Thursday on Today 8/23

Today's Style featured Bobby's Beauty Bag with Bobbie Thomas. Four Ways To Stay Smooth: Removing Unwanted Hair. Laser removal is the most permanent and least painful (at least that's what they say) way to get rid of unwanted hair but it's also the most expensive at $200-$700 a treatment and you need about seven. I think I'll hang on to my razor for now. Then there's waxing--probably the most painful hair remover. But you can ask for a numbing cream. I think you'd need general anesthesia to numb that kind of pain. You can also learn to use wax at home if you can stand the pain with waxworks which is available at http://completelybare.com/. For die hard shavers like me, you can go to http://whishbody.com/ to get some type of men's shave kits. You can use a depilatory or cream that you just spread on and rinse off in the shower. My problem with those is you have to wait around for them to work before you rinse. I don't have the patience for that. And then there are those new products like Veet that use heat to destroy hair follicles over time. I've never tried those so I don't know if they work.

Today's Money: Splurge vs. Steal At Home. Jean Chatzky showed us what to spend on and what to save on starting in the kitchen with the microwave, which you can save on. No need to spend more than $60. You should splurge on a pepper mill--who knew? I don't even own one. Knives are also something you should splurge on, according to Jean, because they'll last longer. You can save on a food processor like one from Hamilton Beach for $50. Moving on to the living room; splurge on a couch. You shouldn't be able to lift it--that makes cleaning tough. Not to mention rearranging the furniture. You can save on a coffee table. Splurge on flowers. No supermarket shopping for those. Save on a stationary bike but splurge on a treadmill. Save on a headboard but splurge on a mattress and sheets too. That's Jean Chatzky's advice. Take it or leave it.

It's been a long time since I've seen The Critic's Corner. I wonder what Gene Shallot does with his time when he's not reviewing movies. Today he gave a good review of the British farce, "Death At A Funeral." This is my type of film and looks hilarious. Frank Oz, who's directed everything from all the Muppets movies to "Bowfinger" and "Housesitter" gives us a comedy to die for--Gene's words, not mine. And as he says, the first three letters in funeral are f-u-n.

There were some problems with the weather today and I'm not talking about the flooding in Findlay Ohio. Al's fill-in, doing the weather from there, got cut off for my local weather, then my local weather got cut off for a weather map of the entire country and no dialogue. This happens from time to time but it looks like both sides screwed this one up.

It's been ten years since Princess Diana's untimely death and newspaper editors in Britain are finally admitting some guilt over the paparazzi's role in her death. If they hadn't been chasing her, the car probably wouldn't have been speeding and there'd probably have been no accident. Too little, too late. But at least they're showing some humanity in admitting their fault.

Today's Home featured Lou Manfredini showing Quick Fixes Around The House. Five Common Problems, starting with the toilet--poor flushing due to clogged ports. Those are the holes under the rim. Just use a stiff brush and a calcium remover. From there it gets tougher. I'm just going to write down what was listed--I really can't describe any more than that. Raise flapper to stop a leaky toilet. A new flapper costs about $6. For a sticky door, use 3" wood screw to realign the door. Use a self adhesive metal wall kit for holes in the walls to patch them up. He made that look a lot easier than I'm sure it really is. He also showed a way to use a bowl over a carpet stain and then tack the unclean carpet. I have no idea what he means and my two year-old won out over the TV, so I couldn't hear much. The last tip was to use #0000 steal wool on wood tables. Maybe to get rid of scratches. Most of this stuff looked to me like it should be handled by a professional, but visit the Today website if you're brave enough to try any of these.

Today's Fitness was about Yoga For Mommy And Me. Take a class if you can find one but there are plenty of videos you can try at home. Gurmukh is a yogi whom they spoke with about the benefits of yoga. I have a couple of her videos, The Method prenatal yoga and The Method Postnatal Baby and Me for mamma and baby. They're great and I highly recommend this as a way to get back into shape and relax with your baby.

And That's a wrap. Till tomorrow.

Thursday on Today 8/9

Today's Home featured Waking Up Your Walls with Sarah Humphreys showing us the wonders of wallpaper. I guess wallpaper is making a comeback. But you have to do it right by preparing first. You have to sandpaper the walls to make sure they're smooth and prime them. And make sure you measure first so you only have to hang once. You should cut four inches longer the wall. All this sounds like a hassle to me, but if you want to put up some wallpaper and you plan on hanging things on the wall, use a repetitive pattern where you can choose hidden places to put things like sconces. They also make headboard patterns for where you put your bed. This just looked weird to me. Why not get a real headboard? Besides, what if you decide to put your bed on the other side of the room and you're stuck with a silly looking headboard pattern standing alone? You can also get graphic patterns for your closet doors.

Moving on to Number Six on the America The Beautiful list, which is Stark County, ND where Michelle Kosinski took in the State's Fair. This time for $50 you can get some delicious looking kettle corn for $2 and see livestock competitions and exhibits as well as arm wrestling championships for free. Michelle took in all that and got an Indian Taco for $7 and some fried dough--not sure if the dough was free with taco, but I don't think so. She also got an apple pie for just $3--I assume that's not an entire full size pie, took in a text messaging contest where the top prize was a $1,000, played a game for $5--this was the one where you throw darts to hit the balloons. One of the easier games to win at, as Michelle won hers. She took a ride on a mechanical bull for $5, and went on some amusement rides for $17. That about wraps up a day at the fair.

On the plaza there were a couple of full-grown adults dressed as superheroes. Evil-doers Beware. There is a new show on the sci-fi channel tonight at 9pm called "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?" Who wants to come up with something more original than lame reality shows for entertainment? Enough already!

Beyonce has a sister named Solange who started "Solange's Baby Jamz" selling hip-hop inspired toys. Her son Jules is the model on the cover of the boxes. I don't know what they are and don't care. If you do, you can visit Todayshow.com.

Today's Style Editor, Bobbie Thomas showed Homemade Jewelry and how you can make your own stuff too. You can make bead jewelry using beads, marbles or Christmas ornaments. Looks easy when she's doing it, but I think I don't think I'll be heading to the craft store any time soon. She showed feather jewelry--don't want to go overboard with feathers there. And if you're interested, there is a website: http://photojewelry.com/ where you can make all kinds of jewelry using your own photos.

Today's Exclusive was a clip from Matt Lauer's interview with Matt Murphy--the fan who snagged Barry Bonds' Home Run ball. The ball could be worth as much as $500,000. It would have been worth a lot more if it had come from a real baseball player and not some lying cheater pumped up on steroids.

Today's Kitchen featured "Cooking Thin With Chef Kathleen" author Kathleen Daelemans cooking tomatoes. She showed how to make a tomato sauce in the microwave, fried green tomatoes and BLTs with homemade mayo. For all the recipes, visit the website at http://todayshow.com/

And that's a wrap for today. Till tomorrow.