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SoleMates Socks – A Testimonial

I love gardening! But as I got older and my feet got drier, all the cracks in my heels were embedded with dirt. I would scrub and scrape and put on lotion and it would look good temporarily, but it always went back to dry skin and cracks. After a while, the cracks were becoming so deep they actually hurt. As I researched this, I found I wasn’t alone.

Diabetics, folks with weight problems, and the elderly, all have major health concerns related to cracks on the sole and heel becoming infected. I read in a 2010 podiatric journal that podiatrists are so stymied as to successfully treating this problem, they actually glue the cracks together. They also recommend wearing plastic bags on your feet to conserve moisture. I tried it once. It actually works, but it felt like my feet were in two miniature saunas. I believed there just had to be a better way!

I was in a nursery looking at gloves when I had the “AHA!” moment. If garden gloves kept the drying effect of dirt off my hands, then a glove for my foot would do the same thing. I used the already proven track record of nitrile coated garden gloves and morphed it into a sock. After a lot of medical advice and testing, it became a sock that created a moisture conserving chamber for the foot, keeping the foot soft, moist and crack free. It also kept dirt outside the sock.

After testing the prototype, my heel cracks disappeared, and have never returned. That was 5 years ago. These socks are not magic. If I don’t routinely wear them a couple of days a week, my skin begins to dry out naturally. But if I do wear them, my heels are baby soft all the time with no effort other than wearing a comfortable sock.

About Bernadette Butz

I never intended to become an entrepreneur at 67, but I am determined to bring this product to people who have the same problems I did, necessity being the mother of SoleMates.

Connect with Bernadette on Facebook and Twitter.

Online Security

Mar 20th, 2011

by Marilyn.

1 comment

It can seem so innocent. Your Facebook friend has posted a fun quiz on your wall. You just need to answer some questions about yourself and ask your other friends to do the same. How can this hurt you? It’s just your middle name, best friend’s name, favorite color, birthday and your pet’s name. Information to help your social media friends get to know you better. But, isn’t that the kind of security questions your financial sites use? If you forget your password there, what is the security question you need to answer to get into your account? If it’s your best friend’s name (or one of the others from the quiz), you just gave a hacker the info they need to clean out your account.

Password Security
If your passwords are real words, you’re at the mercy of hackers. Especially if they’re words that mean something to you – Like your birthday or your dog’s name. Strong passwords are a random combination of letters and numbers. But, how will you ever remember a password like tN2zW59? I think that’s what stops a lot of us from using cryptic passwords.

One way to remember cryptic passwords is to keep a list of them. If you’re online working and having fun, you’ll quickly acquire a long list of websites with login ID’s and passwords.

When I started finding sign up sites with a warning “Enter your info manually. Do not copy and paste or use programs like Roboform,” I had one of those AHA moments. First, I refused to sign up on that site. Why couldn’t I just paste in my info? It’s because the hackers can trace the keystrokes, but not the paste. Second, I wanted Roboform if the hackers can’t access my info if I use that program. I’ve been a happy RoboForm customer for a couple years now. It saves me time because with one click, RoboForm takes me to the login site and enters my ID and password. Safe, secure and easy!

PS: If you order RoboForm thru this link, I make a small affiliate commission. You don’t pay anything extra. It’s just a thank you from the company because I referrred you.

Cuckoo Clock Memory

Jan 14th, 2011

by Marilyn.

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I found this cuckoo clock online and decided to add it to my sidebar, at least for a little while. It reminds me of my dad. He was always an entrepreneur. Together with mom, they owned a mom and pop grocery store when they were newlyweds. Then, a hydraulics manufacturing factory with 3 other men. And years later, a motel in Miami, Florida. Their last venture together was an antique shop just north of Miami. Dad was fascinated with clocks. He bought them, often not working, then repaired and restored them. The walls of the shop were lined with clocks of every size and shape, most with their pendulums swinging. You could hear ticking clocks throughout the shop. One of my favorites was the cuckoo clock. Some were rather plain wood and stained a shade of brown. Others were very ornate, with leaves, birds and people. The weights always looked like pine cones and dangled from long chains. To wind the clock, you raised the weights.

Stick around for the hour or any quarter hour and you’ll hear this cuckoo clock chime.

If you’d like to add a clock to your website or blog, there are many clocks, including this cuckoo clock at

Are You Still Smoking?

Dec 28th, 2010

by Marilyn.

5 comments

There are SO many reasons to quit smoking … And NO good reasons to continue. I ran across this video on Doctor Oz’s website that illustrates what happens in your lungs when you breathe in cigarette smoke . . .

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Animation

My friend, Joe Weaver, author of the book “The Tao of Quitting Smoking,” listed 100 Reasons to Quit Smoking. My top 10 from his list are here. You’ll also find links to his site and other quit smoking resources there and here.

It’s that time of year when we’re all thinking of New Year’s Resolutions. Some smoker’s just can’t see through their smoke. But, if you want to take a giant leap of health, stop smoking today. ARE YOU READY?