Cleaning Surfaces with Natural House Surfy


 Awhile back, I had the opportunity to review some natural household cleaning products from Natural House; (Flushy, Trashy, & Sinky) and I really enjoyed them! Especially Trashy as it has lasted me quite some time! When I found out I would be reviewing a new product from Natural House, called Surfy, I was ecstatic! I loved the previous products I reviewed, and I new I would just love one for my counter tops as well.

 Surfy is an all surface probiotic cleaner, made to clean through grease, grime and germs while leaving a streak free sheen. You can use it on multiple surfaces including counter tops, appliances, sinks, glass, stainless steel, toilets and tubs! Talk about a money savor. You have a cleaner for basically everything, all in one bottle! It even leaves probiotic's behind that continue to eat the germs, even when you're finished cleaning!

Here are some great benefits in using Surfy:

  • Industry-First, Cutting-Edge Probiotic Cleaning Product.
  • Convenient spray top nozzle for quick and dispersed application
  • Naturally digests odors at their source leaving a fresh botanical scent
  • Probiotics create a beneficial, odor eating ecosystem on any and all surfaces
  • Active ingredients keep working to maintain germ and odor free surface
  • Contains no VOC’s or other harmful chemicals Keeps dangerous pathogens off any surface
  • Leaves no Dulling Residue
  • Scrubbing action scours dirt and lifts germs and grime, while driving out odors at their source
  • Eco-Friendly, non-toxic, biodegradable

I really enjoyed Surfy. It has a beautiful scent of Lavender Sage, which isn't overpowering like a lot of other cleaners, but it has just enough smell to it, to enjoy. I've never been a big fan of lavender smells, but this one doesn't bother me at all! I really like that it's streak free and continues to clean, even after you wipe it up. It's also great that it leaves the air fresh, with no dwindling chemical smell, so you know you're also doing good for your lungs as well! With Surfy being non-toxic, it's a lot safer for my 4 year old son to use...he loves to help me out with spraying the counter tops and wiping them down. I don't have to worry about the smells attacking his nose, or the chemicals for that matter. I find Surfy to be a really great product that I would recommend to anyone looking for a new, friendlier, all purpose cleaner. 

   You can purchase Surfy at the Natural House Website at http://www.naturalhouse.com/products/ Or if you have some great perks through Amazon, (like free super saver shipping or Amazon Prime), you can purchase Surfy there as well!

  Make sure to Follow Natural House on Twitter and Like them on Facebook!

You as a reader have a chance to win your very own bottle of Surfy!! Follow the Rafflecopter to get your entries in!! Remember to leave me a mandatory comment telling me what you plan to clean with Surfy! :)

Giveaway only open to U.S. Residents.

Clairol's Virtual Makeover

Check out Clairol's new virtual makeover studio to try out different hair styles and hair colors on yourself!! It's fun! Check it out HERE


My SneekPeeq Freebies

  I got my SneakPeeq freebies in the mail yesterday. Two Pendants for a necklace! :)

If you join Sneakpeeq, you can get great freebies too and a $10 sign up bonus!

Join me HERE


Earth Day + Nat.Jelly Bean Day 2012

   April 22 was Earth Day as well as National Jelly Bean Day! I didn't have anything much planned for the day, I decided to just go with the flow of things...I wanted to challenge myself with an earth healthy activity, like I did last year with my dining decor... but my brain just couldn't push through any ideas. So I decided to just make some Earth Pancakes! :) Simple and fun for my son. I used the Heart Healthy Bisquick Pancake Mix and  separated the batter into two bowls, adding blue and green to each.After I made these pancakes and we ate, my hubby told us we had 20mintues to get ready, because he had a surprise for us. After we got all ready to go, we got in the car and he took us to the Lake :) A nice surprise!! It was great.Beautiful sunny day.


 Then for National Jellybean Day, me and my lil man made jelly bean sculptures :)

 And decorated our tree with butterfly stickers :)



 Then I read my son the book called "Dirt" written by Steve Tomecek
We had a great day :)



AlternaVites Kids Vitamins

Do you or your kids have a hard time taking your vitamins every day because you can't stand to chew or swallow them? If you answered yes, then AlternaVites will save you! ;)


     AlternaVites is a new, modern way to vitamins, made for adults and kids; {I will be reviewing the kids version.} AlternaVites Kids comes in two different flavors: Strawberry Bubble Gum and Raspberry Cotton Candy. Sounds delicious right? You sprinkle small amounts on the tongue and let it dissolve, to apply more, until the packet is empty. The method reminds me of the good ol' pixie sticks, but a healthier version of course ;)  Which makes it fun for kids! And only one packet a day.


Here are some facts on AlternVites for Kids:
  • The powder melts in your mouth within seconds
  • Has 0grams of sugar 
  • Made with no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives
  • Does not contain several allergy causing foods, like eggs, milk, peanut, tree nuts, wheat, soy or fish. 
  • There are no animal products or by-products
  • Free of aspartame and high fructose corn syrup
  • And is certified kosher pareve
  • Aimed for kids ages 4 and up

I also LOVE that you can mix AlternaVites into basically anything! From smoothies, to yogurt,  to sprinkling on top of fruits..the ideas are endless! These are a great way to get your kids the vitamins they need, if they're the picky kind that refuses to chomp up their chewables....you can hide the vitamin powder in something delicious and they'd never know! 




When I received my AlternaVites to try out, I was really intrigued by the idea. I tried them the next day! I was given the Strawberry Bubble Gum flavor to try, and you can taste a slight amount of the bubble gum, but nothing overpowering. I did however, find the vitamin powder, by itself, to be really chalky tasting :( That's something I was wishing wouldn't have happened. I had my husband try them as well, and he thought the same thing, that the powder was chalky. Then we had our 4 year old son try it out...he didn't like it as well :-/ But thankfully he has no problem taking his Flintstones Chewable Vitamins otherwise I'd be disguising this powder in his foods!! ;)

   Aside from the chalkiness, I find that AlternaVites are a great way to give kids their vitamins, in place of the chewables (or swallowables if that's the case), if they tend to think of them as candy. Or if you have a child who just really doesn't like vitamins period. I know of adults who tend to vomit by taking vitamins, so in their case, AlternaVites would be a wonderful option also! 
They can really come in handy.

 If you would like to purchase alternaVites, visit alternavites.com and use the discount code moms20, to get 20% off of your order!!
You can also enter for a chance to win a MONTHS supply for yourself! Enter by answering the 1st question, from my rafflecopter, and leave your answer in the comments section below!!

Yogurt Bites

I've seen these going around on the internet & wanted to give it a shot myself. I have to say...

Yogurt Bites are our new treat! I love that they taste so good and are healthy.

I just loaded some strawberry yogurt into a Ziploc baggy and cut the tip and swirled in some dots on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Then freeze! Some peoples yogurt bites are perfectly round but mine have more of a.... flower...shape to them ;) I added in sprinkles to some of them, to make them fun for my son, and I found the sprinkled ones taste better  :) Takes away from the tartness. I will be doing this with other yogurt flavors as well! I just love it :)



My Reads for The Day

  I'm happy I got my Power Thoughts book by Joyce Meyer, for only $5($9 total counting s&h) through Amazon...using part of my $25 giftcard I got from Gather :) also got my monthly mini Food magazine.


My Happy Moments

I love when my son asks me how to spell something and he writes it for the apartment neighbors world to see :)



And if he gets an owy he gets to wear an awesome superhero band-aid


And that we can enjoy indoor basketball on the rainy days (without worrying about it hitting the wall and the tacks popping out, making the game end)

And I love when both my boys (hubby & son) bring me laughter every day, (in this case, it's wearing each others slippers) :)

Fun Teeth Brushing Activity For Kids

   Here's a fun brushing teeth activity to do with your kids! 
A tooth scrubbing monster mouth!
 
I started with one of those tiny cereal boxes for a one bowl use and cut part of it, then glued pink construction paper over it, and cut up some teeth from a thin white board tablet. I glued it all together and it made these fun chomper teeth!



    I used dry erase markers to draw yuckyness on the teeth (cavities, plaque, food, decay, ect) and gave my son a tooth brush to scrub it all off. He had a blast scrubbing and redrawing the yuckyness on, just to do it all over again and again :) 
 



 

My Son's Yotsuba Shirt

So my son has found a new liking for the Japanese Yotsuba comic books.


 His daddy enjoys reading them to him and I admit it is a cute story :) In one of the books, the little girl wanted to make her own shirt, made from recycled materials. Lil man was telling me all about it so I went through and read that part of the book, and let him make his own "recycled shirt" He went through the house and grabbed random things to tape to it, this is what he came up with :)


  • Peanuts
  • Tupperware Lids
  • Forks
  • Chop Sticks
  • Toothpick
  • and
  • Clothes Pins
He had a blast making it and it was even better seeing it on him :)

Honey Cookies To Share

I had a favorite book as a child, called "Honey Cookies To Share", a mini book about a bears mother who made cookies and she told him to only eat one, but he ended up eating the whole plate of cookies and getting sick from it...


I'm happy I still have this book to share with my son and he loves it too. I found a recipe for honey cookies online and we made them together :)

How to make honey cookies:

1 1/3 cups oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups flour

(I used Wildflower honey, which I don't recommend because it gave more of a flowery taste to the cookies, so regular honey will do just fine. )
 

Mix all in a bowl and roll into one big ball, cover and refrigerate for a lil to harden the dough some for easier rolling (this isn't required but worked best for me) Otherwise your fingers might come out a little messy... :)

Once cooled down, take the big ball and pinch off pieces, to roll into little balls. (We cut the recipe in 3rds to make mini cookies cuz they're more fun to go with the mini book)
 
place on cookie sheet and bake in oven at 375 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.
 
They will come out a golden yummyness with a soft chewy center
 
And they will get eatin fast!! :)

My Camera Carrier

  This post should have been written last year lol! Talk about needing to organize my life..haha.. So I have a Nikon D40 Camera my wonderful hubby bought me and I didn't get a camera carrier with it, because I didn't think I'd need one...But I never considered how I would pack my camera for traveling... So I realized, I actually DID need a camera carrier!!! One day, I was shopping around in Goodwill and came across this:

A Lowepro camera bag!! It's condition looked brand new so I checked the price.... $2.99!!!! I snagged that in a heartbeat :) And now I have me an amazing camera bag...
I can take my camera lens off and pack it like this:















 Or leave it all together and pack it like this:

It even has a front compartment for my Kodak Video Camera and a small zipper compartment to hold more SD Cards ...
I'm pretty happy about it :)

Farm Fresh Southern Cooking - Cookbook Review


Farm Fresh Southern Cooking written by Tammy Algood, is a great cookbook full of Southern recipes!


    I chose this recipe book to review because my husband is from the South and it seemed like a good idea for me to learn some new Southern recipes to prepare for him. Looking through the book, I found quite a few recipes I would like to try out. A few of them are the Golden Brown Goat Cheese Medallions, Coconut Corn Fritters and the savory zucchini pie. I do however wish their entrée/meat section had more recipes. My husband is a meat lover so that would have been nice :) 

   We also love smoothies so when we came across the Summer Fruit Watermelon Smoothie, we knew we had to make it!! It calls for Watermelon, crushed ice, lime juice and raspberry sherbet. We couldn’t find just ‘raspberry sherbet’ so we used berry patch sherbet which contained all berries. I think the smoothie would have been better if we used only a raspberry sherbet, but it was still pretty good.
   
  I love the photos in this book; I think they were used great, to show the beauty of the food, and allowing it to look original enough to make yourself, at home. I do wish each recipe had a photo of the food though. Because some pages, they have the recipe but no photo..and if it's your first time making it, a photo would be nice to go off of. 

   If you have a garden, this recipe book will give you new ideas of food, to bring to the table....Just as the book says “Straight From The garden To Your Dinner Table.” :) 
 
But going to the store to pick out your ingredients will work just as well.


 I received this book from booksneeze.com in exchange for my review.
 

Easter 2012 Photo Essay

   Here's my photo essay of our Easter 2012. We had a good Easter. It was a beautiful sunny day! lil man dyed some eggs, did some crafts, and then we took him to the park wheres there's ducks, and we took him on a Scavenger Hunt. An overall great day!