Your mileage will vary depending on your skin profile and activity. However, some important mechanical things to remember that I learned many years ago from an L.A. Times article: - Mineral-based lotions such as minerals oils, petrolatum, glycerin or lanolin don't moisturize the skin, instead, they work by sealing moisture IN, by the same token, they don't allow new moisture in. If you use these products, use them on moistened skin for best effect. - Vegetable-based lotions actually help moisturize skin cells (note that dead cells are dead and no helping them, but you're still moisturizing hard, cracked skin so it can slough off and new skin cells can replace it). You know what these are, vegetable/nut oils, butters, etc. You'll find these lotions/butters work easily into the skin and aren't greasy. Personally, like Melissa, I'm at the point where I just like to use things I can mostly eat and I know what they are when I read the label. YMMV. I got on a tangent a couple of months ago after some comments on our mountain community forum regarding lip balm. You can make your own very easily and inexpensively by Googling "lip balm" but I found another link for Badger Lip Balm. I got the cocoa butter line that come in the large tube and really like them (Mocha, Creamy Cocoa, Mint...) Ingredients are all edible: olive oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, etc. I think they are yummy, so far my mom is the only one that doesn't (not a surprise ;-) That "drugstore online place" mentioned above was cheapest when I bought some. Any lip balm that has phenol, formaldehyde, salicylic acid, camphor will dry the top layer of skin and make your lips peal. That's why if you are a Carmex lover like I was, you keep having to put it on all the time. For skin, almond oil is great (Neutrogena makes a nice one) as is olive oil, tho' I haven't used the latter straight. You can make your own inexpensive lotions/butters with shea butter, olive oil, jojoba etc. The Body Works advertises butters like this but haven't been by yet to try - I think I'd like to try a couple different ingredients before I make my own. If you should want to make your own with shea butter, you should read this website first (yes, I DID get on a tangent ;-) because many sources don't sell either the correct product or it is inferior: http://www.sheainstitute.com/ If you look at reviews of different vendors on Amazon, you will see quality can depend on lot number even among the same vendors. Seeing as how I don't think I'll use it a lot, when I get around to it, I was going to order this one from Amazon as it's the only certified product I could find in the U.S. (you can find literally tons not certified, but then you never know about extraneous ingredients). Unfiltered is supposed to be superior as filtering takes out some of the good stuff. http://www.amazon.com/AAA-Shea-Butter-Premium-Unrefined/dp/B000GREPOY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357863683&sr=8-1&keywords=aaa+shea+butter If you have sore joints, you can add Arnica, my friend swears this helps his arthritic hands and started to make his own. Two other ingredients I've actually been using are argon oil and seabuckthorn (seed) oil. If any of you has rosacea, seabuckthorn (seed) oil sounds like it's very, very helpful, read it on this Amazon review: http://www.amazon.com/review/RT9NTG9VWSTDC/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B003IU9HI0&nodeID=3760911&store=beauty I wonder if it would work for other dermatitis as well. Tangentially yours, Kerin ;-)

I was having trouble finding castor oil (for soap making) locally. My DH insisted I should be looking in the baby section and said "isn't that what they give babies in cartoons when they aren't feeling well?" lol! Yes. But now we know that it causes people to barf and poop because it is poison, so I don't think they keep it there any more. We did eventually find it, on the bottom shelf of a locked up section with the stuff you take right before a colonoscopy hahaha! My mom talks about being a young nurse and giving all the children in the ward a spoon of cod liver oil before bed. *blerg*. I was raised by wolves (fiercely protective but often absent, we were left to fend for ourselves and be independent). My husband was raised by monkeys. I haven't asked my daughter what kind of animals we are yet, I'll wait until she is 30 and has had a few years of therapy under her belt ROFL! Dances.

Unless a person knows they will be in a house for a short time, I think it's better to plan for the long term, knowing that there may be a period of awkwardness until the final concept rings through loud and clear. In this case (if you're going to be in the house for a while) I would not let the stone and roof colors limit where I go with future house colors. Personally, I don't find the stone attractive enough to call it a "keeper." If budget allows, I'd consider replacing it. If budget doesn't allow, I'd paint it and that will be an improvement and open up color choices for other things. Roofs eventually wear out an need replacement. At that time, you could select a better roof color that goes with your improved house color. Eventually, you could transition to a whole new, improved color scheme. The new pictures help. To be perfectly frank, I don't think the stone columns and fencing help in the least to make the entrance more inviting and appealing. If a courtyard effect was still desired, I think it would be done completely differently than what is there now. So getting rid of those things would be an immediate improvement. The walk needs help, too. Ideally, it would be redone. But if that is not in the budget, then strategically adding to it would be a big help. It especially needs an area of expanded paving near the entrance door. The small "trees" inside and outside of the courtyard are not the right plants for those spots. Is the budget or DIY interest level sufficient to make some sizable changes to the entrance area?

I read that article, but there is a lot wrong with it, starting with the assumption that just because a procedure is expensive it must work well. I can well remember playing a dinner at world famous jeweler's on Worth Avenue quite a few years ago, at a time when they were starting to get back a lot of their more significant pieces, 'cause the heirs didn't want jewelry that had to live in the bank. It was also the time when the women who were of the Ali McGraw generation (little LP shift, pulled back short ponytail) were starting to get way up there in age. You don't get an invite to a private dinner for a necklace unless you have some moola to spend, and this necklace traveled with a retinue, including one guy whose whole job it was to take the necklace out of the case and put it on the stand, then put it on the model for the walkaround, then put it away again. I didn't play during walkarounds (they wanted everyone focused on the jewelry), and he came over and sat next to me, in very high glee. "Look at this one, look at this one!" he chortled as another woman who should have known better than to maintain that cruel hairstyle after 70 came under his eye. "Even money can't save you!" And of course he was right. Yeah, the super-rich look groomed, but in reality their skin mostly doesn't look that much better than that of the middle classes. And at that point in my life, my work gave me plenty of opportunity to observe.