Preparing for the 8 glasses-a-day Crystal Light challenge on Gather

I was choosen to receive Crystal Light and a re-usable water bottle for the water challenge on Gather.
This is going to be fun! Unfortunately it has that unplesant dye that I am not fond of and I can't seem to find what it is sweetened with. I would totally be alright with it being clear!!! I'm not a kid- I don't need things to look the way they are supposed to taste.

So, why do I need to prepare for a challenge that consists of drinking the required amount of water every day? I do carry a water bottle with me everywhere but I am no where close to drinking the amount of water that I should. Sometimes it is laziness. Sometimes I just don't want water, even though I love it. And sometimes I want it cold and it isn't, so I just don't drink it. I could go get ice, but that goes back to the laziness thing. That is why this is going to be a challenge for me. It is really hard to make myself do something if I don't want to. It is going to be a serious effort for me to follow the rules but I am going to try! Another major hurdle for me will be my discovery of Pepsi Throwback. I find something like that then I have to give it up??! Bleh!

To make the most of this challenge I am adding some of my own stuff to it. To start, I weighed myself today. I am currently 153 lbs., give or take since it isn't a perfect scale. I wear a size 12 and large tops. At 5'4" I am overweight. I will say I am only a maximum of 20 lbs. overweight, because I am larged-boned and in high school I was anywhere between 125-135 lbs and definitely not fat. I wore size 9 jeans and was in a large (junior). I took ballet and was on the tennis team. I had a perfect stomach- I could sit and there was no rolling. I had cellulite even when I was younger and I've never seemed to be able to get that under control. The rest of my body was so-so. Even though I was active I always seemed to have a lazy body- I was still flabby in some places, like my arms and legs. There was muscle, but it got stuck under fat. Anyhow, that is how I have decided just how overweight I am. I think that increasing my water in-take, getting rid of soda and all that good stuff is going to get me closer to my long-term goal of weighing around 140. My short-term goal is to weigh 145. I don't leap for the stars.

I have always had an energy problem. I always feel tired even when I've had plenty of sleep. I can always use a boost. Maybe the answer has always been that I just need more water. Let's hope!

I also visited the Crystal Light ad here on Gather to see what they have to say. They are also holding the challenge and offer lots of features including a chance to win prizes, articles and tips. They also have provided registered users with a widget to keep track of their water intake. I copied the widget and tried to post it to my blog as a test but it didn't show up. I don't know if that problem was on my end or theirs. It didn't work here either but then I think Gather limits where you can get your widgets, right?

Are you participating in the water challenge? Remember that anyone can participate. Most of us could benefit!

ADHD- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder on Gather

I recently took over the ADHD group on Gather and am extending an invite to anyone that has ADHD, a family member with ADHD or wants to learn more or share what they know with the group. It's also open to people who are dealing with similar disorders or issues that sometimes go along with ADHD, though this will be our main focus.

This is a moderated group and only subjects pertaining to the topic will be permitted. If you aren't sure about something, submit it and I'll approve or deny. But please do not submit anything totally unrelated!

I would prefer that pictures be limited and will probably only accept ones that have the ADHD or similar tag, so that our group tags are not cluttered with non-related tags. But every so often I'll accept some pictures that seem appropriate (see current group images to understand).

I hope that you will consider joining if ADHD affects your life and please consider reposting old material that would fit to the group. After weeding out the bad content we went from over 10 pages to less than 2 (though it still says 10?). So we need some fresh stuff to read! Plus with the few pictures I've approved it has changed the popular tags to unrelated topics, which I've said before I don't want (I am trying to get this group picked up by Google and while I don't know a lot, I do know that totally unrelated topics will not help at all).

Ocean Spray Cranergy Challenge

I was choosen to receive 7 bottles of Ocean Spray Cranergy to review from Gather.

Why do I need an energy booster in the middle of the day? Well, I was very excited to try it out because I am a very tired mom of 3. I haven't yet figured out a way to harness their energy so I am always looking for healthy ways to keep myself from collapsing by 4pm. I start my days with coffee or tea. I wake up around 7am and start getting my 7 year old ready for school. He has this amazing talent. He can drain my energy within minutes of my being around him. It happens every time. He was diagnosed with ADHD recently and has always been this energy-stealing lunatic (I say that with lots of love) morning, noon and night. I send him off to school shortly after 8am but as soon as he leaves my friend arrives with her daughter, a 4 year old that I watch Mon-Thurs and sometimes Friday. My daughter wakes up anytime between 8 and 9:30am. Jonas is the most unpredictable. If he is sleeping after our friend gets here I will take a shower. If not I have to try to get him back to sleep and sometimes that fails.

I need a combination of a shower and beverage to be functional. If I can get the shower and the kids are still calm when I'm finished I can get some laundry or dishes done. If not it's because I am trying to stop fight after fight after fight. The girls are the best of friends, but they fight like cats and dogs often. I get them fed then I need a Gather break. My coffee should be kicking in by now but sometimes it doesn't work. If I forget to eat it just makes me jittery with no energy boost. Then it's time to break up another fight. I haven't found the perfect way to keep them happy yet. Jonas is very easy to please but requires a lot of attention so if I'm not taking care of the girls I am taking care of him. I really never get a moment to myself. If I do, it is literally just a few minutes before something else happens. Two days a week the girls have school and that is when I get my shopping done, if Jonas doesn't fall asleep. If he does I have to rearrange to get my shopping done during Zachary's piano lesson. This all happens between 11:30-2pm. It sometimes seems that I have more energy on those days than on the ones where we don't go anywhere or do anything. But it is SO hard to actually get to the point of leaving the house. Why is it so difficult? I hear in my head, "Just get up and do it!" That is what other people say too. But for me that just doesn't seem to work.

And where is Jason during all of this??? SLEEPING.

So on school days we get home a little after two. When we pull up Zachary is getting off the school bus. We walk in and it's like a war starting. "Who touched my toys?" "I want to watch a movie!" "NO! I am playing a game!" Because everyone is just getting in and getting settled, it's total chaos! Some days I can calm it quickly and others I just want to melt into the couch.

Right around this time (sometimes a little earlier and sometimes a little later) I need a serious energy boost. I usually grab some more coffee or tea, or I just sweat through it all and hope that some of them fall asleep or Jason decides to go in to school at the regular time and will help before then. This is about the time I replaced my regular afternoon enery drink with Ocean Spray Cranergy. I devoted an entire article (I talk way too much) to what's in the drink (the Raspberry Cranberry Lift) that you can read here: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977654755&nav=MyGather

My opinion on the product: I have to start off with saying that I do not approve of ingredients like red dye being in a "Natural" drink. I don't care if the drink is red! It doesn't need to be red for me to like it. (Side note: I was always a huge fan of Crystal Clear Pepsi- I really like clear drinks because it makes them feel more natural even when it isn't natural) And I would much rather they use cane or raw sugar to sweeten it if they want it to be a healthier alternative, instead of Splenda. I think it is a little strange that the product is tooted as a cranberry drink when the main ingredient is White Grape Juice. Why not cranberry juice? Both are tart so I don't think they were trying to prevent tartness. I will just assume that grape is cheaper and leave it at that.

My opinion on the TASTE of Cranergy (Raspberry Cranberry Lift)? Well, I am not a big fan of grape juice so it is a downside that grape juice is the number one ingredient. At least it is white grape juice and not red. I love cranberry juice but can rarely find it pure and the cocktails are not my thing. So I was pleased at the cranberry flavor. I love raspberries, but not raspberry drinks very much so if I were going to drink this I would not choose the Raspberry Cranberry Lift. I would get the regular cranberry flavor instead. Artificial sweetners always leave a weird aftertaste in my mouth and the Splenda in this did not disappoint. I had a weird aftertaste every time I took a sip. But the overall flavor was good. It was a little too strong for me so adding water would be a good idea, which I didn't think of until after I was done! Even better would be adding ice and letting it melt a little- that would make it just right and the perfect temperature on a sunny spring or summer afternoon. In the winter I could see adding this to some hot green tea for a fruity kick. Sounds like a great idea! This drink is also good at room temperature.

How did this work in place of my usual energy beverage? Well, on day one it seemed to have a little bit of an effect. I wasn't less tired, and maybe I had a little more energy. In the evening I got a headache but I didn't attribute it to the drink on the first day. Day two I got a headache almost immediately after finishing the Cranergy. I get headaches frequently but I couldn't ignore the cause this time. Itwasn't caffeine withdraw because I don't really get that and when I do it isn't like these headaches. By day three there was no doubt that the headache was from the drink. I'm going to say it was from the dye or the Splenda, neither of which are a normal part of my diet. I have gotten headaches from each before.

Did I have more energy? Nothing that I really noticed but I didn't have LESS energy either, which is a good thing! So it can either keep up with coffee and tea or none of it ever worked for me to begin with. I did get a lot more shopping done that week than I have in a long time. That could be important! I was still not able to drum up enough energy or will to go for walks or anything with the kids, but I don't think that has to do with energy as much as it does with something mental going on in my head.

I didn't have any jitters like with my afternoon coffee, but I don't think I would trade jitters for headaches.

Will I continue to drink Cranergy? If they get rid of the dye I will consider it. If they change to a more natural sugar and still keep the price reasonable I will give it another go. Otherwise, no, I definitely will not continue. Tea and coffee are both more natural than this drink right now.

Did I cover everything? What do you think of this drink?

Glade Sense & Spray Bzz

I received the Glade Sense & Spray from Bzz with the Clean Linen scented Spray.

The product is very easy to operate and everything is simple to install.

Whenever the S&S detects movement it will shoot a burst of scent into the air to freshen it. After that it locks for...I think 30 minutes so that it doesn't spray every time it detects movement, though you can push a button on the S&S to make it spray whenever you want.

The good: I like the timer and the fact that you can override the timer if you want more scent. I like that there are scent options, though they are too limited (4). I think that I would give Apples and Cinnamon and maybe Country Garden a shot. Powder Fresh, not so sure. And definitely not the Clean Linen again. It's easy to operate- it opens easily and it's simple to remove the cannister and install a new one. It can be hung or placed on a flat surface. It's not too expensive and Glade offers coupons often. You can't kill anyone by dousing them in spray, like you can with the cans (I swear I almost died from that once or twice- my boyfriend is spray-happy). It's nice to look at (totally beats a big can of spray).

The bad: I hated the Clean Linen scent. If you have it on a flat surface that is low, like the sink then you chance having it sprayed in your face if you don't remember to watch the warning lights. It's a little too strong for small spaces (my only bathroom is 6x9) but maybe I feel that way because I didn't like the scent. It only freshens the air for a short time, then any odors come back. I prefer that it make smells go away, not just mask them.

The decision: I am going to give different scents a try. I don't think this belongs in a bathroom, at least not the primary bathroom. If you have more than one, it would be good in a second, less-used bathroom. That would also extend its life, since it wouldn't detect movement much. Otherwise I think it belongs in the living room or a laundry room, depending on the scent choice.

*Note* I seem to be the only one who doesn't like the Clean Linen (besides Jason, who agrees with me). I showed the S&S to others and gave demonstrations and they ALL loved it- scent and all!