A couple of interesting things about the Revitol spammer: The acne product apparently being promoted is listed as having one active ingredient - benzoyl peroxide. Apart from not being herbal, it's the same agent sold in lots of over the counter products. They list a bunch of "inactive" ingredients, including some plant extracts (and decidedly non-herbal sounding things like methylpropanediol). Why sell a supposedly natural product if all the "natural" ingredients are listed as inactive? The herbsncures site linked to by the Revitol spammer makes the following statement: "Allopathic medicine is the conventional western medicine that aims at producing a certain condition in the body which is completely opposite to the bodily condition under the influence of a disease...Although, allopathic medicine provides instant relief but it comes along with some mild to severe side-effects. Besides allopathic medicine does not provide permanent cure as it does not work on the root cause of the disease but on the effects produced by the disease." You're supposed to get the idea that the products they promote are an "alternative" to nasty old allopathic medicine. Except they all seem to be allopathic treatments as well, only with a lot more inactive ingredients. Evidently "allopathic medicine" has gotten to be a catch-all term for "Western medicine" and is used as an all-purpose putdown. What the phrase's users don't realize is that herbalism, as well as most of the "dietary supplements" on the market are just as allopathic as "Western" pharmaceuticals - they're aimed at countering the signs and symptoms that plague disease sufferers. The opposite of "allopathic" is homeopathic - a practice that supposedly ameliorates disease by giving you an extremely diluted dose of something that causes the same symptoms (but is basically just water). The vast majority of supplements and agents like Revitol have in common with homeopathic drugs that they're ineffective for what they claim to treat, but the resemblance stops there.

Patann, I hope you have a humidifier of sorts in your home with the temps below freezing. That right away will help on so many levels. With that said, the amount of oils in a lotion plays a big part of it. Unfortunately, most formulas are proprietary with mentioning the AMOUNT of oil in the lotion/cream formulas. They only list ingredients in order of the most to the least. Try to look for something with the 2nd ingredient an oil of some sort followed by water. For my dry skin, I always use something that has 25% - 30% oil of some sort in the formulary. Glycerine is excellent on the skin as it draws moisture from the air and to your skin throughout the day. Dimethicone is added to formulas mostly for slip and to leave behind a silky feeling. It does very little in adding moisture to anything (and I feel should be avoided in hair products as it builds up on your hair and over time actually keeps moisture from absorbing into your hair. If you have ever detoxed your hair from it, and your hair feels like straw as soon as you strip that out you will know what I am saying. Paula is a huge fan of cones and there is a lot of debate over them in the formulary industry. They are cheap and not needed in hair products unless you have very course and curly hair). Cones can be good in hand creams however, at a higher amount because it works like a silicone glove if you are a nurse or someone that washes their hands often. For really dry hands have you tried Camille Beckman products? I haven't purchased her creams in years but they work wonders on my 84 year old mothers hands. Since I make my own products, I haven't tried much of what is on the market today. However, I do remember liking the Kiss my Face Olive and Aloe products. It was a good all over head to toe formula. Now days I use unrefined shea butter or EVOO on my wet face most of the time. I keep it simple as the less ingredients on the face the better IMHO. Basically, a very basic formula is all you need for your body. Even basic cetaphil or eucerin cream will work for dry hands and body but since they are heavy in mineral oils they will sit on top of your skin much longer than something made of different oils. If you want some luxury, LUSH puts out some nice body creams. Or you can just stick with something as simple as keeping baby oil or even shea oil, safflower oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, etc. in the shower and putting that on your entire body while rinsing off. Here is a link to Camille Beckman hand creams. You can sometimes find them in Hallmark stores. If you have a LUSH near you the smitten hand cream is nice along with the dream cream. Their url is www.lush.com Here is a link that might be useful: Camille Beckman

Homeblessings suggested I update this so you'd know how it turned out. First, I want to tell you how much I appreciate all the input here, especially those who said not to do anything. I needed to look at it hard and long before spending any money, and that input was valuable. After talking more to real estate agents and analyzing the local market to death, I realized almost all the potential buyers of our house over the last six months or so have been those moving in from out-of-town. Most are military officers or doctors. They are looking for bargains, and they are looking for resale when they move in 4 years. Our home was priced at $325,000, which was right for the market of local buyers who value our neighborhood and the nearby schools, but locals don't start buying houses until May or June (last summer everything sold in our neighborhood in July). Out-of-town buyers were looking at houses ranging from $325,000 to $400,000 and ultimately buying houses that cost about $360,000. We didn't want to wait until summer and we couldn't count on local buyers even then because pending military spending cuts could really hurt the local market. We decided to upgrade as cost-efficiently as possible to get the house sold in April. My friend replaced the vinyl floor, which had seen better days, with a low-cost porcelain tile from Home Depot. The difference doesn't show in pictures, but it's huge in real life. It cost about $2000 total. A real estate agent asked me who did it because she wants to upgrade her own house to sell it. I replaced the appliances with stainless steel. I was back and forth about this one. I was only going to replace the range and microhood (for reasons stated above somewhere) but then I realized I had to replace the dishwasher with one that would fit into the decreased vertical space the new tile caused. I got a good deal on the new appliances and with tax and delivery it was $2050. I sold the old ones on craigslist for close to $1000, so the total cost was less than $1100. I replaced the countertops with steel grey granite, and the sink and faucet at the same time. The sink and faucet REALLY had to go. I think by the time I added in the new sink, faucet, and plumbing labor, the cost was less than $4000. I was able to save the backsplash. I had to take one tile off to remove the old counters, but I glued it back in place after. I dealt with the gap between the new granite and the old backsplash by caulking with a sanded caulk that matched the grout perfectly. If that didn't work I was going to try Bee's painted trim idea from above. My total cost was $7000-$7500. One of the agents we'd talked to asked to show the house before it was on the market to a buyer just in for the week (floor was done and appliances were just being delivered) and we ended up selling it. The couple who bought it tried to buy a $400,000 house first and weren't able to reach a deal. The wife is a military doctor who will be here 4 years, and I don't think they would have considered a house without the upgrades. We'll never know if we got our money back, but we do know that the house is sold. With the high percentage of military/short-term buyers in our market, this decision made sense to me. Here's the before/after. I know there are still problems with the "after" - especially that refrigerator sticking out - but it's good enough. Sorry this post is horrendously long, and thanks again for all the advice!

Carol: I admire your taking good care of your dogs ... I have one daughter, and it's hard enough to take care for her (such a fussy eater !!) Jim: I'm glad you are getting relief from your sore neck and shoulder .. pinched nerve takes a long time to heal. Jess: I found some quotes which I framed upstairs: The rough is mental. Our thoughts are the cause, rather than the effect. So true. My neighbor has a giant pile of leaves .. it seemed impossible, but after 10 trips with my wheel barrow, and scoop by scoop into the wheel barrow, I transferred all to my garden. Same with weight, it seems a giant pile, but one bite, or one clump of leaves shift-away, after many trips, or many days, the weight will be gone. Getting leaves teach me the importance one bite less, and soon the weight will be gone. Losing weight is fun if I look at it as a Christmas gift to myself: blasting my fat-load. Another quote which I framed: Joy is giving oneself unto forgetfulness. Losing weight can be fun if I give myself whole-heartedly. My most fun moment this year was working in the garden until I lost track of time, and wish I have more time. It can be that way with exercise too, once it's made into a habit, then it's easier.