Silk for Milk 10-Day Challenge and Giveaway

I have a family that loves them some ice cold milk.  Add some chocolate and they are ecstatic!  So when I was asked to participate in the Silk for Milk 10-Day Challenge I jumped at the chance to try to bring some healthier options to the table for me and the men folk.  So for the last 10 days I have been substituting Silk Milks for regular milk in various meals and recipes at my house.  Here's how it all went down...

I started the challenge on April 11th.  The first milk I got was Silk Soymilk in the Vanilla flavor.  I decided that when the kids or hubby asked for ice cream, I would make smoothies instead.  The Vanilla Silk Soymilk was perfect for the mixture.  It added some great flavor to the berries and orange juice and gave the smoothies a creamy texture.  They were such a big hit that we had them almost every afternoon!

Using some of the suggestions from the Silk website, I also used the Vanilla flavored Silk in place of regular milk to make chocolate pudding and I added it to the custard mixture when I made french toast!  I like the fact that Silk has no cholesterol and no saturated fats, which makes me feel like the french toast and pudding were just a little more healthy than they would have been otherwise! 

This is actually the 12th day of my challenge.  I finished it today by having what was left of my 2nd carton of Silk Soymilk on my oatmeal.  It was just the regular flavor and it was just as tasty as regular milk.  Throughout the week we used the plain Silk Soymilk to make fluffier scrambled eggs, in our cereal and in mashed potatoes.  Me and the boys agree that we couldn't drink a glass of the Silk plain like we do with real milk, but it was really easy to substitute it into various recipes and snacks!

To help one of my readers take the Silk to Milk 10-day Challenge, I'm giving away a Free Silk coupon along with a cute little Chico bag (courtesy of Silk)!  To win, leave me a comment telling us how you would substitue Silk for regular milk in your daily routine.  Contest ends on May 7th at 12 midnight, MST.  US Residents Only.  

*Disclosure* - I was not compensated monetarily for this post.  SILK provided me with a product sample in order to facilitate this review.  My product reviews are always honest and my opinions are my own. 

Blackie Chan Strikes Again...Clean and Green Review/Giveaway

Okay, I have to say it out loud.  I haven't been a responsible pet owner.  I have had Blackie Chan for 3 years now and have still not had him neutered.  I know.  I KNOW!!!  It is irresponsible.  In my defense though, there are no spay/neuter clinics close to my house, they are all like an hour away and I have to have the cat there at 6 a.m.!   I used to use that as an excuse a lot...until my awesome neighbor who has the energy of five Energizer bunnies told me she made the trip for her cat a few months ago.  She's got kids and a job and all of the issues I have, but she was responsible and did the right thing.  And now I need to finally get my cat crap together and do the right thing too.  For my cat and for my neighbors.  Also because "Kitty Karma" paid me back in spades a few weeks ago for not taking care of Blackie Chan's maleness.

Here's how Blackie Chan's Ninja attack went down.  We're all sitting in the family room one day, watching TV.  Blackie is getting a major rubdown by Big Brother and loving life.  You could here him purring all the way upstairs.  Then all of the sudden he jumps up and starts running toward the front door, yowling his head off to go outside.  Well, apparently no one got there fast enough for him because while he was waiting he decided to spray my really nice, big brown, velvet comfy chair.  You know the smell, right?  It's freaking noxious and I swear I have never made it across a room as fast as I did that day to open the door and chase that cat outside.  I think I said some not very lady-like words while I was running him out the door.  

AAUUGGHHH!!!  Cat spray is one of the nastiest smells in the world, and now it was in my house!!!!   The kids were freaking out, Big Man was ready to nueter the cat himself and I was trying not to gag when I remembered a can of stuff I received in the mail a few weeks prior to the spraying, so I ran into the kitchen to grab it.

It's called Clean and Green and it is the most fabulous stuff on earth for removing pet odors!  I am so not making this up, people.  This really did happen and I really did get a sample of this stuff to try and I am telling you all about it because it is one of those wonderful products that actually does what it says it will do!  It literally saved my cat and my furniture.  I sprayed it on the area as directed and almost imediately noticed that at least the smell in the air started to dissapate.  As far as the chair goes, it took three applications to totally remove the smell, but I swear to you there is not one bit of lingering odor left on that chair.  It really is amazing stuff.  It's made by SeaYu® Enterprises.  Here's their bio:

At SeaYu®, we love animals – and we care about the world we live in. That’s why we’ve carefully developed safe, effective, pet cleaning products. Clean+Green® are eco-friendly aerosol pet cleaning products, delivering instant results in a non-toxic, eco-friendly solution. Based in San Francisco, SeaYu was founded 2002 by two fun-loving dog owners – one a former high-tech executive who is passionate about pets and cleaning her house, and the other a former apparel marketing executive who loves animals as much as he loves the planet. For more information, visit us at  www.odorandstainremover.com.

So what's the moral here?  People who don't get their cats neutered will eventually be victims of their own negligence.  So I have made an appointment at one of the clinics to get my cat neutered.  And I will drag my lazy butt out of bed at 5 a.m. to get him there so that no one has to endure his smelly spray again, although I am told that getting him neutered may not stop him from spraying, which means I'd better stock up on Clean and Green.

In the meantime, you can win a can of Clean and Green!  It's good for neutralizing all kinds of pet odors, so it works for dog owners too!  All you have to do is "LIKE" Clean and Green on Facebook, then come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did so. Easy peasy, right?  Contest will end on April 24th at 12 pm. Midnight.  US addresses only.  

I Want Another BABY!

I love this video.  It reminds me of when my boys were little and how much I loved to watch them when they play together. 

OMG!  Have I been bitten by the baby bug?!?  I think I have!  I am so missing my little boys!  I just caught myself wishing I could have another one!!  Aauuggghhhhh!! 

Curse these blasted hormones and their mixed messages!  First they tell my reproductive system to go into shutdown mode because I'm too old to deal with childbirth again, THEN they go all crazy and make me want more babies!!  I don't have the energy for this.  Guess I'll go dig through my boys' baby pictures and reminisce to fill the void. 

SoftScrub Total All Purpose Giveaway

OOPS!!  So sorry!  I have been so crazy busy that I forgot to do the drawing for our giveaway!  Two lucky readers will be receiving 2 coupons each for some serious cleaning product courtesy of Soft Scrub!  So, without further delay...The winners are:

Wait for it...

TAH-DAH!!!

Congrats to Johnson Team Mom and Melanie!!  Your coupons are on the way!!  And just cuz I love my other commenting blog friends so very much and made everyone wait so long to find out who won, I'm sending something to Miss Hope and Sports Mama too.  Yay!!  Freebies for all my friends!

Soft Scrub Total Review and Giveaway

Hey Bloggy Friends...guess what!?  Soft Scrub sent me a new cleaner to try out...Soft Scrub Total All-Purpose with Bleach. 

And it couldn't have come at a better time, as I am in the midst of a major purge at home and working like a madwoman in between my new job and family stuff to get organized and have a really clean home.  (Is that laughing I hear in the background?  Do NOT mock my attempts to turn over a new leaf this year, friends.  I am in the midst of a major life change and this year is going to prove that.  It might take me all 12 months to make it happen, but I promise you will see major changes from Boymom on or before December 31, 2011.)

So what does this new found desire for change have to do with Soft Scrub Total?   Well...first off, it's makes cleaning a lot easier for someone like me who doesn't like to clean.  One cleaner for the entire bathroom (or kitchen, or garage, or whatever you need to clean).  I can do the toilet, the shower, the counters, the sink and even clean the mirrors with one cleaner.  I love that I can switch from spray to foam and can even spray the bottle upside down to get under the toilet rim.

I've found it to be a really good cleaner that gets baked-on, caked-on soap scum and other icky stuff quickly so I can get back to blogging!  Whoo-hoo!

I tried the Soft Scrub Total Bathroom cleaner awhile back and really liked it, but I like the fact that this  Soft Scrub Total All Purpose cleaner has bleach in it, especially when it comes to killing germs and such in the grubbier areas of the house, like the bathrooms.  I also used it to wipe down the heavily touched areas of the house, like light switches, the doorbell, the button to open the garage door, the door handles, etc.  You know...the places that are covered with kid prints where all the killer germs congregate to await a victim with a weak immune system.

I am very happy with how well the Total All Purpose cleaner worked, but I have to say...the fumes were a bit strong in the one bathroom without a window.  Even with the little exhaust fan going, I was momentarily overpowered by the strong bleach odor and had to let it dissapate a bit before I could return to the cleaning.  My husband says I have an overdeveloped sense of smell though and the smell of bleach didn't bother him at all, so...maybe it's just me.  I didn't have the same problems in the other 2 bathrooms, as long as I had a window opened in both for ventilation. 

Wanna try it for yourself?  I have 2 sets of 2 coupons each good for FREE Soft Scrub Total, so you can stock up and try a few different kinds. Just leave a comment about your least favorite cleaning chore!  Contest ends on Saturday March 5th at 12 midnight PST.  US Residents only.

For extra enties, you can:

• Follow my blog
• Tweet the contest
• Post the giveaway on Facebook

*Disclosure:  I was not compensated monetarily for this post.  I am a Soft Scrub Club Captain, which means I receive free product from Soft Scrub in return for my reviews.* 

  

My Work Computer

is AWESOME! The internet connection is wicked fast and I even have time to blog on occasion, which my boss doesn't mind! Woot! The best thing about the work computer? Is this:

Do you see that massive 27 inch flat screen monitor? I am soooo digging on it. I can see it from across the room. My boss is jealous. He has a new Macbook, which is also way cool, but it only has a tiny little 12 inch screen. Sure he has a fun little photo program that lets him make a pic of himself standing in Machu Piccu somewhere, even though he's really in the office. But I have a massive screen with a slideshow screensaver that makes me feel like I could really be there. My whole lifesize head could actually fit on my screen. Hey...I'm just sayin'. So while he is all hunched over and squinting, trying to read his email? I can dance across the office while reading mine and never miss a word.

Oh. And BONUS!? I can fit all of my Post-it reminders around the screen! All 18 of them.  Or 22...depends on the day.  Most cool. So...just want to thank my uber-cool boss and Joe the computer guy for hooking me up. Office life ain't so bad when you got a big screen to keep you busy.

Bad Hair Day

There's a reason I have boys. God knew that while I like beautiful things and can be quite feminine when I want to be, I'm not a girly girl. So he sent me little dudes who are interested in building stuff and digging holes.  Which is good.  Because I am not always interested in dressing up and looking fantastically model-esque everyday, so I'm not sure I would be the best role model for a little girly who loves to shop and wear frilly things and put on makeup.  Ya know? 

And while I do enjoy a little pampering once in awhile? Sitting around while my kids style my hair is not my thing. It's not my boys' thing either. They barely wanna comb their own hair, let alone someone else's! 

Apparently though, it is something lots of little girls like to do. And I found out the hard way that little girls don't always understand the intricacies of using a comb...(shout out to my neighbor's daughter, Ava and her mad stylist skills)

I have no idea how she got my hair so wrapped up in that evil device, I just know it took me about 20 minutes to get it loose from my scalp.

Note to self: Ava needs a doll to play with when she comes to the house. One with long, pretty hair.