Truvia Sampling

I always enjoy samplings that I get to include my family. Truvia (from crowd tap) was one of those! The mission was to create a lemonade stand. They sent along all the supplies we'd need (including a $10 gift card to buy things like fresh lemons-nothing beats fresh squeezed lemonade!). 

Kit from crowdtap :) I'm digging the shades!

 We decided we had to have a yummy sweet to go with our lemonade. We opted to try Tuvia lemon bars (recipe here). Unfortunately, I over cooked the mixture for the top layer a bit too long, so the look was a bit off so we didn't put them out for the stand, but the crust was perfect and the bars were tasty, despite the less-than-perfect appearance!

lemon bar ingredients!

making the crust

bars ready to pop in the over

don't look perfect, but were yummy!

"yummy!"

L resisting shoving the whole bar in his mouth!

The next step was to make the lemonade! We used the recipe right on the cups we received, it was super easy! 7 cups of cold water, juice from 4 lemons (got to try out my new lemon juicer from walmart from the 25 cent clearance bin!), 4 table spoons plus 2 teaspoons (or 16 packets) of truvia. Stir to dissolve, serve over ice! The kids got to help me make it, their favorite part was juicing the lemons. While the lemonade chilled in the fridge, the kids got to work on their sign. I wrote "Truvia Lemonade Stand" since my hand writing is just a tad neater, then let them decorate it. We put everything out than got to taste testing while we waiting for our "customers" to arrive. The kids were begging me for more and I found it to be the perfect mix of sweet and tangy (I am not a fan of over-ly tangy lemonade). We got visits froma few of our family and friends (including Grammy and Auntie Kyra, who were nice enough to let us photograph them!) and we poured some lemonade into a bottle for Uncle Ronnie's girlfriend CC who couldn't make it to the stand. Talk about a special delivery!

making lemonade!

Hard at work making signs!

Come check us out!

I have some talented boys!

Baby J digs in

L showing off his cup

C can't wait to drink it!

A is showing off CC's water bottle filled with lemonade

Even mommy got in on the selfie action!

playing with the truvia shades!

Giving some lemonade to grammy

grammy says yummy!

sharing some love with Auntie Kyra

Over all opinions of the lemonade were very favorable. I love truvia because it's an all natural sweetner. Less than 5 tablespoons of truvia were enough to sweeten the whole pitcher. It was easy and fun to make, and everyone from the tiny tots to the grown ups loved it!

Sample Share: Raisin Bran

I've had a very exciting August so far. Took a trip to California and met my favorite actor of all time, as well as a lovely bunch of ladies I am so glad to call my friends.

Hands down the nicest guy I've ever met!

Some of my lovely ladies and I before dinner, photo courtesy of Pam

So that said, I've fallen a bit behind on my sampling! I've got three so far lined up for you guys. The first is from Crowdtap, which as you all know is one of my favorite sites. I got the chance to try Raisin Bran. As a kid, this was not my favorite cereal. I would pick all the raisins out and leave the bran flakes. I was so disappointed that there was never enough raisins! I was excited to see if it had changed (more raisins!!) and to see how it stacked up to my adult palate. The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was that there was, indeed, more raisins! When I was done my happy dance, I took a look at the dry product. The flakes were nice quality flakes with very little crumby bits. I added some milk and sat down to taste it. It made me happy. The flakes tasted good (I was relieved to find they did not taste like cardboard, as some bran cereal does) and the amount of raisins went well with them. I had raisins in almost every bite (this is very important to me, as you can tell). I ate most of it quickly, but wanted to see how the flakes fared to sitting in the milk. As a mom of four young boys, I don't always get to eat meals right away and am constantly distracted, especially in the morning. While they definitely got wet, they were still edible. It actually took quite some time for them to get really soggy, which is a huge plus in this household. I'll be crossing my fingers for some coupons or a good sale because I would love to get this cereal in my cabinet.

dry product

milk added

Sample share: Cottonelle cleancare routine

My final sample share of this epic run: Cottonelle clean care routine. It included a sample of both toilet paper and wipes for me, as well as coupons and travel packs for three of my lucky friends!.

The first thing I did was set up the cleansing wipes dispenser. With six people sharing a bathroom (most of them boys!) you can never have too many cleaning items available. I was pleased with how easy the pack was to open and how easy it was to fill the dispenser.

Nice, easy rip!

It sits nicely on our bar soap holder!

It's first use came quickly-I had a messy four year old who just couldn't wipe his bum well enough! The usual solution? He bends over while mommy cleans him with some wet toilet paper. That's got to feel gross (although my DS just giggles!). The Cottonelle wipes were perfect-quick and easy! Next I got to pick out who to dish the sample packs to.

Bob looks very enthusiastic!

My mom is my sampling buddy! I can always count on her for an honest opinion--and a great photo!

Ron was excited to try these out-he wouldn't put the cat down for the photo op!

As you can imagine, toilet paper flies off my shelves. We've tried just about every brand you can imagine. Of all the brands we've tried, this is one of the softest. The texture made my six year old to rub the new rolls against his cheek since it was so soft! It was strong and didn't rip or shred when we tore it into squares (one of our DS loves to over-use toilet paper, so we've taken to lying out a few squares across the counter to avoid a half roll being used every time he pees--and that's not an exaggeration!) nor when we wet it for easy clean up once the wipes we used up. Cottonelle is easily one of my top three brands, and I love to stock up when I find a great sale!

my six year old being silly

"Mom! it's so SOFT!"

"I love this paper!!"

Sample Share: Kleenex

July continues to be a great crowdtap month! (Side note: I won $25 worth of Amazon gift cards on top of my sample shares! Feeding my Amazon addiction!) This time, my boys and I got to sample Kleenex tissues! The box reads "thick & absorbent." I feel like "soft" should have been thrown in for good measure. I could not come up with anything negative to say! To be perfectly honest, we are usually a "buy whatever is wicked cheap" family, and we usually grab a few squares of toilet paper to wipe our noses during cold season. We always find ourselves grabbing kleenex off the shelves in late August, as the boy's school specifically asked for the brand--and now I can see why! The tissues were softer than any other I've used. The boys and I had a ton of fun testing out the tissues:

sample share :)

Apparently, according to L "This is where we gotta put the tissues!"

testing out the softness

L, showing me how it's REALLY done

Kleenex alternate uses: picking up gross stuff

Kleenex alternate uses: dusting ceiling fans

I posted this to twitter...and got mocked by my mama! Apparently I look funny :P

Schick Hydro 5 groomer

Happy July! Today's sampling review is of the Schick Hydro 5 Groomer! It's a neat 4-in-1 styling tool. One end has a shaver, and the other end is the groomer styling tool.

Neat groomer tool

Shaving end-should have taken the photo BEFORE hubby used it!

The blades allowed for a nice, easy clean shave. The groomer helped, as he had quite a bit of facial hair to get off (he trims it down then clean shaves). He normally used an electric shaver, but this groomer did the trick (it even vibrates!). With a price point of roughly $12-16, depending on where you buy, it's a decent price. It's cheaper than many of the grooming sets I took a look at, and does a good job.

The groomer-brand new

serious faces--showing off! He hid from me the day he shaved!

Silly faces (notice his is the same ;))

Crowd Tap: Sweet & Low sample share

I've been procrastinating blogging my sample shares this month. Getting used to a new work schedule and preparing for baby boy #3's fourth birthday has left me with little free time. Now, here I am with one day left to submit my next two reports! Earlier this month, I posted about how fortunate I have been this month with crowdtap (seriously, sign up now if you haven't yet!) and being selected for sample shares. Every time I do one, I like to post a blog on it to share my experiences.

When the sample share for sweet & low, I was interested in trying it out. My sole experience with sweet & low was when I was on the basket ball team (or maybe cheer leading team? I don't recall which year it was) in middle school. We went to Jade Garden to celebrate something, a rare win, perhaps? I sat with a table of girls and we ate all the sugar packets. Straight up. We ran out of sugar, so went for the sweet & low and equal. In hind sight, not a good plan. While they do an excellent job sweetening up a drink, our 11/12 year old selves did not enjoy eating them!

My mom has also been on a health kick lately. She's lost over 100 pounds by being active and watching her diet (Mom, if you read this, I'm so proud of you!). I knew right away that this sample share would be something she would love to partake in and try out as well. So I immediately hit the sign up button.

Sample share included: a 50 pack for me, recipe cards to try out, and 5 samples to share with friends.

The sample share came with recipe cards for low calorie drinks. I was very intrigued by those. Since I had a play date coming up, I went with the Sunny Citrus Soda to try first.

Ingredients and card

finished product

It was so yummy! It tasted like one of those delicious fruity drinks Ruby Tuesdays often has available. The calorie count and fruit juice made me feel good about drinking it. It was definitely a win in my book. 

I've tried a few different low calorie sweeteners, and so far sweet & low is my favorite. :)

Teen enjoy low-calorie options as well as grown ups!

My mom is so excited to try her sample!

Litter Genie: Review

'Tis the season of sample shares at crowd tap, it seems! I've been lucky enough to get selected for a handful these last few weeks. First up: Litter Genie! As a fur mommy to two adorable cats, I was so intrigued by this item when the brand first popped up on my crowd tap dash. The brand claims to dispose of litter in a non-smelly way. If you check out their web site, you can score a coupon for $5 off. So on to the sampling:

The first thing we did was personalize that bad boy with my sweetie's names:

We then set it up. Helpful hint: read the directions before you attempt! ;) I skimmed over them and did a pretty good job setting it up...but more on that in a bit!

Jasper was curious...so I let her sniff it out for a bit.

Then I couldn't wait to try it. We had been using regular, non clumping litter as we lucked out with two chill, non-smelly cats (unless we give them cheap cat food--we have since learned to check that ingredient list!). At $2 a bag, the walmart litter works well. We just dump the whole box every 1-1.5 weeks and we're good to go. I scooped out some poop (the scoop that came with the genie worked excellent, even with the larger grains of litter) and put it into the genie. This is where the reading directions part comes in handy! When I skimmed through, I knew you had to pull the grey handle to dispose of the poop into the bottom portion of the genie. What I failed to notice is that you need to pull it down a bit and slide it through the cutter so you can tie and dispose of the bags when you are ready to do so. I couldn't figure it out at first, so I left it in the genie for a few days until I could locate my sheet that one of my four boys took somewhere (and added their own drawing to!). The non-smelly factor was very helpful here! Earlier today I tackled it--pulling the bag down and sliding it through the cutter--very, very easy! There was no mess, though I did almost forget to tie the bottom of the new bag. 

Poop---and maybe a few pieces of cat food my precious darlings tossed in the genie...

clearly labeled kid-proof cutter :)

Over all, I was pleased with this product. If I had a crazy good deal, I would purchase it. If my cats were smellier than they are, I would probably pay a tiny bit more. I plan to get some clumping cat litter (I can find a coupon for that, I'm sure? Target is running a $10 off a $40 pet food/litter purchase now!) and see if we can save a bit by scooping the boxes instead of dumping the whole thing. It used to be such a chore--but the genie makes it quick and easy. We set it down right next to the cat box for easy access. If you have cats (esp. more than one...and esp. smelly ones!) I definitely recommend giving this a try (and look above! I left you a link for a coupon! Coupons are GOOD use them! ;) )

Litter Genie next to the pink box--and Jasper!

Katniss is checking things out!