The Best Part of Waking Up

While I sit here early, with Nick Jr. on the tv, my toddler running around with a crayon probably coloring on who knows what, and my baby crawling around behind her, I sip on my Three Continent Blend and it suddenly doesn't feel like an early morning after being up with the baby 3 times the night before.
Coffee is my escape.  I can sip the coffee and relax while waking myself up to get ready for a day filled with Fisher Price Little People, Barbie, Aristocats over and over on Netflix, and Cheerios, and I can feel ready to embrace the day. 
This picture is grainy, as I took it with my phone in the dark living room with only the light of the rising sun and Team UmiZoomi on the tv as my spotlight, but it is me enjoying my cup of Fair Trade Certified Green Mountain Three Continent Blend Coffee that I got for free from BzzAgent!  This is the coffee that makes you feel good you are drinking it, because it ensures that the coffee growers get a fair price for their beans so they can support their crops, community, and families! 

Fair Trade Certified Green Mountain Coffee

I got a new BzzAgent campaign box in the mail and it is awesome!!  I got 6 sample K-cups of Fair Trade Certified Green Mountain Coffee Three Continent Blend, and a book of 50% any Keurig machine coupons!  I am a big coffee fan, so I was so excited to be chosen for this box! 

I had heard of Fair Trade Certified Coffee but didn't know what it was.  The box included a pamphlet narrated by Kelly Clarkson on a trip to Peru to learn about Fair Trade Coffee from the coffee growers themselves.  You can read about it yourself at www.choosefairtrade.com

To quote their website, "Fair Trade certification gives farmers a fair price for their beans with a guaranteed minimum, which means they can invest in their crops, their communities, and their future. Fair Trade also lets Green Mountain Coffee® and farmers work closely together to bring the best tasting coffee to market."  Prior to receiving this share, I was unaware of coffee growers receiving less than fair prices for their coffee, and it made me happy to know that I will be supporting these farmers and their communities when I purchase Fair Trade Certified coffees from Green Mountain.

The variety of coffee k-cups I received were Three Continent Blend, which is one of Green Mountain's newest blends.  It is delicious!  There is no bitter taste, just good coffee!  I am a fan of hazelnut flavoring in my coffee, so I added hazelnut creamer, and it was perfect!  It smells great while brewing too, because my husband, who isn't a big coffee drinker, said it smelled good too!

Can't wait to try it!

Smells so good!

 

It was delicious.  You really should try it! 
I got all of these samples free from BzzAgent.

Kashi Hummus Crisps

I received my second BzzKit in the mail and it contained a bag of Kashi Sea Salt and Olive Oil Hummus Crisps and a page of coupons for the crisps.  If I could describe the crisps in one word it would be, yummy!  They really are delicious.  I used the coupons to try the Caramelized Onion version too, which was also delicious.  It was a little sweeter, but I preferred the Sea Saltand Olive Oil variety.  My 11 month old enjoyed them as well! 

The crisps aren't crunchy like a potato chip, but crispy (their name suits them well) like a flattened rice crisp.  They are made of chickpeas and their flavor is reminiscent of hummus because of it.  They are missing the flavor of tahini paste, that hummus would usually contain, but I didn't mind!  I enjoy the flavor of the crisps as they are. 

I have one more variety to try, and I can't wait!  I highly recommend Kashi Hummus Crisps as a delicious and healthier snack.  I prefer them to potato chips any day!  Thank you BzzAgent for introducing me to my new favorite snack food!

Sticking With it This Time...I Hope

Well, it's been over a month and I'm still going strong.  X-biking is kicking my butt, and I love it.  Although my three-times-a-week classes have sometimes been cut back to twice weekly due to childcare availability, I'm still going.  I love that my endurance and strength increases exponentially after just a class or two.  It helps that the trainers are so friendly and great motivators.  I actually don't want to let them down!  We use Trixter X-bikes, X1000 I believe.  Love them.

Also, bodybuilding.com has been my trainer for weightlifting 5 nights a week.  I've been following Jamie Eason's 12 week weightlifting program.  I'm in the middle of the second phase and I am so impressed with myself!  I finally have muscle definition and my strength has increased so much!  After I complete Jamie's program, I will probably stick with the second phase for a little while to maintain my strength.  I might try Brendy Scheerer's program too, it looks like fun. 

By having programs to follow, I've been better about sticking with a program and pushing myself to improve.  When I just try to do it on my own, I find that I only do what I'm comfortable with and I don't improve.  I love that bodybuilding.com is free too!

Kindergarten Smorgasboard Giveaway!

http://growingfirsties.blogspot.com/2013/08/day-4-extravaganza-day-3-winner.html

Awesome giveaway, day 4 from Growing Firsties, a gift of $50 to Kindergarten Smorgasboard.  Such cute stuff for your classroom!  I would love to use these products in my homeschool classroom!  My girls are still young, but in a couple years, we'll be needing all sorts of educational items!

Lysol For the Win!

These Lysol Power & Free products really are awesome!  I used the wipes in my kitchen last night and they even worked well on grease!  They are soft, but durable, and make a little foam when scrubbing with them. The foam is full of hydrogen peroxide and cuts through grease and grime.  It worked great on grease splatters on the back of our range, and on our stainless steel refrigerator door handles. 

I even used it on our light switches and wall phone.  I didn't realize how nasty they were until cleaned...yuck.  I feel good using these wipes because they are fume-free and still kill all those nasty viruses and bacteria that could make my babies sick.  Thank you again BzzAgent for sending these products for me to try for free!

BzzAgent Lysol Power & Free Campaign

I got my first BzzAgent BzzCampaign box full of free samples in the mail yesterday!  It contains Lysol Power & Free cleaners!  Both products are full-sized too, and there were a bunch of coupons I can share with my friends.  This stuff is awesome, so I will definitely be sharing my opinions and coupons. 

The Lysol Power&Free multi-purpose cleaner was wonderful in my bathroom.  It worked to get my shower floor soap scum free and white again with very little scrubbing on my part.  I used the wipes on the toilet and sink/countertop.  It was great at getting the scum around my faucet clean.  The hydrogen peroxide makes little bubbles that scrub for you to make your counters/showers clean.  I think this will be the multi-purpose cleaner that I will buy from now on.  I also liked the convenience of the wipes, and will have one of these little canisters under the bathroom sink for everyday cleanup. 

As far as the scent goes, the multi-purpose cleaner smells great, and I was hoping the wipes had the same smell as well.  However, the wipes scent was a little more "cleaner" like and less fresh.  The scent wasn't strong enough for me to stop using the wipes though.  I am a fan of how well the cleaners worked!

Sink and shower floor before (left) and after (right) using the products.

Thank you BzzAgent for introducing me to this awesome product!