From the 'As Seen on TV' Files ...

The Magic Bullet blender, the battery-operated closet light bulb and now the Ped Egg. All have come home with us from local stores that have started hawking products previously only sold through dialing 1-800 numbers. For years, we would sit mesmerized during the lengthy commercials touting these devices. The only thing that kept us from buying them was the fact that we'd have to read someone in China our credit card number over the phone.

For a solid year, Reluctant Shop Boy would spend at least an hour every Saturday morning watching the Magic Bullet ad and then pestering me to order it. So when it showed up in Belk last summer, it came home with us. He made me smoothies for a week, and has since only touched it when I beg him to dice onions.

I've also been on a life-long quest for soft feet. I've used everything from Origins to Keihl's to Fresh, only to always end up with scratchy heels. Enter Walgreens. Driving past it last week, I noticed a sign advertising the Ped Egg for $9.99. This As Seen on TV product has gotten a lot of press lately. I'd been reading about it for a while on some of my favorite beauty sites. Lots of reviewers said it rocked, so I made an impulse turn into the drugstore parking lot to pick one up.


So far, I'm disappointed. I'd imagined the Ped Egg experience to be like having the guy at the nail salon use the little razor to scrape the dead skin off my feet. That's my favorite part of a pedicure. Using a Ped Egg is nothing like that. It's more like using one of those sweater shavers on your tootsies, except it doesn't work all that well. The skin doesn't all end up in the little egg as promised, so you need to pull a trash can over while using it. My feet improved a bit after using it. Still, it's not the miracle foot filer it's been called.

Our drawer stuffed with As Seen on TV castaways continues to get fuller. So why am I having a hard time resisting that counter vegetable chopper with the press-down handle?