So a couple of years ago, I signed up to be a BzzAgent. This is where they send you coupons or samples of products to try and talk about. Most of the products I've "tested" so far have ranged from pretty good to awful. Never got anything that made me say, "This is the best stuff ever." That is until now. I sampled the Burt's Bee Sensitive facial cleanser and moisturizer. Now, if it were just for me, I would have said, "Eh, it's OK. Nothing special." However, I've also been using it on Monster. That's where the rating jumps! Monster has super dry skin in the colder months and it's aggravated by the chlorine from the pool. I've been using the wash and moisturizer on him and his skin is looking great! There was an improvement in just two days. I've actually been using the wash on his whole body and not just his face. I highly recommend this to anyone with ultra sensitive, dry skin. I would think that being Burt's Bees it would be pricier than other products, but it's very comparable. I will definitely be buying more!
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I'm a sucker for propaganda. I am well aware of how advertising works and I know exactly what companies are trying to do and who they are targeting, yet, for some reason, I get sucked in. It is true, Diet Dr. Pepper does taste more like regular Dr. Pepper. I see commercials (which I don't see many of since I don't watch live TV anymore) and my mind is taken over by the ad agencies. The thing that gets me the most are things that will save me time. Yeah, right. Deep down, I KNOW these things won't work. They won't save me time or energy. I'm so tired all the time though that some part of me keeps thinking, "What if this one really works?" I can't tell you how much crap I've bought that's supposed to save me either time or energy. Latest being the new Dawn Power Clean. This product is supposed to work like soaking dishes overnight, but in 5 minutes. I don't even use Dawn. I'm a Seventh Generation or Method type of girl when it comes to my dishes. So, why I needed to buy this product, I can't quite figure out. A couple of days go by and suddenly, I have a pan that needs to be soaked. Husband made eggs for breakfast and we immediately went to soccer and then straight to hiking after. That meant the pan was sitting, dirty, on the stove for about 3 hours. Came home for lunch. Tried just rinsing and a little scrubbing. Those eggs were really stuck. Then I remembered the Dawn Power Clean. Whoo hoo! I'd be able to get that pan clean in no time. I put some Dawn on the pan and then fill it up with scalding hot water. We then had lunch and naptime, so I didn't get to the soaking pan for about an hour or so. From the commercials, I'm expecting this stuff to just slide right off after soaking so long. Not even close. It was like I did nothing. There's another product on the list of purchases that just didn't make my life easier.
So what else is it that I've bought that hasn't worked? Where to do I even begin? How about we start with the Swiffer Duster. Great idea. How simple. Fast, easy to use. Problem? It may take me half as long to dust, but I have to dust twice as often. Then there's Pledge Multi-Surface (this was before my all natural route in cleaning). One product to do everything. Works GREAT on my bay window seat, and horribly on everything else. It leaves such horrible streaks that I have to reclean. Who can forget about the Shark Steamer? Luckily, this one I only borrowed! Commercials show grout just turning white in an instant, and it does....in milimeter sections. That means it take about 20 minutes to clean on 10" line of grout. I can scrub my whole floor clean in that amount of time. To go along with that, there's spray grout sealer. Don't bother. It takes more time to spray, wipe excess, let dry, reapply, wipe excess, let dry again than it does for the grout to get dirty again. We did it because the wonderful people who lived here before us never sealed the white grout on the kitchen floor! Of course we also have an issue with the caulk on our bathtub getting mildew behind it and coming through. Tilex Mildew Root promises to fix that for me in about 5 minutes. Not so much. And shall we move on to the laundry. There are a whole list of products that don't work there, but I'll go with the most recent Tide Stain Release. I honestly should have know better than to even have tried this. Two little packets in my wash can really get out my set in stains? Too good to be true. Plus, every load was 2 packets, so really, you're only getting half the amount of product in the package. I'm really not sure where people are testing these products, but it's apparently not my house. So what are my tried and trues? OxiClean is one. It may not save time, but it saves clothes. If I soak clothes that have been stained, even if they have gone through the dryer, for about a week, stains come right out. However, I would skip the liquid OxiClean and the gel stick. Neither of those work as well as the powder or spray. Then there's Dreft. I love Dreft. I would not have made it through my children's baby years without it. Dreft spray gets out everything, as long as you get to the stain while it's fresh. If you don't get the stain fresh, you have to move on to OxiClean. But, Dreft detergent is one of the only things my son isn't allergic to. I use all the free and clear, eco-friendly products, yet those irritate his skin. Dreft isn't an issue. For mildew? A mixture of water, white vinegar and Purification oil *tea tree would work also, but Purification was designed for molds*. Simple, cheap, and it smells good. You can actually use this mixture for everything. However, if you have a husband like mine, he still can't get his head around that the vinegar is a natural antimicrobial, so for him, we buy Method's Antibac. Best product ever. But really, you can't go wrong with anything Method. I also couldn't live without my steam mop. I'm not sold that it's the best one out there, so I'm going with pretty much any steam mop would be great. There there is the number thing that gets our family through winters. It's not really a product that makes cleaning easier, but it makes life easier because I SWEAR it works in helping keep my kids healthy, Thieves Essential Oil. One drop on the bottom of the kids feet (and mine) and it helps boost their immune systems. We've done it for two years now and *knock on wood* my kids have not gotten really sick. Little colds, but nothing serious. When we do have colds in this house, I diffuse Thieves to boost the rest of our immune systems. So, there you have it because I know you were all at the edge of your seats to find out what products I love and hate. If I can save anyone time and money in trying products that don't work, I've done my job I love to bake. Baking I'm good at (cooking is a whole different thing). I rarely have time for it though. So, when I do have time and actually want to make something, I want tools that are going to work and make things go smoothly. A week or so ago, I baked mini muffins for Monster. I got super lazy with it. I decided to spray the tins with Pam instead of Baker's Joy simply because I was too lazy to turn my Lazy Susan....yes you read that correctly. I was too lazy to turn my Lazy Susan. Now, I'm sure everyone has seen those commercials for Pam where the muffins just fall out of the tins perfectly. I had that image in my head. Heck, Pam is sort of like Baker's Joy, right? No. Not even close. I have never had muffins...simple muffins...fail so miserably. It was a good thing those muffins were just for us. Trying to get the muffins out the tins were like trying to chisel ice from a windshield. Though the muffins themselves tasted great, they were crumbled into pieces. Out of 36 mini muffins, I got 2 that came out whole. That never happens with Baker's Joy. That's what I get for being lazy. Learned my lesson though. Muffins I made yesterday turned out perfectly using good old Baker's Joy!
Yesterday was just one of those days. Normally, I'm a great multi-tasker. I have to be. But, for some reason, yesterday, I just had too much on my mind. Unfortunately, that caused me to almost burn down the house.
It was a warm afternoon, so I threw the kids in the pool. I needed to start dinner, which happened to be chicken tacos. I ran inside to start browning the chicken. I hear screaming. I race outside to find Monster and Sunshine fighting in the pool. I settle that down. I remember that I forgot to make a phone call I had promised to make. I grab the phone. I go back inside, move the chicken around a little in the skillet. I go back out to watch the kids and make my call. I'm talking, cleaning up outside toys, trying to get the dog on the porch so the neighbor dog doesn't eat him, and trying to make sure the kids don't kill each other in the pool. I hear my annoying neighbor talking on his porch. Then I hear this strange noise. Kind of sounded like someone was vacuuming. Monster kept asking, "What's that noise?". I kept trying to shush him because I was on the phone. This noise went on for a good 5 minutes. All of sudden, I realized what that noise was....it was my chicken on the stove. The smoke alarm was going off. The house was filled with smoke. The chicken was just about on fire, literally. I shut the burner off, grab the pan and race outside with it. The pan was BLACK. Now, the ironic thing was, I happened to be on the phone with my friend, who just two weeks ago, burnt a hole through one of her pans. I've burnt many things in old cookware that wasn't able to be saved. So, I'm thinking my poor skillet is done for, not to mention we now have no dinner. Fast forward to after running out to get Chipotle for dinner... I bring the pan back in. I decide to try to see if I can salvage it. I run it under hot water. Burned pieces just start washing off. I'm shocked. I continue and more and more pieces come off, leaving my beautiful stainless steel shining through! Most of the burned part came off with very little effort. After a little elbow grease, the pan was almost perfect. A little Bar Keepers Friend, and the skillet is a shiny stainless steel again! I can't tell you how happy I am with my cookware set. I now swear by the Tri-Ply Stainless Steel set from Calphalon. I've only had it a little over a year and it's already proving to be, by far, the best cookware set I've ever seen, let alone owned! If you're looking for new cookware, I highly recommend it! |
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