Thanks, tarheel - no worries. I got my little rant in, for which I should be grateful to you. Helped me to sort out my questions. As they say in the reference librarian biz - no one ever asks their real question up-front. So ... this enzyme dirty-dish business still has me confused about two issues: (1) if you pre-rinse your dishes and use enzyme soap, won't it be eating away your dishes? (2) how will the enzymes "eat up the food in the trap after a day or two"? Does some residue remain that continues to eat up the food? Speaking of which ... (3) what's it mean to be an "enzyme" in this context anyway? My understanding of what an enzyme is, is that it's a protein that binds to some foreign material that in so doing facilitates the foreign material to be metabolized more quickly. It's part of a living system. What's it mean in this context? That is, how could an enzyme work on food residue in "1 or 2 days"? The enzyme's point is to speed up a chemical reaction. But the "reaction" that happens in a DW is mechanical - food gets ground up and washed down the drain, right? It might eventually get swept to a public works facility that puts microbes in the water to chew up your food waste - I could see an enzyme being helpful there. But in this context I'm just confused.... Anyway, thanks for coming back tarheel.

leahcate, the news feature I saw was about leaving the clothes dryer running when you're not there. The danger is lint catching on fire. If you're not home to act the fire could spread quickly. My friend always left her HAIR dryer plugged in and on the bathroom counter. Due to a fault in the hair dryer, at 11 pm after it hadn't been used since 7 am, it caught on fire. They could tell the way the fire went from the unit to the outlet that the dryer was the source and not the outlet. The fire dept told her that you shouldn't leave anything with a heating element (hair appliances, toasters, coffee makers) plugged in. I think about that when I read on the bathroom forum about people having outlets put inside drawers so that they can leave their hair dryer plugged in and in a drawer. Maybe it only happened once but since I know the person it happened to I don't leave those things plugged in. Luckily she caught it early & the fire dept responded quickly. She did get a new vanity, paint, and, then of course, new towels out of it! My father was a master worrier so I have some inherited worry traits. I don't think about the big appliances that go berserk and burn the house down. I limit myself to easy to manage things like unplugging my hair dryer and not leaving the house with the clothes dryer running.

Susan, what a pretty girl! I think you're hairstyle is very becoming on you. It would be easy to wear in different ways, too, and to jazz it up for an occasion. I like it very much. HERE is my haircut, not me in the picture, but my style. My wonderful stylist has helped me discover my quite curly hair and to take advantage of it. I can wear it curly, or sweep it back or blow it out to be poufy or sleek......anything. She has convinced me to not color my hair and I am loving the S&P and streaks at the temple. I used to think that I was a drip-dry kind of gal, but it's really not true! I have several products that I use religiously and a couple that I've only recently been introduced to. Another Dove soap user here, for as long as I can remember. I also use two products by UNICURE, an odd ball brand but I'll cry if they stop making it. My mother sent me my first bottle when I was in college. I use their blue shampoo but it is their conditioner that I purchase by the gallon. Seriously. I use it after the shower all over, absolutely on my wet hair as a leave in conditioner/volumizer/bodifier. I wash my face with it at night and apply it to my face after my shower and before makeup. The stuff is a magic elixer for my hair, especially! Limp, thin, and fine textured hair by nature but not what I end up with with a little bit of the Unicure. If I don't use it, my hair ends up flat. My hair stylist introduced me to Paul Mitchell's Conditioning Sculpting Foam with Flexible Hold. It has a red top, if you look for it. Applied to towel dried hair in a small amount, it turns my thinning hair to what appears to be very thick. I use it when I'm going to let my hair air dry or style it. After a brushing, my hair is left bouncy, full, shiny, and soft. I had no idea that a styling foam could do that. My night time moisturizer is coconut oil, sometimes day and night in the winter. Susan, do you have the eyebrow product on in the picture? If so, I don't think it would be dark enough for me. Your brows have the perfect shape, by the way.

Fascinating topic :). I have never been interested in make up, and so never got into much of it. Daily routine is, after washing face, to apply an SPF 30 moisturizer, brow pencil since I plucked most of mine as a teenager and they never grew back, and a dot of Dermablend cover on a small but very pale and noticeable circular scar above one eye where I had a skin cancer removed. Quit bothering with eye shadow and blush years ago, ditto with foundation which is also nasty to wear in the Miami subtropical weather; feels to me like wearing a greasy mask, yuck. Actually the climate here strongly mitigates against the multilayer face 'painting' I read about; cannot imagine plastering on primer/foundation/powder and then leaving it to bake all day especially during what I call our double 90 season (heat and humidity). Have never used lipstick, rarely mascara and never tried eye liner. Have never had an interest in Botox or any other type of intervention or surgical options and probably never will. I did Invisalign orthodontia several years ago; had lived with crooked teeth until I was 50+ YO and the feeling about my improved appearance/smile, along with the greater ease in keeping up with dental hygiene due to straight teeth has been immeasurably positive. I have my hair professionally cut and highlighted every 10-12 weeks. Wash and blow dry it every other day, use a straightening iron too often--as I'm aging my hair is developing that brittle overprocessed look that I hate to see. I need to up my use of hair treatments but just haven't bothered. What else--do my own pedicures, no manicures or nail polish on my hands. Did fingernail polish for years on my own but didn't like how it discolored the nails and prefer natural. I am in major stall on exercise; was doing Pilates regularly with a trainer but she closed her studio and I haven't found a group class with a good instructor on a schedule that works for me. At 58, I badly need to get myself into a regular schedule of cardio, stretching and weight training. Have never had to worry about weight but the tone and fitness lack is worrisome. I'd call myself diligent in keeping clean, tidy and looking reasonable but in many ways I like being in the stage of life at which I've become 'invisible'. It's very freeing in a lot of ways not to worry about trying to live up to whatever i social acceptability standard for appearance is out there for women these days :).