Awwww, Klick, I am soooo glad you liked your box of pampering goodies! That file sponge is the kind that is for calluses on the feet. I picked one up for me and started using it and it works wonders! I have nearly gotten rid of all my rough patches from barefootin' this summer! LOL! Should have gotten one ages ago. My feet don't ache so much now! I may have worn it out already! I knew those cookies wouldn't last long! LOL! Whew! Glad I figured out how to pamper! Happy Bathing! I know how bad you want to take a good soaker! Had surgery on my wrist a few years ago and couldn't do the full shower thing for a while! That first one was a good long one after all the sponge washing! Phfltbtt! Back at you bunny! I seriously worried that I would blow it! I never do any of this stuff for me and haven't the faintest clue as how to go about it except for taking a break and talking to you guys! April, I am so sorry that she has Mono. I had it when I was 15. No, not from boys! Sharing drinks in highschool is what did it to me. All girl's highschool. My throat was totally miserable. I couldn't eat or drink anything. The doctor recommended Chloraseptic spray and it numbed my throat really well. I was finally able to have smoothies and slimfast after that. Becki, I meant to take my camera with me today! I keep forgetting to do that. I still have some desserts left so maybe I will put a little plate together tomorrow and snap a shot of it. The raspberry marble cheesecake was so yummy! The ginger cookies were a huge hit! The fruit platter looked really nice. The other stuff was pretty basic: brownies, chocolate chip cookies and plain cheesecake. We did 2 non-alcoholic punches, coffee and tea. The table looked really nice and the group was very happy with everything. All in all a good day. Got another booking yesterday for December 21st. This will be a company holiday luncheon. So things are going well. I am glad to hear that Lilly is feeling better! I think you are right about it being a virus. Fevers don't usually accompany bad food and the vomiting usually happens within 45 minutes or so of ingesting bad food. Trust me, I gave Ted bad turkey for lunch when he was 7. Within an hour of lunch he was hurling his brains out. Poor buddy!

sensitive skin needs to be really careful about such things - some folks are sensitive to abrasion, and do better with exzymatic exfoliation. some folks are chemically sensitive, and some folks are both... the gentlest thing you can use to loosen dead skin cells is plain yogurt and oatmeal (you can run it through the blender dry, or the coffee grinder to make the particles finer) - berries and pineapple are a bit stronger, and contain those 'fruit acids' people talk about...pineapple has enough of it that, raw, it will keep jello from setting. the strongest natural ones are mango and payaya - papain is a powerful 'debriding' enzyme, and is too strong for my face all by itself, I blend it with yogurt - but it does wonders on my elbows! plain asprin is basically saliclic acid and baking soda, and a few drops of water makes one into a tiny little puddle of masque. stronger than that is the shampoo for psoriasis, which can be up to 3%... which is somewhere between the .5% of most face washes, and the 15% of a BHA peel.

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.

The Grocery Price Book can also include the prices of anything you purchase on a regular basis, not just groceries. You may need to figure out what is essential and what is optional. That's where "need" and "want" fight it out. It's sometimes difficult to draw the line between essential and optional (need and want) because we all have a different value system and different needs. Perhaps you can begin by deciding what is essential and what is optional in order to bring your spending in these areas under control. In the pet division, I'm probably in a somewhat extreme position - we don't have a pet because we have a financial retirement goal that we're trying to reach that doesn't have room for pets and their expensive up-keep in the budget. It's not that we don't love pets, they are just unnecessary at this point in time in order for us to achieve our financial goals. I can love-to-death the neighbors pooches...for free. That's extreme, I admit. You need to decide, for you, what is essential in this area. As an example: are 5 cats and 3 dogs essential? Probably not if they bust your budget. My SIL made her own dog food and used inexpensive rice, and I don't know what else, in the recipe. It was a vet. approved recipe. It not only was good for their dog, but it was very cheap. Other friends learned how to groom their cats/dogs to save money. Soap products. Once again, it's price for me. My husband likes to use bar bath soap and one that suits our budget is available at a low price from Aldi's (similar to Dove). It also doesn't leave a soap scum in the tub (a secondary benefit). I like liquid soap, so I take the small ends of the bars and make my own homemade liquid soap and reuse a decorative pump dispenser. Soft Soap: 1/4 c. soap flakes OR 2 oz. soap ends, shredded 1 cup water Simmer in pan, stirring, until the soap has melted. You can add some scented oil or your favorite perfume, if you like. I've gotten triple value from one small container of very expensive body powder by mixing it with 3 boxes of inexpensive cornstarch (now I have a life-time supply). It smells the same, and cornstarch is a good/natural body powder. My only "beauty supplies" are 2 containers of translucent face powder a year (Dollar General Store) and I make my own lip balm for pennies instead of purchasing the expensive stuff I used to use. I use coconut oil (LouAna brand from Wal-Mart - next to the Crisco) for a body/hand lotion or face moisturizer. Most expensive commercial products do more damage and are more drying, from what I've researched. I've eliminated everything else because I really didn't look all that much different with or without it, as long as I dust my face with loose face powder (blessed with nice skin and long eyelashes). I don't even bother with mascara anymore (that was the last thing to go). I purchased a package of 12 inexpensive white face cloths at the Dollar General store for face care. A dermotologist suggested using them along with a bar of unscented Dove soap as a good cleanser and exfoliant (the cheap face cloths are kinda' rough), and this is also suggested for anyone with mild acne. Works like a charm, although I use my homemade soft soap with some tea tree oil in it. The liquid form of the sweetener stevia is one of the best things on an occasional zit - they heal very quickly using stevia on them. A small travel-size of stevia (found at the health food store) will last a long time. Once again in the extreme side of things... I cut my own hair. I wouldn't dream of wasting money on things like highlights or color. Everyone loves my "natural" silver highlights. I budget money for a hair cut each month, but I deposit it into the savings account. I get as many compliments on my hair as when I used to get it cut by the top per$on in town. I just observed how he cut it and did it myself after he moved from the area - and my hair is a short precision cut. Not everyone can do this, I realize, but perhaps they could reduce the high-maintance, high-cost, options. It's all about need, not want. I've switched laundry detergent to ALL small & mighty which is 3X concentrated and was cheaper per load when I did the math, than nearly everything that was on the market. When I found it on sale as a promotional product at Wal-Mart this summer, I purchased a year's worth of it. I also use homemade detergent which is easy to make and inexpensive. A safe option for most of our laundry. Whatever kind of laundry product you use, make sure you measure it and try reducing the amount you normally use. I use white vinegar instead of softener in the rinse (least expensive vinegar is Sam's Club). I hang clothes on the clothes line as much as possible. When I use the dryer, I've added a pair of dryer balls to reduce the static. They also reduce drying time by 25-50 percent. After some testing, I found they work better than tennis balls. For general household cleaning: I use bleach/water as a kitchen disinfectant when mixed 1 quart water and 1 t. bleach - I keep it in a spritz bottle. Or I could use expensive pop-up Clorox wipes. Alcohol/water -50/50 and use it daily on my bathroom counters/faucets, and general floor cleaning in the bathroom - mixture in a spritz bottle. Vinegar - good cleaner for no-wax floors, and Borax and/or soda (an endless list cleaning uses). I wash windows with water/cornstarch solution. I've used a container of Simple Green for several years because I measure it carefully, since it's concentrated. I'm a clean freak, but I pass up the expensive, highly advertised, stuff. This is a very low-budget area for me, so if you have some specific needs I haven't thought of, fire away and perhaps someone will contribute a frugal answer or substitute. -Grainlady