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Well, I’m soon to find out.  I recently bought some of their No Ride Up (aka Wedgie-Free) underwear.  Then I was sick for a couple of weeks, and didn’t get around to doing the laundry…so they sat in the package, unworn.  I like to wash new stuff before I wear it.

I finally got around to washing them last night.  So, very soon, I will be able to report back to you as to how wedgie-free these are.  Not as exciting as a review of an xbox 360…but hey, someone’s gotta speak the truth about this underwear! Lots of companies claim stuff, but do they always deliver?

I shall soon know the truth…stay tuned!

As I’ve mentioned before, I decided to stop using Proactiv. not because it doesn’t work, but because of the cost, the fact that you can’t slow down the shipments of product, and the difficulty in canceling said shipments.  For awhile, I was using Rare Minerals Blemish Therapy.  Actually I’m still using it, because I have plenty left, but right now it’s primarily a zit cover-up.  That, along with the Rare Minerals cleanser, just wasn’t cutting it.  I wrote a little about that here.

I wrote that post ages ago, but just got around to finally buying the AcneFree kit about a week and a half ago.  Already, I am seeing results, and so far, I am very happy.

The AcneFree system is almost identical to the Proactiv system.  It comes with three products, a cleanser, a toner, and a repair lotion.  They are used together, in the order listed.  Although the instructions say to use the products twice a day, I only use it once a day.  When I first started using the Proactiv, I used it twice a day as instructed, but that caused my skin to be red and irritated.  Cutting it down to once a day worked much better, and I started to see good results.  Since AcneFree contains pretty much the same ingredients (mostly benzoyl peroxide), using it twice a day would have the same effect as the Proactiv did.  For my other daily face-washing, I still use the Rare Minerals cleanser, as it does not irritate the skin at all.

I’ve noticed that my face is clearing up, just as it did with Proactiv.  I’m beyond pleased so far!

The one downside is the packaging.  Proactiv has easy flip-up caps.  AcneFree’s caps need to be screwed off, and then it takes a bit of effort to squeeze the product out through a rather small hole (at least in the case of the cleanser and the repair lotion).  I used to like to use the Proactiv cleanser in the shower, but this cap makes it more difficult.  So I use the Rare Minerals cleanser in the shower in the AM, as it has a more use-in-shower-friendly cap, and then use the AcneFree at the sink in the PM.  I’m willing to put up with this slight inconvenience, being that AcneFree costs less than half of what Proactiv does (especially when you factor in shipping costs).  As long as the actual product works, I’m happy.

In addition to the lower price, the great thing about AcneFree is that you can buy it at many national chain stores.  Here is a list from their website, surely you have at least one of these stores where you live.  On that same page, you can enter your city/state and/or zip code, to find a store near you.  No hassles over auto-ship, no shipping fees, you just pick some up when you need it.  You’ll never be stuck with so much product at home that you can build furniture out of all those boxes.

AcneFree DOES offer an auto-ship plan.  But I can’t say anything about it one way or another, I don’t know how hard it is to cancel or anything.  It’s something that you can try at your own risk.  But to avoid hassle, I suggest that if you want to try AcneFree, get it at a store first.  That’s the only guarantee that you’ll not be stuck with endless shipments (and credit card charges) that may or may not be easy to stop.

They also make a bigger kit, a Severe Acne formula.  They also had that one at CVS, when I bought mine.  If you are a teenager, or a parent of a teen with severe acne, and nothing else has been working, it might be worth giving this a try, before ordering Proactiv.  The Severe kit has four products in it, and retails at $29.95, which is still cheaper than the standard Proactiv kit.

So, if you’ve been seeing those Proactiv commercials on TV, and have been tempted to give it a try…don’t!  Not until you’ve given AcneFree a try first.  I think that once you do, you’ll be glad you did!

Note: I am not affiliated at all with AcneFree or University Medical.  I purchased this product on my own, for my own use.  I posted this review here to let readers know of what I feel is a good product.  And if it saves even one person from dealing with all of the hassle I had with Guthy-Renker/Proactiv, I’ll have done what I set out to do!

A while back, our old cordless phone died.  Okay, the whole thing didn’t die, but one of the handsets did.  It was a cheap phone that came with just two handsets.  One of them was burning out the battery way too fast.  At first, when the battery died, I thought it had just died a natural death, so I bought a new one.  It was a battery like this one.  A few months later, that battery died.  So it was time to buy a new phone.

Another issue I was having were tons of unwanted calls from various numbers.  There were two different collection agencies who kept calling us, looking for someone else.  I guess the deadbeat either had this number before we did, or just pulled it out of their ass when they gave it out to the creditor.  In any case, it was getting seriously annoying.  One thing we learned a long time ago is not to argue with these collections people, even if you’re not who they are looking for, and do not owe them the money.  They do not care, once they reach an actual person, they will just try to collect the debt from that person.  I don’t know what the laws are about this sort of thing, but even if there are laws against it, these collection agency franchise places seldom obey laws anyway.

Our old phone did not have a Call Block feature, nor does Verizon offer it around here.  So, when I was shopping for a new phone, this was a must-have feature, I would not buy a new phone that didn’t have it.

When we went to the maul last weekend, I looked at various phones in stores, and I chose this one from Panasonic, model KX-TG6433M (pictured above).  I know I could have gotten it a little cheaper online than I did at Sears, but for one thing, I wanted to see the phones in person, and for another, I didn’t want to wait to have it shipped.  The collection calls have been coming in every other day now, from two different numbers, and I was getting sick of it.  I just wanted to buy a new phone, take it home, hook it up, and get it over with.

I absolutely LOVE this phone!  It is very easy to use and program.  I had the annoying phone numbers stores on the old phone, and it was easy to input them into the Call Block feature of the new one.  Now, when the collections people call again, the phone will ring once, very briefly.  The phone will recognize it as a blocked number, and then the person on the other end gets a busy signal.  It probably won’t stop these people from calling, but it does stop them from leaving messages on the machine.  It does make things much less annoying.  The phone will allow up to 30 undesirable numbers to be blocked…hopefully, I will never have that many, but it’s good to know, anyway.  Please note that in order for the Call Block feature to work on this phone, you need to subscribe to Caller ID from your phone company.  Caller ID is one of the greatest inventions ever, in my opinion, when it comes to keeping people from annoying you on the phone.  This Call Block feature serves very well to enhance that.

Speaking of Caller ID, this phone also has a Talking Caller ID feature.  At first I thought this would be annoying, but it can be turned off if desired.  However, I find that I like it.

I am horribly near-sighted.  If I am sleeping in, and the phone rings, I either have to fumble to find my glasses, and put them on so I can see the Caller ID, or just pick up the handset and bring it within a millimeter of my eyeballs so I can see who’s calling, and decide if I want to be bothered with them or not.  If I’m not asleep, but not right next to the phone, I can hear who’s calling, and not have to trip over cats to get to the phone and see who it is.

I was sleeping in this morning, because I had some insomnia issues for the past couple of nights.  Phone rang at about 9:45 AM.  The robotic voice said, “call from Plimoth Plantation“.  Since they are not annoying, I was able to pick up and talk to them without having to fumble for my glasses.  They just wanted to know what we wanted for the Valentine’s Day dinner that we’re going to there next weekend.  Chicken or beef?  They forgot to ask when I called the other day to make the reservations.  In case you care, I wanted the chicken, I figured that Mike would want the beef.  He wasn’t home for me to ask him, but I know how much he likes dead cow meat.

Even if you shut off the talking Caller ID, the display on the handset is very easy to read, even if your vision is not the best.  Another great feature that the old phone didn’t have, the old one was hard to read.

This phone comes with one base unit, two additional charging cradles, and three handsets.  The base is here on my desk, which is in the living room.  A second one is in the bedroom, and I put the third one in the kitchen, where I didn’t have one before.  The system can be expanded to up to six handsets, not that we’ll ever need that many.  It also comes with a wall-mounting unit that you can use for one of the cradles (which I didn’t opt to use) and a belt clip, which I probably will use for when I go downstairs to do laundry.

Rather than the type of battery that the old one used, this uses rechargeable AAA NiMH batteries, which can be found in nearly every store these days.  I like that a lot, too.

So, if you are still using a landline, and are in the market for a new phone, definitely check this one out!  I love mine!

For many people, it is.  But there are so many online universities these days, it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you!

Western Governors University is a great option.  They offer degree programs in teaching, health care, business, and information technology.  They are a fully accredited school.  The programs are designed for working adults who wish to advance in their careers.  As I’ve said before, it can often take up a lot of precious time to commute to a regular college.  Being able to study in the comfort and convenience of your own home is one of the main reasons people consider an online degree.

Financial aid is available for those who qualify.  Most financial aid comes in the form of student loans, which need to be paid back after graduation.  As well I know…Mike went to an expensive, traditional university, and we are still repaying his loans to the tune of $1200 per month.  They will finally be paid off in about a year or so, but it seems like we’ve been paying on them forever.

But if it were possible to go to a less expensive school, and borrow less money, wouldn’t that be great?  One of the things I like about Western Governors University is that they are a non-profit school, and, as such, the tuition is surprisingly affordable.  They are much more affordable than other online universities I’ve checked out.

But are they any good?  Well, as Time Magazine said,  “The best  and cheapest college you’ve never heard of is found only online.”  You can find other news stories on their website.

So if you are considering online education, check these guys out!

My battle with acne seems to never end.  I really need to find one product line that works well, and stick with it.

I used to use Proactiv.  I decided to stop using it because there was no way to slow down the auto-ship thing enough so that I wouldn’t end up with piles of boxes of product.

Don’t get me wrong – Proactiv worked for me.  But there are only two ways to get it – auto-ship, or at a mall kiosk.  I personally boycott mall kiosks because the people who work at them tend to be pushy and annoying.  I mean, I go into the mall in search of one specific item, and to get to it, I have to walk past these kiosks, where the salespeople yell at people as they walk by, trying to sell everything from a Custom usb drive to a new cell phone plan – none of which I came to the mall to get.

Also, the prices of the Proactiv products at the mall kiosk are a lot higher than auto-ship.  So I won’t be buying any more Proactiv.  I had enough trouble getting the auto-ship canceled, and I’m not about to start that back up again.

So after I stopped using Proactiv, I tried the Rare Minerals Blemish Therapy.  It isn’t bad, but after several months of using it, I found that it doesn’t work as well as Proactiv.  It does a good job of concealing and drying up existing zits, but it doesn’t do much for me when it comes to preventing breakouts.

Now, this recent rash of breakouts could just be hormonal, as it’s coincided with a bout of daily hot flashes.  Those seem to have passed for now, but I still have zits.

So what I am going to do now is try AcneFree (pictured above).  I’ve seen the commercials for this on TV, and it looks to be the same sort of 3-part system as Proactiv.  But it has two things about it that appeal to me.  For one thing, it is half the cost of Proactiv.  And for another, I can buy it at a store like CVS, no shipping charges, no difficult-to-cancel auto-ship crap, I can just buy it when I need more.  Heck, Mike is on so many meds that he practically lives in the CVS in Melrose, he can always pick the stuff up for me when I need it.

Anyhoo, I’m going to buy one of these AcneFree kits and see how well it works.  Stay tuned for updates!