Fashion Forward

So I have not been very fashionable lately, with being a stay at home mom and all, and I have really been feeling frumpy.  When I got the opportunity from SheSpeaks to join StyleUnited and be one of the first to check it out, I jumped on it.

StyleUnited is a place for busy women to go and get personal recommendations on beauty and fashion.  They help with makeup, skincare, and fashion.  StyleUnited helps women connect with their full style potential using these tools:

Style 360 - a fully personalized diagnostic quiz that has been designed to understand your individual needs in skin care, hair care, cosmetics and fashion.

Customized Beauty and Fashion Content - hundreds of curated articles, blogs and how-to videos from industry experts created to answer your every question while keeping you up on the latest trend news.

StyleUnited is brought to you by brands such as Olay, Frederic Fekkai, DDF Skincare and Cover Girl.

If you would like to join StyleUnited and see your beauty potential, visit them here.



I was compensated with free product for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Summer is finally here!

Now that the unofficial start of summer has come, it is time to break out the shorts!  I haven't acutally worn shorts for the last couple years because I hate how short shorts are.  When I had the opportunity from Crowdtap and Old Navy to go shopping with a friend for a pair of shorts, I expected many shorts that were way to short for me.  To my surprise, Old Navy offered many different styles of all different lengths.  I ended up with a pair of 9" bermuda shorts.  They come to my knee so I can stay cool and modest!

These are the shorts I ended up with.  I love them!

Not only are these shorts the perfect length for me, they are well made and seem like they will last for years!  It was very hard to choose which shorts I wanted because Old Navy has a very great selection this year.  There are all different colors and styles available.

I was compensated with a free pair of shorts for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Recalls Plus App

As a mother of four, I am always wondering if my childrens toys are safe.  I usually do my homework before making a purchase but sometimes find a great deal at a garage sale or consignment shop.  When making second hand purchases, one can never be too sure about the safety of the items.  I used to check certain products on the Consumer Product Safety Commision website, but that took some time to weed through the products I was looking for.  With the new Recalls Plus app, I search for my specific item,and even add it to a personal watch list.  Then I get notified if my product does become recalled.  You can download RecallsPlus on your iPhone, Android phone, and even on Facebook here!  Thanks to SheSpeaks for introducing me to this app.  Now I can spend more time with my family and less time in front of the computer researching products!  RecallsPlus keeps track of childrens products and food allergen recalls.  Find them on Twitter @recallsplus and @shespeaksup.

I have only been using the RecallsPlus app for a short time and already have found products of mine that have been recalled.  I am so excited to have this app on my phone.  My favorite part of this app is the personal watch list.  It will save me lots of time, which is precious these days!

Although I partenered with SheSpeaks for this blog post, all opinions are my own!

Recycling Rubbermaid Style Review and Giveaway

A few years back, my husband and I decided to start recycling plastic.  We always did recycle aluminum cans, after all, you can make some decent money recycling them!  I don't know why we never thought to recycle plastic before.  I guess we figured we didn't throw out that much plastic.  After just a few weeks, we had quite the mound of recyclables piled up in our basement.  We were shocked at the amount of items we kept out of the landfill that year.  Since then, we have had 4 children, and the mounds of plastic, paper, ect that we recycle is huge!  We live out in the country where we are responsible to bring our own recyclables into the recylce center.  This gets to be such a pain because we end up with loads of stuff in our basement.  My family works as a team to make the job easier on everyone.

With Rubbermaids new Hidden Recylcer, our job has become even easier.  Instead of having a paper bag filling with "junk" under the sink, we now have a stylish, heavy duty bag to collect our recyclables in.  No more paper bag denigrating on its way down to the basement.  The Hidden Recycler is a 5 gallon bag which holds up to 36, 12 ounce cans.  Milk jugs fit nicely as well.  My favorite thing about the Hidden Recycler is the leak-proof liner.  No more drips down the basement stairs either.  The bag is machine washable too.  And in the spirit of recycling, the Hidden Recycler itself is made from recyclable material!

If you would like your own Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler, they can be found at Rubbermaid.com or at select Meijer stores.  The suggested retail price of the Hidden Recycler is $15.99.  Or, you can enter right here to win one of your own!

Rubbermaid provided me with a hidden recycler at no charge.  All comments are my own.

The Passover Meal

Tonight marks the first night of Passover.  We had a very nice, intimate meal at a fellow believers house with one other couple.  We actually made it through most of the service with all of the kids.  Of course, we had to give them "jobs" so they felt like they were a big part of it this year.  When it came time for washing of hands, the oldest got to hold the bowl for the water to fall into.  Our 6 year old poured the water over every one's hands.  And our 4 year old got to carry the towel for drying hands.  Of course, Elliana, who is almost 2, was content sitting at the table eating Playdoh!  When we were reading about the plagues that happened in Egypt, the kids threw toy locusts, flies, ping pong balls for hail in the direction of the adults.  They also turned water red to represent the water turning to blood in Egypt.  All in all it was a very nice Passover meal.  Now comes the hard part!  Not eating leavening for 8 days!  This will be very difficult for the kids because most of the snacks they eat lately contain some sort of yeast.  I guess it is a good time to re-incorporate fruits and veggies for snacks.
I am, as I always do, having a hard time letting go of the traditions I had as a child and not passing them on to our children.
I grew up Lutheran, celebrating Easter.  I remember the excitement of Easter as a child, waking up in the morning, finding baskets filled to the brim with chocolate, candy, and sometimes even a toy!  I loved the building excitement as each of us would find our baskets and help the other kids find theirs.  After we gorged ourselves with as much candy we could sneak before mom cut us off, we were off to church.  Often, it was hard to sit still because of the sugar pulsating through our veins!  After church and a quick afternoon nap, we headed to my aunts house for a huge Easter egg hunt.  The winner always won a giant chocolate bunny.  Mmmmm, more chocolate.  However, as time goes on, it seems as though there is way to much emphasis put on Easter baskets and Easter eggs, and no emphasis put on what Jesus did for us.  This is very frustrating for me, a good reminder of why we stopped celebrating the holiday.  For us, we want to live like Jesus did, and he celebrated Passover, even becoming our Passover Lamb.
As it comes to this time of the year, I want to create traditions for my children to pass on to their children.  I want them to remember excitement about Passover, not just remembering sitting through a very long service and dinner.  Do any of you have any suggestions for me? 

The proof is in the Socks!!

As a member of shespeaks I get the opportunity to try all different products.  The latest product I was able to try is Tide Coldwater.  This was great for me because I always wash my clothes with cold water. Doing this helps me to save money on my energy bill!  My clothes also have a tendency to shrink if I wash them in warm water.  Being a mother of four and a wife to a construction worker, I am always on the lookout for detergents that will truly get my clothes clean. 
So your probably wondering how the proof is in the socks!  I bought all of my boys the same tube of socks for the holidays.  This was a major problem while sorting socks because I had no idea whose socks were whose.  So I labeled them with a permanent Sharpie marker.  I put their initials on the top of the sock.  After 2 washes in Tide Coldwater, the initials were gone.  This proves to me that the Tide Coldwater is doing what it is supposed to!  Trying to figure out whose socks are whose however, is much more difficult now!

I this product and a gift card at no cost from P&G and Shespeaks. All opinions of the product are my own!

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Mamma Mia, Crowdtap rocks!!

Yet again, Crowdtap has proven how amazing they are!  I was chosen to host a ABBA's Just Dance party.  We had a wonderful time dancing the night away and having some crazy 70's fun!  Not all of the ladies wanted their pictures posted in their crazy 70's garb so I will only share pictures of the amazing prize!

Crowdtap and Ubisoft sent me an amazing party pack consisting of an ABBA Gold CD, a Just Dance ABBA game for the Wii, and an ABBA Just Dance tee.  Since I am such a nice person (lol) I bought an extra game and a tiara and gave the party pack with the tiara to the winner.  We chose a winner based on dance moves and 70's costume.

We all had a great time and I am planning on hosting another 70's Just Dance party for New Years Eve!  The ABBA CD and the Just Dance ABBA game are really fun and I cant wait to play it again!

I recieved products at no cost.  All opinions expressed are my own!