Eco-Friendly Bleach

Since my son and I have such sensitive skin I've had to search for laundry detergent and bleach that won't affect us. I am also very aware of the impact cleaning agents have on our environment so I like to look for the eco-friendly products first.

Ecover Liquid Bleach is, by far, the best I've found. It's color safe (important for me because I always manage to spill bleach onto my clothes), deodorizes my clothing, and works on all the tough stains, including the stains my four year old manages to get every day. As for the environmental benefits, it has minimal impact on aquatic life, is completely biodegradable, and isn't tested on animals.

Considering how good it works and how drastically less it affects our environment in comparison to conventional bleach, you can be sure that this product is the only one that's going to be on my laundry room shelf.

Paid Site

I have another site that I love to use! I'm not going to get rich off of it, but it's so easy to do. I log in when I'm working on other things on the computer and click through the ads here and there. It doesn't take long, I can do it as I'm working on other things, and it's guaranteed money!

I put a banner ad on the side of my blog: Click on it and you'll get $10 just for signing up!

Downey Wrinkle Reducer

Another winner!

I brought it on the cruise with me because they don't allow irons in the staterooms, but I didn't expect much. I mean really; if full steam from a shower can't get the wrinkles out of my clothes why would something out of a bottle? I'd heard good things from people, but I highly doubt those people make little balls out of their clothes before they pack them!

I was shocked when I used it. I had a 100% cotton shirt that wouldn't even lay flat, it was so badly wrinkled, but I decided to give it a shot because it was either that or shove it back in my suitcase for the rest of the trip.. and I really wanted to wear it! So I hung it, sprayed it, pulled it straight, and ten minutes later I wore it to dinner. It was great and so worth the $4 I spent on it!

Career Path

Since I'm unemployed I've been spending a lot of time on different sites looking at jobs and pay rates. One thing I've been seeing quite a lot of are requests for people to fill nursing jobs which, if I had the stomach for, I'd sign up for in a heartbeat! A lot of companies are offering sign-up bonuses and other monetary incentives, plus the salary base is really high in most cases! Add that to a job where you get to help people? Well, I'd do it if I could.

Tide Pen

When I went on vacation I went through my truck to clean it out. Among the old napkins and various wrappers, I found a Tide Pen I bought a few months ago and put in my glove compartment for emergencies. I decided to put it in my purse and take it on the cruise in case I needed it.

On our first night away we spent some time in a bar where I leaned against the wall and got some black smears on a brand new shirt. I have no idea what this substance was (and I'm probably better off not knowing), and I was upset that something I wore for the very first time was ruined. I tried some water and soap but that didn't do anything but smear the black around a little bit.

When we got back to the room I remembered the Tide Pen and decided to give it a try. I took the shirt off, hung it up, and opened the pen for the first time. I followed the directions (which were really simple: Remove cap, press on fabric until area is damp, and rub until stain is removed) and was stunned when the stain disappeared! I mean, really disappeared. It didn't lessen in diameter, wasn't lighter; the whole thing was gone!

What a great product. I used it twice more on the trip, once when I dripped butter on a blouse and another time when I dripped dill sauce on my pants. In each instance the stain completely disappeared and the fabric remained in perfect condition. I used it on 100% cotton, rayon, and a cotton/poly blend, so I know it works great on those.

I highly recommend this product to anyone who ever gets stuff on their clothes, and I think it's especially useful for those of us with kids. I plan to keep one in my purse and another one in my truck!

Closing Early

I have to tell you about some of the worst service I received this week.

Back in August my DH and I scheduled a four day cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida. We decided to make a full weeks vacation out of it so we planned on staying two extra nights upon our return from the cruise. Coincidentally, we went to the Home Show in Tampa where we were offered a free night (with a $20 deposit to be returned when we arrived) at the Ron Jon Cape Caribe Resort in Cocoa Beach if we agreed to the 90 minute sales tour of the resort. We signed up (obviously), and we were excited about extending our vacation.

We spoke to the sales rep, Phylis, a few days before we left. We confirmed our stay and went over the dates a second time. We told her that we were going on a cruise prior to our arrival and that is was only a four day, so we triple-checked our dates. We then told her that we were going to spend a second night, and she advised us to book the room at that point because there wouldn't be any guarantee that a room would be available if we waited too long. We agreed and she put our names in to the computer.

Our cruise left on Sunday and we spent a full four days at Sea. It was wonderful, and when we returned we were looking forward to the amenities at the Ron Jon resort that we had heard so much about! After getting in to our car to head to the result, I found out that my phone had seven messages on it, all from the sales rep, Phylis, asking us to return her call in order to confirm our stay! Each call sounded increasingly urgent, and by the seventh call I got the feeling that there was going to be a problem even though we had confirmed our stay previously. We returned her call right away but all we got was a voice mail, so we headed to the resort.

We got to Ron Jon's by 10:30am and went to the desk to check in. After about five minutes of searching my DH and I began to realize that there really was something was amiss. The registration staff member could not find our names on the registration list, nor could he find any record of us at all! When we told him that we had spoken to Phylis twice before to confirm, he didn't know who Phylis was, nor did he know how we could find her. The staff member, Everett, made three phone calls to see if our reservations could have been somewhere else (?) but he had no success. Finally he called the Outside Sales Office and spoke to the manager, Yvonne, who had no idea about our scheduled stay. She did provide us with the original sales representative's phone number which we called to leave another message on her voice mail, but as for any assistance towards our stay? Nothing. Everett searched his computer again and found us a room for the first night, but they were booked for the next. My husband refused, explaining that we had extended our stay because our first day was going to consist of the tour and we wanted the extra night as an "end" to our vacation. Everett was apologetic, but there was little he could do.

After about forty-five minutes of standing around while someone tried to figure out what was going on, my DH and I left and got back in to our car. We called Phylis again, and then began to drive around Cocoa Beach to burn time. After an hour of sitting in a Publix parking lot and about four more messages to Phylis, we decided to go home.

About 15 minutes down the highway we got a call from Phylis. She was surprised at the trouble we had and asked what happened. When we explained, she said she didn't know what the problem was because she had "put your names in the computer for the night. I don't know why it didn't show up!" DH relayed the whole story again, and told her that the reception desk staff member had even spoken to her boss! She then told DH that she had no idea we were on a cruise, and that the extra room we had wanted couldn't be confirmed until the Thursday before. DH was aghast and asked how that worked since we had supposedly booked the night while on the phone with her two weeks prior, but she couldn't answer that question.

The conversation went on for over seven minutes, with my DH repeating himself over and over again. Finally she said she would call us back, so we pulled over on the side of Interstate 95 and waited. She called back and said that her boss "was working on getting a room" for the extra night and she would call us back to let us know. A few minutes later she called back again as promised and advised us that we had a one bedroom for the night we had originally paid the $20 deposit for, and for Friday they "found" a studio for us to stay in.

At this point we were done. We pulled back on to the interstate and continued our drive home. DH told Phylis that he was disappointed in the resort, our treatment, and the obvious lack of communication. He requested our $20 deposit back and she told us, are you ready for this?, that we had to go back to the resort and give them the card that came in the mail to prove we had been there! DH was beyond pissed off and asked how we were supposed to do that when we hadn't been home in a week to get the mail? He also told her, "It's obvious we were there; I just told you every ones name!" They spoke a little while longer while she refused his request for the deposit to be returned, until DH finally started to laugh and said, "Keep the twenty bucks. It doesn't mean that much to me. I can assure you that this doesn't stop here though, because this is the worst treatment I have ever received, especially from someone who is trying to sell something!"

So, this entry is my first step in making sure that people contemplating a stay at the Ron Jon Cape Caribe Resort in Cocoa Beach know what they are potentially getting in to! I even found a bunch of reviews about the resort that were less than favorable.

My advice! BEWARE! The left hand certainly doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Make sure you enjoy your vacation: Don't get caught up in something like this!

All Natural Health

My son has chronic asthma. He's been hospitalized a few times and we've had countless runs to the ER in his short 3-and-a-half years. He's on a nebulizer twice a day with steroids and, when needed, his rescue medication. He's also taking allergy medication daily in hopes that he won't get the allergy induced attacks which usually lead to pneumonia.

This has been really hard for me to accept. I am an all-natural, organic type of person. I check labels for additives and nutrients. I don't don't eat meat unless it's from free range animals that are not treated with hormones. I detest medication and I don't trust Western medicine. So, when I have to pump my child full of medication it goes against the very nature of my being.

That's why I'm so pleased with a product I've found by Buried Treasure called Children's ACF. I got it from my health food store last year and I liked it; I noticed a marked improvement in my son's health. We had no pneumonia scares and we were only at Urgent Care twice and the ER once. I think he only saw his primary care doctor three times too, which is a lot better than the seven the season before!

Yesterday I noticed that he was getting a stuffy nose which usually is the start to post nasal drip, which then leads to croup, which turns into pneumonia. Then we have to add a liquid steroid to his already overdosed medical regime and that's usually my breaking point... Anyway, I started the Children's ACF last night which seems to be helping already. He's still stuffy, but that's the extent of it. He hasn't coughed one time and there is NO hint of a wheeze *knock on wood, cross fingers*.

I love this product. I also use their liquid vitamin B product in conjunction with magnesium to help him sleep better (he's changed his sleeping pattern from a bedtime of 11pm to 9:30pm and he still sleeps to 7:30am!) so I know that their products are not only good but affordable!