Two Brooms Up

First I want to thank the wonderful One 2 One Network for sending me not only a copy to listen to but a copy of this great album to give away as well. I enjoy Harry Connick Jr anyway, but here he is doing some incredible songs that I already loved. Just take a look at the song list. It was enjoyable to listen to and it was something I could listen to with the kids. My favorite was Just the Way you Are. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

Make sure you check out Harry Connick Jr.’s website, Facebook page, as well as a Behind the Scenes look at the making of the album.

All The Way (Frank Sinatra)
Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)
Can’t Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)
And I Love Her (The Beatles)
(They Long To Be) Close To You (The Carpenters)
Besame Mucho
The Way You Look Tonight
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)
Your Song (Elton John)
Some Enchanted Evening
And I Love You So (Don McLean)
Who Can I Turn To? (Tony Bennett)
Smile (Charlie Chaplin)
Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole)

Now on to the giveaway!! The rules are simple

First Entry
1 entry post here (make sure your email address is here or I cannot contact you)

Additional Entries
1 Entry - Tweet about this Giveaway and post the link here (can tweet and post the link once a day)
5 Entries - Blog about this Giveaway.

It’s that simple. The giveaway will end Monday October 26th!!

Thanks to One2One Network I got this album for review. I admit, I was HIGHLY skeptical at first…I mean, come on. A MUSICAL created out of great hair band songs?? It seemed too contradictory, even for this extreme musical maniac.

Pluse, as a big fan of some of the music on this album…could they REALLY pull it off?  Or would it sound like hokey-not-quite-right remakes??

Well, truth be told a few of the songs DID come off as hokey remakes but it didn’t make me love this musical any less!!  I was belting out the songs with the album, driving down the road with my windows rolled down and the volume at top level! 

The way the album is made, you get parts narrated to you so that you have an idea what is happening in the story - you aren’t just listening to the songs. I mean, the character of Lonny addresses you DIRECTLY with some HILARIOUS asides (Rock stars are undeniable - like herpes!!)!!  I loved this aspect of it because even with the story line relatively clear, a few points were needed (like who the heck was Justice? He told you!).

The songs will take you back - and move you forward.  The writer says on the inside cover that he wrote this musical to “Make straight men love musicals”** And I think he probably converted a few - especially judging by the pictures on the insert.  This is a musical that I would pay to see on stage - the big hair, leather, half-naked chicks and ROCK STARS!! 

Believe it or not, this is a love story - one that’s easily followed even if you aren’t seeing it on stage in front of you. 

So relive the music - in a new way!!  You won’t be able to stop yourself from rocking out and singing along!

Tracklisting
Just Like Paradise / Nothin’ But A Good Time
Sister Christian
We Built This City / Too Much Time On My Hands
I Wanna Rock
We’re Not Gonna Take It
Heaven/More Than Words / To Be With You
Waiting For A Girl Like You
Wanted Dead Or Alive
I Want To Know What Love Is
Cum On Feel The Noize / We’re Not Gonna Take It (Reprise)
Harden My Heart / Shadows Of The Night
Here I Go Again
The Final Countdown
Any Way You Want It / I Wanna Rock (Reprise)
High Enough
I Hate Myself For Loving You / Heat Of The Moment
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Can’t Fight This Feeling
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Oh Sherrie
The Search Is Over
Don’t Stop Believin

A few months ago I was invited to see a concert here in Indianapolis by the wonderful people at One2One Network. It was to see this artist, Diana Birch. I was directed to her myspace page and listened to a couple of songs. I immediately signed up - but the night my tickets were confirmed I was in the hospital prepping to have gall bladder surgery the next day. I was due to come home 4-holes richer, 1 gall bladder poorer the day of the concert. I was so disappointed.

I was thrilled when a couple of weeks later I was presented with the opportunity to review the album. Within another week my mail was bursting with the envelopes. I’d been sent an extra one by mistake - which is to your benefit because I get to give a copy of this wonderful album away!

Diane Birch’s sultry and emotional music pulls you in with a bit of nostalgia. As I popped the music into my computer to let it fill my need for background music I found myself hit with a wave of nostalgia. Her musical influences like Carol King and The Carpenters are the same as the groups I grew up listening to as my mother controlled the radio.

Her music is filled with touches of those influences filled with the heart and sould that you can tell she put into them when writing them. This music doesn’t hit you over the head with it’s brilliance and uniqueness. It pulls you in with just a hint enough of the old influences to make you pay attention to find the beautiful voice and unique talent she has.

Now onto the giveaway…

If you want to win this CD, what do you have to do? Simple to get entries…

1. Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
2. Twitter this contest w/ a linkback to me (sadiecass) - and leave that link in the comments (1 entry)
3. Blog about this contest (5 entries)
4. Stumble this giveaway (2 Entries)
5. Subscribe to this blog by email (top left - 1 entry)

That’s it! Just leave one comment for each item you do (I’ll tally all total entries myself) and you’re entered!!

Contest will end on July 22, winner to be announced on July 23!!!

Do you know your cholesterol levels?  Do you think it isn’t important?  Well, it is…and Cheerios is working to help make sure every woman gets heart healthy and smart!! 

Helping them help others is easy!  On the inside flap of the specially marked Cheerio’s boxes you’ll find a code.  Just hop on over to Cheerios Helping Hearts website, drop the code in the box and Cheerios donates $1 toward helping women get the screening they need!  It’s that simple and they will continue doing so until January 31, 2010!!

In honor of their efforts, they’ve given me a beautiful freshwater pearl bracelet with a healthy hearts charm on it (pictured above) - and THREE MORE to giveaway!! 

Because your chances are so good for winning, we’re going to limit this to one entry to person…but all you have to do is comment! 

And help Cheerios help others by looking for the specially marked box and inputting your code!  I’ve done three codes so far!

I’m a day late, but not a dollar short! 

I wrote down everyone’s entries, including the extras for blog posts and stumbling and went to Random.org to find our winner!! 

And the winner of a bottle of the amazing Citrus Spray cleaner is the marvelous

MRS. B !!!

Congraulations!  I’ll email you shortly to obtain your information so you can get your cleaner!!

Ecostore USA contacted me a few months ago to try out some of their products. I was very excited to receive this email!  I was sent three products to try:

Citrus Spray Cleaner, Front Loader Laundry Detergent, and Whitening powder.

Within two days the box arrived on my doorstep and I tore into it eagerly.  I immediately started with all of the products.  It was one time I was glad to have a big family that always has laundry for an excuse to use it!

The laundry detergent has become a staple in our house.  We have a family of five, I’m doing laundry 4-5 days a week - and I still have some of this product left after 3 months!  It’s gotten our clothes clean, freshsmelling, and not even my overly sensitive husband noticed the change!

The whitener gets frequent use - and works pretty well.  Where I live there is a lot of iron in the water and clothes that we own that have been orange/yellow for a long time, and those clothes have remained so - but the NEW whites that weve gotten since we got the whitener have remained sparkling white! 

But, my absolute favorite product of all has been the spray cleaner.  I cannot get over how amazing this product is!  It cut through layers upon layers of grease on my stove leaving it a sparkling white I hadn’t seen in ages!  I use it daily, several times a day.  The smell is pleasant, and it’s easy to use to clean up everything from grease to puppy piddle (when the new pup has a accident). 

My efforts to become green have been baby steps all the way.  After experiencing these products, my next step is to get more of them!  The company has proven to ship fast, and the products are reasonably priced.  I’m on my way over now to pick up more of my beloved citrus spray!

Now for the contest!  I’m sure that’s what you’ve been waiting for, right?  Well..

EcoStore has been great enough to offer up my favorite product for giveaway on this site!  So, the winner of this giveaway will get a FREE bottle of The Citrus Spray Cleaner!!  Use it to clean everything and everything!

How to win?  The rules are simple…

1. Visit the Ecostore USA site and tell me something about their site or how they describe “green” and leave a comment here with that information!

Oh, you want EXTRA entries?  Oh, that’s simple -

1. Twitter this giveaway with a link back to my twitter @sadiecass
2. Blog about the giveaway with a linkback to our sponsor and US!  (5 entries)
3. Visit the Ecostore site again and tell me what product YOU would choose to sample if you could!
4. Stumble this giveaway! (2 entries)

That’s 10 possible entries!!  Please leave a comment for each separate option (only once per OPTION, not entry ;)  I’ll keep track, I promise)!!

The contest will end one week from today on April 26th at midnight!  The winner will be announced on Monday, April 27th!!

Good luck!!  And come back on Wednesday for another great giveaway!

Recently I received another CD to review from One2One Network. When I first saw it I was skeptical. It was for Yanni. Yes I listen to all kinds of music and I grew up with instrumentals from my ballet days but Yanni? He was not something I listened to regularly. When I first read the premise behind the album I was intrigued. He was reinterpreting his old music and putting words to it. The fact that he was attempting this impressed me right there. From the moment the CD started I was surprised. You could actually feel what he was trying to get across through the music. And it only got better from there. The more I listened the more impressed I was. The singers he chose seemed to fit what he wanted to portray beautifully. I would definitely recommend this as something you should pick up.

I have to admit I was a little skeptical when I first saw the email about the Ballas Hough Band (BHB). I mean I’ve seen both of them on Dancing with the Stars and they are both phenomenal dancers but I was still a little hesitant. They are both cuties too. I mean…come on just look at them.

But I still had that worry that you get when someone who is very talented in one area and decides they are going to try another area out. I was pleasantly surprised though. The group, whose original name was Almost Amy, definitely delivered. My favorite track on the album was Fall, followed by Devastated. I would definitely recommend that you pick this up. The fact that they wrote the majority of the album impressed me even more.

You can pick it up at Amazon as well as Target and iTunes.

Here’s the track list from the album:

1. Do You Love Me
   
2. Devastated
   
3. Closer
   
4. She Was The One
   
5. Longing For
   
6. Birthday
   
7. Fall
   
8. Do It For You
   
9. Breakthrough
   
10. Together Faraway
    
11. Underwater

You can check out their website too http://ballashough.com/ and also on Dancing with the Stars on ABC.

I’m a bit of a shy one (shocker, I know)…when it comes to talk about…the bedroom…I get all flushy and red and embarassed.  So imagine my surprise when I got contacted by Edenfantasys because I’d entered a contest over at another blog.  For the contest I had to choose one of their products that I’d try…and I said that the Earthly Delights Tin (nice and “neutral”) sounded absolutely delicious.  I mean, how can you go wrong with scents like Vanilla Cream, Almond, and Honeysuckle??

They offered to let me try this tin of deliciousness and I was more than happy to oblige.  It arrived very quickly (hooray for fast delivery), but then real life took over and it sat on my bedside table for a week.  I kept casting glimpses in its direction, wondering when the grownups would get time to relax.

The day finally came and I cracked open the tin (really a box, but I digress).  I started pulling the items out, checking out each product as it emerged from its bed.

The feather duster was light and delicate, and the honeysuckle powder smelled delightful. My only complaint with this combo was that the powder came in a plastic bag wrapped in a fabric.  The minute I undid the twist tie powder puffed out and got everywhere (it cleans easily enough, but it’s not fun to start with a face full of powder). 

The Almond oil smelled amazing…and amazingly didn’t feel incredibly…well…oily…once it was on the skin. 

Then we removed the piece de resistance…the Vanilla Cream Mousse.  You must understand that vanilla is my weakness and this cream did not disappoint.  The scent was beautiful and intense, but not overpowering.  The mousse itself was creamy and delicious - even though my husband complained that it left a film behind (it was not greasy, just evidence we’d used it) - but that was quickly eliminated…because it tasted yummy too ;)

The tin had all the elements for a fun and romantic evening trying out these new and different products (for us)!!  It added a new twist to our romantic evenings…

And since we don’t have a babysitter for Valentines day, we may just have to put the kids to bed early and crack open the Earthly Delights again!!

***

As a side note, EdenFantasys is a great site for those of us still figuring out our sensual sides.  They not only provide a wide variety of products (including some on the less-expensive side) - but they have reviews for the products to help you choose!  Plus, when you do order it’s all discreet, from how it appears on your statement - to the box that arrives at your door!  So you can indulge your fantasys without letting the entire world know what they are!

$69.99Earthly delights gift tin Sensual kit by KamaSutra Buy from EdenFantasys

First off, I sincerely apologize for the delay in getting the winner posted!!  Real life sort of got in the way and took over!!  But here I am (finally) with the winner!!

The winner of the One Year subscription to Family Fun Magazine is….

Commenter #10 - Stacie V!!!  Congratulations, Stacie!!  You should have an email shortly!!

Expect another giveaway (or two) soon!!  And another couple of reviews in the coming week!!