Soda Stream Machine Review & Video Demo

May 25, 2011 by 2 Comments

I first saw the ad for the soda stream when on my weekly visit to my local Bed Bath and Beyond. It looked so simple. Put plain cold water into the bottle, infuse with co2 then add your desired flavor. I made a plan to get it after the new year, but ended up getting it for Christmas from my awesome mother in law. But…. sometime before that, my husband and I happened to be in the Beyond and stumbled upon a Lady demonstrating the SodaStream sampling the soda. This was the perfect opportinuty to see how well it tastes and if it compares to the usual name brand soda we buy. My husband tried the energy, and I tried the root beer. They were both amazing. The energy actually tasted like RedBull! And the root beer like name brand root beer.

On average I think we used to spend about $40-50 a month on soda. The two liter bottles cost about $2 each, and the 20 ounce bottles came in at about the same price. I couldn’t believe how much money we were wasting. And half the time I could never even finish mine, especially not the 2 liter bottles since I could never drink them before they went flat. Because the SodaStream bottles are made for 1 liter, I usually never have that problem. If I do, it doesn’t bother me as much, because I can always make more, and I’m wasting a lot less than before. Since getting the SodaStream, we have tried: root beer, energy, orange, lemon lime, cola, diet cola, Pete's Choice (Dr Pepper), Diet Pete's Choice, and Cherry Cola. My husband has always been a diet soda drinker, while I only drink regular soda.

For a while we were each drinking separate kinds, until I reminded my husband that each serving is only 35 calories for the regular flavors. Not to mention, they are all made with Splenda. Because of that awesome benefit, we are actually drinking the same kind without having to purchase a diet and a regular of each flavor. Who needs diet soda, when the calories are so few? Now we drink the same kind all the time. You don’t have to feel bad anymore for consuming all those empty calories. Its like you are trimming your calories without even trying. A completely effortless dieting benefit if you are trying to cut back. If your kids love soda, you can actually feel better about letting them drink soda from the SodaStream since the calories are so few. We found that we save a ton of money now too. Each co2 canister seems to last about a month, and each bottle of flavor we get for $4 (with a 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon) makes the equivalent of 33 12 oz cans of soda! What a deal! Where else can you get 33 cans of soda for that cheap? That’s right, NOWHERE! Not only is this our second favorite kitchen gadget, it is totally worth the money.

One of the greatest things I have found since owning the SodaStream, is that once all our friends or family tries it, they instantly want to own one too. We love to have people over and show it off, but the best part is that anytime anyone is thirsty, we always have a decent selection to choose from. Everyone can have what they want, and its not an issue making more. I used to hate it when we would have all these 2 liters filling up the frige. To me it felt dumb and a waste of money to crack open a 2 liter for just one person. It was worse if say we had four people over, and they all wanted something different, so we might end up with four open bottles, which I knew would inevitably go flat before we could ever drink them fast enough. We use our SodaStream on average about 2 times a day. I recommend it to any soda lover, or even just anyone who loves to host social get togethers. This is the perfect item to please anyone’s palate. This is a great space saver and a great money saver

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Instyler Review & Video Demo

May 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Getting ready for my day, was a daily struggle. It took so long to dry my hair, straighten it, and be able to get out the door. Just to straighten my hair took about 45 minutes! In the past 9 years I have had about 3 different hair straighteners. The first was a pretty expensive Hot Tools brand, which I loved. However, after long term usage it extremely damaged my hair, and after a while it broke down. Although it kept working, it got a crack in the plastic which would catch on my hair and pull it out. I loved the straightener so much I rebought it after I had to retire the other. After the next one broke I settled for a different cheaper straightener by Remington. This straightener was so so, and it did the job ok

My old hair straightener, used to cause so much damage, frying my hair, creating split ends, my hair looked like straw. When i saw the infomercial many years ago for the instyler, i was in awe. A hair straightener that’s supposed to make my hair shine, and straighten it while at the same time creating less damage. And it can curl your hair too! And the best part…… it saves time! Time, my friends is something that we certainly don't have enough of. Since using my instyler, my hair is 10 times healthier. I look at my ends and i have way, way less split ends. Who wouldn't love that?! I love how it has bristles, because with my old flat iron, any knots that might have been in my hair prior to straightening, would singe and burn into a worse knot.

A benefit of the bristles, is that your hair is combed before and after going through it… so NO KNOTS. I think the bristles is where the time saver comes in… unless my hair is really wild, because it brushes as i straighten, I don't need to grab my hair brush in between straightening. It used to take me 45 minutes- 1 hour to style my hair. I can straighten all of my hair in 15 minutes tops! Because there is less damage to my ends, i have finally, and for ONCE IN MY LIFE been able to grow my hair out long. It used to be so bad, that just as my hair would get some added length, i would trim the ends to cut off the damage, and i would have just cut off all the same amount my hair had grown. This is an amazing product, it falls within my top 5. Its a must have!

 

 

And below you can see my video results while I Curl with he Instyler

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Ninja Master Prep Food Processor Review & Demo

May 20, 2011 by 5 Comments

One of my all time favorite products has to be the Ninja Master Prep. I bought this about a year ago when I became mesmerized by all the amazing things this powerful little kitchen appliance can do. For those who don’t know me, I hate to cook. I do cook on occasion, but as some recipes are more time consuming, it’s the back pain that usually kills me when I’m stuck chopping veggies, grating cheese, mixing batters, etc for long periods of time. The appeal was simple enough, its time saving, space saving, and with the simple recipes which came with the Ninja, I could be a domestic diva in no time. The absolute first test I had to try once my Ninja arrived, was could I really make the “snow” that the Ninja advertised? It is absolutely possible. Family and friends have often wondered, while I was telling them about my “snow” making machine, what can you use the snow for? So many things, from perfectly blended smoothies, blended coffee drinks, snow cones- which is one of my personal favorites, to daiquiris and mojitos. Because the blades are extremely sharp and it has a powerful motor, it pulverizes your ice in seconds. You never have to worry there will be uncrushed chunks in your drink.

I loved the Ninja so much that when I saw they made a newer model, The Ninja Master Prep Professional model, I had to have it right away. The difference was 50 more watts of power, there were 3 blending containers ( small, med, and large) 2 more blades were added for the pitcher size blending container, and some of the blade rods were one piece. The older model which had 2 inter locking blade pieces, which when cleaning needed to be taken apart. As I said before, the blades are SUPER sharp, so putting the two pieces together I was always nervous I might cut myself. Once, in fact I did cut myself when removing the blades from my dishwasher. The blade got stuck on the rack and when trying to free it, all it took was just a small tap on my finger and it cut me. This is definitely not something kids should be using unattended.

I use my Ninja almost every single day. I have used it for tortilla soup, from chopping my veggies before cooking, to even blending once my soup is done to make it a nice and smooth texture. I use it to blend my eggs for omelets or scrambled eggs, making breading for my favorite deep fried delights, chopping hard boiled eggs for egg salad, chopping chicken for chicken salad, chopping veggies, chopping onions, making beverages, mixing cake batter, mixing pancake batter, making salsa, and even pureeing baby food. My daughter hated that nasty jarred baby food meat, and because the Ninja could chop up anything, she was able to enjoy real turkey and gravy on her first Thanksgiving. That was pretty special for me to be able to give her that. Do you hate lumps in your pancake batter? In seconds I can blend up some perfect pancakes, completely lump free. No wisks, or mixers, and no bowls to wash later, and I could pour them straight on to the skillet with only one dirty dish. Because the Ninja is so versatile, you can do just about anything with it. If you happen to be doing multiple things at once, all you have to do is take the power pod motor and transfer it over to the next Ninja container. This is truly a space saver. You can feel free to do away with coffee grinders, blenders, and food processors because you won’t need them anymore. The Ninja is the only tool I use anymore. Remember that I said I hate to cook….? Well, believe it or not, I love my Ninja so much, my husband who is the chef, almost never gets to use it because I jump at every opportunity. On occasion, we even argue over who gets to use it.

As you should know by now, I LOVE “as seen on TV” products. I love them so much in fact, this most recent Christmas I did my own As Seen on TV Christmas for all my family and friends. Every single person got at least one thing that was “As Seen on TV”. So, that being said, I gave away 2 Ninja Master Preps. One to my brother-in-law and one to my step-mom. My step mom hadn’t even taken hers out of the box for several months, until one day while I was at my parents house, I sneakily removed their blender, cracked open the Ninja from its box, and plopped the Ninja in its place. When I went back the following week, my step mom gave me a piece of her mind. LOL. She was in love with her new Ninja! She raved and raved about all the things she had used it for, pureeing food for her 90 year old mother, making broccoli soup, and chopping her veggies… The funniest part about this was that the piece I left on the counter was the smallest blending container- the little chopper “bowl”, so that it was taking up the least amount of space. My step mom didn’t realize there was still a 48 ounce blending pitcher in the box! So she blended the soup about 8 ounces at a time, when she could have blended it all at once.
 

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Bare Minerals Makeup Review & Before & After Pics

May 20, 2011 by 7 Comments

bare minerals review

For roughly 3 years I have been using Bare Minerals makeup, and I have to say I WON’T EVER go back to using liquid foundation again. As a teen I had terrible acne, and sometimes on occasion, I still have break outs. Because the makeup isn’t made of oils, it definitely is a lot healthier for my skin. The first thing I noticed when I started using my Bare Minerals is that my skin started to clear up within the first week. I have to say, the make up isn’t exactly cheap at nearly $30 for just the foundation, but when you think about how long it lasts, you will realize what a spectacular deal it really it. On average, my foundation seems to last me about 2-3 months, and I don’t just apply it once a day either. Now, if you are using liquid foundation, why don’t you take a quick second to compare how long your one bottle of liquid foundation lasts? Probably not even a month…. And how much are you currently paying per bottle?

I touch up my face about two times each day, sometime in the afternoon or evening. I’m not in any way saying that it needed to be touched up, I just like to feel my freshest. So that being said, we are talking about an average of 30 cents a day to look your absolute best and feel your best. I couldn’t even tell you what this makeup has done for my self esteem, my confidence, and my overall image.

bare minerals before and after

Don't get me wrong, I still have the occasional breakout, but i have no worries it will fester and continue to get worse after applying my makeup. I love how quick it is to apply. Before using Bare Minerals, I think it used to take me at least15 minutes to apply my old makeup, then quite some time just to make sure I was streak free, crease free, and that I did not have a makeup line on my jaw line. Just to get ready each day was a pain, then I was constantly checking my mirror to make sure I didn’t get crease lines throughout the day, and to top it off, I had to reapply or touch up a minimum of 4 times during the day.

This amazing line of skin care products and makeup, has become such a favorite, that I actually look forward to browsing the line every time I head to my local Sephora. There is always something new when I return.

For someone who feels a little lost and confused when it comes to doing your own makeup, the Starter kit is exactly what you need. No matter which of  the starter kit sizes you choose, you are getting a fabulous deal. The $29.99 kit is great to get you going if you are on a budget. The cost of the 2 brushes included in that kit, are already valued at more than the cost of the kit. So you are getting about a 75% savings. I would highly recommend the larger starter kit, if you can afford it, because as I mentioned, the brushes are not cheap. You don’t want to have to buy the brushes later and pay for them separately.  FYI~ the brushes cost on average about $20 each

If you want to explore Bare Minerals eye make up and shadows, again I suggest you start out with the kits. This is for the same reason I mentioned above. The brushes are expensive. Especially the double ended brushes, which can cost you about $30 each. This is where you will get the most bang for your buck. You get a great discount when you purchase the kits. And when you add up everything you get about a 40% savings.

This is a beauty must have and I personally wont go a day without it!
 

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