ACCORDING TO ME

You know sometimes when you see a product come out on the market and you get all excited because it seems like a great idea? Then you try it and you find that while it's still a great idea, it's not exactly the most workable one. That defines Covergirl's Outlast Lipstain to a tee.

It's a great idea that it stays on a lot longer than other lipsticks.
Its fantastic that it's so lightweight on your lips
It's superb that you can apply it so precisely
The colors to choose from are outstanding

With all that going for it, you've got to wonder what's wrong with it right? I'll tell you. Good luck being able to use it. I got the opportunity to try it through Bzz Agent and I was really excited about it. I hate reapplying lipstick all the time. So this seemed like a wonderful solution and it is.......IF you can get the color to come out.

I followed all the instructions. I did what the instructions said to do. To get the color takes me almost 5 minutes and frankly that's just ridiculous. I can use a lip pencil, lipstick and gloss in less time than that.

Soooooooo, if you have time to mess with it, don't miss out on it. It really is a great product once you can use it. It's just getting there that's the problem.

Nessa

Most everyone who knows me knows I make fantastic salsa. Only a few actually know how I make it. It's not really a big secret. If anything what's in it is fairly normal, it's the cooking time I think that makes all the difference.

To make it I use:

4 Big cans of Stewed Tomatoes.
1 big Jalapeno Pepper (look for stretch marks to find a good hot one, smooth for a mild one)
2 decent sized onions, any kind is fine but Vidalia's seem to taste best
1 bunch of Cilantro, use to taste. I use about 1/4 of the bunch
1 can of water, maybe more if it seems too thick
2 cloves of Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

I don't chop anything. I put everything except the water in my food processor. When it's sufficiently chopped, I pour it into a big pot and let it simmer for about 4 hours. I add the water as needed so that it's not too thick but not too thin either.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can do it to taste and it's easy. No tomatoes to peel. However you could also get some fresh tomatoes, blanch them and use those just the same.

Another good thing about this is my kids LOVE salsa and chips. The major brands are roughly $3 per bottle and there's not much there. This recipe makes roughly 10 of those large bottles and costs me right at $7 at the most to make. It can be frozen too!

Nessa

I'm trying to get back over here and do more. I promise to do at least 2 posts a week. That should keep me out of trouble. Maybe. Okay it probably won't but i'll still promise to keep updating.

Soooooooo, lets discuss upcoming features.

I plan to start sharing recipes that I find. That should be fun. They'll all be quick, easy and usually child friendly.

I plan to start doing more reviews. There are tons of products I've used recently that I'm soooooooo impressed with and want to share.

I plan to start trying to announce more contests hosted by bloggy friends and I'll post for those I don't know as well if requested.

If you have something you'd like to have reviewed, let me know, I'll be glad to take care of it.

Basically I'm just going to play it by ear and see what happens. Anyone who knows me knows anything can happen lol.


Nessa

Not too long ago I needed a software title to fix my computer. In order to get it, I needed to pay $24. I didn't want to do this so I opted out and as I did I got this pop up that asked me to complete an offer and said i could get the software title I wanted for free if I did. So I checked to see what was offered. I LOVE coffee and I drink alot of it. So when I saw that one of the offers was for Boca Java coffee and it said that I could get 4 gourmet coffee's for 12.95 and get the software as well, I decided this wasn't too bad a deal. Sort of a 2 for 1 thing. Plus, it was coffee, Total Bonus there!

Soooooooo, I placed the order and it arrived about 5-7 days later. Let me tell you, it smells divine! There are no words to explain the sheer bliss in smelling these coffee's. Which would be great if these were air fresheners, they'd be fantastic. I literally woke up one morning because the coffee smelled sooooooooooo good. It was really disappointing though to taste it and think "who threw in the old sock?" when i tasted it.

Ya see, I have this funny thing, an odd little quirk that causes me to want to actually DRINK coffee. Well except for the chocolate covered Espresso beans, but you get the point. Out of the 4 bags I received, only one tastes at all like something i'd be interested in buying again. With all of them, I had to use way too much of it to get any real body from it at all. I was surprised. I am not a fan of really strong coffee, so when i tell you that i had to use more than half a filter of coffee for a 10 cup pot, to me, that's a whole lot of coffee! I figure out of each bag, for it to be close to having some real taste, i'll get 2 and a half pots from each bag. That's not what I'd call a good value at all! I don't care if it's gourmet or not.

Now, that said, they have several other flavors that might be better. I chose mostly regular types without all the vanilla and other such flavorings. The one flavored coffee I chose "Tropical Kiss" smelled great and wasn't too bad, just had a twang to it that i just didn't like and not enough coffee flavor. It is a lighter blend though so that could be part of the reason.

The others I chose, Boca Sunrise, Panamanian Rainforest and Ocean Drive are all Light-Medium Roasts. Ocean Drive is okay, I'd probably buy it again, but at this point I'd rather have good ole Maxwell House.

According to a Yahoo article I read last week, Eight O'clock coffee, Columbian blend won high marks over Starbucks and other gourmet coffee's so maybe i'll try it next. it's in the grocery store and i don't have to wait to have it shipped, but it only comes in whole bean at the stores i've looked in so far. Sooooo, I guess i need to find me a coffee grinder now.

Anyway, i'm not going to say that Boca Java's coffee's are awful, maybe i'd be happier with a darker roast that i haven't tried yet. Perhaps at some point i'll do that, but considering how disappointed I am with the ones I did try, it will likely be awhile before I try again.

Nessa

I have 2 great things to tell you about for Cats. If you're owned by one, listen up.

As much as I adore my Texakitty. He has a flaw. He's a scratcher. We've fought and fought about this and there's just no getting past it. When we moved to the new house i was even more determined to win this battle of wills. Til 3 days ago I was losing.

There's this area covered by carpeting around my tub. For whatever reason Tex and Poppa both like to scratch it then get under the tub via this little access panel. Nothing I have done has made a difference. This is hopefully the worst of the damage.

When I was trying to find a pair of Shoes for Ashley for her military ball, I happened to be near a Petco store. I decided to check and see if they had anything that might help.

I got something called "No Scratch" and let me tell you, I'm so impressed!


All I had to do was spray this on the places they like to scratch and it was supposed to get them to stop. It DID! They don't go near it and i haven't had to sweep up any pieces of carpet for 2 days now! I still almost have a full bottle and it's already done it's job. I think i bought it for a total of $6.79. Soooooooo if you have a scratching kitty, try this out and see if it helps. This is a ton less costly, painful and dangerous than declawing your cat.


The next thing is "Cat Grass". Both my cats are strictly indoor kitties but the vet told me that cats like grass and need it to aid in their digestion. So i bought this cute little bowl that contained dirt and some seeds and decided to try to grow some grass for the two monsters. Not only did it grow, but it grew within a week!There were sprouts almost immediately and within 10 days they were able to start enjoying the grass. They munch on it every day and really seem to love it. As a matter of fact, while I was writing these reviews I caught Poppa having himself a nibble already this morning.

The cat grass was 5.99 at Home Depot but Petco sells a similar product for around $4 and as well as the cats like it, I'm going to say it's well worth the time to try it out.

Nessa

In my efforts to look for a fun way to lose weight and get in better shape, I decided to try one of the 10 Minute Solution fitness Dvd's. I chose the Fat Blasting Latin Dance Mix. With routine's like Salsa Slim Down and Tango Toning Twist I thought it'd be alot of fun and since the routine's are 10 minutes each that it would be easily incorporated into my day.

I was actually right on both counts. It IS fun and it IS easily incorporated but you almost realy have to know some latin dance steps to follow along with any success at all. The instructor is high energy and she's not annoying like some of the instructors on these things can be but she doesn't really explain steps very well. So when you try to follow along it's awkward and makes a person feel about as coordinated as a cow.

Another downside is that there's really no warm up period to wake the muscles up before you get started in these fast paced dance moves. So people who are out of shape and just starting out may find this a little hard to start off with.

I won't say it's a bad program though. I can see where it would be fun and after the steps are learned you can take the steps to the club with you too if you like to go out dancing.

I'm thinking that I will set it aside for now and get something with a little more of a beginners touch and then go back to it for maintenance once i get where i want to be. For the price and what it offers it's a nice product. It's just not exactly beginner friendly.

Nessa

I made Zero resolutions this year but I know many of you made a vow to lose weight and Discovery Health wants to help! Join their National Body Challenge and get free help PLUS a free 30 day trial membership at Bally Total Fitness. There are really some fantastic tools included and it's definitely worth a look. I'm joining today myself. See ya there!

Nessa