Just PINCHme!!!

So much excitement around my household today and good freebies even from work! First, I will start with the biggest joy - my PINCHme box from March finally came in the mail today! I knew it was a very small box with only a couple of samples (I learned about PINCHme late in March so only a few samples were available by then). Here's my little box from today:

 Better late than never! Great mail call today.

This was a small box, but coffee and calorie-free sweetener.

Coffee is pretty good, the sweetener... similar to Truvia for me.

Isn't it amazing how, even though it's small, since this little box was free it made it more exciting than it would be otherwise? I get a kick out of it, I tell ya! I already tried the samples I got, too; the coffee is acceptable. I am a slight coffee snob (mostly because I like flavored coffees moreso than regular coffees like this one and I mostly have been drinking organic fair-trade stuff since it's what they make at work), so it's not surprising that this wasn't awe-inspiring, but it wasn't bad either. The flavor is fine, and it's just a bit of a step down from the Marley coffee (my absolute favorite unflavored coffee I've ever had - it was SO good). I gave the coffee four stars. The Pure Via sweetener was about at the same level and taste of the Truvia, so I only gave it three stars (since the ingredients aren't that bad and this could be a good sweetener for anyone - just not sweet enough for a constant stevia user).

At work I scored two items as freebies: another bag of coffee (I did not grind it yet because right now I have plenty of coffee for a while; whole beans stay good longer than ground) and a half gallon of local, grass-fed cream. The cream is a huge treat - if I had bought it myself it would have cost around $28 for that half gallon. Crazy, I know, but that's the going price in this area for real grass-fed dairy items like that... but it's SO rich and delicious.

 Free bag of Grassroots coffee.

This is what a half gallon of local,

grass-fed cream looks like. Yum!

I think that, even though today's update includes some great items, the best part was a different kind of free. After watering the garden tonight, I decided to go visit my other half out at his barn (it's where he works on his wood projects for his business) where my broody hen has her nest. After talking with him and helping him water his grapes and raspberry vine, I went to check on our hen. Lo and behold, she had a distinctive peeping noise coming out from under her, and she was making new noises herself... we have baby chicks! I only saw one of them (they are very newly hatched), but I am absolutely thrilled that we managed to hatch our own babies for the very first time. After work tomorrow I must go to the feed store and get a few things to be sure the babies are well fed and watered.

My natural deodorant experience with the Soap Me With Nature deodorant is still going very well! I have not noticed any bad odors or overly sweaty, slimy underarms. I think, for the first time ever, I could potentially switch to a natural deodorant for good. What a wonderful, welcomed idea. The Children's Claritin trial is still going well too. My son has definitely had less coughing and other irritations from his allergies over the past few days. I think Lily has also been sleeping a little better. I will keep you posted on these products as my long-term trial with both continues.

Tomorrow's update will include pictures of the chick(s), a picture from work where I have my candles on display as a Mother's Day gift, and of course a good review of anything else that comes in the mail too!