Product Reviews Archives - Page 2 of 5

2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco Review

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2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco Review

Through generous sponsorship from Champion Chevrolet Gulf Freeway, I was able to attend Bloggy Boot Camp in Dallas 10 days ago. This was my first blogging conference – ever – and I was so excited to attend. It was a fantastic weekend full of networking, knowledge, and energy. I came home with pages and pages of notes on how I was going to improve my blog, grow it immediately, then quit my day job.

Just kidding. Slow and steady growth is the key to success in blogging. I’ll have more of a wrap up of what I learned at the conference later. I think I’m still processing most of it.

Four of us set out in the 2013 Malibu Eco provided by Champion Chevrolet – Lisa from Milehimama, Jen from Still Living the Dream, Amanda from Grow Soul Beautiful and myself. We carpooled, giggled, and tweeted the whole way from Houston to Dallas. Well, maybe I was light on the tweets, driving and all…

Isn’t she pretty?

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Zaycon Chicken Review

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We eat a lot of boneless skinless chicken breast at my house. A regular meal is usually two pounds to feed the four carnivores in my household. I had heard great things about Zaycon Foods from some fellow bloggers and jumped on the chance to do a review for them. They sell in bulk, in events around the city. The closest one to me was in Baytown.

Usually I get my meat from one of the smaller stores in the Pasadena area. A lot of times, though, the smaller stores don’t have enough supply to meet my meat demand. I have got to give Zaycon Foods credit for that. By buying in bulk and packaging the meat for my family, I can be assured of having enough supply on hand to counter any price increases at the grocery store. In addition, my family lives in a small town in Galveston County. Can you imagine the sticker shock I felt, knowing they paid $3.01/lb for boneless skinless chicken breast?!

I received a 40 lb box of boneless skinless chicken breasts. For that event, Zaycon’s price was $1.79/lb. You can see it was packed on 5/15. I picked it up from Zaycon on 5/18.

The chicken came in a large box. Inside the large box was a large bag, with 4 smaller bags inside. Very easy to divide up if you were buying a case with a friend.

I ended up with 19 smaller bags of about 2 lbs each. This is about what I use for a meal for us.

The chicken itself did need a little work. You have to trim each breast, removing the fat and separating the lobes. Not really hard, but it can get a little time consuming. I opted to just freeze the breasts as is, and trim them up as I used them.

You can see when they’ll be in Houston again, here, as well as sign up to receive their newsletters.

Overall, I would highly recommend Zaycon Foods to anyone who:
• Has the space to store 40lbs of meat OR has someone to split a case with.
• Eats a lot of chicken.
• Doesn’t have ready access to a cheaper price.

Kristin

Declare Your Independence! Hershey’s Simple Pleasures

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As anyone who has met me knows, I could stand to lose a little weight.

And if you think it’s more than a little, you can keep that to yourself.

I promise.

So when I got the opportunity to try Hershey’s new Simple Pleasures chocolates, I was all a flutter.

Chocolate? Yes, please.

BETTER FOR YOU chocolate? Bring it on, sister. Losing weight is hard. I welcome anything that makes that a little easier to bear.

Unfortunately, the teenager was home when the shipment came in. Here’s a picture of him, getting his share. THIS is one less than a serving size. Because he was busy putting one into his mouth.

Hershey sent me a sample pack of each of the three flavors. There’s a dark chocolate with chocolate creme, milk chocolate with chocolate creme and a milk chocolate with vanilla creme. My favorite was the milk chocolate with chocolate creme. The kids enjoyed the milk chocolate with vanilla creme. There is also a distinct possibility that the rest of the chocolate is hidden from everyone else in a place they’ll never look – the back of the fridge.

Hershey’s Simple Pleasures chocolates have 30 percent less fat than the average leading milk chocolates. They are so light and delicious, you won’t even miss the fat. Promise. Packed with flavor, I was satisfied with just one or two pieces every time I had a craving!

You can win your own sample pack at their Twitter party!

Date – Wednesday, July 11
Time – 8-9 p.m. ET
Hashtag – #hsysimplepleasures
Prizes – 5 sample packs like the one I received.

In addition, you can like their Facebook page here, and declare your Sweet Independence! Oh, and there might be a coupon for $1/1 there, too.

Disclosure: Hershey gave me chocolate. I took pictures of it. And then I ate it and wrote about it. The Motherhood is running this campaign.

Kristin

My Brave Moment – Movie Review

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I was invited to preview Disney/Pixar’s Brave before it opened last week, and I decided to take all three of my kids (plus my husband). That was me being brave. We love Disney Pixar movies. We own just about all of them on Blu-Ray and are looking forward to adding Finding Nemo to our collection when it comes out this fall. Toy Story and Cars can often be found playing on our tablet for Jamey-entertainment.

This was Jamey’s first time in a regular showing at the movie theater.

Jamey is a rowdy kind of guy.

Not so good at the sitting still thing. Most three year olds aren’t, but he’s a little worse than most. I was so worried that he was going to disturb the other people around us. I get a little sensitive about Jamey and some of his behaviors, because I know some people just think he’s bad and doesn’t listen. He doesn’t mean to be. And except for falling off of Dad’s lap and bumping his head, he did really well for a three year old boy who doesn’t like to sit still. The sheer amount of snacks he had might have influenced this, as well.

And Brave joins that list of fantastic movies that should not be missed.

For the moms of younger kids, there are some scary moments. Jamey wasn’t afraid, but my friend’s little girl behind us was. It is probably a movie for the 5 and up set. Not to give away any spoilers, the movie features Merida, a princess in the Scottish Highlands who wants to change her fate and avoid a marriage. She has triplet younger brothers, who are just adorable. Her mother and father obviously love each other very much (there is a wee bit of leering, but nothing too terrible). Some of the movies themes include cartoon violence, witchcraft, and some scariness.

My husband and I enjoyed it. My teenage son enjoyed it. My tween daughter enjoyed it. Jamey enjoyed it.

Go see Brave and let me know how you like it. There is a Sensory Friendly showing on Saturday at AMC 30!

Kristin

GlassesUSA has a new toy – Virtual Mirror

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I have worn eyeglasses since I was 12 years old. There are pictures of me with wire frames (shut up, it was the nineties) that I wouldn’t be caught dead in now. I had a hard time trying to find glasses that suited me. I remember trying on many dozens of pairs in the optometrist’s office. Not so much, now.

This is so going to be my next pair of glasses.

I buy my glasses online, these days. It’s a great way to get fantastic glasses at a great price. I know a lot of people worry about the quality or the fit or the price, but allow me to reassure you that it is so very easy to get glasses online these days! GlassesUSA offers a 110% lowest price guarantee and a 100% satisfaction guarantee along with a generous refer-a-friend program. Can’t go wrong there.

Here’s my tips for getting glasses online:

1. Measure the frames of the glasses you already have and like. If you have time, go into a retailer and take a look around. If you see a style you really like, write down the style number.

2. Have the optician measure your pupilary distance. You’ll need this number to order your new glasses.

3. Look for coupon codes to get cheap eyeglasses. Oh, look! I have one! Fourth of July Sale:
Get 30% off prescription eyeglasses (or sunglasses), FREE Shipping + $30 Cashback with the code: 4THJULY OR Take 10% off any order of prescription glasses. Code: Blog10

4. Go online to GlassesUSA.com and try their new Virtual Mirror.

Try the new Virtual Mirror!
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