February Mid-Month Confessions

I am sooooo excited for the partnership this year between E at Teaching Sam and Scout (a person I actually met in my real life when we both taught at the same school) and Heather, the super cute blogger at Notes from the Nelsons that I have been stalking following for about a year now.

They have brought back E's Confessions series but only on a monthly basis.  Y'all know these are my favorite posts, so I'm pumped to link up with them. Seriously, if you aren't reading Teaching Sam and Scout and Notes from the Nelsons every day, go add them to your blog feed.  Now.  You can come back to my confessions later!

So here goes:

1. I had a fantastic list all typed up in my blogger app, and forgot to hit save, so I'm making this up on the fly.
2. I am like a kid when it comes to snow days.  We had a 4 day weekend already scheduled, so Thursday was the last day of the week for us.  With approximately 30 min left of 4th period, it started snowing outside.  I officially was done.  As in, my kids were supposed to be working quietly in pairs on an assignment and I'm not sure they, or I, got anything else done that day.
3. Also on Thursday, I spent 45 minutes going over MLA formatting.  I teach history.  My pre-AP freshmen claimed to have never heard of in-text citations, and certainly didn't understand why it was that I was asking them to give credit within their papers to information.  The quote that drove me to the discussion "Well doesn't the url at the end of the paper tell you that?" NO.  NO IT DOES NOT.  IDK what's happening in younger grades, but if you teach middle school English (or high school, for that matter, or history at any level), could you please make a better attempt at teaching them how to properly cite information?
4. We throw away obnoxious amounts of food.  It's been better post-Advocare, but I just dumped out the equivalent of 3 chicken breasts.  Why?  Because we didn't put it away after we ate it.  So chicken breasts just sat in our crock pot.  Overnight.  And then all the next day.  And maybe a few more nights and days.  Gross?  Wholeheartedly yes.  I'm trying to be a better wife/cook and D is trying to be a better husband/kitchen helper.
5. I am a terrible reverser.  As in, I cannot for the life of me back my car up in any decent way.  Recently, I began parking in our garage.  It's been at least a month, and probably 5 of every 7 times I have to pull up and do it again, and I still end up in the garage crooked.  It's terrible.
6. I went to Wal-mart at 7:00 this morning.  Un-showered.  Yogas & Uggs (or, well, fake Uggs.).  No makeup.  Total Noke student status.  I put way too much trust in the meteorologists, and I assumed the snow we are getting wouldn't start until lunch time.  So, I stayed home yesterday, and when Dusty got up it was already snowing.  So there I was, in line at Wal-mart at 8 something in the morning, with all the other crazies.

And there you have it!  I'm sure I could think of more, but it's snowing, so I can't focus on anything.  Want to join it?  Use the button above to link back to either E or Heather!

Celestial Seasonings

One of the items in my #FrostyVoxBox from Influenster was Candy Cane Lane Green Tea from Celestial Seasoning.

Now, I've never been a huge green tea fan, so I figured I would just skip this one.  Now, considering that the tea was FREE and it is less than 20 with a wind chill that makes it feel almost 0 degrees, I figured I'd give this a shot. 

Free Tea :)

I'm thinking these teas are definitely Advocare friendly, since they're 100% natural, and I don't think I'm going to add anything to it, but maybe some honey would be good. 

When I opened the package, all I smelled was peppermint. Hard core. I added some hot water to my mug and let it steep away. 

Steep Steep Steep

The bag doesn't have a string. For some reason, this really bothers me. It probably doesn't bother most people. 

The verdict: it tastes like peppermint. This would be really yummy if you're sick, especially with a cold. It's also really yummy now, when I'm freezing cold. I think this is a holiday item only, so maybe next October when the retail stores think Chrismas has started you can grab some! 

Disclaimer: I received this tea free for review purposes from Influenster.  All opinions are my own.  Contact me if you want to win free stuff for review too!

#FrostyVoxBox

It's that time again!  I just LOVE being a member of Influenster.  Periodically, I get sent free stuff to use & review!  It's amazing.

This go 'round, I received the Frosty Vox Box, which I honestly expected to be a lot of winter survival things.  Not so much, but so much better!!

Fist up was the NYC Expert Last Lip Color in Sugar Plum

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I'm not usually a lipstick girl, but I do really love this color.  It's not overpowering, and it's more of a natural lip color.  The last is, at least in my opinion, pretty typical.  It's gone within a few hours.  Honestly, that's one of the things I don't like about lipstick.  You have to reapply it so much.

Next: Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Decaf Green Tea

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If I'm being honest (which I am), I haven't tried this yet.  No special reason, I just haven't.  I usually like hot teas, but decaf is not really my thing, and with Advocare I haven't really wanted to add in the tea.  (Unrelated side note - you can have tea on Advocare, as long as it doesn't have added stuff.  I haven't checked the ingredients in this yet.)  If anyone loves this, let me know! I'll send it to you since it doesn't look like we're getting the snow day we need for me to down this!

Item 3: EcoTools Hair Brush

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It's a hair brush.  I think it's supposed to be all super green & all that jazz.  It's also supposed to make your hair drying time faster.  I don't have a long hair drying time.  So for me, it's just a brush.  And all that brown is rubber, which really just makes it hard to clean out.  My cheap Conair brush may not be as good for the environment, but I like it just as well.

Item 4: McCormick Gourmet Thyme

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This is yummy!  Of course, it's thyme, and I had to Google things to use it on.  My favorite so far?  Homemade rotisserie chicken.  I buy a whole chicken from the meat department (and they had 2 packs at Sam's the other day), take out the nasty bag of insides (why do they even leave those in there?), and then put the chicken in the crock pot (sitting on 4 aluminum foil balls.)  Sprinkle with thyme and some season salt, cook on low for a workday.  It's pretty awesome!!

Item 5: Fruit Vines Bites in Strawberry

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I am ashamed to say that I ate an entire package of these in one sitting, and not the small single serving size either, the 2.5 servings per bag one.  They. Were. Awesome.  Now, they aren't Advocare friendly, but I ate them before I started the program.  And they'd make a great cheat day snack.  

Item 6: Rimmel Gentle Eye Makeup Remover

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This is pretty good stuff.  I'm not an eye makeup remover connoisseur, but I like this kind.  The brand I usually use is more of a creamy type that tends to make my greasy skin worse & hurts my eyes.  This is a clear liquid, so that helps with the oiliness factor.  I'm also TERRIBLE about just leaving my makeup on my eyes, so getting this one has meant that I have, on occasion, done a better job of taking off my makeup at night.

Final Item: Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner

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Oh goodness, y'all.  This has been my favorite thing.  Even more so than the Fruit Vines!  I got this in the black shade.  If I had been buying it for myself, I probably would have bought it in brown.  Historically, I've always used a liquid eyeliner, so this was a change for me.  It does have more of a tendency to smear than my liquid version, but it also goes on smoother and more precisely.  Not gonna lie here, I had to buy an eyeliner pencil because I've used the tip totally down & loved it so much I couldn't let it go!  This is good stuff.  Go get some for yourself!

So, there you have it!  I got all of these wonderful things for free from Influenster, just for the purpose of using them & sharing my opinions with the world!  Want in?  Send me a message or leave a comment & I can send you an email with the connection info!