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Calorease Review

I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms Meetsm program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC. or the manufacturer of the product.

Weight loss has been on my mind lately and not just weight loss for the sake of losing weight but for the sake of getting healthy. You see my husband and I started going to the park to shoot hoops. Playing one on one left me breathless. We ended up playing the game of “horse”. For those of you unfamiliar it’s basically choosing a spot to shoot from and the other player(s) shoot from the same spot, if they miss they earn a letter. The one with the least amount of letters in “horse” wins or the one who earns “horse” loses. The breathlessness like this has never happened to me before and I didn’t like it. I know I’m getting old but not that old.

calorease-logo

I am not much for diet fads or diet pills but a few all natural and seemingly “safe” products have come across my inbox that I thought I’d give them a try. Calorease is one of them.

Facts About Calorease

• Stimulant free.

• FBCx (TM), a patented heart healthy fiber.

• If taken as recommended, results can be seen in about 2-3 weeks. Keep in mind that Calorease is not a license to overeat, nor is it a magic bullet for quick weight loss. As always, results will vary from person to person.

• There is no program or special diet involved with taking Calorease. A reasonable, balanced and nutritious fat-containing diet is recommended. Click here for sample meal plans.

• Calorease does not contain gluten, lactose, yeast, wheat, sugar, salt, egg, soy, dairy, artificial colors, sweeteners or preservatives. It is naturally sourced from grain and is suitable for vegans.

• It binds with fat in food to reduce up to 500 calories a day. That’s equivalent to 15000 calories a month, which could be a whole pant size!
calorease-product

Calorease Review

I haven’t been very consistent, nor have I used the product long enough to see a significant difference. I feel no different when taking Calorease. It’s easy to take. Just take two tablets with water after a fat containing meal or snack, up to three times a day. The package contains 90 tablets so about 15 days worth of product, if taken consistently. A 90-tablet pack retails for $29.99. They do have a 180 count pack for 30 days for $49.99.

I liked the idea of Calorease because there is no special diet plan. You eat healthy, treat yourself if need be and exercise. So many diet programs or diets are so restrictive that it feels like you are starving and depriving yourself. I’ve always been able to lose weight by increasing my physical exercise, cutting back on sweets (not that I eat a lot of sweets anymore), so that is what I am working towards…ever so slowly…after all that’s another reason I want to farm – physical work.

Special Discount

Calorease is offering you a 50% discount! You’ll pay only $14.99 for a 90-tablet pack! Visit calorease.com/buy and enter code 4MOMS. You can also find Calorease on Facebook.


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The Liquid Amino Diet Part 1

This is a featured post and I did receive product to review. All opinions are my own.

I really struggle with weight loss. It’s been years since I have successfully take off extra pounds. I love to watch the TV show Extreme Weight Loss Makeover. I find it is very inspirational and sometimes wish I had coaches like Chris and Heidi to help me over the mental, emotional and physical hurdles that come with losing weight. They say that you have to be ready to lose weight. For months I have felt it building up to the point where I was going to say, “Enough is enough.” However, I still need some motivation. Elizabeth’s video below inspired me.

Elizabeth’s Video

The fact that I am even willing to try a weight loss product shows I have made some progress. I am usually quite skeptical of diet products. I am a firm believer in eating healthy and getting enough exercise. Speaking of exercise my husband and I have started going to the park to shoot hoops. We use to play basketball together before we were even dating so it’s something to not only get us moving physically but to spend time together doing something we enjoy. We’ve been the kind of couple who has often put our marriage on the back burner while raising our kids, especially when they were younger. Now they are all getting older and we are finding a healthy balance again.

Back to dieting and losing weight….

Liquid Amino Diet Booklet

About the Liquid Amino Diet

The Liquid Amino Diet is a product I am going to try over the next few days, maybe even weeks. The nice thing about this product is that it does come with a personal coach to assist you along your journey.

Dr. Finsand developed the Amino Diet about 4 years ago after years of research and trials with his patients. The Liquid Amino diet is not about a quick fix, it is about a total and complete lifestyle change, which is something I need, especially increasing my activity level. You would think living on a farm would do it but it doesn’t especially when I spend most of my day on the computer earning an income. Supposedly, the lifestyle change is accomplished through clean eating and ALL NATURAL homeopathic drops. Because of the healthy change in diet, you can expect to lose between .5-1 lb per day. Unlike other diets, the Amino Diet does not inject hormones for a total body shock, but instead focuses on teaching people how to eat clean without the shock of the system. This is one HUGE factor in keeping the weight off for extended periods of time. One thing I was shocked about was the limited calories – 1500 per day. I am scared I cannot stick to this. I am a total carbs girl and cannot picture life without them!

Liquid Amino Diet drops_

So stay tuned to read about my update The Liquid Amino Diet Part 2 in the coming weeks….

Visit www.liquidaminodiet.com for more information.


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Breathe Easy with Air Scrubber Plus Pure Air iPad Mini Giveaway

I think we would all like cleaner air this fall as we approach cold and flu season. Some of you with children in school may have already experienced your first illness of the season. Did you know the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental dangers? In fact, the quality of indoor air can be up to five times more polluted than the most polluted outdoor air. 87 percent of American homeowners are not aware that pollution may be worse inside their homes than outdoors. October is National Home Indoor Air Quality and Awareness Month and we want to spread the word on improving indoor air quality!

Air Scrubber Plus® with ActivePure™ technology is based on a variation of the technology originally developed for use in the International Space Station and is recognized as the exclusive Certified Space Technology by the Space Foundation in its category. offers the only environmental technology that is proven to actually reduce contaminants in the air and surfaces of the home. 

Working through your heating and air conditioning units, Air Scrubber Plus uses specialized germicidal UV light waves along with a proprietary catalytic process to reduce dust, pet dander and odors in your home. You will be able to reduce common smells such as pet odor, cigarette smoke, paint fumes, mold smells and the occasional burnt food odor.

The difference in air quality is noticeable; the air is fresher and the surfaces are cleaner, with an up to 99% reduction in contaminants on surfaces, like kitchen counters and toilet seats. Dust, allergens, mildew and odor-causing bacteria are proven to be significantly reduced with Air Scrubber Plus, now available through a nationwide network of general contractors and HVAC specialists.

Our Favorite Features of Air Scrubber Plus® with ActivePure™ technology:
  • Air Scrubber Plus cleans and disinfects the air and surfaces of your home, reducing up to 99.9% of surface micro-organisms and 90% of airborne micro-organisms. 
  • The most highly respected labs in the country at Kansas State University and University of Cincinnati have tested and validated the effectiveness of the Air Scrubber Plus technology. 
  • Air Scrubber Plus reduces VOCs (volatile organic compounds) emitted by carpets, building materials, cleaning products, furniture, paint, fireplaces, and pesticides.
  • Air Scrubber Plus eliminates airborne and surface toxins that can aggravate allergy symptoms, chest tightness, cough, nausea, sinus problems, dizziness, eye/nose/throat irritation, fatigue, and headaches.
  • Air Scrubber Plus extends the life and effectiveness of your existing HVAC system.
  • Air Scrubber Plus is easily installed by professional HVAC technician.
  • Member of the U.S. Green Building Council
Purchase: You can purchase the Air Scrubber Plus indoor air purification system from top HVAC contractors across the country or contact Air Scrubber Plus by phone or email for more information


Win! Air Scrubber Plus is sponsoring an iPad Mini 16 GB giveaway (retail value $329) to promote their incredible new indoor air purification incredible technology during National Home Indoor Air Quality and Awareness Month.
Special thanks to AnaB Social for hosting this giveaway. Huge thanks to airscrubberplus.com and all the fabulous participating bloggers as well! Giveaway ends November 11th at 11:59 pm, open to residents of U.S., ages 18+. See detailed terms and conditions on entry form. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below (see directions on how to enter here). Thank you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: AnaB Social and all participating event bloggers are not responsible for sponsor prize shipment. I received no compensation for this post. 

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Under a Blackberry Moon by Serena B Miller

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Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Under a Blackberry Moon by Serena B. Miller

Under a Blackberry Moon by Serena B Miller is a historical fiction novel about a Chippewa woman, Moon Song, and a white lumber man’s, Skypilot, journey back to the Chippewa reservation.

I really liked this book. Unlike other historical romances, I did not find this one predictable. I was eager to see where the storyline took me and what obstacle or adventure was about to happen. This wasn’t a cheesy romance but an enduring one.

Both Moon Song and Skypilot’s determination was admirable.

I loved the respect and devotion Moon Song had for her elderly grandmother, an elder in her village, as well as how she displayed that love and devotion towards her tribe.

Moon Song gave Skypilot quite the chase, which I thoroughly enjoyed. To be honest, I have advised our girls to give any future suitors a run for their money and not be so easily caught. Bad, aren’t I? I just figure if guys stick around and think our girls are worth the chase, then they are serious and worth the girls’ time and whatever else it may lead to. Skypilot was up for it and proved how much he loved Moon Song through his desire to learn the ways of the Chippewa.

Having grown up in Nova Scotia, Canada, I lived within 20-30 minutes of a couple MicMac Indian reservations. I even had a couple of friends in college who had grown up on the reservations in Canada. However, I was pretty oblivious as a child to the problems the reservations faced, not to mention what the people had to endure. It was not until I was older that I would feel a keen sense of sadness and loss for native Americans, their culture and heritage. I believe much has been lost due to them being forced to live on reservations.

In light of the above, I appreciated Serena B. Miller’s fictional spin on the Chippewa’s plight and how she ended this story with a special twist and positive outcome for one segment of the Chippewa. If only the ending of Under a Blackberry Moon could be or have been the fate of all native American people.


“Available October 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


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InnoTab® 3S Learning Tablet Review and Giveaway

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product from Vtech in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

InnoTab 3S Learning Tablet Kids_

It is pretty safe to admit our family has embraced the age of technology. While we don’t have every techie gadget on the market we have our share. More and more of our children’s education is relying on technology. That’s why we embraced the opportunity to review a Vtech InnoTab® 3S Learning Tablet

Features of the InnoTab® 3S Learning Tablet:

  • The InnoTab® 3S features VTech Kid Connect– an exclusive communication app that allows kids to be connected with their parents and friends through both tablet-to-mobileand tablet-to-tablet communication
  • The new 3S comes with a rechargeable battery pack with AC adapter and a kid-safe web browser
  • The new InnoTab 3S continues to provide access to VTech’s Learning Lodge™ app store, plus it comes packed with 20 free apps
  • Ages 3-9
  • All for under $100

InnoTab 3S Learning Tablet Review

Vtech Home Page

Our children love their new InnoTab® 3S Learning Tablet. We are still learning to use all the features. They haven’t text me yet and they really haven’t used the web browser much because it requires me to put in our network password. I think it would be nice if we could save that password just because it would be easier than logging in every time, but I understand that this is one of the safe browsing features. I like that we can add new websites under the parental controls.

I know the camera and video camera gets used a fair amount. The children have fun taking goofy photos or videos or practicing their photography.

The children’s favorite activities is to play the beanstalk game. They have to check their bean plants every day to care for them or else they die. Kind of helps teach responsibility. The children love to see how much their beans have grown day by day.

Vtech My Magic Beanstalk 1

Vtech My Magic Beanstalk 2

InnoTab 3S Learning Tablet Downloads

Though there were free downloads with the InnoTab 3S Learning Tablet, I did purchase a few more for the children just so I could understand the selection, purchasing and download process. It was pretty painless and easy. Similar to downloading apps to a cell phone. Edited 12/27/13: But in comparison, there are more free apps available for other tablets, which I did not realize until much later. It is costly to buy more apps, something I cannot seem myself doing much of now that we have a Kindle Fire.

InnoTab 3S Downloads

The Learning Lodge is where parents and children can access “hundreds of engaging, age-appropriate games, videos, e-books and music, endorsed by VTech’s team of educational experts”. Word has it the Learning Lodge will expand its current library of 350 titles to over 600 titles by the end of the year.

I did find the InnoTab 3S Learning Tablet a little slow when changing screens, but overall I really like its features and having this as an addition to our children’s educational program, even our big kids (ages 10-14) like to use it!

Vtech InnoTab® 3S Learning Tablet Giveaway

One of you has the chance to win a Vtech InnoTab 3S Learning Tablet by entering below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Kids Apps from Cupcake Digital Education

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

My iPhone homepage

We are living in the day of apps. Our children LOVE going on my iPhone. Over half of the apps on my phone are kids educational apps. We use my iPhone as a part of our homeschool curriculum. If we are working with one child, another child can be using my phone, as it keeps them occupied.

Cupcake Digital Apps

We were gifted three new kids apps for review. They are Fraggle Rock Game Day – Cupcake Digital, Wubbzy’s 123 Learn & Play – Cupcake Digital and Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best Friends – Cupcake Digital. Our children are really enjoying them.

Review of Kids Apps from Cupcake Digital Education

Fraggle Rock Game Day – Cupcake Digital

Fraggle Rock Game Day

Fraggle Rock Game Day 2

Fraggle Rock Game Day 3

Fraggle Rock Game Day 4

Fraggle Rock Game Day 5

Fraggle Rock Game Day 6

Fraggle Rock Game Day 7

Counting, tracing and games.

My five year old liked this one and Wubbzy’s 123 Learn & Play the best.

The whack a raddish game is hilarious! I even want to play that one! 😉

Wubbzy’s 123 Learn & Play – Cupcake Digital

Wubbyzy's 123 Learn & Play

Wubbzy’s 123 was good for my five year old. I am not sure how much my three year old understood it but he tries. It’s a bit too young for my seven year old but she still had fun doing it.

Wubbzy's 123 Learn & Play

Wubbzy's Learn & Play 2

I thought counting meatballs was fun! 😉

Wubbzy's 123 Learn & Play 2

Wubbzy's 123 Learn & Play 3
Tracing

Wubbzy's 123 Learn & Play 4
Coloring/Paint


Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best Friends – Cupcake Digital

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best Friends

Book, coloring and games.

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best Friends 2

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best Friends 5

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best Friends 3

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Best Friends 4

Our seven year old daughter liked this app the best. She said because it’s nice. 🙂 She’s a girly girl and loves to do the hair and nails game the most because I keep finding photos stored on my phone! She saved me the trouble for the sake of this review – in house help!

Our older daughter even enjoyed playing around with this app.

Strawberry Shortcake and Friends App

These kids apps are definitely keepers and you can find them on iTunes or follow the links in this review.


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A Plain Disappearance by Amanda Flower

A Plain Disappearance by Amanda Flower

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product from Handlebar Publishing in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

A Plain Disappearance by Amanda Flower is the third book in the Appleseed Creek Mystery series. It is a stand alone book. I am rather glad I came in on the third book because the main couple was already together making A Plain Disappearance seem more like a mystery than a fictional romance. Though it did make me want to go back and read the first two installments.

In this book, I saw a glimpse of the struggles Amish families must go through when their children decide to leave their Amish communities for what is considered “English”. This story showed some of the not so good aspects of being Amish or being an “Englisher” dating an almost shunned Amish man. It also revealed a dishonest side to the Amish. Something that usually isn’t seen in the Amish books I have read in the past.

The best thing I liked is the fact that I was kept guessing right through to the end. Gotta love that suspense! I was actually surprised how the mystery concluded.

A Plain Disappearance was a really good read.


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The Long Awakening

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

The Long Awakening by Lindesy O'Connor

The Long Awakening by Lindsey O’Connor is a memoir dedicated to Lindsey’s youngest daughter, Caroline Aileen. This book is a story of Lindsey’s 47-day coma just after giving birth to Caroline, her journey of her recovery, and that of her family’s.

I have 2-3 pages of little bits from the book that touched my heart. After three pages I stopped because I would have an incredibly long review if I wrote about all of my notes. For the sake of this review, I will just touch on a few more important ones.

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed The Long Awakening and found myself reading faster to see what how Lindsey’s story ended.

First, I am always impressed when a family rallies around one another and does what needs to be done through difficult circumstances, such as the O’Connor’s 47+ day tragedy. For example, Lindsey’s oldest daughter postponed college in order to stay at home to take care of her baby sister. This is something no parent wants to force on their oldest child, but the fact that Jacquelyn decided on her own her baby sister needed to be in their family home and not “farmed” out to another home to be cared for showed her love, devotion and sacrifice to do what was in the best interest of not only Caroline, but the whole family.

Jacquelyn’s intuition about her sister Allison was amazing too. I loved reading about how she got her little sister to open up and showed her it was ok to cry, to grieve over what had happened to their mom. The O’Connor’s must have been so proud of her.

Secondly, Lindsey’s family had so much support, love and help that it was a sweet testimony to one nurse in particular, who said, “she’d never seen people come around a family like that.” They had a church that put love into action – for the long haul.

I’ve been taken to emergency surgery during a couple of my miscarriages, but I never uttered the words Lindsey did when she was being wheeled away:

“Please take care of me. I have five children now.”

Weird, but I felt guilty. Granted her situation was completely different but still. It’s amazing what another woman’s story can illicit from my own soul.

I could not have been as calm as Lindsey was when she found out she had an emergency hysterectomy. Listen to what her response was:

“Why does this matter? Uterus in, uterus out. A little rain. Get out the umbrella. I had no use for that body part anymore.”

Not having been in her situation, I can only imagine how I would have responded. I guess this was the least of her concerns at the time. More important matters had her attention, such as, communicating, moving, holding and bonding with her baby, getting her life back.

I could go on for another 500 words, but the last thing I wanted to share had a profound affect on me was when Lindsey spent two hours tapping a spoon against her bedside table only to be ignored. The reason they found out later was because this was a physical quality brain damaged people exhibited. Lindsey’s words were:

“I lay brain damaged and didn’t warrant a response.”

That made me so very sad. The hospital staff heard her but ignored her. Thank God she had her husband advocating for her!

I highly recommend this book. It will make you cry, but Lindsey’s story is a must read. Talk about triumphing over huge hurdles!

“Available October 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


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CordaRoy’s Beanbag Bed Review

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

If you had to choose an area of your home as your favorite, which room would it be? When I typed that question, I thought I had my favorite room in mind but as I thought about it, I have more than one favorite. I was going to say my bedroom because I spend a lot of time there sleeping and just getting away from the noise of our busy household, but as I thought more about it, I realized how much I like our Kitchen and dining room area too. We spend a lot of time in these two rooms preparing and eating meals, doing school work and just living, being together.

What is essential to your favorite room? A comfy place to sit and relax, right? Well, I have a product that fits those qualities! It’s CordaRoy’s Beanbag bed and chair combo.

About CordaRoy’s

CordaRoy’s was recently featured on ABC’s popular show called Shark Tank. The owner of CordaRoy’s, Byron Young, was able to secure a deal with one of the sharks, Lori Greiner, who has her own show on QVC-TV.

CordaRoy’s is a unique company in that it offers a beanbag chair that is also a bed. The beanbags come in a variety of sizes: Kids Sleeper, Full Sleeper, Queen Sleeper, King Sleeper and King Sleeper Sofa. The other unique quality is CordaRoy’s beanbag cover. It’s made of quality corduroy that not only comes in a lot of cool colors but it is also removable making it easy to clean – and yes, it is machine washable! Prices range from $129-$599 for the beanbag sleepers. CordaRoy’s also sells extra covers, pet beds and footstools.


CordaRoy’s Beanbag Bed

To say we were excited to receive a CordaRoy’s full size beanbag bed to review is an understatement! I actually made my daughter wait to open the box until I was done work and ready to take photos.

CordaRoy’s beanbag bed arrived in a fairly small box that looked like this:

CordaRoy's Box_

There is a special way to unpack the box so we had previewed this unpacking video supplied by CordaRoy’s. I share it just in case you are interested in it:

My daughter excitedly opening the box!

B opening CordaRoy's Box_

Inside we found a neatly packaged cover, instructions and guarantee on top of the vacuum packed beanbag bed.

CordaRoy's open box_

CordaRoy's vacuum packed_

CordaRoy's opened_

CordaRoy's Guarantee_

My daughters unpacked the bed like pros and got it into it’s slate chenille cover (blue is my daughter B’s favorite color!). Here she is with our youngest, sorry the photo is blurry, I have an issue with my family remaining still while snapping photos!

CordaRoy's B and Blondie_

Here is CordaRoy’s beanbag as a chair, which my daughter uses to read and do schoolwork on by day:

CordaRoy's Beanbag Bed Chair_

This is CordaRoy’s beanbag as a bed, which my daughter uses to sleep on at night:

CordaRoy's Beanbag Bed Sleeper

And yes, she gave me permission to post this last photo, as it shows her utter delight in her new CordaRoy’s beanbag bed! 🙂

CordaRoy's Beanbag Bed Sleeper_

B’s CordaRoy’s Beanbag Bed Review

B says the beanbag chair is the perfect size for her to curl up alone or to share with one of her teen sisters or with two younger siblings. She says if she puts it at the right angle it makes a perfect throne! She thoroughly enjoys her new chair for reading and doing her school work. She says it is fairly easy to unpack into a bed at night.

B thinks her beanbag bed is lovely and squishable like arms hugging her. It makes a lovely nest for sleeping. It stays warm when she gets up. For example, she got up and was gone for an hour and a half to pick veggies for our CSA boxes and to milk Miss Moo and her bed was still warm when she returned to it after her shower! She says it is very soft and that she loves it. As she stated above about the chair, she says the beanbag bed is fairly easy to pack up into the beanbag chair.

One of our sons wants to steel B’s new beanbag bed and the rest of the children really, really like it! I still need to take a few moments to try out her beanbag chair and her beanbag bed, I just haven’t yet. I’m going to have to do it while she’s out milking because then I’ll know it’s vacant!


Shop Now for a 15% Discount!

CordaRoy’s is offering Faith and Family Reviews’s reader a great little deal! If you place an order at www.cordaroys.com on or before October 12, enter the coupon code BEANBAGREVIEW (no space) and you will receive a 15% discount on your purchase of one CordaRoy’s sleeper! Hope you’ll take advantage of this offer as CordaRoy’s beanbag bed will make a great gift or addition to your favorite room!


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