Diseases to Andy Rooney to Anti-Itch Creams to Brownie Mixes with RTT

Isn’t this photo cute or what? I just love the endless supply of adorable graphics on the web. Today, I seem to have a lot of random on my mind. I can generally ramble about a lot of things all the time, but this is one day which I can do it…ramble that is…without reservation or hesitation.

I LOVE spending time with Stacy! Oh yes,  and I love spending time with all the other fine ladies who link up at Stacy Uncorked. Grab a cup of coffee or two and read what’s on my mind today!

Do you ever wonder what causes someone to get certain diseases, disorders, or even cancer?  Last night, we learn of acquaintance from our community, who is younger than us, diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

My brain began asking, what if exposure to harmful environmental elements in someone’s work can somehow degrade not only the person, say the parent and then passed along to the child long during conception?

Think about it, you’re putting yourself at risk knowingly or not when you are exposed to toxic substances.  It seems logical, if work place hazards can hurt the employee then it there is a potential it can hurt future generations even before they are born by making it more likely for diseased genes to be passed on. Does it strike you the same way?

Wasn’t that such sad news about Andy Rooney passing?  I’m going to miss him. I wasn’t a regular viewer of 60-Minutes, but it was always entertaining to catch Rooney’s segments.  I always liked his segments where he ranted about inventions. This video quality is a bit rough, but hopefully you’ll get a few chuckles from it all the same….

Last week, I rambled a little about my rash. I have good news, I’m on the mend.  YAY!!! It’s no longer flaming red and itchy. Instead, my skin feels like a cheese grater and itches just bit in spots. It’s definitely healing.  I used three different anti-itch products last week to treat the symptoms.  Two of the three were new to me, Cortaid 12-Hour Advanced and Gold Bond Maximum Relief, and then there was my trusted Benadryl Extra Strength for my third choice.

I alternated between the Cortaid and Benadryl from Monday through Wednesday.  Both helped to elevate somewhat the need to scratch sensation.  The Cortaid may have had a slightly better edge in keeping down the itching.  The rash showed signs of improving when I used the Cortaid, but by the time I exercised and showered by the end of the day my legs got extremely inflammed again – beet red and hot to the touch. The heat simply couldn’t escape fast enough. This wasn’t due to me scratching. In fact, this rash did not itch all that bad compared to past incidents. I thought this was really wierd. That’s when I remembered a product I used years ago called Sarna, another anti-itch lotion. The difference is this product cooled the skin off.

Thursday evening, my DH made a special stop on the way home after work look for the at Kroger. Unfortunately, they didn’t stock the Sarna. Instead, he found anther product which might be worth a stab, Gold Bond Maximum Relief. It boast of not only being good for rashes, but burns.  It was a gamble, but he bought it for me in hopes it would provide a similar benefit as the Sarna.  Like magic, this cream almost instantly cooled my legs off and soothed the itch. I used the Gold Bond two night and sporadically throughout the days.  I didn’t really need it too much. The great thing is within 24 hours, the improvement was significant and I knew this was going to take care of me. Personally speaking, if I ever have another rash again then the first thing I’m going to try is the Gold Bond Maximum Relief.

My DH got in a brownie mood this past weekend. Who am I to deny one of life’s simple pleasures to  my sweetie-pie. After all, he spent all week tending to my whinyself with this horrible, horrible rash. I did tell  you it was miserable, right? Where was I? Oh yes, brownies…my DH’s craving.

Recently, we bought four different brownie mixes. These where one we either haven’t ever tried or haven’t tried in a long time.  We couldn’t remember and they looked so good in the store. So, we did what any decent person would do, we relieved the store of these products. Food City didn’t complain that we decided to spend some of our green back in their store. Who in their right mind would in this terrible economy?

Today, this comparison is only going to be on two of the brownie mixes we bought, since that’s all I made. You can watch for a future comparison of the other two. The two lucky candidates for this taste-test were: Betty Crocker Turtle and Duncan Hines Caramel Turtle. Both mixes consisted of two pouches – the brownie with nuts packet and a caramel packet. The ingredients, baking temperature, and time were identical.

My initial assessment was  after opening the brownie mix pouches I found the Betty Crocker appeared to be a darker chocolate than the Duncan Hines.  The caramel for both boxes were different, too. The instructions say to knead the caramel packet between your fingers before applying to the top of the batter.  The Betty Crocker caramel was stiff and softened somewhat. It was still a bit difficult to squeeze out of the packet. Duncan Hines’ caramel felt soft to the touch without kneading and was easy to dispense.  Also, Betty Crocker provided a bit more caramel than Duncan Hines and the packet appeared the same physical size. I don’t know about the weight.

The results… Betty Crocker produced a lovely, moist chocolaty (dark chocolate) tasting brownie with chewy ribbons of caramel. Whereas, the Duncan Hines brownies were drier in texture, lacked the chocolate intensity and the caramel was hard in spots.

Unanimously we declared, Betty Crocker the winner of the bake-off! We thought the over all quality of these brownies were more superior to the Duncan Hines’. Honestly, the discovery shocked us because we nearly always buy Duncan Hines cake mixes over all others. That being said, we are now inclined to try Betty Crocker’s cakes mixes. What perfect timing with my birthday next month!

Do you like candles? Then if you didn’t catch my post last week on Diamond Candles Give-away, then you may want to check into it. It sounds really neat and fun! On that score, let me dash. The morning is underway and as much as I want to stay in Blogsophere, I have chores calling my name, “Cathy, oh Cathy!” Do you hear them? Stupid, chores!

I’ll be participating in today’s link up with the cool, funky meme Random Tuesday Thoughts.

Thanks Stacy for keeping the randomness alive while Keely @ UnMom takes break! Go ahead, slip into the ranting mood with the rest of us. I know, you’ll feel right at home. You won’t run into any odd ball looks here because anything goes. C’mon on, join the weekly fun with this cool meme and tell Stacy, “Cathy sent ya!”

So, what’s in your random thoughts today?

All products mentioned above are personal purchases made by myself or other family member. No compensation given in exchange for my honest review and comparison.

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