One of THOSE days

I'm having one if those days. You know. The kind of day where everyone bugs the crap out of you. My husband is bugging me. My kids are bugging me. The guy driving in front of me is bugging me. The lady at starbucks who had to have her coffee remade not once but twice. I'm just saying that if you are going to be an anal retentave whore the drive through isn't for you. She was bugging me.

I want to DO something. I want to be productive. But the presence of 3 boys in my life just makes that an exercise in frustration.

And that is bugging me.


- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Spiff it up Sunday - Eyes....yes again

I've always been a pretty average person. I'm fairly smart, but not so intelligent that someone will pay me lots of money to think all day. I'm a little odd looking, but not freely enough for a lucrative career as a circus performer. I'm kind of short, but not miniature enough to be a jockey, a coxswain or a buggy driver. One thing that I've always had going for me was my eagle eye vision. I've had better that 20/20 vision for as long as I could remember. Sadly, as I have gotten older my eyes haven't maintained their stellar status. So I got myself to the eye doctor for my first ever complete eye exam.

Greek Yogurt trips over toga

A little while ago I was contacted by MyBlogSpark to try out some Greek yogurt and to receive a kicking "pamper the goddess within" kit.  I think that we all know that I'm not one to turn my nose up at some pampering.

My kit arrived a few weeks later containing slippers, a loofah, an awesome towel and some other stuff...that frankly I can't really identify. Here is a photo...maybe you know what the other stuff is.  

There were also two coupons for me to sample Yoplait's new Greek Yogurt.  I looked for the stuff everytime I went to the grocery store, but to no avail.  It seems that my beloved Wegman's does not stock the Yoplait Greek yogurt.  (Though I bet if I asked they would...they love me there like that.)  I would have to go to Giant Food to get this stuff.  Stike one - I hate shopping anywhere other than Wegman's......as a result it took me several weeks to actually get the stuff.

Once I finally did get to Giant, I picked up a container of the Honey Vanilla

and a container of the Strawberry. 

So in review...I got this stuff for free, as well as a very nice gift.  This is the part where I tell you how much I loved it..but fact is, I'm not going to lie.  I didn't much like it.  It wasn't repulsive or anything, but it just didn't do it for me.  It was bland and sort of gritty.

That being said...I feel like I should give the nice people at Yoplait something so I'm going to tell you that I got the chance to test a different Yoplait product that was being given out as a sample at my local commissary.  It was a granola covered yogurt parfait.  These don't appear on their website, so I'm not sure what it up with them, but if you see them BUY THEM.  They are delicious!!!  They more than make up for the lack luster Greek stuff. 

Now that I've totally dissed Yoplait.....I'm still gonna give away their stuff!!  HAA HAA HAA.....comment below and tell me what your fave yogurt flavor is for a chance to win that faboo Pampering kit above!!  My fave flavor...Key Lime Pie!!

Tweet about your deep desire to win for two extra entries.  

Leave me a comment with you total.  Later taterz, I'm off to the spa.  Or pee wee gymnastics...whatever.


PS Don't forget to enter to win toothsoap!! 


note-My crack team of corporate lawyers insist that I tell you that I’ve received the “VIP coupons, prize pack, and giveaway from Yoplait through MyBlogSpark.”

Spiff it up Sunday - The Pearly Whites

This week for spiff it up Sunday I'm all about the teeth. 


Most of you probably don't know that I am a bit of a toothpaste connoisseur.  Even as a child I was never really satisfied with the toothpaste that my parents bought.  The taste was wrong or they didn't bubble correctly or they were a weird color....You get the picture.  Of course back in the day there were only about 3 types of toothpaste to choose from, not the cornucopia of dental hygiene products that we have today.  This week's topic took me to the toothpaste isle at Target where I counted more than 35 different types of toothpaste.  (The world's largest collection of toothpaste contains more than 1800 different tubes and is available for public viewing in Saginaw, Michigan.)  So clearly your toothpaste options are petty wide open. 

Since my gums can only  take a limited amount of cleansing I limited my testing to three different types of toothpaste, Arm & Hammer Peroxi-care, Tom's of Maine Natural total care, and Citrus flavored Toothsoap. (Disclaimer - the Toothsoap was provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer.)  I judged each product on a number of factors including flavor, bubbles, grit, cleaning and other.

Let's start with the Arm & Hammer Peroxi-care.  Frankly, this is pretty much your standard toothpaste.  There were no real surprises here since I've been using similar products for the past 35 years.  The taste was extremely minty, take your breath away minty.  I have to admit that I, personally, am not a fan of the over the top mint....it's just too much for me.  The bubbling factor was fair, the bubble were sort of loose and dribbly, not exactly what I prefer, but at least there were some bubbles.  It was not particularly gritty, but as the whole point of toothpaste is to be somewhat gritty, there was a minor grit factor which was enhance by the presence of baking soda.  This toothpaste did a fine job of cleaning my teeth, nothing spectacular, but pretty much your standard job. Other things to consider with this produce include the fact that it is sweetened using saccharin.  This product also contains fluoride, which can be a double edged sword.  Fluoride is poisonous and can be fatal at high concentrations, but is also reduces cavities at lower (non fatal) concentrations.  Depending upon your feelings about fluoride this may be a pro or a con.

The second produce is the Tom's of Maine Natural Whole Care anti-cavity and tartar control plus whitening fluoride toothpaste....did  they miss any thing in that product name?  The flavor of the Tom's of Maine was much much milder than that of the first product.  This is probably because it is sweetened with Xylitol (A natural sugar substitute) insted of Saccharin.  Where this product really lost me was in the bubbles - or lack there of.  There were absolutly NO bubbles when using this product...call me old fashioned, but I like the bubbles.  Tom's of Maine was not at all gritty, and seemed to clean as well as the regular toothpaste.  I like that this product is all natural and actually wasn't as expensive as I had expected.  While I couldn't get past the no bubbling thing I will say that we ave use the kid's strawberry stuff for our kids and they absolutely LOVE it.

Finally we have the toothsoap.  This product was not really what I expected.  First off, it's not a toothpaste it is a soap.  It comes as a liquid that you drip onto your toothbrush.  I got the citrus flavor, but this product comes is a load of flavors, everything from your standard spearmint all the way out to honey BBQ.  The flavor was not at all overwhelming, it was probably the mildest of all three products that I tried.  To be honest, the soapy taste does take a little getting used to, but I found that eventually I sort of enjoyed it.  One of the big selling points for me was the bubble action.  The Toothsoap sprang into action creating thick, dense bubbles....just the kind I prefer.  It was not at all gritty as it is a soap and not a paste.  But the final straw was the cleaning power.  I came out of brushing my teeth with this stuff feeling that I had just left the dentist...without all the scraping.  It was really quite lovely. 

So in conclusion I have to go with superior bubbling and cleaning of the Toothsoap.  Second place it a toss up as the non-bubbling Toms and too minty A&H are pretty much tied in my book.  If you are interested in trying some toothsoap for yourself, you're in luck!   I'm giving a bottle of toothsoap to two lucky readers.  Leave a comment below telling me what your most important factor in tooth cleaning products is for entry.  I'll announce the winners on next week's Spiff it up Sunday post!

Follow Friday

I'm a little slow on the uptake. Last Friday (and frankly every Friday) I have seen a bunch of posts with the ff hashtag. I finally figured out that this is for "follow Friday".

I realize that this is a Twitter thing, but I'm going to make it into a blog post cause im a rebel like that.

I've decided to spotlight one of my very favorite blogs. A blog that you may not have had the good luck to read lately.

The blog is Lazy Kate Creates. Kate lives a charmed life in New England. (I'm of the opinion that New England is the ONLY place to live a charmed life.) She knits, crafts, works at a totally groovy antique shop and takes fabulous photographs. On top of all that she is planning her wedding to a super cute young man.

So go check Kate out and leave her some lovin'

Post it note Tuesday!

Monday Menu Plan - back on the wagon edition

It's been a while since I've planned my weekly meals.  What with launching the design site, trying to spiff myself up, getting ready for summer and wrangling my kids I let it slide.  This was, quite frankly, a stoopid thing to do.  Planning my meals is one of the easiest ways for me to save time and sanity throughout the week....what was I thinking??

So here we go...Monday Menu Plan - back on the wagon edition

Monday - Left-over Vegetable Curry

Tuesday - Beef Lo Mein - I will probably double this so that there are left-overs for Wednesday

Wednesday - Left-over beef lo Mein

Thursday - Kebabs - These can be made the day before and just thrown on the grill for about 10 min....yummers!!

Friday - Left-over kebabs

Saturday- Coconut Shrimp with Mango Chutney

Sunday- Baked Ziti

Spiff it up Sunday - The window to the Soul

Welcome to the first installment of Spiff it up Sunday. Today we are talking about the eyes because they ARE the window to your soul...or some other crap that someone made up.

Before that, however, I want to tell Nalamienea, who totally (and rightfully) called me out for not wearing sunscreen that I bought some from Olay and have been wearing it religiously for the past week.  It's not as bad as I thought it would be. 
 
If you recall, my main issues were under eye puffiness and general make-up stupidity.

This week I tried out three products. The first was recommended by MommaPebz Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew anti-puff eye roller. First off...this product took less time to use than to type so there is a plus right there.  From the box:
results
Instantly: eyes look renewed and refreshed
in 1 week:  uner-eye puffiness is reduced and women saw dark circles diminished
With continued use:  the severity of puffiness is further reduced and dark circles stay minimized.

Okay....Three photos:

Pre-Treatment

Immedietly post-treatment

~1 week of treatment

The lighting is  a little different and factors such as amount of sleep and general craziness of me day were not mitigated, but I think that the puffiness may have been a bit less in the last photo.  My conclusion is that the bit about instant results is crap...I think that my eyes look worse in the immediately post treatment photo.  But, the bit about continued use may be right.  I think that there is less puffiness and less dark circles.  Well see if this product can keep up when the kids are out of school.....it will be harder to apply because my eyes will be twitching.

I also tried out two make-uppy products this week.  The first was recommended by Supahmommy and is Clinique's Cream Eyeliner in deep brown.  The other one is Cover Girl Eye Brightening Shadow Pallet that I got because I thought I looked a little stoopid with eyeliner and no shadow.   Here is some before and after action for you.

Before

After

And because I don't walk around with my eyes closed (usually)

I put this on myself...when the lady at the Clinique counter put the eyeliner on I looked like a painted whore (or at least I thought I did).  Just a little tip, Clinique Lady, when someone comes to you and says "I was told to buy this eyeliner, but I don't know how to use it."  It's probably best to have a bit of a light hand.  Rome wasn't built in a day ...or painted for that matter.  

I don't hate it....though I think that I look a little like a half made up drag queen in that last shot.  Maybe it's the lighting.  Or the goofy half smile.  I think it may take some getting used to.

I learned a few lessons this week:

1.  Eye make-up is really hard to get off.
2.  Some Clinique employees don't understand moderation.  Or the natural look.
3.  it's hard to get a good photo of your own eyes. 

4.  You CAN still buy blue eyeshadow (and liner if you are so moved) but that doesn't make it right.

Next week we are talking teeth.  And the week after I'm going to tackle the rest of the make-up issue with lips and blush...any and all suggestions are welcome requested OH DEAR GOD...just PLEASE help me!!

Post it note Tuesday....back on the wagon

I'm been off of the post it note wagon for a while. But I'm back baby!!

 Write it, post it, link it....all the cool cats are doing it!

A note to the Fashion Industry

Dear fashion designer,
As part of my spiff it up goal I recently purchased a pair of shorts. These shorts claim to be made for "women" but bear very little resembelence to the form of a real human woman.

Let me explain.

I realize that, as you work in the fashion industry, you probably have little contact with real women so I will provide some visual assistance. Real women do not, typically, look like this:

More frequently they look like this:

It's okay, we all feel betrayed by cosmo at one time or another. I'll wait while you pull yourself back together.

Ok? Good.

This body structure is due to a number of factors. For example, many woman have actually produced new, very small, people in their bodies! In order to facilitate the removal of these small people, often refered to as children, nature has kindly provided women with an anatomical structure known as "hips". These hips are located below the waist and protrude from the body.

Additionally, many real women enjoy engaging in the consumption of what is known as "food". Some of us indulge in this activity more than others resuling in what is commonly refered to as a "butt", "heiny", "ass", "rear", or even "junk in the trunk". This anatomical addition is not abnormal and is, in fact, thought to be a valuable asset by some parties. (Mix-a-lot, S. 1992)

Now you are a smart person and can probably see where I'm going with this, but let me continue. When you try to put shorts made for a (fictional) woman like this:

Onto a real woman shaped like this:

What results is a gap in the back of the shorts. This gap is irresistable to children (remember them?) and husbands who think that it is hillarious to throw raisins, coins or any other small object down there everytime the woman bends over. This activity is, in fact, NOT hillarious.

So, as you are preparing your new line or entry for project runway or whatever it is that you do, please remember:

NOT