A Blog Makeover, And A Giveaway!

May 12, 2012 By 28 Comments

I have been such a bad blogger lately! Life took over, and I have neglected my poor little blog, as well as my readers. Forgive me! I promise to try to do better in the coming days. :)

The upside of my leave of absence from the blogosphere is that I come back to you with two things; a whole new blog design, *and* a fun giveaway sponsored by my all-time favorite cleaning product … Lemi Shine!

In regards to my blog, I felt it was time to get back to the basics of who I am … a simple gal, who loves art, design, and living in the country. It was time that my blog design reflected me personally, so I spent the past couple of days creating a new look. Personally, I love “clean” easy-to-read websites when I surf and I thought my own site should be just as easy to navigate. Who needs a bunch of fluff or busy blinky things in the sidebars? I prefer simple … it suits me. What do you think?

Now, for the giveaway!

Lemi Shine is an all-natural cleaning agent that not only takes that icky white film off your dishes, but it cleans just about everything else too. (Well, at least at my house it does!) As a matter of fact, I was so impressed by it that I emailed the company to let them know how much I appreciated their product. I then asked them if they gave away samples or gift bags so that I could hold a giveaway on my blog, and they very graciously sent the product! Take a peek:
 

 

I have used Lemi Shine in my dishwasher with wonderful results! After years of fighting the awful film left behind by hard water buildup, my dishes now come out sparkly clean. I have also used it to clean my coffee maker with the same fantastic results. The garbage disposal? Awesome! Honestly, I use this product for most of my cleaning needs. LOVE IT!

I have to say, I also *love* the fact that this product is eco-friendly, and I don’t have to worry about any chemical residue being left behind. It gives me a little more peace in my life. :)

I have already given away one gift bag, and this giveaway will contain 4 winners (yes, FOUR!); there will be two local winners and two out-of-town winners. Here is what our winners will receive:

  • A bright and cheerful reusable Lemi Shine tote
  • 1 full-size bottle of Lemi Shine
  • 1 full-size bottle of Lemi Shine Rinse Aid
  • 1 full-size box of Lemi Shine Machine Cleaner

How is that for fun?! :) Now, here is what you need to do to enter …

  1. Go over to Lemi-Shine’s Facebook page and “like” them.
  2. Leave a comment here (*not* on my facebook wall where you will see the link to this blog post!) and let me know you would like to be entered into the giveaway.
  3. Share this post on your own Facebook page (wall, timeline) so your friends can come over to enter too! The more the merrier!

If you don’t use Facebook, that’s ok. You can still be entered by leaving a comment here. If you do use Facebook however, please complete all 3 steps, but you only need to leave one comment below. Lemi Shine was kind enough to sponsor these giveaways, so in return I think we should be kind enough to “like” them and spread the word. Good etiquette, don’t you think? ;)

*** This giveaway closes at midnight (MST) on May 20th, and the winners will be chosen randomly using the random.org number generator. Announcement of winners will follow on May 21st. Make sure you use a valid email address when commenting so that I can contact you in the event that you win. ***

Happy Cleaning!



May 12, 2012 By 28 Comments - Filed Under: Giveaways, Latest Articles, Product Reviews

Is Google Reading Your E-Mail?

January 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

What’s All The Fuss About?

There has been a lot of talk lately about Google reading your email for targeted advertising purposes. People are worried, which is understandable, but the reality is that regardless of where you store your email, it can be read by someone. Your ISP provider, the company that holds your email (whether it be Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, or a private company that hosts your own domain), and of course it can be accessed at any time by the authorities or the government if they feel you are doing something illegal.

What Is Targeted Advertising?

Targeted advertising does not mean that someone is actually reading your email. It is a type of “bot” or automated program that scans the words in your emails (subjects, addresses, and content) to provide advertisements based on what they think you are interested in. It is not a human personally going through your email. Can you imagine the type of manpower it would take to have enough people sitting there day in and day out reading EVERY email that is sent? Wow!

After the bots scan your email, it places a cookie on your computer that then “follows” where you go to provide more targeted advertising to you as browse the web. Cookies are everywhere … and unfortunately they are not the type you eat. :)

How To Opt Out:

If you are a Gmail user, you can opt out of targeted advertising; both in your e-mail and on the web. To do this, simply go to this website. You will be asked for your Google username and password, and once you log in you will see there are two links on the left-hand side: “Ads on Search and Gmail” and “Ads on the web”. Make sure you click them both, and then click the blue “Opt Out” button. Easy, peasy!

To see who else may be storing cookies on your computer and virtually “following” you around the web to provide targeted advertising, go to this website and take a peek at the list of what cookies are being stored on your computer by these companies. If it isn’t automatically selected, choose the middle tab (in the middle of the page) that says, “Companies customizing ads for your browser”. Place a checkmark in the boxes, and click “Submit your choices”.

How To Protect Your Surfing Habits:

To protect your browser from storing cookies (and thus your surfing habits), here are my top tips:

  • Use Firefox as your browser and then download and install the AdBlock Plus extension!
  • Make sure you have your browser set to reject 3rd party cookies.
  • Set your browser to delete your cookies and clear your cache automatically when you close your browser. (Yes, you will have to re-login to your favorite websites each time you restart your browser, but it’s worth it!) In Firefox, you can find these settings under Tools > Options > Privacy
  • Check back at this website often, and opt-out of any new companies that show on your list.

If you don’t use Firefox as your browser (which I *highly* suggest!), simply use your favorite search engine and search “How to clear cache in Internet Explorer” (or whatever browser you use) and “How to reject 3rd party cookies”. You should come up with lots of links that show you how to do it for your preferred browser.

Keeping your cache cleared, rejecting 3rd party cookies, and using an ad blocker will help keep your computer much cleaner and your privacy will be invaded much less often. That’s always a plus, right? :)

I hope this helps alleviate some of the worry you might have regarding your Gmail privacy options.

 



January 26, 2012 By 1 Comment - Filed Under: Latest Articles, News & Media

Blog Update

January 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’m going to be updating my blog soon, so if you happen to come by and it looks one way, then go to a different page and the style has changed, it just means I am tinkering with my design. LOL!

I just can’t seem to leave things alone, can I?

Anyway, I just thought I would give you fair warning. ;)



January 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment - Filed Under: Latest Articles

Private Selections – Review

January 1, 2012 By 2 Comments

My latest campaign as a BzzAgent was to review an appetizer, pizza, and dessert by Private Selections.

I was sent my BzzKit which included coupons to receive these items for free at the grocery store (Smith’s being our local store that carries the private label by Kroger), so my hubby stopped off after worked and picked out our items. I must say, he chose very well!

I put the items he chose on the bottom row of the graphic above. From left to right, these were his choices:
Southwestern Style Chicken Trumpets (appetizer), Margherita Napolitana Pizza, and Belgian Chocolate Lava Cake. (Does he know my love for chocolate, or what?)

I think we were both very surprised by how good these products were! Our least favorite would have to be the appetizers, but even at that, they were still pretty tasty. The onion and green peppers really came through and they almost reminded me of a spanish rice. The only drawback I found with these was the fact that they were a bit expensive, in my opinion. $6.49 for 9 small appetizers. Eh, not such a great price. Good thing I had my coupons to get them for free, or I probably wouldn’t have bought them.

The pizza was wonderful! I loved the crispy crust. Here is the description of the pizza:

“Margherita Napolitana Pizza, topped with halved grape tomatoes, pearlini mozzarella, basil, and Stravecchio parmesan cheese.”

Now doesn’t that sound yummy? And truly, it was. The tomatoes were incredibly juicy, and the basil flavor was wonderful. At $4.99, I thought it was a pretty good buy. For me, one pizza would make 2 meals. For a big eater, you would probably want a whole one for yourself.

Now the dessert … well let’s just say it was our favorite part of the food tasting! The Belgian Chocolate Lava Cake was rich, indulgent, and oh-so-chocolatey! The directions say to microwave for 30 seconds, or until the chocolate in the middle starts to ooze up. In our microwave, it took close to a minute. Not bad for an ultra-yummy dessert!

The price is ok with me too; $5.49 per box with 4 cakes to the box. That averages out to about $1.38 per serving. Considering you would spend twice that on a piece of pie somewhere, I think it’s fair. These would be great for those times you really want something sweet, but don’t want to take the time to bake from scratch. (They are very calorie-rich as well, so it’s not something I would recommend on a daily basis unless you have an incredibly high metabolism. LOL!)

All in all, I think the Private Selections line of frozen foods could be quite successful. My only recommendation to the company would be to lower some of their prices a bit. Other than that, I give two thumbs up for this brand. If you decide to give them a try, come back and let me know what you think!

Thanks again to BzzAgent for another great campaign!



January 1, 2012 By 2 Comments - Filed Under: BzzAgent, Latest Articles, Product Reviews