Zep Microwave Cleaner Review

I received this product for review purposes. All opinions are my own.  

I use my microwave on a daily basis and while I try to clean it up as it get's dirty sometimes I can't.  Life (aka a toddler who needs me at that moment) gets in the way and then I forget about it. 

My go to clean is a cup of hot water for a few minutes in the microwave to help make it easier to wipe.  This works but I'm open to trying new methods as well.  

Enter the Zep Microwave cleaner.  I had an opportunity a while ago to try a few other cleaning products from Zep and was impressed with them so I had high hopes. 

To use it you spray/squirt it into the microwave - it's a foam - and then run the microwave for 2 minutes.  After that you should be able to wipe it clean.  

I thought for sure I had a before picture, but like I said toddlers are distracting so I don't.

 

Truthfully though, I expected it to just wipe clean easy peasy and it wasn't that easy.  It cleaned but I still had to use a little elbow grease to remove some of the stains.  With that being said, it wouldn't deter me from using it, and I have continued to do so. 

Pay for Your Summer Fun with Swagbucks

I've written about swagbucks before.  It might not seem like much at first but even a few minutes a day is enough to add up to some good rewards.  If you haven't yet checked it out do so here.

 With most of the country still under a blanket of snow, it’s comforting to think of warm summer days. Now is the best time to start saving for your summer plans, whether it’s traveling, buying something new to enjoy at home or even if it’s just grabbing an iced coffee concoction to cool you down.

One way to have extra spending money this summer is to use Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a rewards site where you get points called “Swag Bucks” for things like searching, watching videos and discovering deals. The you redeem those points for gift cards to places like Amazon, PayPal and Starbucks. I've earned a lot in Amazon gift cards which I've used for stuff for Eleanor.

 Here’s a plan for using Swagbucks to earn $25 in gift cards each month. It’s easy, and if you keep at it, you’ll have at least $75 by June to spend on summer fun without having to dip into your wallet or spend a ton of your precious time! Swagbucks discounts your first $25 gift card of the month to 2,200 SB. That’s like getting $25 for $3 less!

 Here are a few things you can do that will add up to 2,200 SB each month:

 1) Knock out the quick stuff - all of these activities can be found on the left-hand side of the homepage (1-2 mins a day): Answer the Daily Poll everyday - also available on the SB mobile app, so you can earn your daily SB wherever you are: 30 SB Do the NOSO everyday - Browse through No Obligation Special Offers for 2 SB everyday: 60 SB Get your daily SwagButton SB - our popular browser add-on gives you the ability to earn SB from anywhere on the web. It also alerts you to Swag Codes AND you get 1 SB each day just for having it installed and active: 30 SB (Bonus: if you don’t have it yet, you get a one-time bonus of 50 SB for downloading the SwagButton!) Do the Daily Crave - discover new content and websites to earn 1 SB everyday: 30 SB

2) Search online to earn SB everyday (no extra time needed!): Use the Swagbucks Search engine - People who use Swagbucks search to find what they want online can earn 10 SB per day! Plus, members who make Swagbucks the default search engine on their browser typically earn even more: 300 SB 3) Earn BIG SB payouts (5 min - 20+ min depending on survey opportunities available): Take the Daily Survey every weekday - SB amounts vary from survey to survey, but it’s very possible to earn about 35 SB per weekday: 700 SB SBTV app on Android (all countries) & iOS (US only) - earn a maximum of 36 SB per day on this app: 1,080 SB

Whether you’re catching the latest blockbuster, enjoying a weekend road trip, or stocking up for your next outdoor BBQ, Swagbucks can help. It doesn’t end there, though. Keep going and you can save for the holidays, back to school, or just a rainy day. If you’re already on Swagbucks, share your own tips for earning Swag Bucks and saving up for summer in the comments!

Dial Soap Review

I received this product for review.  All opinions are my own. 

I have a toddler and I watch a baby.  As a result I change a lot of diapers and wash my hands a lot.   So I need a soap that isn't going to dry out my hands and make them itch and crack. 

I love using dial soaps and I LOVE the scent of this.  It smells amazing!   As far as hand soaps go it's more of a luxury soap than what I'm used to.  I buy dollar store hand soap. 

It has skin conditioners to hydrate the skin and help with dryness as well as micro-scrubbers to help clean the hands.   This is a soap that is same for the whole family.  Everyone can use it; obviously it's not an issue with Rob and I but I worry about Eleanor.  With counter space at a premium I like the idea of a family soap, but as I said I like that's it toddler safe more. 

You can connect with Dial on facebook to learn more about their products. 

AND you can also enter to win a coupon so that you can try out Dial Soap by visiting the link below. 

Giveaway time

Diap Hand Soap Giveaway

Enter to win a coupon for you chance to try Dial Handsoap a Rafflecopter giveaway

DESSANGE California Blonde Collection #jadoreDessange

I don't often get my hair done.  I'm cheap and being a stay at home/work at home mom I don't feel it's necessary.

I did have a friend offer to do my hair as a way to do something nice for me.  I know Rob's been the one dealing with all the health stuff so I thought it was nice that she still recognized it was tough on me.

So she did my hair and I loved it and wanted to make that color last.  I already didn't wash my hair everyday (although I do shower so no worries about me being smelly...)

So when I got an email saying I was in for the DESSANGE voxbox from influenster the timing was perfect.

I was sent three things which I will list below and share my thoughts.

The first was the Illuminating Shampoo.  The prupose of this is to clean, enhance shine and soften the hair.   My hair felt so so soft.  If you know me you know I always have my hair in a ponytail.  After using this I had my hair down for a while and was constantly feeling it because it felt so nice.

The second thing I was sent was the Illuminating Conditioner.  The point of this is to provide moisturize and smooth hair.  I tend to deal with fly away strands and this helped to tame it.

Both the shampoo and conditioner had a fancy smell to them.  I'm not sure if that's an odd thing to say but they did.  This may be from the passion flower extract used.



Finally the last thing I had in my hands was the brass color correcting creme.  My hair hasn't really developed the brassy color so this wasn't necessary but I still used it to try it out.  I didn't really notice any difference (but again I didn't really have an issue before)  but I might use this bi-weekly to help prevent it (it's recommend as a weekly treatment).


I thought these products were fantastic and I was happy to have to chance to try them out and would recommend them to any of my fellow blondes.

 "I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."

Spring/Summer Bucket List

Now that Eleanor is older I'm really looking forward to getting out and doing fun things this summer with her.  Most of these are things we've already done, but a year older means she's going to have more fun! 

1) Whitecaps Baseball Game.  This was one of the very first dates Rob and I went on. We went to a few the summer of 2013 before Eleanor was born but last year was tough because the games were either to late at night or fell during naptime.  This year I think it would be okay to push back a nap.

2) John Ball Zoo.  I took her a few times last year thanks to coupons and my sister in laws membership, and while she thought the flamingos were fun and was intrigued by the monkey's.

3) Grand Rapids Children's Museum

4) Beach.  There are many so beaches around here because in under an hour we can be at Lake Michigan.  Last year we went to this county park (thanks to a free coupon) which has a man made lake and it was perfect.  It was calm and quiet (although we went on a slightly overcast Sunday so that may have played into it).  There was even a splash pad and a playground.



5) Visiting my parents cabin.  We went Memorial Day in 2013 and that was the last time I was there because by Labor day I was a month away from my due date and just wanted to be in my nice comfy bed.  Last year it flooded and was unusable all year.  Now that they are done  restoring it I look forward to it.  Not so much the mosquitoes and keeping her away from the river though.


6) Town & Country Days.  This is our local community festival.  I took her last summer to the parade and walked around a little bit with her, but it was hot and loud and although she seemed to enjoy the parade it will be better this year.


7) Library Summer Reading Club.  I always participated in this as a kid and thought it was fun.

17 month Update

Words

Some of these I probably mentioned last month. She knows: eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, hair, neck, belly, knees, hands, feet

These are some of her animal sounds: monkey, cat, dog, cow, horse, duck, chicken, rooster, sheep,  snake,


"Hi" "Bye" "Ball" "Bottle" "Baby" "What's that?" "Where did it go" "Mama" "Dada" "Dance" "Snow" "Coat" "Shoes" "Socks" "Cup" "Cheese"

Misc

She is moving out of 18 month pants and into 2t/24 (really don't know the difference). Tops are usually 18 month, and shoes are size 4.  Diapers are still size 4.

She's gotten in some more teeth, but I don't know how many.  She doesn't usually let me check but I'm thinking 11.

She's been very snuggly and cuddly lately.  She will come up and put her arms around my neck and I want to melt.

She loves her baby! That's her all time favorite toy.

Cheese is a favorite food.  Anytime I open the fridge she runs for it and says "cheese"



New Skills
She has learned to climb onto furniture and she can get down thankfully as well.

She's starting to figure out how to work an iphone.  I'm trying to cut back on using it around her because she knows to press the home button.

She can wave.  She could say bye before but now she will wave.

Sleep

Why is she such an early riser?  I wish she would sleep in.   Also she's back to having her middle of the night wake ups.  I really wish that I could night wean her but I'm so tired.  I have a week off coming up later this months.  Maybe then I can work on it.

Naps are usually 2 hours long