I've started a Facebook group to share my passion with others who also enjoy taking photos of our homestate of Michigan. If you are interested, you are more than welcome to join us, we'd love to have you.

Roadside Michigan Photography Facebook Group · 160 members Join Group A place for everyone to share fun and interesting pictures from all over Michigan. You can share anything you see around the state that could be consi...

Green Heart Garden Bypass Pruning Shears

I love gardening.  In fact I think I have a slight addiction.  My yard is filled with various flower gardens, which include annuals, perennials, shrubs, bushes, and more.  With all of these plants, I need tools, and I need tools that work.  One of the tools I recently got a chance to try are these Good Heart Pruning Sheers.

They have a nice design for both cutting and comfort.  They have plastic coated handles for easy gripping.

These sheers also have a nice sharp blade for cutting and leave a nice clean edge without doing any damage to the stem or branch left behind.  I have a large rose bush on the side of my house that needed trimming, and these worked perfectly.

 They also worked nicely trimming up some dead lily stems.

And even were able to cut some small branches from one of my pine trees with ease.

They have a safety lock which is nice when your not using your sheers to keep your fingers safe from accidental cuts.  I no longer have small children in the house, but I would rest easy if I did, knowing that they wouldnt be able to cut themselves if they got hold of these sheers.

All in all, I am very happy with my purchase.  Thase are made with a premium carbon which makes them rust resistant, so I will be able to use them for several years.

If you are interested in checking them out, you can do so by visiting this link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RANX6DS

Tropicana 3X Vitamin C & Zinc

Thanks to Tropicana, I was lucky enough to be chosen to try a free bottle of Tropicana with 3X the Vitamin C and Zinc in return for my honest opinion of their product. I absolutely love other Tropicana orange juices, so I was very happy to be able to give this a try. 

 I served it to my family with breakfast and it was such a hit that we almost polished off the entire bottle in one sitting. The juice itself had a great consistency, not too thin and not too thick. The flavor was great too, a perfect blend of sweetness and citrus, but the absolute best part of this juice was the extra Vitamin C and Zinc. It's a great way to sneak in some healthy benefits!

Some other great tips I've found for sneaking in healthy benefits include:

• Adding garlic to many recipes, as garlic is a super food and great for many things like high blood pressure for instance.  
• Going swimming at the local pool.  The kids love to swim, and I love that they don't realize they are getting great exercise!
• Using applesauce instead of oil in cakes and brownies.

It gives me peace of mind knowing that I can sneak in added benefits like these and my kids still enjoy it, even though my kids aren't really that picky, so I don't have to be that sneaky.

Sure Fresh & Cool Anti-Perspirant & Deoderant

As a member of Influenster.com, I was recently chosen to receive my very first VoxBox, this one being the Comfort VoxBox. 

There were several items that I received in the Comfort VoxBox, and while I wasn't chosen to receive the Sure Fresh & Cool Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant, I still had the option to complete several tasks to receive a badge.  I really wanted to get this badge, so I went and bought myself a stick of this product to see what it was all about. I found the Sure Fresh & Cool at our local WalMart for a great price.

I started using it the very next day and was pleasantly surprised upon removing the cap. It has a great scent and comes in my favorite form, a solid stick.  As I applied it to my underarm area, I noticed how easily it glides onto the skin.  No drag and not overly dry, that's great!

I went through the entire day, working up a sweat, helping my husband do some work at his construction business, and not once did I notice any wetness under my arms.  My shirt stayed dry and I did not smell any body odor at all.

Overall, I was very impressed with the Sure Fresh & Cool Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant.  I will definitely buy this product again in the future.

Johnsonville Fully Cooked Original Recipe Sausage

As a member of CrowdTap, I recently received a coupon for a free package of Johnsonville Fully Cooked Original Recipe Sausage.  When I went to the store, I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive at first.  I've had precooked foods before and they've never really lived up to the hype in my opinion. So, I wasn't expecting these to be any different. 

You can microwave them or heat them up on a skillet.  I decided to heat them on the skillet because I don't really like the effect of microwaved food. It only took a couple of minuntes and they were ready.

I served them with cheesy scrambled eggs.  My husband, my daughter, her friend who had stayed the night, and myself all enjoyed our breakfast.  The package came with twelve links, and even though there were four of us and I served each person two sausages, we ended up eating every last sausage.  The girls really loved them and wished we had more.

Overall, in my opinion, I was surprised.  They tasted really good, just like they were made from scratch.  They had great flavor and great texture.  The best part of it all was that they were so easy to cook and didn't take long at all, saving me a lot of time. In fact, it took me longer to cook the eggs than it took to cook the sausage, and usually the sausage takes longer.