How do I love thee, let me count the ways... I am the Destroyer of Shredders. In 4 years, I have had 3 paper shredders. I have destroyed every single one. I clean them regularly. They fail me.I've had 5-sheet, 10-sheet, cross cut, & straight cut shredders. I've tried feeding them one sheet at a time. Doesn't matter. They die. I kill them. Take your pick. Bottom line is that I...

I was not looking for a new car when I purchased my 1997 Mercedes Benz E420. We were looking for a car for my husband. We drove by the dealership, I saw the car on the lot and ached to drive it. O this baby is sweet! Took it for a test drive and I was hooked. I've enjoyed driving it ever since. Mine is the last model year this car was offered in the Mercedes Benz E-Class line up. I believe ...

I love to swim but really can't stand "aerobics". Step classes make me twitch. I'm mildly uncoordinated - the instructor says Left and I go Right, that sort of thing. In June 2006, I realized I needed to start a concerted effort to exercise to maintain my health. I floundered around for a while trying to find the "right" exercise for me. I finally found Bodies In Mot...

Since time immemorial, I have struggled to find jeans that fit well to my figure. I'm curvy - some call my shape a pear shape. Finding jeans that fit my waist and my bum/hips/thighs without having a gap at the waist has been my lifelong challenge. I have nearly 35 pairs of jeans in my closet and Banana Republic's Premium Contour Jeans are the perfect fit for my figure. The waistband lay...

In my former life as a member of Corporate America, I traveled. A lot. 2 weeks out of every month. Within the USA and overseas. Was Platinum Frequent Flier in my first year. One of the things I really despised about traveling, besides being away from my husband, was the increasingly-declining-already-crappy service from the airlines. I got so sick and tired of the same run-around b.s. from the ...

I'm not a fan of eyelash curlers as a concept. It seems like an unreasonable torture device and a dangerous one at that. I'm not an expert when it comes to eyelash curlers but I am a cosmetics junkie and don't like to intentionally harm myself. That said, my lashes are stick-straight. I don't always wear mascara, which helps with a bit of curl, yet wanted something that would ma...

I've worn eyeglasses for the last 20 years or so. My Rx is fairly straight-forward. It's a single vision lens. I'm mildly astigmatic in one eye and a bit more so in the other. Also slightly far-sighted. Glasses are expensive. We don't have Vision coverage on our health insurance and my husband also wears glasses. A friend told me about ZenniOptical.com: Rx eyeglasses for $8. I w...

I like ice cream. Very much. I never much liked getting ice cream out of the container. Until I got myself a Pampered Chef Ice Cream Scoop, that is. I'm on my 2nd one. I had the first one for 6 months and then, one day, decided to put it into the dishwasher. Do not attempt this feat. I don't know that it was ruined but it got a funny coating on it and I wasn't putting it near food a...

This is going to be wildly unpopular but I've got to be honest. Like many women, I have sensitive skin. Prone to hormonal eruptions. Oily T-zone. Noticeable pores. Finding make-up that doesn't change color after a few hours, result in skin 'issues' or match my skin tone is not an easy feat. I know I'm not alone in this dilemma.  I'd heard fabulous tales of bareMiner...

I staple often. After a while, repeated pressure on my wrist and palm got to be painful. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Stapling is not top-of-mind as an office hazard, at least not to my mind. I kvetched to my husband [and business partner] about my predicament. He suggested - bless his soul - that I look at getting an electric stapler.It seemed a little ridiculous but I thought I'd at leas...

I was given a Sonicare UV Sanitizer and thought it would be a useful tool in this age of increasingly treatment-resistant germs. It was a nightmare to open the package which required a box cutter and scissors to get through the inner, plastic packaging. Once open, it is a sleek unit. Clean Design. Easy enough to operate. I plugged it in and inserted our Sonicare toothbrush heads. Pressed t...

I hate wearing mascara. It always clumps on my lashes making them - and me - look silly. It always smudges under my eyes. Since I have dark circles under my eyes to begin with, a mascara that adds darkness under my eyes is not attractive or preferred. I've tried drugstore brands [Maybelline, L'Oreal, Almay] and more expensive brands [Lancome, Bobbi Brown, Prescriptives, Clinique]. They ...

I work with paper all day and it sucks the moisture out of my hands. I'd slathered my hands in every cream imaginable, no luck. I've tried sleeping with my hands covered in petroleum jelly covered by gloves, too hot and felt really creepy. Didnt' really help either. I tried using Olive Oil, worked ok but super messy. My Manicurist recommended this product to me some time ago. I resi...

A couple of years ago I was getting ready for a Trade Show and was asking around about what shoes I might wear that wouldn't leave me crippled after the first day. Of all the recommendations I heard, one brand name kept recurring from my clients, suppliers and friends: Dansko. I'd heard they were comfortable. I'd noticed Doctors and Nurses wearing them at the hospitals over the year...

Purchased this monochrome printer for my office. It is one of 2 networked printers on our LAN. The other printer is an HP LaserJet. I am very happy with the print resolution, speed, ability to add a second paper tray, and set-up. We have had this printer for 2 years. We do not maximize its printing capabilities by any stretch of the imagination. Other than the original cartridge and drum, we ha...

I have a Motorola RAZR V3. It's pink. I got it in 2005 through a promotion with our cellular carrier. I wasn't really "needing" a new phone but I wanted a pink one and it was a fair price. It's much lighter in weight than my previous phone, a Samsung something-or-other. Overall, I'm fairly happy with it. Not thrilled but it's a cell phone and not high on my priorit...

I've had this HP LaserJet 2200 Series Printer, monochrome, since 2002. Initially, I was using it at home. As my husband's business grew, he required a heavier-duty printer with multiple trays to handle plain paper, letterhead, invoice/statements. So, despite my disappointment, I sent it to the office with him. The HP LaserJet 2200 has performed incredibly well. For 3 years, it was the o...

Buying a bra is not easy. Well, it's easy peasy pie if you want underwire, padding and all sorts of discomfort. BUT, if you want a simple, comfortable pretty bra that does not look like it belongs to a 12 year old, it's tough. For reasons unbeknownst to me, bra designers and manufacturers think all small-breasted women want to be more amply endowed. At least that's what the selectio...

Commercial radio is the pits, we all know it's true. When we lived up North, radio was better but not by much. Now that we live in the South, it's all religious stations and from November 1 through mid-January it's endless loops of Christmas music. Fine for many I'm sure, but not my preference.To me, there's a wonderful feeling of freedom driving down the road, listening to ...