Product Review: Norwex Kitchen Cloth + Cleaning Paste

How I Heard:
As part of my Norwex Party, I received a ton of free products. Want to see a picture?

I posted this picture in the previous post, but I'm just so excited about it! My favorite time to clean is Saturday mornings. I usually wake before six and it's the perfect time to get things done before anyone else is up. I was extra excited this Saturday because a) I had a new audiobook to start and b) I had all this great Norwex stuff to start putting to use!

What I Used:
I started in the kitchen and decided to tackle the sink with the kitchen cloth and the cleaning paste.

I took a picture of the kitchen before I started but then decided you didn't need to see my counter tops or my sink. Suffice it to say we were gone quite a bit this week and things were piling up! Once I finished rinsing dishes and got everything out of my sink, this is what it looked like:

Application:
Normally, I would wet the surfaces, sprinkle Comet, and let it sit for a few. This time I got my kitchen cloth and my cleaning paste and went to work!

My sink was DISGUSTING. Ordinarily, I'd have to get the scrubber out and scrub, scrub, scrub. And don't get me wrong - it took a little scrubbing. We had eaten syrup at one point and...well, yuck.

Results:
After, perhaps, five minutes, it looked like this:

SPARKLING!

My Take:
I LOVE this thing. I proceeded to use the kitchen cloth to clean my counter tops, stove top, and dining room table. It's like the envirocloth, but the weave is different. It's a bit thinner and much easier to use in the kitchen. I LOVE it. I also loved the cleaning paste. I can't wait until my stove top gets dirtied up so I can use it there, too!

UPDATE:

Right after I posted this, Lucy decided to draw all over the trim with crayon.

Instead of panicking, I grabbed my Norwex kitchen cloth and scrubbed it down. Gone within minutes!

Thanksgiving as a Foreigner

I have mentioned our involvement with international students before. This year we have been partnered with Yukie, a super sweet girl from China. We have eaten Chinese food, gone to church, cooked out, done dinner at a restaurant, taken her for ice cream on her birthday:

And all around really enjoyed getting to know her this semester. Charlie especially. He talks about Yukie all the time. He calls her "tiny," which is actually a very appropriate name!

Tonight, we went to the Thanksgiving banquet at our church. As Thanksgiving is an American holiday, this was new for her. As we drove to the church, she asked many questions.

Yukie: What sort of food do you eat?
Me: Well, the traditional meat is turkey. Do you eat turkey?
Yukie: No. Where do turkeys live? On farms?
Me: Turkeys live in the wild. I see them on the way to school a lot. But I'm sure there are turkey farmers too. (right?)
Yukie: Ah.
Me: We also eat mashed potatoes. Have you ever had those?
Yukie: No. What's that?
Me: It's where you peel and boil potatoes and then you mash them. Most people add butter and milk and then pour gravy on top.
Yukie: What's gravy?
Me: Um...(because how do you describe gravy?) it's sort of like a sauce that you pour on top. I don't like it myself, but most people do. Some people will do sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving. They are orange.
Yukie: Who cooks in the family?
Me: Well, in my family, it's my mom and Rick's mom. Whoever the woman whose house we are gathering in is the woman to make the bulk of the meal.
Yukie: (getting excited) That is how it is at home! My grandmother always makes all the food.
Me: What kinds of food does she make?
Yukie: Rice and noodles.
Me: Any meat?
Yukie: Mmm...sometimes. Pork or chicken. What did you eat when you were in China?
Me: Donkey and mutton!
*laughter

These are the sorts of conversations I really enjoy. It was fun to find some common ground amidst a tradition that is very American. When we got to the church, that girl LOADED her plate and said she liked everything! We discussed the term "potluck" (though I couldn't really explain where the term came from) and talked about how, when you have big groups of people, this is often what Americans do to feed everyone. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready for dessert, all the pumpkin pie was gone. I told her she HAD to have pumpkin pie before she left to go back home next month. She is leaving later this week to go to Chicago...they will have some pumpkin pie there, right?

Norwex Party!

This is the box of stuff that arrived at my house today. How? Let me explain...because folks, this is exciting. I love stuff that is free and practical and this was BOTH.

My friend TeRee has started selling Norwex. I was really surprised when she started doing this, mainly because TeRee is EXTREMELY practical and most of these sorts of things are extremely IMpractical...like bags or make-up. It was also surprising because TeRee is NOT the saleswoman-phushy type, and in my experience, people who are successful in this type of business usually are. I was intrigued. So I offered to host a party for her in June. It wasn't very well-attended BUT I did get a free envirocloth, which is the "everything" cloth for Norwex. I started using it on all my surfaces and my floors. And...I loved it.

I should preface with the fact that I HATE doing parties like this. I hate going to them and I had NEVER hosted one. But this was so cool that I decided to do another one in November - just before the holidays, thinking this truly is the PERFECT Christmas gift for those people for whom you never know what to buy. This time, several people came. They watched TeRee USE PERMANENT MARKER on wood flooring and get it up with only the cloth and a touch of elbow grease. They watched her SMEAR BUTTER ALL OVER MY MIRROR and then wipe it up with only some water on a cloth. She TOOK EVERYONE INTO MY DINING ROOM AND FOUND A STAIN ON MY RUG AND GOT IT OUT using the cloth and water.

People placed orders. And, as it turns out, when people place orders, you get free stuff!

This isn't even everything (because I had taken some of it out and used it before I thought to take a picture), but here is the list:
1 Ultra Power Plus™ Laundry Detergent
3 Enviro Cloths
2 Car Cloths
1 Timeless Natural Hand Cleaner
1 Dusting Mitt, blue
2 Body Packs, vintage
1 Naturally Timeless Anti-Gravity Night Cream
1 Enviro Cloth, blue
1 Kitchen Cloth, orchid
1 Window Cloth
1 Container Cleaning Paste
1 Hair Turban  
1 Baby Body Pack
1 Ergonomic Toilet Brush & Holder
 
She also gave me a set of dryer balls because I was the first person to ever host a second party. So I ended up with almost $400 in free stuff.

So super excited to start trying this stuff out!

Project: Picture Canvas

Rick and I don't buy each other Christmas gifts, but every year at Christmas time, when all the sales are going on, we agree to spend between $30-$40 for a canvas picture of the family to go on the wall. Here are the last two we have done:

They are nice, but as I said, $30-$40 a pop ON SALE. So when I saw a BEAUTIFUL picture canvas at my hairstylist's salon of her three children, I commented and her response was, "Yeah, my sister did that for me for like, $11." I asked for details and it seemed simple enough. However, being well aware that my craftiness factor is in the negative numbers, I went into it understanding that I would probably be wasting $11.

Step 1: Gather Materials
16x20 canvas - $7 (with coupon)
Picture, blown up to 16x20 at Copy Max - $1.95
Foam brush - set of 3, $1.29
Mod Podge - free (my mom had it)

Step 2: Trim the Picture
You can pay the copy place to do it, but it cost more than the picture, so I had Rick do it. He has excellent fine-motor skills and a very steady hand.

Step 3: Apply Mod Podge

Cover the surface with a thin layer of mod podge.

Step 4: Apply Picture

Press the picture onto the glue by pulling it tightly and pressing. It took four hands for this. I was planning to wrap it around and glue it, but Rick said the staple gun would be easier. He was right.

Step 5: Apply Top Coat
Brush the top with a coat of Mod Podge.

Final Product:

:(
I was disappointed. The one in the hair salon did NOT look like this. I specifically asked if this was regular paper and she said yes, but I think if I had photo paper, it would have worked much better. Of course, it would have cost a lot more, too.

We went ahead and hung it up in the living room, and you can't tell from certain angles. I am going to look into blowing up an actual picture on photo paper and repeating the process, but I'm guessing that will be quite expensive. This will do for now.

ETL: Results

Final results:

Pounds lost: 6

Verdict: I can't really LIVE like this. It is not practical to keep all meat, grains, and dairy out of my diet (although, of the three, meat would definitely be the easiest to surrender). I know there are people who do, and more power to 'em, but it's not me. Doing ten days of ETL was effective, but I really need something more sustainable. Whoever said maintenance was harder than weight loss was SO RIGHT. I've heard people say they fast one day a week, I've heard people say they follow all the rules during the week and on the weekends they allow things like bread and dessert. I've heard people say they just permanently cut out pizza and french fries. I've heard people say they eat a pea-sized-portion of pizza and french fries (which to me is worse than not eating it). I've always said that anything will work if you stick to it, and while I believe that is true, sticking to it is, well, hard.

And...we are heading into the holiday season. Mashed potatoes. Stuffing. ROLLS.

Ugh. Taking suggestions.

Family Pictures

We always do pictures in November. It's the month after Lucy's birthday and the month before Charlie's, so we can call them their birthday pictures and use the family ones for our Christmas card. Thanks to wind and freezing temperatures, this was rescheduled once twice three times. But we are definitely happy with them!

 

Book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

Length: 304 pages

Format: Paperback
Price: Free (borrowed)

How I heard about it: My friend Mandi brought it to me when she came over for dinner one night. I had never even heard of it!

Basic Premise: British author Juliet Ashton is experiencing a bit of writer's slump after her Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War collection was so well-received and such a successful distraction from the war. When she receives a strange letter from a man on the island of Guernsey claiming he was a part of the "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," Juliet's curiosity is more than a little piqued.

My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)

My friend Mandi gave this book, saying only "I think you will really like this book." I had no idea what it was about but I judged from the title that it would be lighthearted, funny, and a quick read. I was right about the last two, but utterly wrong about the first. Regardless, I LOVED this book. It was a fabulously fresh look at WWII, a time period which I appear to be studying given the last two titles I've read (The Book Thief and Those Who Save Us). I truly loved the main character, Juliet. She is a 30-something writer who really seems to be questioning her lot in life. Orphaned at 12, raised in boarding schools, and a victim of a failed engagement, life had been a little rough with Juliet. But her snark, wit, and discerning eye made her a trustworthy and highly entertaining protagonist. It's an epistolary novel, which was a delightful change of pace for me. Letter-writing used to be taught like essay-writing, and it was enchanting to read people describe their every day lives in such detail. Over 20 characters have voices in the book, and all are extremely entertaining. It does, however, focus on the German occupation of Guernsey, and is therefore oftentimes heavy and very serious. There were moments where I gasped, teared up, got goose-bumps, or simply laughed out loud. It is truly a fabulous book.

It was not on my list, but I feel like I should repost this, if nothing else to remind myself that I only have 3 titles left!

List progress:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Parenting with Love & Logic by Jim Fey
Silver Star Jeannette Walls
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins

 

ETL: 6 Days In

Monday-Friday was AWESOME. I ate spinach salads, Greek salads, vegetarian black bean soup, bananas + peanut butter, apples - it has been really great. And up until Friday, I didn't cheat ONCE.

Bad pic...I don't think we realized the TVs were right behind us

Friday night we went to dinner with some friends from church and our group of international students. We were supposed to eat at a different restaurant and I had scoured the menu online and chosen wisely. And then, because the ONLY thing to do in our town on a Friday night is go out to dinner, we ended up changing plans at the last second because the wait was over an hour. Which meant no good for me. I ordered what I thought was tomato soup (it had pasta in it) and a turkey wrap with no cheese or mayo (though I would have dearly loved both), I ate half the wrap and 3/4 of the soup and called it good. I also indulged in a few sweet potato fires (which I've never been a fan of...but they were either really good at this place or I was really desperate for fries).

Saturday was pretty good...until we went to my cousin's volleyball game in Missouri with my dad, my uncle, my cousin, and my son. The game got over later than we were hoping (which was a HUGE bummer - they won two, we won two, and it was SO close on game five, but apparently game five only goes to FIFTEEN instead of TWENTY-FIVE. It was a huge disappointment because it was 12 to 15 and I thought we still had 10 points to go :( and all of a sudden they are slapping hands and I was like "What?" They were GOOD-GAMING IT). Anyway, my uncle was eager to get back home to see the rest of the KState game and everyone was starving, so we stopped at Sonic. I had, like, two minutes to scour the menu before I ordered for myself and my son, and - let's be real, folks - there is nothing good at Sonic. I should have just waited, but it was 6:15 and we were still two hours from home. I also didn't want to look like a snob in front of my uncle and cousin. So I shut up and had a burger.

FAIL.

The good news is that I have still lost 4 pounds and am back on track for Sunday. The other good news is that, even though they lost the game, Charlie got on the jumbotron!

Product Review: Jamberry

 

How I Heard:
A friend of mine recently started selling Jamberry. If you are unfamiliar with Jamberry, it's an adhesive wrap for your fingernails that is non-toxic and supposed to maintain its integrity regardless of how rough you are on your nails. I chatted a bit with this friend several weeks ago and the product sounded interesting, but when my sister-in-law started selling it, I thought it was time to try it out.

What I Ordered:
I ordered the following designs:

And when you order 3, you get a 4th sheet free, so I went out on a limb and selected this one:

Not really me, but I liked it. I thought maybe I could use this as an accent nail and polish the others. I don't know...I just really liked it! I ordered online and received it about a week later.

They come in sheets like this:

This is enough for two manicures and two pedicures. The manicures are supposed to last two weeks and the pedicures are supposed to last four.

Application:
 I selected the black chevron and headed to my sister-in-law's house so she could help me apply. I didn't take pictures of it, but the application process is really very simple: you clean your nails, push back your cuticles, cut the sticker down the middle, heat the back side (they have special heaters you can buy or you can use a hair dryer), and apply it right on to your nails. It was really a very simple process.

Results:
Here's the finished product:

And here it is again after almost two weeks:

 My Take:
I really, really like this product. And I think it's important to note: I am NOT a girly girl. Clothes, make-up, shoes, shopping - those are just things that take up my time. I have found I am a little more excited about them now that I've gone from a size 14 to a size 8 , but these sorts of things are a waste in my mind. So for me to say that I really like this product is pretty high praise!

We have family pictures this weekend, so I decided to trade the rest of my black chevron pack with a friend who ordered the French tip set. Here's what my second "jamicure" looks like:

Right after application

About four days after application

Overall, I am a fan! If you are interested, click here to find out more!

Eat to Live: Resurrected

I think I have come to the conclusion that weight will ALWAYS be an issue for me. After I lost almost 50 pounds, I think I thought things were going to be easier from then on. The unfortunate truth is that they get harder. :( So after packing on a few (well, more than a few) pounds, it is necessary to go back to working on weight loss. Because if you don't watch every single morsel of food that goes in your mouth after you have hit your goal, the pounds start to creep back. 142 is my lowest, but my goal was 145 and that's where I camped for a good stretch. Then it was 148. Then it was 150. Once that number in the ones place started going up, I knew something had to be done. This is how people who are heavy and then loose weight and then get heavy again do it - one little measly pound at a time.

After crashing and burning with my Skinny Rules, I decided to go back to what I know:

This is how I went from 189 pounds to 142 pounds. This works for me. I tried something that didn't work...now it's time for something I KNOW will work. So for the next 10 days - Monday November 3rd through Wednesday, November 12th - I am going to stick with the Eat to Live diet. I like the 10 day time frame as a strategy for new practices. I got it from a co-worker.

Starting today!

Halloween

I may have said this once or twice before. I HATE Halloween. I always have. Part of this is due to the fact that I didn't really celebrate it as a kid. We dressed up, but we always came home and watched The Wizard of Oz. My parents didn't want us out Trick or Treating (which I didn't understand then but I understand now), so I never really got the obsession with the holiday.

Enter me having kids and...I LOVE Halloween!

We started back in August. Charlie decided on Spiderman. I turned to my good friend Lindsey, because I know she has every superhero costume there is. Sure enough, she had one. It had a hole in it so I took it to my mom, who repaired the hole...and then took the whole thing apart so she could reinforce all the seems.  That's my mom.

Lucy's costume was more difficult. I had purchased a used ladybug set right after she was born (it was SO cute and a good deal), but it needed a shirt. A leotard would have been perfect, but the only place I could find one was Amazon, which I really didn't want to do, but ended up having to do anyway. So Lucy was a ladybug.

Our neighborhood does a super cute little Halloween parade and the cousins come over, so we always try to get some pictures:

We also celebrated by visiting the pumpkin patch in Lawrence with Grandma and Uncle Steven:

My children were particularly fascinated by the chickens

Carving and painting pumpkins:

Having a party and parade at school:

The night before...read about these bad boys here!

Morning of...they were SO excited!

AWWWWWWWWWWW!

And visiting Grandparents on Halloween night.

It was a fun time! Now Charlie is talking nonstop about Christmas :)