didn't cut their hair in that time, but today they still 'put their hair up', by sleeking it close to the head. The high 'pony tail' that flips around in youth is fastened at the nape, becomes a chignon -- or is cut. The visual is no longer childish, *girlish*, but adult -- often adult in the workplace. How a woman wears her hair in bed is a whole 'nother story. Were I a man, I'd hope my lover would save her most *attractive* style for me.

Sorry, I've got no input on serums, but I just wanted to say that I bought a new hair dryer, and my hair has been so much smoother! I had followed a previous thread here about hairdryers and wanted to buy the Rusk that was highly rated, but it was no longer available. So, after Christmas I was in Costco, and they had a T3 hairdryer on sale. I bought it and I was surprised that it actually does dry my hair faster, and my hair is and remains smoother. I really never believed that these expensive hairdryers made a difference, but apparently I was wrong. After I dry my hair I briefly run a straightening iron through it - much less than in the past, and then my hair stays smooth for several days until my next shampoo.