Review: Burt's Bees Sensitive Skincare

I've been participating in BzzCampaigns. I'm a BzzAgent with http://www.bzzagent.com/. They give me free stuff to try, along with goodies to hand out to others (sometimes coupons, sometimes try me samples, sometimes both), in exchange for my opinion and my spreading the word about the product.

Two of the products they have recently sent me are from the Burt's Bees Sensitive line of skincare. The two items I've been using are the Sensitive Facial Cleanser and the Sensitive Daily Moisturizing Cream.

I'm always skeptical when trying out new skincare. I have very dry skin, which is also sensitive and prone to break out with most skincare systems. I usually Cetaphil because it doesn't make me break out, is mild enough I can use it on my toddler, and helps with my dry skin. I was excited to try the Burt's Bees, but I was nervous at the same time.

I shouldn't have been though. The cleanser is thick, lathers well, rinses clean, and has little to no scent to it. I feel fresh after I use it. The cream also feels good on my skin and it spreads really well, so you only need to use a tiny bit (1-2 pumps) of the product. My only complaint is with the moisturizer. We've had a few really cold days and even some snow lately and the cream is not thick enough to keep my skin hydrated completely on the cold days. I needed something extra. For the most part though, I really love these two products. I've told several people about them and plan to continue using them in the future. I even plan on picking up the night cream that is part of the line next time I can make it to a store that carries Burt's Bees products.

All-in-all, it's a 4-star skincare line in my opnion.

Review: Bil-Jac Dog Food

Lately I've been participating in a lot of BzzCampaigns. I'm a BzzAgent with http://www.bzzagent.com/. They give me free stuff to try, along with goodies to hand out to others (sometimes coupons, sometimes try me samples, sometimes both), in exchange for my opinion and my spreading the word about the product.

One of my recent BzzKits included a coupon for a free 6 lb. bag of Bil-Jac dog food, as well as several $10 off coupons to pass out to others. Upon receiving the BzzKit, I was so excited to try the new dog food, I went straight to the pet store and picked up my free bag. At the time, my dogs had become seemingly very bored with the type of food I was feeding them. I had tried feeding them different flavors and different products within the brand I had been using, but couldn't spark their interest. I was a little leary about completely switching over, rather than phasing the food in through mixing with the old stuff, but the information in my BzzKit assured me that I could switch over right away without any sort of digestive upset.

So I did just that. Arriving home from the pet store, I promptly put a scoop in each bowl according to the instructions based on Cash and Lola's (the dogs) weights, and let them dive in. Within seconds, they were both eating from their bowls. Within minutes, the bowls were empty! It has been this way ever since and we are on our second bag. It's a little on the pricey side at about $18 for a 6 lb bag, but they are both on the smaller side, about 20-25 pounds a piece, so a bag lasts a couple of weeks. The real test, though, came when it was time to take them for a walk. I was still worried that they would have some digestive trouble. They both have pretty sensitive tummies, but all was well! There was no diarrhea, no loose stools, no constipation, nothing out of the ordinary.

Overall, I give Bil-Jac two thumbs up. It helped my dogs beat their food boredom, and despite how pricey it seems, it's only about $1 more a pound than what I was buying. The food hasn't caused any digestive upset and I think we will be sticking with Bil-Jac in the future.

Far Too Long

It's been 5 months since my last post. It's probably been equally as long since my last workout. I've been so busy with a toddler, 4 college classes, balancing home life and school work, and trying to keep my life in order. To top it off, I've been thinking a lot about my Pop lately and how hard things have been since his passing.

My thoughts go along the same lines most days -- how much I miss him, how I wish he hadn't had to suffer, why him, etc. I have thought a lot though about things I would've done differently in his last couple of days. My biggest regret is that the last two days of his life, I didn't get to see him. I know I should let go of that. I was there a lot. But I wasn't there the day he died. The day he died, I told my mom I just wanted "one normal day". I went to visit her. We had lunch and we went to Target. I bought my father a frame for a picture someone had sketched for him. I was driving home and when I got to Frederick, I debated whether to go to his house or just go straight home. I decided to go straight home and told myself I would just "see him tomorrow". His tomorrow never came. I somehow can't seem to let go of the fact that I wasn't there.

I also think about the last Wednesday we spent together. When I was younger, Pop would always pick me up and take me out to dinner on Wednesday nights, a tradition we still carried on much of my teenage and early adult years. That Wednesday was different though. I was there to watch over him and help him out. He didn't need a lot of help that day. His mind was lost in his music. He slept most of the day with his headphones on, occasionally waking up to watch a few minutes of TV or to have a brief conversation with me. I had planned on talking to him, telling him all the things I wanted to make sure he knew before he died, but I didn't. For whatever reason I decided not to, and now there are so many things I wish I had said and didn't have the strength to. I wanted to tell him that in spite of the brave face I put on, that in spite of telling him that I would be OK when his time came, that in spite of the fact that I had a background in psychology and knew what I would experience in a time of grief (it's in all the textbooks, don't ya know?), I was scared. I was terrified of what life would be like, and is like, without him. I wish I had told him how much I appreciated him having tried everything imaginable to overcome his cancer, whether it was for himself or because he was afraid of what would happen to those he would leave behind.

I have a friend who recently lost her step-father. He was closer to her than her own father, or "sperm donor" as she called him. She texted me late one night a few nights ago and asked me when it would stop hurting, when the tears would stop. I had to sit and think about it for a minute because I honestly don't know. My tears have never stopped, they've just become less frequent. The pain has never stopped, but at some point I did begin to numb to it. I didn't know how to explain to her that she would reach a point where it doesn't hurt for a little while, but then you find a picture or hear a song or see something the person would've appreciated and you lose it.

It's been over 2 1/2 years since Pop died. I still can't bring myself to delete his name out of my phone. I've been through 3 since he died and they keep transferring my directory. My BlackBerry crashed at one point and I lost all of my contacts. I was sad his name was gone, but felt like in some small way, I was aided in moving along. Then I bought a new phone and somehow they were able to recover all of my old contacts from my BlackBerry, including the ones I had lost when it crashed, and transferred them to my new phone. Now I'm back at square one. Sometimes for just a split second I feel like the worst child in the world because I can't remember the last time I spoke to him -- then I remember that I can't speak to him anymore. Sometimes I see something he would've thought was hilarious or remarkable and for a split second I try to figure out where my phone is so I can call him. I have dreams about him still being alive in the present and when I wake up, it takes me awhile to get my bearings straight.

I know that this is supposed to be a weight loss blog and that the ultimate four letter word is "diet", but right now I find my four letter word being something I can't get over... "gone".

Motivation

I'm completely lacking in it today. No weight loss, as I fell of the wagon a bit yesterday during my lunch with Mandy. I'm also having a hard time staying away from the foods I shouldn't be eating. I had a little piece of chicken with some bread from Chick Fil A for lunch and an apple for breakfast, but nothing too bad.

This weekend will be a killer. I have two kids birthday parties to go to. Wish me luck!

Enter this Giveaway!

For those of you out there who love crafting and sewing as much as I do, here's a good giveaway to enter. Good luck to everyone who enters!

http://fairyfacedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-big-scrappy-giveaway.html

Scale Victory!

I'm down 4 1/2 pounds already woohoo!

The ULTIMATE Four Letter Word

A cuss word. A curse. Swearing. Saying a bad word or a "dirty" word. Those are the types of words most people think of when you talk about a "four letter word". For me, the ULTIMATE four letter word has long been my number one nemesis: diet.

I'm not necessarily talking about the type of diet one would go on as a lose weight quick scheme or anything like that. I'm talking about diet in the sense of what I eat in general.

So here I am, getting ready to embark on a new journey. I'm starting a low fat medically supervised diet. I'm also starting a new workout routine.