Tag Archives: product review

Zero Water Ready Pour Review

Zero Water: 12-Cup Ready Pour Review

It is funny how you can live with a person for years and each day still learn something about them. I recently had this happen with Jason and water. As long as I have known him he has drank a bunch of water, but usually we have it filtered. We recently began purchasing 16 ounce bottles of water and, as it turns out my water drinker is not much of a bottle water drinker.

As it turns out he much prefers the filtered version from a water pitcher. As for me, as long as I have a version of water in the house I am happy. Jason tends to drink a lot more water than me, and when he is sick he triples his water intake. We have been talking about getting a water pitcher with a filter. We have limited space in our refrigerator so the more capacity and less space was a reason for our selectiveness.

We have been reading reviews (yes, even reviewers read reviews) and were beginning to close in on a decision that made both of us happy and met our stringent requirements. I have said before that being a review blogger and timing often coincide, and this is one of those times. I received an offer to review Zero Water’s 12 cup Ready Pour filter, and thought this might be the answer to our wish list.

Continue reading →

Homemade Bath Bombs, Salts & Scrubs Review

Homemade Bath Bombs, Salts & Scrubs: 300 Natural Recipes for Luxurious Soaks Review and Giveaway

About 4 years ago Jason and I bought our first home! We live in what we call our “shrinky dink” house – which is a quite appropriate. The reason for the name is imagine a house with an upper deck and a big front porch and all the indoor living areas as per typical of a house. Now imagine shrinking the house into a quarter of its intended size and you have our home.

We have all the modern conveniences, short of a bathtub. I never imagined I would miss the bathtub as much as I do, but honestly it is missed deeply. Since I lost that one luxury of life, I now spoil my friends that do have a bathtub with assorted bath bombs and soaks.

I have wanted to find a master book that has natural remedies and natural scents to cure the ails of getting older. When I received Homemade Bath Bombs, Salts & Scrubs: 300 Natural Recipes for Luxurious Soaks by Kate Bello I was excited.

Continue reading →

Mettle Energy Review

Mettle Energy Review and Giveaway

I am not a morning person, and I really do not like to be woken up suddenly. I am lucky that I am generally a sound sleeper, which makes the alarm clock “alarming” when I hear it in the mornings. It takes me a while to wake up, and generally I am best avoided for the first 20 minutes after wake up. There is one caveat to this, and it is if a cat wakes me up – that I can handle and never snap at them, just cuddles.

On top of my poor wake-up habits I have a confession – I am an energy drink addict. Each day I follow the same routine which includes a lemonade flavored drink. Not only is this a daily need, but it is an expensive need. Each drink costs us anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 per can, and on some days two are consumed.

Jason and I have had discussions about cutting back my drinking of these, and despite my best efforts I find I need the energy jump in the mornings. The problem is that most high energy solutions are expensive and there is little cheap options – that is until now. I came upon a new powder based energy drink called Mettle Energy. Mettle Energy are drinks and shots, that are available online and for people like me who need many servings without the many price.

Continue reading →

Salba Smart Natural Products Review

Salba Smart Whole Seeds – Review and Giveaway

One of my favorite things about doing reviews is hearing Jason’s initial reaction because more often then not they are funny. I am happy to say that this review was no exception, but more mainstream than I expect normally. The first question that I was asked was if we could grow these into a pet of some variety, then the song that we all know was heard in his sarcastic tone.

While I had to break the news to Jason that these were not the chia seeds that could sprout green stems, these are the seeds that will replace our current supplements. Chia has been around since around 3500BC and the Aztec’s thought of it as a superfood.

I had recently tried a chia based drink and I was interested in a different delivery method of the chia since I could see the benefits. I was sent a 12.7 oz bag of Whole Salba Chia Seeds from Salba Smart Natural Products. Salba Chia is an amazing seed that contains so much goodness in each tablespoon.

Continue reading →

Ozeri Turtlemeter Review

Ozeri – Turtlemeter Review and Giveaway

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite times was bath time. I remember having toys, being able to splash around and having a great time. During this magical time I do not remember it being a chore, but rather a fun time for me. As I aged, my love of baths went from the playtime to the relaxation time.

Unfortunately due to the size restrictions I am unable to take a bath til my heart’s desire. I do get the occasional treat at my in-laws house or my father’s house but it is not often enough to qualify as realization to any level. I have always wondered about water temperature and what is acceptable for skin and safety. .

Ozeri is a specialty manufacturer of digital lifestyle products of the modern homes, and I was recently sent their Turtlemeter by Ozeri for review.

Continue reading →

Stopain Migraine Review

Stopain Migraine: Topical Pain Relieving Gel Review and Giveaway

As regular readers may know, I am generally skeptical about natural health products. I have never really believed that taking a herb or applying a topical mixture can make my life and health better. I am a big believer in western medicine and the science that tends to support mainstream treatments. I am happy to say though that as I get older my opinion is changing. I am slightly over 40 and I realize that this body, these organs and my brain are the only ones that I am going to get and I better take care while i can. For this reason, I am now looking into the remedies that I once eschewed.

Sadly for me I am a migraine sufferer, and it is not pleasant. I tend to get a migraine when I cry too much, when I am stressed out or when the day ends in “y”. There is no rhyme or reason to my migraine onsets, despite diaries kept and observation made. About 10 years ago I thought I had found the magical combination of medications to help me, and then the manufacturers took the main component off the market. Since that decision I have searched for a cure and the more natural the better.

Recently, coincidentally on a day where a migraine seemed eminent, I was approached by Stopain Migraine Topical Pain Relieving Gel Now normally I would have hit the reject button and moved on, but the idea of natural migraine relief seemed appealing. So as history now shows, I hit accept instead of reject and hoped that this might be the assistance I so desire in dealing with these migraine headaches.

Continue reading →

House of Doolittle Review

House of Doolittle: 2016 Calendar and 2016 Meeting Planner Review

There are a few times of year that, as a child, I looked forward to. One of them was right before I went back to school in September and I got to purchase all the supplies that would take me through the new year. My second favorite time was in mid November when the new years calendars would be released.

Each year I would purchase a Ziggy themed desk calendar. I would patiently wait for the year to turn over to January 1st so that i could begin my adventure with Ziggy. I loved this calendar and I loved that the color was a simple shade of green. I was very sad when I could no long find this calendar and I often wonder why it was taken off the market when it obviously had a fan.

Each year I set out to create a calendar comparable to that desk calendar of days gone by. Despite my best efforts, each year I come up short so when I was sent the House of Doolittle 3 Month Vertical Compact Wall Calendar and House Of Doolittle Meeting Planner I knew my 2016 calendar needs were met.

Continue reading →

Unique Natural Products Review

Unique Natural Products: Pet Odor and Stain Eliminator Review and Giveaway

I am all about confession and honesty, in that vein I am going to share a story with you all. About 8 months ago, while my husband and I were sleeping, my husband was awoken with a fright. It is important to note that I do not wake up well especially when it is in a sudden manner, but do not wake up easily. Apparently my husband went to investigate and discovered that our Muggles had eaten to fast and thrown up – all over our carpet and couch!

At this point, Jason is sitting ankle deep in cat vomit and while he could have cleaned this up himself, he did not know where all the cleaners and rags were and need my assistance. As he proceed to wake me up I was not only startled but concerned that the vomit-er was feeling alright. Once I did my checks, I proceeded to gather the need materials and began cleaning, and after 30 minutes I was done.

The reason that this task took so long is because I had to search for a carpet cleaner that would be safe for our new couch and the carpet that covers our wood floor. That night I settled for simple soap and water the clean the mess. I made a promise to myself that I would find a proper pet cleaning product, that is when I discovered Unique Natural Products – Pet Odor and Stain Eliminator.

Continue reading →

Stoneridge Orchards Review

Stoneridge Orchards: Review and Giveaway

As any regular readers will know I love companies that have a unique backstory and original origins. Let’s travel back to 1960’s in Central Washington and the modern homesteading lottery. What this Homesteading Lottery did was to hold a lottery and chose “winners”. The “winners” of this lottery won 160 acres of land in Central Washington. As luck would have it, in 1962 a gentleman by the name of Karl Dorsing had not only entered this lottery but won. This win allowed him to move himself and his family to Royal City Washington.

Today those 160 acres are what is known as Royal Ridge Fruits. The fertile high desert region of Central Washington was the perfect environment to grow their all natural organic cherries, blueberries, raspberries, apple and pears. In 2010 this 3rd generational family owned and managed company created Stoneridge Orchards. Stoneridge Orchards was created for use as a consumer brand. With the creation of a consumer brand came the addition of a berry mix, dried peaches slices as well as Greek Yogurt covered fruits and Dark Chocolate covered fruits.

Stoneridge Orchards was kind enough to send us an assortment of their dried fruits and chocolate covered fruits for consideration of a review.

Continue reading →

Art Therapy Magazine Review

Art Therapy Magazine Review

About 5 years ago I went through a severe health scare and with that came many, many hours in waiting rooms and testing facilities. During those long days I wished I would have had a distraction to get me thinking about something other than the reason I was in the waiting rooms.

When you are stuck in the waiting rooms of medical facilities the options for amusement are limited and usually consist of using ones smart phone, bringing a book to read and if courageous enough, making small talk with the other medical waiters. Time takes forever and is fleeting all at once. I tried all these things to distract me, and despite my best attempts they never worked. It is nice to have something to start and have completed in a tumultuous time.

The newest trend making a roaring comeback into the 20-teens is Adult Coloring – which is not different then the coloring we did as a children other than the designs are more grown up. I was recently send 2 issues of Art Therapy Magazine for review, which is a coloring periodical.

Continue reading →