Personal Microderm-Review

In the last month I've had a chance to receive and review an at home microdermabrasion system. This is a personal use product that is suggested to use in lieu of spa treatments or as a way to upkeep your skin.

I have used this product three times, so it has given me a chance to see how my skin feels and allowed me a chance to get more comfortable giving myself the treatment. I can honestly say, I've seen in a big difference in my skins texture!

I am like a lot of women, my skin is changing after having a child and getting older. I have had some form of acne since I got hormones and it hasn't subsided as an adult. I have scarring from the acne and I have freckling/sun damaged areas as well. I have dry patches as well as oily patches and it's really hard to exfoliate my skin completely with scrubs, etc. I have the standard T zone oiliness as well.

The Personal Microderm after three treatments gave me a few results that were surprising. After an initial sensitivity, I felt a very smooth surface of skin on my face. My skin did want to absorb the moisture of my moisturizer better and the toner I used did make my skin discomfort away pretty quickly. After two to three treatments, I saw a dramatic result in the softness as well as my pores. I often have blackheads in the cheek by my nose as well as around my nose. That has almost been completely eliminated and all of my other pores are cleaner and smaller too. I asked my husband if he noticed the softer skin, and he said "yes, definitely". Lastly, my sun damage is starting to fade some after the three treatments also.

When using the product, it takes a bit to get used to. Most of us are not trained in how to use the Personal Microderm. This unit comes with a great DVD as a guide, but you really have to learn hands on. It wasn't as easy as it looked at first because you're trying to get the contours of your face with the tool and not scrape your face too hard. The suction aspect is a little jarring at first because it pulls at your skin while the discs exfoliate. This is essentially "sanding" off the top layers of dead skin. For most of us, it will take a couple of uses before we feel comfortable using it on all areas of the face.

Here is a basic breakdown of my experience with this product:

Pros

-good price for treatment type

-skin is noticeably smoother right away

-pores minimized

-more even skin tone overall

-fairly easy to use

-comes with instructional DVD and a few different discs

-easy to keep clean and store

Cons

-discs are only good for about three treatments

-takes some getting used to

-If you want to purchase the whole regimen or many other added moisturizers, etc it can be expensive

As you can see, this does have many wonderful benefits to long lasting and rewarding skin care from home. I attempted to take photos of my before and after but, unfortunately my camera isn't working properly. What I could tell was that in similar light, my dark patches were getting lighter and my skin was much more even.

*Personal Microderm was received free in order to do a review. No monetary compensation received*

Wordless Wednesday-3 and a Half!

Making Tuesday Tasty-Baked Potato Salad

OK, so I'm going to try to make as close to the measurements as possible. If you feel it needs tweaking, be my guest! I make this as a quick snack and addition to my meals from time to time and I love it. Simple to make and simple ingredients.

Please adjust recipe to how many people you are serving. This probably does 3 to 4 servings.

Ingredients

4 or 5 medium russets or your favorite potato

1/2 C mayonnaise( I use Best Foods/Hellman's)

2 to 3 Tbsp of Spicy Brown Mustard

1 shoot of green onion or 1/4 of a medium onion chopped finely

1 whole Claussen dill pickle

Preparation

Wash your potatoes and cook until tender in your microwave. Mine on high takes about 4 to 5 Min's.

Chop your onion and your dill pickle finely. set aside.

Once the potatoes are cooked, set them aside to cool. Once cool, peel the peels off with your fingers and cut away any brown bits from the potato. Chop the potato into bite sized squares and put into bowl.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Add your mayo and mustard to the bowl. Once that's added, add your onion and dill pickle. Mix altogether and taste for any adjustments needed. If it's too dry or bland add more mustard and mayo to adjust. Chill and eat!

As with all recipes, you can adjust this to your liking. If you want egg, boil some egg and throw it in. If you want something else added in there, go ahead.

I put in the specific brand of ingredients because I feel these really make a difference int he outcome of flavor! And using the spicy brown instead of the yellow mustard changes the flavor and gives it a bite that really complements the onion and dill.

Enjoy!

Come Ye Sinners Video

I love this verion....LOVE IT. It gives me chills when I listen to it



**Note some of the artwork is graphic and not reflective of all my beliefs/views**

Shabby Apple Boysenberry Pie Apron Guest Giveaway

Shabby Apple Boysenberry Pie Apron Guest Giveaway

Giveaways!

Mom Start is giving away a Britax Boulevard Car Seat!! Hurry, ends August 3rd, 2010.

Wordless Wednesday-Aquarium Tempe,AZ

Kaia's Aunty Holly had some coupons for the Sea Life Aquarium at Arizona Mills. The kids had a blast. Thanks for taking pics, Aunty!

Making Tuesday Tasty-Buff Chick Hot Wing Dip

I recently bought one of the Hungry Girl books. They're books from a woman that has learned how to substitute high fat yummy foods to low fat and often lower sodium and sugar foods as well. I have friends that rave about this high in fat dip so, I thought I would post this recipe and refer them to a lower fat version. Let me know what you think!

Chick Hot Wing Dip

PER SERVING (1/15th of recipe, about 1/4 cup): 68 calories, 1.5g fat, 616mg sodium, 2g carbs, 0g fiber, 1g sugars, 10g protein -- POINTS® value 1*

After receiving tons of emails about a famous (and fatty) Frank's RedHot dip, we HG-ized it for your (and our!) chewing pleasure. This stuff tastes JUST like Buffalo wings...

Ingredients:
Two 9.75-oz. (or 10-oz.) cans 98% fat-free chunk white chicken breast in water, drained
One 8-oz. tub fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup fat-free ranch dressing
1/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt (Fage 0% is the best!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place cream cheese in a medium bowl and stir until smooth. Mix in Frank's RedHot, mozzarella cheese, ranch dressing, and yogurt. Stir in chicken until thoroughly combined. Spoon mixture evenly into a deep 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until mixture is heated through. Stir well and enjoy!

P.S. We love dipping carrot sticks and red bell pepper chunks into this dip, but we've also dunked baked tortilla chips into it and used it as a sandwich spread!

MAKES 15 SERVINGS

*I was not given an item to review, paid, or otherwise endorse Hungry Girl brands*

**This recipe can be found on hungry-girl.com**

*Rachael Ray photo*

Giveaways!

Go Green Street is giving away a Natural Mat crib mattress worth $399!! Hurry ends 7/31

Go Green Street is giving away a $100 gift card to Hayneedle.com!! Awesome giveaway. Hurry ends Aug 5

Projectnursery.com is giving away an amazing baby hammock from Hushamok Organic. I'm in love-Ends July 16

Go Green Street is giving away a convertible crib from DaVinci, this is such an amazing giveaway and they are going to let you pick your finish too-ends Aug 9

Mom's Focus on Cyber World is giving away a Medela Pump In Style Double Electric pump-Advanced Metro!!! I want this so bad. Ends July 28!

Mom Spark is giving away an awesome Kodak ESP Office 6150 All in One printer!!!-Hurry ends July 25

The Art Of Being Mom blog is giving away a Safety 1st Air Protect Car seat! This is an amazing item that she's giving away and it ends July 30th!

One2Try blog is giving away a beautiful silver necklace from The Pretty Peacock.-Ends August 1

July Already?

Well, it's Summertime which has been official here for awhile now. Us Arizonans, especially those in the Phoenix metro know how to do Summer! My daughter is three and a half now and has been going through some three year old phases. She is very sassy often, she tests me often, and has a very strong will. I don't expect any less of her though to be honest. She has two very headstrong parent's and it's probably only natural that she be the same.

We celebrated the Fourth of July at my Brother's annual party. We always have tons of fun with family and friends and it's one of my favorite times of year. My step son has been coming for week long visits which has been nice because during the school year we aren't able to see much of him. He lives primarily with his Mom. Kaia just loves her Brother!

My girl got to go on a trip with one of her Aunt's and her cousin. She went to San Diego and did great! This is her first trip for enjoyment without either of us and thankfully she did a great job and had a blast. The only other time she has been away from us like that is when my mom passed away. I had to get a last minute flight out and wasn't able to purchase a ticket for her. She went my with Brother and his family and did really well for her first time away from us altogether. I on the other hand was a basket case. My husband couldn't come and I was separated from my daughter for the first time. Difficult times but, I got through it.

I can't deal with the heat so needless to say, I don't go out unless there's water of some sort for the kids and lots of shade. Summertime in Phoenix is for me is probably like long winter's somewhere else. I don't go out much, only when I have to. It's miserable when you're out and so I try to do things indoors as much as possible.

Kaia is gearing up to do her very first Bible school and she is pretty excited about it. She doesn't really know what to expect but, likes the sound of things ha ha. I think it will be really neat for her to experience.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Stay in the shade and keep cool everyone.

Wordless Wednesday-Fourth Of July 2010

My camera is basically kaput so I had my Sister in law take a couple of pics. This is a really cute one of all the cousins.

From left: my daughter Kaia, nephew Zach, nephew Jeremiah, niece Alexis, and step son Cameron. This was pretty cute!

Making Tuesday Tasty-Stuffed Pork Chops

I took a base recipe from epicurious.com and then made it my own. My pork chops weren't quite an inch thick so I had to adjust the cooking time(or should say should have adjusted the cooking time). This stuffing was amazing! It was salty, creamy, sweet, and tangy. My whole family loved it and they don't love mushrooms and onions. I did a very fine chop on the onion and mushroom. Delicious!

Ingredients

6 1/2 to 1-inch-thick pork rib chops or boneless pork loin chops

3 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups small cubes of French bread

1 cup chopped mushrooms

2 tablespoons minced onion

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, finely crumbled

1/2 cup shredded smoked Gouda (about 2 ounces)-or to your liking

1/2 of a medium apple(I used Gala or you could use a granny smith)

2 to 3 strips of bacon cut up

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut each pork chop horizontally in half to bone (or almost through if using boneless chops), making pocket for stuffing.
In medium skillet, cook your cut up bacon until crisp. Set aside and drain. You can either keep the bacon grease or drain and melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet over medium heat. Add bread and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet. Add mushrooms, onion, apple and rosemary and sauté until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add to bread. Refrigerate until mixture is completely cool, about 15 minutes.

Mix Gouda into bread mixture; season with salt and pepper. Insert stuffing into pockets in pork, dividing equally. Skewer pockets closed with toothpicks if necessary. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add pork to skillet; sauté until brown, about 2 minutes per side. Place skillet in oven. Bake pork until cooked through, about 25 minutes.