OK, all you vacationing hard drives with hair – step awaaaay from the technology!  Whether it’s work or your family that your psyche is tethered to, whether it’s Disney with the kids or a romantic getaway with your man, what’s the worst that could happen?  Something might not be done exactly how you would do it? Unplug and disconnect from your routine and let someone else make a decision, learn something, and possibly fail.  Sitting outside the Tower of Terror and dealing with a work crisis while your family enters The Twilight Zone is wrong on soooo many levels.  People who can’t or don’t take vacations (about 30% admit to it) are usually the same people who suck at delegating.   So you could look at Leisureville as an opportunity to improve (more…)

…insurance, that is, for that adult child of yours who is between jobs, doing a temporary thing, or fresh outta school. The insurance jig is up the day they leave the job or school and if something happens, it will back up on you.  When they ask for help, what will you say, “Sorry, I just can’t help out with that emergency appendectomy?”  If the COBRA coverage from the job is expensive, as it often is, check out Golden Rule Health Insurance.  If you need a few-month “bridge” between coverage, Assurant Health has an approximately $100/month temporary plan.  If you lose your job and you have kids under 18, every state has a low-cost health insurance plan for children.  Call 877-KIDS-NOW.

If you’ve read my books, you know that the True Guru of Hormones is Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet – people come from all over the world to her two offices in Texas!   If you can’t visit her in person, now you can use her Second Opinion Consultation service, where you’ll be given specific options for tests and treatment, an individualized review of your concerns, and recommendations that you can take back to your own health professionals.  Your busy gyn will appreciate this expert second look at your midlife test results and potential backup opinion on hormone use.  Believe me, if anyone can put it all together for you, it is Dr. Vliet!   For immediate gratification, call in to Dr. Vliet’s BlogTalk Radio Show, Mondays at 9:00 PM EDT, (646) 716-8913 and ask your question live on air!  If you can’t listen live, listen at her web site www.HerPlace.com and check out all the other fabulous info on the site.  Recent Blog Talk questions addressed premature menopause after infertility treatment; signs of low testosterone in men; subtle thyroid problems that require different tests;  perimenopausal bleeding; “aches and pains” after hysterectomy; and adrenal fatigue.  These are the hard questions with very clear, targeted answers.

Is it a new low or a new high?  Depends on your point of view when you go to a web site called MyFreeImplants.com.  Yeah, you heard me right, it’s a site where you let the dorky dudes of the world ogle your picture, you correspond by email, and they donate money toward your impending breast implants — $1/email message goes in escrow for your procedure, and 20 cents to the site.  When you reach your $ goal, the site pays your chosen surgeon directly so you don’t spend the money on something bogus like braces for your kid.   And I did see some late 40ish women on there.  On the Q & A page, the site answers the question “Do I have to pose naked?” with the anecdotal answer “Some ladies choose to reward donors with (more…)

In the continuing battle with my pale, freckled self and the detailed vein map of New Jersey highways on my legs, I’ve tried about every self-tanner on the market.  Here’s my latest findings with a big SURPRISE at the very end!  L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Medium Glow and Jergens Daily products are the best supermarket brands for gradual self -tanning and Clarins Cream is rated by many dry-babies as the best department store brand.  I have tried both the Mystic Tan (booth spray) and a tan hand-sprayed by an operator (humiliating, I gotta say, having someone look at you that closely in a bathing suit).  Fake Bake and St Tropez are two good salon or beauty supply store products. But there are two problems with all this stuff – 1) it gets “mottled” when wet, in a pool or at the beach and 2) the tanning ingredient is attracted to all your freckles and age spots and makes them darker.  What to do?  I ordered CoverMark leg makeup online to just (more…)