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 Avante Elite toaster oven and though we were a little wary of the cost, it had great reviews and we decided to give it a shot. And here we are two years later without a single problem from the toaster oven, and we’ve also recommended it to at least half a dozen friends and family members (not many people are in the market for a toaster oven, or we’d sing its praises without being asked ).

The unit is compact at 17-1/2″ by 10-1/2″ by 11″, but to this day I’m still amazed at how much we can fit inside it. I use it for any baking requiring a 9×9″ baking pan or smaller, and it’s perfect for casseroles, garlic bread, small batches of cookies, and I’ve even done shepherd’s pie in it (the shepherd’s pie in that link was actually baked in the toaster oven!). And of course it does a fantastic job with toasting, whether it’s bread, bagels, etc., or reheating things like pizza that don’t hold up so well in a microwave (soggy crust!) The space between the rack and the top of the oven is adequate that I have never burned my hand reaching in for toast, unlike my experience with the Proctor-Silex.

The broiler works well, and though we don’t use it often, the warming unit on top is great for keeping rolls warm while the rest of the meal is finishing up. I also like that there’s a timer on it that has to be used when you choose which cooking method you want to use (bake, broil, toast or warm), and it shuts the unit off automatically when the time is up. Both the interior and exterior are easy to clean, and the the rack and included baking and broiler pans are dishwasher safe.

My most favorite thing about it, though, is the fact that it doesn’t require any pre-heating, and it doesn’t heat up the entire kitchen like the regular stove does. We still give this toaster oven five stars, and you know it’s a good purchase when you still comment to your spouse about what a great investment it still is two years later!

[image: amazon]

Post from: Blisstree

Review: T-Fal Avante Elite Toaster Oven

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 down to $12.95 and it’s eligible for their free Super Saver Shipping.

Have you tried a Pedi Paws pet nail trimmer? What do you think?

[image: amazon]

Post from: Blisstree

Pick Up a Pedi Paws for $10

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, everyone agrees that sun exposure makes it way worse.

Not only that, but the creams and gels to fade the dark spots are all very photo-sensitive. Which means, if you are exposed to sun after you use them you’ll burn your face off.

We must wear sunscreen – every single day, no matter what. But, I’ve been at the pool with SPF 50 and still gotten noticably darker spots.

I thought back to my Granny, who always wore a sun bonnet. Why? To keep the sun off her face. A hat creates shade wherever you go. See how much of my face is in the shade up there?

Oh, and yes, I have found something that works pretty well to fade the spots of melasma. It’s SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Gel – 30 ml and it’s about $50 a jar. Which, after spending a few hundred on products that absolutely do not work, isn’t sounding like so much anymore.

I figure – shell out the $50 to correct the problem and then wear sunscreen and a hat to prevent it from coming back.

More stories about Melasma and the other products I’ve tried:

Can A Leopard Change Her Spots?

I Found The Spot Remover

Pur Perfection For Pregnancy Mask

Post from: Blisstree

Bringing Back The Hat

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 my face. I can’t hide it, it’s what people first look at and see when they talk to me. I’m used to being an attractive person and that is, evidently, something that turns out to be important enough for me to spend a little $$ cha-ching.

Other brands are $65, which I might not have spent, I figured $35 was not that bad for a concealer, bronzer, foundation, powder, blush and brush. I bought the set because they retail the “special brush” for $25. It was a splurge, but since I had left all my make-up at home accidentally I had a good excuse. (Thanks, God).

Here’s the key, after speaking to the cosmetologist, who also had an very good education about melasma or pregnancy mask – you have to go with a very dark color to cover the dark spots. Otherwise, you just look stupid and even more spotty. It looks and feels like a lot of make-up, I won’t lie. But, it does create a smoother, more flawless finish. Which is nice.

The cure – going to the dermatologist for 4% Hydroquinone or a chemical peel like Retin-A – will have to wait until after summer. Those photosensitive chemicals will burn my face off even with a ton of sunscreen. I’m unwilling to give up being fun mommy. You can get 2% Hydroquinone that will lighten the spots a little in creams like (Pack of 2) Palmer’s Skin Success Eventone Fade Cream regular, 2.7 oz for under $10 in the meantime.

p.s. I’m aware that my digital photography sucks, so really you’ll just have to take my word for it – I AM attractive and the makeup does cover. Eventually, I will invest in a decent camera. Until then. . .

Post from: Blisstree

Pur Perfection for Pregnancy Mask

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 did that MEAN!? I spent months trying to learn exactly how an executive acts.

Toward the end my tenure at this company, she filed a full blown performance complaint to Human Resources. It was based on not on actual transgressions, but generalized things she didn’t like, such as not managing meetings well (forgot the bagels one day) or not knowing how to yell at the legal department, so out of order, right?

The HR complaint set into motion 2 weeks of agony to try to remedy the situation…according to her, I had one month to “improve” or I could be let go. That in and of itself was mortifying, I’d never been reported to HR for my performance, and I didn’t really understand that once a Sr. person does something like this in a large company, you have absolutely no recourse.

So I decided to resign. On the day that I packed up all of my teeny belongings, she told me not to leave the building just yet, there was one last meeting. When I entered the room, all of my colleagues yelled “SURPRISE”. This moron, who had made my life a living hell was giving me a good bye cake, with a signed card no less. That meant that some poor assistant had to give up her lunch and organize this fiasco.

I wanted to crawl into the earth and cry…I was so embarrassed. I left the building, walked up town and had many cocktails that evening. For the next several months I did nothing but beat up on myself, obsessing over what had happened and why.

To this day, even with The Pet Set up and running, those memories still hurt…not because of my boss’s actions, but because I was too incompetent to avoid the situation in the first place…now THAT’S humiliating: allowing someone else to define who I am and then obsessing.

Post from: Blisstree

Food In Your Teeth

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 in London. I was invited to join him. I recognized this to be an extremely important opportunitiy and insisted that he had to take the position. We convinced each other that it could only be helpful for his career moving forward and that it would be great for me as well.

At that time, I was an up-and-comer at an ad agency in New York and loving every minute of it. The job, the fancy restaurants, the attention, I was like Carrie Bradshaw of the ’80’s…only not as cool. Because I was so impressed with myself and my career and the big city…I wasn’t the most attentive wife on the planet. Stayed out late, worked late, got home late: not fun for him.

I knew in my core that I’d owed it to my husband to shift the focus from my career priorities to his. My own guilt forced me to make a decision.

And so, after all the farewell parties and mementos of New York from well-wishers, we packed everything up, rented our home to a stranger, and moved and cross the pond.

We were both petrified, we had to find a place to live (with cable hopefully) and he had to get up that Monday and go to work. I had to go to my…go to the…go nowhere! I was alone in a strange city, no friends or colleagues, surrounded by people who don’t really like Americans all that much (or at least that’s the feeling I’d gotten).

Don’t get me wrong, we travelled all over the place, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain…attended the best British shows ate at some of the finest restaurants …it was the opportunity of a lifetime, with lots of fun times. But every Monday morning I faced an entire week of solitude. And my intense obsession with British History wasn’t helping all that much.

I walked every street in London, went to every museum, shopped at the most famous department stores in the world. But I was deeply and profoundly unhappy. I had been working for so many years, I didn’t know what to do with myself–I felt useless…so I, did what every young woman would do who is fortunate enough to live in an exciting city, in the best part of town, with the potential to do anything she wanted — I found a job!

I thought that would make us feel normal, back to the two job household: goodbyes in the morning, cocktails in the evening. It didn’t. Nearly the end of our trip and I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to come home, I missed New York — I arranged to rent a small studio apartment in NYC, got back to my agency job, and corresponded with my husband long distance. What a horrible, selfish wife I was, I’d left the sweetest, most generous guy all alone. I felt so guilty.

I do recognize the irony….it was guilt that sent me to England and guilt that traveled with me on that plane ride back to NYC.

This long, long story reminds us that the “…for better or worse…”, can sometimes mean sacrifice and minding the gaps…what is your story?

Post from: Blisstree

Mind The Gap