Rembrandt 2 Hour Whitening Kit

I've tried all kinds of at home remedies for teeth whitening. The strips, the toothpaste, even some "magical hollywood" crap, which was in fact, crap. My problem with the stripes and the toothpaste is it takes too long. The strips two weeks, the paste - could take months. So, I was intrigued by something that would only take two hours, for $20 some bucks. Worth a shot.

Because I am nothing if not instant gratification girl.

Process is simple enough. They give you these molds for your teeth, that once you sit them in hot water for a few seconds, you can mold them to your own teeth. You put the gel in, and wear for 20 minutes, four times, with a 10 minute break in between each 20 minute session.

My play by play thoughts are below.

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1st 20 minute session - Having a difficult time figuring out how to talk with these things in my mouth, and my daughter won't leave me alone. I ripped them out to say "what?" and all the goopy stuff stayed in my mouth and almost made me gag. I've calmed down now - and have decided to just not talk. This stuff doesn't taste great.

1st 10 minute break - Slight tingle, like I just got a really good cleaning at the dentist. But no noticeable pain.

2nd 20 minute session - I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'm still not talking, which I'm sure is a nice change of pace for my husband. He's used this time to go upstairs and hide in his office. My big gulp is sitting in front of me and beckoning me to drink....This is a very long 20 minutes. The directions didn't SAY I couldn't drink. There's a bit of a tingle in my gums...but more like I'm chewing on 14 pieces of spearmint gum.

2nd 10 minute break - Do I screw up my results if I drink soda in between sessions?

3rd 20 minute session - Now it feels like I have the previously mentioned 14 sticks of spearmint gum, with a chaser of Listerine. Tingle seems too light of a word for what this is. Again, no pain - but certainly not something I would want to taste everyday. Is this stuff safe to swallow...because it's impossible to not swallow for 20 minutes. Trust me - I'm currently trying it.

3rd 10 minute break - My stomach is starting to hurt a bit - or I'm just imagining it. I think I've swallowed more of this stuff than what's actually stayed on my teeth.

4th 20 minute session - While although I've totally got the hang of this, I briefly looked in the mirror before my last session. I see no difference what so ever. Unless the last tube of this stuff is magic, I don't see how this is going to work.

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Ok, I'm done - and....nothing. Not any difference what. so. ever.

I'm actually pretty bummed about it - We're getting some professional photos taken tomorrow and I was excited about having a whiter smile.

I've read A LOT of reviews on this product, and they are extremely varied. Some have experienced pain and extreme sensitivity - while others have said it worked great.

I'm not necessarily saying the product does not work, but I am saying that it didn't work for me. There is always a margin of user error with home products (maybe I didn't make the molds as good as I could have, etc)

I'm going to go eat something now, and hopefully that will settle my stomach.

Have you tried it? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

We are always looking for reviews, if you've got a product you would like to review here at Reviews For Change, please feel free to email us.

A Fairy and a Two Year Old

I would love to say that I went into the trip with my eyes open - and not the slightest bit naive about how it was going to go. I tried not to have any expectations, or any sort of over romanticized idea of how she would deal with the trip. I would love to say that I was fully prepared for melt downs, over crowding, unpredictable weather and no naps.

But the truth was, I wasn't at all. I suppose in my head - how could ANY ONE not completely fall in love with Disney World.

Even if she was only two.

I was raised a Disney girl. I don't remember a spring break from my childhood that wasn't spent in Disney World. I've traveled there as an adult as often as possible - and as a matter of fact - was married in the park in 2002. I honestly can't remember one trip that wasn't 'magical'.

Until we took her.

I guess I never really thought how overwhelming it can be when you are only two. I was thinking she would see Mickey & Minnie, or her favorite character Jo Jo, and run to them with open arms and squeals of delight. But instead she went running in the opposite direction in fear.

By weeks end she was spent, as were we. However, we were determined to make the most of what we could and decided that we HAD to stay up at least one night to see the fireworks at Cinderella's Castle. She was dead to world on my shoulder the entire time - how any one could sleep through that was beyond me.

The fireworks were coming to a close and right as the last firework exploded - she lifted her small little head to see what was going on - and saw the Grand Finale of the Disney World fireworks show.

Her sleepy eyes start to twinkle and she points - "Mama! Tinker Bell" and sure enough, Tinker Bell is soaring through the air.

She was back asleep 2 seconds later.

THAT was what I had wanted. I wanted to see the magic in her eyes. I wanted to remember what it was like to see Tinker Bell for the first time. I wanted her to love this place as much as I did.

That was two years ago, and I've held off as long as I can stand. We're planning our next trip for this December.

I would like to say that I'm going into THIS trip with my eyes open....but, I doubt it very seriously.

Save us a seat "Tink", we'll see you in a two months.
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Enter to win a copy of the new Disney movie Tinker Bell HERE!

This was a compensated post from Disney & BlogHer, in honor of the release of the new Tinker Bell movie, that will be released on DVD and Blue-Ray on October 28th.


Official Tinker Bell site here

Buy Now DVD here

Buy Now Blue Ray here

Petmate Litter Locker

Review: Litter Locker by Petmate


Price: $25 - $29 depending on where you buy it

OK, I know this sounds crazy, and I know not everyone is just sitting around thinking about kitty litter issues, but- here it is.

We have 4 cats, and I love them to death. I mean, I know a lot of people would hate having that many animals around, but I love it. I love having…. Life around me all the time. If I had to get rid of any of our animals, I would be crushed.

But, there is one thing I absolutely HATE, and that is (to be blunt here) POOP. I just hate dealing with it, cleaning it, and especially finding it in places it shouldn’t be.

So, I cannot say enough good things about the Litter Locker by Petmate. Have you ever seen a Diaper Genie? This is almost exactly the same thing. You scoop the used litter into it, turn the handle thing, and it seals the litter away- out of sight, out of SMELL. You only have to deal with the cat poop when you empty the container, which could be from about three times a month, in my case, or once a month if you have fewer cats. When do empty it, you don’t have to touch the litter- even get your hands dirty.

Now that my husband travels, and I am forced to do the kitty litter duties myself, I finally, finally, am able to do it without feeling gross, and without feeling resentful about having to do it.

The Litter Locker, and the “giant litter pan” have taken away the one thing that made pet ownership a pain in my ass. I am a happy, happy pet owner.

I’d still prefer for a special pill that made them not poop at ALL, but until that day, this will work.

Giant Litter Pan

By Brooke from The Sylvester 4.

Giant Litter Pan
Price: 17.99 PetSmart, most pet stores

We went on vacation last week, and I was really concerned about the state of the house when we returned. 4 cats alone in the house for a week? Not only are they gonna be mad, which makes them poop in non-approved places, but with 4 cats, the litter boxes fill up fast, and they might go anywhere.

My husband went to PetSmart to pick up some more litter boxes and stuff, when the lady there saw all the kitty litter, and asked him what was up. When he told her, she gave him a suggestion. She said instead of a whole bunch of regular boxes, get 2 GIANT boxes. She said that it isn’t the number of litter boxes but the amount of space they had to go. I can’t explain it really well, but it WORKS. They used the box for a week, and never ran out of room and had to go on the floor. Now that we're home, I only have to scoop the box once a day, and it doesn’t even seem full.

Online, I have found hundreds of people with multiple cat households who swear by this box. Not only is it HUGE, but it has two compartments for whatever supplies you might keep nearby.

If you have more than one cat, or an oversized (weight challenged) cat, definitely look into this!

Black & Decker Paper Shredder

Review: Black & Decker 10 Piece Cross Cutter Shredder
Price: $78.00 - Target

Hi! My name is Kerrie and I'm anal retentive.

I'm either anal retentive or in a constant state of fear that the IRS is going to come knocking on my door. I've never given them REASON to come knocking on my door - but never the less - the fear is still there.

So therefore, I keep everything. I mean EVERYTHING.

I found a file the other day that was marked 1993 Tax Return. I was 19 in 1993. I had a summer job as a waitress. I made about $347 dollars all summer long. The only thing in that file was a W-2 and a 1040 EZ Form.

I have MILES of papers in my house - and I needed to finally get down to it and get rid of them.

I've burned out and killed three shredders over the last couple of weeks (yes, that's where I've been. Not writing here....but shredding 10 years of our lives away).

I ended up with the Black and Decker 10 Piece Cross Cutter.

All in all a good machine. Honestly, I don't think that anything you can buy in a store is going to be as powerful as you need if you are looking to shred the National Archives - but it still worked well for me.

I will say this - 10 piece shredder my ass. If I got four pieces in it sounded like it was dying, so I just got into a good rhythm with three pieces at a time. Took me about 3 days to shred everything I had, it filled about 2 of those large brown paper grass bags.

It has an over heating option, which although a pain in the butt, keeps you from actually killing the machine. I would unplug it and wait about a half an hour and it was fine again.

If you are really going to town on shredding, the plastic bucket the shredder comes in fills up fast. I would say about every 50 pages or so, I had to dump it.

It's also very loud. Don't shred with sleeping babies.

Tips: Cross Cutting is the best way to go. I made the mistake of using a smaller, less efficient shredder with all of my old returned checks and I ended up shredding them so perfectly that the account number was still intact on each check. HEY COME STEAL MY IDENTITY! VICTIM HERE!

Last Thoughts: Good machine to have for big jobs. If you are already up to date with your shredding needs, you probably don't need something this big and can get by with a smaller and cheaper model.