Chapstick Hydration Lock Moisturize & Renew Review

As a member of Smiley360 I was sent Chapstick's new Hydration Lock Moisture & Renew to review. My sample couldn't have come at a better time because the weather has started to cool and my lips were needing some extra attention.

It has made my lips feel and look great. The scent is very neutral which I like. It also doesn't have any greasy feel to it. I love that it's a 2 in 1. The moisturizing side gives your lips long lasting hydration for a fuller and smoother appearance and the renew side softens and revitalizes lips.

This also comes in Hydration Lock Day & Night which gives your lips 24 hours of lip care. If you'd like more info about either of this products you can go here.

* I received this product free from Smiley360 in exchange for my honest review. Opinions are my own.

Blue Ribbon Baking from a Redneck Kitchen - Book Review

I have really enjoyed reading through this cookbook. All of her stories about being in the kitchen with her grannies and her mother made me think of all the wonderful memories I have of baking when I was a little girl. The names of her recipes are so fun. They are down home easy to make with normal ingredients. Some really great combinations I'd never think of like her chocolate bacon peanut butter pie.

Flipping through this cookbook just made me feel happy. I felt like she could be a good friend because of the way she comes across in this book. I can tell she puts a lot of time and love into her creations. I'm so happy she got her dream of publishing her own cookbook and sharing with all of us.

I'm looking forward to making many of these recipes for gatherings with family and friends. Purdy's Peppermint Pie is on my list for Christmas time. I love that she includes her little Blue Ribbon Tips at the end of some of the recipes. The only thing I wished was included was more pictures. I love seeing photos of what the end product should be. It also really helps me decide if I want to make it or not.

Overall it's a wonderful cookbook. I highly recommend this book if you like baking. So many wonderful memories to be made of your own with it. You can find out more about this book here.

* I received this book from Blogging For Books for this review. Opinions are my own.

The Skinnytaste Cookbook - Book Review

I am absolutely thrilled with this cookbook! I can't get over how many recipes I want to make from it. The best part is that I know my family will like most of them too. The photos are just beautiful. The dishes are full of color and just make me think happiness on a plate. When food looks that good it just makes me happy.

I love all the side notes of perfect pairings (she suggests other dishes or sides to go along with it) and skinnyscoops (tips). She also lists nutrition information for each recipe. She definitely proves that food can taste good and be healthy for you too.

I hadn't heard of Gina Homolka or her blog Skinnytaste before I got this book but she definitely has a fan in me now. If you'd like to find out more about this book and the author you can visit here.

I definitely recommend this cookbook. I know with all of the 150 recipes included you will surely find several that will be to your liking.

*I received this book from Blogging For Books for this review. Opinions are my own.

Seventh Generation Natural Hand Wash - Review

As a member of Smiley360 I recently received this Seventh Generation Natural Hand Wash to review. It was great to get a full sized bottle so we could use it several times and get a good idea of how much we like it. This particular bottle is the Mandarin Orange & Grapefruit scent.

First of all, I love the clean and fresh look of the bottle. I like that I can see through the bottle. The design on the bottle is great too. Very simple but eye catching. I have had this bottle sitting in our main bathroom for us and company to use. It is gentle on my hands and smells nice. I do wish the scent was a little stronger. It seems a tad weak to me. I like it to linger a bit more but that's just my opinion.

This hand wash is made with plant- based ingredients. It is free of triclosan, dyes, and phthalates and also is a hypoallergenic formula.

If you'd like more info on this Seventh Generation Hand Wash or their other products you can find them here.

I received this product for free from Smiley360 in exchange for my review. Opinions are my own.

Down South- Book Review

This cookbook has a great variety of recipes. The photos are beautiful and I enjoyed learning more about the South in general. Each recipe has a background story or a tidbit of info about it. I really like the layout of the book and how easy to read it is.

I was a little disappointed as most of the recipes are a bit fancier than I was expecting for Southern food. Maybe fancy is not the word I want but maybe a bit more sophisticated like restaurant feel than home cooking. I did find a few recipes I will be trying like the smoked chicken thighs, yeast rolls, and chocolate chunk monster cookies. Of course I had to tell my boys there is a recipe included for frog legs. The frogs in our yard though are teeny tiny so they won't have to worry about ending up in my kitchen.

I think this would be a great cookbook for someone who likes to have dinner parties or even leave out on the coffee table for company to look through since it contains more than just recipes and photos of food.

If you'd like more info on this cookbook by Donald Link you can find it here. If you'd like a sneak peak of it you can look here.

* I received this book from Blogging For Books for this review. Opinions are my own.

The Homesick Texan's Family Table - Book Review

I just have to start out by saying this cookbook was even more than I was hoping for. The photo on the front really caught my attention and I was so happy to get to do a review for it.

The photos are just beautiful and I have so many of the recipes marked already for my "want to make" list. I love that they all seem to have easy to access ingredients. A majority of them I know my family will love. I don't cook as much in summer trying to keep the house cool but I can't wait to get started making some of these. We have cooler weather coming over the weekend and I plan to make the plum cobbler and oatmeal bread first.

The background stories for each of the recipes are a great addition. I really like it when an author inclueds the background of how or where the recipe came about. There is also a resource guide at the end in case you have trouble finding any of the Mexican ingredients needed for a few of the recipes. This cookbook is just a dream to read and I can't wait to share with my family. As I was glancing through the book when I first got it I actually called my mom right away to tell her about the divinity recipe included. I'm going to make it for her when she comes up to visit us next month.

If you'd like to find out more Lisa Fain and this book you can go here.  I definitely recommend this book. Cooking with or for your family from this cookbook is sure to make for some happy tummies!

* I received this book from Blogging For Books for this review.  Opinions are my own.

***Update*** Sept 12th

I finally got a chance to make the plum cobbler on page 229. It is so good & very easy to make.

Ten Years of Homeschooling

Hard to believe we just started our 10th year of homeschooling. I have no clue where time has gone. Each year I've said we'd take it year by year and here we are our oldest is in 9th grade. I'm always so thankful we have the freedom to choose this path for our family.

We're about 2 weeks in for this year. We take it slow getting back into a routine of sorts. The oldest is doing almost all of his work this year on his own. Of course I keep a daily check on what he's doing and how it's going. We used America the Beautiful for all 4 boys last year for American History and just loved it so he moved on into their World History for high school. I am actually reading this along with him just because it's so good. Well, and I want to be prepared for when he's got questions!

The younger 3 are doing Uncle Sam and You. This one we do as a read aloud and then discuss it. I'm looking forward to this one also because it touches on more local things such as your own community and how things work.

The older 2 boys are using Apologia Physical Science and working on that together. The younger 2 are using the new Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics and really enjoying it so far. They are quite excited they get to do some experiments.

Today it was so nice out so we actually did our lava lamps outside. I wanted to be sure the Alka-Seltzer tablets didn't cause a mess in the house in case the lids didn't get on the bottles quick enough. This little experiment was about density. 

Of course we have math, English, and all that other stuff thrown in the mix of school time. Daily life happens too. Which is probably why I'm just now getting to this blog post after we've started 2 weeks ago.  :o)