A Review of MateVana Herbal Tea

This post is a little different for my blog. I don't think I've ever reviewed a tea before and this is more or less a reference for me so that I can remember my first impressions of this tea. My memory isn't what it used to be, lol. I've probably reviewed a tea and just can't remember and I'm too lazy to look.

I had a tea haul from Teavana delivered yesterday. This is probably one of the most missed stores that I miss from San Diego. There are some things that you should buy in person rather than over the internet and loose leaf teas are definitely something that you should buy in person. I really hate Teavana's high-pressure sales techniques, but seeing and smelling loose leaf tea in person is a great experience. When you live in the boonies, what are ya gonna do?

I loved the sound of the description of this tea from Teavana's website:

It’s not coffee, is it tea? Taste this coffee-like maté and red rooibos blend. Sweetened with cocoa and chocolate chips, this mochaccino inspired blend infuses smooth, dark rich sips that are soft and robust. 
Roasted infusion with rich chocolaty overtones

A palmful of MateVana Tea. You can see the marigold and chocolate chunks clearly.

This Mate tea has a bit of caffeine in it and I love a tea that I can drink in place of a morning cup of coffee because some days, I'm just not in a coffee mood but can use an energy boost. This is a very aromatic tea with strong chocolate overtones and nutty undertones. It has a strong tea flavor with chocolaty/nutty flavors. I think it also has a bit of a light anise taste to it as well. Something that bothers me about this tea is that I can swear that I'm tasting an artificial sweetener but it isn't listed in the ingredients. I would almost put money on this tea having an artificial sweetener in it.The ingredients do list sugar and "artificial flavors" soooo... Despite the troubling sweetener taste, I have enjoyed this tea this morning. While the chocolate comes through very strongly, I would not compare this tea to a mochaccino. It's just not what I think of when drinking this tea. It's very tea-y versus having a coffee flavor. It's also something that I would rather drink on a cold morning and/or evening rather than a hot and humid morning like we had today at my house. 

Very dark brew. It looks like coffee but tastes like tea.

Being Out of Order

I'm supposed to be blogging on a pseudo-schedule that I made for myself. Aside from skipping days altogether, yesterday was supposed to be a teenager post and today is supposed to be a current events post. I'm not in the mood. Anywho...


My most recent Bzz campaign is from Covergirl. I have to be honest with you. I love makeup but I'm not much for foundation. I hate the way that it feels:  heavy, cake-y, almost greasy even. Then, once I get past how it feels, the overall effect isn't worth the effort. So, going into this campaign, I have to admit that I had preconceptions and figured I'd hate it. Enter:::

Covergirl's Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation applies easily either using your fingers or a makeup sponge. I tried both and didn't prefer one over the other. I would call the coverage light/sheer. It looks natural while making my skin tone look more even and covering spots. I have oily skin which usually causes foundation to look like an unnatural buildup on my face at the end of the day. I didn't notice that with this foundation. I also really like that it has a built-in sunscreen which I need using acne medicine every day.

In the end, I'd totally recommend this foundation, especially to women who don't usually like to wear it or find it hard to apply. I used to think of foundation as a special occasion makeup but I'd use Outlast as an every day makeup as well. I was surprised to discover how much I liked this foundation.




::Disclaimer::

I received a coupon for a free bottle of Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation from www.bzzagent.com. All opinions are my own.

NaBloPoMo Day 8: Things I Love

I confess, it's day eight and I've already run out of things to blog about. So, I thought I'd compose a brief list of the things with which I am currently obsessed.

1. Pinterest Pam at A Day in the Life of... turned me onto this website and I LOVE it. The concept is basically a virtual cork board where you can "pin" things that interest you. For example, I have a board for things that I want to crochet and knit, new foods and drinks that I want to try, Christmas decorating ideas just to name a few. Pinterest also has an iPod/phone app and I have that on my phone. It came in very handy last night when I was out buying supplies and I was able to look up my pinned ideas for a list of what I needed. Right now it's invitation only. If you'd like one, let me know.

2. Downy Unstopables. This is an additive that you put into your washing machine that makes your clothes smell really wonderful. I particularly like to use this product in my sheets, towels, and workout clothes.

3. Pandora Radio. Love Pandora. It's Internet radio. You search for an artist or song that you like, Pandora plays it and then creates a "radio station" for you based on that song or artist. It's a fantastic way to discover new artists and to not have to listen to the same three songs over and over on the radio. You can give songs a thumbs up or down so that Pandora will be even more personalized for you. There is, of course, an iPod/phone app but you can also listen to it on their website. The free version has commercials (I think the paid version does too but fewer than the free) but there's only one for every five or six songs or so. I use the free version but love it so much I'm considering upgrading to the paid version.

4. Bath and Body Works Candles. This is most particularly for Christmas. I like to burn the Frosted Cranberry and Fresh Balsam candles together. The Mister and I bought those the other day (it's early, I know) while the girls were out and about. When they got home and walked in the house, they both said it smelled like Christmas. It really does.







There you have it. A few of my favorite things that I can't get enough of right now.

As I've said before, I don't get paid or reimbursed in any way for mentioning products and services on my blog. I blog about what I want, when I want because I like to pass along good ideas to other people.

Is it Time for Bed Yet?

It's just now 8 am and I've already had a full morning.

The glass people FINALLY called yesterday afternoon to say that they would be over today to take measurements for my new window. I didn't get the message until last night because I had my phone turned off since Monday, heheh. I had to get up first thing and clean my house. When we cleaned out the utility room, all the junk kinda sorta got dumped in the kitchen. ::blush:: Oh well. It's a good thing that they are finally coming though because we almost had a disaster Sunday night. The oldest child and I were playing around. I chased her into the kitchen and she was going to go outside to get away from me and realized I would just lock her out, lol. At the last minute, she went to turn around and put her hand through the broken glass. Luckily, she only had three very minor cuts on her fingers but I got the absolute scare of a lifetime. After I got her cleaned up, I sat down in the other room and cried, lol. It could have been so much worse. But we can't get the glass out of the window without making it worse so we left it and put tape over it. It didn't help when she pushed her hand through it though.

So, I finally have a brief minute to sit down and check my e-mail and blog. I had 30+ e-mails this morning and none of them were junk. 11 of those were work (I love saying that, heheh) e-mails. I had 30+ blog posts to read and I really hate to say this, but I read two of them and hit "mark all as read" for the rest. I never would have thought I'd say that I don't have time to read them all. I'd like to be able to have either breakfast or lunch at some point today.

OH OH OH!!! And I have another product review. I finally found something that killed our fleas. In ONE day!! It's called Zodiac FleaTrol. I have the carpet and upholstery aerosol spray. One can treats 2,000 sq.ft. and it worked like a gem and I didn't have to leave the house for two hours. I just opened up all the windows and vacated each room after spraying. I also put the dogs outside and all the small critters in the kitchen which is an open area with no carpeting. It totally worked and I could have weeped with gratitude. I should write these people a letter.

Okay. I really gotta go. I have no idea when the glass people will be here because they didn't bother to tell me a time in their message and I haven't had the chance to brush my hair or teeth yet. I'm off.

Rolling Around Friday

Guess what it's doing at my house right now. If you guessed raining, you'd be correct.

I forgot to mention that I got some news the other day that made me a little sad. I found out that they are tearing down my high school. I haven't been back since graduation day, but I'm still sad that it's not going to be there anymore. It was built in 1922 so it is a really old and outdated building . I wish that I had the opportunity to go back to Ohio and see it one more time before it's gone but that isn't going to happen. Hmm.

I have another product review, heheh. I already blogged about my recent bout of insomnia. Well, yesterday I had a migraine to go with it and we were all out of my Excedrin Migraine. I sent the Mister to the store, because by this time I was in so much pain I was a bit nauseated, and he came home with two different types of Excedrin: Excedrin PM and Excedrin Migraine. I was torn. With Excedrin Migraine, you can only take one dose in 24 hours so if I took those, I wouldn't be able to take the PM stuff. But what if the PM pills weren't enough for my headache? I decided to try the PM stuff because I figured if they didn't take away the headache, maybe they'd make me sleep through the pain, heheh. The results: I took the PM pills at 9 so that hopefully, I'd be more than ready for sleep at 11. They made me sleepy without the annoying side affects that I usually get with meds that make me drowsy like dizziness and just a generally feeling of weirdness. Still, I didn't fall asleep until about midnight and I didn't stay asleep either. I tossed and turned all night. As for my headache, they reduced it to a dull roar and I still have a nagging headache this morning. Bottom line: I don't really know. I liked that the PM pills didn't make me feel all weird, but they didn't really help me sleep all that much and they also weren't strong enough to make my headache go completely away but I didn't really expect them to. Who knows?

Oh! The shrimp burgers were really good. It's the first time that we've ever had them. We weren't really sure how to top them. Ketchup, mustard, cocktail sauce? Turns out that they're good with some A-1 and Parmesan cheese just in case you were wondering.

Happy Friday everyone.

Long Night

Sorry. No BTT today. Not in the mood.


I had so much going on yesterday. That's weird for me, lol. We went out to dinner with a friend and her parents and my friend PICKED UP THE TAB!! How nice, right? I didn't have to cook and we didn't have to pay for dinner. Also, it was good company. I really enjoyed meeting her parents.

I had a really late night last night. I went to bed at 11, tossed and turned until 1:30, got up and checked my e-mail, went back to bed at 2, and finally fell asleep around 2:30 or so. I did the same thing the two nights before that too. I don't understand it because I'm tired all day because I didn't get any sleep the night before, but as soon as my head hits the pillow my mind starts to race and I can't relax. It's a bit frustrating.

I also used Twitter to my advantage last night. I have a little something in the works that I would completely and totally appreciate crossed fingers, good thoughts, and whatever other positive vibes you want to send my way.


My Monday funk lasted through yesterday and I got to take it out on some idiot woman, heheh. She totally ran a stop sign and if I hadn't been looking, I would have been ran over. I yelled some obscenities and she had her window down so she heard everything. What is with some people??


I forgot to mention another product that I recently tried out. I think it's new too since this was the first I had ever seen it on the shelf. It's Febreze Laundry Odor Eliminator.
I have musty towels and they're not even that old. I think it's because my bathroom doesn't have a vent in it and you can't really open the window in the middle of winter to vent out shower steam. So, I tried this in hopes that it would help the situation and it didn't. Maybe musty towel smell is a permanent problem because I've tried other methods of cleaning my towels and they haven't worked either. If anyone has suggestions other than using them in the dog crate, I'd appreciate a heads up.

I read on another blog today of a woman and her family that only spend $250 a month on groceries and they're a family of five. Check the blog post out here: Antithete
I find that amazing. I use some of the same methods mentioned in the blog post, budgeting, having a grocery list, and having a meal plan even though my plan is for a week instead of a month, and we still spend about $400/month for a family of four on groceries. We're having grilled shrimp burgers for dinner tonight so that could explain why our grocery bill is a bit higher, lol. With gas prices driving up the cost of groceries, I really should try and be more frugal and keep the more extravagant meals, like shrimp burgers, to a minimum. I like to cook though. I like having a counter full of ingredients that need to be measured, chopped, sauteed, grated, zested, and combined. It's the nights when our menu consists of fish sticks that I would just rather not eat at all. What's an average monthly grocery bill I wonder?

Good and Bad

I've been trying out a lot of new stuff lately thanks to Bzz and my quest to find the perfect nail polish. I thought I would give a few of my opinions here today.

I already told you all what I thought about Logitech's Harmony One Universal Remote control. Just click here if you want to reread that post.

Next, I tried out Ziploc's Big Bags.

I have them in all three sizes: Large, XL, and XXL. At first, I had no idea what I was going to do with them. Normally when I need storage, I use Rubbermaid totes because they're heavy duty plastic, they have locking lids, and they're stackable. Then, the need to clean the youngest child's room came about. We're still having flea issues. I used the bags to bag up all of her clothes, clean and dirty, to be washed, and her stuffed animals so that they could be sealed and put outside since they can't be put into the clothes washer. The bags worked out okay but here's what I didn't like about them:

1. The blue writing on the bags came off onto me. I had big, blue, smeared ink all over my arms which, while it seemed to come off the bags easy enough, it didn't want to wash off of me.


2. After I had stuffed the bags full of clothes and stuffed animals, I picked them up to carry out of the room and the zipped seals popped open which totally negated why I was using them in the first place: to seal out as much air as possible.

Would I buy them again? Probably not. Totes stack and look much nicer than having bags sitting around and they're not as easy to puncture even though the Big Bags are thicker than your normal plastic storage bags.

Then I tried Ziploc's Twist 'n Loc storage containers.

I really liked those. The lids are nicer than the snap-on type and they have measuring lines on the side so that you can see how much stuff you're putting into them. While this isn't environmentally friendly, I love the idea of throw away plastic containers because let's face it, how much of our plastic stuff i.e., Rubbermaid or Tupperware, gets lost all the time anyway?? Also, they are made with 5 plastics which is considered to be safe.

Which brings us to K-9 Advantix flea treatments for dogs.

We've only been using it a month, but my dogs still have fleas. I'm holding off on my final opinion of this product until I use it again, so please, keep your fingers crossed for us that this works. The fleas are driving me insane and my youngest child looks diseased. I'm really surprised that the school hasn't said anything to us about it, that's how bad it is.

Next, I went on an odyssey trying to find fingernail polish that wouldn't chip after only a day or two of wear. I tried all kinds of brands, Opi, Cover Girl, etc., and it all chipped. After some research, I discovered how to first, do a manicure, and second, the miracle of all nail polishes. Here's what I found.

1. File your nails using a 240-grit nail file.


2. Then use a three-way buffer: black to refine, white to shine, and gray to seal.


3. Next, clean off any dust with warm soap and water and push back your cuticles at this time if you like.


4. Dry your nails using pure acetone.


5. THEN...Apply Revlon's Colorstay Nail Enamel following the directions on the package exactly.

This stuff totally works. I had it on for seven days with no chipping or peeling before I decided that I wanted a new color and took it off. I have NEVER had that happen. And, it lasted through washing two cars, cleaning the youngest child's room, two trips to the beach, and a multitude of other everyday activities. I don't know about everyone else, but my fingernail polish usually begins to peel off after one washing of the dishes. I am beyond satisfied with this product. Also, I'm not sure how much a professional manicure costs because I've never paid for one before (I grow my own nails naturally and I know how to use a bottle of nail polish), but all the supplies cost less than $6 at Sally Beauty Supply and the nail polish is $4.99 at Target so you can give yourself an at home manicure for less than $12, the supplies will last a while for multiple uses, and the manicure lasts.