Assertagirl Reviews

There are two dummies living in this house.  One of them is our cat, Rudy.  The other is me.

Why are we dummies?

Well, I like to burn candles in the house.  Not only do I love the soft lighting of a candlelit room, but I also love to burn scented candles to freshen the air in the house.  Since we have been in perpetual home renovation-mode for several months now, I find that burning scented candles really helps to cut down on the smells that naturally arise when knocking down walls and painting and plastering.

The problem is, I have, on occasion, left the house or gone to bed with a candle burning.  Not my brightest, shining moment, I must admit.  So now, before we go to bed, on a nearly nightly basis, Graham will ask me if I’ve blown out all of my candles.  Even if I’ve only lit one.

When I showed him Febreze’s Home Collection Flameless Luminaire, he was thrilled.  “Now you won’t have to remember to blow out your candles!” he said.

Of course, the other bonus to lighting these yummy-smelling faux candles is that the cat can stop wandering the house with cinged whiskers…

For more information about Febreze Home Collection Flameless Luminaires, including holiday-inspired scents like Cranberry Pear, check out the new Febreze Home Collection.

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A couple of weekends ago I caved and finally asked for some help in my garden. Now that my belly is getting bigger, and my store of energy more quickly depleted, I’ve found it more and more difficult to manage the big job that is keeping up with my garden. My vegetable patch had become nearly overrun with stubborn weeds and I just knew it would be way too much for me to tackle alone.

Fortunately, my Dad and step-mom were happy to help! They arrived armed with garden tools and yard bags, ready to work. The three of us worked along for about two hours and got the garden cleaned right up. It looks beautiful, now.

When it came time to take a break in the shade, my Dad asked if we had any lemonade or iced tea to drink. I remembered the three flavours of Nestea Vitao cooling in the fridge and brought one of each out for us to drink. We all tried all three of the flavours (Fuji Apple Green Tea, Acai Blueberry Red Tea and Mandarin Orange White Tea) and I decided the Mandarin Orange White Tea was definitely my favourite. Plus, it’s enhanced with vitamins C, E and calcium.

Another thing I like about Nestea Vitao is that it doesn’t have any preservatives or artificial colours or flavours inside. Since I’m eating and drinking for two these days, the absence of extra “stuff” in my food is definitely a bonus.

For more information about all three flavours, visit Nestea Vitao.

(Nestea Vitao wants to hear your inspirational goodness…visit Release the Goodness for your chance to win $5000 in goodness cash!)

(There’s more! Nestea Vitao is throwing three amazing events at ski hills across Canada! Join the Chill on the Hill Facebook group to participate in these Olympic athlete-studded events and watch for the hashtag #chillonthehill on Twitter, and follow along with the excitement @chillonthehill.)

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Now that Graham and I are expecting a baby, I’ve begun to be a little bit more alert to the fact that I use a lot of cleaning products around the house that aren’t exactly kid-friendly. It’s amazing how much the mind-set of society has evolved since I was a little girl…I have a distinct memory of my mother whisking my brother away to the hospital, his mouth rimmed with blue, in a panic because he’d gotten into a bottle of Drano. That is NOT a parenting experience I’m anxious to have!

Fortunately President’s Choice has created a line of eco-friendly products, known as their G.R.E.E.N. line, which includes a whole bunch of cleaning products that are not only good for the environment, but less toxic, too.

One of my favourite new products from the G.R.E.E.N. line is PC G.R.E.E.N. All-purpose Cleaner. It can be used all over the house, but I use it primarily in my kitchen to clean our new countertops. It has a light, refreshing scent that isn’t overpowering, and to my surprise it actually shines the chrome around the edge of my sink and taps to a gleam. I like knowing that the space where I prepare food is clean without the addition of extra chemicals to those surfaces.

For more information about PC G.R.E.E.N. All-purpose Cleaner, and other PC G.R.E.E.N. products, visit the PC Green Quick Guide today.

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Summer is definitely here in Southern Ontario! It’s the season for swimming pools, gardening, a day at the beach, or a back yard barbecue.

When Graham takes a plate of food out to our back deck to put on the grill, he takes along with him President’s Choice Sea Salt & Black Peppercorns. This handy seasoning comes in its very own grinder, so the salt and pepper that he puts on our steaks, chicken and burgers is always as fresh as can be.

What I especially like about this product is that the grinder itself is reusable, so when we use up all of the sea salt and black peppercorns inside, it can be refilled and used again. We don’t just use this seasoning for meat, though…it’s great for any food you want to season with fresh salt and pepper: pasta dishes, eggs, potatoes…the list goes on.

For more information visit PC Great Food—PC Sea Salt & Black Peppercorns Grinder.

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When I heard that Joshua Jackson was coming to Toronto I had a flashback to the few years I lived there with a good friend of mine.  You see, we started most weekdays by watching back-to-back episodes of Dawson’s Creek.  We hated Dawson.  We loved Pacy.

On Monday, June 1, Pacy Joshua Jackson is in Toronto taking a tour of the city to help celebrate the launch of Canada’s first Android-powered smartphones from Rogers Wireless by making several secret stops around the city.  If you see Joshua around the city, you could win prizes including Rogers phones, Rogers gift cards plus a chance to win a grand prize high-seas Caribbean adventure for two valued at $4,000!

For more details and information about Joshua’s trip to Toronto, including ways to track his progress and find clues to his secret locations, visit Rogers Revolution.  You can also use Google Latitude^TM, Google Search^TM and Google Maps^TM on the Rogers Revolution site to follow the tour online.

Now I have to go call my friend to see if we can meet up for a Pacy stalking session downtown Monday afternoon…

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When I was about eleven years old, my brother and I lived with my mom, a busy single lady who had to work through the summer months.  She thought we’d like to spend some time at a local community centre, where we could hang out with other kids playing games and participating in organized activities.

Community centres are great places for kids to spend time, especially in the summer when they’re just itching for something fun to do!  They become a real social hub in many communities and during their peak months, can really take a beating.  Before ramping up for a summer of fun, a thorough cleaning is definitely needed!

Simply Clean Communities has put together an initiative wherein five community centres from southeastern Ontario and four centres from Quebec will compete for a chance to win a clean, refreshing makeover!  One centre from each region will win head-to-toe clean-up session from a team of professional cleaners, as well as a summer-long supply of products from Mr. Clean, Swiffer, Dawn, Cascade and Febreze.

Here’s where you come in:  Up until May 31st, you can vote for the community centre of your choice to win this fantastic prize.

To learn more about this inspiring program and to cast your vote, visit www.simplycleancommunities.ca today!

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Have you heard about Proctor & Gamble’s Give Health initiative? With the goal of donating one million dollars to its programs such as Pur Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, Always and Tampax Protecting Futures Program and Pampers Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Global Campaign, P&G has made it very easy for consumers of their products to contribute to these worthy causes.

Take some time to check your newspaper this coming weekend for the next issue of P&G brandSAVER. When you redeem coupons from the April 5, 2009 issue of brandSAVER, P&G will make a donation toward the cost of water, vaccine administrations and puberty education for people in need around the globe.

Find a newspaper near you that carries brandSAVER.

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“You like your magazines, don’t you?” my husband asked last week. It’s true; there are small piles of magazines all over our house. While in the past, the majority of my magazines have focused on gardening, my new passion is for glossy home decorating and design magazines. I recently subscribed to Canadian House & Home, and I’m anxiously awaiting my first issue.

Febreze has partnered with Canadian House & Home to produce a set of tips for freshening the home, called Ten Easy Ways to Rejuvenate Your Rooms. In addition to this handy guide, readers are encouraged to enter Canadian House & Home’s Decorator’s Dream Contest. One lucky winner will receive:

• Airfare for two to Toronto from anywhere in Canada
• Two nights accommodation at a luxury hotel in the city centre
• A one-on-one private decorating consultation with leading Canadian stylist Sabrina Linn
• A tour of the Canadian House & Home magazine office and lunch with Mark Challen, Vice-President Communications
• A shopping trip to Toronto’s hottest decorating destinations
• $500 spending money

To read the tips and enter this exciting contest, visit Canadian House & Home.

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I recently attended Blissdom ‘09 in Nashville, Tennessee.  Like any conference goer, I’m always eager to find out what kind of giveaways will be provided to attendees.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Blissdom ‘09 “swag bag” was none other than a Lands’ End Natural Open Top Canvas Tote Bag.

The bag is very sturdy, and sits upright without flopping over.  Right away I envisioned using it as a grocery bag.  We’ve given up on using plastic bags for groceries, and my plan was to keep this bag in the trunk of my car so I could use it when I’m picking up a few grocery items.  It came in handy the very next time I was out shopping.

There are plenty of pockets lining the bag for slipping several packages into.  Nothing will tip over inside this bag!

For more details about Lands’ End’s Natural Open Top Canvas Tote Bag, including sizes and colours available, visit Lands’ End’s website.  (Psst: These bags just went on sale!)

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