We recently purchased a new skillet to replace the battered and worn teflon non-stick ones that my husband brought into our union. I've never been a fan of non-stick. All of the ones friends and family used seem to stick as much as my hardy stainless steel. And they were fussy pieces of equipment requiring special cleaning techniques. I abhor anything with special cleaning rules. It combines "cleaning" and "rules"- two things I really try to avoid. Yes, I have tossed colors in with my whites and my sweaters into the dryer.
So the new skillet. It has a ceramic lining and is supposed to be awesome in the non-stick department.
And it is! Hubby has been using them and attests to their greatness, but this morning I made pancakes without any sort of oil in the pan. NONE!
I wish I knew what brand it is, but I don't think it matters. It's more of the style of pan more than anything and I am a convert. My poor stainless steel skillets are going to be so jealous.
Showing posts with label Product Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Product Review. Show all posts
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Monday, July 02, 2012
My Week Without Power
Way back in 2006 a huge storm blew through St. Louis. I was attending a PartyLite conference at the dome downtown and remember walking onto the concourse, hearing the tornado sirens and seeing the green sky through the window. And the WIND. We were three stories up and the debris was blowing past at eye level.
What I was witnessing, I found out later, was "straight line winds" not a tornado. Trees and branches had dropped all over town and power was out.
There was little surprise driving home with so many of the street lights and signals out that my own power wouldn't be working. And as with any power outage I pulled out the candles and hunkered down for the night. My kids were with their dad that Thursday night and his power was also out. In fact everyone's power was out. When I arrived to work the next morning my office was up and running and the conversation centered on that weird storm the night before and how wide spread the outages were. I returned home with my power still out. That had officially been the longest I have ever gone without electricity.
This was at the end of July and the heat was increasing. The kids returned home so we sought refuge at my mom's house for the evening - this wasn't a full scale blackout, merely large pockets of outages. We went home the next day with promises to return if the heat was too much.
My power did not come back on until the following Friday. EIGHT DAYS.
We never went back to my mom's house, but we did have to change our routine and we survived (obviously).
Let's be clear, I am not a prepared person. I do not, and did not, have huge stores of supplies for doomsday circumstances. Well, today I have what equates to a miniature grocery store in my basement, but it wouldn't have been helpful in this situation.
The first thing that came out were my candles. Having been a PartyLite representative for five years I have plenty of wax on hand, even today. After my traumatic experience of no power for EIGHT DAYS I will forever have candles at my disposal. My tale of woe was woven into my candle demonstrations from then on out. I had enough candlelight to be the most illuminated house on the street - you could see us blocks away! I rigged a three wick monstrosity next to the couch so I could comfortably read - seriously, it was bright enough.
I knew not to muck with the refrigerator. Leave it closed, it would be fine for a day. And it was. As it became clear I was exceeding the 12 hour limit of safety I bought a bag of ice to cram into the freezer. That saved me more time. On my way home Saturday morning I bought two more bags of ice figuring I would continue tossing them into the fridge and freezer. When I got home it was clear I would need a ton of ice for that procedure to work properly and knew I had to move everything into a smaller device. I had two coolers that had served me well the previous year when I toted my spawn across the country for a ten day journey of travel, camping and sightseeing. Milk and all of the perishables were carefully packed into the coolers covered with plenty of ice.
Every morning I would drive to the grocery store and buy two bags of ice. The store almost walking distance from my house was impacted by the power outage so I had to drive a few miles away and back. I would drain the excess water from the coolers and cram as much ice as would fit. It was funny how this became my new routine, me the non-morning person running to the store.
Just about everything was stashed in Ziplock bags before hitting the cooler. I rarely make specific brand recommendations but I've learned that nobody makes a zipper bag like Ziplock. They seal completely and are not prone to pin holes along the seams. Even items that don't look like they will take on water should still be put in plastic bags. There's nothing worse that hotdog flavored butter. And in this instance I wanted to keep the melted ice water as pristine as possible in case we had issues with water purity, rumors were already circulating. In that burst of brilliance I made sure to clean out my coolers with bleach water before storing food in them.
My house was not completely electric. We had gas to our stove and hot water heater. While the electric spark on the stove was inoperable I could still use a match to light it. I opted not to heat up the house any further by cooking on the stovetop other than to boil water or small food preparation. Instead I lit up the grill in the backyard. The kids gathered small branches since there were plenty after that storm and I didn't exhaust my charcoal supply. We didn't have much to be rescued from the freezer and what was there was promptly cooked and eaten.
It's been a few years and my memory is crap, but I think maybe my kids spent time with other family members. I don't remember incessant whining about boredom. Detoxing from the TV was refreshing and I caught up on my reading. I spent a lot of time sitting outdoors in the shade because the house was pretty freaking hot. At night I slept with a wet towel to keep cool. I now pay attention to window placement in houses. This particular house was not built with airflow in mind.
Overall, it was not a completely negative experience. I felt proud for being resourceful enough to rise to the challenge. Little did I know that in six months I would have to repeat my resourcefulness for another extended power outage, this time during an ice storm.
My husband hates the potential harm from gas lines and fireplaces, but my experience has made both very necessary. The fireplace was the only way to keep warm during the ice storm. I had pet birds at the time so I crammed their cages as close to the fireplace as possible and draped heavy blankets over them. This time I do remember the kids were not home as I recall sleeping on the couch in front of the fire. Fortunately my power was back on in 48 hours. I had already kicked into my previous routine of running to the grocery store for ice (kind of ironic with an ice storm, huh?) and cooking the contents of the freezer.
I think of these experiences as I hear of others facing long term outages. It is possible for an unprepared person to survive.
If ever you were to give something valuable to a young adult moving out on their own let it be an emergency kit:
• Candles
• Lighters (more than one!)
• Manual can opener
• Ziplock bags
• Cooler
• Gallon of water
And if you were really generous, pack it with non-perishable food.
What I was witnessing, I found out later, was "straight line winds" not a tornado. Trees and branches had dropped all over town and power was out.
There was little surprise driving home with so many of the street lights and signals out that my own power wouldn't be working. And as with any power outage I pulled out the candles and hunkered down for the night. My kids were with their dad that Thursday night and his power was also out. In fact everyone's power was out. When I arrived to work the next morning my office was up and running and the conversation centered on that weird storm the night before and how wide spread the outages were. I returned home with my power still out. That had officially been the longest I have ever gone without electricity.
This was at the end of July and the heat was increasing. The kids returned home so we sought refuge at my mom's house for the evening - this wasn't a full scale blackout, merely large pockets of outages. We went home the next day with promises to return if the heat was too much.
My power did not come back on until the following Friday. EIGHT DAYS.
We never went back to my mom's house, but we did have to change our routine and we survived (obviously).
Let's be clear, I am not a prepared person. I do not, and did not, have huge stores of supplies for doomsday circumstances. Well, today I have what equates to a miniature grocery store in my basement, but it wouldn't have been helpful in this situation.
The first thing that came out were my candles. Having been a PartyLite representative for five years I have plenty of wax on hand, even today. After my traumatic experience of no power for EIGHT DAYS I will forever have candles at my disposal. My tale of woe was woven into my candle demonstrations from then on out. I had enough candlelight to be the most illuminated house on the street - you could see us blocks away! I rigged a three wick monstrosity next to the couch so I could comfortably read - seriously, it was bright enough.
I knew not to muck with the refrigerator. Leave it closed, it would be fine for a day. And it was. As it became clear I was exceeding the 12 hour limit of safety I bought a bag of ice to cram into the freezer. That saved me more time. On my way home Saturday morning I bought two more bags of ice figuring I would continue tossing them into the fridge and freezer. When I got home it was clear I would need a ton of ice for that procedure to work properly and knew I had to move everything into a smaller device. I had two coolers that had served me well the previous year when I toted my spawn across the country for a ten day journey of travel, camping and sightseeing. Milk and all of the perishables were carefully packed into the coolers covered with plenty of ice.
Every morning I would drive to the grocery store and buy two bags of ice. The store almost walking distance from my house was impacted by the power outage so I had to drive a few miles away and back. I would drain the excess water from the coolers and cram as much ice as would fit. It was funny how this became my new routine, me the non-morning person running to the store.
Just about everything was stashed in Ziplock bags before hitting the cooler. I rarely make specific brand recommendations but I've learned that nobody makes a zipper bag like Ziplock. They seal completely and are not prone to pin holes along the seams. Even items that don't look like they will take on water should still be put in plastic bags. There's nothing worse that hotdog flavored butter. And in this instance I wanted to keep the melted ice water as pristine as possible in case we had issues with water purity, rumors were already circulating. In that burst of brilliance I made sure to clean out my coolers with bleach water before storing food in them.
My house was not completely electric. We had gas to our stove and hot water heater. While the electric spark on the stove was inoperable I could still use a match to light it. I opted not to heat up the house any further by cooking on the stovetop other than to boil water or small food preparation. Instead I lit up the grill in the backyard. The kids gathered small branches since there were plenty after that storm and I didn't exhaust my charcoal supply. We didn't have much to be rescued from the freezer and what was there was promptly cooked and eaten.
It's been a few years and my memory is crap, but I think maybe my kids spent time with other family members. I don't remember incessant whining about boredom. Detoxing from the TV was refreshing and I caught up on my reading. I spent a lot of time sitting outdoors in the shade because the house was pretty freaking hot. At night I slept with a wet towel to keep cool. I now pay attention to window placement in houses. This particular house was not built with airflow in mind.
Overall, it was not a completely negative experience. I felt proud for being resourceful enough to rise to the challenge. Little did I know that in six months I would have to repeat my resourcefulness for another extended power outage, this time during an ice storm.
My husband hates the potential harm from gas lines and fireplaces, but my experience has made both very necessary. The fireplace was the only way to keep warm during the ice storm. I had pet birds at the time so I crammed their cages as close to the fireplace as possible and draped heavy blankets over them. This time I do remember the kids were not home as I recall sleeping on the couch in front of the fire. Fortunately my power was back on in 48 hours. I had already kicked into my previous routine of running to the grocery store for ice (kind of ironic with an ice storm, huh?) and cooking the contents of the freezer.
I think of these experiences as I hear of others facing long term outages. It is possible for an unprepared person to survive.
If ever you were to give something valuable to a young adult moving out on their own let it be an emergency kit:
• Candles
• Lighters (more than one!)
• Manual can opener
• Ziplock bags
• Cooler
• Gallon of water
And if you were really generous, pack it with non-perishable food.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Assaulting Your Skin
We all know about using SPF and drinking plenty of water as ways to protect our skin, but what about our daily regimens? Is there something we could be doing differently?
This topic came up recently as one friend complained about excessive dry patches on her face. I suggested that she try eliminating her cleansing products for a week and see if it clears up. Clearly I was talking nonsense. As someone with "perfect" skin I just don't understand the struggles of "combination" skin.
Clearly.
Yeah, right, I have perfect skin. My mom and younger brothers have spent countless hours and dollars sitting in a dermatologist office. My teenage body was riddled with acne, not just my face, exactly like my family members. The harder I scrubbed the worse it got.
When I started college I immediately noticed that the water was different and I was suffering very dry skin. Out of self defense I changed my showering schedule to every other day. Suddenly my acne cleared up and the dryness disappeared. As a bonus, I gained an extra hour that I could sleep in or catch up on homework!
I maintained the every other day schedule when I returned home and still do it today. Never able to afford the fancy skin care products, I discovered that el cheapo Noxema is the only cleanser I ever needed. Yet again, I found that using it every day caused more breakouts so I resorted to a washcloth and hot water as my every day cleaner, reserving the Noxema for a few times a month. For times I feel particularly grimy I use rubbing alcohol on a cottonball for a "deep clean".
It took a while to find a moisturizure that worked well with my chemistry, but now I add to my daily routine a small dab of Dove facial moisturizer. It has a 15 SPF and doesn't feel greasy. (not a product endorsement, it just works well for me)
There have been articles written about the necessity of having SOME oil on your skin. When we strip all of the oils from the surface our bodies go into overdrive and produce even more oil. That means there is a good deal of logic to my process. I'm allowing a low level of oil to moisturize my dermal layers and in return I'm being rewarded with less acne (it still pops up, like last weeks zit in my eyebrow - wtf?) and manageable dry skin.
I also don't smoke and usually do not wear make-up. Even when I do wear make-up, I use water and a washcloth to remove it. No fancy stuff.
So if you're battling your skin, my suggestion stands, back off the chemicals. Less is more.
This topic came up recently as one friend complained about excessive dry patches on her face. I suggested that she try eliminating her cleansing products for a week and see if it clears up. Clearly I was talking nonsense. As someone with "perfect" skin I just don't understand the struggles of "combination" skin.
Clearly.
Yeah, right, I have perfect skin. My mom and younger brothers have spent countless hours and dollars sitting in a dermatologist office. My teenage body was riddled with acne, not just my face, exactly like my family members. The harder I scrubbed the worse it got.
When I started college I immediately noticed that the water was different and I was suffering very dry skin. Out of self defense I changed my showering schedule to every other day. Suddenly my acne cleared up and the dryness disappeared. As a bonus, I gained an extra hour that I could sleep in or catch up on homework!
I maintained the every other day schedule when I returned home and still do it today. Never able to afford the fancy skin care products, I discovered that el cheapo Noxema is the only cleanser I ever needed. Yet again, I found that using it every day caused more breakouts so I resorted to a washcloth and hot water as my every day cleaner, reserving the Noxema for a few times a month. For times I feel particularly grimy I use rubbing alcohol on a cottonball for a "deep clean".
It took a while to find a moisturizure that worked well with my chemistry, but now I add to my daily routine a small dab of Dove facial moisturizer. It has a 15 SPF and doesn't feel greasy. (not a product endorsement, it just works well for me)
There have been articles written about the necessity of having SOME oil on your skin. When we strip all of the oils from the surface our bodies go into overdrive and produce even more oil. That means there is a good deal of logic to my process. I'm allowing a low level of oil to moisturize my dermal layers and in return I'm being rewarded with less acne (it still pops up, like last weeks zit in my eyebrow - wtf?) and manageable dry skin.
I also don't smoke and usually do not wear make-up. Even when I do wear make-up, I use water and a washcloth to remove it. No fancy stuff.
So if you're battling your skin, my suggestion stands, back off the chemicals. Less is more.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
iPhone Cover
The super big news in the last week is that I finally got an iPhone! A few days ago we weathered the crowds and joined the Christmas madness as I looked for a cover. I've never been too wild about those rubbery cases, plus I have a latex sensitivity (not a full blown allergy, but it does bother me). The hardshell plastic cases also present other issues that I found frustrating with my iPod - the auxiliary outlet is not accessible to the plug in my car and it doesn't seat well in my iPod player with it on.
In the store there was an opened box like the product had been returned. It held a leather case that looked just like a wallet with a flap to cover the face of the iPhone. Actually it IS a wallet because the flap has slots to hold a credit card, ID and a little place to stash a few dollar bills. It's perfect.
I showed it to my coworkers and they all agree it's much better than the other covers, especially for those who toss our phones into purses and even better for those of us who don't want to drag a purse and all of the associated crap to places like a bar. Did I say it's perfect? It is.
It is from Griffin and it's called the Elan Passport Wallet.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/elan-passport-wallet
So I have a super cool case for my super cool phone. Now if I can master all of the iPhone features... like dialing people in my contact list and remembering how to hang up. You know, complicated stuff.
****This is not a paid endorsement****
In the store there was an opened box like the product had been returned. It held a leather case that looked just like a wallet with a flap to cover the face of the iPhone. Actually it IS a wallet because the flap has slots to hold a credit card, ID and a little place to stash a few dollar bills. It's perfect.
I showed it to my coworkers and they all agree it's much better than the other covers, especially for those who toss our phones into purses and even better for those of us who don't want to drag a purse and all of the associated crap to places like a bar. Did I say it's perfect? It is.
It is from Griffin and it's called the Elan Passport Wallet.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/elan-passport-wallet
So I have a super cool case for my super cool phone. Now if I can master all of the iPhone features... like dialing people in my contact list and remembering how to hang up. You know, complicated stuff.
****This is not a paid endorsement****
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