Yeah EZ, I live in that area and it was crazy windy. It all happened in about 10 min. I was driving thru the intersection at McQueen and Warner as the dust started, no trees down yet. By the time I got to Sunflower Market on Cooper & Warner the rain started coming down in buckets. By the time I went in the store grabbed a six pack and checked out, the rain had stopped. I started back towards home and there were 4 trees laying across the road at different spots between Cooper and McQueen. One of them was on a car that had been heading east on Warner. I took a quick trip around my sub-division and counted 4 more trees uprooted and several broken. all the furniture at the community pool was overturned too. BTW the lady that was driving the car that the tree fell on is okay (a little traumatized, but OK). She runs the resturaunt I eat at every saturday and her sister told me today it took 4 hours to cut the tree up enough to get the car out from under it. that's a big tree. luckily it only broke the windshield.

I have used and like Cetaphil products too. If you don't like scrubs, you can try facial masks, the kind you leave on for 15-20 minutes. I wash my face at night with whatever, put on Oil of Olay night creme. Days I use Olay moisturizer with SPF, then foundation. Things I want to do better: wash my face with something better than "whatever" and I need to do more eye makeup. I really hate to bother with makeup, but recently had my makeup done with a new store in my area (Ulta), and doing something with the eyes makes me look a lot better. I think good skin care can really pay off in how your skin looks in later years. I've gotten very careful about the sun after an experience with basal cell carcinoma on my ear. The dermtologist gave me a medication called Aldara to put on it for 6 weeks. The medication encourages the body's immune reaction wherever it is applied. It really looked awful during that time (scabby, bleeding, oozing), and I was told not to bandage it. After the 6 weeks, dr. did another biopsy, the results were good and my ear has healed. The message here of course is to use caution regarding the amount of time you spend in the sun. If you have any kind of scaly thing which seems not to go away, have it checked. I never dreamed this small scaly thing on my ear was skin cancer. We recently went on a vacation to a tropical spot. It was disturbing to see women who are already brown as they can be, continuing to spend hours sunbathing. I've rambled on here, but I think the sun message is a good one.

What a fun resolution! I'm a garden/outdoor girl, so my skin is not going to be what it could be. Too much time outside during the last 50+ years. I'm okay with that...but, like you, I did make a decision to take better care of what I do have. I love Estee Lauder, but in the last few years, didn't want to spend the bucks for it. I've committed to Olay...the daily moisturizer with sunscreen and...the hardest to remember...the nightly moisturizer. You'd be surprised how often I forget to wash my face and put on moisturizer before bed. (I'm just now beginning to where makeup again--new business where I deal with people.) I do tell a difference when I use this...I have dry skin and it looks more alive and fresh when I'm faithful. I'd like to add facials once a month, too. Well see how the new business grows...

OklaMoni - I suspect that you won't like cheaper products after using EL (depending on the EL that you use) and of course your skin type. I can't use EL except, surprisingly, for the Verite cleanser that I can just use to wash my face. I wish I could use any of the products mentioned - I can't. I have very thin, fair, naturally extremely dry skin, and am allergic to just about everything - especially botanicals (and antihistamine) and of course can't use any form of acid/retinol/C - or fillers. Skin is right colour for laser, but skin is too thin. So I have always used the most hydrating toner I could find along with a hydrating serum/cream, followed by a night cream during the day (this was post the period when SPF started being added to day creams - can't use a combo product). Finding a sunscreen that doesn't cause a rash is the devil - and I need one that is moisturizing and doesn't eat my makeup. I am 63 and agree with those who posted that they can see aging basically all of a sudden. It happens - and often in 5 year bumps. My face is thin - always has been, even when I weighed 200 lbs. during my teen years. At 63 it is still thin which does not help. I am not overweight now but my weight is all on the bottom. I have a long waist and short legs - so always wear long skirts (and at 5'7" hard to find) - of course I use to be taller. Cost is definitely becoming a problem - not developing a burning rash from a product is of course a primary concern - but absorption of a product is key. Products that I have tried that cost less and resulted in a rash also did not absorb. My foundation contains oil - has to - and since I am yellow based with a ph of 3.5 everything changes on me - so not easy either. I guess it is a good thing that I have only one lipstick, blush etc. since I have only been able to find one shade in everything that I use - and they have now been d/c. I hate reformulation - everything these days is about actives and botanicals - deadly for my skin. So I need high end products - but fortunately I am at the low end of the high end due to my botanicals/actives issues. I will try just about anything provided there is a chance it will work - I will not rule out say one botanical or 2 if they are at the bottom of the list - but when the listing starts off with Linden Blossom, Lily, Lavender, Rose etc. - forget it. Forget anything "natural". I can't even make a cheap masque using honey and egg due to the honey. I can't use yogourt on my face because of the lactic acid - this will guarantee a rosacea attack. Soy is also a major problem. And forget perfume/fragrance. I can't even use Clinique - there is something in the products - I know it was Aloe Vera at one time - maybe still is. I have been trying to find cheaper products that work especially with the high cost of living and my husband's retirement looming. I worked for a company that did not provide a pension. Then there is hair. My natural hair colour is auburn. I greyed in my 20s - and it is ugly iron grey that does not look nice with a yellow-toned skin. How I wish I had that gorgeous silver or white hair with a pink-toned complexion. But I don't. I tried on wigs in other colours - horrible. Natural auburn (nothing with a purple tone) is perfect for me but now that I can't get the colour shade at the drugstore - not to mention the full grey that I would now have - it would be tough doing it myself as I did until 15 years ago because I would have that awful line of demarcation - and I do need to pull the colour through. Red fades, no doubt about it. I always wear a hat. I have extremely thick, very dry, naturally wavy hair that grows like a weed. Last time I went for my colour the growth was twice that of the normal person. And living in Toronto going to the hairdresser is not cheap. I need to have my hair cut by someone who knows how to cut curly hair and I need to have layers so that it will curl properly. I do not suit it really short - and I would look (I know because I wore it short until I was 30) like a brillo pad. There are people that I know (my husband is one) who can use anything. And yet, I could look worse - well I am about to. I have been on HRT for 6 years - so am about to be taken off it. There were no health reasons for me not to take it so I did - my reason being my very dry skin.