March Madness. Misfortunes, and More

It's 10:35 pm and normally, I am now in bed but I am trying to    meet my goal of finishing all my reviews this month.  This will be the last post  so I am happy to stay a little bit late.  Let me fill you in with what consumed  my March.  

• Our daughter got sick twice this month.  Not sure if it was the flu but glad it did not last  very long although she got it twice.  
• Another misfortune  happened on Friday the 13th.  Our Honda Accord was parked in front of our house and our neighbor  backed up on it and hit the left fender.  We did not know who did since it happened at night time but we suspected it was one of our neighbors as the dent has a maroon color  and it has a  square mark on the dented part.  

My husband called  the police to file a police report so we can    contact our insurance.  

The police came and investigated.  He asked my husband if he thinks the truck did it but my husband said no.  

My husband told the police of his suspicion that our other neighbor was the one who might have hit the car. The police then went to the other vehicle and he agreed that it might be it so he knocked on the door and talked to the vehicle owner. They admitted that they accidentally backed on it. The guy said that he left a note on our car but we never found anything. Luckily, his insurance agrees to pay for the repair and they gave my husband a temporary rental car to drive to work. 

We had our car back  on Friday and it looks  nice, the garage did a great job.  I am glad that our neighbor admitted to it because  the repair cost is $1,734.37, man that's painful in the   pocket!

 Other activities  included  the Festival of Nation where  our daughter was part of the choir of the school and they sung  some songs during the event.  This event was held at Millsop Community Center on March 21.  I will make another post for it.

 We  spent  some of our free times doing some Spring cleaning.  I put these kiddos to work, it's a team effort to clean the house.  

 The walls were done  few weeks ago so we  cleaned out  storage and displays.

Aside from cleaning, I was  occupied volunteering  at my children's school activities including book fair, race for education  preparation, serving lunches, and meetings.  Was also  busy  writing reviews.  If you can remember, I previously  reviewed some  products from "The Laundress".  They sent me again some samples, this time some laundry materials.  Alsp included in the  package was the scented vinegar but unfortunately, it was damaged  during the transit so it made a mess.  

Anyway, I used their signature detergent for  our regular laundry and used the delicate wash for the new  clothing that I bought.  I will be using the wool cashmere next time for some of our stuff with  wool.  I just wish that their samples are bigger than these packets lol.

Alrighty, thanks a lot for reading and for leaving your thoughts.  I can go to sleep now  knowing that I have done everything I supposed to do this month.  Tomorrow is a new month so  I will start my new goals.  

Sharing Sparkle Time with my Family #DASANIdrops #DASANIsparkling #Infusions

This is a sponsored  post written  in partnership with Dasani and Target.  All opinions are my own  and may differ  from  everyone else.  

When I first met my husband, I found it so  odd that he  is not fond of drinking water.  I thought that was very unusual since I grew up drinking water and I seldom  drink soda or any other kinds of beverage.  By that time, he was   only drinking  sweet tea, which in my opinion was not very healthy  because of sugar.  Anyway, I encouraged him to  incorporate water intake into his  daily routine especially when he started  gaining weight.  He was doing his  workout routine  very regularly but he wasn't losing anything.  I think he finally  realized that  the sugar in sweet tea is  sabotaging his  fitness goals so he started  drinking flavored water at first then he learned to drink plain water eventually.  I am so glad that I was able to  encourage him into drinking water  because  it is important to show our kids that water is an essential  thing for healthy living.

I was very excited to have given a chance to try the new DASANI products.  I received two naturally flavored black cherry sparkling water. two strawberry basil flavored drops infusion, and two lime flavored drop infusion.  You can purchase these products at your local Target store or by  using Target’s Cartwheel app.  If you use the app, you can  enjoy the coupons that will be available for both DASANI DROPS Infusions and DASANI Sparkling in Black Cherry for a limited time.

I love the  taste of the  Dasani sparkling water  with black cherry flavor.  I thought  that it  is going to  taste   strong but it didn't.  It is very mild  but  you can really taste the cherry in it.   I saved one for my husband to take to work.

My son is  really good with drinking water but my daughter kind of rejected water there for a while until she got  dehydrated and got sick.  Now I make sure that she drinks enough water or juice  in order to keep her hydrated.  I let them try this  strawberry basil  drops infusion and are 50-50 on it.  They love strawberry but not  totally sold with the hint of the basil in it.

My husband and I tried the  lime-flavored drops infusion then we  later on tried the strawberry basil.  We came into a conclusion and both agreed that the strawberry  basil flavor is much better compared to the  lime flavor .  .  He will be bringing one of this to his work since he brings a bottle of water everyday when he go to work.

Water is my fuel when I do my workout at home.  Please don't mind my messy hair. O just got done with my   short workout when this photo was  taken by hubby.  Water is a big   part of our everyday meal s.  Sometimes the kids would  drink juice but most of the times, we  all drink water.  My husband would still make  sweet tea once in a while but it is  sort of a special treat now instead of  a regular thing.  

Cheers to  drinking more water!

Here's my Burritos enjoying their own flavored Dasani water.  Sharing Sparkle time with my family has never been this fun, thanks to Dasani flavored water!

My Tropical Plants Survived the Winter - Indoors

I decided to  try to grow tropical  fruit plants again last year after my failed attempt previously.  The failure   was due to the fact that I grew them outdoors and thought I could protect them during the Winter by covering them.  That  did not worked so  I planted  the fruits in the pots this time and brought them inside the house.  I put them by the window where the sunlight shines through over the winter.  So far they are doing great.  I can't put them outside yet since it is still 26 degrees at my neck of the woods.   Anyway, here are the tropical fruit plants that I have.

Pineapple

My Dad taught us that when you chopped the crown of the pineapple, you can cultivate it by sticking it to the ground.  That's how we  always done it in the past and  our backyard has always pineapples.  I miss seeing pineapple flowers, it's been a long time.

Avocado

Another fruit that we always have in our backyard when I was a kid was avocado.  It is very easy to grow and is a pleasure to harvest the fruit and enjoy  the nuttiness of the  fruit.

Lemon

I have been trying to grow  a lemon tree since I got here in the US but it always  dies.  With this one, I think I am lucky.  My son actually put the seeds of the lemon that we bought from Iowa when we  had our road trip last year.  When I  brought  it inside, there's  only one leaf in it but now, it has grown quite a bit and I may need to transfer it into a bigger pot.

This miniature rose is  what my husband gave e during Valentine's day.  I always prefer this potted miniature roses over a bouquet because I can transplant them outside and I can enjoy it during summer time.  I have plenty of them in my garden now. I have several  office desk plants inside and it's screaming for some real sunlight.  I hope that  the weather will be warmer in the coming weeks.  Below is  indoor plants that I love and reminds me of the plants that we  have had  in the office when I was still working in school.  

Having plants in the office  can really sends clients  an inviting environment.  It also brings  freshness in the office.  Some companies hires professional to do this.  

Spring Cleaning with The Laundress

Disclosure: The author of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the products mentioned  in exchange of my honest  opinion which may differ from yours.  

Hey there everyone, my weekend went  very fast.  Busy  doing house chores and cooking for the family.  Today, I started my Spring cleaning  using the All Purpose Cleaning Concentrate and  Scented Vinegar that  The Laundress have sent me to try and review.

This 16 fl. oz all-purpose cleaning concentrate can be used  to clean porcelain, granite, and even finished wood.   It is ideal to clean floors, showers, toilets, and tubs. It is safe and effective to use in every surface,  It is toxin-free  and packed with  active ingredients.  I love the scent of lavender, thyme, eucalyptus, and ylang-ylang infused  in it.  The scent  actually reminds me  of freshly bathe babies

I used it this morning to clean my  kitchen floor.  It works great to our linoleum floors.  I used two capfuls of this concentrate and mixed it  with one  bucket of hot water.  

I have a  regular mop but thought of using old socks  to clean the floor this time.  I don't throw away  hubby's  old socks because I used them when I polished the furniture at home.  It works great as well to use with my swiffer sweeper.  I  cut the  sock into half and just  clip it into the swipper and it cleans better that a regular mop.

I can't wait till we can replace our kitchen flooring.  I don't like the color of our linoleum because it looks  dirty all the time even when it's clean.  Anyway, I am happy I started cleaning today.  I know  that we still have a week or so before Spring but Spring cleaning for me takes time.  I don't normally do it in one day.

I  love  cleaning my kitchen using vinegar because it is  safe and it cleans better so I was excited when they sent me this scented vinegar.  

I used  it to clean my counter top.  Having a fake laminate counter top  is nice but I would  love to have new  counter top  with granite, it would be easier to clean, I think.  The counter top next to the stove is always the one that needs cleaning because sometimes food splatter and I don't  get to clean it right away and it  sticks there  like the the one on the photo below.

Using  sponge, I soaked it with the vinegar and scrubbed it.  The scented vinegar is  okay,  If I would rate it, I would give 3 stars out of five stars.  It's not the best  cleaner I have used.  In fact, I would prefer my  diluted vinegar and water over this  scented vinegar.  Quite honestly, I don't like the scent either.  

I would say though that it cleans  our back splash  really good.  Now, I have a clean kitchen and would love to continue cleaning  some part of the house in the next few days.  

The scented vinegar claims to remove odor on fabric, deodorize the air, clean spotty glassware, and it can be used as natural drain cleaner.  It also removes bacteria, clean stainless steel, and wash pergo floors.  I used the whole bottle in cleaning my counter top.

I was hoping that The Laundress will send me  laundry detergent to try but they didn't so that's a bummer lol.  Anyway, I am glad they included some  How-tos and Tips and a brochure of all the products that they sell.  The Laundress specializes in producing products like laundry detergent, fabric care, and home cleaning.  I love that their products is non-toxic because we have kids and pets at home so it is very important that I used cleaning products that are safe both for my babies and  fur babies.  

Thank you, The Laundress for the effective cleaning products you guys sent me. You can check their blog editorial,  The Great Fridge Clean Out that  offers tips on how to properly clean and re-organize your fridge after the hectic holiday season.

Recycling Empty Boxes into Storage and Organizer

So I have been saving my BeautyBox5 cute boxes because I was thinking of making my son a storage and organizer for his  toy car collection.  Today however, I  saw the ductTape that I bought a few months ago and though, maybe I should make this boxes into  an organizer for my  cosmetics and stuff in my dresser and that's what I did.  

 I also used the box I got from Influenster and made into  Ms. Burrito's hair accessory box using the same pattern of  ductTape.

 Now it would be a lot easier for me to locate things such as  tweezers, nail cutters, nail polishes, and other things.

 I bought this beauty storage box  via amazon but  it wasn't enough to organize my stuff.

 Now I have a space for everything.

 I will continue to save the boxes because I want to  make one for  crayons,  coloring pens, and other arts and craft supply of my kids.

 Daughter suggested I should use some of her broken hair  accessories.

 I still have to finish my  cereal boxes project that I made for  filing my kids school papers and bills.

Empty boxes could be useful if you recycle them into something you could use around the house.