Beauty magazines say you can make great face masks from oatmeal, avocado and honey. TLC has 100 shows about how I can make a sidetable from an oak tree. The Food Channel, a personal favorite, shows me how to make souffles from the paltry ingredients in my pantry. But in reality, I'm not very likely to do any of these things. I just like watching other people do it. And I think I like knowing I can...even if I won't.

I just got an email forward that I know I've received at least three times in the last ten years. It's all about making life just a little easier...and making the most of the stuff you've got. And even though I've never polished silver by lining a baking pan with aluminum foil, I'm here to tell you, these helpful hints actually work. And clearly, since I've tried them, they're really easy.

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little
"stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave
them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh
much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
grease away from the meat while cooking.

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set
heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No
soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really
works.

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place
them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will
keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you
can't see easily.

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right
out.

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the
glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works
better than a cloth!

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include
something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an
hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

I bought a crock pot a few years ago because I’m lazy and read that it’ll cook dinner for you while you’re at work. And you know what? It does. It may take a whole day, but what you get when you come home is good.

Which mix tapes from high school do I still listen to (yes, I still own a Walkman)? The ones I agonized over and reworked until they were perfect. My favorite gifts? A scarf my friend my knitted. A painting my 11-year-old cousin made.

I think it must be the time, the effort that makes my crock-pot dinners taste better than my microwaved ones. And I love knowing that someone I adore took time out of their very full days to create something that only I have. And in return I've found that if I can't make a gift myself (I'm crap at crochet, I draw like a newborn and I knit slower than ye old molasses in January), I find that I love giving gifts that I know someone else handmade. A few gorgeous favorites are below.

Alabama Chanin -- T-shirts, jewelry, crafts for your home and the best looking chairs you've ever seen in your life. It's a bit on the pricey side, but so worth your time and money.

Ten Thousand Villages -- Pottery, art, scarves, jewelry, you name it. Unique and gorgeous items made my artisans around the world. You can spend a little or a lot, but you won't regret a single penny.

Luv4country -- You can never go wrong with bath goodness as a gift. The most gorgeous soaps and potions you've ever seen.

Sure driving a Prius would be great…if I had an extra $25,000 hidden in my couch cushions. In the meantime, I’ve got a 13-year-old car that runs great (wood, knocked), and would prefer to drive it til the tires fall off rather than put a whole new (granted, smaller) car out on the road.

Surely there are things I can do in the meantime to (try to) make up for my big car’s gas guzzling ways. Sure nuff, there are.

1. Slow down. “In a typical family sedan, every 10 miles per hour you drive over 60 is like the price of gasoline going up about 54 cents a gallon.” That’s no joke.

2. Take a load off. And about 1000 other easy driving ideas that help you conserve gasoline.

3. Calm down already. Put your finger away. Road rage will cost you at the pump. (Um, crap!)

4. Buy the cheap stuff. Who knew?

5. Pump in the shade. And always wear SPF.

Dating's not easy. There are first dates and awkward pauses and not being able to read his mind. What did he mean when he said that thing about Putt-Putt? We get plenty of advice about Mars and Venus and why he just might not be that into me, but when it all boils down, isn't it just about finding the right opposite to attract?

I think Lady Bird Johnson hung the moon, but for three mostly happy years I dated a dyed-in-red Republican. There were so many big differences, we actually made a list of the things we agreed on...and hung it on the refrigerator. But politics didn't break us up -- timing and geography took their toll.

I consider myself a pretty environmentally friendly kinda gal. I buy locally. I recycle. I (reluctantly) use cold for my laundry. But I'm no Julia Butterfly. Could a die-hard environmentalist look past my SUV and see my good heart? How do vegans and carnivores eat dinner together every night? Cooking for more than one is such a perk! Sure, compromise is key, but it's hard to imagine spending my life with someone who won't ever try my pot roast. (And yes, I know in this scenario my imaginary vegan boyfriend is, environmentally-speaking, clearly in the right.) What are the do-good deal-breakers when it comes to relationships?

One Friday night, over cheap pork-fried rice and a bottle of (very) cheap red wine, my roommate and I settled in to watch a Madonna concert on TV. Between Madonna's 85th costume change, my roommate exclaimed, "God, why is Madonna so awesome?!"

It wasn't a question at all.

Having worshiped Madge since I could remember remembering, I've always felt we had this special connection. When she was releasing albums that changed the world, I was begging my mom to let me wear makeup. Our paths just seemed so similar. And even when we disagreed -- the British accent, fashion statements I didn't always understand and um, other stuff -- we always found a way to come together again.

That's why, like everyone else on the planet, I can't wait to get my hands on Hard Candy. She's back...and she's everywhere. You can't read a blog (ahem) or watch the news without catching a glimpse. Madonna may seem untouchable, but the good news is, it's not that hard to get tickets to a special performance in New York City. All you have to do is bid til you can't bid no more. To top it off, you also get the globe -- and it's autographed -- from her recent Vanity Fair cover shoot. Because what's a Madonna auction without a huge, marble-looking globe? That, dear roommate, is why she's so awesome.

View Auction

Ever been dumped? Did it feel good? Bet not. There's all those stages you're supposed to go through -- denial, something, payback, stalking...I think it ends with acceptance or whatever. A wise, wise love song once reminded me that the hardest part of breaking up is getting back your stuff. And it's true. After all these years, the only things that I need to make a breakup sorta positive are:

1. My jean size is the same as when we met.
2. He never committed my granny's cheese straw recipe to memory.
3. We didn't discover we're siblings who were separated at birth in a freak hospital mix-up.

Low standards, I know. But those cheese straws are really, really delicious. If, however, you're one of those people who likes to wallow in the misery -- and funny -- of someone else's heartache, you'd best hurry up and bid on tickets to the premiere of Kristen Bell's new movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It's funny. Those 40-Year-Old Virgin people made it. And if that's not enough to cure your broken heart, you get props and clothes used in the movie. Taking home stuff that doesn't belong to you -- now is that a great breakup or what?

View Auction

I grew up in the '80s, and, to this day, I'd give anything for big hair. As a middle schooler, I'd toil for hours with Dippity Do, a pink hairdryer, a scalding hot curling iron and my finest round brush, but after a few minutes, the beautiful fan bangs I'd created would be laying flat against my head. A Supercuts hairdresser once charged me the $8 child's fee because my baby-fine hair was no more complex than a 4-year-old's. I was 22 at the time. Offended and a little sad, I eventually moved on and discovered the wonderful world of expensive volumizers and life without conditioner.

But let's be honest. I'd still give a kidney or two for Jessica Simpson's fabulously ginormous locks. So if the closest I can get is a year of cuts and color with her super-talented stylist, you can bet I'm going to dig deep to make it happen. Luckily, Ken Paves is auctioning off just that...along with tickets, photos and goodies from a bunch of other well-coifed celebs -- I'm talking Clooney, Longoria, Pitt, Aguilera, the Beckhams and Miss Simpson herself. Best of all, the funds raised will help fight a rare skin disease, EB. Me and my (hopefully) big hair couldn't ask for more.

View Auction