LAVAZZA Italy's Favourite Coffee

A BzzCampaign!  Hooray!

Notification came today to participate in this BzzAgent campaign for Lavazza's new drip coffee.  How deliciously exciting!

My previous experience with Lavazza has purely "bean" with espresso  (they have the best decaf around), so this will be an interesting venture into whether or not they have been successful with the drip coffee/French press variety.

Drip/French Press coffee varieties by Lavazza include:

Gran Aroma

Medium Roast

A balanced, highly aromatic blend of 100% Arabica beans with fragrant floral notes and a citrusy flavour profile.

 

Classico

Medium Roast

This blend’s start-stop roasting method produces its intense aroma of dried fruits and rich, full-bodied flavor.

 

Gran Selezione

Dark Roast

A full-bodied Arabica blend with intense flavor and chocolate undertones that comes exclusively from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.

 

Perfetto

Espresso Roast

Made from 100% carefully selected Arabica beans, this dark and velvety blend is bold with lingering caramel notes.

The campaign officially begins February 26th.  The BzzKit is slated to include:

• A FREE 12 oz bag of Lavazza Gran Aroma Specialty Drip Coffee
• A FREE 12 oz bag of Lavazza Gran Selezione Specialty Drip Coffee
• A travel mug per me (that's "for me" in Italian)
• $4-off coupons to share with other coffee drinkers (would that be you???)
• Lavazza magnets to pass along, too
• An Italian Gestures Game for my Passion Party (not the lingerie party, a coffee party!)

 The game idea makes me smile.  I hope it will be a good laugh.

Grazie, BzzAgent & Lavazza!

Johnson & Johnson Healthy Essentials

Way back in mid-Fall, the Healthy Essentials™ program site of Johnson & Johnson™ had a promotion.  You were allowed to sent an invite to the site to five specific email addresses.  If one of them accepted, they said you would get a gift bundle.

I dutifully plugged in my five and waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  I knew at least one person had accepted long before Christmas.  Still no word.  I was getting annoyed  - perhaps I had submitted this information under false pretenses and these people were getting spammed.

Lo and behold, Friday, January 17th in my inbox I receive an email from Healthy Essentials™ subject line "The Special Trial Gift Bundle is Yours!".

Hi ,

Great news, we’re sending you one of the great trial gift bundles of Johnson & Johnson Inc. products for you and your family to enjoy. It's just our way of saying thanks for sharing the benefits of the Healthy Essentials^™ program.

Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for your trial gift bundle to be processed and shipped. In the meantime, thanks again for being a valued member of the Healthy Essentials^™ program.

Take Good Care.

OK, so great that it is coming, a trial gift bundle!  Woo-hoo!  I'm excited by the prospect of a bundle - my head is filled with images of gift bundles and gift baskets.

Yesterday, February 3rd, a little box appeared at my doorstep:

The size is reminiscent of the Proctor & Gamble™ seasonal sample boxes that I used to get.  It is not really the gift basket I envisioned or felt was advertised, but it is still free stuff.

Inside was:

The Neutrogena™ is a For Men product with SPF 20. The long Splenda™ is a French Vanilla flavour for coffee flavouring.  Expiry dates for Reactine™ is October 2015, for Tylenol™ for January 2015, and for the Motrin™ March 2014.  Um, that is less than a month away.  Not so good on that one, J&J! 

I'm happy that it was all free, but I feel a bit mislead about the size of the bundle, and of course it doesn't look good to give a pain killer sample that expires in less than four weeks.  3/5 stars including the wait. Still worth doing again if the occasion arises.

The Health Essentials™ program allows you to collect points mainly via printing and using coupons from their site.  You can earn two points per week by printing coupons, and two points per redeemed coupon.  One-time point offers include signing up, completing your profile, your Health Grade™, and signing up for a survey panel (no points for surveys themselves).  Once you do these four, you end up with 45 points.

To get a themed product package requires 100 points.  If you print one coupon and redeem one coupon each week, it will take you 25 weeks to earn enough points for a gift bundle.  That is two per year, and there is usually a selection of at least four from which to choose.  I think twice per year is decent, although personally I do not use enough of the product to need one coupon per week.  A larger family would do well with this, so if that is you, go for it!

 

Recently Free in the Mail...

Here are a couple of things I recently received in the mail gratis.

The first is two two-packs of Advil™ liquid gels.  They came with a bonus $3 off coupon good on a 24-count or higher bottle, expiring at the end of April.  The samples themselves expire at the end of October 2014.   Great to pop in the travel first aid kid or purse.

The second is a sample of Cloud 9™ cat treats.  That is what looks like a pack of gum!  They are indeed in a blister pack.  I guess for keeping fresher, although since blister packs are almost impossible to recycle, that kind of sucks.  Bonus though is the 15% order code also included.

Both these offers were from internet sign-ups at the brand sites.

Third but not shown is a small sachet of Burt's Bees™ gud™ body lotion.  It came  with a coupon, too.  I was disappointed that the sample was only a single-use sachet and not a small purse-sized bottle to use for travel.

Fourth but also not shown is a travel-sized tube of Colgate Sensitive Relief™ toothpaste, plus a coupon. Win!

If I remember correctly, these last two were from liking and registering on their Facebook™ pages.

I am currently awaiting an $8.99 rebate from purchasing an 8lb bag of World's Best Cat Litter™, and a gift basket from Johnson & Johnson Healthy Essentials™ program.

Earning Free Gift Cards

Where to Get Free Gift Cards

I just discovered a website where you can earn free gift cards!  100 points = $1 towards a gift card.  There is a wide variety of card choices, and this is where to get Starbucks™ gift card as well as Macy's™, Amazon™, Sephora™, and more.

It does take awhile after the first 100 points if you do not want to register for a whole bunch of things.  I've found the easiest is to watch for codes and listen to their internet radio.  You can always turn your volume off and have it open in a window behind what you are working on.  But you do need to check periodically - every 10 minutes reveals a code you need to type in to get your points.

The link is below.  Happy earning!

http://www.instagc.com/starbucks/242670

This is the logo of the site:

Quite obviously, it is called instaGC. 

Nutrience Pet Food Campaign from BzzAgent

Yes!  A BzzAgent Campaign for my furballs!  I love my cats and purchase high-end food for them, both because I love them dearly and because one of them has digestive issues (he's a barfer). Previous dry food brands have been Nutro and Royal Canin.

The campaign I was selected for is for Nutrience pet food.  It has both dog and cat varieties.  I have three cats.  Two are indoor, and one is outdoor.  The outdoor one is a feral cat who we eventually after 2+ years convinced to come inside at night when it is cold outside.  Of the two indoor cats, one has been a indoor cat all of his eight years (he's the barfer), and the other came to as a stray older kitten, now about three years old.  He is inside but does have supervised outside time on a harness and leash. 

Here is what my Nutrience BzzKit came with:

Nutrience BzzKit Contents September 2013

As you can see, a coupon for a full free bag for me was included!  Also five coupons of $5 off a any bag to share, two flavours of sample bags, and a French/English information booklet on all the varieties of Nutrience dog and cat food.

Our first plan of action was to mix the sample bags in with all of our cats' current dry food to give an adjustment period.  This lasted 10 days.  Both indoor cats seemed to like it, our outdoor cat seemed to LOVE it - not a kibble left in the bowl the first few times.  The indoor barfer cat was fine with the mixed days, and fine for about a week with only Nutrience.  He has had one big "sicky" recently and we will be watching him closely.

We are concerned about our second indoor cat and are seriously considered switching him back to his old food.  He seems to be having bathroom issues since the full switch - he'll be in the litter box with the "I'm-trying-to-go" stance/look for 10 minutes+ at a time, over and over.  There is only a tiny piddle if anything each time.  He does seem to be pooping at other times.  We are worried about crystals or something else as this is a totally new thing for him and there is no other change to his diet, litter type/location, or habitat. 

Now, in terms of finding a vendor in order to use the free bag coupon...

We started by first calling a private pet food store close to my place of work where we had recently picked up a bottle of Vetericyn for our outdoor cat's hot spots.  No luck there, but they did offer to order it in for us.  Since it was for a free bag, we declined otherwise we'd feel guilty.  We called our regular private pet food store and they did not carry it.  Next we tried one of the bigger chain stores, no luck.  Finally, the fourth try - PetSmart - had it.  I would have preferred to support a smaller local store, but no avail.  The flavour selection was limited, but we were able to get the big bag for free, almost a $40 savings.

After 10 days of mixed food and about 10 days of solely Nutrience the initial verdict is that it is good for our outdoor cat, but varying results for our indoor cats.  We'll keep monitoring the situation.

The indoor "barfer" cat eating Nutrience dry food

Final thoughts on Crest Pro-Health suite

The Crest Pro-Health™ BzzAgent campaign ended a few weeks ago and I want to share some final thoughts.   Overall, not a bad suite, just not as good as I was hoping. My review of the Oral-B CrossAction^®toothbrush stands.   Its good for when I have a cold, that's it.

With regards to the Crest^® Pro-Health^® Multi-Protection Rinse (mouthwash), it DOES make a difference with morning breath if it is used right before bed.  I still can’t attest to during the day as the no-eating/drinking-for-30-minutes-after-use rule has prevented me.

The  Crest^® Pro-Health^® Toothpaste: I thought it was good.  Until I went to the dentist.  I forgot to take a picture of my teeth before my appointment, so there is no “after” shot to compare to my first short.  The reason I won’t be repurchasing is that for the first time ever my dentist told me I had coffee stains on my teeth!  She even showed me the brown marks with a mirror.  I have been drinking coffee every morning for six years.  I can only attribute this to the change in my toothpaste.  

I believe the problem is that the toothpaste I sampled was non-whitening.   I have since discovered that Crest Pro-Health™ does have a whitening type.  If the price is right when I run out of the whitening brand I returned to after my dentist appointment, then I will consider trying it out.  I did like the Cool Peppermint flavour.

Review of Crest Pro-Health Products

I forgot my blogger password so this is a little late, but here are some of my thoughts regarding the Crest Pro-Health™ products I received for free from BzzAgent.

Oral-B CrossAction^®  Pro-Health™ Toothbrush:

     My mouth is on the small side, so at first I thought the toothbrush would be very awkward due to its size.  However, I found that it didn't matter much as I could get a comfortable grip on the brush handle at any point.  The toothbrush has raised bumps on the outside for cheek and tongue cleaning.  It also has flexible longer rubber bristles all around the outer edge for gum cleaning.

Back "Bumps"

Side "Rubber Bristle" & Pro-Health™ toothpaste

 

I used the toothbrush for about a week and thought it was really neat.  I liked the way my cheeks were cleaned and my gums massaged.  I should note that the Oral-B CrossAction^®  Pro-Health™ toothbrush I received is the Soft variety.

    However after a week, my inner cheeks started getting sore.  By 10 days in, I knew I couldn't use the brush anymore - my inner cheeks had become too sensitive to the friction of the bumps and it hurt to use the brush.  I went back to my old toothbrush without the bumps, still using the Crest^® Pro-Health^® Toothpaste.   

    However, I am keeping the Oral-B CrossAction^®  Pro-Health™ toothbrush, as when I get my first seasonal cold/flu I know I will love being able to scrape the inside of my mouth, cheeks, and tongue of all the sick goo from colds/flus until I get better.  So, although it is not for me for everyday use, the Oral-B CrossAction^®  Pro-Health™ toothbrush does have a place in my oral health routine.

Crest^® Pro-Health^®  Toothpaste:

    The toothpaste is a blue gel with tiny darker blue dots within it.  It has a pleasant mild mint taste.  I received the Cool Peppermint flavour - nothing overpowering while brushing, and nothing really lasting either.  I like the cap on the toothpaste tube as you can stand the tube upright on your counter to save space and also let gravity do the work of getting the toothpaste to the open end of the tube and not rolling and squishing yourself.  I have taken a teeth smile photo of when I started using the Crest^® Pro-Health^® Toothpaste:

My crooked smile

and will post another after two months use.  I began diligently using it in the morning and the evening, however I have been a bit lax after four weeks with the evening brushing.  The instructions do say to use it twice per day for results. 

Crest^® Pro-Health^® Multi-Protection Rinse: (aka mouthwash)

    I like this stuff.  It is blue in colour and does not taste too strong.  I can sometimes feel the tingle stronger, and I guess that is because there are more germs in my mouth to work on at that time!  What I do not like is that you cannot eat or drink for 30 minutes after rinsing.  This sucks in the morning, as I sip my coffee on the way to work and of course, eat.  I rush getting ready every morning and having to wait 30 minutes to eat or drink - anything, including water - is a huge pain in the butt.  Thus, I do not use it in the morning, only right before getting into bed in the evening.  The Crest^® Pro-Health^® Multi-Protection Rinse instructions do say to use twice per day but I have only been using it once because of this.

    A different aspect of the rinse is that after swishing, gargling, and spitting out, there is a slight blue residue on my tongue.  Sometimes there is a bit of a thin blue glob on my tongue in places.  I can't really feel it or taste it, but I can see it in the mirror: 

Little blue streaks on my tongue

  My guess is I have more junk in my mouth and the rinse is attaching itself to those bits of junk and not letting those bits grow into more germs and/or bad breath.  Since I am only using the rinse before bed, I don't know how long this lasts, but it is gone in the morning. 

Suite of Crest^® Pro-Health^®products