Beauty Bzz: L'Oreal Paris Eye Makeover!

Recently, I was invited to try out L'Oreal Paris' new The One Sweep Eye Shadow and Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara for free, thanks once again to BzzAgent.

To be perfectly honest, I've been in a complete makeup rut since my daughter was born almost three years ago. Terrible, I know, right? There's just always some reason why I don't have enough time or a good enough reason to get all dolled up. Not true with these products. Their combination of simple application and excellent quality means that in just a few minutes, you're set to go, without a doubt your eyes will be turning heads all day. I'll be posting some videos where you can see me transform (my eyes at least!)

Check out lorealparisusa.com and find them on Facebook at facebook.com/lorealparis

What's the Bzz: The Factor Tree

Life is always sweet when you're a BzzAgent!

As a member of BzzAgent, I recently had the opportunity to try out a fantastic website, The Factor Tree with a free, one month trial - and you can too! Read on to find out how.

The Factor Tree is an interactive math skills website for kids between the pre-K and 6th grade level, but my two year old number nerd loved it as well! The sign-up process is simple, and your child will begin with a skills assessment test before being placed in a program designed to enhance performance in weak areas while also ensuring practice and progress in stronger areas.

After our assessment test, we began a fun, colorful, and friendly practice session that focused mostly on counting groups of objects. Everything was easy to see, and large enough that we could reach out to the monitor and count each one. With a little practice and encouragement, my daughter could easily put the numbers in by herself using the simple interface. Towards the end of the session, different types of questions, like telling time on a clock and an introduction to fractions where she was asked how many slices of a multicolored circle were a particular color. We were able to skip questions when necessary, and were told right away if an answer was wrong or right.

The cool part for parents is that The Factor tree offers a wide variety of tools to track your child's progress and help them succeed. For example, you can alter the different types of questions offered to the student, track progress, test history, and other statistics, and even the ability to schedule and monitor a learning plan with a neat calendar feature.

As a mathematics teacher and long time tutor, I thought the program was a great way to not only teach kids better math skills, but allow them to have fun in the meantime. As a mom, it was just great to see my daughter not only learning, but getting the instant gratification and pride that comes with knowing you're doing a good job as you go along. With the customization options offered to parents, and the sense of independence a child can gain by having an individualized program they can work on themselves, the program as a whole is hard to beat. Especially since.....

.....you too can sign up for a free, one month trial! Just head on over to The Factor Tree and enter the code BZA for a month of learning and fun!

Free Sample of Ritz Munchables Pretzel Crisps

So, recently I received in the mail a sample of New Ritz Munchables Pretzel Crisps. I got this free sample through Facebook.

My hubby, two-year-old daughter and I all enjoyed this new snack. For me, Ritz has never been my favorite brand of crackers, as I find them slightly too salty for my taste. These new munchables, however, were not too salty and quite delicious! They were a new kind of taste, and both cracker and pretzel tastes and textures are well represented. I'd have to say they are more like a cracker than a pretzel, but not like any other cracker I've ever had.

Definitely recommended for the discerning snacker!

Ritz page at NabiscoWorld

Ritz Facebook page

My Review of Famous Trails® MD3005 Metal Detector

Originally submitted at RadioShack

Now treasure hunting can be fun for all ages.

Famous Trails® MD3005 Metal Detector

No treasure yet, but a lot of fun!

By Squirrelburrito from Revere, MA on 4/27/2010

 

3out of 5

Pros: Accurate, Easy to use, Compact

Cons: Basic model

Best Uses: Open spaces, Hiking/Backpacking, Low Visibility, Travel

Describe Yourself: Casual/ Recreational

When I came across this affordable metal detector last Christmas, I had to buy it. Always wanted one! To be fair, winter is really just ending where I live, so I haven't had much time to play yet. I can say that it was accurate and efficient enough to sort through a massive pile of construction debris to find a ring. Dead on, every time. It takes some getting used to as far as calibrating goes, but it is easy to use once you figure it out. My two year old hasn't been able to break it yet (and that is quite a feat!), and she loves to watch us search for and find buried treasure! All in all, for the price, I find the value to be excellent, and I am very satisfied with this purchase.

(legalese)

Grampy

I like to think of myself as an educated consumer, as well as a magnet for good deals. I like to know what's up and share awesome new finds with others, and intended to set this blog up a few weeks ago, until I learned that my grandfather had passed away.

My Grampy was the sweetest guy you could ever hope to meet; sharp, funny, kind, die-hard Red Sox fan, and a wise consumer (of all sorts of things, especially food)! If you asked him, he invented the reflective dog collar for his brood long before it hit store shelves, and that was nothing compared to his life's accomplishments. Whether this ends up a diary for me or something more, I just want to dedicate my efforts to him. Miss you! Love you!