She Scribes

I have never had much of a good sleeping pattern. When I was in college I was working two part time jobs, interning and attending college full time. Talk about “burning the candles on both ends”. I didn’t know if I was coming or going. Sleep was no on my agenda.

Right after college I became a Mom. As you know its hard to get a good nights sleep with an baby waking you up a few times during the night.

The last couple of years has been the worst. I TRY to get a good nights sleep but I find myself either unable to sleep (insomnia) or getting a decent nights sleep but waking up feeling like I never slept at all, feeling groggy and tired. If you had a decent nights sleep why would you wake up feeling that way? It makes no sense.

Because my sleep patterns were so off I would often fall asleep after dinner while watching TV. I would sleep soundly for a few hours (my husband could never wake me up) then I’d wake up and be wide awake all night. It was a vicious cycle that I wanted to get off.

I refuse to take sleep medication. NO WAY! I don’t like to take medication unless I have no choice in the matter.

I have tried things like Dream Water to help me sleep (Dream Water works great!) but that ends up being costly.

Surely there has to be something to help me sleep and feel better?

About a month ago I was asked if I wanted to review PureZone. PureZone is a personalized air filtration system that helps to remove 99.97% of the allergens in the air that can effect your sleep. Allergens cause allergies.

I did some research and found that allegens can cause you to feel fatigued (which I always feel), experience daytime sleepiness (which I have) and effect the quality of your sleep. WOW… could my sleep problems have something to do with allergies? I do wake up stuffy a lot. I never really gave allergies a thought when it came to getting a good nights sleep.

If you do an Internet search for sleep and allergies or allergens you’ll find a lot of information.

We live in a shoe box sized condo with FIVE pets. We also face the parking lot which means if the windows are opened the dust from the parking lot comes in our home (trust me, I am constantly dusting!). It is very possible that allergies could be causing my sleep problems. I am also prone to bouts with Asthma if I get congestion in my chest.

Seeing as how the PureZone removes 99.97% of allergens I jumped on the opportunity to review it.

PureZone is a compact filter system that plugs into an outlet near your bed. It also comes with a special pillow case and a “tube” that connects the two.

PureZone is a simple concept to understand. Air goes into the filter system, the filter removes all the allergens then blows the “clean” air up the tube and out the pillow that you rest your head on. As you are sleeping you are breathing in the clean air that is all around you, thanks to the pillow.

The set up was a piece of cake. I had the unit ready to go in about 10 minutes. Its a lot smaller then I thought it would be which is great since space is a premium in our condo. I have the unit in the space between the bed and my husband’s chair.

My first concern was the noise. The last thing I wanted was to listen to a motor running all night long. Even the clicking of a clock can get on my nerves in the middle of the night. Thankfully PureZone is very quiet. To be honest with you I have been using the unit for around 3 weeks now and not once has the sound bothered me or my husband. I don’t even notice is.

When you first turn the PureZone on you’ll notice that the pillow case inflates. That is because its filling up with pure, clean, allergen free air. It was funny to see the pillow look like a giant marshmallow. Once you rest your head on it the pillow goes down (of course) but the air continues to filter through it just the same.

I made a video to show you how the air puffs up the pillow. I’m sorry about the quality. Hopefully you can make out the fluffy air filled pillow. I’m also sorry that I can’t get the video to center in the post.

The PureZone can be adjusted to give you warmed or cooled air. I prefer the cool air, especially on a hot and sticky night.

My husband and I have to sleep in the living room on a daybed/trundle set up (our kids have to share the only bedroom). I am unable to sleep with the PureZone pillow horizontally so I have to sleep with it vertically. It was a challenge at first but I’m used to it now.

The first night I used the PureZone I don’t even remember what time I fell asleep. I seemed to get sleepy sooner, which is rare for me. I slept through the night and woke up feeling like I had actually slept for a change.

Over the next few days I noticed that I would fall asleep faster, sleep all night, and wake up feeling rested and refreshed. I can’t even tell you how long its been since I felt that way.

For the past few weeks I have NOT experienced any day time sleepiness. My fatigue level is not as bad as it was (I’m severely anemic so I’m always going to feel some kind of fatigue). I find myself going to sleep around midnight (give or take) and waking up around 7 Am feeling alert, rested and no groggy. Another words – I feel great!

I have been making comments to my husband about how I have NOT fallen asleep after dinner in weeks, even since using the PureZone at night. I feel more energetic and less cranky too. I truly believe that having a good nights sleep for a change has really been a life altering experience for me. I haven’t felt this good in YEARS.

Just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things I went a few nights without using the PureZone. The first night was OK but in the evening of the following day I fell sleep around 8 PM and slept until 10 PM. That threw me off BIG TIME! I had a hard time falling asleep that night.

The few nights I went without using the PureZone I found that I went to bed later and started to wake up a big more groggy in the morning. I don’t know if its a coincidence or what?

After my experiment I went back to using the PureZone again and I feel great again. No more dragging myself out of bed at night. I actually, dare I say, spring out of bed in the morning. I feel like I can accomplish so much more. Even my mood is better. I’m less cranky and moody.

I still wake up stuffy in the morning sometimes, so the allergies are still there. I guess not everything is eliminated. But as far as getting a good nights sleep is concerned I am totally sold on PureZone.

To learn more about PureZone please visit www.PureZone.com. You can watch some product related videos on YouTube on the PureZone YouTube Channel (click here). PureZone is also offering a $99 risk free trial. Please check out the site for more information.

PureZone has generously offered to give a very lucky She Scribes reader a PureZone Personalized Air Filtration System. This is a $329.00 value! Thank you PureZone!

To enter please visit the PureZone website, look around, then come back here and tell me something that you learned from the site. There is a lot of great information on their site including information about allergies which I found very interesting.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following. Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each that you have done. Extra entries are optional.

- Blog about this review/giveaway and please link back to both this post and the PureZone website. Please provide the URL of the post.

- Subscribe to She Scribes and/or connect with Google Friend Connect. Both options are found on the right side bar.

- “Like” PureZone on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Eden-Prairie-MN/PureZone-Technologies/105891602785558?ref=ts.

- Follow PureZone on Twitter, https://Twitter.com/PureZone.

- Follow She Scribes on Twitter (@She_Scribes) and tweet about this review/giveaway. Make sure to include me in the tweet so I can see it too. This is limited to three tweets per day, space apart (not one after the other).

- Use any of the social networking buttons found at the bottom of this post (Stumble Upon, Digg, Facebook…) to promote this review/giveaway. Please be sure to let me know what you have done and if  possible provide a name and/or URL.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on September 19, 2010 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries using a random number generator. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and will have three days to reply with a name and mailing address (no PO Box) or a new winner will be chosen.

Other great giveaways are found on the right side bar under “Win It”.

Kimberly

*I received a free sample product in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own. PureZone will be providing the prize.

With back to school time finally here many Moms and Dads find themselves back into their daily routine of making school lunches and constantly looking for products that are healthy for their family, but also tasty to eat. This year I get the added bonus of making my husband’s lunch now that his work hours changed from 6:30 – 2:30 to 9-5. Now I have THREE lunches to tend to in the morning.

The lunches I make always contain the same elements: protein, fruit, vegetable, water, carbs and something I would consider “junk food”. After all they are kids and they like to enjoy the same things their friends and school mates do. “Junk food” usually is chips, cookies, muffin or something of that sort.

There is a way to make your family “think” they are eating “junk food” when in reality its a healthier option for them.

Pirate’s Booty (my kids L♥VE Pirate’s Booty!) makes a snack product called Potato Flyers. They are thought of as a healthier option to regular potato chips. Potato Flyers are baked, not fried in grease like a typical chip.

I was happy to give the Potato Flyers a try with my family. I honestly was expecting something that resembled a potato chip but instead they Potato Flyers sort of remind me of mini-rice cakes. On that note I was thinking these would be more like rice cakes then potato chips.

I was surprised when I tried a couple of pieces of the original flavor. Wow! It DID taste like a real potato chip. That was so weird. Here I’m thinking “rice cake” and what I tasted was a potato chip, and exactly like one too.

We also received samples of the other flavors, Barbecue, Sour Cream & Onion and Sea Salt & Vinegar. Sadly no one liked the Sea Salt & Vinegar one. They do like salt & vinegar chips, but they were not keen on the Potato Flyer Sea Salt & Vinegar flavor.

Everyone really liked the Sour Cream & Onion flavor. That was a favorite among my husband and both kids. I tired one too. I liked it as well.

The Barbecue had mixed reviews. I found it to be a bit strong (it has a “kick” to it). My husband and son loved it and my daughter was “iffy” about it.

Compared to regular potato chips the Pirate’s Booty Potato Flyers are a much better choice. They contain half of the fat and 1/4 less calories then regular chips. They are also baked, all natural, free of Gluten and trans fat and has no cholesterol. A serving has 120 calories.

We received the small bags. You would THINK they were a single serving, but they are not. They are actually 1.5 servings so of you eat the whole bag (which you can easily do) then you’ll have consumed 180 calories, not 120.

Overall I like the Potato Flyers. My family enjoyed them too for the most part. I would feel better giving my family the Potato Flyers in their lunches rather then regular potato chips. Its a great way to let them still enjoy what would appear on the surface to be “junk food”, while I know that they are really a healthier version of that popular snack food.

Pirate’s Booty products are sold at many retail locations and grocery stores.

To learn more about Pirate’s Booty and their product visit www.PiratesBooty.com. They also have a Facebook page, http://www.Facebook.com/PiratesBooty.

Kimberly

*I received free product samples in order to do this review from the Family Review Network and Pirate’s Booty. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.

As a Mom I am happy that my kids love to eat fruits, veggies, yogurt and opt for water over soda. Kids will be kids and will sometimes indulge in foods and beverages that are not always the best choice. I am OK with that because I know that the majority of the time my kids eat well.

When my children were little I started them off on fruits, veggies and yogurt so that they would have an acquired taste for them when they got older. It must have worked because I have two kids that love broccoli, chickpeas, salads and some times spinach (depends on how I make it). They also LOVE yogurt. My son especially eats a yogurt every day. He would eat several  a day is we let him. He loves yogurt.

YoCrunch is one of my kid’s most favorite yogurts. They love the tasty toppings that come with them. Their favorite is the M&M topping followed by the Oreo topping. Personally I like the granola topping the best. We stock up on them when they go on sale.

Breyers Yogurt Company, the makers of YoCrunch,  recently launched a new kind of yogurt called YoCrunch Fruit Parfait. Its the first layered fruit, yogurt and granola parfait which will be hitting the shelves of your local grocery store any day now (if it hasn’t already). 

As you may know, McDonald’s, Panera Bread and others have popularized parfaits. I have never had one from Paneras but I have had them from McDonald’s and they are really good! Now YoCrunch makes it possible to enjoy parfaits in the convenience of your home.  At only 120 calories per serving, the YoCrunch parfait is lower in calories than many of its competitors, including McDonald’s and Panera Bread. These are ideal for breakfast, as an afternoon snack or even a  late-night sweet treat without the guilt. 

YoCrunch Fruit Parfaits are available in three classic fruit flavors,  strawberry, blueberry and peach. They retail for around $2.89 for each four-pack container, and can be found at leading grocery stores nationwide.

Me and my kids were lucky to be sent a sample of the strawberry YoCrunch Parfaits. You can really see the way the fruit and yogurt is layered. I tried to capture a picture of of it.

Notice the strawberry peeking out from the bottom?

After you open up the yogurt parfait you can add the granola which is packaged separately to keep it from getting soggy. All you have to do is top off the parfait and enjoy!

Me and my kids each enjoyed a parfait. Or shall I say my kids practically inhaled them. LOL!

I found the parfait to be very tasty with just the right amount of strawberry. I actually would have liked to have seen more chunks of strawberries, but it was still very delicious. It was a nice snack that just “hit the spot”. This would be ideal to give to my kids when they get home from school to hold them over until dinner time. At only 120 calories and a good source of calcium and active live cultures this is a snack I would be happy for my kids to indulge in. Its certainly a million times better then cookies, candy and chips.

My only “complaint” is that the containers are small. My kids finished them off in a matter of two minutes each, if that. I personally took my time but my kids were done with them in the blink of an eye. I wish they were available in the same size container as their YoCrunch yogurt. That would be nice!

If you are a fruit and yogurt parfait fan then you will certainly want to check out the new YoCrunch Fruit Parfaits available at your nearest grocery store in the yogurt section.

For more information about Breyers YoCrunch Parfaits visit  http://www.YoCrunch.com/products/parfait.html. There you can also print a coupon for $1.00 off your purchase of the new parfaits. For more information about other YoCrunch products please visit www.YoCrunch.com.

You can also “like” them on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/YoCrunch and follow them on Twitter, http://twitter.com/YoCrunch.

I have 10 coupons for a FREE YoCrunch Parfait that I can give away to 10 lucky readers (each of the 10 winners will each received ONE FREE product coupon). Thank you Breyers YoCrunch!

To enter please comment on which parfait flavor you are most excited to try?

For an extra entry you can do any or all of the following. Please be sure to tell me what you did. All options are found on the right side bar.

- Subscribe to She Scribes.

- Connect with Google Friend Connect.

- “Like” She Scribes on Facebook (click on the Facebook button and then click “Like” when you are on the Facebook page).

- Follow She Scribes on Twitter (@She_Scribes).

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on September 2, 2010 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winners will all be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winners will be notified via e-mail and will have three days to respond with a name and mailing address (no PO Box) or a new winner will be chosen.

Check out the other great giveaways available on the right side bar under “Win It”.

Kimberly

*I received free product samples in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.