Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Walgreens Brand Vitamins

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This is a compensated post written by me on behalf of Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

Advertisement120x30_WalgrensTransparentLogoRecently, I was lucky enough to be sent a sample of Walgreens  Brand One Daily for Women Vitamins. I've never really done a daily vitamin regimen and was a bit concerned as to things like flavor and size of the tablets. Luckily for me, I didn't have any problems with what I was taking. The pills are a little large but not so huge I couldn't swallow them down easily. They also have some sort of coating on them which makes the flavor actually a little bit pleasant.  It actually made it quite easy to continue on taking them. In fact, I may add in a daily vitamin as a more permanent aid to my health. 

Now, if there were only a Walgreens anywhere near me. Downside of living in the sticks, I suppose. For those of you who have a Walgreens near you, I would highly suggest that you check out their line of Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products. From my understanding, they contain the same ingredients as your "name brand" products. They're also all Walgreens pharmacist recommended and have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Plus, let's face it, with the price of everything seeming to go up, anytime you can find a product that's less expensive, it's worth buying. Save those pennies for your gas tank, folks! Also, while you're over there, make sure you check out information on the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™.

Have any of you tried the Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products? I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. If I continue to life them the way I have so far, I might make a special trip into Walgreens the next time I'm over visiting family to stock up. 

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Tackle It Tuesday - Week 8 Challenge

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It's Tuesday and it's already shaping up to be one of those days. It turns out that Peter is home and so I don't have to go into town today. I feel a bit at a loss. I've gotten pretty used to not spending my day at home. That's ok though. I'm going to take the chance to put together a new bookshelf that I purchased and continue with my goal of organization and simplification for this year. Nothing like an organizational project to put a smile on this girls' face. :) See? There it is...right there...a smile...hehe

So, how did all of you do on last week's project? It was a fairly simple one. You just had to find that junk/miscellaneous stuff drawer that we all tend to have and get it cleaned and sorted. I did mine this morning and ended up tossing out a bunch of stuff and tossing a bunch of other stuff into a freecycle bag. Now I can actually open and close the drawer without anything getting stuck!


Look at all that free space! The only thing missing from it is the other turkey hook (I have no idea where that wandered off to.) and my mandolin (which last time I tried using, I couldn't get it to work. It's probably user error though.). Those will both fit easily in there with plenty of room to spare. I love it!

This week's challenge is going to be just as easy. We're going to go back through the 7 weeks and make sure those areas are still looking nice and spiffy. If you've kept up on them, this challenge shouldn't take you more than 15-20 minutes throughout the course of the week.  Just in case you've forgotten or if you're brand new here, here are the areas we've tackled so far:

Week 1: Kitchen table or other dumping ground
Week 2: Bedside Table
Week 3: Top of the Entertainment Center
Week 4: Laundry Area (not the entire room, just your washer/dryer & any shelves above)
Week 5: Fridge Door (Interior)
Week 6: Fridge Shelves
Week 7: Junk Drawer

Don't forget, I'll be doing these right along with you. I know a couple of mine are going to need a wipe down and pick me up. That's ok. That's part of regular maintenance. Our goal is to declutter and reclaim space, not perfection. Now, let's get to it!

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New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean Life, Clean Home Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

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Ahh...Wednesday..the middle of the work week for most and the middle of my picking kids up from school week. I love being able to do that now but wow, it has goofed up my schedule and I am still working at putting it back together. It probably doesn't help that I've now become a bit of a workout junkie (trust me, on a small scale) and have gone from working out once or twice a week to up to five times. In fact, once I hit publish on this post, that's right where I'm headed. Insane, isn't it?

Now, one of the bonuses of driving into town every day is that for the past few weeks, every time I've passed this one section of road, there have been anywhere from 6 to 20 deer eating in this field. Sadly, now that the snow has melted, I haven't really seen them. One day, I couldn't resist and I stood by the side of the road taking pictures. They're not the best because you can only get so close to deer before they bolt.  However, I did take this picture and I think it works great for the nature theme over at Sunday Shutterbugs.


Have a great Wednesday all! I'm off to see what EA Sports Active 2 has in store for me today.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Tackle It Tuesday - Week 7 Challenge

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It's Tuesday and I'm back! Did y'all miss me? It's been a rough few weeks but I'm back. I'm 100% well but I'm one heck of a lot better. This is going to be a quick post because I need to get out the door to get my kiddos. So, here we go...

Does anyone remember that we were working on cleaning out the fridge? Well, here's mine (after I filled it up with deliciousness last night):


It's not perfect but it sure is one heck of a lot better! How did you guys do on that? If you got it done, make sure you leave me a link to check out so I can give you some comment love! Plus, cleaning is more fun when you do it with friends.

Now, for this week, I'm keeping it simple. I want you to do one drawer. For me, it's going to be this kitchen drawer here:


It's not really a junk drawer. It's all kitchen items. I just don't remember what the heck is in there anymore. That means it's time for a clean out and most likely a serious purge. If I don't remember having it in there, chances are I haven't used it in the 2 years or so since I put it in there!

That's it for me for today. It's another crazy busy day and I need to scoot! Let me know how y'all do! You know I care!

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New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean Life, Clean Home Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!

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Friday, March 11, 2011

Pier 1 Outdoor

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This post brought to you by Pier 1. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hey all, have you been to Pier 1 lately? It's been ages since I've stopped by one but I heard that they now have a new line of outdoor furniture and I admit to being curious. Now that we've gotten word that we don't have to move, I really want to get some furniture to put out on our back deck. Maybe something like the Rock Point Outdoor Chairs. They're fun and colorful and heck would even look great inside during the winter.  I can totally see myself replacing my dining room chairs with those. They're so vibrant! 

Plus, they have a whole line of Papasan chairs. How do y'all feel about these? Do you like the style and look of them? I think they're pretty cool looking, myself. I might have to look into getting one for the back deck. Then, I could sit back, relax and watch the boys running around the yard.  Of course, I'd have to get a little side table for next to it. Doesn't that sound like the setup for a perfect summer?

Now, before I let you go, I need to make sure that you know about the Pier 1 Outdoor newsletter. If you sign up today (well, really the next few days anyway), you'll receive a special in-store offer for the weekend of March 18-20.  Plus, don't miss out on the upcoming Pier 1 Tweetups. You can check out that link for more information about the dates and times those will be happening.

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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Missing in Action Girl

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It's Thursday. I know it's Thursday. Ok, now I do. All week I have been completely thrown off. I had the boys here on Sunday/Monday and you all know how that goes. Nothing seems to be right when your week is thrown off like that.

However, since that is the most boring excuse in the world, I thought I'd come up with one better. Ready?

It was Sunday and like any other Sunday, we were lazing about the house. Suddenly the room was lit up like the 4th of July. I mean, there were lights everywhere! Before any of us could move, the front door slowly creaked open and in entered the biggest, cutest bunny rabbit you've ever seen! He apologized for the lights. It turns out they came from his giant bunny mobile that he'd parked in the driveway.  He gave us all tons of candy carrots and other super healthy for us veggies and then went on his way. Then, as a family, we spent the entire week enjoying the bounty of his generosity.

And that folks, is what really happened.
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For those of you who totally missed me this week, I'm so sorry. I swear I'll be back on track and back on the blog next week.

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Sunday, March 6, 2011

Book Review: The Shape of Mercy

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Hi all! It's time for another book review and this time, it's The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner. This book is about a rich girl, desperate to break out of the rich girl mold. She lives in the dorms at a state university and ends up taking a job transcribing the diary of a girl during the Salem Witch Trials.  Through out the book, she comes to recognize a bit more of just who she is as a person and you learn the fate of the girl who wrote the diary.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't one of those that I would dub a page turner but at times it came really darn close. You end up wanting to know what happens to Mercy (the girl who wrote the diary) and how it is that she comes to die. Don't worry, that's not much of a spoiler. You know from nearly the first chapter that she will so I'm not really giving anything away.

I enjoyed this book from a few different angles. First, there was the historical side. For me, it was fascinating to read about the life experiences of a girl during that time. Then, there was the more modern side watching our "heroine" deal with her own emotions and experiences while she transcribes the diary.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book. As an adult, I enjoyed this book but I would suspect that girls in the high school age range group would enjoy it even more.

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I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All opinions, thoughts and comments are 100% mine. 
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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Time for Me Thursday

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It's Thursday and you know what that means! It's time for me! Wow, that sounded egotistical, didn't it? Maybe I should have said it's time for us to do something good for us! Does that sound nicer? If not, well shoot, y'all know what I mean. It's time for all of us to do something nice for ourselves. We need to take care of ourselves because if we don't, we're no good for anyone else.

Today, I'm doing something a little bit different. I'm giving myself a reality check. As some of you may have read over at Welcoming Weight Loss, I've joined this fantastic group called the Mamavation Sistahood. They are some of the most incredible, generous and loving women you will ever meet.

Now, what you may not know is that a few times a year, they select women to become Mamavation Mamas. This is a huge thing! These ladies take trying to lose weight to a whole new level. A few people were encouraging me to apply but honestly, I'm just not ready for that. I was really worried that I was disappointing people by saying no or that maybe they thought I was making excuses. The truth is I'm not ready. This morning, one of their most fabulous mama's, Shelley and I were talking and she said what I'd been saying. She said yeah, you're not ready. This brought some serious mixed feelings. On one hand, I was almost relieved that someone else saw what I was saying. On the other hand it was a big time reality check. Let me explain why.

For a very long time, I had the worse self esteem a woman could have. In fact, I called it negative self esteem because everything I thought about myself was negative. For the past few years, I've been working hard at getting past that. One of the ways I was doing that was by telling myself that I was ok just the way I am. Now, that didn't just mean personality, it meant physically. This morning, suddenly the reality was right in front of my face. I'm not ok just how I am. I'm not. I am a beautiful person but what I have done to my body is not beautiful. It's dangerous. It's scary and it needs to change.

So, what am I doing for me today? I'm exploring this reality check. I'm working on some "assignments" to help me explore how I got to nearly 300 pounds. I'm going to write in my paper journal. Then, I'm going to spend a fun afternoon/evening with my boys. It's Family Reading Night at their school and we're going to go and have a fantastic time!

What are you going to do for you today? Are you going to find time to journal? Paint your nails a delicious new color? Curl up with a favorite movie? Spend some time moving that body to get your sweat on? Make sure you come back and let me know!

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*** This post has been copied over to Welcoming Weight Loss ***
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

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Ahh, Wednesday...The middle of the week...and as usual, a day that I feel a bit meh about. I'm so much more of a Monday or Friday kinda gal. Wednesday's rarely bring anything special or exciting. Of course, now that I've said that, we all know that from now on Wednesdays will start being frantic or something along those lines.

Oh wait, Wednesdays always bring this post so how can I complain? This is actually one of my favorite posts of the week and every since the girls announced that the February theme was Red, I've been seeing red everywhere! In fact, I actually stopped on the side of the road, yesterday, to take this picture:


I pass this barn twice a day on my drive to/from town. It's actually one of my favorite sights. I smile every time I drive past it. I can't really say why. Maybe it's because I'm a small town girl and barns like these are slowly disappearing from the landscape. So many have fallen into such sad states of repair, so when I see one like this, it brings a smile to my face.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone! Find something that makes you smile!
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tackle It Tuesday - Week 6 Challenge

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Ok, I have a confession. I was still sick all last week! Can you believe it? This thing has lingered on and on and on. I am finally on the mend and so thankful for that. I hate being sick but it's worse when it's in the lungs and the slightest amount of movement gets your heart rate up.

So, since I seriously lost to the battle of illness last week, I decided to break the fridge challenge into two parts: the door & the shelves. I figured since not a single one of you posted your challenge, maybe y'all needed another week too. I'm warning you though. This is your last week to tackle this alongside me.

Ready to see my fridge door? I took everything out, threw away old food (Can you say salad dressing that expired in 2007, anyone?), wiped out the bins and then put everything back in. Drumroll please.....


Doesn't that look so nice? Plus, there is actually room for more items if I find them as I clean out the rest of the fridge! I love it! Ahh...Organization makes me happy...

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New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean Life, Clean Home Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!


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