You are here: Home / 2013 / Archives for April 2013

Get Green and Clean with the Shaklee Get Clean Kit **giveaway**

April 27, 2013 by 15 Comments
Disclaimer: The Shaklee Corporation provided me with one free Get Clean® Kit to review; my opinions and experiences are my own.
getclean_kit

One thing that really sucks about a lot of the cleaning products on the market is the harsh smell and knowing I am flushing a bunch of harmful chemicals down the drain in an effort to keep my home clean. I don’t like that at all. So, I jumped at the opportunity to try out the Shaklee Get Clean Kits. The first thing that blew me way was the amount of cleaning products I received and the quality of them.

The dish washer detergent is a favorite in our home. I don’t know how my children do it, but they manage to dirty tons of cups and silverware in a two hour period. The first thing I noticed about my dishes after they were done cleaning is there was not a white residue all over my dishes. This is a constant problem with my usual dishwasher detergent, so it is nice to have a detergent that gets my dishes clean without me having to clean them a second time.

I also really like the Hand Dish Wash. It takes very little to get the job done and I also noticed the liquid concentrate soften the water. Definite plus! The laundry products are great, too. Again, the detergent is concentrated and as littele as 2 ounces was enough to wash a large load of clothing in my home. Also, the Nature Bright® laundry booster and whiter helped get my children’s socks white again. Another good thing about the entire kit is there are no harsh chemicals or scents. I do like not having competing scents all over my home or in my clothing.

Shaklee Get Clean Giveaway!

My experience with the Shaklee Get Clean kit has been a good one. I have liked all the products I’ve used so far and I am looking forward to using more of them. Also, you have the opportunity to win a kit and try them out yourself. The kit contains over $115.00 worth of all natural cleaning products. Enter the giveaway below by following the instructions. The giveaway ends next Friday, May 4 at midnight EST. Check out the rules for the giveaway here. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Giveaway!, Sponsored Tagged With: , , , , ,

Celebrating a Birthday with Shot@Life Champion Adrian G.

April 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Today, I have the honor of helping celebrate Shot@Life’s 1st birthday bash by interviewing one of the Champions. Adrian G., who blogs at Adrian’s Crazy Life is a wife, mother and grandmother and holds down a full-time job while running her own small business. Adrian lives a very full life and still makes time to advocate for a good cause. I had the chance to interview her about being a Shot@Life Champion and what she has learned so far.

 

Budget Office

Adrian (in the white blazer) and the Utah delegation in the Budget Office, Washington DC.

Why is Shot @ Life an important cause for you? I first met up with the Shot@Life folks when I was at the Evo Blog conference - which is also where I met Lucrecer. I was really floored by how committed they were and how much support was being provided by the blogging Community. We are all busy people and it’s no accident that my blog is named Adrian’s Crazy Life. I love to help people, but it has to be quick and easy actions that I can fit into the insanity of my life. In a nutshell, this sounded like a way I could help actually save children’s lives by sharing information on Facebook or my blog, getting involved in blog carnivals or Twitter parties and doing a little fundraising. Even using the Charity Miles app to raise money for charity while I walk. Those are all simple things I can do to make a big difference in the world.

While attending the conference in February, what was the one thing you learned that you did not know before attending? I learned a lot about the effectiveness about vaccines. I know there has been some negative press about them lately, but over the last 30 years, so many millions of lives have been saved in the world as a result of vaccines, I don’t think you could really measure it. Could you imagine a world where we didn’t have vaccines for such virulent diseases as smallpox, polio, and measles. I think probably half the population might be gone by now without these life-saving vaccines.

CapitolGroupShot

Shot@Life Champions on Capitol Hill, Washington DC.

What was one of your most memorable moments while in Washington? I think our visit up to Capitol Hill was really memorable. I was excited and nervous and just really thrilled to be there. But on the other hand, it was easier than I thought it would be. I realized that these are just normal offices with laptops, cubicles, and conference rooms. Especially with my 35+ years in the Corporate world, that was a pretty comfortable environment for me. It took a lot of the intimidation out of it for me, and I felt much more comfortable in speaking with the staffers we were meeting and in sharing our information with them. They were interested, asked good questions, and gave us some useful advice on how to promote our cause with the right people.

What does Shot@Life mean to you? I think it’s a great cause and I am so proud to be a part of it. I got Bill Gates’ annual letter/video/interactive presentation (he’s pretty techy!) shortly before our trip to DC and I felt so honored to be able to be a small part of their efforts to literally change the world. He showed a lot of figures (I’m a big numbers girl) that clearly demonstrated how the Foundation’s programs are making a significant difference in some of these problems that other people thought were unsolvable. I mean who would have thought we could erradicate polio in a country as large as India? I mean, it’s one of the most populous countries in the world and yet, there has been NO POLIO CASES anywhere in the country in over two years. That is literally mind-boggling, and a good portion of it has been through the efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I think that’s pretty awesome to actually be a part of something like that.

I want to thank Adrian for allowing me to interview her and for her dedication to being a Shot@Life Champion. She is one amazing lady.

Filed Under: Kindred Spirits Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Spring Cleaning Your Digital Home with Office 365 **Giveaway**

April 22, 2013 by 4 Comments

Office365_DigitalHome

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with Social Influenz and Microsoft for Office 365. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Office365logoOrange_Web

With Spring finally making an appearance in the Midwest, I am reminded that this is a good time to get my digital files in order. I spend a lot of time on the computer writing and editing images and with that, I have to stay organized. I am using Office 365 to help me do that.

SkyDrive, Free Cloud Storage

One of the things I am enjoying the most about Office 365 is I can save and share my photos, videos and documents through SkyDrive, the free cloud storage solution. Now, I don’t have a Windows phone, but if you do, you can access the files from your phone. That’s a nice feature!

Using Templates with Excel 2013

Office 365 gives you access to a lot of templates. One my family and I will be using is the chore schedule template. You open it in Excel 2013, lists the tasks, assign a name to them, and check them off. Now, here is a great feature: The document can be uploaded to SkyDrive and the family can update in real-time. There is also a schedule template which is great for keeping homework assignments in order. When you click New Week, Excel will automatically create a new schedule tab. I have not been a fan of Excel and tend to avoid it when I can, but seeing how easy the templates are to use is making me think differently about the program.

Organizing Schedules with Outlook

Since my children are older, each one of them seems to have some activity or event going on during the week. It is not always easy to keep up with multiple calendars. I am glad I can use Outlook, to help me keep our calendars in check. The program allows you to color code each family members’ activities and share them. Again, SkyDrive makes it easy to upload and access the calendar from anywhere.

Office 365 Home Premium

I am using Office 365 Home Premium and I love that it gives me the flexibility to do things the way I way. I don’t have to have my main computer with me. With SkyDrive, I can work from home, my favorite coffee shop or just about anywhere. The Home Premium edition is subscription-based, gives you one license for use with your entire household on up to five devices. Get this, all your documents are saved automatically to the cloud on SkyDrive for easy access to your documents and personal settings from anywhere. Also, this edition includes the latest set of Office applications, works on Windows tablets, PCs and Macs and comes with extra SkyDrive storage and Skype calling. The annual subscription cost $99.99.

I am looking forward to using Office 365 daily for organizing my home and business documents, images and videos.

What are you doing to get your digital home in order?

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Giveaway!, Sponsored, Writer's Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Rebirth of Slowing Down

April 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

slowingdown

I was talking to my mom when I saw traffic slowing down across the street from my apartment. I was wondering what was going on, then I saw a woman whip her camera phone out and start shooting. A family of geese was crossing the street and taking their sweet time. Following behind the mother ( I assume it was the mother, I can not tell the sex of Canadian geese just by looking at them) were three extremely fluffy, yellow goslings and the father.

My oldest grabbed her camera and started shooting and I did the same. While this is not an unusual sight this time of year, it made me slow down after a long draining week and watch a bunch of feathered creatures move their family to a new location. Slowly.

First off, how often do we slow down to watch anything in nature? I used to take pictures of cloud formations daily. Have you done that? The sky never looks the same two days in a row. Plus, this simple act of mindfulness was a great way to slow down and appreciate the simplest thing in life.

Let’s try to never lose sight of those simple things. Today, take notice of what is going on around you. You are not too busy. Just do it and tell me in the comments what you noticed today.

 

Filed Under: Photo Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

If You Don’t Rest Now, You May Be Dead Later

April 12, 2013 by 4 Comments

My last post about breaking down resonated with a few people this week. A friend contacted me privately to say this was something she needed to read and thanked me for being so transparent. Another said she was going through a similar situation and she thought she was alone. I want to make it clear, there was not one single thing that contributed to my body giving out on me last week, it was multiple things. A lack of sleep, no time to recover from long periods of work and activities, trying to bring extra money into my household and raising three children as a single mother takes its toll on the body both mentally and physically. I was lying whenever I was asked how I was doing. I gave the standard, expected answer of, “I’m fine,” because when it comes down to it, most people really don’t care how you are doing. It is one of those questions not meant to be answered…truthfully.

We need to give each other permission to not have to lie.

We need to stop making people feel like they are not team players when they put themselves, their health or their family first. What has happened to respecting a person’t boundaries? I understand obligations and I believe in being true to what you have committed to doing, but I also believe we have become so busy being busy, people no longer know how to disconnect and reconnect with their family or themselves.

Sucking it up does not make you stronger.

While I was experiencing all that pain last week, I thought about pushing through it. I thought about sucking it up and going into work and denying I felt as bad as I did. Then, I thought about my kids and what would happen to them if I allowed stress to take me out. Nothing is worth losing your health over. And, we can not preach being healthy to our children when we are not being healthy.

Make restoration a priority in your life.

We are more than we seem. We are human. We require rest, stimulation, challenge and love to be whole beings. Promise me this, you will take time in the next week to disconnect and just be. Spend time with people who are important to you. Tell a family member, a friend or a co-worker you appreciate them. Do not assume they know. You tell them!

Question: What is the one thing you are going to do today to reconnect with yourself and someone who is important to you?
Filed Under: Writer's Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts