Arnica Gel for Pain

One of the best things I've discovered is arnica gel. It is great for aches and pains and bruises. It has a slight odor at the beginning, but fades quickly.

It is available at most pharmacies and Walmarts, but I buy a double pack from the Vitamin Shoppe because we use it a lot, and so does my son and mother.

Digital Antennas

After a year of research, our household recently disconnected from DirecTV and have gone back to antenna for local channels.

We have signed up with Netflix and HuluPlus. Netflix has better selection of movies, and HuluPlus has better tv shows.

Here are the two antennas that we purchased:

Radio Shack HDTV antenna

We started with this inexpensive antenna because several reviews we read said it was one of the best. It did not work well with our Samsung Smart TV in the living room, so we moved it to the bedroom, where it worked much better.

RCA Ant1450BR Amplified Digital Antenna

We bought this one (or similar one)  for our living room Smart television since it was also one of the top rated digital antennas. It took a long while to find the right spot where we could get most of the local channels (still have trouble getting channel 7), which we found during this time that it actually does work best lying flat as suggested. We had to buy a longer cable as well to allow us the option of moving around a fairly large room.

Let me remind you that with indoor antennas there is going to be some interference from time to time. Also, it took many tries on the bedroom antenna to get it as good as I could. It started out on top of my dresser mirror (which has a flat top), but for some odd reason it stopped giving a good picture. So I moved it around until I found a better spot; but still worked on it a long time before I could get most of the channels I like to watch. I still cannot get channel 7 and 9, but I have HuluPlus, so it is not a big deal. And even though I get a number of channels now, there are times when I have to twist the dial or move the ear to tweak the picture.

Truthfully, with HuluPlus, I'm not missing the cable/satellite company at all. And if at any time I find myself missing a show that is not available on any of the above (i.e., Fox & Friends, FX), I remind myself of the yearly savings by not having a provider.

An update

Hello again. I'm just dropping a note to say I have not forgotten this Blog. I still have things to post, however, I've left my list somewhere and am having trouble finding it. So, if you are visiting, don't despair as I will be back for more updates. I appreciate your patience until then.

Have you ever been attacked by a cold sore? How about a gang of cold sores?

I get them about once a year, and usually in groups; that is when one is gone, another shows up.

Do you find Abreva too expensive to maintain as an arsenal against yearly attacks? I do, especially since, the first one I bought, I lost after using it only two times. In my quest to find something more affordable I found:

HL30 by Herpecin L

It's actually a cold sore lip balm stick with lip protectant & sunscreen.

On the tube it says, "Real Relief from Real Medicine." It's true. It works as well as the others I've tried. And, it doesn't dry your lips out.

I start applying at the first sign and within two days the sore is just about gone.

Does it work better than Abreva or similar expensive cold sore medicines? I haven't done a comparison, but for the money (less than $5 at Walmart) I like it just fine.

If you give it a try, let me know what you think.

Raw Sugar

Raw sugar is unprocessed (or less processed) cane sugar. It is dark in color and the flavor is more like molasses. There are several brands available; the one I like is Turbinado from the tropics.

One thing I learned when using Sugar in the Raw, is that it tends to get sweeter as it sits. I'd suggest adding less-than your normal helping until you've discovered your sweet level.

Side note: I did not like the Stevia blend. 

The Beginning

I've started this blog to pass along information about products and other things as they come to mind.

For example: When using a Mini Keurig coffee maker, it is best to do so in the following steps:

Turn power on
Open top on the water reservoir
Pour in water to the desired level (it has three selections). Pour in until you see water just appear in the middle hole (keep open at this time so you can see when water is completely drained).
Lift lid where K-cup goes, allow water to drain thoroughly (when you no longer see water, close lid), then insert K-cup, and close lid. 
Hit the brew button. Flashing blue light will change to red while water heats.
Coffee will brew in a minute or two. Machine will turn itself off, unless you brew another cup immediately.

The Mini brews one cup at a time; there is no place to hold additional water. Use the drip tray - if you overfill the reservoir, water will run out at the bottom. For tall mugs, you may have to remove the silver cover from drip tray.