Sirius Skin Sonic

I've wanted a Clarisonic for a while, but the price has been prohibitive, so when I saw a Groupon for something similar, I decided to chick it out. I read some reviews. All were positive. It usually sells for $50. The Groupon was for half-off, plus I had some Groupon Bucks, bringing the Sirius Skin Sonic down to $18.

I was very excited to try it out. And now that I've been using it for about two weeks now, I thought I would write about my first impressions.

The device is easy to use. It takes two AA batteries and each of the different heads pop on and off easily. It can be used wet or dry, but I only used it as part of my nightly routine, not in the shower.

I used the normal brush and my usual products. I followed the directions for use.

The results have been okay so far. The thing I've noticed most is how smooth my skin is now. I haven't seen a difference in my pores or acne scarring, which is something many people online raved about. I hope to see some improvement on that with further use.

The biggest downside I see is that you have to replace the heads every few months.

I will continue use and write an update in a month or two. If I'm enjoying it, maybe I'll slap down the money to buy the real thing.

The product: Sirius Skin Sonic

Keurig Brew Over Ice K-Cups

I am not a coffee drinker. I don't like it. It's bitter and makes me gag -- even the flavored stuff. So it actually made sense that my husband buy a Keurig single-cup coffee maker when it first came out about 10 years ago. He doesn't drink tons of coffee and is very particular about the coffee he drinks. Regular multiple cup coffee pots meant a lot of wasted coffee.

Plus, with the Keurig, I have the option of many non-coffee drinks, like teas and cocoas. Not to mention, I can use it to make a cup of hot water to brew my own favorite teas.

Now Keurig has K-Cups that you can brew over ice to make your favorite iced coffee and tea drinks. The best thing is that they are already sweetened, so it's just brew and go.

I was happy to try them when BzzAgent sent me some free samples to try. I can't tell you mcuh about the iced coffee. I gave it to my husband whose review was: "It's okay." but I tried the teas -- Half and Half (lemonade and tea) and Southern Sweet Tea. I normally like half and half -- or as we call it around Western Pennsylvania, an Arnold Palmer -- but I wasn't impressed with the K-Cup. It had that weird dehydrated, concentrated lemon flavor that I'm definitely not a fan of. When I buy bottled iced tea, I always go for teas without lemon. I really don't like that taste. (Fresh lemon I do like, though.)

On the other hand, I like the Southern Sweet Tea. And the reason I liked it was because it didn't taste so sticky sweet as typical Southern-style iced tea. It was perfectly sweetened.

My recommendation for brewing these K-Cups is different from what Keurig recommends. Keurig recommends filling your desired cup size to the brim with ice before brewing. I found that the tea/coffee overflows before it finishes brewing when you do it that way. I found if you fill your cup with ice only about two-thirds of the way, it won't overflow and you can always add more ice if you need it.

I also recommend waiting to drink you coffee/tea. If you drink right after brewing, it is lukewarm and not very good at all. Let the ice melt until it gets to the proper coolness for you. And, as I mentioned before, you can always add more ice.

Would I buy a box of these? Probably not. It's just as easy to brew regular tea and add ice and sweetener to you liking. But for those people who would like their iced drink on-the-go, it isn't a bad deal.

Dr. Scholl's for Her High Heel Insoles

I don't often wear high heels. I work on my feet, so they just aren't very practical. But when BzzAgent sent me a sample of Dr. Scholl's for Her High Heel Insoles, I thought I would try them out during a short shift (four hours). I chose a normally pretty comfortable and well-fit pair of four-inch platform heels, but they have a wooden sole, so they can make my feet pretty tired.

I made it less than two hours. I know I would've done better without the insoles. I usually can go a few hours with those shoes.

I have wide feet, so I think that made all the difference. The bottom of my feet were comfortable, but the shoes were digging into the tops and sides of my feet, which they never do.

I would say these are made for women with narrow or average width feet. That's not me.

So, if you have average width feet, try these out because the bottoms of my feet were comfortable. Perhaps if I had had a little more wiggle room in my shoes to begin with, I would have been fine.

The other thing I didn't like was that they made my feet sweat. I think that bothered me more than the pain.

Fettuccine with Chicken in a Creamy Pesto

Fettuccine with Chicken in a Creamy Pesto

This is another invention based on what I happened to have in the house. It must have been pretty good because my three-year-old daughter ate it.

1 lb. fettuccine

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (approximately 12 oz.), cooked and chunked

1 large pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1 jar of basil pesto (or make your own)

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

parmesan cheese

Cook and chunk the chicken however you desire. This is a great way to use up leftover chicken.

Cook fettuccine according to package directions.

Saute pepper and onion in about 1 Tbl. of olive oil.

Mix pesto, soup and chicken together. Warm up on low heat.

Throw everything together in a large bowl. Mix and serve with parmesan cheese.

Semi-homemade Beefaroni

Semi-homemade Beefaroni

I love skillet meals. I threw this together one day and it came out pretty well. I decided to share the recipe.

1 lb. ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 package macaroni and cheese

Brown ground beef in large skillet. Saute onion, pepper and garlic in about 1 Tbl. of olive oil.

Add vegetables to the beef. Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, stir.

Add cheese mix from the macaroni and cheese, stir.

Stir in the macaroni and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the macaroni is cook through, stirring occationally.