The Sewing Mom

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Clorox Company for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Is your family one of the millions of families planning to enjoy a summer at home, a "staycation", rather then spending money to travel someplace exotic?  Or, do you have family coming to visit, sort of forcing you to take a staycation whether you want to or not, like us?  Well, if you're like us, you'll want to get the house all spiffied up before that lovely family of yours arrives don't ya think?

I got off to an early start with the family visits, my step daughter flew into town on business yesterday and spent the night with us.  So, after getting off work yesterday, I organized my cleaning into sections, paying special attention to the bathrooms, making sure they were super nice and clean.  She was only here for one night and, in fact, just headed off back to the airport for her return flight home.  I would actually have loved for her to stay longer, it's the next round of family that troubles me, they're on their way in a month or so.

I did such a good job straightening up and cleaning, that the next round shouldn't be too much trouble, as long as I stay on top of it now.  I can even get all my favorite Clorox cleaning products at Dollar General, just down the street.  Since I put most of my focus on disinfecting the kitchen and bathrooms, I really like to use the Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes and Clorox® Liquid-Bleach,  and the one product I could not do without, the Clorox® Toilet Bowl Cleaner with Bleach.  

Dollar General also carries other cleaning products, including Pine-Sol® Multi-Surface cleaners. 

Speaking of Dollar General, be sure to visit dollargeneral.com to enter the It Pays to Vacation at Home sweepstakes for a chance to win a $500 paycheck or other prizes.  It's very simple to enter, I just did it in no time.  Go to It Pays to Vacation at Home click on the yellow button that says "click here to enter", fill in the required information and submit.  Then play the "Wipe to Win' game to see if you're an instant winner f a $10 gift card.  Unfortunately, I didn't win, but here's what it looked like after I'd played.

Be sure to enter the sweepstakes, there will be 20 Grand Prize winners, each winning a $500 paycheck and 100 $25 Dollar General gift cards will also be given away.

Thank you to anyone who entered my contest to win the Eclos Beauty kit. I am still using the products that came in the kit I received and enjoying them very much. I am sure the winner of their own kit will enjoy these products as much as I did.

Now, without further ado, the winner is… (insert drum roll please)…

Storm from Confessions of a Psychotic Housewife

Congratulations!!

(I used random.org to generate the winning number.)

This post brought to you by éclos Skin Care. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am one of the fortunate ones that has never really had too much trouble with my skin.  I've cleaned and moisturized daily since I was in high school and I've always tried to use products that made my skin feel clean and soft without feeling heavy or greasy and with very little fragrance.  I am now in middle age and it's even more important to me to take good care of my skin, especially on my face and I've been using anti-aging products for the last several years.  Don't know if they actually work, but I feel pretty good about the way I my skin looks.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to try out éclos Skin Care.  I was given the éclos Anti-Aging Skin Care Starter Kit, valued and $19.99, and asked to try out the included products and then give my opinion on those products.  The kit contains a sample size of each of the products in the line of skin care plus a handy stretch terry headband to keep your hair out of your face when you're washing or applying the mask.  I like to keep things simple, so I was a little put off by the number of different products I was being asked to use on a daily basis, but then, once I really thought about it, it's no more than I'm all ready using with the exception of the face serum which is lightly applied after washing your face and before applying the regenerative cream and it works to nourish the skin cells and helps actively promote callogen production.  This is what helps skin look fresh and, hopefully, younger.

Products included in the kit:

• Facial Cleanser Skin Prep
• Cellular Activator Face Serum
• Moisture Therapy Regenerative Cream
• Restorative Eye Cream
• Instant Radiance Facial Scrub
• Skin Renewal Clay Mask
• éclos Terry Cloth Head Band

So, this is me before I started using éclos Skin Care.  I know it's not the best photo, but I don't photograph well and I definitely am not good at taking photos of myself!

My skin is overall fairly healthy and I'm told I look young for my age.  Although, over the last year I've probably had more acne than I've had my entire life, guess that comes with hormone changes and it sucks!  Anyway, wash my face daily in the shower with a light facial wash and once in a while will do a mask to get rid of dead, dry skin.  I don't wear a lot of make up, but like the feeling of a clean face and the look of young skin!

Since receiving my éclos Skin Care kit, I have made every attempt to follow the recommended regimen of washing twice daily with the facial cleanser skin prep and following up each cleansing with the face serum, then the Anti-Aging Moisture Therapy Regenerative Cream and then the Anti-Agin Restorative Eye Cream.  I also used the Anti-Aging Instant Radiance Facial Scrub every other day and I did use the Anti-Aging Skin Renewal Clay Mask once.  I have been following this routine over the last week and a half and I have to say, I am enjoying the products and the way my skin feels.

This is what I look like today, perhaps a little better photo, but I think my skin looks healthier and it has a nice glow to it.

The éclos Skin Care line utilizes apple stem cells extracted from a rare Swiss apple.  These apple stem cells have been shown to stimulate skin stem cells to help skin have a younger appearance.  These same products also include vitamins, plant extracts and anti-oxidants to help minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

I really like the product and plan to purchase more since I found it's available at my local Target store.  I do wish it had more of the apple scent or was completely fragrance free.  It smells a bit medicinal to me, but I do like the results.

CONTEST:

I received an identical éclos Skin Care kit, valued at $19.99, to give away to one lucky reader.  To enter, please leave a comment telling me which of the products included in the kit you are most excited to try.  You must leave a valid email address and sorry, but this contest is only open to those living in the continental United States.

Entries will be accepted until midnight May 29, 2012.  Winning entry will be drawn on May 30,2012.

It’s back! That’s right, softball season got underway this weekend for travel teams and we spent the entire weekend out at the fields. 6 games in 2 days, what a great weekend!

Most of the girls on the team also play ball for their respective high schools, but this was the first time they’d played together as a team since November. It was great seeing everybody back, even if it took a couple of games to shake off the cobwebs. We were missing a couple due to injury or illness, but all in all, they looked fabulous.

I’m looking forward to a great season! How was your weekend?

This post brought to you by Lenovo. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am so addicted to watching the Chicago White Sox play baseball!  I watch them every chance I get, and, I think we are going to try to get tickets to see them when they come to town to play the Texas Rangers this coming July.  I have purchased a premium subscription to MLB.TV just so I can watch all of the games, including the non-televised games on my computer,  my tablet or even my smartphone.  That subscription will come in really handy now that softball season is about to swing in to full gear and we will be on the road just about every weekend taking our daughter to tournaments.  I don't want to miss watching my White Sox play!

The biggest down side of watching the games on my phone is listening to the game through those tiny earbuds.  My ears get soar after a while of having my earbuds in just so I can hear the announcers.   I really like the idea of the Lenovo speaker  M0520 which is a small enough speaker to be portable, yet big enough to provide 4 watts of power which produces high quality sound.  This speaker is easy to transport too since the speaker wire spools for easy and tidy storage. The speaker comes with a built in amplifier and sub-speaker as well. Besides connecting to my smartphone, I can also use the Lenovo speaker with my computer or my daughter can use it with her netbook.  My daughter watches movies on all of the above, so it would be nice to have better quality sound to go along with the picture.  The speaker connects easily through a USB connection and includes an energy saving function. 

To make the Lenovo speaker even more enticing, between 5/15-5/21, these speakers are on sale for only $11.99, a savings of $18!  That is a huge savings!  You should definitely check it out for yourself!  Leave a comment if you have used the Lenovo speaker, let me know what you think.