Tag: Karie Herring

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Day 2 "FREE" Week Product Review – Dr. Ron’s Ultra Pure Body Care Body Scrub

Here we are Day 2 of the Five Fish “FREE” Week!

 

Alright so I have lots to show this week courtesy of Dr. Ron. He was so generous to provide all these wonderful items to try out!! So in addition to shampoo and conditioner we have body scrub.

Now scrubs can be a bit precarious because of their dual action. First of all scrubs scrub, they exfoliate all the dead cells and eliminate the free radicals looming on our skin. Then the scrubs cleanse, leaving our skin feeling fresh and supple. However, some scrubs have the harsh chemicals and rather than leaving your skin soft, supple, and refreshed, your skin in left barren and dry and literally exposed.

You know about Dr. Ron and his pioneering of these fantastic beauty products, so here is the info on his body scrub straight from his website and his catalog:

MSM Body Scrub

  • Jojoba beads with crushed Apricot Seeds and Walnut Shell Powder creates an invigorating whole-body treatment. Peppermint oil, a natural deodorizer, makes the skin feel cool and fresh. Eight ounces.

Now I have to say again, I love me some beauty products!!! I mean I have tried St. Ives, Dermalogica, the whole gamut of beauty scrubs and this one was like lightning. The peppermint leaves you feeling more than cool and fresh, my skin was tingling almost as if an electric current was running across it after I had applied and rinsed. The scent is super invigorating with a soft citrus scent, apricot, and the eye awakening, get your blood moving scent of peppermint. I mean my body felt like my mouth had after a good cleaning and gargle of mouthwash. I was jazzed and energized and ready to take on the day. But I do have to admit that the tingle is something to get used to. While I am all about a sensual feeling and experiencing all things new the peppermint was interesting, especially when the temperature outside is 90 degrees and you have the air conditioning on in the house and you have the peppermint to add……interesting. I did feel like my skin was very warm and then cool, much like Icy Hot or Bengay, but curiously wonderful and like I said, leaving me feeling jazzed. Be sure to check out Dr. Ron, let him know that Karie of The Five Fish sent you and check out all of his wonderful products, remember he also has many many other products not listed in his catalogs and he gives private consults! How fantastic is the man who offers us preservative free!!

Make it a great Tuesday and be sure to check back tomorrow for a

look inside a preservative free home makeover!!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog belong purely to Karie Herring. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party in question.

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Day 1 "FREE" Week Product Review – Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure Body Care, Shampoo and Conditioner

Welcome to Day 1 of The Five Fish “FREE” Week.  

Today we are going to explore the preservative free products of Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure Body Care. You might be asking how can body care products such as shampoo and conditioner possibly have preservatives. Well I wondered as well and began to research and found that almost every shampoo on the market has this #1 nasty ingredient, ready, “SODIUM LAUREL (LAURYL) SULFATE”.
Okay, so I know you are wondering what this compound mineral is in our hair products. Sodium laurel sulfate is a cheap detergent and is what makes our shampoos as sudsy as they are. You know what I mean, that great foaming action that makes us believe our hair is getting so clean…WRONG! In fact sodium laurel sulfate is an irritant and is a carcinogen…yup washing your hair can cause cancer, who would have thought. The second preservative is paraben which prevents bacteria and fungal growth in almost all beauty products, again another irritant, allergenic, and carcinogen.
So I came about researching this because I have been trying to find organic or as close to organic as possible for my family. Buying organic products not only reduces our overall carbon footprint, but the products are absolutely superior for your overall health. Big G has eczema so I have to be careful with what I use on his skin or he is a mess and takes months to clear him up. The Squids are also new babies, but have so far (so good!) been a-ok with standard OTC products. I, on the other hand, I have to use glycerin type washes or my skin is a mess as well.

The staff and Dr. Ron sent me the MSM Shampoo and MSM Moisturizing Conditioner. Here is some information straight from the Dr. Ron website about the products and about Dr. Ron:

MSM Shampoo

With herbs, nutrients and essential oils, MSM strengthens hair and restores elasticity. A rich supply of mucopolysaccharides and protein in our conditioners leaves hair soft, light and shiny. We avoid the use of sodium laurel sulfate, a cheap, harsh detergent often derived from petroleum and disguised in pseudo-natural products with the phrase “comes from coconuts.”

  • Soft, shiny hair results from superior nutrition – but our great shampoos and conditioners will bring out your hair’s natural qualities like no other products.
    Our unique blend of oils, herbal extracts, and nutrients strengthens hair, restores elasticity and repairs split ends.
    MSM Shampoo contains a rich concentration of sulfur in the form of MSM for maximum benefits

MSM Moisturizing Conditioner

  • For dry or damaged hair, our MSM Moisturizing Shampoo and MSM Moisturizing Conditioner have an extra high concentration of essential oils. Eight ounces each.
    Blended with coconut and olive oils, herbal extracts and nutrients, essential oils have exceptional moisturizing qualities and help restore beautiful luster to your hair.
    Essential oils contain characteristic plant aromas that leave a gentle fragrance and help hair stay fresh between washings.

Here is a little about Dr. Ron, straight from his website:

Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure began in 2000 to provide our patients with the purest and most effective nutrients, formulas and special foods. Many other people now use Dr. Ron’s products. We thank all of you, especially members of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, two organizations that are doing so much good work to further accurate understanding of nutrition. We are committed to providing the finest supplements to complement traditional diets.
We Source Materials from America, New Zealand and Europe
Most of our source materials are from America. We secure organs and glands from free range, grass fed New Zealand animals raised without pesticides, hormones or antibiotics. High-vitamin cod liver oil is imported from Norway and meets the strictest standards of purity. Other materials are occasionally sourced in Europe, Japan and Korea, depending on quality and availability of supplies. Contamination of source materials for supplements and pharmaceuticals in recent years has led us to avoid sources with potential problems. Careful and selective sourcing of raw materials provides an extra measure of safety. You may be confident that all Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure products contain only and exactly the nutrients listed prominently on the labels.
The Ultra-Pure Promise of Purity, Quality, Potency and Value
Dr. Ron’s Ultra-Pure products are designed and manufactured by a team of supplements professionals and health care providers with extensive clinical experience in natural medicine. Source materials are carefully tested for purity and potency. Many of our products, including Doc’s Best and other innovative formulas, New Zealand organs and glands, and high-vitamin Norwegian cod liver oils, are unique. In our formulas, we combine synergistic ingredients at optimal doses to create maximally effective products. We use no lubricants, fillers, binders, coatings, flowing agents, or other added ingredients of any kind. Because we use only the pure nutrients, our supplements achieve maximum absorption, and are truly hypoallergenic.

Ron Schmid, ND, has practiced naturopathic medicine since 1981. He served for two years as Chief Medical Officer and Clinic Director at the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine. Ellen Triplett , Lac, has a Master’s degree in Chinese Medicine.
Dr. Ron is the author Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine and The Untold Story of Milk. He is on the honorary board of the Weston A. Price Foundation and has written for Wise Traditions, the quarterly journal of the Foundation.

You must be itching to know……how did a “free” shampoo and conditioner measure up? Well I have tried a lot of salon shampoos/conditioners, claimed “organic” shampoos/conditioners and I have to say that Dr. Ron’s is by far the most enjoyable and fabulous product I have ever used. Like I said I have used the expensive salon shampoos, and we all know how our hair feels after leaving the salon…like silk…..well I got that same feeling from this shampoo and conditioner.


The best part was the smell. I am such a smell oriented person, I mean I smell all of my produce, meats, etc at the store before I buy it, so when I cracked open the package and my hair smelled like I was rolling in herbs I was in heaven. It was clean without feeling stripped and my hair smelled fresh without the harsh smell of added perfumes, and I had to get used to the little to no sudsing since the nasty emulsifiers and detergents aren’t in these products.

Then I conditioned. Mind you I have the worst hair known to man. I have chemically treated it since I was oh…..8 (I grew up in the 80’s, perms were so HOT back then, I was rockin‘!) I color it and then add that I live in the driest state of the union, Arizona, so I swim half the year which wreaks even more havoc on my hair. So I have to use a lot of conditioner, anti-frizz, and smoothing products. With Dr. Ron’s I didn’t have to use my daily routine of “Tame the Beast” smoother’s. The conditioner has a wonderful citrus scent that energized me in the shower and was a great morning pick-me-up. Plus when I rinsed my hair didn’t feel just soft, but smooth and silky and stayed that way even after I blow-dried my hair. Most products leave your hair feeling weighed down or they rinse out immediately leaving your hair barely conditioner or feeling repaired. All day….no fly aways, no tangles, no dry feeling, just smooth, soft, manageable, touchable, play with my hair type hair. I am in love!

Be sure to head on over to Dr. Ron’s and check out all of his wonderful beauty and health products. In addition to all over well being he does offer consultations! How awesome, get a consultation on how to live an all around healthy life. Also if you go to buy his products like I am going to, be sure you let him know you found his product review on The Five Fish and that Karie Herring of The Five Fish sent you. Thank you again Dr. Ron for sharing this wonderful product with me and my family!

Make it a great Monday!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog belong purely to Karie Herring. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party in question.

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5 Money Saving Ideas for Single Income Homes

In this crap of an economy some families are thriving, some are striving, and others are literally barely surviving. I have to say that I am a family that teeters on some days. My DH works in the building materials industry (doors, lumber, windows, stuff to build houses) and lets say that his industry is barely alive. With that I have figured new ways for saving money, cut home costs, cut major spending costs, and cut corners without sacrificing the way we have become accustomed to living. Some moms may know these little tricks and tips and others may not, some may be totally ecstatic about the idea and others may think the whole idea is hokey. Whatever your stance may be, these are my ideas, tips, and tricks and they do not reflect your particular lifestyle etc. So now that I am done with my basic disclaimer here are the goods for some money saving ideas:

1. Buy as much and as many canned, dry goods, condiments, cleaners, tiddly items you can at the DOLLAR store. I mean Dollar General, Dollar Tree (who also offers larger wholesale type quantities if you need, AND they accept Food Stamps), Family Dollar.

Buying from these stores does not mean that your food will taste any different, be any different, look any different or that you are less of a human being because you shopped at a discount store. I bought Velveeta Shells and Cheese there, name brand Spaghetti O’s, Duncan Hines brownie mix, you name it I got it there for more than HALF of what I would have paid for the generic at my local grocers, and guess what….ALL THE SAME!

2. CLIP THOSE COUPONS!!! That’s right, clip the coupons when you get them and then HOLD ONTO them. What? Why? Well because manufacturers know that you will clip those coupons and then go right out and spend full pop on the item with that coupon.

Rather, you wait for the following week, or maybe the week after to see if your item goes on sale. This is the coupon game. Watch for the weekly circular to see if your item goes on sale AND then use the coupon. Also use grocers that apply double coupons. Here in AZ, we have double coupon grocers everyday. Only special occasions do they triple your coupons.

3. Buy canned or frozen produce. Yes we all LOVE LOVE LOVE our fresh produce. I am a victim of loving my fresh produce. But when I saw how much of my beloved I would throw out each week because the items would spoil so quickly (even with my Debbie Meyers Green Bags) I decided the time had come to buy frozen or buy canned. In the frozen I buy my broccoli, corn, cauliflower, spinach, the foods I love to steam for dinners. You can buy a package of frozen spinach for almost more than half you could for the fresh, and its the same, at least the end product.

4. Buy as much generic and or bulk as possible. If you have an item you are CONSTANTLY running to the store to replenish….buy bulk. By doing so and being a member of a warehouse store like Costco (who I love) and or Sams Club, you can save yourself bundles in dollars and bundles in gas dollars for running back and forth to the store. I compared cereals and milk as those are our family’s biggest inventory turners and we save at least $20 (per store trip) buying bulk than buying at the local supermarket.

5. Invest in those awesome reusable bags. I know, the lover of Mother Earth came out in me with all my green adventures this year. But in all honesty you save money each grocery trip! Bet you didn’t know you get FIVE CENTS off for each bag you use, EACH time you use them at your local supermarket. I shop at Fry’s here in AZ and with having 5-10 bags each time, well that’s an additional 25-50 cents off my bill. Not much, but HEY, every little bit counts.

6. THE BIGGIE….make a list. I think too many times we as Mom’s are so DAMN busy that we forget to make a simple list. We are the Queen’s of multi-tasking so we run our list in our head like a drill sergeant attacking his troops in line. We beeline to the grocery store and end up buying those damned Krispy Kreme’s at the front display, the Ho Ho’s which are near the coffee, and a bag of Doritos’s since they looked so yummy on our way to the check out. All the while forgetting that we needed tampons, mustard, and eggs. So remember to take a few minutes to make a list. Or build your own online @ My Grocery Checklist. I have laminated mine so that I can use it OVER and OVER again with a dry erase marker, or I stuffed mine in a Ziploc Freezer bag until I got it laminated, plastic is about the same. I just check what I need at the time we realize we are out and then done. I don’t have to try to remember later. I mean seriously, three kids screaming and the last thing you can do is remember what the hell to get at the store when you don’t have a list.

Take ’em or leave ’em, just some of my ideas, tips and tricks. I hope these are some great ideas you can use. I also use the Coupon Mom as my reference for what is on sale and what is a coupon based on circulars. The grocery shopping trek is time consuming but so worth the effort when you can add up the HUNDREDS of dollars in savings.

Let me know what you do to save money with groceries, around the house, and things to help your family in these tight times. I would love to hear how other Moms have other neat ideas, please post comments and subscribe so I can see what else you have musing in your home.

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Project Manager

I think that is my new term I will use for everything since I am not treated like the CEO who runs this operation almost flawlessly everyday. Here is how a typical week of operations look like, including G and the Squids:
Sunday: attempt to finish any school projects, follow around kids cleaning up messes, attempt to blog about said messes, feed dog, water dog, brush pool, sigh at weeds that need pulled, make lunch, breakfast, dinner, play clown to Squids, personal assistant to G and Chad, watch my HBO shows, set up coffee for morning, bed.

Monday: Awake @ 3 by Squid Seth, lost bottle looking to crawl and fails miserably, back to sleep until 5 where I stumble for coffee and attempt to wake up alone and in peace only to have said Squid wake up babbling LOUDLY (dada, yaya, lala….squeals in the dark), in shower by 6 or 6:30 to be dressed and ready before G wakes up at 7 to feed him breakfast that he argues about (every morning), get him ready, Squid Sara is awake, load all three in car, drop off G at school, haul back to the house to put garbage can out by street before I miss pickup. Home to look over school, attempt to do some school work, squids down for a nap, take inventory of all dirty laundry (at least 3 loads), make beds, have Pepsi, back to pick up G at 11. Back home, fix lunch, take inventory of perishable and non-perishable food items including those that add to the side of my rear end (because Costco has the best damn cookies EVER!!!), make Costco run for said needed items. Come home, unload, back to Fry’s to pick up small items not needed in bulk from Costco, back home to unload. Fix dinner, play clown and wait staff to the three small mob bosses barking at me from the counter eating. Clean up dinner, baths all around, then bed for the three little amigos, I then pull in the trash can sitting at the curb all day waiting for someone else other than me to bring in. I get to watch some DVR shows with DH (if he is not occupied by War Crack, I mean War Craft) bed.

Tuesday-Friday: Rinse and repeat. Except on Thursday, put out recycling bins instead of trash bin.

Now in the mix throw in doctors appointments for the Squids which is a circus (oh are they twins, oh, oh….SLAP), PTO committees, school functions like the Halloween parade on Friday, picture retakes, school recycling program. I swear, you think that parents are like the parents on TV and from Desperate Housewives….I mean seriously….who is over scheduled here? The kids or the parents? Sheesh!

Add on top of all of this….I have an electrician doing something outside of my home…that I need to check on right now…he is doing what we asked…though I hear funny noises. I have to pick up G in 20 minutes, write two papers this week (BLAH!), cut the last two pieces of trim for my room that DH said he would do Saturday (is it still Saturday?!!!), nail said pieces of trim in, caulk, touch up paint, move bed back, somewhere in there clean my house and find some peace. So as project manager I will delegate all BS projects to DH as I am tired of getting them all done. Which also include making a trip to an e-cycler (electronics recycler) to do my duty to our environment and get rid of the SHIT computer stuff taking up precious space, trekking through Home Depot with the Squids to pick up building materials, and I don’t even know what else!! So, that is my rant for today. Here is what I have done though so I have proof of my hard work!! Now all of these items have been cleared out so the entire shed is EMPTY!!! Ready for the electrician to run lines and us to close in, etc.