Entering Sweepstakes Can be SO BORING

So every now and then I go around and enter a bunch of sweepstakes hoping I'll one day win. It hasn't happened yet! That said, there are some good ones going on I'll share with you. Reader's Digest is giving 10 Kindle's away (complete with $40 in Amazon $ for books). readersdigest.com/kindlesweeps

That site keeps erroring on me, everyone must have got their magazine today and tried to enter or something!

There's also another site, fastsweeper.com that allows you to enter a ton of contests with one click. You can sign up and enter the first time for free, then it's like $28.99 for 3 months thereafter. They do guarantee a win though, so if you haven't won after 3 months the next three months is free, and so on, until you win. I have yet to win anything from that but I signed up about 5 months ago and sure enough, when I emailed that I didn't win, they gave me another 3 months free. I wish I'd win something already!

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I'm still waiting on my Beauty Fix package, and it's driving me nuts because I know it's in my city! Will it get here today or tomorrow? It's frustrating having to wait!

I did recently get the new Intuition razor though, so I'll review that. First off, I LOVE Venus razors. Have been using them since that very first commercial came out years ago. I have super sensitive skin and never went back to anything after Venus. It was a 5 star product for me.

Until Intuition. I really didn't think it would compare, but it blew Venus away! I swear my legs have never felt this smooth before and I am now hooked for life. I keep eyeballing my Venus refills and telling myself I HAVE to use them before I buy Intuition refills, but I am tempted! The smoothness lasts longer, I find I don't need to shave as often, and my legs are bump free! With my sensitive skin and using sensitive gel and any normal razors, I break out all over my legs. With Venus, it wasn't nearly as bad but I'd still get a few bumps. With Intuition, nada!

So it is thicker around and bulkier, which I thought I'd hate, but I atcually love that. I don't think I've dropped it once, whereas the Venus' skinner handle gets dropped not a lot, but enough. Also, my Venus gets used up a lot quicker because it rusts or the gel stuff disappears from sitting in the shower. I know it comes with the handy case to stick to your shower wall, but mine never stays stuck. And if I take it out of the shower, I'll forget it until I'm in and needing it. So, it rots in the water. The Intuition has a nice cap that covers it and then some, keeping the water out and my gel fresh!

And it is smooth. I quickly gave it 5 stars, bumping my beloved Venus down to 4. Oh well, such is life.

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And my new movie to review is Valkyrie. Okay, I didn't like it. Hate me if you must, I know the world loved this movie, but not me. I didn't hate it, I actually sat through and finished it, but it bored me. I'm not one for War movies anyways but this did look good in the previews. I just thought it sucked and dragged on. I mean, what was the point in making a movie about one of the 15-20 times they tried to take Hitler down and failed? Seriously? I think I'm done with War movies, and Tom Cruise, for awhile. I'm not a Cruise fan anyways, but, well, the previews looked good.

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And on to my book of the "week". I am currently working through the May Bird series, I'm on the first book. It's dragging for me. It started off interesting enough; the main girl, May, finds a letter from the Ever After calling for help, and her and her hairless cat Somber Kitty go through to help. You'd think it makes for a great tale, but I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it's too soon after reading Un Lun Dun, because it pales in comparison and the stories are similar as far as plot so far. I'm almost at the end, because I am dragging through it, but I don't know if I can make myself read the next two books. Maybe if I take a break after this one... We'll see. Bleh.

BeautyFix

I just found out about a new site/program called Beautyfix. Now, normally I am against paying for anything when it comes to trying stuff out, but I had to check this out. For $49.99 you get some of the season's top picks by celebrity's and their makeup artists. These are products worth hundred's of dollars and you get them at a deep discount to try them out and you can earn gift cards for reviewing them as well. Also you get another discount should you buy any products you like. The site link is here;
http://start.beautyfix.com/dms1106/

Now, I haven't gotten my first kit yet, but I did cave in and order it after thinking on it a few days. That's one thing I always try to do when making a big purchase, sit and think it over a few days and see if I forget about it or still "have to have it!". I found myself oogling the site itself many times during that time before ordering it and raving to others about it.

So, for $49.99 you get;
8 of the season's hottest beauty products (worth hundreds of dollars)
A makeup bag
Tips from the industries leading professionals
A $25 gift card to glow.com (after reviewing your products)

I just love the whole idea of this. I love trying new things, especially things I hear about on tv or in magazines that are hot items of the season, and this is a bundle that will be like X-mas at my door 4 times a year!

So yeah, enough about that! I will write again when it arrives and what I think of it all.

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Next up, me and my husband just watched the movie Ramen Girl with Brittany Murphy. It was a cute movie and I liked that the setting was in Japan and showed a lot of the lifestyle and traditions of there. The ending was a little confusing, but we figured it out. Overall this reminded me a lot of one a few years back starring Sarah Michelle Gellar where she cooks and her emotions go into the food and all that. Abby (Murphy) is an apprentice for a great Ramen Chef and is learning how to do that while recovering from a break up with her boyfriend. Again, it's a satisfying movie but I did prefer the one with Gellar (which name escapes me). I give it 3 stars, because I did like it but I didn't love it. Again, the end was a little confusing and Abby was a little whiney for my taste. I wouldn't watch it again but it was cute.

My first reviewer blog!

Let me start by saying I am a Stay-at-home-mother of two. I started reviewing products and joining focus groups for something to do while I'm at home, and of course for the free products! I decided to start this blog to basically keep track of all my reviews and share them with anyone who cares. I am not employed by any company, I simply sample stuff from them, and my opinions aren't bought, they are always honest. Companies pay me for my time in sampling their products WITH the products and occasionally points that add up to redeem for gift cards. I'm not really making any kind of income with this, I mostly do it because it's fun and I like free stuff!

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Okay so... so far today I have checked my sites for freebies and entered a few contests, but nothing really exciting. I will talk about a few recent exciting items I sampled though, starting with Purex' 3-in-1 laundry sheets.

I became a Purex Insider a month or so ago and they sent me a sample pack to try and review (there were enough sheets for about 5 loads I think) along with coupons for a free starter pack and cash off. I will say, I was iffy at first about how well this would work. Basically you toss one sheet in with your load of clothes and it has detergent and softener with it that is released at the right times. Then you simply switch the load, sheet and all, to the dryer when it's done and the sheet is then heat activated. Now, because it is heat activated, I only used this in a cold wash (I'm not sure if hot water would activate it or not, and it doesn't say anywhere on the product). I will say, it works! It smells great and my clothes were cling-free! I used all the sheets in my laundry until they were used up and I was impressed! I won't go as far to say that it works better than a combination of detergent, softener and dryer sheet. But it does work as well.

Which made me think, that's great! But how much is it? Well, I found the starter kit for $5.97 at Walmart (and used my free coupon). It does 20 loads (the refill packs do 24 for the same price). So for less than six bucks, getting all 3 products in one easy sheet, that's not bad! Typically I spend that on a bottle of detergent alone which does about the same amount of loads. Then I spend another $3 or so for dryer sheets, which last a few months. (I don't use softener).

So that got me thinking even more that I wish I had this when I used to live upstairs in an apartment and had to drag multiple loads of laundry, a heavy bottle of detergent and my toddler to the laundry mat. And I almost always forgot my sheets. This would have been the perfect product for those trips! And that got me thinking to college students, senior citizens, and well, anyone else who doesn't have a washer/dryer in their dwelling. Which makes this product pretty much amazing. 5 stars!

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My next review is for Repo! The Genetic Opera. Okay I'll admit, when I first heard the title I thought, "LAME". But after a few online friends raved about it, I had to check it out. I don't know why I waited as long as I did! This is seriously my new favorite musical of all times! (Topping out the previously tied Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge and Sweeney Todd).

It's dark, gothic and of course, like all good musicals, tragic. Only instead of a tragic romance (which is there, but more of a subplot) this is a tragic father/daughter story. I laugher, I cried, I sang it for days afterwards. And I bought it. And, I plan to watch it again tonight with my sister and get her as hooked on it as I am. And, I'll probably even buy the soundtrack.

Well, so the premise of the movie is futuristic, and you know how when you don't pay for your car it is repossessed? Well, in this future, people buy organs; such as hearts, livers, etc., on credit. And when they default? The Repo Man cometh for them!

It is sooo good. I recommend it to all. 5 stars!

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And last but certainly not least, my latest book review, Un Lun Dun by China Mie'ville. The basic premise for the book is this, Un Lun Dun is a sort of mirror version of London, only weird. When umbrellas are broken or no longer of use, they go to Un Lun Dun, where they become unbrellas. And such is the way with all the world's trash. Sort of. There are also weird residents, crazy buildings, and even crazier ways of life.

Deeba and her best friend, Zanna, accidentally find themselves in Un Lun Dun. They meet strange new friends, find strange alternatives to their way of life, and oh yeah, find out Zanna is the Chosen one and fated to save Un Lun Dun from the all too smart Smog.

I found myself, for the first time ever, unable to put this down yet forcing myself to just because I wanted to savor it and digest it every few chapters. There is so much going on that it can get overwhelming, but in a good way. It just takes a minute (and occasional reread) to wrap your mind around some of the insane details that describe this crazy, new-aged Alice in Wonderland type tale. It is darker than AiW, though, and definitly more modern. It is also rich with good lessons and morals. Definitly a modern day fairy tale for the 8 up crowd. I passed it to my son when I was finished and insisted he start right away, it is that good! This book gets 5 stars from me and goes on my keep shelf. An instant classic! I hope they make a wacky-doodle movie out of it, too!