PaperMate Inkjoy 700 RT 1.0 M Review

I have a new favorite pen. As we all know, I am a pen addict. In fact, one of my other favorite pens is also a PaperMate and that love affair post can be found here (it's also a post about my drugstore shopping addiction).

I love this pen. It's not too heavy and not too light. It's white, silver and gray, which is so cool. It's a click pen, which I dig. I can clip it to my shirt. It just ... flows, if you know what I mean.

The other day a homeschool kid named Indy who is 11 years old and an aspiring writer caught sight of these pens in my backpack side pouch. She thought they were so pretty and wanted to know if she could have one. I'm stingy with my pens and told her I was reviewing them. She asked if she could have one after I was done reviewing them. I said sure. At the time I figured the pens were expensive and I would have to save up to buy more. But I was wrong!

You can get these pens all over the place. I'll probably head to WalMart and pick up a box of 12 for $18.97. I have the version shown above, but they also come in a gorgeous black.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Weight Loss is Not a RACE!

Tonight Aron is out of town. Jordan couldn't watch the kids. I took them to Weight Watchers with me so I could weigh in. I hate missing the meeting because I pay for it and it's inspirational and about the only "me" time I get during the week, but you do what you gotta do. At least I made the weigh-in!

Last week I gained 1.8 pounds, part of which was due to the fact that I changed from shorts to jeans and from a barefoot weigh-in to tennis shoes and socks. I also didn't track my eating very well in my journal and when I do that I overeat every time! Instead of getting down in the dumps and berating myself, I vowed to keep going.

These homemade eggrolls are only about 2 points each (cole slaw mix, soy sauce, egg roll wrappers)

Let's make this clear: I do not "diet." Our leader is on our cases for "dieting" = eating less than the points we are given each day. I get it. If we undereat and lose a bunch of weight and feel great, that's fine ... until we find we need more food to keep up our energy and our body is used to eating so little that any extra bit makes us gain each week. I make sure to eat all my points per day and often also use some of my 49 extra per week that I get.

I'm getting used to the skinny mocha at Starbucks once a week and the cherry vanilla Diet Coke at Sonic sometimes. I also drink a lot of water. I'm getting used to measuring my portions and try my hardest to fit in 5 fruits/veggies per day. I've even started doing a TEENY bit of exercise in the morning ... like 2 minutes of arm lifts and squats!

Anyway, tonight I went in, took off my tennies and stepped on the scale. Somehow with healthy eating I lost 3.2 pounds. I realize that weight (especially for women due to menstruation and fertility) goes up and down. One week will be triumphant and the next I might work very hard and find that I gained.

That's the journey. It's not a RACE to lose weight. In fact, my ultimate goal is to reach a certain weight by next SUMMER. I am not trying to weigh 100 pounds by Christmas because that would be absolutely ridiculous. I make short-term goals. I am already thinking, however, about what I will eat at Christmas gatherings ... how I might fill up on a salad before I go or take my own veggies to a party and stay away from the carbo-loaded desserts.

I know this is not forever. When I can control myself around food, I will be able to sneak in a treat more often. I don't feel deprived. I make sure my kids know I CAN have any food there is; I just have to log it. It's like a checking account and I have 26 points per day (plus 49 per week) that I can "spend." If I go over that amount in a week, it shows on the scale and in how my clothes fit and in how much energy I have.

Next stop = 10% goal! Ultimate goal = health, physical fitness, energy, and more.

Pine Bros. Throat Drops Review

After 15 years, Pine Bros. Softish Throat Drops are back (they were a trusted brand since 1870), and they are DELICIOUS! I know this for sure because they sent me a BOX of their product to try and pass out. Included in the box was what the company calls a PUCK ... it's a hockey puck-shaped container to refill with your Pine Bros. throat drops ... and we have refilled a few times already! It's nice to have since (1) the drops aren't individually wrapped (waste of paper in our landfills) and (2) I don't have to carry an entire bag of these around with me in the diaper bag; instead, I can refill the puck when I'm running low and the puck is securely closed and won't get crushed or spilled!

The day these throat drops arrived, the kids dug right in ... it's allergy season in the Midwest, after all, you know, so throats are dealing with some drainage and other fun currently. We all really love the taste of the wild cherry drops, and the honey comes in second. My 3-year-old, Sam, took one of the pucks and hid it so only he can get into it and eat the drops. He is the youngest of 5 and must hide his soft and chewy throat drop stash.

More plusses: it's an American made product, baby. AND they are only 5 calories a drop, which fits in with my Weight Watchers program with no problem!

 I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

My True Nature Product Review

Raise your hand if you use your baby's lotion. Yeah, me too. I was so excited to receive the samples of My True Naure's Bubble Bath, Lotion and Shampoo/Body Wash. We really go through this type of product in my house and I always love trying new things. My True Nature's products are animal cruelty-free, which me and Paul McCartney can appreciate. Here's my take on this stuff:

I love the smell of the bubble bath. Sam and Eva love taking baths together and love lots of bubbles. I love that the bubbles stick around for a long time.

I also love the citrusy smell of the baby wash/shampoo combo. The fact that it is in a pump is an added bonus ... no spills and one-handed dispensing make hair washing quick and easy.

The "Beary" Soft Lotion is my favorite product, though. It comes in a pump bottle that I keep in the kitchen right on the counter. I use it on myself after I do dishes and use it on the kids if I see they have dry spots. There is no fragrance, so it's not obnoxious or overpowering. And a little bit goes a long way.

You know I'm a little crunchy, so I appreciate that the bottles are made from recycled plastic and the products are free of all sorts of unnecessary chemicals and additives.

Here's some information from their site:

The Tubby Time Clean and Soft Set combines the Tubby Time greats (Dewey's bubbles and Daisy's shampoo/body wash) with Clio's lotion.

Dewey's and Daisy's cleansers are pure, natural formulas that combine plant-based cleansers and botanicals to create mountains of bubbles that are perfect for sensitive skin, cradle cap, or eczema and will leave your little ones soft as silk and smelling clean.

Clio's lotion is a truly unique formula that combines organic sunflower oil infused with a multitude of calming and healing organic herbs with shae butter, aloe and bees wax. It calms sunburns, rashes, eczema and other skin irritations the natural and organic way. Reuse the bottles made of 100% recycled plastic for a truly sustainable bath time experience.

Most of our ingredients are locally sourced from organic farms in California and the Pacific Northwest. Those ingredients that are not produced locally come from Germany.

Our bottles are made from 100% FDA-APPROVED RECYCLED PET plastic. Our pumps, caps and bottles are all BPA free and manufactured in the USA.

Here's how to follow them on Facebook!

Here's how to follow them on Twitter!

Shipping is free on orders over $50 AND it turns out that if you order these great products and enter my name (Kerrie McLoughlin) as your sales representative, I make a little cut on the whole deal, which means I can keep paying for my weekly Weight Watchers meetings :-)

Sunburnt After Sun Gel Giveaway!

This post was originally published on 9/27/12, but then I found out that SunBurnt is sponsoring a giveaway on my little bloggy, so after you check out the review, please enter to win on the super cool, state-of-the-art, better-than-writing-names-on-a-piece-of-paper-and-picking-one-out-of-a-hat Rafflecopter!

I'm usually pretty on top of things sunscreen-wise. Nobody wants to say they were responsible for letting FIVE little kids get sunburned. Alas, sometimes it happens. Joel has these cute stick-out cheeks that always burn a little right under his eyes no matter how much sunscreen stick we use. And once in Wyoming we weren't used to the high altitude (closer to the sun) and were playing by the river for longer than we meant to sans sunscreen and the kids were uncomfortable the rest of the day ... they got a little burned.

To try to relieve their pain I rushed out and got some aloe vera gel. Big mistake. It made things worse. I know, because I was a little burned and the aloe vera gel STUNG, which I did not realize would happen!

So when this Sunburnt After Sun Gel came along, I was skeptical. Then I tried it.

First of all, it has no scent, so you know perfumey junk won't be getting on your already sensitive skin.

Also, it is not sticky!!!!!!

Finally, it is so gentle and does not sting!

How could something homeopathic work so well? I don't know, but it does.


a Rafflecopter giveaway



 I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.