New Years Resolutions for 2013

Yup! It's that time of year again where everyone talks about their New Years resolutions.
Each year I make a list, write them down, and put that list somewhere where I won't lose it. And then first about it all year long... And then when it comes to Jan 1st of the following year.. I can never even fin the list to see if I even did one thing on the list.
So this year, I decided to do things a little different. Instead of writing them down on paper and losing it somewhere, I'm going to blog them! That way, by this time next year, they will still be here and I can check back to them when ever I want to! And as the year goes on, I'll see then every so often when I blog, so maybe I won't forget about them :)

First off, what everyone says on theirs lists too: I want to lose weight and get healthy.
I'm not looking to be super model skinny, I just want to be healthy. I want to have the energy to run around with my kids more, and play out side with them, and to be fit and in good shape. :)
I want to start eating better meals with more veggies and leaner meats. An watch portion control!

Next: Feel better about myself. No matter how I look. Weather I'm a size 20, a 10, or a 2. Just feel good about being me.
Do little things for my self, like a new outfit every now and then. Dress up a little more, instead of just wearing old t shirts and Yoga pants! Lol Wear a little make up more often. Do something different with my hair, instead of just in a messy bin or pony tail all the time. Get my nails done every once in a while, just little things that make you feel great inside :)

Thirdly: drink less Soda. Regular soda has so much sugar in it.. And diet has so much... Junk in it. but I still need that carbonation in a drink, so I want to drink more bubbly water this year. Plus that will cut a lot of calories, and they say you can lose weight in a year just doing that one change. So lets see if I can do it.

Next: I'd love to become better at keeping a better house hold. Keeping up with cleanliness, laundry, healthy groceries in the house, and that sort of thing. Also followed by this, spending more time at our house and being less dependent on my parents for things.

Then: pay off credit cards and begin to save more money in our savings account. Nothing major, just a rainy day fund sort of thing.

Also: I'd like to really start doing some work on our house. And make it feel more like a home to me. Decorate it, fix some of the leaks and problems it has. Maybe redo the bathroom and laundry room.

Oh! One more thing. As it stands right now, I have rocked Jaxon to sleep every night of his life, and still continue to do so.. And today is his 11 month birthday..
So in this up coming year (ideally in the next month or so) I'd like to get in to a better schedule for him bath, teeth, story, kisses, an bed. And put him to bed while he's still awake an have him out himself to sleep.


Woa. Those are some good goals.
Lets work on these. And maybe we will revisit this in 6 or so months and see where we stand :)
Wish me luck ;)

Palmolive Fresh Infusions Dish Soap

Let me start by saying that i got these bottles of dish soap free from Influenster. If you do not know what influesnter is, check out my previous blog talking about their website make over, Then go check them out at http://www.influenster.com

So who likes doing the dishes....? yea.. that's what i thought, no one.. But when it makes your house smell this great, and cleans your dishes this well, the first time, doing the dishes will not be a a dreaded and hated chore, you will want to do them!

I am very excited about this dish soap! They smell heavenly, the scent is strong and fills your kitchen with this amazing smell! They are offered in scents that sound so fancy and amazing! Ginger White Tea, Lime Basil, and Lemon Thyme. Doesn't that just sound great!
The bottles are so thin, tall. and beautiful that you would never want to keep them in a cupboard or under the sink. I leave mine right on the sink next to the faucet, and they look great!

Now that we have talked about the scent and how cute they look in my kitchen, lets talk about how they work!

Perfectly!

This dish soap worked like a dream! it got all the dishes so clean the first time. There was no re washing of anything. It cleaned pots and pans with hardly any scrubbing at all. And lets be honest, i don't wash my dishes right after dinner... I'm a mother of two young children, I do the dishes either after they go to bed, or most of the time the next day, or even the day after that! so the food has plenty of time to stick on and cause a problem. But the new Palmolive dish soap cut right through any stuck on mess I threw at it.
Now here is a hard test. Like most people,my family loves fried foods, like deep fried onion rings and home made fries, and we use our own deep fryer. Every time we wash the deep fryer basket, it always always feels a little smiley and still greasy, no matter how many times we wash it, even if we soak it. It still has that layer of film on it that I just was part life with a deep fryer. Well i washed the basket with this dish soap, not even giving it another though about it. When I went to go put it away, it was so clean! It felt and looked brand new!! I was so excited! It was at that moment, i knew this was not just another dish soap, it was something special. 

A great bonus, it leaves your hands so smooth and so soft, you would think you just had a manicure and hand treatment! 

So is there anything wrong with this dish soap? Not that i can find! It sells for a little under 3$ for a 16 oz bottle. It is  concentrated dish soap, so i little goes a long way. This is a great dish soap for anyone to try, and once you try it, you'll love it! The only problem will be choosing which scent to try first :) I say get them all, you cant go wrong with any of them.

Thanks for Reading.
Have a fabulous day :) 

Influenster and their Relaunch

So in case you have not herd of influesnter, it is a fabulous company that offers products for people to try, use, review and spread the word. You sign up and complete these surveys about your lifestyle and what you are interested in, like make-up, cooking and kids, and they will save your answers to those surveys  and when they form a box that has products in it that they think you will enjoy and be able to give a great review on, they might choose you to receive a box for free, you pay nothing ever ever ever. But just because you like make up, and you unlocked the beauty badge, that doesn't mean that you will be qualified for Beauty VoxBox, there are hundreds of people who will be interested in that box.
There are many things you can do to increase your changes of being chosen. They want to know how well your opinion on the products will be heard, if you have a lot of followers Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and all those other pages where you will be voicing your opinion, that will increase your chances of being picked too. They want people who will help spread good publicity for the companies.
When you revive the box there are mandatory requirements you must participate in to give your feed back. There are also fun challenges that if you complete it increases your chances to win more products :) and who doesn't LOVE that :)

Recently they have completely revamped their entire website and added a whole bunch of new stuff!!

Now i have been meaning to write this for a little while, since the Influenster website had been completely revised and changed. It is a whole new world over there.
I'm not going to lie, at first it seemed very complicated and i wasn't sure that i was going to continue with them. I thought i was going to have to redo everything i had previously done before. but that its not the case at all, and once i had a chance to browse through the site, i noticed it is not a whole bunch of work, its fun. It is filled with fun new little tasks that you can do to get more chances to get VoxBoxes and up your statuses. Great new challenges to unlock brand new badges.
I was happy with the old set up, but at the end i was worried i had unlocked all the badges i was going to be able to unlock... i thought i had peaked and that i was stuck where i was and wasn't going to be able to get any more badges. But with this new set up, there is so much to do, i think it will take me a very long time to find all the badges and challenges and to complete them.

I have to say, the Relaunch of Influesnter has refreshed my interested in getting involved. I cant wait to get on and do more challenges... in fact, I'm going to go do that right now!
I urge you to go check it out at http://www.influenster.com/ and see what boxes you can qualify for!

Thanks For Reading,
This Is Just My Life
Rene

Nivea: A Kiss of Mint and Minerals

      I have always loved Nivea lip products, they go on so smooth and so soft and leave your lips feeling great. So when i got a coupon sent to me from the company to try any new lip product for free i was very excited! So i went to the store that very day and looked at each one and searched for the very best one. So when i saw one that was labeled Mint and Minerals i got very excited because i am on a recent mint kick, i absolutely love it and can not get enough. So the mint really got me excited, so that is the one i chose.   

       So i couldn't even make it out to the car with out ripping it open and putting it on. It is a very cool fresh feeling on your lips. It feels very healthy on your lips, it smells great and its great for them!
     I have been using it for a few days now, and my lips feel soft and great! I recommend this for anyone who likes cool minty fresh lip care! 

Home Made Moon Sand!!

.::   (: a goofy picture of my oldest son, but i wanted you to see the moon sand :)   ::.

Moon Sand!!

This summer Dominick and i made moon sand! It was so fun and so incredibly easy!!
The recipe i found called for 1 cup of baby oil, and 8 cups of flour.
Well with only child playing with it, and we were not sure on how it was going to come out, we decided to cut it in half, so we did 1/2 cup of baby oil and 4 cups of flour.
Now again, we were not sure of how this was going to come out, so we didn't add any color in to this one with time, but i would like to make a batch in each color now!!
So next time we will add a few drops of food coloring into the oil before we mix it in to the flour!

I cant wait to see all the colors mixed on the table in a big ol' rain bow! :)
What a beautiful mess that would be,
but that's OK, messes are always welcome, they are just part of my life :)

Wow. The life of a mother and blogger is busy...

Yikes! I have been so busy lately .. every time i try and blog something crazy happens and i never get it finished  or i get so busy i never even really get it started...
But i have been getting lots of stuff to try out and i have bunch of things to review and write my opinions about and i hope to have them all up very soon.

Well i just wanted to say that i haven't forgotten about this at all! Life is just crazy, i still have so much to say, its just all in my head, now i just need to get my fingers running on the key board and typing them all out.

Stay with me :)




Its very busy, But this is just my life :) :)

Pretty Woman Professional Nail Kit

So like most woman i have had many fake nails kits in my life, and may i say this is by far the BEST one i have ever ever used. Most of the time i put them on one day and they re falling off the next, and glue them back on about as fast as they are falling off so i rip them off by the end of the second day because i am so frustrated and disgusted at how they look. But these are great, i put them on Sunday morning and the first nail didn't start to loosen up until Friday morning.

Usually i feel like i cant do anything with my hands because I'm afraid they will break off. But in the almost week i had them on, i did laundry and dishes many times, took a bath, made many dinners, and did anything else i wanted to. I had no feeling at all that the nails were slowing me down at all because i had no fear that they would fall off or break. Also another test these nails passed was un-snapping my sons car seat.. which has always broken my nails off... but not with these :)

I was a little nervous about the pale pink color, because in the past i have had nails like that and the glue has always bubbled and turned white and been so visible through the nails. But these are made with a pink material that is clear enough to look natural, but opaque enough that you can not see any glue through the nails.

The glue that comes with the kit is a pink nail gel that is great. When it dries it is completely clear. I have used others that say they are pink but they dry white and always looks awful. But when i was doing one of my pinkies i slipped and got glue on my my finger, and it dried completely clear and pealed right off! no problem at all and i didn't need to use acetone.


Now i don't know if it is the glue, the design of the nails or the size of the nails that makes them great, but either way, they re great!

They have so many size choices you are almost guaranteed to find the right nails to fit your fingers. I generally have larger nails than most people i guess because i can never find nails that fit my fingers properly. i usually need to buy a kit that has two applications worth of nails in them just to find enough of the right size nails, which i really hate doing because then I'm usually paying double price because i will still only get one application out of the kit, and then i will have all those extra nails with nothing to do with them. With these nails they fit great, no gaps on the edges of my nails, no nails that are too big, no nails that are too small, just perfect! 

They also have a great application stick. It is something i have never seen before, it has a suction cup on one side and a hook on the other end. You suction the suction cup on the top of the nail and flip it over and add a couple drops of glue and you use the stick to flip the nail over and attach to your nail. You never have to push down on your nail at all and risk the glue seeping out and getting all over that nails and your fingers.

So as you can see over all i really loved these nails, and i honestly i will be buying PrettyWoman nails next time I want fake nails on. Here is their website, i urge you all to check them out online or you can buy them t local stores like Rite Aid and other drug stores.
http://www.prettywomanusa.com/index2.html

I got these nails free in the mail from a promotion the company was doing on their Facebook page, you should "like" them and keep an eye out for promotions that have every once in a while like free shipping ad other discounts!
https://www.facebook.com/PrettyWomanUSA

Here are some other pictures of the nails when i was done with them :)

Look at the amazing details on these! the silver glitter is such a beautiful touch!

I tend to like my nails a little shorter, so this is them clipped a little shorter.

Thanks for reading!
Have a great day! 

Dying Bread!

Dying Bread!
Sounds crazy right? but boy did Dominick LOVE doing it! and of course eating it :)
and it was so so easy, moms will love it too!
Its still tastes great, the milk does not change the taste of the toast at all, it just adds some great color and some more fun things for the kiddos to do in the kitchen.

There are only three ingredients!
Bread
Food coloring
and Milk

First step is to add a couple drops of food coloring in to some milk.
We used about 2 drops of food coloring in to about 1/4 cup of milk.
We used 2 colors, blue and green.

Then already the fun part! paint the colored milk on the bread!

Painting his bread :)

The fully colorful painted bread.



The toast after being lightly toasted.

Now all that is left is to simply add some butter and enjoy!!

You could even have the kids paint their names on these and make their own personalized sandwiches!! Yum!!

This is just some of the crazy things we do around here, because,
This is just my life!

Still working on this stuff

So as you may have noticed, i have deleted two of my blogs and merged it all into one, it was just way too complicated and time consuming to try and keep up with three and a couple of them were being neglected, so i just deleted two and started to post everything here. Now right now Blogger is doing maintenance on the servers so i can not change my domain title... so its still stuck to hat i had when this was my freebie blog lol. Hopefully i will be able to change that very soon.
So basically i am writing this apologizing for all of the sudden posts, and all of the disorganization that is going on here. it wont last forever, i promise ill get the hang of this soon :)
Until then,
This is just my life :)

A Sudden Realization

So i have been very upset in recent months about our house. There is always something wrong with it whether it is pipes leaking, toilets running, bath tub not draining, tub faucet leaking... or a million other things, there is always something. SO i was getting upset and embarrassed about our house.  My dream has always been to have a beautiful clean home where i can have people over and for them to think it looks as beautiful as i think it is :) But lately that has not been how i have been feeling about my house.
And then something hit me laying in bed something hit me.. i am 24 years old! I am only 24 years old! 24 year old people don't have big fancy houses that are perfect! they have apartments, and fix-er-up houses, and some are still living with parents or they have room mates. 
I think i was feeling that because we have two beautiful children and that we have been married for 5 years now, that my house needs to be perfect and finished like a full grown adult should have, and that i need to be this perfect mother and perfect wife and that i should have it all figured out and running smoothly by now... but in all honestly i am still only 24 years old, i still have plenty of time to get it all figured out :) Plenty of time to either fix this house up, or plenty of time to find a new one. Plenty of time to get this whole wife thing down, and plenty of time to be a great mother.
And that is my thought for the day, and just getting this realization written down and typed out make me feel like this huge weight being lifted off my shoulders, I feel more relaxed and calm and just happy at the pace that things are going in. I don't feel like I have to be a super hero, I can just be me!! :D 

Dove Intensive Repair Conditioner

Now let me just say, i can not stop raving about this conditioner! I received it a couple of years ago in the mail as a sample and loved it! But some how i never bought it, and then i sort of forgot about it. Then recently i saw it in the store and the sparks flew and i remembered how much i loved it! i instantly had to buy it and use it the second i got home from the store!
Now honestly i didn't buy the shampoo to go with it, i just use the same old regular Suave that i have been using for ever now. But it still works great and leaves my hair feeling amazing!

To use it you just shampoo as usually and then apply the conditioner all over your hair and massage in and leave for about three minutes and then rinse out.
I honestly will never use any thing else ever ever ever!
After using this i can not stop touching my hair, i actually leave it down and play with it all day and when i do put it up i leave it in a cute little pony tail instead of a bun, so then i can still play with my hair :)
I usually have frizzy hair, but now that i am using this, no frizz!
I cant wait to try it with the i wonder if it will improve the results any! not that i feel that they can improve!

I urge anyone, no matter what their hair is like, to try this, you wont regret it!






And that's my Thoughts
:)

Quaker Soft Baked Banana Nut Bar

Another product given to me compliments of  great people at Influenster for me to try and review.
So first off i have to say this this was absolutely delicious!! We got one bar to try in the Summer Beauty VoxBox and i decided to let each member of my family take a bite and taste it... well that was a big mistake because then everyone wanted more.. my seven year old actually told me i needed to go to the store right then and buy a box.
The bar is made from real ingredients, so you can feel good about eating, but its not one of those bars that tastes healthy, with no flavor. So its perfect for a early morning snack or a quick breakfast on the way to work or school in the morning. Or just an anytime snack to satisfy that sweet tooth with out feeling like you need to go run 10 miles afterwards. 
It has real bananas you can taste, and real almonds and nuts you can see on the top and can feel them crunch.  
It has 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber to keep you full. And 20% of your daily amount of 5 B vitamins. They sell for about 3.29 a box and it has 5 bars in it, which if your family is like mine, those will be gone the day you bring them home. 
I also have to say this, the day i got my VoxBox in the mail, my mother and i had banana bread, and it had just came out of the oven when the mail woman came and delivered the box. i opened the box, and found this bar, took a bite and passed it around to the family, and continued to look through the VoxBox. About an hour or so later the home made banana bread was ready, every one had a piece  and every one in the house said it wasn't as good as the Quaker Soft Baked Banana Nut Bar. 
So there is my opinion, and the opinion of my family. Go get some and make an opinion of your own. 

Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion Sunscreen

So can i just say thank you so much to Influenster for including this for me to try in this years Summer Beauty VoxBox! because honestly, i may not have tried it otherwise. They sent this to me for free to try it and tell all of the world how i feel about it, and can i just say that i loved it! It worked amazingly! It offered LONG lasting protection and it is only SPF 30, imagine what 50 would have done. 
It has broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection which is great! and it is available in SPF 12, 30, and 50 so it is great for all skin tones. I have very very fair and sensitive skin, in fact, my doctor has told me that i need to have nothing lower that SPF 50 on my skin because it is so fair, but i put this on one day before we went to the fair, and it lasted all day, and i did not burn at all, not even a touch of pink to my skin at all, it was amazing. 
Now on to the moisturizing! this is amazing, its was one of the best moisturizing lotions that i have ever used, i had even forgotten as i was putting it on that it was a sunblock! It feels like a regular lotion you would use when you got out of the shower, now when you put this on, you wont need to worry the sun after that. That greasy sticky gross feeling you get after putting on normal sunblock, GONE! 
Its leaves your skin feeling so soft for so long, the bottle says 12 hours, and it didn't lie! my skin still felt so soft and smooth the next day :) it was great. 
It has a very warm summery smell to it which is wonderful. The scent makes you feel like a million dollars just by putting it on. When i put it on i imminently want to throw my hair up, grab some sun glasses, and maybe some hoop earring and jump in the car and drive around until we find the beach :) 
To sum it up, feels great on your skin, smells great, and does an amazing job at protecting your skin, so if there is a reason not to buy this product, i don't see it :) 
So ladies, go get some and go enjoy some sun because it will be winter before we know it... 



It has these ultra soft luxurious hydrating silk ribbons, you can even see them in the bottle and when they come out in your hand! it feels amazing.

Always & Tampax Always Radiant Collection

Another product i received in the Influenster Summer Beauty VoxBox was samples from the Always & Tampax Always Radiant Collection.
These products were amazing to say the least! 
Lets start with the Tampax Radiant Tampon:

Great protection, no leaks. The packaging is cute, and better than that, silent (so if you find yourself in a stall in a crowded ladies room, you don't need to deal with that awful tell tale sound of you tearing the wrapping of your tampon wrapper. Also another amazing feature is that is is also resealable!! so you can hide your uhh... used products ;) when your done. Now i don't know about any one else, but i like that feature! :) I have a husband, and where i know he knows i have a period each month, i don't think he or my kids need visual proof each month, so i like the idea of being able to reseal these and keep most of the "proof" hidden away :) 
More little things that i love about it are they have plastic applicators, and are unscented. It has FormFit™ protection that gently expands to fit your unique shape, and the LeakGuard™ braid to prevent leaks which i love :) 

Anyway, i think that's about all i can say about the new Tampax radiant tampon, now lets move on to the Always Radiant Infinity Pads.
These were so comfortable. i didn't even feel them. they provided leak protection all night long (and lets face it, i DON'T lay still at all!! lol just ask my husband lol) 
They are so flexible and thin, yet so protective. 
they are made out of this almost memory foam stuff that forms to you to prevent leaks! They form to your body while you sleep, sit, stand, run what ever you do in a day, these will protect you :) 
The wings stay secured and never came undone at all. 

The Radiant collection is great, two amazing products together at last! Why did it take soo long for these great companies to get together??  

Here are links to their pages so you can find out more reasons to love them!
http://www.always.com/en-us/home.aspx

http://www.tampax.com/en-US/home/home.aspx


and for more information about Influenster and how you can try products visit 
http://www.influenster.com/

Thanks again for reading ladies :)
Have a great day 

Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color

So i received this product complimentary to test through Influenster’s VoxBox program this summer and i MUST say that i love it and can not wait to try new colors! This color is Polar Purple and i love it :) 

Shake the Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color on all nails and let dry. 
Then when ready to apply polish to get the magnetic results, you need to paint nails one at a time. 
Remove magnet cover from the top of the bottle
then repeat on all your nails and even toe nails. 

The nail polish is really as great as it shows and is very easy to use! 

As with any other nail polish, apply a base coat and let it dry. 

Add polish to one nail, and then hold the magnet over your nail by resting the guide on your finger. then hold magnet for 10 seconds over wet nail polish and wavy designs will instantly show up! 

Let dry and seal with a top coat for extra shine and protection. 

Once you do it once it is very easy and isn't any harder than any other nail polish. Color lasted long and didn't seem to chip, as long as i wasn't spending all day in the pool lol!

They have a great selection of colors! Golden Conduct

Polar PurpleSilver Elements

Kinetic CopperRed-y ResponseIonic IndigoElectric EmeraldGraphite Gravity

i cant wait to see a pink ;) 
i really recommend this polish for anyone to try!