Tag: walgreens

The Miracle of Walgreen’s Petroleum Jelly

On By Michel McDonaldIn Products I LikeLeave a comment

walgreens petroleum jelly

My skin has been so dry since we moved to Bakersfield from Los Angeles in 2000.  My feet were the first things to dry out.  I started buying lotion and would slather that on my cracked big toes and my heels and the backs of my ankles.  Unfortunately, it was never enough.  I would literally use lotion made specifically for dry skin the whole day and my skin would still be dry.  I have spent a lot of money on lotion for dry skin over the years with barely any relief.

I started making keychains and earrings with this stuff called Rexlace and Craftlace, and naturally it took that to dry out both of my index fingers.  My right index finger in particular has been so dry that the hair literally broke off and has not grown back.  All I see in the dryness is stubble that won’t grow.

My doctor gave me an ointment that I was supposed to use 2 to 3 times per day, but naturally it didn’t help at all.  Yesterday we went back to the doctor’s office and he told me to use the ointment he gave me during the day, but to use petroleum jelly at night before I go to bed.  Well, we went to Walgreens to fill our prescriptions and I bought some petroleum jelly.  We came home and despite what the doctor said about using it at night, I decided to just start applying thin amounts of it to my finger throughout the day.  It would sit on my finger until it dried up and then I would spread some more on it.  It’s actually helping.

dry fingerI didn’t think to take a before picture because of how horrible it looked.  I was too embarrassed to do that, but here is an after picture.

You can see that my finger is still dry, but what a huge difference from yesterday anyway.  I did apply the petroleum jelly to it last night, a well as to my dry feet, my arms and legs and my face, even though those parts aren’t dry, preventative maintenance.  My mom did that, and I think I should too.

I didn’t know how well this stuff worked at helping dry skin, but I do now and I will continue using it from now on.

One pain replaced with another

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, HealthLeave a comment

I usually joke about how I must be paying for my bad karma from a previous life because I always find myself having the worst pain. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

I’ve been sick for a few days. We went to Dollar General and there was a woman coughing up a storm. I didn’t notice at first when I got in line behind her and then my mind said to get away from her because I’ll end up sick just like her. I backed off but it didn’t do me any good because I was sick the next day. I woke up with a sore throat and gradually throughout the day more symptoms were added to the list. Coughing, stuffed up nose and chest congestion. Then to top it off, my tooth started hurting. It’s a bad tooth that needs a root canal, but I can’t afford $1000 for the procedure since my insurance no longer covers anything but emergency extractions. I can’t afford to lose any more teeth.

We called Walgreens to find out what I can put on the tooth besides anbesol and they said it sounds like I have an infection and need an antibiotic. We have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow so I will get a prescription for an antibiotic.

Fortunately the tooth pain has subsided, but it’s still there. I now have a swollen lymph node which is where the tooth hurts, and that hurts now. So the pain seems to be gone from the tooth just to give me pain in my lymph node. I’ve been taking Vicodin that I still have from when I broke my arm, but that hasn’t done me any good. I took some today and my pain went away, but it seems to be coming back so I wonder if the pain medicine finally decided to work and that’s why I haven’t had pain all day. Since the pain seems to be coming back, I decided to take another one, but I only have a couple of pills left so I hope the antibiotic helps tomorrow, otherwise I’ll have to make a dentist appointment for an emergency extraction. I hate to lose more teeth.

I’ve been resting for the sore throat, coughing, chest congestion and stuffed up nose issues and taking NyQuil and sucking on cough drops and that has helped.

I haven’t been riding my bike because, well, I’m sick lol. So I do look forward to getting back on the bike again.

So we will go to the doctor’s office tomorrow, get medicine and hopefully not be in anymore pain. Hopefully…

Hot patch for my back

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

salonpas hot

I have really bad back pain that gets worse and worse everyday.  I had an MRI on my shoulder a few years ago and they did a full scan of my back and found that I have degenerative disc disease in my lower spine, and I did have a lot of pain in my lower spine, sometimes when I bent over my back would lock up.  I knew the pain was there, but I was at that doctor visit for my shoulder.  Anyway, since that MRI, the pain has gone up my spine.  Right now the pain that I feel the most is near the top of the middle of my back, but not all the way to the top, yet.

So what I’ve been doing besides using the shiatsu massager and my desk chair which has vibrating massage is I will lean against an ice pack.  That really helps, trust me, but I have been told to alternate cold and heat.  We have a heating pad that I bought at Walgreens that crapped out on me after a few uses, and of course I had long since thrown the receipt out so I couldn’t return it.  Instead of using a heating pad, I thought that perhaps a patch would help, so I bought a couple of these Salonpas hot patches at Albertson’s for only $1.79 each plus tax.

Yesterday after I finished with the ice pack, I put the patch on myself because my partner was sleeping at the time and I didn’t want to wake him up, but I put it on crooked and it was way below where I needed it to be so it didn’t really do me any good.  Although when he woke up I asked him to remove it and put it up higher, but removing it took away all of it’s stickiness, so it kept coming off.  Today I asked him to put it on me so it was on right and he did and I can’t even begin to tell you how good it feels.

I normally experience pain most when I am sitting in my desk chair typing, like now, or when I am walking.  The only pain I am feeling is from the heat from this hot patch, so it’s not too bad.  I haven’t gone for a walk yet, but I did walk to Albertson’s to buy 5 more of these along with my other groceries and my back didn’t give me any pain then either.  So I don’t know if the heat helps stop the pain, or if it has some kind of medication in the patch that helps the pain.  I can’t read the ingredients list and I’m too lazy to Google all of those words lol.

At any rate, it sure is helping me and I really love it.  I don’t like having to spend a lot of money buying patches, but it sure does beat having to buy heating pads that crap out on you and using electricity AND not being able to bring the heating pad with you out on walks.  I really like that it’s on me until I take it off, which it says I can wear for up to 8 hours.  I wonder if it will be hot for 8 whole hours?  I’ll have to find out later tonight when I take it off before my bath.

By the way, I am not a spokesperson for Salonpas or Hisamitsu and I have not been paid to write this post.  Opinions expressed here are my own.

Information Regarding Walgreens, Express Scripts and Tricare

On By Michel McDonaldIn AdLeave a comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Walgreens

I have been going to Walgreens ever since we moved to Bakersfield in 2000.  What I didn’t know was that Walgreens and Express Scripts are in the middle of a dispute.  Apparently over the last year, Walgreens has been negotiating for a new contract for 2012, but they were not successful.  What does that mean for you?  It means that if you are a part of the Tricare network, you will not be able to fill your prescriptions at Walgreens, which is totally unfair, not to mention uncool.

If you are unaware of who Tricare is, which I was until now, they are for military personnel.  How does this affect military?  Well, it makes getting your prescriptions difficult if you are constantly moving around because of the military.  As long as you are a member of Walgreens, you can go to any Walgreens to fill your prescriptions.  I’m sure it’s the same for other pharmacies, but if you are used to and loyal to Walgreens, you won’t like this change.

Express Scripts is saying that you will not have to pay more for your prescriptions through them, but that just isn’t true because they will just raise their prices.  It’s the same rule as movie theaters and airport food, if you are forced to buy it through them, they will raise their prices.  They want you to get your medicine directly through them and they are just the middle man in this whole thing.  They are doubling their profits which is unfair to Walgreens.  If they raise their prices, then they would more than double their profits and who loses in all of this?  Not just Walgreens, but you do too.

If you are part of the Tricare network then you are being affected by this, if not then you don’t have to worry about anything.  If you are affected, join the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens and cut out the middle man.  Why should you have to put up with unfair practices by Express Scripts?  Life is difficult as it is, there is no reason that we as a society should have to pander to these 1% fat cats.

Raise your voice in this issue by contacting the local media and telling them how pissed off you are.  Follow Walgreens on Twitter and become a fan of Walgreens on Facebook and let them know that you still support them.

We as a society are who pay these fat cats their salaries, so if we (and I don’t mean me because I don’t have Tricare) don’t stand up for what we believe in, then they will just get richer and we will get poorer.  Let them know you aren’t going to take their abuse by boycotting them and going directly to Walgreens.  They will get the message when their profits are no longer doubling, and in fact decreasing and they will change their practice.  You have a voice, use it!

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Coax Cable Splitter

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

Something as easy and simple as a coax cable splitter should be cheap and easy to find, right?

A couple of years ago when all of the cable companies were forcing everyone to go digital, we decided that we would make the upgrade only because we wanted more channels.

I didn’t want to upgrade because our cable bill was only $50 and I could barely afford that.  After the upgrade to digital, my bill went up to $89.  It has gone up significantly since then but that’s not the point.

Before we were forced into the digital cable age, I was able to record shows on my DVD recorder which I had just bought 2 years before that.  Some nights I had 2 shows on at once so I would watch one while recording the other.  Other nights I would just record my shows so that we could go out to eat.

Then DVR’s came along and I couldn’t afford the monthly fees just to record my shows.  Why should I be forced to pay for that when I can do it for free?  Well, like I said, I bought a DVD recorder for $225 or so 2 years prior so it wasn’t really free.

When we switched to digital cable, our new cable box put a block on my DVD recorder so I couldn’t record anything.  Heck, I couldn’t even watch tv with it.

For reference, it’s a Panasonic DMR-ES35V which has a DVD recorder and a VCR.

So it has been sitting there not being used for a couple of years now, except when I rent movies at the Red Box.

I knew I was going to miss my shows last week so I decided to hook the cable up to the DVD Recorder to see if I could record it straight from the cable instead of from the cable box and it worked!

BINGO!

So, I went looking for a cable splitter.  I went to Walgreens on Saturday but they stopped carrying them.  I went to Radio Shacks website and they charge $15 – $30 for them now.  Screw that!  I remember when they only charged $1.

I went to the Sears and Target website and it was the same story.  There was no freakin’ way I was going to drop that kind of cash on something that I should get for only $1.

I found it on NewEgg for $5.35 with tax and free shipping so I bought it.  I’m still waiting for it to arrive by USPS mail.

Last night we went to the chinese buffet place and right next door to them is a Dollar Outlet Plus.  We decided to go in and look around and you will never guess what I found for only $1.49…

If you guessed a cable splitter you would be correct!

How can Radio Shack, Sears and Target charge such outrageous prices for something that a dollar outlet plus store sells for $1.49?  I’m sure it’s cheap and you probably won’t get great cable reception but I don’t get great cable reception straight from the cable to my DVD recorder anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

I’ve decided that I am not going to send my coax cable splitter from NewEgg back since I’ve waited such a long time for it to arrive but I now know for future reference that if the retail stores charge you up the ass, check the dollar store first.

Update: My splitter came and it worked and I was so glad to be able to record again.

Sonic Scrubber

On By Michel McDonaldIn Products I LikeLeave a comment

I am fascinated by all of the “As Seen on TV” products because they all look like they are good products that will help people, especially people who have arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome which I have.

I’ve wanted to buy this for such a long time because I hate to scrub grout and having to scrub with a regular bristle brush hurts my wrists, pinches my palms and hurts my shoulder as well.  I’ve been afraid to buy it because I’ve bought a few as seen on tv things and not all of them work out with the exception of the one touch can opener which is really good for my condition.

I saw this Sonic Scrubber at Christmas time at the Walgreens but didn’t get it because I didn’t have the money.  Well, I decided today that I would go see if they still had it because I really need to clean the grout in the shower because we have guests coming next month and I don’t want to have to scrub.  So I bought it and it really works.

I opened the glass shower door and with the Scrubbing Bubbles Extend-A-Clean Power Sprayer I sprayed the tiles where you step into the shower, it was really bad.  I gave the scrubbing bubbles some time to work and then I came back in and started scrubbing and within seconds the dirt started coming out of the grout.  That would’ve taken me forever with the regular scrub brush which is why it has gotten as bad as it is, it is too painful for me to clean so I can’t clean it and now I can.

I bought the Sonic Scrubber as well as the attachments because I figured I might as well get them while they had them.  The one I bought isn’t yellow and black like the image above, it is orange and blue, attachments are the same color combo so it all matches lol.  Also when I went to look at their website it shows me that it’s now owned by Scrubbing Bubbles – SC Johnson & Son.  This must be from when they first came out because the packaging has no mention of Scrubbing Bubbles or SC Johnson and the date on it is 2007.

This product is great and I highly recommend it if you have bad hands and can’t clean with as much elbow grease as you used to when you were younger.

Happy Valentine’s Day

On By Michel McDonaldIn HolidaysLeave a comment

Remember when you were a kid and your mom bought you a box of valentine’s day cards to write the names of each and every one of your classmates on then pass them out?  Isn’t it funny how the boys gave each other valentine’s day cards and all the girls gave each other cards?  Why is it that we did that, and it wasn’t by choice either, we were forced to do that.  The teacher would send everyone home with a seating chart so we knew exactly how many cards we needed and so we could write the names on each of the cards and envelopes.  We needed the names because even though we shared a classroom all day, we didn’t really know everyone in the class.

Do the schools still do that or are they so freaked out by homosexuality that they don’t do that anymore?

I was at Walgreens and I saw the Twilight valentine’s day cards and I just had to chuckle because when you think of giving valentines day cards, monsters are usually the last thing that you would want to associate with a holiday like this, or is it because they are vampires and werewolves in a love triangle that make it so special?

Well my childhood is long past, my relationship with Darrin has lasted 17 years and we are way past the valentine’s day spirit.  I think that is a holiday reserved for younger relationships but I’m sure there are women who would disagree with me.  We still give each other cards and candy but it just doesn’t mean that much to either one of us anymore.  It’s just another day for us.

And on that note, Happy Valentine’s day to you.  Don’t get too many cavities from all the sugar.

My Pez Collection

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog1 Comment

It was time to dust off all of my pez dispensers.  They collect a lot of dust sitting on the shelf that I made for them and I don’t clean them very often because it’s such a job but they desperately needed to be cleaned lol.  While I was cleaning the dust off I decided to take pictures of them in all of their collections.

There are a couple collections that I wasn’t quite sure about like the first one with all the bugs.  I’m not sure what those are from.  I think 2 of them are from Bee movie but then some are from Bugs, I don’t know.  They are all bugs so I just added them together lol.  Then there are the Madagascar ones, I accidentally added a panda to it not knowing where it belongs but apparently that collection only has 3, not 4.  But I don’t care lol.

The very last picture is all of them on the shelf (except for the boxes and the petz, those are on another shelf).  I made that shelf by the way out of very very thin wood that I found at Home Depot when we were still living in Hollywood.  It started out as a smaller shelf but then I kept adding to it so I had to buy more wood and made another shelf.  I’m getting to the point where I think I’m gonna need to plan a bigger shelf lol.

I wanted to compile all of these pictures into a video and put on YouTube but I looked at other peoples videos and they all put mine to shame so I thought that they just deserved a blog post at least lol.











bat

Edit 8/28/09: I went to Walgreens today and they already have the Halloween stuff in their seasonal aisle so I went to look at the Pez dispensers and they have the new glow in the dark Bat Pez.  I added the picture above next to the pez dispenser collection rack.  Click on it to see full size.

Bike Light

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I think it was the day before yesterday or something but I noticed that the light generator wasn’t touching the tire when you flip the switch and so I fixed it and then checked out the lights to make sure they were ok by pushing the peddles.  I noticed that the back red light was working fine but the headlight wasn’t working at all.  I flipped the bike upside down and pushed the peddles with my hand to make the back tire turn and the light was just not coming on.

I took the light fixture off the bike and took it apart to see if the light bulb was just out and when I went to turn it to remove it the glass part came off and the metal was just not unscrewing at all.  I’m pretty sure it’s because the light set that I bought was old, it was made in 1991.  I searched high and low trying to find a new bulb, I went to Albertson’s, no go.  I went to Walgreens, not there.  I figured that maybe an auto parts store might have them because they have little tiny lights too but alas the car lights were the same size but no threads.  The guy at the counter told me to try Home Depot or Floyd’s hardware store.

I decided that since I can’t use my bike anyway I might as well wait until I can to worry about it.  But then I noticed a Halloween tap light sitting in a drawer and noticed that the light bulb looked the same.  I unscrewed the 3 screws on the bottom and was able to unscrew the bulb and sure enough, the exact same light bulb.

I brought it to the bike area (this was yesterday) and screwed it in and flipped the bike over and plugged the wire into the generator and pushed on the peddles but unfortunately it didn’t turn the light on.  I put it back in the tap light and put some batteries in there and tapped it and it turned on just fine.

I went searching in a computer drawer with old computer stuff and found some old mic’s from when I got my first computer and never used the mic’s and was all ready to strip the wires to use it but it was late at night and I couldn’t find my scissors so I waited until today.  This morning after Darrin went to church I got up and went out there and my scissors were by the bike so I got all the stuff ready and sat down on the stool out there.  I tried it one more time with the wire that came with the light set but this time I stripped the wire that touches the light to see if it was just messed up there but no go.  I then thought, well what if the light has to be on the bracket on the bike frame so I just placed it on there and turned the peddles and sure enough the light came on.

At this point I’m not quite sure if it’s just sheer stupidity or if my ADD is really that bad lol.  At any rate I’m glad I finally figured it out and got one more problem out of the way so I can get back on with my life.

Getting Ready For Ride

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

Just a couple more hours before Sergio, my neighbor, comes a knocking on my door to go bike riding to Beach Park.  I’m positive that I can make it all that way but once I get there I have to stop and rest before going back home.  I’m actually looking forward to actually making it all that way.  I really don’t know why I always punk out when I do go on my bike ride.  I mean, it’s actually a very good idea to go all the way there, this way I can stop and lay down on the grass for a bit to give me the energy I need to go back home.

I bought a new pair of sunglasses at Walgreens this morning for $10.  They are the wrap around kind, the sports sunglasses.  I’ve had 2 other pair but both have broken and I’ve ended up having no choice but to throw them away.  It’s my own fault for breaking them though so this new pair I plan to keep with my helmet and only wear when bike riding.  This way I’m not  having to hold them while I’m at the store and accidentally break them lol.  That’s what happened to the last pair.  Oops.

I’ve been doing laundry last night and today so I have clean clothes to wear.  Normally when I go on my bike ride it’s in the morning and I don’t ride with anybody so I just put on sweat pants and my hoodie sweater along with thermal underwear because when I go by myself it’s usually when the sun is coming up.  But since it’s a little warmer in the daytime I had to wash and dry my shorts and since I can’t wear my hoodie then I need a nice clean shirt that isn’t too tight, isn’t too loose.

Going to have lunch now before I go.

Edit:  I waited until 3:15 because he said he would come to my door but never did so at 3:15 I went to his house and he said he just woke up and had to get in the shower because a friend called and is on his way so the bike was a no go hehe.