Soft Scrub Review + Giveaway

This blog is about mostly green products so I do need to start this post off by saying this is definitely not a green product line. Soft Scrub's Total All Purpose Cleaners do have chemicals in them. One of them also has bleach in it. When the opportunity presented itself for me to do this review + giveaway, I accepted it rather hesitantly since I have not used these types of products in my home in about five years. However, we moved to a new house in March and there are tons of cabinets in my kitchen and they are white, so I thought I would give the Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleaner with bleach a try. It absolutely got rid of the stains with just one wipe. I will definitely continue to use this product on the tough stains. I will probably have my husband do it from now on though because now I have a huge headache. That doesn't happen to everyone, but using bleach always gives me a headache. Anyway, I was definitely impressed at how quickly the Soft Scrub with Bleach got rid of the stains on my counter- it will definitely come in handy for cleaning the counters this weekend before my twin boys' 3rd birthday party.

You can also use Soft Scrub to clean your bathrooms, specifically the toilets. These are heavy duty cleaners, so a little goes a long way!

I have coupons to giveaway to one person for 3 Soft Scrub Products! Enter via the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win! Click here to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Soft Scrub is also holding a sweepstakes with $3,000 in prizes! 1 lucky winner will receive $1000 and 50 other winners will each receive $40! Enter to win here!

The Amish Family Cookbook by Jerry & Tina Eicher Book Review

I love to read, as evidenced by the fact that an overwhelming amount of my reviews here are book reviews. Something you may not know though is that I also love to make homemade meals for my family and I love to cook, so I love to come across a good cookbook!

I was excited to discover The Amish Family Cookbook! It was even more of a thrill when I saw that there were countless amounts of recipes in this book. And it wasn't like cookbooks where there is maybe one recipe in each category that I might cook, this book is full of wonderful recipe ideas, many of them pretty simple! Something else I really loved about this book is there are little bits of Amish humor and Amish proverbs sprinkled throughout.

The first recipe I tried out of this book were the hamburgers. I have recently become a vegetarian so I didn't eat them, but they did smell good. The other four people in my house are meat lovers and huge hamburger fans. I asked my husband on a scale of 1 to 10 where he would rate the hamburger recipe- his answer- "they were REALLY good, AT LEAST an 8!" He asked that they be added to our permanent rotation of recipes.

There are several recipes that I plan to make for the fall. There are just way too many great baking recipes in the book. Some favorites include- angel food cake, pumpkin cookies, Christmas buckeyes, Russian tea cakes and apple crisp! I know I will definitely be making the snack eggs, the easy chicken pot pie and the cheesy chicken and rice casserole.

I feel like many of the recipes in this book would work well for family dinners or for get togethers! I would highly recommend this book, especially to someone who likes good home cooking, but wants some simple recipes (with a couple of time consuming ones thrown in there for those days you really want to accomplish something!) I know that I plan to buy a few copies of this book to give away as Christmas gifts this year! THAT is how much I truly enjoyed it myself!

If I were to rate this book on a scale of 1-5 stars it would absolutely be 5 stars. It is a fantastic book filled to the brim with great recipes!

Here is a recipe for you to enjoy, just in time for Fall!

Hannah Byler's Pecan Pie-
Beat on low speed slightly or with hand beater:
3 eggs, 1/3 c. butter, 1 c. melted light corn syrup, 1/2 tsp. salt & 2/3 c. sugar.
Stir in 1 cup pecan halves.
Pour into one pie crust.
Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes.


The Amish Family Cookbook by Jerry & Tina Eicher will be available for purchase on October 1st!
In the meantime, check out some of Jerry's Amish Fiction!

*Disclaimer- I received a complimentary copy of The Amish Cookbook via Netgalley. I was not required to render a positive review. All opinions are 100% my own!

Batman Costume Review

When you have little boys at your house (and let's face it, adult men as well) a slight obsession with super heroes is inevitable. This year with the release of the last movie in The Dark Knight series, there will probably be lots of little Batmen on Halloween. Our family will be no exception. We are huge super hero fans and our little boys are still young enough that we can pick what they want to be, so our youngest is going to be a super cool little Batman!

What I like about Halloween costumes is that we can keep them for a year or two and add them to our dress up trunk. For that reason I usually get my kids' costumes a size up. I got the Batman costume in a child's small. I have three kids-3 year old twins boys and a 5 year old daughter and they pretty much share everything. When the Batman costume arrived from Wholesale Costume Club, my daugther HAD to try it on. It fit her really well, even though it is a size smaller than what she would normally wear. It has a bit of stretch to it! It's a really cute costume that does not look like it was cheaply made (we have all had a costume like that at some point, I think!) I look forward to seeing all three of my kids take turns wearing the Batman costume and I will definitely post pictures after Halloween of my little pumpkin in it!

Wholesale Costume Club is an affordable choice for all of your needs this Halloween. I have seen Halloween Costumes that cost $40-$50 dollars with no affordable option. I have noticed with Wholesale Costume Club that there is an affordable option (sometimes less than $20!) from many of the costumes available and they have a wide range of costumes to choose from. Even just for Batman costumes, they have costumes available from everyone from your infant to your husband and everyone in between and several options available in each category!

On a bit of a different note- If you read this blog often, you know I am a huge advocate for healthy eating. What do kids think Batman would eat? And would that have any sway in what they would choose to eat? Check out this article to find out the answer!

Halloween is right around the corner! Have you started planning yet? What will your kids be this year?

*Disclaimer- 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.

Help kids that are not getting enough to eat through No Kid Hungry

A new public survey reveals that nearly 1 in 5 children are facing the threat of hunger this year.

When a child is hungry, he/she can't concentrate in school. This is such a huge problem on many different levels. Not only are some kids not getting enough nourishment, they are unable to learn what they need in school as a result.

The good news is you can help! You can donate money to help this crisis here! Every little bit helps! You can also help by sharing this page about the study I mentioned above on your social media outlets in order to help spread awareness. These kids need us. Let's see to it that there is #NoKidHungry!

Gift Hulk Giveaway- $250 in Amazon.com gift cards!

At GiftHulk users can earn gift cards, electronics and other rewards the EZ Way, by doing things they already do online – searching, answering surveys and more!

GiftHulk offers users more than 15 different ways to earn Hulk Coins! These include Search&Win, Offer Walls, Daily Surveys, Friends Connect, Treasure Box (patent pending technology) and much more!

Currently GiftHulk is open to users from USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.

Why GiftHulk?

“Time Is Money.” However, when it comes to surfing on the Internet we totally forget about it and spend our time refreshing Facebook and Twitter to see if there is a fresh update. We all do it.

GiftHulk established a way to make it possible to gain from surfing the web and your online daily activities! The main goal is to allow people the things that they really want and need – for absolutely FREE!

That is the main reason they offer such a huge selection of gifts, from department and fashion stores to online shopping cards to premium game account cards and even cool gadgets! The idea is that every person will be able to enjoy GiftHulk!

I love websites like GiftHulk that give you something back for doing what you would already be doing anyway. I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to give it a try!

Everyone I know loves Amazon.com, myself included. Who couldn't use Amazon gift cards? the possibilities of what to buy are just about endless! Enter below via the rafflecopter form!

One lucky winner will receive a $150 Amazon Gift Card & 2 additional winners $50 Amazon Gift Cards.

Giveaway ends September 3rd at 11:59pm, open to US and Canadian residents, ages 18+. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

Hosted by Mom to Bed by 8, Powered By Mom, Real Mom Reviews and Mom Always Finds Out.

The American Bible Challenge + Giveaway!

There is a new game show premiering this week on The Game Show Network called The American Bible Challenge. I'm kind of excited at the prospect of this show. Not only will it be good to see a Bible related show on a mainstream network, it will be fun trying to answer the questions from home and learn more about the Bible in the process. Watch the video below for a glimpse behind the making of The American Bible Challenge and more background information on it's host, comedian Jeff Foxworthy. I think many people will be surprised to find out some of the stuff Foxworthy shares about his personal life (he's been attending a Bible study weekly with the same men for 15 years!) It looks like a great show and I love that the people are competing for money to help OTHER people. If anything, maybe this show will ignite a spark to help others.

It is sure to be fun and include humor as well with a comedian as the host. If you enjoyed Jeff Foxworthy on Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?, you will probably enjoy The American Bible Challenge!

About The American Bible Challenge
Comedian and author, Jeff Foxworthy hosts this studio-based game in which contestants compete based on their knowledge of the Bible. Utilizing current as well as historical references, questions will be drawn from the rich, dense narrative found in the world's best-selling book. The contestants will share their compelling back-stories and each team will be playing for a charitable organization. The American Bible Challenge is produced by RelativityREAL for GSN, with RelativityREAL’s Tom Forman (“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) and Embassy Row’s Michael Davies ("The Newlywed Game," "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire") serving as Executive Producers on the project. Nick Stuart and Maura Dunbar of Odyssey Networks are Consulting Producers.

About Host: Jeff Foxworthy
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy is the largest selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy® Award nominee and the best-selling author of 11 books. Widely known for his redneck jokes, his act goes beyond that to explore the humor in everyday family interactions and human nature.

Below the behind the scenes video, there is a rafflelcopter form to enter the giveaway. One lucky reader will receive a American Bible Challenge t-shirt as well as a Zondervan NIV Quest Bible! 

The American Bible Challenge Premieres on Thursday, August 23 at 8/7c on Game Show Network.
Connect with The American Bible Challenge on Facebook
The American Bible Challenge's Website
a Rafflecopter giveaway


*Disclaimer- I was given the opportunity to do this giveaway through Flyby Promotions. No monetary exchange took place and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

Essie's Penny Talk (Mirror Metallics) & Stroke of Brilliance (Luxe Effects) Review

For the last few years, I have been really into nail polish. I think even more so after my twin boys were born in 2009 because it's something small I can do for myself at home, even when I don't have a lot of time. I love trying new colors and new brands (provided that they use a 3 free formula- have to keep things toxin free for my boys and their older sister AND my husband and me as well!)

Essie has teamed up with Klout several times this year to hand out some of their polishes to Klout users who are influential in beauty. I wanted to share some of those polishes with you- because I am pretty impressed!

I have seen Essie in the stores and I love the bottle they come in. It is just easy to pick an Essie bottle out from across the store. I have been a pretty devoted Zoya fan and haven't really stepped outside of that box until this year, so I was very happy to be able to try Essie without having to buy it.

A while back Klout & Essie sent me Stroke of Brilliance- a fun blue glitter polish from their Luxe Effects collection. Today I received Penny Talk- a copper color with a tiny hint of pink from their new metallics collection. I am usually not a fan of copper nail color because I am pretty much ghost white and it washes me out and looks odd on my nails. Not so with Penny Talk, it is a lovely light copper that shines and looks awesome on my nails. Something I really love about Essie is it's pretty much the fastest drying polish ever. I am always impressed out how fast it dries! That makes it easier for me to not mess up what I've painted and easier to paint my daughter's nails!

Penny Talk from Essie's Mirror Metallics collection.

I will definitely use Penny Talk as a go to for every day polish. It's just gorgeous!

I thought it would be fun to layer Stroke of Brilliance over Penny Talk so you could see both of my Klout perks from Essie in action together!

It looks much better in person! I like the combo of colors!

I will say Essie definitely has me as a fan! I can not wait to try more of their gorgeous colors from their great collections. Thank you to Klout & Essie for allowing me to try both of these great polishes and share them with you! If you are not on Klout yet, what are you waiting for? I have got to participate in so many cool perks from some many different categories! Check it out and start getting your own free perks!

Connect with Essie on Facebook

*Disclaimer- I received both of these Essie Polishes through Klout perks. I was not required to post a review.