Influenster - Ivory Brand Challenge Winner

I was notified about two weeks ago that I had been chosen as one of the Ivory brand challenger winners, which I was shocked to find out. But after waiting for a couple weeks, the mail came today and my box was in it! I already knew what was going to be included in the box, but was shocked to find out that the hand soap was larger than they said it would be. =) So in my box I received 1-24oz Ivory body wash with aloe, 1-24oz Ivory 2-in-1 hair & body wash in the scent refreshing, 1-10 pack of Ivory original soap bars, and the surprise which was supposed to be 7.5oz, but instead was 16oz the liquid hand soap. I never even knew that Ivory had a liquid hand soap, since I mostly use Softsoap or the Wal-Mart brand of hand soap. The Ivory hand soap has such a clean fresh scent that other hand soaps don't have and hopefully it wont irritate my hands or dry them out since I'm an OCD germaphobe and am constantly washing my hands. If you would like to find out how to receive free products like this for testing purposes, log on to Influenster and sign up today!

Change of mind...

I have had a change of mind about moving our homeschool blog to here. I'm just going to leave it the way it is for now. You can come check us out over at SonLight Christian Academy

Homemade Garlic Dill Pickles

I have been having a craving for some pickles and we had about 12 large cucumbers in the crisper drawer in the fridge. We had no idea what to do with all of them, so I searched the web and found a pickle recipe that was simple and cheap to make. The recipe I used is the Duggar family garlic dill pickle recipe. I halved the recipe since I only had 5 glass jars and 2 plastic storage containers. We made the pickles on Monday as a homeschool project and was supposed to wait for 10-12 days before eating them, but we opened a jar today to see if they were ready, which they were. We could not resist it and before we knew it, the whole jar of pickles was gone. They were so delicious!! We have never had homemade pickles before, so I figured why not turn it into a homeschool project so my son could see how to make pickles. He really enjoyed helping out and was even more excited to be the first taste tester of his pickles. =)

We will no longer purchase store-bought pickles since we now know how to make them. During making the pickles I did notice the large amount of salt their recipe called for so I just reduced it to 1/3 cup since I was only making half the recipe. The pickles that were in the jars were better tasting than the pickles in the plastic containers, I guess it's because the pickles in the jars were hot from the oven and with the added boiling liquid it helped them process better than the ones I put in the plastic containers in the fridge. However, both tasted really good!! I hope you go check out the recipe and consider making them for your family.

-Nikki

*The recipe can be found here*

Product Review: Ivory 2-in-1 hair & body wash

Hi Guys! It's been a while since I have done a product review or posted anything to this blog, but I am here today with a product review of a NEW body product that I received complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. The product I'm talking about is the new Ivory 2-in-1 hair & body wash. It is suppose to cut down on the hassle of applying shampoo, conditioner and body wash while leaving your body clean. And if you guys are anything like myself and short on time to shower, then this is the product for you.

I received this product this week(Tuesday) and began using it the very same day on myself. It has a clean, crisp refreshing smell that lathers very well using a wash cloth. I washed my body only because this product does have SLS(Sodium Lauryl Sulfate)and I try to avoid washing my hair with sulfates because it dries my hair out. After using this product, my skin was not dry nor itchy at all, it felt moisturized and soft. However, using this product on my son who has eczema & atopic dermatitis, it dried his skin out to the point that he was scratching constantly. It didn't cause any new skin flare-up, just itchy skin for him. So if you have sensitive skin, then this product may not work for you.

On a scale of 1-10 I would rate this at 8.5 just because it does have SLS and Dimethicone in it. I would repurchase this product again because it does clean the body, has a nice smell and it's not overly expensive.




~*I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.*~


-Nikki