No Sort Laundry Detergent...A Giveaway!

Hi, friends! I’m back! I think life has slowed down a tiny bit, so I can get back to blogging a little more regularly. Last time I told you that I have 2 review blogs coming, but now I actually have 3. This will be one of them. I'll try to throw in some cute Eliana posts also. 

Purex asked me to review their No Sort Laundry Detergent. I have to admit…this one scared me. I was super nervous that my laundry was going to end up being a rainbow of colors that I didn’t want. You see, I am a laundry nazi. I read EVERY tag on mine and my husband’s clothes. If it says wash warm, I wash it in warm. If it says wash cold, I wash it in cold water. I figure they know better than I do how their product should be cleaned. The only exception to this is my daughter's clothes. I wash all of hers in cold because for some reason hers tend to shrink more easily. 

According to Purex, this detergent features Anti-Color-Transfer technology which traps loose dyes and prevents color bleeding accidents. I tried the No Sort Laundry Detergent on a few loads. I tried it on both a cold and a warm load, as well as one of my daughter's loads. Nothing faded! In all fairness, the bottle does say not to use it on clothes that haven't been washed at least 5 times. I didn't have the guts to be risky when I tested it. I told you...laundry nazi.

Purex gave me 3 free coupons to give to you guys so you can try this. Also, if you click on this sweepstakes link, you can be entered to win $1,000 from Purex. 

*The Purex brand provided me with a sample of Purex No Sort for colors detergent in exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own.

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Stay Tuned...

Stay tuned...

I have two review posts coming up soon. One is for Starbucks K-Cups. I have some $4 off coupons to giveaway for that one. The other is for Purex No Sort Laundry Detergent. I have 3 free coupons for that one. I haven't tried it yet, but I am anxious to see how it works. I'm both excited and nervous about it. We'll see how it turns out.

April Meal Planning

Tanner and I have been meal planning for several years now. What do I mean by that? At the end of every month, I sit down and create a menu for the next month. I usually plan between 3 and 4 dinners per week. I would love to plan more, but our schedule just doesn't allow us to eat at home every night right now.

I have found that sticking to our meal plan is the thing that helps our food budget the most. I create a monthly meal plan because then I only have to do one big grocery shopping trip per month. Some people like to create weekly meal plans because they can plan according to sales. I would suggest trying both ways if you haven't, and see what works best for your family! I usually put mine on a monthly calendar, but we always mix-up the order.

Most of the time my meal plan includes freezer meals. One of my best friends and I get together every few months and freeze as many meals as we can in a few hours. We usually end up preparing around 7-10 meals. This is one of my favorite things to do because I know that I have some delicious meals waiting for me in the freezer, and usually all I have to do is thaw them and put them in a crockpot or the oven!

I'm going to do a longer post about freezer meals sometime, but for now, I thought I would show you our meal plan for April. Let me know if you want the recipes! I may start posting this each month and adding pictures.

• Chicken casserole (freezer meal)
• Goulash & salad
• Crockpot chicken and stuffing
• Tater Tot Casserole (can be a freezer meal, but I haven't made it yet)
• Chicken Ranch Quesadillas
• Chicken BBQ (can be a freezer meal, but I haven't made it yet)
• Meatloaf (can be a freezer meal, but I haven't made it yet)
• Chicken pot pie (freezer meal)
• Lawnmower Taco
• Honey Lime Tilapia (freezer meal)
• Saucy Roast Beef
• Grilled Cheese
• Breakfast
• Chicken Teriyaki

This girl...

This girl is so cute, she manages to pull off overalls, a headband, and rain boots...in my completely unbiased opinion anyway.

2 or a teenager?

At what point did my child become a teenager? Look at how she's sitting in these pictures. Also, yesterday I was asking her who her friends were at school. Her reply, "my boys are my friends." Oh dear.

Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap...A Giveaway!

Update: Congratulations Lindsey McCurry, Katy Gouge, & Cheryl Taylor! You are the winners of this giveaway!

It's time for another Purex review and giveaway! Please note: I'm using a different giveaway application this time, so please tell me if you have problems! I am trying to find the best option!

I received two different bottles of Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap to test and review! The two scents that I received were Coconut Lime Verbena and Yellow Raspberry & Black Sugar. I have to admit, when I first saw these names I thought, "Eh. I really don't know if I'm going to like these." I'm here to tell you that I was wrong! I actually really like both of these scents! These soaps have just enough scent to them that if you smell your hands they smell nice and clean, but not so much that it overpowers you for the rest of the day!

The soap itself has gentle micro-scrubbers... aka what I like to call "the little gritty pieces." Personally, I love this! It makes me feel like the soap is doing a great job of scrubbing the germs away! However, my 2-year-old is not as big of a fan. She loves to wash her hands, but not with this soap! I'm not sure why, but she does not like the micro-scrubbers!

I received this soap at just the right time! My husband was recovering from the flu, my daughter had a cold, and I ended up with strep! Needless to say I was washing my hands A LOT! Prior to receiving this soap, my hands had become very chapped from washing them so much. I can say that since switching to this premium hand soap, they have not gotten any worse, and they are even a little less chapped! Dial uses a moisturizing formula with skin conditioners to hydrate your skin.

The packaging is bright and colorful! I have one bottle in my kitchen and one bottle in my guest bathroom. They are much prettier than some bottles of hand soap that I've seen.

Now for what you've been waiting for...the giveaway! I have 5 coupons to give to 5 winners! Each winner will receive a coupon for a free bottle of Dial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap. Remember, I'm using a new giveaway application, so let me know if you have any problems. There are several ways to earn entries in the giveaway, and some methods even allow you to earn entries every day. This giveaway will end Thursday, March 13, 2014 at 11:59 pm.

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A Chick-fil-a Birthday Party!!!

If you know us, you know that once a week we eat breakfast at Chick-fil-a. Seriously, I think we've missed 2 or 3 weeks since Eliana was born. Eliana is known by almost all of the staff there and even some regular customers look for her each week. It's actually become pretty funny. We decided that would be a great place to have her party! We were looking for somewhere relatively cheap, but still nice and fun. Chick-fil-a was a perfect choice!

Then came the decision of what the party theme should be. I really wanted to do some sort of Disney theme, but I decided to wait until after we take her there later in the year. We thought about the fact that it was at Chick-fil-a and decided to do a cow theme. At first I wasn't sold on the idea, but by the time we got it all together, I loved it!

We just invited a few of her closest friends. Unfortunately 2 of them had a stomach bug, so they couldn't make it. Her party consisted of 3 little girls, and it was so much fun! They loved playing in the play place (a treat for Eliana since her Mom is a little on the OCD side) and playing "Ring Around the Rosie." Mommy may have saved the day and joined her on the Play Place.

Uncle Tuck played, too!

I knew I wanted to make a cow cake, but I wasn't exactly how I wanted to do it. After looking at tons of pictures, this was the final product.

And no party would be complete without treat bags!

Don't forget the presents!

Playing her new piano like Mommy!

I had to post this one of Popsy modeling a pretty pink shirt!

I'm going to post this video of the girls playing "Ring Around the Rosie." Please note that it will not work from a mobile device.

Where's your favorite place to host a child's birthday party, or what was your favorite birthday party? Leave a comment and tell me! Maybe we can give each other ideas!