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Just in case you didn’t get enough of the Royal Wedding!  Have a great Memorial Day Weekend everyone!

Summer is here – and for me that means sunscreen, shade and sometimes even sleeves!  I burn early and often in the summer if I’m not careful.  And while I know how to avoid sunburn, I really didn’t understand what it does to my skin.

Sunburn is a radiation burn resulting from ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun.  We probably all know that from our sunscreen bottles and sunscreen commercials.  But it will probably scare you to learn that the burn damages the DNA in your cells – and when the damage gets to a certain level, it causes cell death and triggers your skin to replace itself.  Ew.

But that does make sense – the damage leads to inflammation which is the hot red skin we’ve all experienced.  Cell death and skin replacement?  Peeling.  But the burn can also have other side effects including nausea, fever, chills and fainting.  Extreme sunburns can lead to blistering and may even require hospitalization.  Again – ew!

So today check your cabinet – do you have sunscreen?  Are you wearing it daily?  If you’re like me, you can burn in as little as 15 minutes so can we all agree that we’re going to minimize our exposure and potential skin damage this summer and wear our sunscreen?  I love Aveeno SPF 30 but you can check Consumer Reports Sunscreen recommendations for 2018 here.

Stay safe out there!  Wear your sunscreen!

This coming weekend is Memorial Day weekend – and marks the kick off to the summer for most of us.  For those of us with a three day weekend, we better be making plans!  Here are some ideas for you:

• Attend a parade.  Some of my best childhood memories are from attending the parade in Buckland, Ohio with my family.
• Host a barbecue – what’s better than a grill filled with food with friends and family around?  Did you watch the video I posted on cleaning your grill?  If not – click here and get it done!
• Attend a local ceremony, event or festival.  Almost every community has a gathering of some type to honor our military and celebrate the community.  So go to the wreath laying, run a 5K or listen to a band with the other members of your community!
• Road trip!  Memorial Day weekend is great for a getaway.  It might be a good time to visit a historical landmark, or museum – or maybe a beach?
• Cheer!  Is there a baseball game at your local park?  Is the hometown pro team playing?  Baseball is still the great American pass time – and it’s a great weekend to root for your favorite team.
• DIY.  I love a good three day weekend for getting things done around the house.  3 days is the perfect amount of time to tackle a room makeover or get your garden planted.  So head out to your hardware store and let’s get a project done this weekend!
• Relax….  Sleep in or take an afternoon nap in the sun.  Sounds great doesn’t it?  I know if the weather cooperates, you’ll be able to find me in a lounge chair by the pool with a good book for part of the weekend.

Get your plans made – but don’t forget to take time out to remember the members of our military!

I read this morning that Deadpool 2 won the box office over the weekend setting a record for opening ticket sales for a R rated movie.  That means people will call it a blockbuster – but why do they call it that?

The first use of the term ‘blockbuster’ was during World War 2 to describe a bomb that could level a full city block.  In 1942 newspapers reported that the Germans feared the 2 ton bombs being dropped by the British Royal Airforce and called them block busters for their overwhelming destructive power.  Almost immediately the word began to evolve to include almost anything that was big or exciting.   Dictionary.com refers to an article confirming the evolution in the Showmen’s Trade Review on July 3rd of 1943 where the word referred to something other than an actual bomb in a headline, “Blockbuster Hail Stones Cost Theatreman $150 for New Roof.”

Show business loved a term that labelled something big and exciting and movie marketers really stepped up to claim a word that telegraphs a real WOW factor.  In 1954, a movie executive wrote an article for a film industry magazine defining a blockbuster to describe a film that grossed at least $2 million in the U.S. and Canada.

The term ‘blockbuster’ seems to have joined the more common lexicon with the release of Jaws in the summer of 1975.  The term evolved again to refer to a cultural phenomenon – a fast paced, exciting entertainment that becomes a common topic of conversation and inspiring repeated viewings.

So here’s to the first blockbuster – Jaws – and a summer full of more great movies!

My Amazon Echo has been saying some really random stuff to me lately.  Maybe I should trade her in for one of these….  Have a great weekend everyone!

Did you know that 18 years ago today the final episode of Beverly Hills 90210 aired?  Donna and David got married, Kelly and Dylan got back together (again) and all we were left with to go forward was Melrose Place.  Does it seem like 18 years ago?

Let’s relive a little bit of the “magic” shall we?

It’s been raining a lot here – and standing water will likely lead to the first mosquitoes of the season any minute now.  I hate mosquito bites because I have pretty severe reactions to them – swelling and itching for DAYS!   I’m always looking for ways to avoid or cut down on the pain of mosquito bites so here are some of the fun facts I’ve learned along the way:

• When a mosquito bites you, your body recognizes that saliva as foreign and responds by sending histamine to the site.  Histamine increases blood flow and brings more white blood cells to the area which causes the swelling and inflammation.  The histamine also aggravates the nerves in the area resulting in itching.
• Some lucky people never have reactions to the bites.  And other people develop a tolerance lessening the reaction over time.  But most of us will be annoyed by mosquitoes our entire lives.  Yay right?
• There are a LOT of ways to treat mosquito bites – some better than others.  If you don’t like using corticosteroid creams like I do, check out these natural treatments.
• The CDC reports that insect borne illnesses like West Nile virus and the Zika virus have risen dramatically over the past few years due to climate change and expanding global travel/trade.  Warmer/shorter winters have resulted in better breeding conditions for mosquitoes so it’s up to us to be prepared by using bug repellents or changing our own behaviors.

If you want to minimize the mosquitoes in your backyard, I’ve used this homemade spray for the last couple of years with amazing results:

Mix together 1/3 of a big bottle of cheap blue minty mouthwash, 1 cup of Epsom salts and a 12 oz bottle/can of stale beer until the Epsom salts are dissolved.  Put in a spray bottle and spray anywhere you sit outside.  It doesn’t harm your plants and hasn’t hurt either the paint on my deck or my furniture but it keeps the bugs away for at least a month before I spray again.

Give it a try – you don’t want West Nile virus or Zika!

Gas in my neighborhood has gone up about 50 cents a gallon the the last week which might put a cramp in upcoming summer road trip plans especially if the increases keep coming.  So this week, let’s stop and think about how we can maximize our gas mileage without the expense of going shopping for a hybrid or electric car.

First up – check your tires.  If your tread is wearing unevenly, your car may be out of alignment which can put a drag on your mileage.  Checking your tire tread at least annually is a great idea anyway to make sure your tires are able to grip the road in wet conditions.  Also, don’t forget to check the inflation to make sure you’re in the proper range as shown on the sticker on the driver side doorpost.  Correct tire inflation can save you as much as 3% on your fuel consumption.  Tires can lose up to 1 pound of pressure a month and the change of season can also contribute to changes in tire pressure so take a minute and check it out.

Second – how’s your engine air filter?  A dirty filter can drag down your mileage and even cause stalls and is easy to replace yourself.  Nobody wants to be the person stalled in traffic on the highway!

Last but not least – try not to make your engine work so hard!  Slowing down to the speed limit, not reving your engine, getting your oil changed regularly and turning off the A/C in stop/go traffic are a few ways to take it easy on your engine.  Also – clean out your car!  An extra 100 lbs of gear in your car is like carrying an extra person so look at all that stuff you have in the back – do you really need all of it?

Want some more ideas?  Check out these extra tips and get ready to road trip!

We all take selfies these days.  The camera phone unleashed selfies in a way that cameras never could before – but did you ever ask who took the first selfie?

A man named Robert Cornelius took the first selfie in 1839 while trying to find a way to improve the daguerreotype process.  Not familiar with daguerreotypes?  Ever seen a picture from the Civil War era?  Kind of sepia toned and everyone was very stiff looking?  Those are daguerreotypes.  The process wasn’t easy for either the photographer or his subjects given the use of silver plated copper sheets and mercury vapor to catch an image.  Our man Robert took this picture of himself – the first selfie – while experimenting with changes to the process:

I’m not sure that would be a keeper today!  Robert himself opened a couple of photography studios but didn’t stick with it.  Eventually he opted to join the family gas and lighting business and left the perfection of photography processes to other people.

But the next time you take a selfie – think of Robert and smile!

Your Friday funny this week is PANDAS!  I’m betting any of you with a toddler has had a similar experience….