Cold and Flu

(Originally posted on Chat with Sandy 12/30/10. I am bringing it back because I like these products. I am no longer a GT VIP blogger and I’m not getting compensated in any way for this post. But I do believe in these products and use them myself and wanted to let you know)

Has it Hit Your House Yet?

Cold & Flu  has hit mine… several times.  We have had colds, bronchitis, walking pneumonia, strep throat, sinus infection in the last 3 months between the 10 of us.

Not fun is it?  Yuck!!

What have I had?  I will tell you that I thought 2 different times that I was getting sick. But it was like 1 day of a little sore throat and then it was gone.  Last night was the first night that I wondered about a cold. My nose was stuffy, but so far today it seems fine.
You know.. I hate even writing this! Because as soon as I start bragging that I haven’t gotten sick… I’m going to get whammied!!

I was going to put this video at the end of this post….but I want you to see this.  Dr. Lindsay Duncan was on the View and did a great job explaining some of these… After the video… check out the rest of our adventure with these juices. Consider this a commercial break! lol

What have I been doing that the rest of my family hasn’t been?  I’ve been drinking Omega Orange Juice from Genesis Today.  Do I know that is why I haven’t been sick and they have been?  Nope, I don’t.  Could it be?  Sure…

My boys got home from the first 3 weeks of basic, both with congestion and the beginnings of colds and coughs.  I started them drinking the Omega Orange and also the Resveratrol, Acai juices along with taking the new Vitamin C and Acai chews that I received from them.

Neither of them have gotten worse like you would expect with a cold. They are both doing great. The first several days that took Nyquil at night and Dayquil during the day. But then that was it. About 3 days and they are better.  Again… can I say it is from the Genesis Today products that they are better?  No… I can’t.

We had several different juices from Genesis Today to try.  The favorite of my older boys (we were out of Omega Orange) was the Pomegrante & Berries with Resveratrol. We also tried the Cranberry Goji and the new Veggie Blast.

The Vitamin C chew has 200% of vitamin C in it, along with some other great stuff.  It tastes good, reminds me of a starburst piece of candy.

The Acai chew is the same size. The consistency is slightly different.  It is just a little firmer. The taste is very much the same as the Acai juice. It is a little tart, and I like to have my coffee to drink after I eat it.  It doesn’t taste bad, but my mouth is actually watering as I type this. lol

My thoughts on the new Cranberry Goji juice – taste wise, I don’t care for it. But… remember!!! The Genesis Today products are about the health benefits for you and what they can do… Let me tell you… the pure form of these things do not taste good. You can get the concentrated form and take 1 oz a day.. and it is terrible! But they have made these juices in a diluted 8 oz serving form that I get at Walmart. So those of us who want the health benefits but want a better taste.

The Veggie blast tastes like cold tomato soup.  I personally have never liked V-8 because of the peppery taste. The Veggie Blast did not have the peppery taste when I was drinking it. Now – what I did notice was an “after burn” in my throat – not really my tongue. Kind of strange really – but a good way to get your veggies in!

I have to start eating healthy and this year is going to be kicked off right. Genesis Today is going to be part of my healthy lifestyle for 2011 and beyond!

Disclosure: I am on the Genesis Today VIP Superfood blogger team. I did receive samples of the Veggie juice, Goji juice and chews to try. I was allowed to use the video if I wanted to (which I did). The pictures are my own and opinions are my own.

(Update 2012 – I’m no longer a GT blogger and did not get compensated with any product to repost this blog)

Nutrisystem Week 8

I’m Stuck!

Can I say that I’ve been doing the whole program perfectly though?  Nope..  I’ll be honest, I can’t.

I haven’t been exercising for one. That is a big thing that would help me.

I also have not been eating only the Nutrisystem food.  I’ve been on a medication that has been nauseating me .. a lot.  You would think that in itself would be great for losing weight .. wouldn’t you?  I would say that probably 5 out of the 7 mornings I’ve not been able to eat any breakfast.  Then lunch time nothing looks good to me.  I’ve been eating crackers to help keep the nausea down.  Then on the days that I don’t take the medication I tend to eat more than I should.
Some of the days it makes no sense at all with as little as I’ve eaten that I haven’t dropped way down.

This week has been very steady. From 190-191 all week.

I wanted to show you one of the dinners that was really good.  Notice this is a full size plate and it looks really full.   It was the glazed turkey.  The gravy was good, veggies were soft and cooked well, spices seemed natural (not too many spices to cover up plainness).

Ok.. ready for the scale shot?  Please notice that I finally got the little bit of nail polish off toenails. I had a friend who said when she first saw one of those pics that she thought it was a new way to wear your polish when she glanced. lol

Last week: 190.5 … This week – No change.
Total lost 10 pounds

I’m not excited about the next couple weeks when it comes to losing weight. I LOVE all the Christmas goodies… I mean love it. My boys are already asking me when I’m going to make the 7-layer cookies, fudge, toffee and buckeyes.  I have 8 kids that are excited for these Christmas treats that are a tradition in our family. I’m not going to just say to them that we aren’t to have what you are looking forward to because I’m trying to lose weight. That is just selfish.  But it will be resisting.

Tonight is my first Christmas party, next week I’m traveling for business and going to two Christmas parties while there.

Wish me luck to be strong!

Want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or visiting http://www.nutrisystem.com/nsblog

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation. 

DiGiorno pizza Review

(This post was originally posted on Chat with Sandy on 12/26/10)

Feeding Large Families Can Be Expensive

With both of my older boys home we have been having meals with all ten of us.  I have been lucky in the sense that we have 8 children, but 3 of them don’t live with us anymore.  Mix that in with the fact that my 4 step children are only with us 1/2 the time, we don’t have that many meals with everyone home.

But for 2 weeks with them home from boot camp we have had and will be having many meals with everyone.  Finding meals that will feed all of us for not a boat load of money (and that are easy too) are pretty important.

I didn’t have any problem at all with doing a shop for Collective Bias for DiGiorno Pizza.

Off to Walmart I went on December 23rd to do some shopping.
I checked Consumer Queen’s Data base to see if I could find a coupon. No luck on that one…poo.

A sign of the holidays… isn’t it?  The store was really crowded.  I didn’t have any problems finding the frozen pizzas.  I was a little bummed that they didn’t have a vegetable pizza – that is my favorite. But I ended up getting a meat pizza, cheese and also a mushroom garlic. They cost $4.98 each.  Pretty good for a nice thick pizza like that don’t you think?

Dave had purchased a Red Baron pizza at Kroger the week before. It didn’t have nearly so many pepperoni’s and was much thinner. It wasn’t so good.  He told me that he was trying to decide between the DiGiorno and the Red Baron. I had to laugh because he had no idea I was going to be doing this shop for the DiGiorno the next week.  He picked the Red Baron because it was less expensive. He told me later he was sorry he did.

The pizza went over well.  I had several thoughts from my family.   Here they are:
1) “It was Great!”
2) “It was too doughy”
3) “The mushroom garlic was too garlicy”
4) “Make sure you get this again”
5) “I wish they had veggie”

I started out with 2 pizzas and 6 people.  My boys and Dave. Then Dave’s 4 kids came over and we popped in a 3rd one to cover us all.

Three self rising DiGiono pizza’s, 2 liters of pop and a bag of chips later, we had a lunch meal that fed us all.  The pizza’s cost $4.98 each, the 2 liters of pop cost $1.76 and the chips were $2.88.  Total cost of the meal:  $19.58 to feed 10 of us… for a total of $1.96 per person.  Pretty good!

Here is the whole gang… being goofy!  Thanks DiGiorno for the pizza!  lol

Disclosure:  Collective Bias compensated me for the pizza and shop. The pictures and the opinions are those of mine and my families.

Nutrisystem Week 7

I’m a Yo-Yo

Up and down and up and down.  I feel like I go down, then have a day or two that I’m not as good, and back up the weight goes, then I spend the rest of the week trying to get it back off.

The thing is, when I have something that isn’t Nutrisystem, I usually try to still really try to limit it, much more than I would have previously at least.  So in a sense I still feel like I’m not being terrible.  So why does the weight go up and down SO much?

Last week I was 191 the day after Thanksgiving. I think that weekend with left overs was worse than actual Thanksgiving.  I went back up to 195.  I then worked the rest of the week to get back down to my weight today.

190.5

I feel a bit discouraged. Christmas is coming up and I know all the good stuff that is going to tempt me.  I need to get exercising, but have I done that in the last couple weeks.. nope. I know, I shouldn’t be complaining then should I. I just need to do it.

I’m considering doing a Zumba Gold class with a friend. I’ve wanted to try Zumba, but knew that I would feel like a fool. I don’t dance and never have been able to, but always wanted to.  But I’ve been too self conscious to try.  But this is a class for baby boomers, and the girl who is taking it says everyone feels uncomfortable, that is part of what makes it nice.

Hopefully next week I can get out of these 190′s!

Want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or visiting http://www.nutrisystem.com/nsblog

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Nutrisystem – Week 6

Weighing in the Day After Thanksgiving Should Be Outlawed!

It sure wasn’t fun to have to weigh in today for Nutrisystem.   I did get my weight yesterday and then again today to show you (if there was a big difference.)

I got yelled at by my family for taking a picture of my plate and I was told to fill it up more.  I had more than enough to eat and I didnt’ finish eating all my dressing. I should have taken white meat (I know) but I LOVE the dark meat. I had a taste of the yams, a very small helping of the green bean casserole and 1 crescent roll  (without butter)

Now for my weigh in.

I weighted 191.0 today.  Last week I was: 193.5   I lost 2.5 pounds this week.

Yesterday I weighted 190.5, so I only gained 1/2 pound yesterday on Thanksgiving.   I mentioned the meal, but I also ate some desserts.  I had a very tiny slice of peanut butter pie, and another tiny slice of pumpkin (with whipped cream).  We ate around 1:30 pm.  We went over to my Dad’s house around 6pm. Of course the food from their afternoon meal came out for “left over” dinner.  I only had a small piece of chocolate cake. (I know!… that isn’t what I should have eaten.)

When we got home around 9pm I was really hungry, to the point I felt nauseated.  I didn’t want a whole meal from Nutrisystem, instead I opened a can of light chicken noodle soup and had that to calm my stomach.

The week prior had been a good one.  I wasn’t good about taking pictures of the food this week from Nutrisystem, but I’ll give you a surprise “good” pick and one that wasn’t very good.

I had the pancake mix this week.  I had thought that tiny package was only going to make about 2 quarter size pancakes by the look of it.  But it actually made me two very nice size pancakes. I didn’t feel like I was being “cheated” at all. I’m sorry I didn’t order some more of that this month (but will next month).

The item that I didn’t like at all and couldn’t even eat was the package (pantry version) of chicken salad.  It was in a packet and I had to squeeze it out (which kind of grossed me out). But the consistency was pasty and I scrapped it off my plate and didn’t eat it at all.

So the week went much better than I expected with Thanksgiving.  One holiday down, now the whole month of Christmas celebration torture is about to begin.

Want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or visiting http://www.nutrisystem.com/nsblog

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Nutrisystem Week 5

Getting Back in the Groove

I’ve been home from my travels for 5 days now. I’ve gotten myself back into the routine I needed to…. well, not completely. I haven’t started my walking/running yet.  Planning on that for next week… honest! (I know.. that’s what they all say right?)

Ok.. here is the dealio -

Starting weight 200.5
Week 1 – 197
Week 2 – 193
Trip 1 – 4 day weekend
Week 3 -194.5
Trip 2 – 4 day weekend
Trip 3 (back to back) 5 day trip
Week 4 -when I got home
this last Monday am – 201.5!
Wow!! Gained it all back plus some. I know I had a lot of water weight on me. When I was in CO because of the altitude problems I didn’t take my diuretic at all. In AR I took it twice of the 5 days. That weight was just  5 mornings ago.  I have been back on my Nutrisystem and drinking water & taking my diuretic.

This morning I was 193.5!! I’m excited!  Sad that it is still up from 3 weeks ago, but glad that I was able to get it back down into reasonable range so fast after my trip.

I’m going to share some of the things I like to eat in the morning… muffins!

This is the chocolate muffin – love it! Doesn’t that look great? Only problem? It’s too small!  Not really, but I was used to being able to get those huge big muffins at the store. You know which ones I mean.  This one is much smaller than that.

You can see the size of it. Once you have cut down your intake, it really is enough.  This is what I had for breakfast the other morning. A banana, light fat free yogurt and the muffin. I also had 8 oz of skim milk and my coffee.  I was completely satisfied.  I could tell you that I actually felt too full (which was true) but you probably wouldn’t believe me.

This morning I had a banana nut muffin.  Because I felt too full yesterday with the banana and yogurt, I just had the muffin this morning, with my coffee.  It was enough too.

This muffin isn’t quite as moist as the chocolate muffin, but I still enjoyed it and it was still good.  It is the same size as the choc. one though.

For dinner the other night I had the mushroom risotto. I love risotto so was really excited about it.  The flavor was pretty good and the texture was thick and rich – but for me it was a little too spicy.  I ate the fat free cottage cheese with it to cut the spice. (remember.. for most people who aren’t spicy wimps it is probably fine). But combining the two of these together I got too full and couldn’t eat all of it.

Tonight for dinner I had the thick crust cheese pizza.  I forgot to get a picture of it before it was gone (sorry).  The crust is separate and you put the sauce and cheese on yourself. This way they can have it as a pantry food, and not frozen food.  I wasn’t super thrilled. The reason – the dough was a little damp on the bottom and very chewy.  I have another one to try and I think I will put it in the oven. I bet then it will be good. The flavor was good, everything else about it was good, but the chewy crust and the moisture – which I’m sure is the microwave part of it.

I’m frustrated this week that the first two weeks that I did so well when down the toilet when I went out of town for the three trips. But I can’t let it defeat me. I got back into this week and go things going again.

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Nutrisystem – Week 4

Vacations and traveling = Ugh

So obviously I’m still in the mist of my almost two weeks of traveling. Do you think I’m doing well? Nope…. I’m not. It is going to be one of those … get home and be SO mad at myself – kind of things.

Dave and I traveled to Divide, CO and stayed at this awesome cabin with an altitude of 9,000 ft.  That started some of the issues with my eating. I had issues with altitude illness.  Headaches, and some nausea.  You would think the nausea was the kind that you don’t want to eat. Nope, mine was that I needed to eat something to feel better.  But I wanted more crackers, breads and things. Salad just sounded terrible to me.

The other factor for me was that I didn’t take my diuretic (water pill) when I was there.  I have been taking that for a couple months because I retain fluid (especially when I travel).  But because of the altitude I was advised to not take it if I could help it.

I didn’t go hog wild and eat everything, we had grapes to eat, fat free yogurt and cottage cheese in the cabin, but Dave and I split a dessert one night and I ate crackers several times.

I got on the scale on Wednesday morning and was back to 198 pounds.  ugh!!   If I was then staying home I wouldn’t have been as upset… but I left that same Wednesday morning for Arkansas.

I did pack some of my Nutrisystem food, but I haven’t been eating it.  (insert sad face here)   I look at the lunch time bars and I’d like to eat them as a snack in addition to my lunch, while others are snacking on cookies etc.  But I haven’t done that.

I still have turned down lots of good stuff, but certainly not everything. I’m eating a lot I shouldn’t be too.

For breakfast this morning there was a buffet breakfast at the hotel. I had them make me an omelet with veggies only, no cheese.  I ate that and a fat free yogurt for breakfast.  I know… egg white omelet would have been much better.

The rest of the day wasn’t so good.

This is classic travel/vacation #FoodFail for me.

Hoping next week will be more positive. I will get home on Sunday and will hopefully get my butt in gear on the treadmill again!

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Nutrisystem – Week 3

Traveling and Maintaining

I think we all know how hard it is to eat well when your away from home.  I am in the middle of several trips.  The first five days were in Virginia visiting my sister and brother in law.  I drove my Dad and brother to visit.

Last week was a good week for me… this week – not as well. I gained 1.5 pounds from last week.  (plus I need a pedicure real bad.. lol) What scares me is the next two weeks is full of travel too…

I took a few lunches, breakfasts and a dinner with me for the trip. It was nice to have meals that I could travel with. I didn’t have to worry about a cooler.

The frustrating thing is that I was SO good! To realize what I would have normally have eaten!  First night we went to a Greek restaurant. My favorite thing ever at a Greek restaurant is spanakopita. Although it has spinach in it, it isn’t low cal!  I got a greek salad with chicken. (no cheese or croutons). I did have one bite of my Dad’s spanakopita though.

Dinner the next night was at a French restaurant.  I got lemon chicken breast. There was a side of fresh veggies with a fried potato cake on top. I took a little bite of the potato cake and gave the rest away (it was good!). I only ate half of my chicken breast, measure the amount by the palm of my hand. My sister and her friend got awesome looking desserts. I didn’t order one, but did have a bite of my sisters and a little bite of her friends.

Our last night was a homemade meal that my sister made. She is a vegetarian and eats healthier than I ever do! She made a whole slew of things! There were two kinds of mushrooms,

onions, peppers,

butternut squash – no butter, no cream or anything. It tasted a LOT like sweet potato casserole.

salmon,

steak, and small potatoes.

She didn’t use any butter or anything fattening to cook. She said she calls it “clean” food. A very healthy meal.  It was awesome.

My cousin’s wife brought some Russian desserts… now those are not “clean” or unfatting! lol But  I took a very small 1×2″ piece of each piece. The chocolate I had one bite and didn’t eat the 2nd bite. The other (not sure what it was) I did the same thing. One bite only.  Now the Napoleon… that was a different story. omg was it awesome! I had my little 2 bites, and then I did get a small 2×2 square, but it was only the bottom 1/3 of the piece. It is multi layered dessert.  That was the worse thing I ate the whole time I was there!

Yet when I got home on I weighed myself the next morning. I had gained 2 pounds!! Yuck!  I felt SO disciplined and was so proud of how good I was. So I have worked the rest of the week trying to get back off the 2 pounds.

The big problem is that I leave on Saturday for Denver for 5 days, get home for less than 24 hours and leave again on another trip (business) for another 5 days. I’m hoping I won’t end up back at day one after all this!

Exercise? Ok… I haven’t exercised this week either, and don’t know if I will again before I get back on the 13th.

It is hard to continue to “behave” when your away. There are so many temptations and you feel like, “this is vacation” so you want to give in. I just have to be strong!

Here are a few things that I had from Nutrisystem this week.  This is one of the lunches.

 Take off the lid. See the little very light little intended marks? That is the water line. It would be nice if this were marked a little better. It is kind of hard to see and I had a hard time believing this was the line I was looking for when I opened the first one.  Just add water, stir it up and microwave for 45 seconds.

  You stir it up good and let it sit for a couple minutes.  It is hot and I really like how they taste. A nice warm lunch. It is actually pretty filling too.

I had this for lunch today.  It was cheese and broccoli potatoes. You didn’t microwave it. You add boiling water and stir.  It was ok. I wasn’t super impressed. Kind of mushy (I know potatoes are mushy) but the favor wasn’t bad.  But I don’t think I’ll be picking it again.

This is one item I WILL be picking again. It is the peppermint cookie. Dessert time at night! Yum!

I will be packing some of my cookies for my trips.

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Nutrisystem – Week 2

Couch to 1 Mile Revisited

We all know that we are supposed to exercise.  You have those people that do it everyday and love it. They feel good, they usually look good and they are healthy.  Then there are the rest of us. Those of us who WANT to want to exercise, but simply stated we don’t like to do it.  We come up with a million zillion excuses why we can’t.  Let’s see, for me…. something always ends up getting inflamed or injured and I have to stop, I don’t have the time and how about I don’t want to wake up the kids exercising before they get up. (actually I don’t use that one, but thought it was a good one to throw in for a 3rd option.)

I was told by the Doctor not to run until my heart rate could stay under 160 while walking a mile.  That threw me for a loop. I was actually enjoying my beginning phases of being able to run a mile.  I took off all last week.  To just walk a mile, that is boring, and takes longer in the morning. But I have revised my plan and have made it doable for me.

Here it is:

5 Min Warm up Walk at about 3.2 on the threadmill
60 second very slow jog 4.0 (this is a 15 min mile)
90 second walk 3.4

Alternating until 1 mile.

This isn’t much quicker than walking the mile, but when I go to the 4.0 on my treadmill it is too fast for me to walk. I have to go into jog position. It’s funny because I am actually feeling it more in my legs after I finish doing my workout this way than when I was doing a faster jog.

I’ve done this three times this week.  The next 3 weeks are going to be a lot of traveling for me, so I’m not sure how it will work into things, but I’ll try.

Food!!

I’m down to 193 pounds. I’ve lost 7.5 pounds in 12 days!!   I’m really excited about that!   This morning I am driving my Dad to VA to see my sister. I woke up at 4:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep. My hubby was leaving for work by 5:10. I laid there trying to decide if I was going to try to get another hour sleep because I was worried about driving 8 hours with only 5.5 hours of sleep, but I thought my body would probably feel better if I got up and exercised instead.  I feel great!

I’m going to go over some of the food I had this week. The good, the bad and the ugly. (just kidding) But I will tell you what I honestly thought of each item. Heck, everyone likes different things, so there is no way that someone is going to love every item they have.

One of the mornings I had the Breakfast Burrito.

 You just have to cut the end off it and mircrowave it.  It looked good and smelled good.  But I took the first bite and couldn’t eat anymore. Why? Because I am a spicy whimp!  I just can’t do spicy at all.  This was spicy, much too much for me. Now, for those of you who like it, I’m sure you’d love this.

Here are a few other things I tried this week.

The Chicken quesadilla was for lunch and I was scared it was going to be another adventure into spicy-ville.

It had just a touch of spicy, but not bad at all. I enjoyed it.  I had some fat free cottage cheese with it, and that really worked. The cottage cheese reminded me of the sour cream that I like to mix with mexican food, so I kind of ate it together.

One of the evenings we had one of Elise’s volleyball games and didn’t have much time for dinner. Dave picked up pizza on the way home. Ugh…. I knew that would be a killer. Pizza is so good.  BUT…. I jumped into my handy dandy freezer and popped out one of my lunch meals. I had it for dinner with the family.

While they were eating this….

I got to enjoy having pizza with them. Although mine varied just a bit in appearance, it really satisfied the craving for pizza and I didn’t have the desire to knock everyone out of the way and grab their pizza box and dive in!

I did learn that I liked the pizza better baked in the oven rather than microwaved. Although it still came out pretty good in the microwave, I liked the oven version better. I also prefer the turkey sausage pizza to this veggie one.

Experimenting with all the different foods is good the first month on the program. There are things I might not have tried normally, but find I really like them over what I thought I might like.

Eating Out

Dave and I tend to eat out a lot the week we don’t have his kids.  We don’t do a lot of fancy dining, but we might run to Subway or Roosters (chicken wings)

Since I’ve started the program we’ve actually gone out for several meals. Let me break down some of what I’ve done to manage these meals.

Japanese Steakhouse -

Ate all of the broth they brought out. I ate most of the salad. It was lettuce and they had already put on the dressing. I tried to work around the blob of dressing and get the “unaffected” lettuce, but didn’t eat it all.  In hindsight I should have told her to leave the dressing on the side for me, but I had no idea when they were bringing it out.

I ordered the chicken dinner. Of course he grilled everything in big blobs of butter. ugh.  I didn’t eat the shrimp, I gave that to my husband. When he served my chicken (huge amount) I gave my son about half of it right away.  I ate about half of what remained with a little bit of white rice (brown rice wasn’t an option and I knew I didn’t want to order the fried rice). I did try to eat more veggies. Even though they were cooked in some butter, they were better for me than the rest of the food in butter and I need more veggies. I then brought the rest home and my hubby had it for lunch the next day.

It was Dave’s birthday celebration, so they brought out one of those pineapples with the sparklers in it. I did eat several bites of the pineapple.

Subway

I got a 6″ sub on wheat bread with turkey breast, spinach lettuce, regular lettuce, tomatoes and mustard. I had a yogurt and water.

Roosters

Side salad without cheese, or crotons. I did get blue cheese dressing on the side. But I didn’t put it on my salad. I dipped my fork into the dressing and then took a bite. I ate all of the salad.

I ordered 5 all drum BBQ wings. I asked for a to-go box when we first sat down and put 2 of the wings into the box. So I only ate 3 wings.

I know each of these meals I ate more calories, fat etc, then I would have if I stayed home and had my Nutrisytem meal, but I also know that I have to be able to live a normal life and learn how to eat less.  Dave and I enjoy going out to eat and I know that will continue to be a part of our life after Nutrisystem. Being able to still enjoy these events are important.

I have not felt deprived this week.  I still need to work on more veggies (yuckie poo) though.

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Seagate Go Flex External Hard Drive Review

Back Up – Back Up – Back Up!

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, it is really important to back up your information.  This is something that should be on your to do list routinely. It goes along with organizing your important information.

I’ve had a couple different external hard drives that I have tried over the years.  Guess what one I bought myself? I bought a Seagate. It was a 1T desk top model. I feel more secure with Seagate.  It wasn’t a sponsored thing, it was a…. research online, go to the store, check prices and storage options and pick out the 1T Seagate.

But I recently did get a Seagate Go Flex to try out!  Look at this thing… it is awesome! It is small and a fun color (would love a pink or lime green….. just sayin’ Seagate) and holds so much.

I have put it right next to my iphone so you can see the size.

This is a 500 GB hard drive!!!  I have backed up with this several times already. I currently have well over 20,000 pictures on my laptop and lots of videos! I just backed it up again today and I still have 243 GB of storage left.

What I love about this is how portable it is.  I can SO easily take this on my trips with me.  That is great for a couple of reasons.  The main one is because I like to back up my computer before I travel.  I often download pictures that I am taking on trips while I am on the trip and with this along I will be able to back up the new pictures and info before I travel home.

The other reason it is great is because if something would happen to my computer while I was away and I lost information on it, I would have all my info with me. Or even worse if my computer completely broke and there was something important I needed to do I would still have my info with me if I needed to borrow someone else’s computer.

This is thin and light weight too.

There is a lot of technical info I could look up and give you about it, but techie I am not. That is one of the reasons I like this.  I just plug it into my computer with the cord (by the way, that little bottom part by my hand detaches. There are different options that you can get for it… you can see those on the web site that I link to) and go to my time machine (I have a mac) and turn it on and it backs up. Simple .. simple

Here is a screen shot of the time machine when I started backing up today.

I will continue to back up with my desk top Seagate before I go on trips so I have a back up of this back up. But this is so nice to have with me. Just a piece of security.

I did receive this Go Flex from Seagate and MARS advertising. I was not asked to do a review or blog post and was not compensated financially.  I chose to do this post. I wanted to show it off and also encourage everyone to back up their computers.

Nutrisystem Week 1

I’m Ready To Lose This Weight!

I started the Nutrisystem plan on Monday of this week.  I’m happy to say that this first 5 days has been easy.

I’m going to show you a few of the breakfast foods you can choose from.

The reason I need to be on this plan an on an exercise plan is this one!  I have only seen this number one other time. It was in 2008 when I realized I had to do something serious!

Starting weight: 200.5 pounds (yuck!… ok..Sis.. you didn’t see that!)
Day 5 weight: 197.0
Loss= 3.5 pounds!

Here is the dreaded “Before” picture.  Can’t stand it, but you know what? I always tell my clients and others here on the internet to take “before” pictures before they organize a space.  It makes you realize what you don’t want that space to look like again.  It also makes you feel much more accomplished when you look back and see how terrible that space looked before you organized it.  So….. pretty obvious – take the before picture for the same reasons.

I had Dave take this picture with my camera phone up in our room.

Then he got a couple more with my camera downstairs.    You can see the side view.  Sorry… the back view no one can see, until my “after” shot when I have lost my weight.  It is a bit too tortuous to make you, my readers go through!  My hips are obviously my major issue, but with as much extra weight as I have on right now, I also have a stomach now. One thing I always prided myself on was a flat stomach (even after 4 kids!) The only positive thing about this extra 50 pounds on me… is that I actually have some boobs! lol

The plan is simple. I had month of food delivered. Half of the order were pantry items and the other half was frozen food.
Everything is color coded for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
We are given a book to write down our daily meals and how much water we drink, time exercising and weight.
There is a lot of space for other items that do not come with the plan (at least that I have). Vegetables are extra (and you can have lots!). Daily allotments in either skim milk, low fat yogurt and other items. I have had fat free cottage cheese and string cheese also this week.
I have not gotten all of the vegetables that I should have. That is my weakness. I don’t like them, or very few of them. I have to make myself eat vegetables – even when I’m hungry.
I did just buy some Genesis Today juice yesterday so that I can use that as some of my vegetable servings.

You saw the cinnamon roll above.  It is one of the breakfast items you can have. I had heard how wonderful they were.  It is very small, look at the half of banana next to it. But the taste was good.  I do need to look at the directions a little better on the next one. I thought it was just microwaving it for the given time.  But it was actually very tough to eat. The dough was dense, even though tasty and I had a difficult time eating it without a knife to cut it. It wasn’t my favorite.  Here was my breakfast the other morning.  Skim milk (8oz) coffee , 1/2 banana and the cinnamon roll.

 I also have had a chocolate chip scone.  I enjoyed it. It reminded me of one of those large choc. chip cookies. It was nice with my coffee.

Several of the pantry foods have this little packet underneath the food. It kind of bothered me. Reminded me of those packets you find at the bottom of a new purse or such.  But I’ve since seen that it is a non-toxic oxygen absorber.

So far this first 5 days I have not had anything that I haven’t liked the taste of.  I would say the only thing I might hesitate to get again might be the cinnamon roll.  But I’ll leave that judgement until after I try the next one!

I have felt good this week.  There have been times that my stomach has been growling and very hungry. But that was my own fault.  Actually it felt good! But, I could have had some more of the extra vegetables that I wasn’t always having and a couple days I did not have the afternoon snack because I was too busy working to get up and get it.

I hate to admit that I did not exercise this week.  After being told by my Doctor that I had to stop my plan to run a mile (because my heart rate was so high… she told me I had to walk 1 mile keeping my HR under 160 before I could start running) that it took my drive away.  I know I need to get it going again though!

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

I’m Going To Start Nutrisystem!

I’m So Excited!

I am So out of shape and So heavy that I have to do something!  I was thrilled that Nutrisystem accepted me to do a  four month review* of their system!

I received my first months supply of the pantry – shelf life products already!

It’s like opening a Christmas present! lol   What stood out to me really quickly and that I thought was really cool was that the meals are color coded.  Breakfast is Blue
Lunch is Green
Dinner is Red
Snacks are Pink

Being an organizer I love to color code! It makes it quick and easy to see what you need.

I lost almost 50 pounds with a similar system back in 2008.  It worked well, I just didn’t stay on it after I stopped the plan and over the two years all the weight came back.  The combination of menopause, sitting and blogging majority of the day and not exercising, along with a huge sweet craving… you will gain weight.. just sayin’

I think it is interesting that although I weight as much as I do back in 2007-2008 it has distributed a bit differently this time.  My arms are now very heavy looking, my hips & butt are huge  of course (where I always gain) and I have a stomach.  ugh

I actually about 25 pounds MORE than I did when I was pregnant with any of my 4 boys!

I always weighted in the 130′s until after my 4th son. Then I got up into the 140′s.  Now I’m higher! lol

I’m still have to get my frozen products.  They should be coming soon.

I’m planning to start the program on Monday, and will be reporting to you every Friday on my progress.   I’ll be using the hashtag #NSNation which stands for Nutrisystem Nation.
I will do my weight in and show you my gross.. gag.. before pictures.   Since I had been doing the Couch to 1 mile (my plan) to start running, on Fridays, I’m going to add that into my posts.  My Doctor put a halt on my running because my heart rate was going up to 200 on my 60 second runs. Sad huh? She said I can’t run until I can walk a mile keeping my heart rate below 160.

I’ll let you know next Friday how my first 5 days has gone!!

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Ford Explorer Review

The 2012 Ford Explorer

Dave and I got to take this beauty on our trip to Corydon, Indiana.   We started off on a Friday late afternoon to drive the 5.5 hour drive to IN.  I wanted to drive (Dave did too.. but I won! lol) and Dave decided to set up the built in GPS.

The first thing we learned was that there is evidently a safety feature set on the GPS. You can not drive and set the GPS at the same time. We had to pull over to set it.  Dave wasn’t too happy about that, thinking that if there is a passenger in the passenger seat it should over ride  it.  But he did think it was easier to set up than the GPS we had on the Lincoln MKT we reviewed.

The ride was great, loved how it drove.  One of the things that I loved on this car was the cruise control.

It has the radar cruise – when you have your speed set, but you are coming up on a car that is going slower than you are.. the cruise automatically slows you down.  So you are not having to constantly manually speed up or slow down. It does it for you.  Love that!!

The interior was a two tone leather and looked sharp.  I think Dave took the kids for a drive in it before I got back from a trip and they all thought it was roomy, and liked it.

There were enough cup holders, and they were large enough for my larger bottle of water.

We had dual air conditioning and satellite radio. It is so nice to have radio that doesn’t come and go when you go out of towns.  Dave really liked listening to the comedy channel.

This is one feature that I REALLY miss in my present car.  I would love to see this be a requirement on all cars some days.  It gives you such a piece of mind to back up and know for sure nothing is behind you.

 We made it to Corydon, Indiana and had a very enjoyable weekend.  Driving a comfortable car made it that much nicer!!

Thank you to the MI Ford Fleet for the use of this Ford Explorer for the week.

Therapon Skin Health Review

Do You Have A Skin Regime you Love?

If not I can highly recommend Therapon.  I didn’t set out looking for this, even though I knew I needed something!

I’ve been so discouraged lately at the lines and wrinkles and age showing on my face. I tease that I get my own facelift by not wearing my glasses when I look in a mirror. (and that really does help! lol) When I do have my glasses on and see my reflection, my heart sinks.  My once fresh skin is now aging dramatically, the wrinkles are jumping ahead of one another to race to see who can multiply my face quicker – the area around my eyes, or the area around my mouth and chin.

There have been many a video that I did not use because they showed way too many details of my face deterioration.

I’ve gone the Mary Kay, Ogai and other over the counter routines.  Most of them call for different routines each day. You might do the scrubs once or twice a week, a night time regime that is different than the daytime one, etc.  To tell you the truth, I usually end up getting lazy and go back to my routine of  just using good old soap and water and which ever moisturizer I have on hand.

I went to Gleek Retreat in MI a few months back and met  Christina Stumbaugh, who was giving facials.  I didn’t want to get one done because I just had my skin graft done on my nose and still wearing a band-aide. But I did go in and talk to her, and we got a sample in our swag bag.

It was a four part system, and what was nice about it was that it was the same…. morning & night.. everyday of the week.  Easy Peezy!

I have been using these products for a couple months now.  I had a video I recorded for you, but I’m having big time technical problems with not only my flip software, but also my imovie clips since I had to clear off my computer last week.

Results I Noticed

1) Dramatic change in the softness of my skin  - my skin has always been dryer since I’ve aged and much dryer since I went through menopause two years ago.  I LOVE the feel of my face again!  It feels smooth again.

2)  My pores are smaller – the pores on my nose have always been larger. They have gotten much smaller since I’ve started this.

3) My fine lines have decreased.  I can’t say they are gone or I look 20 years younger, but I have noticed an improvement in the last couple months.

4) The scar from my skin graft is much less. I really think this regime has decreased the scaring on my nose. I’m thrilled with that.

5) I was diagnosed with rosacea shortly before I started on this. Since I’ve been using it, I’ve had no outbreaks of the rosacea. I can’t say they are related because I don’t actually know. But I really wonder if this is why I’ve not had more problems with it.

6) I don’t have problems with flakey dry skin at the junction of my eye brows and bridge of my nose. The lines there are still pretty deep (too much frowning!) but better – but I used to get all this flakey stuff at the edge of my eye brows and that crease.. I don’t have a problem with that anymore.

The products

I am using a four step process

1) Cleansing Wash – Mild, suds really nicely. The smell is mild and clean… not flowerly.

2) Fruit Acid Exfoliant – I expected this to be thick with those little rough pieces in it.. that you use once a week. Instead this is a clear, think liquid. You use their pads (but I thought were too rough and opted for my softer ones, before I read that the purpose of the roughness was to help the exfoliant action… duh!) and put it on twice a day.  It feels nice and you wonder how it is acting as an exfoliant.

3) OPC Reparative Gel – This is an amber clear but slightly thicker liquid than the exfoliant.  I use a little on my finger and put it all over my face.  The color always reminds me of betadine (the nurse in me). The smell isn’t bad, but there is a bit of a distintive odor to it. It does not give or leave any color on your skin. It soaks into your skin very nicely.

4) Enriched Facial Moisturizer – This is a thick rich white cream. It feels wonderful when it goes on. It does seem more like a night cream in thickness, but once it is on, it doesn’t feel heavy or sticky at all.  My makeup goes on very nicely over it.

I do this in the morning and evening.  I have also tried their Sun Screen product and love it too.  I have to be very careful of the sun exposure as I’ve already had a basal cell cancer and skin graft done on my nose and I’m at high risk for melanoma skin cancer.

I’m extremely pleased with the products and really hoping I can have some more to keep reviewing!   I have a dermatology appointment next month and plan to show my dermatologist what I’ve been using and ask her about it.  (These products were developed by  Dr. Beckman who is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon). I am also driving to VA to see my sister and brother in law at the end of September.  He is an Oral Maxillary  Surgeon and preforms reconstructive facial surgery on accident victims. He also does some cosmetic surgery and researches products that can help his clients achieve better skin health. I’m going to also talk to RW about these products.

Thanks Therapon, I’m a very pleased client.. oh.. and I LOVE the little containers for travel! Perfect size!!

Magellan GPS Review

Magellan eXplorist 310 North American

My husband and kids love to go exploring outdoors.  It might just be at our farm this trip, but Dave loves the woods and hiking around.

We had seen a GPS unit (not sure if it was this one we saw or not) on TV months ago. Dave was talking about how nice that would be to have. When I got to review this Magellan GPS I was thrilled because I knew how much Dave was going to like it.

There are several different Magellan eXplorist GPS units that range from about $149 – $550.00.  This is the eXplorist 310 North American that costs $199.00

It is a unit that is hand held and battery powered.  You can take it right with you on hikes or trail rides. It is rugged and has a place that it can slip right onto a clip or belt, or would easily fit in a fanny pack, backpack or clipped on your belt.

You can put in locations or find your location. It gives you the coordinance, elevation etc.. of where you are.

The maps are easy to read and geared for outdoors.

There is an anti glare screen.  In the really bright sunlight it can still be a little difficult to see – you can see by looking at this picture of my step son when he was using it. He was blocking the sun to see it better.

I think it is fun because as you walk around with it… it tracks your progress. I know you do the same thing with a car GPS… but it still surprised me to see it picked up my steps.

The kids used it when they were hiking around the farm. It is easiest enough for them to use (once you set it up)

Dave is excited to use it when we go hiking in Indiana in a few weeks and also said it will be a great addition when we go on our Canada fishing trip next year.

This Magellan eXplorist 310 North American was given to me for review. This does not influence my review. The pictures and opinions are my own.

Lincoln MKT

Review of the Lincoln MKT Cross-Over

Our family had fun getting to review the Lincoln MKT crossover vehicle. We went on our family vacation around Ohio and to Kentucky.

I can’t even tell you how many times I heard the kids say, “This is the nicest car I’ve ever been in!”

We first went down to Hocking Hills in Ohio and went on the zipline.

Then we drove further south and went to Mammoth Caves in KY.

The kids loved the sunroof. We didn’t have it opened all the time, but they enjoyed it when we did. We did learn that you do not open it too soon after it has stopped raining! (Yes, we got some drips down on us! lol)

The car was very comfortable.  It was leather and looked very nice inside.

I think it would be perfect for a family of four.  The only real complaint I had was the amount of storage space for packing.  There was no roof rack, so we weren’t able to use our car top carrier.  We put one of the seats down in the back to provide enough space (and we used every bit of it). So the child who had the back seat was a little crowded. But the kids rotated seats.

Loved several things:

The dual heat/air controls
The heated and cooling seats!
The Navigation system
The backing up video (loved that and really miss it… such a great safety feature)
The little frig/freezer
The sunroof
The looks of the car (I thought it was sharp)
The little hidden space behind the front console
The steering wheel controls for radio and cruise
The satellite radio
The auto back hatch lift and button just inside the back to close it.

One of the things the kids all wanted to do was to hit the button to make the middle seats go up automatically.  That was a really nice feature

After Mammoth Caves we came back into Ohio and went on a three day Roar and Explore package which consisted of staying at Drury Inn and Suites for two nights.

We also got to enjoy a day at the Columbus Zoo, a day at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) and  would have had a day at Zoombezi Bay if it hadn’t rained.

We had a great time and really enjoyed the Lincoln MKT.

I think overall it might be a little too small for us.  There are seven of us who are home now. Although it is rare anymore for us all to go together in one car, we still want to have the ability to.

It was awesome for our trip with just the triplets.  If we had a luggage rack on top… it would be perfect (oh…and maybe the DVD  players… )then it would be really perfect!

The Ford Fleet out of MI asked if I would like to review this car.  We had the car to use for about a week, without cost.  We purchased the gasoline ourselves. The pictures, video and thoughts are my own.

Book Review

The Parents Guide To Uncluttering Your Home – by Janet Morris Grimes

I was actually featured in this book!  So doing a book review on it is kind of easy.  I don’t know if it is totally an unbiased opinion though.  Actually it is, I’ll be honest. Even if I was featured, if I didn’t think the book was a good one, I wouldn’t mention it to you.

Janet contacted me last year asking for some tips or ideas for her book;  The Parents Guide To Uncluttering Your Home.   She kept me updated as to the books progress.  I would love to say I’m the only Professional Organizer featured in the book…. but I’m not. There are several organizers who were also featured!

This book is packed full of info. She goes through the different areas of your home and helps with all the different aspects of organizing it.

I like that she uses humor to discuss some things.  Chapter 2 talks about your stuff owning you.  That can be SO true.  I worked with a client who “needed” a 5,000 sq ft home even though he lived by himself, because he wouldn’t have room for all his stuff if he lived anywhere smaller.  Honest.  I would try to tell him that he could feel so much freer in a smaller place with less “stuff”.  Believe me, oh… believe me, I helped to to clear out  a LOT of stuff over the year I worked with him.  But it did make me a bit sad how important his “things” were to him.

I like that she has a room by room guide to help you think through things that you can do to help declutter an area.  For instance she mentions the stacks of mail.  Her plan of action for that is to have a mail sorter for incoming and out going mail.   Things can be simple, but often not everyone thinks the same way and it might be a new idea for them.

She brings in the organizers for her Case Study sections of the book.  Look .. that’s me!

My section goes onto the next page. Yes.. I turned down the page where I was featured. (I know, some of you are cringing… “You page turner downer!” lol

Janet Morris Grimes wrote this book. She moved from a large home down to a very small one and organization was a necessity.  (sounds familiar!)

Having some guidance to help you clear your head is important.  Reading a book about how to do it, getting different ideas from others… just make sense.  Sometimes when you are too close to something, you can’t process logically.

You can find this book on Amazon here: The Parent’s Guide to Uncluttering Your Home: How to Organize What You Need and Recycle What You Don’t (Back-To-Basics)

I was sent a copy of this book since I was one of the organizers featured.  I was not asked to do a review on my blog about it. I am doing that because I like the book…. and I wanted to brag about being in it.  lol Well, come on, it’s not every day that I get featured in someone’s book.  The pictures and opinions are my own. The link is my Amazon affiliate link.

Org Junkie

Organizing Junkie’s Book Review & Giveaway!  *closed*

Clutter Rehab by Laura Wittmann

I love Laura! I’m an Organizing Junkie was the first organizing blog I ever saw when I first started looking at blogs. Her writing is fun, easy to understand and basic. But she gets things done. She is a highly respected organizer and I think the top organizing blog (at least that I know of) out there.

She wrote a book. Yee Haw! Guess what? Her book is fun, easy to understand and basic!

She gives you “101 tips and tricks” to help you organize your home and manage your time.

Here is a page from the table of contents.

Some of them are over a page, but generally speaking they are fast and easy tips. You might have several on a page.  Considering I am working on clearing out all the winter clothes and completely going through the kids rooms right now … donation is a big word.  I like her idea of having a “donation station”.

Some of her tips are so simple, yet many people just don’t think of them.

You can find this Clutter REHAB on Amazon and it is only $10.36!  Great deal.

I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to decrease some of your clutter… just by using some smart and easy ideas.  It would also make an awesome gift for a newly married couple, a messy teenager going off to college, your “messy” friend… but, there are so many neat little tips in the book, that you don’t have to even be a disorganized person, or a messy person, or have a house full of clutter to gain valuable insight and ideas from this book.

Being short little chapters geared towards one tip each, makes it a very easy read. Something you can pick up, read a few ideas and put it back down to get the kids off to school. More than likely you will pick it up and keep reading because it’s so fun to find new ideas to make your life easier.

Buy it Here!

Clutter Rehab: 101 Tips and Tricks to Become an Organization Junkie and Love It!

Try and Win a Copy Here!

Required For Entry: Go to Clutter Rehab: 101 Tips and Tricks to Become an Organization Junkie and Love It! and click on the “Click To Look Inside” at the top of the picture of the book and tell me what you see in the preview of the book that interest you! Leave a comment below telling me how you think this book could help you.

**Be sure to come back here and leave me your answer in your comment. Your e-mail has to either in your comment or on your profile.

FOR EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN:

**Each of these HAS to have a separate comment to win. The winner is picked using Random.org. It just goes the number of comments….not by what you say.

1) Visit Laura’s blog I’m an Organizing Junkie and  look for something that interest you. Leave the link in the comments below of which blog post you visited. (1 entry)

2) Subscribe to my Organize with Sandy blog (1 entry)

3) Follow me on Twitter @OrganizerSandy (Leave me your twitter name) 1 entry

4) Stumble one of my posts for 5 extra chances to win. (tell me which post – please don’t stumble this post, as giveaway posts shouldn’t be stumbled.) 5 entries – be sure to leave 5 comments below for this one.

5) Tweet this out up to 3 times a day. You can use the tweet button at the top to make it easy. ( Pls leave your url link) 1 chance for each tweet.

Please keep in mind I approve my comments. So you won’t see them right away. Never fear!

This contest will run until 11:59pm est on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 *CLOSED*

Any comment that comes in after the above time will be deleted. This is open to US mailing addresses only. Must be 18+ to win. One person per mailing address only. Winner will be chosen by Random.org

You will have 48 hours to reply to my e-mail if you are picked as the winner, or else I will go on to the next winning number.

Organizing Mission Monday Link Party – Week 26

Vacation!

Don’t you love them?  Don’t we need them?  I’m actually on one right now! I’ve gotten some awesome opportunities for our family to review some areas around Ohio.

Ford Media Fleet is providing us with some wheels!!   We have a  Lincoln MKT to drive for the week.  Swaeeeett!

Our first stop was the Hocking Hills area in Southern Ohio.  We went to the Hocking Hills Canopy Tours! I love ziplines!  It was SO fun!!  We all loved it! I’ll have a post on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog within a week or two on all these adventures.

We went to  Mammoth Cave in KY today and then got to stop and visit my son in Lexington, KY.  That was a very short visit to see him at his new job as a buyer at the new CarMax they just built there.  The caves are not part of my review, but we wanted to take the kids there to see them.

We stopped by home and will be heading for a day at our farm.  We are going to be doing some fishing!

Then we are off to a three day fun package called Roar and Explore Adventure Getaway.  It includes a day at the Columbus zoo, a day at Zoombezi Bay and COSI.

This will be an awesome vacation.  I’ll be sharing videos and pictures later on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog.

Check out my Featured Bloggers For This week!

Susan from Homeroad refinished this Ikea cart

Look at what she did to this cart!  Just refinishing my table and painting my Ikea table were big deals to me. This is what her Ikea cart that she has had several years looked like.
Then she did all kinds of things to it.  Not just sanding…. but she got to take out some aggression and pound it with a hammer to distress it (that would for sure distress me! lol). She also put some black tacks in it, nails in it, put on some hooks and handles…

Made a cool stencil for the top and it turned out like this!!  Isn’t this awesome!!

You can see all her tricks and techniques on how to get this Ikea cart looking so fab on her post called Ikea Cart Re-Make.

Anna from Ask Anna- Cleaning your Blow Dryer

has some great techniques and ideas on cleaning some of those things you just don’t think about cleaning, or you aren’t sure about how to clean.

She took her little old hair dryer that looks so nice and clean

Until you looked at the filter/vent area.  She used a little known secret of using dryer lint from her dryer to stick to the lint in the grates of her blow dryer to pull it out!

Look at the difference!!!  It looks so clean.

She has some other great ideas that you can get the links on my going to my Organizing Mission Monday link party Week 25 to see her posts, or you can just check out her blog! This one is called Hair Dryer Trick but she also cleaned the front of her oven door with a homemade mixture I want to try, and several other good cleaning ideas.

Card Cubby Giveaway is still going On! (Closed)

I am going to give away a Zebra Card Cubby!

***I am also giving a 10% discount from today until June 30th, 2011. If you use the code “Summer 11″ it will take off the 10%. This is good on the Card Cubby and pouchee purse organizer!

Required For Entry: Leave a comment below telling me how you would best like to use the Card Cubby if you won. **Be sure to come back here and leave me your answer in your comment. Your e-mail has to either in your comment or on your profile.   Please keep in mind….  Just posting a link to the link party is NOT an entry.  It is an option for an extra entry, but you have to ALSO put a comment in the comment section for it to be in the drawing.  At this point (morning of 6/13) there are only 24 entries for the 24 comments.

FOR EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN:

**Each of these HAS to have a separate comment to win. The winner is picked using Random.org. It just goes the number of comments….not by what you say.

1) Leave a link in the link party for one of your blog posts. (1 entry) You can leave more than one link in the link party, but only one of them counts towards an entry.

2) Subscribe to my Organize with Sandy blog (1 entry)

3) Follow me on Twitter @OrganizerSandy (Leave me your twitter name) 1 entry

4) Stumble one of my posts for 5 extra chances to win. (tell me which post – please don’t stumble this post, as giveaway posts aren’t so great to stumble.) 5 entries – be sure to leave 5 comments below for this one.

5) Tweet this out up to 3 times a day. You can use the tweet button at the top to make it easy. ( Pls leave your url link) 1 chance for each tweet.

Please keep in mind I approve my comments. So you won’t see them right away. Never fear!

This contest will run until 11:59pm est on Sunday, June 19, 2011 (Closed) 

Any comment that comes in after the above time will be deleted. This is open to US mailing addresses only. Must be 18+ to win. One person per mailing address only. Winner will be chosen by Random.org

You will have 48 hours to reply to my e-mail if you are picked as the winner, or else I will go on to the next winning number.

Link up to my Link Party

I would love to see what you are working on this week. But as always you can link up any organizing or cleaning or DIY post to my link party.

You can find the link for my button and also my “Proud to Be Featured Button” on my sidebar Rules 1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (link just above underneath my button)
3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it
4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning or DIY or decorating
5) No sales pitches or web sites.
6) If I feature you I will use one or more of your pictures with a link back to your blog.
7) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

Looking for other link parties? I have a whole list of them. Thumbnail via day above and keep scrolling down to find a more extensive text lists by day on my link party list.

If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple.

If You Are On A Reader and Want to View All the Great Link Up’s Please Click Here.

This link party will be open until 11:59 on Sunday June 19, 2011. Feel free to leave more than one post. (But only one counts as an extra entry for the giveaway)

Disc Sanders

Review of two Skil Disc Sanders

The 5 inch Random Orbit Sander

The Octo Multi-Finishing Sander

When I think of finishing furniture, the part that I dread the most is the sanding.  Thinking about refinishing my dining room table was not a happy thought.

I was thrilled when I found out I was going to get to review these two Skil Sanders.  The job didn’t seem nearly so scary anymore.

I also was going to refinish an Ikea table

I set up my work area in the garage. The 5 inch random sander came with several specifically  cut pieces of sand paper.  It also has the dust collector. What a great benefit that was. I didn’t have to worry about massive amount of saw dust all over me, all over the garage, all over everything!

The 5 inch Random Orbit Sander

I wanted to start with this sander because it was going to be the main one I was going to use for the surface of the dining room table and the Ikea table.

Here is the bottom of the sander…. why look at that…. the same holes that are on the sandpaper. lol

The gray surface has a bit of a “Velcro” feel to it … it is rough and then the bottom of the sandpaper is almost “felt like”.  When you place the sandpaper on the sander… it grabs and sticks on.  It isn’t hard to line up the holes either.

Now to test to see how it works.

The on/off switch is really handy. It is right where your index finger goes… so if there is any reason you have to stop it fast… it is right there.

There is also a light guide to let you know if you are putting too much pressure  (light turns red) or if the pressure is just right (green light that is lit now).  The dust goes into the particle filter. It is so nice to not have all that saw dust coming up all over the place!

My son was dying to help me out! lol  He couldn’t wait to use it.

I did try the other sander on the legs (I’ll show more of that sander later).  It would have worked, but there would have been a lot of changing of the sanding tips… and I had four volunteers (lol) who each got a leg to sand.

You have to be sure to remember the leaves of your table too if you are going to refinish a dining room table.

It made sanding the table top So fast and easy.  We also used it on the Ikea table. That surface was much different, but it still worked fine.

The Octo Multi-Finishing Sander

Look at this cool sander!  The Octo Multi-Finishing Sander has  eight different sanding tips (hence the octo) to be able to sand different surfaces.  (Check out the video on their site that shows this sander in action)

With all the tips and the sand paper to fit each of the tips, it is nice that it also comes with this bag.

It isn’t too hard to change the tips, but I did use the directions to see how to change things out. The different tips fit into the slots and snap in place.

The white on my hand is not saw dust, it is actually primer that was a pain to get off!

Putting on the sandpaper pieces worked the same way as the other sander. There are several cut pieces of sandpaper for each tip.  I didn’t realize at first (but did before I actually used it) that the sandpaper had the different grades.  I used the 120 grit for my projects.  I do realize you would have to purchase replacements pretty quick if you were doing much sanding though.

I did try using it on the legs.  It worked, but as I mentioned earlier in the post… it would have had me changing the tips for the different angles and surfaces.

Since I had willing participants… I spent my time working on other projects with the sander.

I had an old mirror to refinish and it had scroll work on it.

I was able to use several of the different tips.  I think I liked this tip the best, to do the curves.

I used all of these tips

The corner attachments were really nice to do in the little creases …. and also the long side of the mirror. The longer tip wasn’t as useful for this mirror.  I used it to try and get on the flat main surface at the edges of the scroll work. You can see how the sandpaper did. I don’t know if I was putting too much pressure on the tip and that is why it wore out so fast or not. I didn’t feel it was as useful as the others on this mirror.  But I am counting on it to get in between the rungs of my chairs when I refinish them.

I also refinished this little chest of drawers that goes on the wall.  I did use that longer tip on this for the corners and it worked nicely.

I was very happy with the sanders. It helped save some real time along with muscle in sanding the several pieces that I worked on.

I loved the 5 inch random orbit sander for the flat surfaces.  The Octo multi-finishing sander was very handy for different edges and surfaces.

I think it is going to really help me when I refinish my chairs. I don’t think those spindles will be any problem at all.

I would recommend it for sure if you had a lot of sanding to do with those surfaces.  If you didn’t have much to sand, I would say it would probably be easier to do it by hand rather than changing the tips several times for a small area.

The weight of the sanders and handling of them were great. They worked easily and I felt very comfortable using them. They definitely saved me some time.  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend someone purchase one of these if they have some refinishing projects to do.

You can check out all the Skil sanders and tools by going to the Skil.com site.  You can also find them on Facebook.

I very much appreciate Skil for giving me these two sanders to use and keep.  This did not influence my opinion on the sanders.  The pictures and projects are my own.