Disclosure: I received either product or payment for my honest review of the product! Pregnancy, teenage growth spurts, explosive muscle growth, rapid weight gain, medical conditions...all of these and more, will create change in the skin and also frequently cause stretch marks. Some professionals believe that they are also accompanied with an increase in the hormone cortisone. Regardless of how one "obtains" these marks of growth, they are often seen as undesirable. As you can see, however, one rarely gets through a whole lifetime without having a few. So why is it such a taboo subject? We hear stories about how we got tattoos, how we got scars, or the location of our moles. But you never hear about how we got our stretch marks! I can just hear it. "Oh yeah, one day I looked down when I was a teenager and I saw these weird red marks. They itched something horrible. I didn't know what they were, so I went and asked my mom and she told me they were stretch marks from growing so fast...." We prefer that they just go away quietly, with no fanfare! Most of the time, they just hang around, maybe fading a little, but our skin is never really ever the same. Or can it be?
First of all, I think we should accept it as life and be proud that we're part of the human race and that we evolve and change physically from year to year. It's a sign of being human, not a barbie! But the next thing is that we actually can prevent much of the annoyance of stretch marks by taking care of our health, and if we do get them, using creams and lotions specifically made for diminishing the appearance of stretch marks! I was able to try one of the best creams for stretch marks. It's called StriaFade. I gave it to someone I know who is a 17-year-old high school body builder on the football team, let's call him J. He recently had a huge growth spurt, plus was working out a lot with heavy weights to gain size, since he is on the line. He developed lots of muscle and also got stretch marks on the undersides of his arms. I gave him the StriaFade to see if he noticed any difference. He agreed to try it for awhile to see if there was any difference in the appearance of the stretch marks. I documented before and after 17 days of use. This is what I captured.
Before StriaFade
After 17 days
Although the stretch marks are not completely gone, the surface area is much smaller! And that is from using the product for just 17 days. I think with continued use, they should diminish even more! That's great news. These stretch marks were fairly new and I think it is helpful to treat them as soon after they have developed as possible!
One reason why anti stretch mark creams work is that they improve the level of collagen in the skin, improving its level of elasticity. The key to StriaFade's effectiveness is the extraordinary combination of
ingredients. StriaFade contains five key ingredients, Regu-Stretch®,
Antarcticine®, Shea Butter, Marine Collagen, and Onion Bulb Extract, in
addition to many other natural and effective ingredients. This powerful
blend of unique, patented ingredients combine into a stretch mark
solution that's effectiveness is virtually unequaled in the skin care
market.
I'm really happy for J. and the quick response he got with using the cream. I hope he will continue to use it so that he'll have self-confidence in those all-important young adult years!
According to the StriaFade site, one bottle of the cream will last about a month to a month and a half, with regular use and when treating smaller areas. More is required if you are treating a larger area. They also offer great discounts when you buy multiple bottles of the product.
Why the Rejuvenator Showerhead? "Skin is our largest organ. Keeping it healthy is extremely important to our overall well-being. Now, thanks to science and innvovation the Rejuvenator Showerhead cleanses, exfoliates and rejuvenates your skin leaving it feeling clean and healthy. The Rejuvenator creates billions of microbubbles, which are infused into the water streams creating a stimulating refreshing feeling, like a cascading waterfall, penetrating deep into the skin, effectively removing dirt and oil deep within your pores!"
The Rejuvenator Showerhead has microbubble technology. Microbubbles deep-clean your face, skin and hair. The bubble are so tiny they penetrate through the pores, attracting impurities, binding to them and then carrying the impurities out. They are rinsed away with the water. It is easy to install and requires no tools! Just screw in the adapter! Helena, at A GAL NEEDS...had the opportunity to review this amazing showerhead! Read more about it here! One reader will win their own Rejuvenator and have the benefit of Microbubble Technology in their home! Enter in the Rafflecopter below. If you have won a Rejuvenator Showerhead in the last 12 months, you are not eligible to win this giveaway. Entrants must be 18 years of age and older, US only, and will be verified. For additional guidelines, please read the disclosure statement on the Rafflecopter below.
I love things that make my job as a wife and mom easier. For instance, my phone is working for me triple time when simultaneously I'm being notified about texts, e-mails and calls, I'm reminded to pick up my dry cleaning (alarm), plus being navigated to an unfamiliar location (GPS). Now I've found a way to multi-task my shower. While I'm washing my hair, my shower is also deep cleaning, exfoliating and enhancing my mood! Enter the Rejuvenator Showerhead with Microbuble Technology! I received one to review and installed it in our shower. It's all about the bubbles! Microbubble Technology has been around for awhile. It was initially used in medical diagnostics to help read ultrasounds. The sonar bounces off the bubbles and produces the reading. They are naturally created when a ship's hull cuts through the water and they are found around waterfalls, mountain streams, and beaches. These tiny bubbles are smaller than one millimetre in diameter. Compared to a typical air bubble, these bubbles truly
are tiny! But they are rich in oxygen and increase the water oxygen levels up
to 70 percent, higher than common tap water. This increased oxygen
level stimulates the immune system, kills bacteria and
promotes healing! And the negative ions combine with your system to make you feel happier and energized.
Trying out Microbubble Technology in a tub
The health and beauty industry has taken this technology by storm and has made it work for us! I recently attended an event featuring high-end kitchen and bathroom sinks, tubs, and faucets. One of the demos featured a tub using microbubble technology! This can get quite expensive when you think about installing a whole tub to produce those specialized little bubbles that do so much for you!
With the Rejuvenator Microbubble Showerhead, you only need to go as far as your shower to benefit from it! The Rejuvenator was really easy for my husband to install. He unscrewed the showerhead, screwed in the Rejuvenator which also provides an adapter for our original showerhead, and screwed our other showerhead in the adapter. Voila! Now we have two shower sources! You can turn one of the sources on or off, depending on personal preference. I love showerinng with the Rejuvenator. I can feel this subtle energizing effect as the microbubbles cascade down my skin. Because they are so tiny, they are penetrating into my skin, attracting impurities, carrying them to the surface and washing them away. Much better than soap! And all the negative ions floating around in the air are automatically improving my outlook on life! Another way to use the showerhead is to submurge it into your tub while you are bathing. That way you will be surrounded with the microbubbles while bathing! I'm thinking this is just what the doctor ordered! So, like my phone, this will probably become one of my most trusted non-human friends to help me live my crazy life more productively!
Microbubble Technology in a Shower!
Allure Magazine recently listed the Rejuvenator on their Tips n Trends page, along with a $40 discount code! You can also get amazingly great discounts for Rejuvenator on Amazon!
Friday morning was spent working on posts and doing some housework. No biggie. Then I got a text from one of the ladies I visit teach. "Are you coming today?" Each month I pay a short visit to 3 gal pals in my area that are assigned to me by my church. It's called Visiting Teaching. I'm LDS and it's part of how we keep track of each other and make sure that things are OK with them. Sometimes they are just token visits, catching up and chatting, but other times they can really make a difference, especially if someone is ill or having difficulties meeting some kind of responsibility. Sometimes it's just needing someone to talk with. We usually go in twos. Anyway, I had been texting the women earlier this week, trying to juggle which days would work between me, my visting companion, and the 3 ladies. I reached one first and she said Friday at 11:00. OK, great. Then it turns out that everyone else was busy this week but next Thursday was good for the rest of them and I forgot that I hadn't told the first lady that next week would be better. I really blew it. It's called, 'Thinking You Have Communicated Something and Realize You're The Only One In Your Crazy Loop.' I honestly thought I had told her. I called and apologized profusely but she wasn't too happy with me. I hope she'll get over it by next month. Later on G. and I went to "The Hundred-Foot Journey" with Helen Mirren. I was very excited about it because I saw her on Jimmy Fallon and she was so charming and funny and then she said something so interesting. She said, "This is a great date movie. Don't eat before you go, because after the movie, you will score!" We went to the movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The scenery of France, the cuisine, the acting! All wonderful. There was a part in the movie that took the movie from good to excellent for me. It was the part when she tasted "his food" for the first time. That's all I'll say, but her reaction to it was so amazing and it actually brought tears to my eyes because of the raw emotion of it. I'm now an even bigger Helen Mirren fan! And can I just say that G. thinks she's hot? He says he would be so lucky if I was like her when I reach 60-something, like her. Great! Something to work towards...Here's the trailor, just in case you haven't seen it yet! And, by the way, she was totally right. We scored afterwards. (With food of course, what were YOU thinking?)
Just like Friday, my Saturday had some good and bad points to it. G. decided to go play some disc golf with his friends up at Solitude. They were gone for about 6 hours. I went on a bike ride up the canyon, which is always great and then took some time to watch some t.v. afterward. It was a show about Desert Runners, amateur runners who decide they want to run hundreds of kilometers in a desert and some decide to do all 4 desert runs in a year so they are called the Ultramarathon or Ultra runners. How humans can run miles and miles in these extreme conditions is mind boggling. It was a documentary that took us through the 4 races, chosen specifically for their harsh conditions. The race organizers have strategically chosen these four deserts because
they are (respectively) the driest, windiest, hottest and coldest
places on Earth. It's not child's play, as I found out watching the show. Some very extreme things happen and the thing is, it's all true. I really enjoy watching documentaries. I decided to make something out of the abundance of zucchini we've accumulated this past week. I've had some great luck making zucchini bread with walnuts. But I wanted to try out a recipe I'd found on Pinterest. They were Baked Parmesan Zucchini Sticks. I made them according to the directions, but they weren't a big hit at the house and heating the oven up to 425 degrees is something I still try to avoid. So for us, it was just meh... Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a great day with great weather. And I'm excited. We will be going to the 7th Annual Alphorn Festival at Solitude. The Alphorn is the national instrument of Switzerland. It has been going since Wednesday, and tomorrow will be the culmination, with a live concert that is free to the public. The best Alphornists(?) in the world will be playing! I'll take pictures and put some on Instagram! Here is what Alphorns look like! Anything interesting going on for you this weekend?
Most of us living in the U.S. and UK and even around the world have water and toilets in the home. It's something we really don't think about. As long as the brown goes down, and the water comes out clean for drinking, we're fine! I've seen a home built from start to finish when I was in Virginia. I saw the toilets and sinks installed. They were standard grade, purchased from a "big box" store like Home Depot or Lowe's. I just took them for granted and remember having a few issues over the years with the flushing and the finish in the tubs and sinks. But that's par for the course, right? Last week I went to a blog invitational open house of MountainLand Supply Company Showroom. Located in an Industrial Park in Orem, UT, it is rather out of the way. I know I had heard of the name before but had never really had a grasp on what they do there. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they are a supplier to contractors, designers and upscale interior furnishers. They have a showroom that showcases their high end faucets, basins, tubs and even toilets. It was obviously much higher quality than your normal toilets and sinks... I learned that one of the better brands, lifetime guaranteed from fit, function to finish is the danze brand. Instead of different kinds of plastics throughout the traps, drains and faucets like the big box brands, these are made from brass and ceramic, with no plastic finishes! And they were beautiful!
The nice thing about MountainLands Supply is that you can actually go there, hand pick your high end-sink model and tell your builder which one you want. They will sell it for a factory direct price and poof, you have amazing high-end sinks, tubs, faucets and toilets.
But all the nice fixtures in the world aren't sufficient if you don't have good, clean water coming out of them, safe for bathing and drinking. It was quite a scare for the folks in Toledo over the weekend. Because of the unsafe drinking water in Lake Erie, they had to drive for miles and wait in lines for hours just to get some drinking water. Not cool! But apparently Ohio is just a warning for the rest of us. If there is no testing required on the water we drink, who is to say that water in another state won't come up toxic as well? It may be wise to get your own supply of water so that you can have it when things go awry. Here are some tips I think are helpful: STORE BOILED OR BOTTLED WATER: The recommended storage amount is one gallon drinking water per person per day. So if you have 5 people in your family and would like drinking water for 5 days, it's 5 gallons. Don't forget your pets! Remember to store more for cooking, toilet flushing and bathing. Bottled water is the safest method. STORAGE METHOD: Store water in lines rather than stacks. Stacking could cause leaking. Also, a cool dry place is best to store water. You can buy water barrels for industrial purposes. They come with spickets for output.
HAND WASHING: Store some sanitary wipes for hand washing in place of the water used for that purpose. It's also good to have some sprayers for water in case the air-conditioning goes off. You can spray water on the skin to lower body temperature by several degrees!
Disclosure: I didn't receive compensation for this post and all thoughts are my own!
My fascination with barley continues. I have another recipe and this time it's a salad! I tried it and like it very much. If I were to choose my favorite recipe of the 3 I have shared so far, I would definitely choose this one. It is the easiest, has less mess and tastes fantastic! I realize that barley is considered one of the gluten grains and if you are gluten sensitive at all, you may be thinking you want to try and avoid barley and all its glorious nutritional goodness.
First of all, I am one of those gluten sensitive people. Yep, had myself tested and the Doc says I have some definite gluten sensitivity. He couldn't really tell where on the spectrum I was. From what I can tell, it's a sluggishness in my whole metabolism after eating white flour and wheat products. Gluten Sensitivity is quite a range, to say the least. There is the full-blown Celiac Disease, where any kind of gluten can wreak havoc on your system, damaging tissue and organs, all the way to just the slightest irritation in the system when too much gluten is consumed. Because of its immense nutritional value it becomes a question of whether or not the benefits of eating barley outweigh the risks. For me, I say yes! "Wheat is unquestionably a more common source of food reactions than any
of the other "gluten grains," including barley. If you are
implementing a wheat-free diet, you will want to experiment at some
point with re-introduction of this food. You may be able to take
advantage of its diverse nutritional benefits without experiencing an
adverse reaction. Individuals with wheat-related conditions like celiac
sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathies should consult with their
healthcare practitioner before experimenting with any of the "gluten
grains," including barley." -whfoods.org Barley is such a good source of dietary fiber
and selenium! What does that mean for you? It means, for one thing, that chances are good you can avoid colon cancer because the fiber going through your colon can sweep out the cancer-causing cells in the colon, plus selenium is shown to reduce the risk of colon cancer significantly! That is huge for me because one of our best family friends died an early death because of colon cancer. He was running marathons one day and dead a few months later. He also had two older children who died even sooner than he did from colon cancer and brain cancer. I think I'll keep eating barley! Here's the recipe! I served it at a family get-together and it was gone in no time! Everyone loved it!
Corn and Barley Salad Ingredients: 1 cup hulled barley Approx, 3 cups chicken broth (I used 2 bouillon cubes in the water) 2 tbsp olive or avacado oil 15 oz. frozen corn 1/2 red onion, diced 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1/4 tsp. garlic powder 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 2 Tbsp. chopped chives or green onion 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
In a medium saucepan bring the barley and chicken broth to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until done, about 40 - 50 minutes. In a large skillet, heat oil and saute both the frozen corn and onion along with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder until transparent, about 8 minutes. Mix 1 1/2 cups of the barley with the corn mixture together in a medium salad bowl. Toss in the tomatoes, the mint and the chives/green onion. Serve warm or cold. It is wonderful!
Our dog, Evee, was born to catch and track frisbees. And how perfect that is for this disc golf loving family! But she wasn't always the perfect fit. We got Evee as a troubled 10-month-old. Her owners were beside themselves with her antics and her wily ways. She chased bikers, cars, 4-wheelers, cats, kids. Aything that ran, she chased. Even though they were sad to part with her, they knew they couldn't manage her. Having had a border collie before-may dear Daisy rest in peace-we were up for the challenge. But we weren't quite ready for what we got! When we had visitors, Evee would become extremely protective and even aggressive, to the point of making people afraid. If she didn't get her way, she tried to bully us by nipping, growling and snarling. Conversely, she was afraid to jump into even the lowest of cars so had to be lifted in. When she was actually in a car, she had extreme anxiety, huddling into a trembling ball of fur. We had our hands full the first year we had her. She was a wanna-be alpha female, even trying to be dominant to me. I had to show her who was boss and it took a few tries! Even now, my husband is the only one who she will completely obey. (He's the Frisbee God) And so even though she is a study in contradictions, we love her so much! She has turned into the sweetest girl. When we took her disc-golfing the first time, we were stunned. She wanted to chase every frisbee that went out and bring it back. It was terrible. She ran across the field like a streak, tracked down the disc, picked it up and brought it back. Not good when people are trying to play disc golf. We knew we had to channel that energy. So we got her some special dog frisbees and I got to work. It wasn't too long before she was catching the frisbees and bringing them back. Now she knows which are her frisbees and which are the discs. She leaves the discs, only tracking them and giving them a lick, when she finds them. It has come in handy because she can locate them when they become lost and entangled in trees or brush.
With all that extra energy and with the July holidays coming up, I gave Fidobiotics a try. Fidobiotics is a company that is concerned with the health of dogs. You can choose from 3 probiotic formulations--one for digestion issues (does your dog have stinky gas?), a breath remedy, and a calming product. Here in Utah we not only have the 4th of July fireworks, but we celebrate the 24th of July, again with even more fireworks. And in our area, it feels like a war zone because there are so many going off. Evee isn't the typical nervous Nellie. She actually wants to attack the fireworks instead of running away. She'll run right up to the fireworks on the ground and attack them, even risking injury. I guess she thinks she is protecting us. I decided to try the calming formula called 'Relaxin' Rover'. I didn't start her on it until right after the 4th of July so I had an opportunity to compare her reactions. The formula comes in 30 packets called sachets. They are full of probiotics and calming herbs like L-tryptophan, chamomile flower and ginger root. It is to be sprinkled in the food and eaten along with it. The flavor is called Salmon and Sushi. I found that a whole packet in her food was too much, so I cut it down to 1/2 a packet per day. I've noticed that she is doing well! I took her on a walk around the neighborhood on the evening of the 24th, when everything was just getting started. She was definitely aware of the fireworks going on around her, but she didn't seem to pay them any attention. She was doing amazing, sniffing at bushes and flowers with popping going on all around! I even got a comment from a man watching us from his deck. He said she was an amazing dog, and being so good! We were out for about an hour. As it got dark, the huge fireworks started going off all around us. It was then that she decided enough was enough and she started barking ferociously at the explosions in the sky. I couldn't blame her though. They were extremely loud and close. I took her back to the house and she spent the rest of the evening laying quietly under my desk. She didn't necessarily want to be confronted with the loud noise, but she was calm and quiet in the house. On the 4th, before I started giving her the Fidobiotics, she was in the house, but would startle every time an explosion went off, sometimes running around the house or whining. I wouldn't have even dared to take her outside on a walk! So this was a huge improvement.
The Relaxin Rover and a sample pack of all three of the
I put half a pack in her food before pouring it in her dish
Right now if you enter the code FidoFans, you will receive 15% off your purchase! Follow Fidobiotics on Twitter and Facebook
As I was going over a list of things to do today in terms of
my blog, I was struck with how much social media has taken over a lot of my
time.I don’t feel like I can sit down and solely write content.
The pull of social media sites is strong and many times I succumb, spending way
too much time updating Facebook and Twitter posts, reading and responding to
e-mails and trying to grow my social media reach. This leaves me precious little time to actually write! Bloggers are told that we need to have Twitter
followers, Facebook likes, Stumbleupon thumbs up, Pinterest Boards, Klout
Scores, LinkedIn connections and more!I
think it’s because people are looking for the quick bites of information via texts,
notifications, e-mail , search terms and hash tags.
Research shows that 8
seconds is the new attention span limit. It used to be closer to 21 seconds! And of course bloggers want to take advantage
of that 8 second window! However, this
constant stream of quick hits of information flooding the brain in random and
rapid successionis proving to be
problematicto the human memory.
Dr. Adam Gazzaley of UC San Francisco discovered that
distractions are a key component in the natural decline of the human
memory!Think about it, what are
distractions?They are exactly what I am
talking about.Social media is a series
of distractions!
With the advent of the internet, social media, and its
amazing capacity to supply information, we often neglect the part of the brain
that needs to be exercised daily with reading and writing!It’s kind of an irony that the Information
Age is contributing to the dumbing up of Americans.But we don’t have to let our brains succumb
to the craziness.We can do things, with
both reading and writing, to exercise our brains and ensure we keep our edge,
so important in an increasingly complicated world, constantly changing at a
breakneck pace.
Reading:
Reading a novel, short story or information on
a topic you are interested in can keep the brain active and can prevent Alzheimers.It can also improve your mood and helps to boost
analytical thinking, along with developing vocabulary.Reading fiction makes you more empathetic of
others and also enhances your memory.Cracking open a book makes you a better writer, which is another important exercise
you can do to help your brain counteract the mind numbing effects of the Age Of Information!
Writing:
Writing is a wonderful way to boost the
benefits that reading starts.In
addition to mental stimulation, writing is an exploratory exercise, giving you immense
understanding into your own inner workings.It can be very cathartic!Doing a
daily writing, whether it is in a journal, on a blog, or on a Word Doc, will
help you immensely!Do it first thing in
the morning and it will wake you up and energize you.Do it reflectively in the evening and it will
relax you.Writing with a purpose can
accomplish so much!An exercise that I
think is very provocative is to write a historical fiction story, with a definite goal. The goal would be to write about one of your relatives or
ancestors.Maybe you know their name,
where they were born and where they died, but not much else.You know they existed and you, more than
anyone else, have an interest in their life.Bring it to life with your own writing!
My Guest writer, Aundria Kenning, has done just that!She takes a name, date and maybe one lone fact and turns
it into a story woven around the life of that person.It’s a fascinating concept that can
illuminate the lives of those directly related to you!
Aundria also helps writers improve their writing with
coaching and suggestions on a site called Writers.com.It is free and a great resource if you are
wanting to become a better writer and aren’t afraid of a constructive
commentabout things you have already
written!She is also a judge for writing contests at the
site.Here is what Aundria has to say
about writing and our busy lives –
"The only factor becoming scarce in a world of
abundance is human attention." - Kevin Kelly, Wired magazine
Everyone is too busy! Texting has become the communication of the day. The
messages are quick and concise and even the small words are abbreviated or left
out altogether. Punctuation has been replaced by emoticons and misspellings are
overlooked. A new language has been created and the magic of words has been
forgotten. Free time is scarce and distractions are plentiful. Disconnection
through connectivity is the challenge of our age.
With time at such a premium, how can we grasp and keep the
attention of the wandering mind? How can we make our family history relevant in
an age of instant information? How can we make our ancestors heard in an era
where there is already too much noise?
Many genealogists want to inspire the members of their family with the hidden
treasures and triumphs they have uncovered. They want to share their passion
for family history and the wisdom of the generations that have come before. But
they fear that these stories will wither and die for lack of interest and the
lure of idle industry. I hope to help them accomplish this goal. I am
fascinated by characters and hope to help discover the people behind the names.
By writing their stories in a short but informative form, short stories are
quick and unobtrusive. They ask little time of the reader, yet can ignite their
imagination. Through the use of historical fiction and short memoirs, we can
breathe life into well-known anecdotes and create a spark of interest into
otherwise forgotten family lore. The true character and thoughts of our ancestors
will live again when the world they lived in is re-created.
If you are interested in joining a community of writers with this goal, and
beginning your own online portfolio of family memoirs and their stories, please
come visit us at the Roots and Wings Discussion Forum.
This group offers a discussion forum, prompts to help you get started on
finding these stories, and even a writing contest. It is located in an online
writer’s community. While membership is required, it is free. To join our site,
please visit www.writing.com
to get started. If you have any questions, please contact Aundria Kenning at aundria_k@writing.com.
Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way for writing this post. Posting guest content does not indicate personal endorsement or promotion.
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