My plug-in First Alert Carbon Monoxide Alarm recently started chirping, reminding me it was time to replace. I then realized even though I discussed fire safety with you before, I did not discuss carbon monoxide poisoning. So it will be our subject today!

Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas. Carbon Monoxide poisoning occurs after inhaling the gas, and can kill. So why not invest in a detector that plugs into an outlet centrally located in your home for less than $20 that will last 5 years and protect you and your family from such poisoning.

According to Wikipedia:

Carbon Monoxide detectors are designed to measure CO levels over time and sound an alarm before dangerous levels of CO accumulate in an environment, giving people adequate warning to safely ventilate the area or evacuate. Some system-connected detectors also alert a monitoring service that can dispatch emergency services if necessary.

While CO detectors do not serve as smoke detectors and vice versa, CO detectors detect and warn people about dangerous CO buildup caused, for example, by a malfunctioning fuel-burning device. In the home, some common sources of CO include open flames, space heaters, water heaters, blocked chimneys or running a car inside a garage.

We continue with our February theme of photo editing apps. What is more widely known than Photoshop? The king of all photo editing.

Simple and user friendly.

From the developer:

Adobe Photoshop Express software lets you use simple gestures to quickly edit and share photos from your mobile device.

HAVE FUN ON THE RUN
With Photoshop Express, it’s easy to improve your photos. Choose from a variety of one-touch effects, or simply drag your finger across the screen to crop, rotate, or adjust color. Add artistic filters like Soft Focus or Sketch. And never fear: A copy of your original file is always saved, and you can undo and redo changes until you get just the look you want.

Top editing features
• Basics: Crop, Straighten, Rotate, and Flip
• Color: Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation, Tint, and Temperature
• Filters: Black & White, Colorize, Sketch, Soft Focus, Sharpen, and Reduce Noise
• Effects: Vibrant, Pop, Border, Vignette Blur, Warm Vintage, Rainbow, White Glow, Soft Black and White, and 45 additional effects that can be purchased
• Borders: Rectangle, Rounded, Oval, Soft Edge, Vignette, Rough Edge, Halftone, Film Emulsion, and 40 additional borders and frames that can be purchased

In-App Purchase: Adobe Effects Pack (available for iPhone 3GS and newer, iPad 1 and newer, and iPod Touch 3rd generation and newer)
Give your photos fun, fresh looks using more than 45 eye-catching effects.
• Adjust effects with simple dragging motions.
• Preview effects on your photos before you apply them.
• Try effects before you buy the pack.

In-App Purchase: Adobe Camera Pack (available for iPhone 3GS and newer, iPad 1 and newer, iPod Touch 3rd generation and newer)
• Reduce Noise: Even the best phone cameras can introduce small amounts of grain and speckling—called noise—into your photos. The Reduce Noise feature smooths out those flaws to quickly improve your photos. It’s fast, accurate, and puts professional Adobe Photoshop quality in the palm of your hand.
• Self Timer: Get yourself in the photo or just ensure a steadier shot by setting a camera timer to 3- or 1-second intervals before your photo is snapped.
• Auto Review: Make sure you get a good shot and delete it if you don’t. Auto Review gives you a quick look at your picture before the action passes you by.

Try the free version and if you like it, you can upgrade.

Who doesn’t love a yummy chocolate chip cookie with a tall glass of milk? Mmmmmmm. This would make a great Valentine’s Day treat.

Southern Living Magazine touts this recipe as The All Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. I agree.

All Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs $
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 (12-oz.) packages semisweet chocolate morsels
• Parchment paper

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Add eggs and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, beating until blended.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating just until blended. Beat in morsels just until combined. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
3. Bake at 350° for 10 to 14 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Remove to wire racks, and cool completely (about 15 minutes).

Variations:

All sorts of goodies can be added to this recipe to create other signature cookies. Here are a few of our staff favorites.

1. Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Cookies: Prepare recipe as directed, beating in 2 cups coarsely crushed pretzel sticks with morsels.
2. Cranberry-White Chocolate Cookies: Substitute 1 (12-oz.) package white chocolate morsels, 1 (6-oz.) package sweetened dried cranberries, and 1 cup pistachios for chocolate morsels. Proceed as directed.
3. White Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Cookies: Prepare recipe as directed, beating in 1 (7-oz.) bag white chocolate-covered mini pretzel twists, coarsely crushed, with morsels.
4. Almond-Toffee Cookies: Substitute 6 (1.4-oz.) chopped chocolate-covered toffee candy bars and 1 1/2 cups toasted slivered almonds for chocolate morsels. Proceed as directed.
5. Turtle Cookies: Substitute 1 (7-oz.) package milk chocolate-caramel-pecan clusters, coarsely chopped, and 1 (12-oz.) package dark chocolate morsels for semisweet chocolate morsels. Proceed as directed. Note: For testing purposes only, we used Nestlé Turtles.
6. Nutty Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies: Decrease salt to 1/2 tsp. Decrease morsels to 1 (12-oz.) package. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter with butter and sugars, and add 1 cup lightly salted peanuts with morsels. Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. Proceed as directed. (Dough will look a little moist.)

I briefly told you how much I loved this scent when I told you about the Fresh line of tinted lip balm. It is my signature winter scent. I will tell you a little story. I had the same male boss for 15 years and only once did he comment on my perfume, and it was this one! I think you know you have a home run when you get an unexpected compliment!

Fresh Fig Apricot is a rich fruity floral with green tea, musc, and petitgrain.

NOTES:
– Top: Turkish apricot, peach skin, lychee
– Heart: fig leaf, petitgrain, dandelion
– Base: green tea, musc, marine notes

It is such a unique scent, and yet not overpowering, or obnoxious, or musky. Still FRESH. Would you expect anything less from a line named FRESH?

I love clean scents, and this is clean and warm. And fresh.