Here's My Two Cents

**Sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.

I don't know about your, but every year I get older. As I get older some of my parts don't work as well as they used too. One of the most noticeable is my skin. No matter how hard I try to get enough water, it seems as though it is always dry.

So when I got an email asking me to try Nature's Bounty Optimal Solutions Hair, Skin, and Nails I was excited to try it. (As a member of Smiley360 I am often given the chance to try new products. I usually get a free full sized sample and then various sized samples and coupons to share with my friends.)

I've been taking the strawberry flavored gummies for a couple of weeks now. My nails do seem stronger, I haven't noticed any change in my hair, and my skin actually feels dryer! I do not attribute all of it to the supplement. I do live in MN and the weather has just changed to cold and that always dries me out. I started using an apple cider vinegar rinse for my hair this summer when we were swimming lots and my hair has been all around better, since then. My fingernails though, do seem stronger and are breaking less, even with the cold.

My final opinion is that it's ok. If I really cared about the strength of my nails, I would probably purchase and use it in the future. However, I am more concerned about my skin. Since starting I have noticed dry spots, that I had never had before. Again I don't know if it's just a combination of age and weather, I do not believe the supplement caused it, only that it definitely did not prevent/treat it. Even my go to, amazing, hand cream is struggling to get a spot on my pinkie finger that is rubbing my wedding ring.

**After some research I took off my ring for a couple of weeks to let my pinkie heal. I also gave my ring a good cleaning to remove any irritants. It all seems to be good again.

I do however strongly recommend the use of Apple Cider Vinegar. It's cheap ($2 a gallon) and works on a plethora of things.

Curb Appeal

The hardest part about buying an older home is the constant need for repairs. Every year we tackle another big project, this year it is time for the siding.

Here is what we started with:

Front

South

Back

We've been saving up for this project. We knew that with all of the funky angles we didn't want to tackle this as a DIY. As with any home improvement project though there was a snowball effect. I was glad to have the energy to tackle those other things since Brad and his guys took over the rest.

Notice in the front we did a little redesign on the front. Opening up the porch brings more light in, I also really like the vertical lines over the port hole window. The other port hole window was changed to square and we finally can open it for some cross ventilation.

The snowball projects out front:

Update Light fixture

Paint porch trim

New house numbers

Match the window treatments in the left window to the right

Paint the blue foundation to match the red/brown upper siding

Trim the lower branches on the trees so you can see the improvement

Weed and mulch planting bed in front of fence

Plant shrubs by the house

You can see I've finished a few of them, I  still have a couple of those projects start.

In the back I had a few pop up too:

Update Light Fixture

Update the woodshed

Replace gutters

Paint blue foundation to match the red/brown upper siding

Trim the over grown hedges by the patio (Only half finished)

The wood shed was a lot of work, so here is a close up so you can admire my handy work.

Here is the before, see how much it needed to be finished:

I also picked up new matching lights for the garage, that I have yet to install.

Cracked Up!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of O'Keefe Working Hands for Smiley360 . All opinions are 100% mine.

I bought my first container of O'Keefe Working Hands earlier this winter when I got my second fissure of the year in early November! I was desperate to not be in pain all winter. I'd seen it at the local hardware store, but thought it seemed like a lot of money for such a small can. Desperation has a way of changing perspective. The pain had subsided by the end of the first day, with in the week the fissure was well on its way to healing. Yeah!

Fast forward to the end of December and I am contacted by Smiley360 inquiring if I would like to recieve a free sample of O'Keefe Working Hands? Of course!  All I had to do was take some pictures and share my honest opinion. 

My problem came when they asked for before and after photos. Being an enthusiastic user of the product my before will be the same as the after. Then my friends came to the rescue. They wanted to know if it worked on feet. Lucky for me (?) My feet get fissures too, but I hadn't tried O'Keefe on them yet. I am not a foot person so fair warning, if you don't like get scroll no more! 

One week later. I still have a ways to go, but much better!

O'Keefe makes a foot cream too, but the ingredients list looks the same. Regardless this would be deemed an off label use.

***This summer I got a fissure when sandals dried my feet out. Overnight the pain was gone!