It's gone too far. Officially.

It's the Sunday of a holiday weekend and I'm due a good Sunday morning rant. Here goes.

As if convincing people that tap water's somehow unhealthy weren't enough, the good folks at Pepsico are now getting into the skin care racket. It's strangely appropriate that the bottled water industry should snuggle up with the skin care people though. The skin care industry has been misleading the public for more than a century by preying on most people's scientific illiteracy and wrapping itself in a cloak of medical respectability. It's all a load of crap. 

Save your money. It's true that skin can dry out in a dry climate, and the best substances on the planet to remedy this are mineral oil, petrolatum and glycerin. Mineral oil and petrolatum are byproducts of oil refining and glycerin and its derivatives are a byproduct of the breakdown of plant or animal fats. Not really very glamorous sounding, are they? Glamorous or not, they are the foundation of every cosmetic moisturizer out there and they cost pennies a pound. The rest is marketing. Period. Things like lavender extract, elderberry extract, sage extract and my favorite; olive fruit oil (spare me) make skin preparations smell better and that's about it. Using these plants' Latin names doesn't make them any more effective; and unfortunately, too many people stop asking questions when they see terms they don't understand.

I love how the good folks at Pepsico slapped an Rx to their logo to make the whole thing seem scientific and medical but it's a lie --a marketing ploy.  Rx is medical shorthand for the the Latin recipe, the singular imperative of the verb recipare. Recipe means take and it carries with it the weight of a doctor's orders. "Here, take this." No doctor not in the employ of Pepsico is ordering you to take this or any other overpriced reformulation of mineral oil, petrolatum and glycerin.

Save your money folks. Drink tap water and buy a tub of Vaseline to soften up your dry spots. And please, for the sake of humanity Pepsi, stick to making soda. 

Cheap Fixes: lampshades that don't look like a craft project

Eddie Ross is a Senior Style Editor at Martha Stewart Living and he writes a blog that's chock full of his hyper creative ideas on how to elevate the everyday. In keeping with my series on cheap fixes from a couple of weeks ago, I'm going to turn Mr. Ross loose on some lampshades.

Lampshades can cost a fortune and I've never figured out why. I'm not one for fussy interiors and I've always looked at lampshades with suspicion. They seem to me the first step down a slippery slope that leads to the land of too too. Lampshades are a stepping stone to the harder stuff, like shirred draperies. Ugh. Even with that said, they're pretty necessary and his posting from 6 November, Eddie had a great idea for them.

Here's a pile of shades Eddie found at a Salvation Army in Hell's Kitchen. These things probably cost him two or three bucks a pop and he pointed out that Target's also a great place to find plain, inexpensive lampshades.

Anyhow, Eddie spray painted a couple of these shades and then embellished them with spike tape. Spike tape is a cotton fabric tape that stagehands use to make temporary marks on a stage. I'm amazed how some spray paint and spike tape transformed these shades. I'm equally amazed by how these three different cheap fixes alter completely the room they're place in.

So here's one he spray painted green and then trimmed in black spike tape. You'd never know that this was a five dollar plus a half hour of your life project. It's interesting and kind of fun. If I saw this in some one's home I'd think they spent real money on it.

This black shade with gray trim is more formal and looks even less home made than the green shade.

Here's my favorite. He didn't even paint this one, he just applied some tape in a kind of modern-ish way. Who would have guessed? What can I say Eddie? I'm impressed. So check out Eddie Ross' blog and if you need some spike tape for a project of your own, you can find it at Good Buy Guys.

America's Cheapest Family. Hmmmm.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Meet the Economides family from Scottsdale, AZ. The Econimdeses are a family of seven who live comfortably on an income of around $44,000 a year. Well, that was their income before their book became a bestseller at any rate. 

From everything I can tell, this family lives firmly in the 21st century. They are not part of some movement to turn their backs on modernity and live off the land. I mean, the Economideses paid off their home in nine years, they buy cars with cash, feed seven mouths every month on $350 and don't have any credit card debt. Impossible? Well, it has to be tough to get used to living that way, but it's hardly impossible.

The Economides family has published a book and a website called America's Cheapest Family, and in both they espouse a philosophy of frugal living that is far from joyless and cold. They appear to approach the whole thing as a game and they certainly look to be a pretty happy bunch in the video above.

Look, it's the day after a day that's become the apogee of American consumerism. This is also a time of tremendous economic uncertainty if you haven't noticed. This message of joyful frugality is exquisitely timed, and the Economides family has a thing or two to show anybody who's willing to look at American life in a different way. For the sake of my own economic security, I hope like crazy that the people who call on me don't become adherents of what this family embodies. Yet as I'm fond of saying, times is hard; and I get it. On a personal level though, I'm intrigued. I didn't go bonkers at Christmas this year the way I usually do, but that's a function of my own concerns about the coming year. Maybe 2009 will be the year I discover the humble coupon. I live within my means though I still think I spend too much money on day-to-day stuff. I plan to spend some time with the Economides gang and see if I can't pick up some pointers.

A mistletoe-y Christmas to you

I won! It's a Christmas miracle!

Tula, over at Whorange, had an essay contest last week and the grand prize was this stunning, signed print by the Portland master, Matte Stephens. The print came originally from Velocity Art and Design and they're another cool source for cool stuff. I love Matte Stephens' work and I love Whorange, and I did so even before I won this contest. Hurray! This is the best Christmas ever!

Read Tula's blog and keep an eye on Matte's too.