4/17/15

Giveaway! $100 Walmart Gift Card sponsored by Dropprice

Disclosure: I received compensation for this post.

Dropprice is an innovative startup that rewards moms for being social. Essentially, they empower moms to drop prices of kids and baby products with a click. The price continues dropping as more moms click “Drop the price.” Every week new promotions are launched and moms drop prices by sharing them on social media. See the chart below to understand the power moms have and how important it is to share with other moms.
Moms can visit the link and click to “Drop the price” of the HABA Technics Blocks. For example, in today’s promotion for the Technics Blocks, it started out at $66.49 and for each mom that clicks, the price drops a bit. The price will continue to drop for each mom that participates until it reaches $35.50 (47% off). This promotion also includes free shipping anywhere in the US!

Participants have the option to share on social media to get more moms to click “Drop the price,” or they can “Buy Now” for whatever price the item has been dropped to at that time. This is such a fun and exciting way for moms to save lots of money by collaborating with each other.

The Giveaway - $100 Walmart Gift Card

All you have to do is help drop the price on these HABA Technics Blocks and you will be entered to WIN a $100 Walmart gift card. Just click “drop the price” on the widget below for a chance to win. For even more entries, share it on your social media networks via the widget — every time one of your friends also clicks to drop the price, you’ll automatically receive additional giveaway entries!

Ends on 5/9/15
Must be a US Resident to win.
Must be 18 years or older to enter.

Click here if you don’t see the widget below.
Reload this page to see your entries update.


4/16/15

Neutrogena Naturals Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes #WipeForWater

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Influenster just sent me a package containing Neutrogena Naturals Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes. These pre-moistened towelette wipes come in a resealable package to keep them from drying out. It's a great product to take travelling!
Neutrogena Naturals wipes are made from 100% renewable fibers and are made with pure, naturally-derived ingredients. They are clinically proven to completely remove makeup, including waterproof mascara! They are also free of harsh chemical sulfates, parabens, petrolatum, dyes and phthalates.
Best of all, they require no rinsing after use, so I'm saving water by washing my face at night with Neutrogena Naturals towelettes. My skin is left purified, fresh, and healthy-looking with no greasy residue. My face feels softer every time I use them. Try them so you can #WipeForWater too! You can find them at your local Target store.
This Earth Month, Neutrogena Naturals is partnering with The Nature Conservancy to save water. Take the #WipeforWater challenge and pledge to clean your face without using water — and only using Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Makeup Remover Cleansing Wipes — for 3 days! Then, get sharing about your Neutrogena wipes with your social networks! For each pledge, Neutrogena Naturals will contribute $1 to The Nature Conservancy to support water conservation, up to $50,000. Follow Neutrogena on Facebook and Twitter!

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Cheribundi Pure Super Fruit Tart Cherry Juice - Review

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Cherries are one of the most beneficial super fruits. Tart cherries are full of antioxidants and are also a proven sleep aid. They are also an anti-inflammatory for athletes. Tart cherries also aid in weight loss, promote a healthy heart, slow skin aging, improve memory, prevent gout, and fight cancer, diabetes, and alzheimers. Cheribundi pure tart cherry juice contains 50 tart cherries in every 8oz bottle!
Cheribundi offered me the chance to take their 7 Day Challenge, drinking one bottle of Cheribundi Tart Cherry Juice each day for seven days. It's so delicious that I wanted to drink more than one each, but I kept to the challenge guidelines to see how it affected me. Without changing anything else in my diet, I found myself wanting to go to bed a half hour earlier each night, falling asleep faster than usual, and I lost 2.5 pounds!
I also received a selection of their Cherry Refresh - the Tart Cherry Limeade Refresh, Tart Cherry Blueberry Refresh, and Tart Cherry Cranberry Refresh. They are deliciously refreshing! My favorite of the three is the Tart Cherry Blueberry Refresh, but surprisingly I really like the Tart Cherry Cranberry Refresh and I don't usually like juices with a cranberry taste. The Tart Cherry Limeade Refresh was perfect after working on my garden in the sun.
Cheribundi is currently being used by over 100 professional and college teams, and is available in retail stores nationwide and online. Are you ready to join the Cherination? You can check out stories from others who have tried the 7 Day Challenge. Be sure to check out their new Black Cherry Juice if you like a sweeter cherry.
Visit www.cheribundi.com to find out more, use their locator to find them at a store near you, and join the Cherination. I love Cheribundi Tart Cherry Juice and the benefits are wonderful! You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Fat Ash Soap - Made the Old-Fashioned Way - Review

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
Back in the olden days, bar soap was handmade. Fat Ash Soap still makes soap the old-fashioned way, with lye filtered from hardwood ash then combined with animal fats and coconut oil for a super clean with luxurious lather. Their animal fats come from humanely raised, hand rendered lard and tallow from local farms. Both the Fat Face Exfoliating Soap and the Lard and Tallow Bar Soap can be purchased unscented or scented with pure uncut essential oil.
Their Big Fat Lye Bar Soaps are 100% vegan with coconut, avocado, grape seed, pumpkin seed, and apricot kernel oils. All their soaps are free of petrochemicals, artificial colorants, and artificial fragrances. I received one bar of each of the Big Fat Lye, Fat Face, and Fat Ash bars and I was shocked at how BIG they are. These bars are about three times bigger than today's traditional bar soaps. It's a great value! They can be cut down easily if your soap dish finds them too big to handle, or you can pick up one of their Handmade Composite Soap Holders.
These old-fashioned soaps are wonderful and luxurious. My whole body feels squeaky clean and incredibly soft after using them. My facial skin is really loving the Fat Face Exfoliating Bar. Every batch of soap is handmade, hand-cut, and packaged individually. Plus, when you buy Fat Ash Soaps, you are supporting an American small business and honoring the time-tested methods used by past generations. You really must try these!
Visit Fat Ash Soap at www.fatashsoap.com. Buy one of each bar to see the quality for yourself and grab another set to gift for Mother's Day! While you're on their website, be sure to enter their Spring Clean-up Soap Giveaway at the bottom of their homepage. You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

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4/15/15

Plants That Repel Mosquitoes

The more time we are spending outside this spring, the more mosquito bites we are getting! I hate spraying chemicals all over my body because I don't want them seeping into my bloodstream. So I set out to find some plants that repel mosquitoes that would also be pretty on my patio.
Here's what I found at my local plant nursery:

Citronella

Rosemary

Lemongrass

Happy gardening!

Weekly Giveaway Linky - Wednesday Wealth (April 15-21)

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4/14/15

Giveaway! $25 Amazon Gift Card - Open Worldwide - Spring Has Sprung Giveaway Hop

Disclosure: Affiliate links included below.
Welcome to the
Spring Has Sprung Giveaway Hop
Hosted by LeahSay's Views

This giveaway hop runs from April 15 through May 2 and all the bloggers listed below are hosting their own giveaways worth at least $25. You can hop to each blog via the list and enter to win every single prize. Good luck!

Now that spring has sprung, I've been working on my backyard garden. We've replaced our fence, planted fruit trees, onions, garlic, and cilantro. We're in the process of building raised garden beds so we can plant even more fruits and vegetables. Although we're investing a lot of money up front, we're excited for the harvest that we'll have for many years to come. 

Did you know Amazon sells lots of great garden products? Check out these great finds!

  
  

To help you get started on your spring garden, 
I'm giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card!
To enter, just fill in the giveaway form below.
Giveaway is open worldwide and will be delivered electronically.
Giveaway ends on 5/2/2015.
I hope you win!

Softsoap Fragrant Foaming Hand Soap Collection - Review

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
With all the outdoor work I've been doing lately in the yard and garden, I've had dirtier hands than I've had all winter long. My hands are really starting to dry out because the soil also pulls moisture from my hands. It's the perfect time to try out the new Softsoap Fragrant Foaming Hand Soap Collection.
These hand soaps come in beautiful pump action bottles, pretty enough to brighten up any sink area. I put the Whipped Cocoa Butter in the master bathroom and the decadent scent is amazing. The rich foam cleans and softens my skin with real cocoa butter extracts.
The Jasmine and White Cotton foaming hand soap smells like a spring flower garden in full bloom. I really like the purifying foam and the scent makes this one my favorite. Since my main bathroom is blue, the bottle matches my decor perfectly.
The Kitchen Citrus Bliss smells fresh, washes away bacteria, and soothes my skin. Softsoap has been a trusted name in my household for decades and I really love these new foaming soaps. They are available for around $2.49 and can be found at Target, Walmart, Walgreens, DVS, Riteaid, Kroger, and large food stores. Visit Softsoap online for more information and to discover other wonderful new products!

4/13/15

Weekend DIY Home Improvement Projects - Fruit Trees and Fences #gardening

Our weekend projects continued over the past weekend. Since we're in the process of beginning a backyard garden, it only makes sense to plant fruit trees as part of our garden. We bought five fruit trees to plant on Saturday - peach, orange, pear, and two different kinds of apple trees. Notice the old fence in the background of the photo (above). Two weeks ago we replaced the fence on the south side of the backyard (see photo below) and the north side of the fence was our Sunday project.
When planting a tree, you should dig about twice the size of the planter that the tree comes in, making sure to loosen up the soil around the edges of the soil. We bought both native soil and mulch for each tree. As we set the trees into the holes, we mixed the new soil with some of the old soil, then put down a tree ring and filled each ring with mulch.
My new peach tree already has a couple of tiny peaches on it! I can't wait to see how many peaches our tree will give us this year.
This is my orange tree (above). It is much shorter than the other four trees we bought, but it has lots of blossoms ready to burst open on it, so I'm hopeful that we might get a few oranges from it. Often fruit trees don't produce fruit for a year or two after initial planting.
My new pear tree (below) is probably the tallest of the five trees, with branches already reaching in all directions. It has one big blossom on it, but a lot of little pods that look quite ready to open up.
We had to place the ring off-center a bit on the pear tree because there is a sprinkler system drip pipe in the ground here, so I added my ceramic snail on top of the mulch to balance the look. Please forgive the condition of the grass in my backyard. We're planning on lots of vegetable garden boxes, so we don't want to plant grass until we know where the boxes will stand.
This is the jonathan apple tree (below), with lots of opened blossoms and leaves. It's also a very tall tree. The back of our yard slopes down just a bit. When we bought the house last fall, there was already a crepe myrtle in the backyard, so when we planted the five trees we staggered the rows to give all the new tree roots lots of room to spread.
I noticed some ants and aphids on the two apple trees, so I'm working to find an organic solution to remove those. I'll let you know what works for me. I'm so excited at the prospect of growing the food we eat!
The pitiful-looking apple tree below is the red delicious apple tree. It's really not as pitiful as it looks, because it's got lots of healthy buds ready to pop out. However, I'm a bit worried about whether it will make it, since the store had over-watered it and the planter dirt did not dump out in a nice root ball. We planted it bare root and staked it with a leftover piece of fence pine.
The blossoms below are on my pitiful apple tree, so I know it has promise. I also blessed all my trees, because even though I planted them, I know God makes them grow. Although the photos don't show it in the pictures, we did go back around to all five new trees and staked them to the ground with string to help them stand steady against winds. Saturday was exhausting, but in a very good way!
On Sunday we ripped down the old rotted fence you can see in the first photo above. We replaced the 2x4s and the fence pickets, but were able to salvage the existing fence posts and reuse them. We were planning on reusing the old fence pickets for garden boxes, but they were so riddled with termites that they fell apart as the fence came down. 
I'm SO thankful that my husband is a hard worker and is willing to put this much work into creating our little backyard paradise. He's such a wonderful guy, he even volunteered to make dinner on Sunday night!

Stay tuned for more project posts!



Shop for Citrus Trees at NatureHills.com

Giveaway! Zuke's All Natural Dog Treats

Win Zuke's All Natural Dog Treats!

Your dog deserves all-natural treats! Check out my review of Zuke's All Natural Dog Treats HERE. Then enter below to win! One winner will receive: 1 bag of Z-Bones, 1 bag of Mini Naturals, and 1 bag of Genuine Jerky. Giveaway is open to US residents ages 18 and older. Giveaway ends on 4/30/2015. Good luck!

Enter my other giveaways HERE.
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Zuke's Z-Bones Natural Edible Dental Chews

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
My dog Buddy has just made it to 100 years old and although he's not as playful as he used to be, he certainly still loves helping me do reviews on dog treats. We received a package of Zuke's Z-Bones, Genuine Jerky, and Mini Naturals, and Buddy was so excited to try them for me. Zuke's Z-Bones are natural edible dental chews. They help to freshen his dog breath naturally, without wheat gluten, cornstarch, or synthetic chlorophyll. They also scrape and polish his teeth while he enjoys a delicious treat.
The Clean Apple Crisp contains natural ingredients - Potato Flour, Vegetable Glycerine, Peas, Tapioca, Pea Protein, Apples, Spinach, Lecithin, Natural Flavor, Parsley, Rosemary, Citric Acid, Zinc Propionate, Turmeric, Alfalfa, Fennel. The Z-Bones are very firm treats, much like a bone, so that Buddy has to work to chew them up.
The Clean Carrot Crisp includes Potato Flour, Peas, Tapioca, Vegetable Glycerine, Pea Protein, Carrots, Pumpkin, Lecithin, Natural Flavor, Caramel, Betacarotene, Parsley, Citric Acid, Zinc Propionate, Alfalfa, Rosemary, Turmeric, Fennel. You can see below how patient (and eager) Buddy is to get his next Z-Bone!
Z-Bones are highly digestible and contain lots of natural antioxidants to help keep dogs healthy. They come in four sizes and three different flavors, including Clean Berry Crisp. My dog LOVES his Z-Bones and they really help to freshen his dog breath!
Zuke's also carries lots of great natural dog treats for all sizes of dogs, including their Genuine Jerky in three flavors and the Mini Naturals in three flavors. These are both the perfect size treats for reward training. Buddy loves them! All of Zuke's dog (and cat) treats are made with only natural ingredients that my pet needs.
Get Zuke's Z-Bones at www.zukes.com 
and check out their entire line of natural pet treats!
Enter to win my Zuke's giveaway HERE!

“Fuel the Love - Fuel the Cure,” starting on May 1 through June 30, 2015 - This initiative invites and inspires Zuke’s fans to share photos of their dogs in action and loving life. For every person who follows @ZukesPets on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, and tags their action-packed photo with #FuelTheCure, Zuke’s will donate $5 to The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund. Proving that a picture can be worth more than just a thousand words, the campaign turns pictures into money - money that will support The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund (DCCFund), a non-profit organization dedicated to understanding, treating and preventing canine and feline cancer. The funds raised will be used to increase awareness of canine and feline cancer and to promote DCCFund as a resource for families confronted with a cancer diagnosis.

Red's All Natural Burrito Bowls - Review

Disclosure: I received product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.
You may be familiar with Red's Burritos and Red's Quesadillas, but they've just introduced a delicious new food product - Red's Burrito Bowls. Available as a Steak Burrito Bowl or a Chicken Burrito Bowl, these tasty new options are 100% all-natural, non-GMO, preservative-free and made with antibiotic and hormone-free meat and rBGH-free cheese, just like their other products. I love finding natural foods that are convenient too!
Just two and a half minutes in the microwave is all it takes to heat up these delicious single-serving meals. I had one for breakfast and one for lunch. Both selections of the Burrito Bowls feature cilantro-lime rice, beans, corn, and a salsa, but variations of each ingredient, making them both very distinct. I found them to be very tasty, high-quality foods that kept me satisfied until my next meal. Red's Burrito Bowls are sold at stores nationwide and you can use their location finder on their website to find them in the freezer section at a store near you. I found mine at HEB.