Several years ago, I signed up for National Consumer Panel. NCP sends you a scanner and you scan all your purchases each week for a set number of points. I have one of the older scanners that you held up to the phone to transmit and manually enter the prices. The points can be redeemed for various items and gift cards. They also have quarterly & yearly giveaways as well that you get entered into as long as you scan each week. For the first year and a half, I didn’t have any problems. I transmitted my scans on time and racked up points. After that, however, I started having issues with getting the transmissions to go though. It started taking multiple call backs to get the transmission to go through over the phone. That eventually turned into days, then weeks. I contacted their help panel numerous times, only to either be ignored completely or told to keep trying. I even tried to request a new scanner, but I got no reply. Through this, I kept scanning my purchases ...
product reviews
Product Review – My Hikes
A few days ago, I received a pair of My Hikes. My Hikes are clips that attach to the bottoms of your child’s pants to keep them rolled up if they are too long or drag the floor. They are available in several designs. I received a pair with butterflies on them (my daughter picked them out). The clips are clear except for the design on the tops, so they aren’t easily noticeable. To use, first fold up the pant cuffs the way you want them. Slide one of the clips on, with the rounded design in front (on top of the pants) and the larger back part underneath the cuff. Then press the round design part down until you hear a click. The clips will stay in place until you take them off. I used them on a pair of my daughters longer jeans, and they stayed on all day without sliding or falling off…and that was with her running around and playing outside. She loves them and has been using them on her stretch pants too. Overall, My Hikes are great, and would make a great stocking stuffer ...
Product Review — The Trellie
For the past two weeks, I’ve been trying out the Trellie. The Trellie is a device that hooks to your phone via Bluetooth and lights up when you have a call. This keeps you from missing calls if your phone is in your purse or somewhere else that you can’t hear it ringing. The Trellie is very easy to use. It takes two AAA batteries and will connect to any Bluetooth enabled phone. To connect it, turn on your Bluetooth and have it search for a new device. Hold the small button down on the front of the Trellie until it starts flashing. It should pop up as ‘Trellie’ on your device. Make sure they are paired, and you are good to go. When the light is flashing fast, a call is coming in. If it’s a slower flash, then you have a missed call. You can press the flashing button to get it to stop. I usually keep my phone in my back pocket depending on what pants or shorts I am wearing. My current purse doesn’t have a phone pocket, so I try not to put it in there if I can help it. I ...
The Otter, the Spotted Frog, and the Great Flood Review & Giveaway [ENDED]
The Otter, the Spotted Frog, and the Great Flood is a new children’s story by Gerald Hausman & illustrated by Ramon Shiloh. It based on the origin story of the Greek Indians of northern Florida and Georgia. Listener the Otter is the only animal that heads the warning of Spotted Frog about the coming of a great flood. As he begins to build a raft, he is ridiculed by the other animals. Will the floods really come and will his efforts be enough to survive them? I loved the story. It might be a bit long for very little children, but my daughter really liked it too (then again, she’s three and is having me read her The Hobbit). The illustrations help bring the story to life as well. They had amazing detail and fit with the book perfectly. The story has many moral aspects to it that can be interpreted in many ways. Primarily, it’s best to have something and not need it, then to need it and not have it. Also, if you had to means to do something and ignored it, then you ...
Product Review — Ageless Derma Loose Mineral Foundation
A few weeks back, I was sent some loose mineral foundation from Ageless Derma. The foundation is fine enough to be used in an airbrush, and can easily be mixed to make cream & liquid foundations. It contains natural anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants to fight free radical damage, & give your skin a barely there glow. Since having my daughter, I don’t get out as much as I used to, so I don’t wear makeup all that often anymore unless it’s a special occasion or I’m trying to cover up a breakout. I’ve never tried loose powder of any kind before, so this was a bit new to me. I ended up taking it with me to FenCon for use with my hastily put together costume. For art of my costume, I was going to wear a pair of latex elf ears & I needed them to match my skin as much as possible. After using my regular liquid foundation on them, I used the powder foundation on them to lighten out the color a bit. I simply used one of my blush brushes to apply it. It evened out the ...
Product Review — Ageless Derma Anti-Aging Glycolic Facial Gel Cleanser
For the past two months, I have been testing out Ageless Derma Anti-Aging Glycolic Facial Gel Cleanser. Ageless Derma is a line of high quality skin care & makeup designed to reduce the signs of ageing and improve your skin. The gel cleanser contains Glycolic acid, Acetyle Acetate and Ubiquinone to remove makeup, pollution and other skin irritants and help fight the signs of prematurely aged skin. I’m always looking for good skin cleansers, so I was very eager to try this out. I don’t really have any fine lines or anything, even though my hair has decided to start going white (I’m only 29!!!!). But I was interested in seeing if I would notice a bit of difference in my overall skin appearance. My skin is really sensitive, so I started out only using a little bit. I noticed right away that my skin was a lot cleaner, but that I did tend to have more breakouts when using the cleanser on a regular basis. Paring it with a regular acne wash and using a clarifier once I was out ...