Hey Carla, The only thing that over the counter products are good for is milking my wallet!hahaha I tried a product my sis highly recommended about 6 months ago. It was a mask that was supposed to make your face feel warm besides the supposed other benefits. Arbonne was the brand. Anyways, I put it on one night, & sure enough I started feeling the warmth, well I waited the allotted 10 minutes, then I rinsed it off. Shortly thereafter, I felt the muscles around my mouth contracting downwards! I ran to the bathroom & sure enough my mouth was contorted downwards! I don't know what strange interaction caused this! I freaked out because I needed to put the little ones down & I thought "I'm not gonna let them laugh at me" so I tried to smile & they just stared at me & figured I'd gone nuts or something, I had a strange glazed, frantic look & a shaky strange smile. Reminded me of the Joker from Batman & Robin. I told my sister & she laughed & laughed & said she had no idea that that would happen... Thank god the effects only lasted 5 minutes. I swear I'll never try another one of their products. So, andrewlina beware! Don't try this one! Betty:)

I got a box from Linda today! Yay! Although...I wonder why the words "fragile" & "live plants" always seem to incite a postal-sorting-room game of box football? This thing looks like it's been through several games & a tie-breaker inning! LOL! The only casualty is the Russian stonecrop Sedum. Poor guy looks like the specialty shakes that the local health food store whips up. *humming death march* I'll give it a decent burial, though...no worries. :o) Here's everything else: ~Magnetic note pad ~bunny socks! always LOVE printed socks!! ~scented jar candle ~gnome pot hugger ~cute button brooch/pin handmade by Linda! ~cats & kittens (hens & chicks)- from Linda's grandmothers house- she always called them cats & kittens! ~liatris (which Linda says reminds her of a toilet brush...now THERE'S an image! LOL!! ~pineapple sage (which she got from Dan...COOL!) ~torch lily (my first) ~california poppy (I've never been to CA, so this is as close as I'm likely to ever get!) ~snow on the mountain (I have fire on the mountain growing wild, so this will look neat next to it!) ~peony - always love these! ~lambs ear (Aubeni loves these plants!) ~rose of sharon (a favorite of her grandfather AND his middle name was Sharon...NEAT!) Thank you, Miss Linda, for a great box! I love everything. They're all soaking right now, and I"ll plant them tonight. I'll even plant the stonecrop....maybe it'll bounce back... I'm optimistic. :D (hugs)

Hi Terri - The recipe I use is one tsp. vitamin c crystals, three tsp. water (they say to use distilled but I always forget to buy it and use plain tap water) and one tsp. glycerine. The only thing is, I have a hard time getting the crystals to completely dissolve. I read if you add a drop of vodka, or even rubbing alcohol, that helps the crystals dissolve. I used gin (tanqueray!) and it worked great in dissolving them. There are many variations of this recipe online, with some using a higher ratio of vitamin c and others using a lower ratio, so I think you can really play around with it and see what works best for you. If you have a amber or dark colored bottle with a dropper to store it in that is best. I use my old Cellex-C bottle. Exposure to light will speed up oxidation.

I have! I often use (or used to use) baking soda as a facial exfoliant; it's very gentle and my skin loved it--it really saved my skin when I was pregnant and dealing with breakouts & roughness. Sometimes I would use it on my face instead of cleanser, and if my skin was feeling especially delicate or sensitive I wouldn't rub it, I'd just sort of pat the baking soda on and rinse it off. My skin is sensitive (especially acid-sensitive) and dry, so using something alkali helped balance it out, and it was smooth as a baby's butt. You can use it to exfoliate anywhere, actually (anywhere you'd normally exfoliate, that is; don't put it near or on sensitive parts!)--in fact, one company that makes those spinning facial brushes (can't recall which, sorry, but it's a pricy one--not Clairsonic) also makes these soft pads and an exfoliating gel to use with the brush; the exfoliating gel is basically baking soda in a Cetaphil-like goo (seriously; sodium bicarbonate is listed in the ingredients). I still sometimes use it in summer on my feet. Scalps like it, too, but it can be drying to hair. I would (still do, sometimes) add it to shampoo for a deeper clean, or use it straight when I felt/feel my blonde was getting a little brassy--it will bleach your hair over time, with regular use. It does clean your hair & scalp, and rinses clean. If you add it to conditioner it will make your hair feel & seem thicker when dry, but a little less manageable, and again, it is drying because it's so alkali. I also used it, with great success, on the horrible cradle cap/peanut butter scalp both my daughters had as babies (they were both born with full heads of longish hair, so it was hard to deal with the cradle cap). The vinegar will re-balance your hair after baking soda treatment. It's also good for your scalp and adds shine and tone to hair--try apple cider vinegar for brunette shades. (And if the baking soda doesn't work for cradle cap, go the other direction and use vinegar.) It always made my hair super, super soft. Some people use it as toner--that's generally for oilier skin, if memory serves. My skin doesn't like it much (acid sensitive) but I've known people who swore by it. Now I use a fruit-acid exfoliating gel from Pete Thomas Roth twice a week, and a spin brush & Shiseido White Lucent for everyday cleansing--I'm not in my twenties anymore, lol, so acne is no longer a concern and I don't need something that will help deal with it, like baking soda--but I still always have baking soda on hand, and have taught both of my daughters its many uses. It's worth trying to see if it works for you, especially since a box of baking soda is like a dollar and you probably already have some in your house. Oh, and as for cleaning other things, b.s. and vinegar do work for a number of items around the house: sinks, toilets, etc. I seem to recall baking soda is a good cleanser for copper-bottom pots, but please double-check that before you try it! AND, my favorite baking soda cleaning trick: if you have a pot with burned-on food--deep or shallow, doesn't matter--put the pot on the burner, dump about 1/3C baking soda into it (roughly--you just want a good heap of it in there, an inch or so high; use more if it's a really large pan, but not much more), and then add water until the water *almost* covers the baking soda, like the tip of the heap is a little mountain rising from the water. Turn on the flame (or coil, or whatever) below the pot, med-high to high, and let it come to a boil. The burned-on gunk will generally lift right off--sometimes it requires a couple of minutes and some gentle-to-moderate scraping with a wooden spoon to help it along, but it will come off and leave the pot shiny-clean! (Only once did I have to do this a second time, because not everything came up the first time. It really does work.) Hope that helps!