Review Colgate Total Mouth Wash

I received a bottle of Colgate Total Mouth Wash for review in my most recent VoxBox.

Colgate has come out with a mouthwash to round out their family of products. As far as mouthwashes go this one is good. I didn't notice any change in the over all health or freshness of my mouth while I was using it twice a day for a week.

The best thing about this product is that you do not get the alcohol burn like with other brands. The mint flavor gives a strong tingle but it's mild enough, and without the alcohol, I feel safe letting my older kids use this. The girls have now claimed this bottle as their own!

The one negative I found with the mouth wash was that the dye used left a lingering blue tint on my teeth for about 10 minutes after each use. Doesn't seem like something I'm using to make my teeth clean should be turning them blue, but at least it fades away.



 

I received all products complimentary from Influenster.

The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.

Happy Pioneer Day!

Pioneer Day is a state holiday celebrated on July 24 here in Utah. It's similar in celebration to July 4th and in some parts of the state it's a bigger celebration even. We attend the big parade near us every year and this year the girls had great, fun, and maybe even a bit patriotic, hair that I wanted to share one with you all.

We call this one, Stars and Stripes. Normally the bottom half would be tons of little braids (stripes) hair sprayed colors or wrapped in ribbon but she was sick of me braiding so we just did it quick!

Campfire S'more Bowls

 We have a small fire pit in our backyard. It's nothing big or fancy, it's really just a giant bowl, so we can't even have big fires. Even so my girls are constantly asking to have a fire and cook dinner.

 

A few weeks ago we decided to cook dinner over our little fire and as the embers burned down the kids begged to make s'mores. Although tasty, this is always a mess and usually results in at least 4 or 5 marshmallows being completely consumed by flame!

 

To avoid our normal blackened treats I suggested we try campfire baking them in the waffle bowls I had just bought. We wrapped our creation up in an aluminum bag and set them over the last tiny flames to cook. I opened and checked the bag a few times until the we saw the chocolate look like it was melting and the marshmallows were golden.

 

What came out was so much better than regular s'mores. The waffle bowls are sweet and crunchy and the chocolate melts into every bite. We will definitely be making these again!

Summer Time Fan Cleaning

If you're like me then you have floor and ceiling fans running all summer long to move air and keep you cool. As great as fans are they are also magnets for dust, dirt, mold and bacteria. Make sure you open your fans and vacuum, wipe out, and disinfect the blades periodically throughout the summer. You can also vacuum the surface of the fan between cleanings to collect dust.

I pulled apart this little desktop fan in the photo to clean it and was completely disgusted by what I found. I had to use a tiny bottle brush cleaner to get at the blades. This fan was a lot harder than most to clean, but I'm sure glad I took the time.

Imagine if this is what's inside your fan what it is blowing around your house?!

Back to School Blast Giveaway

Welcome to the Back to School Blast!

Getting your family prepared to head back to school can be difficult, especially after a long, fun-filled summer. Here are a few of our favorite Back to School Tips to help you along the way.

1 : Back-to-School Supplies Checklist - Use the same checklist each time you shop to keep track of what items you have and those you still need. More than one child? Simply print 2, 3, 4 lists and add their name.

2 : Get Into The Routine. The week before school starts set your alarms and run your daily schedule like school has started. Not only will you see how long it's really going to take to get ready each morning but it's also good to get yourself adjusted to a new time table in advance.

3 : Make Breakfast. You don't have time to make breakfast everyday but you don't want your kids eating poptarts everyday either. Make pancakes or waffles in a huge batch ahead of time and freeze them. In the morning, heat them in the microwave or toaster for a fast filling breakfast.

4 : Set Timers. Younger kids who can't tell time, and older kids who don't keep track, can get behind in the morning. Set a timer to let them know when to move on to the next task. Timers are also good to assure they are brushing their teeth long enough!

5 : Smile! Going back to school can be stressful but it should also be exciting. Smile and your kids will smile too. Don't forget to have the camera ready to catch all the happy grins.

The Back to School Blast was organized by Mom Powered Media.

Please take a moment to also visit our lovely co-hosts, whom without them great things such as these would not be possible: My Vegan Gluten-Free Life, Plum Crazy About Coupons, Capri's Coupons, Downshifting - Your Family, Your Home, Your Life, Jack of all trades, Master of Mom™, Quick Tattletails, Mew Review and Iowa Mom.

One lucky winner will receive a $1,000 Visa Gift Card!

Giveaway ends August 15th at 11:59pm, open worldwide, ages 18+. If the winner resides outside of the US, they will receive Paypal cash. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck.

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Disclosure:The Other Sink is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment. Please contact teri@mompoweredmedia.com with questions or to see your business or blog featured on the next big event!

Review Yummi Pouch

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Andy and Katie from Yummi Pouch to see about doing a review. Up until now I have not tried or bought any of these food bag / pouch products so I figured this was a great chance to give them a try and see what all the fuss was about.

Well you can check me down as a convert because I love these little pouches.

We went to the Zoo and shopping the other week around A's birthday so we were out and about all day and I wanted to give the kids a smoothie treat. I love smoothies, kids do too, pretty sure if we could live off blender foods we would!

I went really simple for this one. All frozen fruits I had on hand. If I have too much of something get ripe I cut it up and freeze it for smoothies. So this time we had papaya, banana, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and greek yogurt cubes. Blended it all up with some Apple Juice and it was the prefect level of sweet without adding any sugar. And the color was beautiful!







I wasn't sure how to pour such a runny mixture in without making a mess so I grabbed a funnel and put the bag in a measuring cup to hold. It worked like a charm, no spills, perfect! (Latter I used these bags for applesauce and when you pour from a smaller container or with something a bit thicker its actually really easy to just hold the bag and pour right in.) They offer a Funnel Filling Pitcher in their store that I think would be a great investment for added ease of filling.

I'll admit I had a hard time not over filling these. I thought I put in the perfect amount to not go past the fill line and I had to dump a little out almost every time. But that's just me!

The kids couldn't wait to try these out and lined up, dirty faces and all to get theirs. All thumbs up from the mini's and refilling for a second helping was super easy.



Best of all these are dishwasher and freezer safe so when you are all done you just toss them in the dishwasher. I would recommend that if you put something with seeds inside that you hand rinse to make sure the seeds are all washed away!

We did have two small issues arise in use. The first isn't really a problem more just something we noticed. The cap is a locking cap so the tabs break after use. It doesn't affect the cap function you just have to break them off. The second would be that one bag had the zipper part pull away at the top so it no longer seals. They said this is rare but they have a 30 Day product gaurantee on any unused, defective or damaged products and you just have to contact them for a refund or replacement.

With smiles like these we will not only be using ours more often but we may need to add a few to our supply. Starting in 2 weeks they will have brand new prints on some fun design pouches and currently they offer cute dishwasher safe stickers, a spoon attachment, and other accessories to both add function and fun to your pouch experience.

I received all products complimentary from YummiPouch for review.

The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.

Happy 1st Blog Birthday to us

It's been ONE year since my first blog post on The Other Sink and I'd like to thank you all for reading and following our adventures and fun and hope you'll stick around and celebrate many more fun years to come!