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Shadow of the Mountain – Book Review

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It’s been a really long time since I’ve read Christian fiction. Long time as in, I was about 12 the last time I read Christian Fiction. I read 2 kid’s Frank Peretti books and they scared me so much, I haven’t read Christian Fiction since then.

I’ve been wanting some new books to read and this review opportunity came up. From the description it looked like a book that I would like so I decided to give it a shot.

I’m so glad I did! I absolutely loved this book! Also, it says it’s the first in a series, so I’m looking forward to reading the others as they come out. I can’t wait to see who Cliff Graham is going to write about next.

Shadow of the Mountain is a Fictional backstory for Caleb in the Bible. Lots of excitement and adventure and a really great story about how he became who he was.

I can’t say a ton about the plot because I don’t want to give anything away. It’s easy to read, the story flows well, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t often stay up really late reading but I pulled a couple of late nights reading this book.

If you’re looking for something new to read, you should give this book a try! I’ll make it easy – You can go here to buy Shadow of the Mountain: Exodus on Amazon.com.

I received this item free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

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Kitchen Scale

I received an Etekcity® 0.1oz High Accuracy 13lb/6kg Digital Multifunction Kitchen Food Scale to try and review.

This is a pretty inexpensive kitchen scale so I wasn’t really sure what to expect quality wise, but I’m very happy with it.

It’s easy to operate and has all the different weights that I need. I like that it has partial ounces so there’s greater accuracy. The display is easy to read. At first I was concerned that it only goes up to 13 pounds, but I haven’t found anything anywhere near 13 pounds in my kitchen that I need to weigh.

The first time I used it it was on the counter and the edge was bumping up against something else on the counter behind it and my weights were all over the place. So I moved stuff away from it (just so nothing was touching it) pushed the start button so it would go to zeros and it works great. So, just make sure it’s not touching anything else when you use it because the scale seems to go all the way to the edge.

My 1st grader has started wanting to weigh everything at the grocery store, and she’s so excited to have a scale to play with. I showed her how to use it and she can operate it without assistance – it’s that easy!

Also, it’s small, which I love, because it’s easy to store. I don’t have a ton of room in my kitchen so I needed a scale that I could easily store.

All in all, a great scale for the price.

I received this product free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

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Randoms Review

Not Random Review, but Randoms Review. I know, it’s confusing.

Thanks to Smiley 360 I got to try two bags of new Randoms candy for free.IMG_20150314_211220207
These taste just like regular gummy candy – which is delicious! – and they have so many fun shapes! I took a few pictures of some of my shapes with their corresponding real life items.

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Here my gummy fish is trying to join his friends in the fish tank. (these fish did not want to be photographed, my camera just didn’t want to focus)!

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And I know Christmas is long past, but I pulled out these two together and couldn’t resist a pic. It’s never to early to celebrate a little!

You can get a 10oz bag of  Wonka Randoms for around $3 on Amazon. A pretty good deal! And the kids will love eating and playing with their snack!

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Crest Pro Health HD

Thanks to Bzz Agent I got to try Crest Pro Health HD for free!

This product is honestly somewhat of a hassle to use because you basically brush your teeth twice.

However, my teeth have never felt so clean after brushing! There’s not a strong mint flavor, which is nice. I’m not really fond of the taste of stage two either, it’s just kinda clean tasting.

You brush for one minute with stage one, add stage 2 and brush for one minute more than rinse. It’s actually pretty simple. And my teeth are so shiny and clean after brushing. After using this product for several weeks my teeth are a tad whiter than they were before – but they were pretty white to begin with. The biggest change for me is how clean my mouth feels!

I used my previous toothpaste for one day just to compare and I couldn’t believe how much dirtier my teeth felt all day! I’ll definitely be purchasing more of this product when my free product runs out!

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Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel

Thanks to Influenster for the awesome product to try and review!

First of all Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel is blue, and blue is my favorite color. I like to coordinate all my stuff in blue. My office supplies, bathroom supplies, etc. So I have blue sewing scissors, a blue tape measure, blue hairbrush, blue eyeshadow (actually, I just like this shade, but my blue is my favorite!), blue pens, etc. And now, I have blue face moisturizer!

IMG_20150227_085315200Enough of the blue. The only thing I don’t love about this product is it has a slight perfume smell. It goes away after I rub it all in and it’s really mild so it’s not really a reason I wouldn’t use this product. And it’s not a bad smell, I just don’t understand why it’s there. And it’s a bit different than the smell I’m used to from my olay face lotion so I wasn’t expecting it the first time.

As for the product itself, I love it! It rubs in quickly, and it feels a little cool (temperature) going on which is always nice in the morning – I need all the help I can get to wake up!. I have never used a face gel so I was very curious to see how this product differed from my usual face lotion. After just a week of using it, I don’t plan on going back to my lotion.

I have pretty clear, just slightly oily skin, so I don’t need anything special, but I am constantly fighting having oily skin by my nose and dry skin on my cheeks. If I use more lotion my cheeks are great my my nose just gets more oily. If I use less my nose is great and the rest of my skin dries out.

All that to say, I’m constantly looking for a product that will solve this problem, I just never thought to use a face gel. I’m so happy with this Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel. It give my entire face all the moisture I need without causing any oily skin! Just the combination I needed. After a week of using it, my face looks more moisturized and more healthy than it ever has.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel is a great product, it works really well on my skin, and it’s blue! I would recommend this product to anyone who’s looking for a new facial moisturizer, especially if you have combination skin like I do.

I received this product free for purposes of my review, all opinions are my own. @Neutrogena, @Influenster, #BehindTheGlow, #Neutrogena, #contest

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My Favorite Sites

A while back someone asked me to post a list of my favorite sites. Some of these include links that give me stuff if you sign up, other’s don’t offer that option, but either way, I hope you find something that you like! And sign up with my links just in case 🙂

Site with Points for Searching and Shopping:

1. Bing – You earn points for searching. It’s 1 point per 3 searches and a maximum of 30 points per day – or 40 points if you want to install and use the mobile app as well. I like to redeem my points for groupon gift cards and then get some free food with my groupon bucks. Actually, these days, I get free lunches for my husband with my groupon bucks, but either way, it saves us some money and he gets tasty lunches during the week.

2. Swagbucks – Points for searching and a few other things, the search points are random so you may get 20 points or no points, you never know. There’s also surveys, daily polls, and you can click through when you’re shopping online. So, there’s multiple ways to earn points here. I like to redeem my points for Amazon gift cards.

3. My Points – This is another site where you click through when you’re shopping and you get points you can redeem for gift cards. They have a great selection of gift cards on here. Also, Bzz Agent (discussed below) gives you My Points when you interact with brands, so you can earn two ways.

4. Coke Rewards – Collect bottle caps, enter the codes for points you can redeem for merchandise or free cokes. If you’re drinking it anyway you may as well get a few free ones!

5. Kelloggs – If you eat cereal, crackers, or plow through the eggos like my kids do, this is a great way to get some free cereal bowls or other merchandise. Just enter the codes from the inside of the boxes.

Product Review Sites:

1. Pinch Me – They offer a small box of free samples every other week. You have to be on there right when the samples become available to order yours or you won’t get any. These are all sample size and a bit of a hassle to get but if you want to try out interesting products, you can give it a try.

2. Smiley360 – Free products to try and review. They recently updated their website and it’s so much easier to use and they have so many more products available. I’m currently trying out a new Nescafe instant coffee, and I’m waiting on some scented markers to arrive for the kids to test. They seem to have a lot of home stuff like soap and toilet bowl cleaner and other fun things like markers and coffee.

3. Bzz Agent – Free products to try and review. I get lots of food products from here. I just tried a new Sara Lee Pound Cake (the blog review for this is coming soon), and several Kroger $5 off coupons to promo their digital coupons and their community rewards. Plus they do toys – which the kids love, and other products like deodorant, roomba, etc. Usually the products are totally free. (I got a huge discount on my roomba but I did still have to pay something – if you don’t want to pay you just say so and don’t accept the campaign). They offer you a product and you say that yes you’d like to receive it and review it. I’ve been using this site for years and love all the fun products I get to try!

Survey Sites:

1. YouGov – Mostly government related surveys. Usually about 1 survey a week, they have a few decent redemption options.

2. My View – I’ve been using this survey site for a long time. They have a great selection of rewards.

3. Toluna – Surveys mostly, there’s also a few other activities you can do on the site for points to redeem for gift cards.

4. Schlinger & Associates – A few surveys for points. Mostly, these are research studies and they’ll tell you up front what they’re offering you to participate. Sometimes it’s a check and other times it’s a gift card.

5. Pure Profile – Surveys, you redeem for PayPal in $25 increments.

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Arla Dofino Cheese Review

Thanks to Bzz Agent I received a coupon to try Arla Dofino cheese for free! My family loves cheese and we really enjoyed trying out Arla Dofino. We actually liked it so much, we tried out several different varieties.

One of the cheeses we tried was the Jalapeno Havarti. The Havarti is pretty soft so it’s easy to eat as a snack with crackers. I don’t like most Jalapeno cheeses this way because usually the pepper chunks are too big. They were the perfect size in the Arla Dofino cheese. I also tried it grated up on chips. I spread the chips on a plate, grate the cheese on top, microwave for 30 seconds, and I have hot chips with cheese that I’ll dip in salsa. So delicious! And the Jalapeno cheese gave it an extra pop that worked great with the salsa.

I also made these little cracker bites with the creamy Havarti and bacon bits. I spread the saltines on a tray, put little slices of cheese on top, added some bacon bits, and cooked in the oven till everything was hot and melty. So delicious! They were eaten up very quickly!

For a tasty cheese tray, the round of Edam cheese was perfect. It has a great flavor, and it’s a great cheese to have out at a product, it looks like a premium product and it tastes great. Definitely getting another round of this for my holiday party this year.

I’ve liked every variety of Arla Dofino cheese that I’ve tried and I I can’t wait to serve some to my guests this holiday season.

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Dial Face Wash Review

My newest product trial is for the new Dial Acne Control Face Wash. I love trying new beauty products!

My first tip for this product, don’t set it on the bathroom counter next to the hand soap, the kids will think it’s for hand washing. My kids love to wash their hands, and they love to use the automatic soap dispensers in public restrooms – you know, I saw that bath and body works has a new auto soap dispenser that sits out your bathroom counter, my bathroom would be covered in bubbles if I bought that! But, I’m way off topic now…

Anyways, don’t leave it out for the kids, especially if your children like to wash their hands as much as mine do!

I do like this soap, it gets my face nice and clean. However, it does dry my skin out a little so I have to use a little more of my face lotion when I’m using the dial face wash. Way better than a face wash that makes my face oily (yes, I’ve tried one that does this and it’s awful!) and with a little extra lotion in the mornings my face is clean AND moisturized so no problems there.

I also don’t have to use very much of this product each time to get a nice lather that makes me feel like it’s doing something good. So this bottle is going to last me for quite a while. Yay!

Also, this product has very little scent, which is awesome, because I really don’t like being overpowered by scent when I’m washing my face in the morning.

I only have occasional acne so it’s not like this product cleared up my face, because my face is already pretty clear. So, no drastic results to show. However, I haven’t had any trouble with acne since starting to use this product so I know it doesn’t irritate my skin and it definitely seems to help prevent oily skin which is usually my biggest facial skin problem.

I’m enjoying using this product and I think it’s definitely getting my face cleaner in the mornings!

Thanks to Smiley 360 for the great product trial!

Click Here for a $.75 off coupon!

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Seventh Generation Natural Hand Wash Review

My second week of product reviews – I have a few lined up that I need to do! This one is also from Smiley360.

I got a free container of Seventh Generation Natural Hand Wash, Mandrin Orange & Grapefruit to try. It’s always awesome any time I get to try products that my family uses a lot of. My kids are obsessed with washing their hands, washing their barbie’s hair, and giving baths in the sink to many other toys such as polly pockets and play food. So, we go through a lot of hand soap around here.

Any time I put a new soap out on the counter it’s pretty much guaranteed that that girls will notice within an hour and give me their “very important” feedback. My kids approved, I had to smell their hands multiple times that first day I set the soap out because they loved the scent and felt the need to share. At least I knew their hands were clean!

I also like that it’s not anti-bacterial. You know how hard a non-anti-bacterial soap that everyone likes is to find? Either I’m looking in all the wrong places or there aren’t a lot of them.

This product smells great, my hands feel clean after using it, it’s not anti-bacterial, it’s made by a company that is good at making natural products, and for $4 on their website, It’s really not any more expensive than the Bath & Body Works soap I usually buy.

Plus, I love the bright colors on the soap bottle, and the citrus scent that I’m trying out is such a clean smell, I love it!

Want to save a little more? For 20% off your online order, click here.

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My Arla Dofino House Party

My latest party from House Party was for Arla Dofino cheese. Honestly, this has probably been my favorite house party so far! I got accepted as a host, sent out my invites, and reviewed the list of items I would be receiving. Insulated lunch totes and cheese. So, I’m expecting cheap lunch totes with the Arla Dofino logo, nope, they were nice Thermos insulated lunch totes in pink, blue, or black. Everyone who came to the party thought they were awesome. Sometimes at these house parties I have trouble giving away the favors (not everyone wanted wooden spoons at one party) but I had no problem getting guests to take these. Everyone needs a new lunch tote!

The cheese shipped directly from Arla Dofino, and I was really impressed with what was inside. Three different rounds – Gouda, Smoked Gouda, and Edam, two packages of sandwich slices – Gouda and Havarti, two triangles – fontina, and gouda, and five blocks of Havarti – Dill, Lite, Creamy, Smoked, and Jalapeño. There was lots and lots of cheese! I was expecting a couple of blocks so I was trying to plan what other things to serve with my cheese, but when my cheese arrived I realized that there was so much cheese, I could focus everything around the cheese.

We had a cheese tray, I cut the cheese in little blocks for easy eating. I did dill and cucumber sandwiches with the havarti dill, these were awesome! I made little cheese crackers with bacon bits on top, warmed them in the oven till the cheese started melting, these were gobbled up first. And the rounds, I set out on the chopping block with some cheese knives. I had pears and apples chopped in squares, and pepperoni and sausage as well as four different kids of crackers.

I’d never tried Arla Dofino cheese before – normally I purchase the store brand from the fridge section – and it was very delicious. Even the jalapeño cheese wasn’t overpoweringly spicy, it was just right. I’m always trying to figure out a good cheese try for holiday parties and after trying out all these cheeses, I now know what cheeses make the right variety cheese tray! Which means, I’ll be buying more when the holidays get here!

This was such a fun laid-back house party, everyone ate cheese, and hung out and chatted for hours.