I had seen the WEN HairCare products on T.V. but only half believed it.  Can you really believe everything you see on T.V. 100%?  I’m a skeptic so I’d say no.

Recently I got the chance to try out the WEN Healthy Hair Care System line of products and I must say even after a few cleansings my hair reduced in frizz size tremendously.  I took this before photo myself (not an easy task and the lighting is bad – sorry) and you can see how dry, frizzy and big it is.  Then after only 2 times with the Wen HairCare Cleansing Conditioner it looked like this (my daughter took this one in a different room, better lighting).

I was just amazed and my hair feels a lot softer every time I use it I notice a difference.  I love that I don’t have to put any after shower hair care products on my hair to calm it down or weigh it down enough to not frizz and give me BIG hair.

I have got to tell you, my dad was an award winning hairstylist prior to retirement and he was very impressed.  If I get my dad’s approval I know it’s a great product.  He doesn’t give out great product comments on anything I’ve ever used up till now.  He was even impressed by the comb included in the kit.

The Wen Healthy Hair Care System

It takes no longer to use in the shower than any other product which is great but it is so indulgent feeling.  The scent was great too – sweet almond mint.  The kit included a Texture Balm, a styling cream (makes my hair even softer), the comb and a Re Moist Intensive Hair Treatment (which I haven’t used yet but am planning on it).  If my hair feels this good now, I can’t wait to see what if feels and looks like after the Re Moist Intensive Hair Treatment and a full month of Wen.

Thanks to WenHairCare.com I will be giving away a full kit like the one I received to one of A Mom Blog’s readers.

Stayed tuned and I’ll get the giveaway off the ground in a day or so.

Disclosure: WenHairCare provided me with a kit for review and one for the upcoming giveaway free of charge.  No monetary exchange took place. Thanks WenHairCare.com

Since grandma and grandpa are in town the kids wanted to take them EVERYWHERE!  Our first stop was the lake to feed the ducks which they really enjoyed.  A few of the other things we enjoyed while still in the car was the space. You know how kids get: “mom, he’s touching”, mom, she’s looking at me”.  On this drive, didn’t have to worry a thing about it.  And while I drove and grandma got to ride up front with me,

Little Bug sat in the middle row along side grandpa and Princess decided she wanted the entire back row to herself (and yes, those are wireless headphones and a remote you see on the seat).  They were of course, in love with these little extra features we don’t currently have in our vehicle.

Next stop we were off to the mall to cuddle puppies at the pet shop, walk our little feet off window shopping and have some lunch.  Had to fight the urge to actually buy anything.

The Traverse was such a smooth and comfortable ride for all of us, especially in this summer Texas heat, wonder where we’ll head next.  Hmmm?

Disclosure: The Chevy Traverse is being loaned to me to try out.  No compensation took place nor is writing about our experience a requirement. I simply want to share our experiences with you.

As you know I love taking photos and I have always wanted a photo put on canvas, so when I saw a tweet on Twitter about ZaZa Gallery (a family run business)  I had to check them out.  Their website certainly was impressive.  Check them out http://www.ZaZaGallery.com I just fell in love with the photos on the website but if you’ve ever priced photo canvas’ they are not cheap! So I was just blown away when I saw how low the prices were.  Such great prices, they list them right on the home page of their website: an 8 x 10 for $25, a 10 x 10 for $39.

Wait, wait, wait. I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let me back up just a bit.  I was given the change to see for myself what a photograph of mine would look like as a canvas print.

I sent in the photo although you won’t have to worry about misdirected emails as you can upload your photo directly to the site for printing.

Four types of gallery wrapping is available: gallery, black, mirror and white.

They ship via FedEx so you know you’ll get your photo without damage. $14.99 shipping whether you buy 1 or 100 canvas’.

Your print ships out to you in 2-4 business days.

You can buy gift certificates too. (What a great present for a photographer. hint, hint.)  Just kidding but any photographer I’m sure would love this.

You get 100% Money Back Guarantee. (Not too many places are going to make offers like this one.)

Ok, I know you’re probably thinking well if they offer all that at those prices how good can they be? Right?  Here’s a few shots of the photo canvas ZaZa Gallery did for me.  You can see how well they are made. And the final outcome was just beautiful.  The photo canvas is clear and it captured every detail as it was in the photograph.  There was nothing lost in the transition from digital photo to canvas print.  It is the highlight of our living room now.

If you have always wanted a photo canvas but thought they were too expensive,  I highly recommend ZaZaGallery. I was not disappointed.

Disclosure:  Even though they did this particular photo for me free of charge for this review, it does not influence my review or my recommendation to give ZaZa Gallery a try.  I certainly was impressed.

Living in Texas we aren’t the only ones trying to stay cool and out of the heat. So are the bugs and ants and mosquitoes.  And I don’t want any of them in my house but I also don’t want to use products that aren’t safe for my kids.  I look for natural products, products I can use and feel safe using around my children.  That’s a hard thing to do when it comes to pest control.  At least it was until now.  Home garden pest control that’s safe to use around your children and your pets is EcoSMART.  EcoSMART products are made with all natural ingredients.  They are organic, non-toxic,  plant and water based products.

The ingredients listed on the Ant & Roach Killer are: Rosemary oil, cinnamon oil, water, wintergreen oil, mineral oil, oleic acid, canola oil, nitrogen, vanilla and lecithin.  I haven’t seen a roach or ant in my garage since I sprayed it the other night.  What we did notice it the scent.  My kids walked in the garage and immediately wanted to know why the garage smelled like gum.  My husband followed up by saying yes, it did smell like peppermint gum.  Apparently he’s confusing peppermint with wintergreen – lol.   The scent was rather strong and it did linger for a few days. I didn’t use but a small amount (or that which I consider a small amount).  In any case, there were no traces of any stinky pesticide smells in the garage and that gave me a good feeling knowing my kids weren’t breathing in harmful pesticide fumes.

If you are looking for a safe, non-toxic way to keep pests away from your family and home check out EcoSMART’s money-saving bundles such as the Safe Home Bundle which includes:

Ant and Roach Killer (14 oz can)

Home Pest Control (24 oz spray bottle)

Flying Insect Killer (14 oz can)

Insect Repellent (6 oz bottle) that’s DEET Free!  It dries quickly and isn’t at all oily.

Visit EcoSMART online at EcoSMART.com for products, money-saving bundles and locations where EcoSMART can be purchased in your area.

Disclosure: I was provided with the Safe Home Bundle for review (since I can’t review a product I haven’t tried myself).  The review is 100% my experiences and are in no way influenced by receiving the product free of charge.

So I did. This is a two step process so I figured I was safe going it alone.  Using the SmokyShadowBlast eye shadow stick, I began by using the rounded end for shading the lid.  Next I used the tapered end for lining the crease and the upper and lower lids (didn’t do too much on the lower as I didn’t want too dramatic a look for daytime. And that was it and I must say I was very proud of myself.  I think I did pretty good and I didn’t even need a makeup artist to do it.  Any non-creasing eyeshadow that easy to apply and get that great a look from I think I could get used to.  The six color combinations were expertly matched by Pat McGrath – professional make-up artist.  They come in: Silver Sky,  Onyx Smoke,  Bronze Fire,  Purple Plume (which is the one I tried),  Citrus Flair and Tempest Blue.  Best of all especially for me, they are hypo-allergenic and suitable for sensitive eyes.

Ok, got the eyes done now it’s time to finish off the look with a little shine.  I just love lip gloss. I love shiny, shimmery, sparkly lips.  The ShineBlast Lip Gloss did just that. I wore it over my lips without any lipstick on and it looked great. I can only imagine what it would look like over lipstick. One of the things I liked about the lip gloss is that I didn’t get that globby, gloss everywhere feeling due to the special applicator tip.  The SineBlast Lip Gloss is available in 16 shine shades.

Both can be found everywhere COVERGIRL is sold. The Smoky ShadowBlast retails for approx. $7.99 and the ShineBlast Lip Gloss retails for approx. $7.49

Disclosure: I am a buzz agent and thus received both these products and some coupons free of charge to try out and discuss with others.  The fact that I received them free does not impact my opinion of the above mentioned products.

Then we added a little bit of this

And a lot of this

Baked it like this for about 15 – 19 minutes

And gobbled it up when it came out like this

Looks pretty yummy huh?  It was super easy and the crust was the best part of the pizza so soft and yummy.  It even beat out all the ooey, gooey, gobs of cheese this time.  Don’t know about you but that’s a rare occurance at our house.  Now this was probably the easiest pizza I have ever made.  We simply used the Pillsbury Pizza Crust (Classic Crust – although it does come in a Thin Crust as well).  We unrolled it, pressed it out with our hands and added the sauce and cheese and popped it in the oven and Voila!  Pizza night began.  So simple, I couldn’t have asked for it to be any easier.

The kids were anxious to get finished up with dinner so we could continue our family night with a couple of games of Pictureka!  This was such a fun game for the kids.  It’s for ages 6 and up and my kiddos caught on really quick. Faster than me I might add.  Little Bug has one awesome memory for these images and Princess was giving Daddy directions on how to play.  Even papa joined in on the fun.  We rounded our evening out with some popcorn and a family movie.  It was a blast from beginning to end.  Why not have your own pizza/family fun night with Pillsbury Pizza Crust and Pictureka! Want to give it a try?  How about a coupon for your next grocery visit?  Visit http://www.pillsbury.com/products/meal-solutions/default.aspx to save $0.40 when you purchase two packages of Pillsbury Pizza Crust today! Be on the look-out for our Giveaway post where you can win your own Family Pizza Party prize pack.
Disclosure: I was provided from Pillsbury via MyBlogSpark free of charge the Pictureka game, four plates like the ones pictured, product information, online coupon link and a VIP coupon for a free Pillsbury Pizza Crust product in order to provide my honest opinions regarding these products which I have done for you. Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark.com will also be providing the Family Pizza Party prize pack giveaway prize.

Let me tell you a little bit about the Pepperidge Farm Homestyle Cookies. I actually received two different cookies: Lemon and Gingerman. Our preference was the lemon.  The Gingerman tasted good but were a tad bit too crunchy for our liking.

Lemon Cookies:

Our family choice was the lemon cookies. The lemon cookies were very tasty, they had a lite lemon taste to them just enough to fill that craving without going overboard.  These cookies just melt in your mouth.  They have a light crunch to them but after that first bite they just crumble and melt away in your mouth. My kids enjoyed them as well but one thing I noticed – I didn’t crave more cookies.   I had one or two and then was able to put the bag away and save some for another time.  It’s a good thing that I didn’t feel the need to eat the entire bag in one sitting.  It kinda surprised me cause I thought I would.  Thankfully I didn’t and I will be able to indulge in their lemony, cookie goodness again without feeling guilty or adding too much to my waistline. I could have had 4 cookies and still not felt guilty as it would have only been 160 calories. Pretty cool that I got to indulge in these yummy cookies and I didn’t feel like I’ve blown my diet.

Pepperidge Farm Homestyle Cookies are sold in Oatmeal, Lemon, Shortbread, Sugar and Gingerman varieties. They have a suggested retail price of $3.39 at major grocery stores, mass merchandisers and major supermarkets.  Feel free to visit www.pepperidgefarm.com for more information.

Disclosure: I was sent 2 bags of cookies free of charge and thus decided on my own to provide you with a review of these delicious cookies. There was no monetary exchange or request for a review by Pepperidge Farm.

The new biodegradable mechanical click pencils and pens have biodegradable components.  Some of the components of the pens and pencils are made from exclusive corn-based materials thus producing less waste and more compost.  They are the same quality pens and pencils I’m used to. Just as smooth as ever and they feel good too. I like the slight rubber grip on the pens. Personally, I’ve used Paper Mate pens for as long as I can remember, so this is just one more reason to love ‘em.

The biodegradable ball point pens, available in 1.0 mm in black, blue, red and purple ink, and mechanical pencils, available in fine point (0.5mm) and medium point (0.7mm), are available now at Office Depot but will be soon be available just about anywhere Paper Mate products are sold. The mechanical pencil starter kits feature an eraser and lead refill holder also made of biodegradable material.  The starter kit includes 1 mechanical pencil 0.7mm #2 lead, 12 lead refills and 5 eraser refills.

To know which components are biodegradable, simply turn the packaging over and there you’ll see a diagram of which components can become compost and which ones will need to be disposed of in the trash.

Their new line also includes Paper Mate FlexGrip Ultra made from 70% recycled sources, Paper Mate Earth Write Recycled Pencils made from 100% recycled cedar wood, Paper Mate Write Bros.  Recycled Ball Point Pens made from 80% recycled material and Liquid Paper DryLine Grip Recycled Correction Film made from 67% recycled material. I love it when companies go “greener”, it helps me help our planet because every little bit does help.

If you’d like to learn a little bit more about Paper Mate’s new line or where you can purchase them please visit Paper Mate: Greener Solutions For more information regarding Paper Mate Biodegradable Products and some tips on how to write “greener” grab this free download.

Disclosure: I was provided a package of 2 pens and a mechanical pencil starter kit free of charge to review. There was no monetary exchange.