Did you know there is a vitamin that can help prevent acne? I know!

So here's the thing: I got really fed up with the acne and decided to get really educated on it. I mean, more than sebum and oil plugs and stuff like that. Mostly I just wanted to know "Why the hell am I 45 and still breaking out?" You know, stuff like that.

So, I picked up a book by Nicholas Perricone, M.D., called The Clear Skin Prescription. This book is actually really interesting and has lots of good info, mostly "you are what you eat." (So if I eat a cookie, does that make me a cookie? Hmmm....) Things like raw almonds, green tea, water, spinach, and of course, salmon (the wonderfood!) are all essential for healthy skin. Sugar is the enemy!! Which fits in nicely with my "avoid sugar" thing since I found out that I was insulin resistant. So I increased my liquid intake to include green tea (which I'm not real fond of), and am eating more spinach salads, which I need to do anyway since I'm anemic. Win-win!

I also contacted my endocrinologist, and she suggested I start a prescription vitamin called Nicotinamide ZCF--and I was like, doctor say what? Is this some big secret? Why have I never heard of this? She explained that this med is a vitamin combination product commonly used to treat acne. It contains 2 B vitamins, folic acid and niacinamide (nicotinamide-B3), and 2 minerals, copper and zinc. Folic acid, niacinamide, and zinc may help reduce skin redness, swelling, and irritation. Copper is added because taking zinc supplements can sometimes cause a lack of copper (who knew?). So, I started taking that twice a day and so far I think it's helping without bothering my stomach. (I'm already taking Metanx which is a B vitamin combo, so I'm really hopping on those Bs!) Where has this miracle vitamin been all my life? (And hey, doc, will it actually work?)

Now Perricone recommends using products topically that contain DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol) that seems to have impressive science behind it--as well as the fancy name. DMAE mostly seems to have anti-inflammatory properties, especially when used in combo w/ alpha-lipoic acid (not sure what that does) and glutathione (a sulfur molecule). I mention all this mostly because my derm doesn't have me on any of this stuff--it all seems unique to this dude Perricone so I think it might be a bit of self-promotion, no? However, I could be completely wrong. All I know is that I'm on a topical CLINDAMYCIN / TRETINOIN gel called ZIANA and that's pretty common and standard. I've also tried Rx sulfur gels that are stinky and didn't work very well but you never know. You can get sulfur in BareMinerals make-up now...I personally can't stand the smell. Ick.

Not that I wouldn't be willing to try Perricone's other stuff. I've looked at it online; it's available OTC--which always makes me a little suspect too. Sorry dude, that's just me. Love the book though!

Bottom line: my skin is much clearer, though not completely and totally. Not sure if I'll ever reach that pinnacle. A girl can only hope.

**Try this vitamin if you want your acne to clear up. It's natural and good for you. Just ask your doc for it! Plus it should be covered by your copay. Yea, baby!

Read, shop, and Britney

I've been reading this blog by a gal named Heather B. Armstrong called www.dooce.com. She is f-ing hil-arious! I saw her on the TODAY show (which is weird since I never, ever watch the TODAY show because they annoy me) a few weeks ago on a piece they did on "Digital Moms." The title caught my eye since it was so um, annoying, yet apropos. I almost shut it off but there was Heather. Her website/blog was recently named by Forbes as one of the top blogs in America. Anyway, she was so funny and well-spoken that I checked out her site and now I log on every few days to get a laugh. I encourage you to check her out; be sure to go to the "About this site" tab for her bio and also read the Daily Style and Daily photos. She's a "reformed Mormon" (her words), and recently wrote a book about her ordeal w/ PPD and subsequent admission to a mental hospital. Poignant and funny, seriously. She also Twitters, Sarah, and she's hysterical.

I regularly go to www.anthropologie.com and drool over the earrings under the Jewelry section. They do have earrings on sale, but never the ones I really, really like. I do actually have a $50 gift certif I got from my sister Les a few years back that I just keep forgetting to use (which sucks), so maybe I'll make use of that since I can't use, you know, actual money right now.

For cool, hip stuff at 1/2 the price of Anthropologie, go to www.urbanoutfitters.com and check out their jewelry, accessories and clothing. Hip and cool at low prices.

I'm on the hunt for the perfect pair of big hoop earrings that are awesome and unique, but lightweight and don't cost a lot. So, I googled "cool hoop earrings" and found two great sites: www.shopstyle.com and www.couturecandy.com where you can see whatever criteria you put in for your search--say hoop earrings or black wedge shoes--and anything that is available in any store anywhere will come up with the price, and then will link you to it. How cool is that? You're welcome.

If you are in the market for some Splendid shirts, which as you may know from previous blogs, I LOVE, a source has told me they have them for a great price at COSTCO! I also saw them on sale in great colors at www.shopintuition.com in small sizes which I am not so that just makes me mad. Oh well. If you're small, go for it.

Finally, in the JUST FOR FUN area: have you heard what a ditz Britney Spears is lately? I do like her, and am wishing her well in her quest for a life of non-loopiness, but if you go to www.youtube.com and type in "My p*ssy is hanging out"...well, you can see the problem here.
See, she was in concert and was doing a quick costume change and forgot she was still miked. Oops. The life of a bazillionaire.

There, now don't we all feel better?

So Mommy, do you work for us now?

So I'm into my second week as scullery maid and eh, it's not SO bad. I've only had one nervous breakdown really, and it didn't last that long. I'm actually finding that I'm kinda digging all the cleaning, really, which IS a little scary. I mean, this is ME we're talking about! It's just that I keep wiping and scrubbing and wiping and scrubbing, say, the kitchen counter...and when it's just perfectly sparkling, JP will leave a bunch of crumbs (I know! How dare he!) and just ruin the effect--which really pisses me off, you know?



And then, Lukas, ah my precious boy. What does he think he's doing, leaving potato chip crumbles or "crumpies" (that's Frosted Mini-Wheats to you and me) on my just-vacuumed floor? WTF? How dare my 3 year old child act like a child? I mean, really, what is he thinking, making a mess like that? The fact that he tells me he loves me four to ten times an hour does NOT make up for it! Sheesh-kids.



And oh, the laundry! I have paid someone to do laundry for me since I was a single gal, oh back in the day. We have always been able to afford to have someone do this horrendous chore, since it's something we both hate to do. Well, now we're down to NO MONEY, so it's up to me. And hey, guess what? I still hate it! No one told me it sucked so much, still! How, in the history of mankind, has no one come up with an automatic separator, folder and put-away-er? JP says, hey honey, guess what? They have! It's called our daughter Anya! Though I think since she's only 9 years old, that might qualify as slave labor. Hmmm...I am seriously considering it though as a really good punishment for those sassy times. (Meanwhile, I told him to start doing his own laundry, which he has. I know, poor baby. Yea, well, he only uses a towel once. ONCE! So get over it.)

But really all this is minor given that JP can still generate revenue, if only his clients would pay up! We have to sell our second car, some art, whatever is takes to pay our bills. Meanwhile, our dining room is now his office, which is really okay in two ways:

• I don't have to worry so much about cooking for all the elaborate dinner parties that I've been giving lately since the dining room is occupied by the latest in computer equipment--bah ha ha! Like I cook!! and
• Even with the sitter gone, Lukey is so excited to have his daddy back in the house that I get a few minutes here and there to myself, which is a nice break for me to say, actually go to the bathroom in peace, or hey, type this blog! Plus Lukey is calmer knowing that I'm here all the time, which hey, isn't that what being a mom is all about?

So yea, baby, in answer to your question, I do work for you now. I've been here all along, luv.

Where's the vodka, anyway?

So sitter is gone and I am good. No great, really. I am also cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Here's just one example why: this past weekend, my daughter decided to eat JUST the middle of the OREO cookies IN HER ROOM and leave all the outside chocolate cookies tossed on the floor. Broken in little pieces. After our cleaning lady had already come and gone. Isn't that just special?

Of course, she blamed it on her brother.

Scratching my head, I asked "Well, okay. IF it's his fault that the cookies ARE all over the floor (which I can buy, given his penchant for throwing anything and everything up in the air right now), WHY did you just leave them there?" Mumble. "What, sweetie?" I ask calmly. "It's HIS fault! I didn't MAKE the mess! I'm NOT CLEANING UP A MESS I DIDN'T MAKE!!!" she screams at me. (Did you know that 9-yr old formerly sweet girls have hormones running through them? Age 9 is now considered pre-teen. Lovely.)

Well, you can imagine how well this went over with me. A mom. Moms of the world, unite! "Well, buckle up, buttercup!! (My new favorite saying.) Guess what? I clean up messes I don't make all the time. Were you waiting for the clean-up fairy to come and pick it all up for you? Besides, take some pride in your room. Now pick it up!" I commanded sternly. (That's code for I yelled.)

Oh my god. It's official. I have become my mother.

"JP! Where's the vodka!"

Blurry bunnies

So if you read my twitter today, you would know that:

A) our power has been out since 9am. Have you ever been home with a 3yr old with no power? Not just a any 3 yr old, but a 3 yr old BOY? One who loves his morning TV, like Noggin (pre-school on TV)? We spent the morning with me saying "Lukey, let's just read and play with your toys." "No, Mama. Just make the TV work. I WANT IT TO WORK!" Good times.

B) we haven't told our sitter we have to let her go yet (and clearly she doesn't read my blog). So when she walked in today with swollen red eyes, I thought, uh-oh. WTF? Is the jig up? Uh, no. Apparently, her folks (whom she lives with) decided to pick LAST NIGHT to tell her that she needed to start paying $300 MORE in rent or move out. She IS 28 after all, it's time to get a move on. (See, she's a good Catholic girl and doesn't want to move in w/ her boyfriend til if he likes it then he better put a ring on it, if you know what I'm sayin...Mom, I'll explain later.)

Nothing like timing. Shit. Damn it to hell shit piss (Grandma, your were a cantankerous bitch but you did leave us a damn great saying!) is more like it, actually.

JP says, well, don't feel bad honey. At least she has a place to live. Ah, he is a sensitive man, my guy.

C) I am so darn tired. Lukey decided not to sleep in his bed last night. Which meant I didn't get to sleep in my bed last night. Which means I am functioning on caffeine and blurry eye syndrome.

You know, it's funny because my folks think I must be the only mom who experiences this; yet as I grow as a digital mom, I find that I am just one of MILLIONS of moms out there like me, the walking zombie mom. I love that they worry about me; I know they want to whip my household into shape and have us all sleeping properly in our own shipshape, individual beds. It just ain't gonna happen. My kids are snugglebunnies and so am I. And I LOVE that we are. It's worth it for me to lose that sleep now so that I can rub their little tummies and backs while they sleep and hear their precious murmurs and sighs. Having those stolen moments are what I love most about being a mom--albeit a blurry, exhausted one.

Do you Twitter? Only when I have an orgasm...

TV LAND

Why do men like to watch cowboy movies? You know, bang bang shoot em up? Women don't like those movies, do they? I know I don't. Noisy, violent. Really, what's the point. Yet, every single time a movie like, say, Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" comes on, my husband will invariably not only turn it on, but will yank the volume up as high as it can go, on at least 2 TVs. Just to be sure he doesn't miss a single bit of blood or gore. Ick. (He's currently ignoring looks of "turn it down" from me. Dude--get over it. I am turning this shit off. It's IDOL time.) What I don't get is why people actually paid money to go watch these in the movie theater in the first place? So not even entertaining.

WELCOME TO MY ISLAND

So in the last two days we found out that one of the massive, giant, successful pharma companies JP does lots of work for decided not to pay him for another month...not good. That means we have to let our sitter go AND move JP out of his office and back into the house. That sounded funny. Obviously he lives here--now he will now work here again too. This means I will have no breaks from our 3 yr old dynamo son whom I love with all my heart (or my loving husband) but we will save about $2500-$3000/month which is a boatload of cash. So...cash vs. sanity, my sanity vs. cash...cash wins! Big surprise there.

Pray, people, pray.

TWITTER.COM

"Do you Twitter?" Only when I orgasm. (Thanks, Caren!)

What are you doing? That is the Twitter question. Check me out on the right of my homepage. It's cool, it's fun. You can see what lots of fun people are doing, all the time. Britney, Ashton and Demi, Gwen, Kathy Griffin, artists, writers, hobbyists, regular folks like you and me. It's like one big public text, I guess. Create an account, pick people to follow, and start to twitter!

The DL (that means the down low, Mom!)

So somebody asked us (that's the "JP and Rachel" us) for some couple info the other day. I thought everyone knew our story, especially most of my family who reads this blog, so I won't rehash the whole "we dated 3 months and he proposed, got married 5 months later and no we weren't even pregnant, and we've been together going on 17 years and 2 kids ages 9 and 3" story. Plus Sarah just did something similar on her blog and I'm bogarting the idea. So here goes:

Who likes to cook?
Not me. JP when he's not too tired. Anya loves to help. No one likes to clean up.

What's your favorite cuisine?
We both love Indian, Thai, Mexican, really anything spicy. I could eat Thai every single day for the rest of my life. I love red curry. He loves peanut sauce.

What do you disagree repeatedly on?
The volume of the TV. I am from the Carsman family, where you "Hop to it!" when the commercials come on and hit the MUTE button as quickly as possible whenever the program you are watching stops and the stupid annoying commercials start at 20 times the volume (why do they do that?). JP, however, could care less...he either watches the damn things or zones out on them--he just couldn't care less. Loud noises don't bother him at all. I however want to jump out the window. Oh, and music. See below.*

Who is neater?
That's a toss-up. He is a piler. I cannot stand to see piles of stuff. If there is a pile in my site, I will go through it or toss it; however if I don't have any time, I will hide it out of my sight and conveniently forget about until a later date. So does that make me neater? He will just pile more stuff on top of it til it eventually falls over, and then he goes through it and it's gone. Or until I say in a sweet voice full of honey "Sweetie, there's too much crap everywhere. Please, can you make the crap be gone before I lose my fucking mind?" And he does.

I make the beds and clean the kitchen though.

Who is a better driver?
I have to give this one to JP, especially since I just backed into a stupid post. And I got a speeding ticket two years ago. But, we are both safe and focused drivers and neither of us has ever been in a bad accident. He is calmer though in rain and stuff.

What kind of music do you enjoy?*
I have already written about what music I listen to and enjoy on previous blogs, but mostly pop and rock, especially Madonna and late 70s, early 80s rock, and soundscores. JP hardly EVER listens to music which I still just don't get, even after 17 years. Whenever I have music on in the car, he turns it down or shuts it off altogether. He won't even let us play it at all in the house. We don't even have a stereo system! I know, I know...it's so bizarre! (He will argue that if we do want to hear some music he can play any song we want through the computer on i-tunes hooked up to these little so-so speakers...whatev, honey. Not the same. You did not grow up in my house with my dad playing amazing music through spectacular BOSE speakers, dude. Give. It. Up.)

The only time I get to listen to it is cranked up in the car when I am actually by myself, or with Anya if it's something she likes (we both love Madonna, Britney, Pat Benatar) [I'm starting her musical education, believe you me] or on my ipod. It's so sad. But hey, you pick your battles.

Where do you like to go on vacation?
Well, it's been years, given our current money situation and the economy blah blah blah. But, we do love Palm Springs, Napa, Hawaii, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and London. We travel very well together and never fight whilst there. JP is an expert traveler and never gets ruffled by anything, can read any map, is never lost, and can always figure out how to get from A to B, especially if roads are closed or if there is a detour. He's amazing that way.

What secret talent can you share with us?
If JP can get in front of a customer, he has a 99% success rate in locking in a sale. I fell in love with him watching him do a training program...he is amazing in front of a group.

Although I do read music, I can play almost any piece of music by ear, meaning I can pick out the melody on the piano.

Oh, and I can also wiggle my nose like a bunny (which totally cracks Lukey up).

Rachel, out.