I use tote bags a lot when we travel.  For those with young children, they also make a good toy bag for outings.  And they make a good church bag for toddlers to hold special quiet toys that can only be played with at church.

I’ve never had any custom tote bags. I do have a colorful one from Hawaii that has been one of my favorites along with a solid black one that has pictures of my grandbabies. They come in very handy!

The days of adolescent acne are long gone, and I’m so glad.  I must admit that I have gotten an occasional pimple every now and then.  It is mildly annoying and usually goes away quickly.  Some people really have a problem with acne, though, and it doesn’t go away quickly.  I’ve recently read that some people even have pimples on scalp.  I imagine that would be very annoying and irritating, especially when brushing one’s hair.  I’m thankful I just have to deal with one or two pimples once in a while!

Have you ever noticed tiny little veins on your legs that seem to grow a little more visible every year?  When I had our second baby, I was in my 30′s.  During my pregnancy, probably during the latter part of the second trimester, I noticed slight spider veins in my left leg.  It made sense due to the way I was carrying the baby.  I just supposed that after I had the baby then the spider veins would go away.  Well, they didn’t.  Not only did they not go away, they’ve gotten worse through the years.

My grandmother had varicose veins, and I wondered if they were inherited.  I did a little bit of research, and sure enough I found out they tend to be inherited and they get worse with age.  And pregnancy can contribute to their development.  My research confirmed what I thought and matched with what I had experienced.

It would be nice to try a varicose veins treatment, especially one that has an unconditional money back guarantee.  I’ve read it might take several weeks for varicose veins to diminish, so it would be good to start the treatment before the warm months of spring when it’s nice to wear capris and flip flops.

Have any of you had to deal with warts and wished you had smooth skin?  I had four warts in my younger years.  When I was a child, I had one on my lower knee and never knew what caused it to appear.  Now I know that a virus caused it and that warts are common in children.  I had it for several years and it was so long ago that I don’t remember how I got rid of it.

My second wart was a small one on my face, close to my eye.  As a teenager, I finally got tired of looking at it every time I put on make-up, and my mother had the doctor take it off.  I was really nervous about the process since it was close to my eye.  The third wart was on my finger, and again, my mother took me to the doctor to have it taken off which again made me nervous.  The fourth one was a plantar wart on the bottom of my foot, and it was the most painful one.  It had to be cut out and just the thought of someone cutting 1/4 inch into my skin made me nervous.

Today there is a warts treatment available with 100% satisfaction guaranteed.  It can be used on children as young as five years old.  One important fact to remember is that warts can be contagious, and just a small cut can make the skin more susceptible to warts.

Looking in the mirror is not one of my favorite things to do.  Too many wrinkles!  I wonder what the best eye cream for wrinkles is, or if it’s very expensive.  It’s really not that big a deal for me anymore, though.  My family and true friends will love me regardless of my wrinkles.  And you know what?  It’s a person’s personality and warmth that I notice.  I don’t care if they have wrinkles or not.  A lot of people probably feel the same way!

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the U.S. FDA Advisory Committee reports that washing hands with plain soap and water kills bacteria just as well as anti-bacterial soaps. I read about anti-bacterial soaps causing bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics several years ago.  We have not used these types of soaps since then.

Here are several good reasons not to use anti-bacterial soap:

• The active ingredient is triclosan (and the related triclocarbon) which is linked to liver toxicity.
• Low levels of the above active ingredient may disrupt thyroid function.
• The American Medical Association recommended not to use triclosan at home because it may end up causing bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics.
• This chemical ends up in our water sources because wastewater treatment does not remove all of the chemical.
• Triclosan is very toxic to aquatic life.

So which soaps should we use?  The EWG recommends looking for soaps that do NOT contain these three things:

1. Triclosan
2. Triclocarbon
3. “Fragrance” (which can open the door to all sorts of chemicals)

We do use the instant hand sanitizer which is alcohol based.  That is good to use when hand washing with plain soap and water is not available.

When I was a teenager, I had trouble with acne and had to go to a dermatologist.   I remember taking vitamin A and maybe another vitamin for a while, but something with a storehouse of vitamins and herbs like Acneticin was not available.  I think the most natural approach is best, and I know herbs have been very beneficial for me so it seems they would be helpful for acne as well.

What does your daily facial routine consist of?  Do you have several steps with cleansing, facial moisturizer, eye cream, and other creams? Or do you have a simple routine consisting of simply cleaning and then moisturizing? I used to do the several step routine a long time ago, but now I just go the simple route.  Not that it’s better but it doesn’t take so much time!

We have been having so much rain which is great because we need rain.   However, it has been cloudy and humid for so many days that people are longing to see the sun.  During the summer when it was so hot and dry and you needed wrinkle creams to keep your skin from drying out, people were wishing for rain.

Ideally, it would be nice to have rain for two or three days a week and then sunshine for the rest of the week.  However, we are not the ones in control of the weather.  So I guess we need to be thankful for the rain which we really need! And when sunny days come, we will be really thankful for them!

There’s nothing like having a blemish (or pimple or zit, whatever you call them) in a highly visible place such as the middle of your chin or forehead.  Some people have problems with multiple blemishes.

There are acne treatments on the market such as Acnepril that are oral acne treatments that attack acne from the inside.  These natural ingredients decrease the body’s oil production and work to balance hormones and detoxify the body with vitamins and nutrients.  This helps to prevent more acne from forming.