Help for frizzy hair.

As one who posesses long curly dry hair that frizzes at the mention of humidity, conditioner is important to me. I follow all the rules, not washing it every day, combing with a wide tooth comb rather then brushing and keeping heat styling to a minimum. I have found a conditioner that I like, the problem is that it can be hard to find. Recently, after running out of it and going to three stores to purchase a replacement, Rite-Aid, Tops and I forgot the other one, I decided to give another brand a try.

I chose Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Instant Melting Conditioner for frizzy, dry, unmanageable hair. Well jeez with a name like that how can it go wrong? It doesn't work, at least not the way I want it to. My hair doesn't slide through my fingers while I rinse it out in the shower, and looks parched and in need of more products to smooth the curls' puffiness after its dry. Which one do I like? Clairol Nice and Easy color seal weekly conditioning gloss. It's the conditioner that comes with the hair color kit and it give my hair the softness and shine that makes me happy. What do you like or dislike? Edited to add, thank-you Wegmans for carrying my Holy Grail conditioner!

effing soy allergy!

This post is a rant, be forewarned. I am allergic to soy. Soybeans, soybean oil, you name it if it is derived from soy and I ingest it soon my lips become swollen and huge, days later they are stiff and the outer layer of skin starts painfully cracking leaving me with open wounds for a mouth. This continues for a week of misery. For a while it seemed like doing a couple of shots of apple cider vinegar was controlling it but it suddenly reared up again, maybe I wasn't vigilant enough about taking the vinegar. One needs their mouth you know? This makes me feel shitty and cranky.

The Living Well Health Master aka the Montel blender

My aunt bought this the other day and asked me to give it a whirl as I cook more often then she does. It's pretty intimidating right out of the box, huge and digital so I looked it up online and found the main site which has instructional videos. A dvd and booklet came with the blender but I didn't know where they had been placed by my aunt so this was a quick way for me to see how to use it. Once I saw that the blender and lid both had to be locked in place, and that turning it on requires two buttons instead of the normal one, I was ready to go.

Now, this isn't one of those Consumer Report reviews where they check all the features and make the recipes included. I have a couple of foods I make with a blender, and created one of those. I'm about as veggie-oriented as the rest of America, I like them but sometimes preparing veggies seems like too much work so years ago I created a green soup. I use a tomato and whatever leafy greens are in the fridge, a shot of hot sauce and some water, blend the whole mess together and heat it up with some chopped up cheese.

This blender uses centrifugal force to heat the liquid inside, which basically means you blend the hell out of it and it pours out steaming. Well, I just couldn't do it. Being from the generation where hot foods in the blender equals a broken seal, when the greens and tomato looked emulsified I poured it into a bowl, topped it with the cheese and microwaved the soup the way I normally would. It worked well as a blender, and as I am fearful of using it to heat the food (the instructional video said it takes 8 minutes on high, level 8) I'm not sure this fancy of a blender is one I would purchase. That said, it was easy to use and seems sturdy and safe.

The runaway wife

As usual I wake up to the Today Show. I love to hate that show. Sometimes it focuses on the most "huh?" people, Kim Kardashian and Hulk Hogan come to mind. It is usually a mix of dark and light sufficient to keep me somewhat occupied without having to think too hard in the morning, which is probably their goal.

Today they took a break from the disasters hitting America to interview the husband of the latest "Runaway Mom". Now, I haven't had a child, but I have nieces and nephews and the idea of a mom abandoning their baby is sickening to me. If, however, one is a person who can do that, seems to me she shouldn't get that baby back when she changes her mind. Dual custody, maybe. Even that is risky when the person already took off to another state without telling a soul.

The interview was obviously slanted the same way (this I find insulting, let us decide for ourselves but that is another subject) with the repeated shot of the frumpy overweight wife and her disreputable-looking, in need of a haircut boyfriend entering a cheap car. When an interview is obviously biased like that I want to root for the underdog, but in this situation even I cannot. If you want to leave, tell the person you are with. This major search for clues that you are still alive thing is all kinds of unethical.

Update on the Cat Emery Board

My cat doesn't like it, he prefers the regular scratchy board so much it has a deeply scratched dip in it. He either isn't using it at all, or he is using it when I am not home and it hasn't made any difference in the sharpness of his claws. Ah well it was worth a shot.

Yesterday a friend and I went to downtown Buffalo and had lunch at Gabriel's Gate, a popular place on Allen St. It was one of the few places I had been to in the area that offered a steak salad, so I ordered it but was disappointed that my 'mixed greens' were only Romaine. It was an okay salad, not something I would order again if at the same place. The bartender was friendly and entertaining and the decor is certainly unusual as you will see in the clip I am providing so all in all it was a nice lunch.