Product Review

I'm going to talk to you today about fiber!

Hey! Where is everyone going?

I know! I know! When someone says fiber, you think cardboard or hay or wood chips. But I'm going to talk to you about yummy fiber? You've never heard of yummy fiber? Well, listen up my fiber challenged friend because yummy is on the way!

First up: All Bran Crackers.
They come in two flavors - multi-grain and garlic. Garlic is by far my favorite but as far as I'm concerned, you could sprinkle garlic on a shoe and I'd eat it. You get 5 grams of fiber for 18 crackers (they are the same size as Wheat Thins). Now 18 crackers sounds like a lot but I can down half the box without even realizing it. You can find these along side the other "mediocre" crackers in the snack aisle.

Next comes Fiber One Yogurt.
There is not ONE detectable difference between Fiber One Yogurt and any other yogurt out there. It's smooth and creamy and, oh-so yummy! If you are needing to get more fiber into your kids diet, here's your chance. London loves this yogurt. It's one of the few things I don't have to fight with her to eat. Well, that and chocolate! Five grams of fiber per cup. The easiest five grams you'll ever down.

Last but not least, Fiber One Breakfast Bars.

Oh.My.Gosh! Seriously! These are soooooo good! And a whopping 9 grams of fiber per bar. They come in three flavors: Yummy, Way Yummy and Super Yummy! Okay, those aren't really the flavors, it's just that I can only remember two right now: Chocolate & Oats and Peanut butter. I'm sure the third is just as delectable. Check these babies out next time you're in the cereal aisle and give them a try. Admittedly, I don't know the sugar content of these. I could run downstairs and look at the box, but I'm comfy and not about to move. I trust you can look this information up for yourself.

Forget what you thought about fiber. Fiber is yummy thanks to the good people at Fiber One and All Bran. Remember: fiber is our friend. Say it with me now -

Fiber is our friend!

Good, good. Now go eat!

Product Review

As promised a couple of Saturdays ago, here is my product review of 24.7 Skincare Instant Plump Volumizing Lip Shine.

First, I must confess that I swiped the picture on the left off of CVS's website. My original purchase came all nice & tidy in a lovely red hot little box. Very well packaged, professional and sleek. Something of which the executives at 24.7 (or whoever owns them) must be proud. My initial good impression only lasts so long, however. Truth be told, I have issues with packaging:


I'm dealing with it, okay? Let's move on.

I usually don't set out to purchase lip plumpers. My lips are just fine, thank you very much. But I had a $5 off coupon, plus this brand came with an ECB (Extra Care Buck) offer and I like trying out new products for either mega-cheap or free. These elements combined resulted in this little gem finding it's way home with me. Regular retail price is $19.99. I purchased it for $4.99 but because I paid with Extra Bucks, I really got it for free. In all honesty, if it weren't for the big FREE price tag, I never would've given this product a second look.

I took it home and decided to give it a thoroughly scientific test drive and record my findings. Are you ready? Yeah, you're on the edge of your seat, I can tell. Approximately, ten seconds after application, I began to feel a cool burning sensation around the outer edge of my lips. A little scary, but nothing too alarming. Yet.

After about two minutes, the "sensation" started to HURT! For those of you unfamiliar with the parts of the body that are not supposed to burn, this is in the "not good" category. I literally refrained from kissing my baby boy for fear his little cheeks would start to burn. After about four minutes, the burning started to dissipate and was back to the tolerable "cool burning" sensation after that. Several minutes later, it was completely gone.

Here are my lips before 24.7 Instant Plump:

Here are my lips after 1 minute:
And here they are after 5 minutes:
I do see a mild transformation. But what I want to know is: Are they really plumper? Or do they just appear that way because of the small amount of blood rushing to the outer edges in response to the burning?

Whenever I checked myself in the mirror *cougheverytwominutescough*, they really did seem a bit plumper. I liked the way they looked but, to be honest, I couldn't say they looked any different than when I apply my $1.99 Bonnie Bell lip gloss. All lipstick and gloss give the appearance of fuller lips. Isn't that one of the reasons we buy them? And as I went about my day running errands, doing this & that, I was quite disappointed that no one mistook me for Angelina Jolie (you know, like they usually do). For 20 bucks spent on lips, I want to be mistaken for someone! Geesh! Even getting confused with Sandra Bernhard would've meant SOMETHING!

And here they are at the end of the day:

I kid! I kid! *heehee*

The final analysis is this: For $20 I want a lip plumper to have a little more plump in it. Oh, and I also would like for it NOT to burn! That's always a plus, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe the test subjects who first gave this product a whirl feel differently, I don't know. What I do know is this:

Because of price, pain and plumplessness, I give 24.7 Skincare Instant Plump Volumizing Lip Shine 1 out of 5 Mommy Kisses.

Product Review

The Bissell Steam Mop is easily one of my favorite products. I call him Mr. B. No cutesy name here like for my other fave products. No, the Bissell deserves the distinction. He is, after all, my hero. He single-handedly (or moppedly) saved my laminate wood floor from the crazy, oh-so-had-enough-with-cleaning-it-really-really-fed-up lady who lives in my house.

That’d be me.

I was seriously ready to tear all 1000 sq feet of flooring up with my own bare hands (while my hubby was at work, of course). I had tried a multitude of floor cleaning remedies. All of which I was assured were perfect for wood laminate floors. All of which left streaks of residue on my floor and streaks of gray in my hair. Not to mention the money wasted.

But then along came Mr. B. who calmly and smoothly set my scorned heart to rest and promised me a different ending - a happy ending - with him. He has yet to disappoint.

Mr. B. uses a micro-fiber mop head. Mine came with four from HSN.com (which doesn't appear to be currently selling it *sad face*). The number of mop heads you receive will depend on where you buy yours from. If you are diligent about keeping up with your floor, you may only need one or two. If you are like me and only do your floor during months that end in ‘H’, you will need more. Once the mop head gets too dirty or too soaked, you need to change it otherwise streaks will appear. But this is something I can easily accept with all Mr. B. has to offer otherwise. *swoon*

Mr. B. works best with distilled water. Oh, you may use regular, I-don’t-care-to-put-any-effort-into-my-relationship water, but you’ll end up changing out the filter that much quicker. Why not show Mr. B the love and spring for the 79 cents a bottle of distilled water costs? Mr. B. will show the love in return, I promise.

Mr. B. is hot and steamy for you just 30 seconds after plugging him in. He has an easy to use swivel head that gets around the base of a toilet like no other “mop” can do. Mr. B. watches his waistline and as a result is light weight and easy on the arms. He’s not just a laminate man either. Mr. B. is good for vinyl, tile and other hard flooring surfaces.

You can find Mr. B. at your nearest Walmart for under $80.00. Trust me, when you’re done kissing your own Mr. B., you’re going to want to kiss me for telling you about him. I'll be here - lip plumper freshly applied. *wink*

I give Mr. B. 5 out of 5 Mommy Kisses!

Favorite Product #2

When I last told you about Burt, I said he was my NEW favorite product. Well, let me just say, that while Burt is new to the family here in the Stumbling household, he is not necessarily my absolute favorite. Afterall, a good mother loves all of her children the same, right?

I have many favorite products and I've decided to tell you about them one at a time as my flighty, little whims see fit. Today, I would like to recommend to you something that I don't know how I ever lived without. Or how my husband, sheets and socks ever lived without, for that matter.


We'll call this little cutie, "Helio". Heel of Approval: Cracked Heel Treatment is a gooey tub of pure footlovin' from the shelves of Bath & Body Works. Helio resides on my nightstand next to my Burt's Bees Lip Balm (for another time, dear) and my Puff's Plus w/ lotion (is there any other?) tissue box. Combine Helio with a cozy pair of fuzzy, cotton socks and you have the makings for a night of pure, sizzlin'...


okay, I wanted to say something really sensual here, but what can one say about scratchy, cracked and callous heels that are so gnarly that they literally make noise when putting socks on?

Share too much, did I? Umm, okay...sorry, 'bout that.

Anyhoo, hence the absence of nylon socks in my drawer or evenings of playing footsie with my husband. But when Helio and I get together for 3 or 4 nights in a row, all that changes. I can literally see a difference after the first night. It's not long before my heels - and the rest of my feet, for that matter - are back to their sandal-worthy selves.

Bath & Body Works, as always, is mighty proud of their products so Helio is a bit much (if you ask me and since you're reading this, you did) at $15.00 for 4 oz., but a little does go a long way. Only because of price, and not performance, do I give Helio 4 out of 5 Mommy Kisses!

My New Favorite Product

Years ago, I talked my Sweetie into buying one of those food sealer, vacuum-thingamajigs. It was roughly 50 smackers, if I remember correctly. Not to mention an extra $11 for a box of bags. There was measuring, cutting, sealing, vacuuming, and sealing again involved but that was okay, because I was being resourceful and saving money. Happy, I was, sealing & vacuuming, vacuuming & sealing and thinking of all the food I was no longer going to be throwing away and imagining all the wonderful things we could do with the money we saved!

Ahhh...good times.

I think I used it 3 times and back to the far, dark corners of the pantry it went. After awhile, sealing & vacuuming got replaced with things that are actually fun!

Then along comes Handi-Vac by Reynolds. I call him "Burt". Burt is so easy to use, it amazes me that no one came up with this sooner. I mean, really, HOW long has it been since we first put a man on the moon? Let's get with it, people!

Burt even comes with his own batteries plus three quart-size bags to get you started. The instructions are clear - basically, you are holding Burt against the designated blue spot on the freezer bag and pressing a button - and there are even pictures. I'm guessing, they used pictures to show the monkeys in their test lab how to use it. Yes, I know, cliche' but really, a monkey could use it!

Burt is extra speedy and does not require the 10-20 seconds to vacuum the air out of the bag that the manufacturer states. The bags are also reusable! Yay!

And, if I ever run into the designer in packaging who came up with the box design, I'm going to kiss him! Not only is Burt the first item I've removed from hard plastic packaging without muttering a few "colorful" words, but because you don't rip or damage the packaging in any way, you can use it to store Burt if you so desire. A little bed for Burt, if you will.

The price is a very reasonable $9.99 at Wal-mart. The bags are a bit more than regular bags but considering you can use the bags again and again (without cutting them down like with the vacuum-thingy), you can really get your money out of them.

My rating for this little gem is:

5 Mommy Kisses! (out of a possible five)