We have owned the T-Fal Avante Elite toaster oven for about two years now. We purchased it ourselves on Amazon in the summer of 2007 after our previous toaster oven (a Proctor-Silex) decided it wanted an early retirement and caught fire.

We had initially decided to get a toaster oven several years prior because we couldn’t seem to manage to find a toaster that would toast four pieces of bread, look nice and didn’t cost an arm and a leg.
After the Proctor-Silex caught fire on the kitchen counter, we researched our options a bit better. We decided on the T-Fal …read more

Have you been wanting to try out a Pedi Paws pet nail trimmer? I reviewed one back in November and while it got the job done the length of time it took to do it was prohibitive and I gave it a wary thumbs up.

However, Buy.com currently has the Pedi Paws for $10 (as opposed to the usual $20), including free shipping. I’m more inclined to give it a higher recommendation for that price, but would stress again that it’s really best for maintenance instead of a full-on claw trimming!
Amazon has also cut their price of the Pedi Paws …read more

I’m bringing back the hat.
Well, you wear whatever you want. I’m wearing a hat.
I think hats are fabulous as a fashion statement.
I have a practical reason too – keeps the sun off the face. Maybe you all remember my post Can a Leapord Change Her Spots where I told you about my melasma? Well, I got quite a few comments from other women with the same problem.
To break melasma down, it’s a skin condition with dark brown spots caused by hormones produced during pregnancy. Many dermatologists say it’s latent sun damage which is exacerbated by hormone changes during pregnancy. Whatever causes it, …read more

In Houston I found this make-up that covers my melasmaor leopard face pretty well.
Pur Minerals Pur-fect Starter Kit(boxed)is what it’s called. It’s the same concept as the Sheer Minerals, surely you’ve sat through the info-mercial while breast feeding the baby at 3 am. Or was that just me? I seriously considered buying it, except I thought the mask would go away within a few months so why waste the money?
Here’s why. It’s all over my freaking face, that’s why!
I’m cheap to the point of mental illness on lots of things, but I realized I don’t want to be embarrassed about …read more

Perhaps you’ve sensed that before my life as “stay-at-home Dog mom” and owner of my company, I spent most of my career in corporate America. We’ve all experienced this during our working lifetime…that one monumental moment that initially humiliates you and then subsequently haunts you for the rest of your life.
At my last position, I worked for an abusive, power-mongering, workaholic at a very large company (see my earlier posts about not fitting in). This woman had it out for me the minute she joined our department. Once, she flat out told me, “you don’t act like an executive…” What …read more

I’m going to try to illustrate that there are times in every relationship, during which small gaps occur: gaps in expectations, gaps in promises, responsibilities, trust and perhaps a gap in adoration. It is also intended to demonstrate that sometimes we have to put our ambitions aside for the sake of our partners.
“Mind The Gap”, is also used on the London underground transit system, to remind riders to be cautious of the gap between the train and the platform. How prosaic, right?
Several years ago, my husband’s firm, a large New York based financial services corporation, offered him a temporary position …read more