Bad breath? A review and giveaway!

Finding good, natural, mouth care products has been a issue for my family. So I was more than happy to accept Mama Buzz's offer to review TheraBreath products by Dr. Harold Katz, founder of The California Breath Companies.

I was given three of Dr. Katz's products. TheraBreath Toothpaste, Oral Rinse, & Lozenges. They are all guaranteed to cure bad breath when used as directed.

I want to talk about the toothpaste first. My 15-year-old is very sensitive to sodium laurel sulfate, a chemical added to nearly every toothpaste, shampoo and similar products on the market. If you haven't heard about SLS, you can read more about it here. For my son, SLS in his toothpaste causes painful mouth sores.

Not only are SLS-free toothpastes hard to find, the ones we have found generally have one thing in common - they taste like dirt. So as soon as we received the TheraBreath Toothpaste, my son and I had a joint tooth-brushing session to see what we thought.

As far as taste goes, there really was none (we received the mild flavor). The toothpaste didn't really taste that minty or anything. But it also didn't taste like dirt, and it wasn't bitter at all. Because it doesn't have SLS in it, the toothpaste doesn't suds up like most of them do, but that was fine with us. We both thought the toothpaste experiment went well. The bottle said we didn't have to rinse this toothpaste out of our mouth, which I was fine with (who needs one more step every morning?). But Justin said he felt weird not rinsing his mouth out after he brushed, so he went ahead and did it. Over all, we thought the toothpaste worked well.

The oral rinse was pretty tasteless, too. It pretty much felt like bubbly water. If you really want to get rid of that bad breath, you can use the oral rinse in several ways. As a rinse, as a gargle, and it even suggest dipping your floss in it. All I did was the rinse, but if I had a really hot date or something (funny, huh?!) I would have done all three.

  

The lozenges were the hardest to get used to. They weren't bad, just different. The flavor (mandarin mint) was stronger in the lozenges, and it was a good flavor. The lozenges are supposed to stop dry mouth, attack germs, and restore fresh breath instantly. I can't really attest to the attacking germs part, but everything else seemed to work as described. They did, however, make my tongue feel weird. It's hard to describe, really. It didn't feel fuzzy or bubbly, just sort of "thick" or something. I'm not sure how I felt about that. I can really say that it worked for bad breath, though, so maybe it's worth the thick tongue thing. My friend and I smelled each other's breath after using them, and it really did work. It didn't make our breath smell overly minty like a lot of breath mints do, but our breath didn't smell bad, either. Instead of covering up bad breath with another smell, it really seemed to get rid of it.

What I liked best about all three products was the fact that they are made of natural ingredients. I love hygiene products that are made with natural ingredients, as I think that what we use in and on our bodies is very important to our health and well being. In case you're wondering, TheraBreath products are also produced using "green" practices and the company is part of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

Okay, here's my favorite part. TheraBreath has agreed to give one of my readers a couple of their products! Yes! I love a good giveaway, don't you? The winner will get one tube of TheraBreath toothpaste and one bottle of TheraBreath Oral Rinse.

To enter, you must do one or both of the following:
-Follow TheraBreath on Twitter.
-Like TheraBreath on Facebook.

For an extra entry, follow my Facebook fan page using the link at the right. If you already follow me on Facebook, just let me know. That's three possible entries per person!

Leave one comment for way that you enter, please. And make sure I have your e-mail address. If it's not part of your profile, please leave it in your comment.

This giveaway is for U.S. residents only. The giveaway ends April 30, 2011.


I received the product mentioned above for free via Mama Buzz. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Chez Ami swimsuit winner

The winner of the Chez Ami bathing suit is Dee of Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House. Congratulations, Dee! I'll be e-mailing you immediately!

Surveying a rural homestead

Ever tried to have a rural piece of land surveyed... especially one that hasn't been surveyed in nearly 100 years?

I mentioned in a previous post that I had my new 1.82 acres of land surveyed. It should have been a simple process of figuring out the boundaries for the four sides of my land, right?

Wrong. Three sides ended up being relatively easy for the surveyor to figure out. But the back side had issues. The back side of my lot butts up against acres and acres of woods. The question was, how far into those woods does my property line go? The answer, even after the land was officially surveyed, is.... who knows?

Here's the deal:

I got 1.82 acres of a plot of about 30 acres that belonged to Nancy. It has been in Nancy's family for years. The piece I got is an odd piece that sort of juts out from the rest of her land. See the cleared piece to the right on the Google Earth image above?

The last survey for her land was done in the 1920's. Most of the markers were "big rocks" according to the survey. Well, in almost 100 years, those big rocks have moved. They are no longer there. And the original road is no longer there, so the surveyor couldn't just measure from the road to see how far back the land goes.

He checked the next door neighbor's survey, but guess what? She must have had the same problem because only three sides of her land were surveyed... not the back of it.

The woods behind my lot belong to a woman who currently resides in a nursing home. Her land has never been surveyed. The only way to truly find the back of the property line, according to the surveyor, is to go acres and acres into the woods until it butts up against someone else's property and measure backwards. And instead of $400, I would have had to pay the man several thousand dollars.

The solution? The surveyor found what he thought was a good estimate of the back of my land (about ten feet into the woods or so). He made my official line on the edge of the woods. The 10 feet (give or take) into the woods will still officially belong to Nancy.

One day, when the woman in the nursing home passes away, one of two things will happen. Either her land will stay in her family, in which case it will probably remain wooded and probably still won't be surveyed; or it will be bought by someone else who will have to have it surveyed and then I will know exactly where my line is.

In the meantime, Nancy will still officially own a tiny strip (about 10 feet wide) in the back of my land. If it ever gets surveyed she'll deed that tiny strip over to me.

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM THIS: Before you buy land in a rural area, make sure you will be able to have it surveyed (without paying an arm and a leg). Make sure all four sides have been surveyed in the past by surrounding land owners if your particular piece has never been surveyed before.

Giveaway: Children's swim suit by Chez Ami

Today, you have the opportunity to win a bathing suit from Chez Ami's spring collection for your little boy or girl!

One of the sponsors of the NC Mom Bloggers Beach Conference was Chez Ami. This line of children's clothing was once sold exclusively in upscale department and specialty stores and is now sold through the Chez Ami home party line.

Chez Ami is sold by Patsy Aiken Designs, a family business based in Raleigh, NC.

 I like to keep my giveaways simple but here are the rules:

The last day to enter is March 23. I will e-mail the winner and the winner then has until March 31 to let Chez Ami know which swimsuit they would prefer.

You must make sure I have a way to contact you via e-mail.

The contest is open to residents U.S. residents only.

For your first entry, just leave a comment about who will be using the bathing suit.

For a second entry per person, "like" my Facebook fan page using the link on the right.

That's it!

Cheerios gift pack winner

The winner of the Cheerios Cinnamon Burst gift pack (chosen by random.org) is John Signorelli Jr.!

Unfortunately, this person didn't leave an e-mail address where I could contact him. Therefore, the winner has 48 hours to e-mail me (use the link on the right sidebar) with his mailing address. If I don't hear from him in 48 hours I will choose another winner!

Lawn mower starts field fire

The fire came within 50 feet of the area we had marked off to put my trailer. Glad it wasn't there yet!

Today we had our first crisis on my new homestead, and I don't even have a place on it yet!

I was mowing my land, and Nancy's husband Ronnie was mowing his land in a field right next to mine. His lawn mower apparently hit a rock and set a small spark. Not realizing that the bottom of the deck of his lawn mower was on fire, he kept mowing. Within seconds there was a line of fire going across the field. The field was just dry enough and the winds just heavy enough that the fire started jumping and soon a portion of that particular field was on fire. Now remember, I have only lived in the country for seven months and Nancy (although she spent a few years down here off and on) had lived in the city for years and only moved down here about three and a half years ago.

There is no water source out there near the field and none of really knew what to do. I ran to get buckets of water and tried to pour a line of water just outside the fire line. Nancy starting filling up her t-shirt in an apron-like fashion with piles of dirt she found nearby and was putting the dirt on the fire.

Ronnie started digging a trench around the fire but it jumped over his head, singing part of his hair and half of one eyebrow off, as well as causing a pretty good burn on his arm. At this point we were all pretty scared that it would spread to a nearby copse of trees and brush or the neighbor's house (they weren't home). But it wasn't burning anything but grass and we didn't want to call the fire department if we didn't have to. Eventually Ronnie made the decision and hollered for someone to call 911, which I did.

The thing is, we live in the country on a rural road and I don't remember ever seeing a fire hydrant anywhere on the road or in the vicinity. And being in the country, it takes the firefighters (all volunteers, by the way) longer to get here than it does in the city.

Then it seems that everything started happening at once. Although there were still small flames in some places, we had the fire pretty under control when the farmer from across the road came lumbering up in his bulldozer. A couple of minutes later several volunteer fireman pulled up in their cars.

I was still beating down flames with the back of a shovel but apparently these country people had seen it all before. They made comments about it being fine and stood there and watched. Eventually, something called a "brush truck" got there. It's basically a pickup truck with a water tank and hose on the back, and one of the firemen watered down what was still smoldering.

By the time everything was over, we were stressed and exhausted but I had learned some valuable lessons.

Running back and forth from a field to a house for a bucket or two of water at a time doesn't do much to fight fires.

Country people never move fast (but they are some of the best people you will ever meet).

Shovels are important fire fighting tools.

People around these parts depend on their neighbors to be the first to help.

Something as simple as mowing the grass can cause a fire.

A small field fire is not a big thing to country people unless it is very close to someone's home.

Our farmer neighbor has a big backhoe.

I'm not sure how, but backhoe's can fight fire???

New homestead in a rural country town

The kids and I have been living with friends now for the past seven months. I still haven't found a job, my savings are pretty much gone, and having two families with different ways of parenting in the same house has been hard. I had to make a decision.

My friend Nancy's family has been very generous in allowing the kids and I to live with them. In addition, they have offered to let me buy a small corner of their 30 acres at a more than reasonable price. And they are willing to let me get it now and pay for it down the road after I get a job, in whatever payments I need to make.

It's just flat land and I will need to somehow pay for a septic system, as well as the costs to have the county run water and power out there. But I figure I can find a used mobile home to put out there. And just about all of the land is already cleared, so I don't have to worry about removing a bunch of trees. In the meantime, it gives us something tangible to look forward to making a home out of.

I used the last bit of money to have a couple of things done. I spent $400 to get a surveyor to come out and make a new plat for the piece of land we will be getting, which ended up being 1.82 acres.

And this Friday, I have an appointment with a local attorney to get a new deed for my new land. Since we lost our home last year, it's really exciting to finally be starting over. The picture above is the view from our new piece of land. You can't see it, but in front of that tree line is our new country road. And, in the picture below, you can see the road. See the orange flag on the tree? That marks the left boundary of our land, with the road in front.

For the past few years we have focused on urban homesteading, while still one day hoping to be able to have a place in the country. Well, it didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped, but we are finally on the long road to getting "our place in the country."

We've been through a lot in the past year, but I feel like it's finally time for things to start looking up. God does provide - in His time, not ours.

P.S. Now I can actually blog more about homesteading again!

Giveaway: Cinnamon Burst Cheerios cereal gift pack

I've been a fan of Cheerios since I was a kid. They've come up with some great varieties over the years, including their latest. Through My Blog Spark, Cheerios sent me a gift pack to review Cinnamon Burst Cheerios.

I gave the cereal the ultimate test - I asked my teenage son to eat them. Most teenage boys will eat anything, but my son has food neophobia (we'll save that for another post entirely). Food neophobia is an eating disorder described as the fear of new foods. Justin was willing to try the new Cinnamon Burst variety in part because he enjoys and trust the Cheerios brand, and in part because he enjoys cinnamon cereals.

Justin said the Cheerios were good, as did my younger son. My niece tried them as well. She said they were good, but she felt they were a little "chewy" in her mouth. They aren't sticky in your hands at all, though, because the cinnamon is baked in, making the outside of each Cheerio virtually "non-stick."

Cinnamon Burst Cheerios contains 20% of the Daily Value of fiber (or 5g per serving), has 9g of sugar, is low in fat, saturated fat free and naturally cholesterol free. Cinnamon Burst Cheerios cereal also provides at least 8g of whole grain per serving; at least 48g recommended daily.

Now on to the fun part! Cheerios and My Blog Spark have agreed to provide a gift pack just like the one I received to one of my readers! 

The gift pack includes a box of Cinnamon Burst Cheerios cereal for you to try, family 4-pack of cereal bowls, travel cereal chiller and a cinnamon scented candle. 


To enter, just leave a comment on this post. If you are commenting anonymously, make sure to leave your e-mail address so I can reach you if you win. 


For an extra entry, you can "like" my blog's new Facebook fan page. Just click "like" on the right sidebar under "Follow Me on Facebook." Make sure you leave another comment telling me you have "liked" me. The winner will be chosen via random.org on Sunday, March 13, 2011. 


Good luck!

Sunset at Ocean Isle Beach

One of the things we discussed at the NC Mom Bloggers Beach Conference was watermarking our photos. Too many bloggers have had their photos stolen for use on other Web sites, social media outlets... even print magazines. Just ask Suzanne of Chickens in the Road (a blog I love!) about how one magazine stole one of her photos right off her Web site and used it in one of their articles without giving her any credit at all.

I've always felt that watermarks really detract from the photos themselves, but what can you do? It doesn't help that you almost have to place them dead center of the photo or they will just be cropped out.

So without further ado, here are my photos of Sunset on Ocean Isle Beach - watermarks and all.

I'm linking this post to Wordless Wednesday at 5minutesformom.com

Book review: When All My Dreams Come True

When All My Dreams Come True Harvest House Publishers (February 1, 2011) by Janelle Mowery

MY REVIEW:  

A tomboy in the old west is an anomaly. Much like other minorities, women in the old west were supposed to fit a certain mold, and Bobbie McIntyre didn't. Being different automatically made her suspect whenever something went wrong. Lost and alone, Bobbie had no one on her side until she met a family that showed God's love to everyone, no matter how they differed from the norm. As she finds acceptance, Bobbie is also able to find love.

I found "When All My Dreams Come True" to be a story not only of love, but of overcoming prejudices and finding God when you least expect it. The heroine's strength gets her through some tough situations, but it's not until Jace Kincaid comes into her life that she realizes strength can come in many forms. As for Jace, his faith is tested throughout the book. Despite trials and tribulations, he continues to rely on God. His strength comes from his faith and inspired me to count my blessings instead of my trials.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Bobbie McIntyre dreams of running a ranch of her own. Raised without a mother and having spent most of her time around men, she knows more about wrangling than acting like a lady. The friendship of her new employer awakens a desire to learn more about presenting her feminine side, but ranch life keeps getting in the way.

Ranch owner Jace Kincaid figures the Lord is testing his faith when a female wrangler shows up looking for work. Bobbie has an uncanny way of getting under his skin, though, and he’s surprised when she finds a home next to his heart. But when his cattle begin to go missing and his wranglers are in danger from some low-down cattle thief, can Jace trust God, even if it may mean giving up on his dreams?

An adventurous novel of faith, hope, and love in the Wild West.

If you would like to read the first chapter of When All My Dreams Come True, go HERE.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beginning in 1998, Janelle Mowery coordinated and wrote for the Children’s Ministry of a Christian website called The Invisible Connection. When the holder of that site discontinued the ministry and website in the year 2000, she began writing inspirational fiction romance novels.

Janelle became a member of American Christian Fiction Writers in the year 2002 and is an active member and leader in one of their critique groups, which has provided many opportunities for growth and development. In 2003, she entered her first novel in the Noble Theme contest and was named one of the top ten finalists in the historical category. In 2004, she had a short story titled ‘A Fair Chance’ published in the e-magazine, Romancing the Christian Heart. In 2005, her third novel, entered in the San Gabriel Writers’ League ‘Writing Smarter’ Contest, won first place. Also, Janelle’s fifth novel made it to the top ten finalists in the Noble Theme contest.

In 2006, she signed her first contract with Barbour Publishing in their Heartsong Presents Mysteries line. The novel, Where the Truth Lies, which she co-authored with Elizabeth Ludwig, released in spring of 2008. The second and third mysteries of the series, Died in the Wool and A Black Die Affair, is set for release in 2011.

Janelle has signed with Harvest House for a historical series set in Colorado. Release of the first book is set for early 2011. She has also signed with Summerside Press. Her novel, Love Finds You in Silver City, Idaho, released in October 2010.

Janelle has been married twenty-one years and is the mother of two sons. She is a member of Sandy Point Bible Church and serves as Treasurer. She also assists in the church’s teen program.