Last week I talked about how much better a person looks when they have good posture. Well, a physical therapist pointed out to me that there is a simple trick you can use to improve your posture. While you’re standing up straight, with your shirt off, have someone apply tape along your spine. The best tape to use is some sort of medical/bandage tape, but I like duct tape. Whenever you start to slouch, you’ll feel the tape pulling. You can also have someone apply duct tape in an X pattern across your shoulder blades. This will notify you when you’re slouching with your shoulders.

As you go out and get your Christmas tree, remember this important safety tip. Never allow your tree stand’s water reservoir to go dry. If it does, the tree will stop absorbing water even after you refill the reservoir. A dry tree is a serious fire hazard. (If you want to see how quickly a dry Christmas tree can burn, go to YouTube and type in "burning Christmas tree." You’ll be amazed.)

Speaking of Christmas trees, when you go out to buy your Christmas tree lights, make sure you get the "LED" kind. LED stands for light-emitting diode. These lights cost about the same as your typical incandescent lights, however they last a lot longer, (200,000 hours compared to 1500 hours for incandescent). They use about a third less electricity, which saves you money, and they run a lot cooler, which helps reduce the risk of a fire.

I’ve received a number of e-mails from people asking where they can get the product BodyGlide. This is the product that can prevent blisters and chafing. If your drugstore doesn’t carry it, you can find it at Dick’s Sporting Goods and REI at the Mall of Georgia.

This tip is for my female readers. The next time you’re at a hardware store, pick up an S hook. Keep the hook in your purse and use it whenever you’re in one of those nasty public bathrooms that doesn’t have a hook on the back of the door for your purse. You certainly don’t want to put your purse on the floor — just put the hook over the door or on an exposed pipe and put your purse on the other end.