Also good for road rash

Before I had Miss Dub, I took a class on caring for newborns and while most of it was totally useless or common sense - "Be sure to change her diaper when it smells!" - there were two things that I still remember:

First, is that you should never wipe your baby when they only pee, do #1, make a yellow fountain or whatever you want to call it. Urine has no bacteria and when it's just going to air dry or be absorbed into a fresh diaper, all the wiping does is promote diaper rash.

Second, the number one cause of diaper rash is diaper rash ointment. Apparently, people are very zealous in applying things like diaper rash cream and baby powder (totally unnecessary, rash or not) even when their baby doesn't have a rash. And, in my experience, even when a baby has a rash, exposing it to air or leaving it alone helps more than the fanciest cream.

Or so I thought until we went to Utah and Miss Dub contracted a wicked diaper rash that may or may not have been a flesh-eating virus. (I'm not drawing any correlation between Utah and rashes, but ...) It clearly needed to be medicated, but Desitin did nothing. Then my genius sister-in-law introduced me to Resinol, a cream intended for burns. It was amazing! It has the color and consistency of silly putty, but it totally cleared up her rash in a few days.

Only bummer is it's hard to locate. Mr. Dub went to four stores to no avail before my brother-in-law located it elsewhere. Unfortunately, this will be earning Mr. Dub brownie points for several years, but it was worth it. And he's really racking them up these days, as you can imagine.

Now, I must go make some brownies.

Sneak peek at Eliza

A little birdie - who drives a dragon red Vespa and once carried a Macauley Culkin doll wherever she went ... in college - recently sent me some advance copies of Eliza's debut issue.

First, what I loOove-

I did NOT want this magazine to come across as Mormon. Because even though I am a proud member of the LDS Church, I do not think that the only way to "be in the world but not of the world" is to watch "Singles Ward" ad naseum, purchase hymns set to hip-hop beats and wear 18 layers of tank tops to accommodate a scanty top. Also, sometimes Mormons can be cheesy. (I plead the fifth.) And I did not want this magazine to be cheesy. I wanted it to be hip, fresh and modest for a mass audience.

I'm happy to report that it is. The images are great. The clothing is classy couture. And the articles are good. For a first issue, it's pretty amazing.

I was not thrilled to discover, however, that there are no bylines for my stories, even though I am credited for two of them on the contributor page. Really long story short, it's a first issue so there were a few mistakes. But in case you're curious, I penned the following pages:
* 12 - Wedding 911: Your fashion first-aid kit
* 13 - Tradition: Classic wedding traditions and how to give them your own spin
* 26 - Body: Get Your Om on - finding the yoga that's right for you
* 33 - We've got Issues: Child bride or old maid?
* 36 - One Last Thing: Why fashion matters

Also, I'm not a big fan of the column layout. While the magazine's overall design is really cool, the columns are about an ant's-width apart, which makes the stories hard to read. Looks cool but not practical. Also, there is a major shortage of advertising, which is understandable for a starter mag - and much the relief of most of us who are sick of seeing ads with gaunt models making out with alligators - but a good portion of the ads are for Sorella Bellesa, which is a .... ? Um .... Well ... Since there's no additional information besides the company name - no website, no contact info, no explanation - I want to say it's a modest clothing line. (Apparently, there's not enough of those coming out of American Fork on a daily basis.) But I honestly have no clue, though I do think it might be connected to the Editor-in-Chief, whose last name is Bellessa. Maybe she's double-dipping into the Eliza pool?

Anyway, I don't mean to rain on Eliza's parade since I'm certainly a big fan and major contributor. But I'm a journalist so I'm pretty keen on objectivity. Also, I'm a blogger so I'm pretty keen on being blunt.

Overall, I'd give it a B. And since it's the first issue, I think you could expect A+ material in a year ... if the mag makes it since it's not the easiest industry to break into. But I wish them the best of luck.

Let me know what you think when you get your copy. Mine still hasn't arrived in the mail, but I hear they're coming.

Speaking of mags, what's your favorite magazine?

I'll never turn down a People mag, but I really enjoy Real Simple, Domino, In Style, Marie Claire and Cookie, which I just bought for the first time. Honestly, I wouldn't turn down most magazines.

But what gets your reading glasses on?

Do tell.

From matches to movies

OK. I get it. Apparently, most of you (and you know who you are) aren't as excited about matchmaking as I am. You think that our single friends are going to magically connect with other single folk in other states without our help. OK. Fine. Be that way. I even left my last post up for longer than normal to see if it garnered any exra love. But no. It's enough to make a girl WRITE IN CAPS!

On to lighter subjects: MOVIES.

Today I officially downgraded our Blockbuster online account to ONE movie at a time. Yes, we've gone from THREE to TWO to only ONE. But to Blockbuster's credit, they now allow you to return your DVD to the actual Blockbuster store in exchange for a movie rental. (For free! I know!) So it's like having TWO movies at a time in essence. Plus, we were running out of movies to watch and time to watch them.

But in our time with Blockbuster (both our TWO free trial memberships and official paid ONE), we've seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Here are a few high and low lights:


THE GOOD

Stranger than Fiction - Oh my goodness, if I didn't already have a crush on Will Ferrell*, I do now. Except I already did because he's the funniest man EVER so my love just deepened. But he's not funny in this role. He's more like the real Will (or so I hear) - quiet, quirky and unassuming. The movie's plot is clever and well-presented. And Maggie Gyllenhaal may have the world's dopiest brother, but she looks like she could be my sister, and she favors ballet flats. So I like her.

The Prestige - Watched this one last night. It almost blew my mind up with it's twists, turns and time travel. But, happily, the cerebrum survived. A weird but good movie about magic. (So is The Illusionist. And, yes, I refuse to pick a favorite between the two.)

Veronica Mars, seasons 1 & 2 - Try it. You'll like it. (Seriously. You want me to go ALL CAPS on you again?)

THE BAD (or somewhat decent)

World Trade Center - Once we figured out they were going to be stuck for most of the two hours, we bailed. Besides, we knew it was going to turn out OK. And it's the thought that counts, right?

Stick It - I know. I'm publicly admitting that we rented this movie. And that it wasn't horrible. It's just that I've had a soft spot for Beau Bridges ever since his TV movie "A Summer to Remember."

THE UGLY

King Kong - Some of you may have liked this movie. I wanted to throw myself off the Empire State building while watching it. So we have our differences. From the 1,000 way-too-long scenes involving over-sized insects to a woman loving a mutant ape, it was a little too much for me.

School for Scoundrels - We couldn't even make it five minutes into this one. Sorry, Heder. You may be Mormon but your last few picks have been busts. (Just Like Heaven? C'mon!) We're hoping Blades of Glory will reignite your flame.

Got any rave reviews to pass along? Comment away.

* Other celebrity crushes: David Duchovny, John Krasinski and Jason Bateman. Yes, I like my men smart and funny (like Mr. Dub). Oh, and Josh Duhamel, who doesn't strike me as smart or funny but he is hot.