Atkins Snack Bars

Details:  Atkins Snack Bars are the go to food when you need that extra pick-me-up, or have a need to satisfy a food craving without compromising influx of blood sugar or calories.

Review:  I was able to sample 3 of the Atkins Snack Bars.  From left to right they are the Carmel Chocolate Peanut Nougat Roll, Cranberry Almond Bar, and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar.

The first one falls under the category of Snack/Light Meal.  This one was very delicious.  It was almost as good as a Snickers Bar, which I really like.  The Cranberry Almond Bar was like the chewy granola/yogurt bars.  It had a slight bitter taste to me, but still worth trying if you are on a diet.  This bar falls under the category of Day Break.  It is the bar to eat for breakfast or a morning snack.  The last one is the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar.  This bar falls in the category of Meal Advantage.  It will supply your body with the needed nutrients, besides it tastes good.  Don't expect a Reece's Cup.  Atkins does offer their own version of that.

Each bar was very tasty, and a great alternative to the high calorie snacks you may all ready be eating.  Also a great snack for kids lunches, or hikes etc.

Next time you want a tasty snack, consider the Atkins Snack Bars.

Pros:  Very tasty, a healthy alternative to snacking. 

Cons:  As with any food product, a lot is based on personal taste.  Even though I didn't care for the Cranberry Almond Bar, my husband loved it.

Rating:  Thumbs Up! 

Wreck it Ralph

Details: An American movie filmed in 2012.  When an arcade villain gets the case of "greener grass on the other side", things go from normal living to being turned upside down for the good guys.  Three arcade games get mixed up and end up fighting for their lives as the threat of being "unplugged" hangs over head, literally.  Can a "bad guy" become good?  Can a "wrecker" fix things?  Can the "good guys" work to help the "bad guy" together to save their arcade game.

My Review: My little family has watched this movie 5 times now.  Growing up I never played video games.  My brother did, his friends did, my husband and his friends did too.  Having a husband who loves video games and kids who love video games as well, this was a must see movie for us.  We saw it the first time in the movie theater as a family.  Then we would rent it from Blockbuster and then the Red Box and watched it a whole bunch more times.
Wreck it Ralph has an awesome moral to the story.  Fighting evil making friends finding out what life really is about.  Learning why having a hero in life is really important to children and adults is well being that hero.  We loved all the colors, the characters, the humor, and the puns.

Pros: humor, plot, characters

Cons: none







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Celsius Energy Drink

Detailed: Celsius is a pre-exercise energy drink, but more importantly they focus on being a healthy energy drink.  They use a high level of vitamins that when combined help increase metabolism to increase on a higher lever your fat burn while still giving you the energy you need to burn that fat while exercising.  "Burn 100 more calories per serving." The vitamins and minerals found in Celsius are: Ginger, Calcium, Chromium, all B vitamins, Vitamin C, and Green Tea with EGCG.  This is a supplement, not something to be used without exercise.  3 types of Celsius energy drinks are redily available in different quantities.  Carbonated drinks come in 3 flavors: Sparkling Cola, Sparkling Orange, and Sparkling Wild Berry.  Non-carbonated drinks come in 2 flavors: Mango Peach Green Tea, and Raspberry Green Tea.  And the powered On the Go Sticks are only in the Orange flavor.

My Details:  We got this review product two weeks before I went on a 2 week vacation with my little family.  We were sent 4 packets of powder, and 5 energy drink in various flavors in a Celsius cooler bag.  During the first week, I was sick and didn't exercise at all, so I couldn't use the energy drinks.  The second week I finally exercised once, and drank, well tried to drink a Celsius Sparkling Wild Berry flavored energy drink.  It was really gross, and the more I tried to drink, the more sick to my stomach I felt.  By the time I got to the gym I had only been able to drink about 1/4 of the can.  I threw the rest away.  The flavor was a good flavor, but it was the carbonation that made me so sick.  I drink sodas but on rare occasions, so I know how much "bubbly" I can handle, and there was just way too much in this drink for me.  It was worse than Canadian Dry, or Ginger Ale.  But I also want to clarify that I don't like sparking water either.  So with that little amount of Celsius drink in me, I spent 1 1/2 hours working out on the exercise machines at the gym.  I actually had really good energy, I was able to keep going at a steady pace, my heart wasn't over worked or hurting.  

Now for our vacation time, and an excellent time to pass on the cans of energy drinks to my husband while he works, trains, and drives.  I decided to bring the drinks with me.  My husband tried the Peach Mango Green Tea.  He had the same complaint as me that it was gross.  While on vacation we tried to get my Father-In-Law to drink a Celsius Sparkling Cola but he wouldn't touch it, even though he loves Coke, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi.

On our first day/night of driving we drove 8 hours from 7pm-3am.  My husband drove the first 4 hours, and then needed to take a break, so I started driving around 11pm.  I was tired when we pulled over to switch drivers.  Our kids were asleep in their car seats.  So I took one of my bottles of water, and poured a powder packet from Celsius into it, and drank that for then next 2 hours.  I was wide awake, alert, calm, and able to drive from 11pm-3am really easily.  I loved the Orange flavor of the packets!  More importantly they worked when giving me energy when I really needed it.

Over all, I feel like despite me and my family not liking any of the drinks in the cans, but really enjoying the powered Celsuis, there are options for everone.  Non Carbonated drinks have Green Tea in them, Carbonated drinks are available in more flavors, and the powdered forms are without both the carbonation and Green Tea.  My personal favorite was the On the Go Sticks or the powdered form of Celsius.

Pros: love the On the Go Sticks, love the flavors of the energy drinks in the cans

Cons: don't like the energy drinks in the cans, neither the Sparkling nor the Green Tea options

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Life of Pi movie

Details: A 2012 American movie based on the book by Yann Martel published in 2001.  Can a boy with a very amazing name change his fate, change his name and get the respect he needs to stand up to the bullies in his schools?  When a 16 year old boy survives a terrible ship wreck that killed his family, he gets lucky and gets a life boat, but his companions aren't normal sailors.  Can a boy, zebra, tiger, hyena, and orangutan get along in the same life boat? The story of a Hindu boy who comes to know God through his many adventures, lessons, trials, and journeys.  Wanting to understand the ending better, here is a great website you can check out.

My Review: I read this book in college years ago.  I don't remember anything about the book just that it was confusing.  Our whole class was confused.  We all read it to figure out what a tiger, a boy had to do with God.  So when the movie came out it was pulling teeth from me to watch it. 
Watching the movie I was pleasantly surprised.  It was sad, funny, enlightening.  How many times will God call a man.  How many times will God listen and watch us. 
"What story do you prefer?"
"The one with the tiger."
"Thank you. "
"It is the better story."
"And so it is with God."

Pros: great images, lessons, heart

Cons: now I need to read the book

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GI Joe: Retaliation

Details: When the GI Joes get called on a special mission bigger fish are ready to fry the little guys.  Fighting the Cobra Commander is hard enough, but when the government is at your back, and closing in only the Joes can pull together.

My Review: As soon as I heard that there was going to be a second GI Joe movie I had to see it.  We went on a Wednesday night and shared the digital theater screen with 3 other small groups of people.  That was really nice and cool!  My first reaction was "what the heck? Why did they use new actors?"  Totally uncool.  The action was good, plot was excellent with unexpected surprises.  The fighting and special effects were cool, but as we walked out the common disappointment was that it wasn't the same people really.  The a tors did an excellent role but it just wasn't as cool and awesome as GI Joe # 1. 
The other question was why is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson always sweaty and dripping? Its gross.

Pros: good fight scenes, good acting, good plot

Cons: not the same actors, Dwane droops sweat like crazy

My Rating: thumbs up for good action and plot, thumbs down for so many undesirable changes.

Michal's Window

Michal's Window Book Review:  Rachelle Ayala has taken a popular biblical story, intermingled fictitious characters and using her imaginative story telling skills, weaves a wonderful story of life.   Her intricate details brings out what it would have been like to live back in King Saul's time, when a young shepherd boy meets the youngest daughter of King Saul, Michal.  David falls in love immediately, and Michal fancies David as well. From here, the author delves into their lives and does an amazing job at telling this wonderful love story that is full of passion, love, hate, deceit, betrayal, duty, and much more.

Review:  The title of this book caught my attention.  I've read the Old Testament, but had forgotten about David's first wife Michal.  I had no idea when I started this book, that it would be difficult to stop reading it until I had finished.  I was captivated from the beginning.  The author has a way of making the reading exciting, up-to-date, yet able to draw you in to the time period this took place.

The farther along in the book I read the more drawn into the characters and plot I became.  I've read a few books before where the authors tie in fictional and non-fictional characters and create a marvelous story that is easier for me to enjoy.  Rachelle Ayala has done the same with Michal's Window.

Pros:  A very good read that allows one to full the full gambit of emotions.  One is easily drawn into the story early on, and never a time when you wonder when the action is going to take place.

Cons: If you prefer not to read sexual content in a book, you may want to stay away from this book.  I didn't feel the author was as explicit as I expected, but she could have cut out a lot of what she put into the book, and it still would have been a great book.

Others may feel she didn't stay true to the biblical account of David's life, but this a fictional book after all, and one I enjoyed reading very much.  

My rating: Thumbs up 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.