My home-based business!

Success! That is what's happening with my home-based business. Huge success!

My blogging has become a bit scattered, as I make some changes for my growing business. I'll be back to blogging soon & in the meantime, I will be adding some information & videos regarding my brand partner, Shaklee. The team I am on (Project Dream International) continues to grow by leaps & bounds. Which is fantastic! My personal team is also growing & will continue to do so, so I'm changing up just a few things on my blog.

Here's an interesting fact:



I've been a Shaklee Business Developer for almost two years now. I already knew, without a doubt, the career choice I made was perfect. I was not searching for employment or a career opportunity at the time. It just fell into my lap. And it's just the most perfect career for me. But after seeing this most recent statistic? Hello?! Who can argue with that? Shaklee is amazing & so many are taking notice & jumping on this awesome journey.

I partner with Shaklee & market their healthy products. I invite anyone, everyone, anywhere, everywhere - if you are searching for a career change, if you are unhappy in your current position, if you are tired of trading hours for dollars, if you are tired of being told what to do, etc., etc., etc. - then check us out! You have absolutely nothing to lose. This opportunity could be perfect for you, too! Obviously, people are having great success with Shaklee or there certainly wouldn't have been 100,000 Shaklee businesses started last month. Last month!! Maybe it's for you & maybe it's not - why not find out?

Shaklee is the #1 Natural Nutrition Company in the United States. Here are some pretty impressive facts about Shaklee:

*Who We Are

At Shaklee, we believe nature holds the answers to a long, healthy, and productive life.

Our story started almost 60 years ago with Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee, whose philosophy of Living in Harmony with Nature® fueled an ongoing movement to help people live happier and healthier.

Today, we are the number one natural nutrition company in the U.S., with offices worldwide, and the foremost experts in nutrition research. We go above and beyond industry standards every day to ensure that our products are Always Safe, Always Work, and are Always Green.

In addition to testing every new ingredient for over 350 harmful contaminants, we conduct over 100,000 quality tests a year to ensure the greatest purity possible. We've also invested over $250 million in clinical testing, research, and development and are backed by over 100 scientific papers—including the first-ever 20-year Landmark Study, published in Nutrition Journal And more, we've helped fuel seven of Time-Life® ‡Books' 25 Greatest Adventures of All Time.

Beyond that, we offer an opportunity for anyone to earn extra income by sharing our products. To date, we've paid over $6 billion in commissions to our Distributors, and we invite you to experience the benefits of owning your own Shaklee business.

*Founded in 1956, shaklee is the first company in the world to obtain climate neutral certification and totally offset its co2 emissions, resulting in a net zero impact on the environment.

*Shaklee has taken consistent steps to reduce our climate impacts and help find solutions to the climate crisis. It’s one of the ways we work toward a better future.

*Shaklee Corporation is the first certified Climate Neutral Company in the world, having earned that distinction back in the relative “dark ages” of voluntary corporate climate action in 2000. In our ongoing efforts to minimize our negative impacts and maximize our positive impacts, Shaklee purchases 100% renewable energy, renewable energy credits, and greenhouse gas emissions offsets for worldwide activities.

*Shaklee is carbon neutral. The greenhouse gas inventory for 2011 covering all Shaklee operations worldwide including the US, Canada, Japan, China, Mexico, Malaysia and Taiwan, was reviewed by a third party, WSP Environment & Energy, in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for all six Kyoto-defined greenhouse gases. Shaklee set operational boundaries for the inventory of its worldwide greenhouse gas emissions and calculated the carbon footprint from Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. The total amount of Shaklee’s greenhouse gas emissions from worldwide operations in 2011 was measured and converted to metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Shaklee has partnered with Sterling Planet to offset its small carbon footprint in North America and Asia with funding for alternative energy projects. The projects include Green-e certified renewable energy credits (Iowa wind projects) and a landfill gas utilization project in Massachusetts.

*“ When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and the seeds of hope. We also secure the future of our children. ”
Dr. Wangari Maathai

At Shaklee, we’re part of a movement to make people and the planet healthier. Inspired by the visionary works of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai and her Green Belt Movement, Shaklee began a tree-planting campaign across the United States and Canada on Earth Day 2006, encouraging the company’s 750,000 Members and Distributors to organize tree-planting events at the grassroots level in their respective communities.

Earth Day 2009, Dr. Wangari Maathai, Global Ambassador for the Shaklee A Million Trees, A Million Dreams™ campaign, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and CEO Roger Barnett plant the 1 millionth tree at the Shaklee World Headquarters in Pleasanton, California.

“Shaklee led the way in achieving carbon neutrality in 2000 and has mobilized its networks to plant a million trees for the planet, which is not only a great achievement, but an inspiration to all of us—especially in the corporate sector”

Dr. Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, founder of the Green Belt Movement, and Global Ambassador for the Shaklee A Million Trees. A Million Dreams.™ campaign

*At Shaklee, we've partnered with some of the most dedicated and accomplished earth advocates in the world and are continually forging new relationships to help improve the health of our planet.

*Wild Dolphin Project - A nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and preservation of dolphins.

Shaklee products have been aboard numerous missions to the open seas in an effort to support researchers' ongoing studies of dolphin behavior in their natural habitats.

*Ocean Alliance - Global leader in whale research and conservation.

For over 10 years, Shaklee has been supporting the Ocean Alliance in their efforts to raise awareness about the effects of pollution on marine life.

*Green Belt Movement

Shaklee is honored to have had the opportunity to work with the late Dr. Wangari Maathai, a tireless pioneer and advocate for freedom who empowered women in Africa to become economically independent through her organization, The Green Belt Movement. She was the first woman from Central and East Africa to earn a doctorate degree and the first person to win a Nobel Peace Prize for helping to improve the environment. Together, we successfully completed a worldwide effort to plant a million trees, as part of our A Million Trees. A Million Dreams.™ campaign.

Impressive, huh? Shaklee & their products are impressive!

If you are interested in finding out if partnering with Shaklee & PDI may be for you, here's what you do: go to www.projectdreamintl.com & click on
'Partner With Us'. This does not commit you! This merely allows you to have access to the opportunity webinar & other pertinent information, so you can determine if this is for you. Be sure to put my name & last initial - MELISSA B. - as your referral and/or how you found out about PDI. We literally have hundreds of individuals visiting our site & this helps keep everyone straight. It can get confusing very quickly, so thank you for listing my name!

I am not a coach. I am solely a work-at-home mom, a Business Developer, who has found success marketing the best, non-toxic products on the market, while making a very comfortable monthly income. I market the products & I will show you how I do it, while I do it. Let me add - Shaklee does provide training. Project Dream International provides additional, step-by-step training & equips you with the tools you need to grow you own business. The training alone is priceless. This work is not easy! But it is simple. The more you work your fanny off, the more money you make - it's that simple. Income potential is limitless!

If you have any further questions, call me! My business number is: 817.300.7755. Partner with me! We have what people want! Lets do this!

My laundry products. Every load, every day.

What so many detest, I love. I'm a laundry fanatic. I love doing laundry. Grocery shopping? Not so much.

I am the only person in my family permitted to do laundry. For 6 people, 5 beds, 2 dogs & all the extras. Just me. I am so particular about our clothing & cleanliness, that I just don't allow anyone to help wash. And I like it that way. And I'm pretty confident my family likes it that way. Ha!

I own about 10 laundry baskets. Each evening, when putting on jammies, everyone brings their dirty clothes down for the day. They place them on my washing machine & I then distribute them into the appropriate basket. I wash every color separately (dark blues/blacks, light colored towels/underwear/socks, white t-shirts, dark underwear/towels/socks, pinks, purples, greens, medium blues, reds, grays, browns, etc. Yes, I am that anal!) Clothes are expensive, so I take care of them. And I like for my family to look nice. I take pride in my family dressing nice. It doesn't have to be fancy-smancy, but it does have to be clean & wrinkle-free. That's I why I do all the laundry myself. So, to say I'm just a tad picky with my laundry products would be an understatement.

The photo you see above are the laundry products I use every day. Nothing more, nothing less. Every load, every day. I used to use Borax in every load of laundry, but I stopped purchasing & using that a few months ago. I've never looked back & I miss it none (saving that money is nice, too!). What you see in the photo above are the best laundry products on the market. They are healthy - they are natural, safe & non-toxic. And they are very effective & work exceptionally well. If they didn't work, healthy or not, I wouldn't use them, because they wouldn't meet my personal standards. But they do. I love them & will never, ever go back to store bought, chemical filled laundry products. Who wants all those toxins on & in your skin? Not me & not us. Our allergies have improved tremendously just by switching cleaning products & laundry products. I've used these products now for almost 2 years & I just can't say enough good things about them. Added bonuses? 1.) I order them online & they get delivered to my door. Three less products I have to shop for. 2.) They literally last for months (the big box of detergent lasts us a minimum of 4 months) & I don't have to reorder often. Yip!

Ok. So this is what I use:

Get Clean Fresh Laundry Concentrate (detergent). For a full load of clothes, I only use 1/4 cup. That's it! That's all it takes. Our clothes are (very) clean & have an extremely mild, soft scent. Nothing overbearing, hardly noticeable & no chemicals. This detergent comes in liquid or powder form, scented or unscented. I use the powder because it's less expensive. I ridiculously love it. Oh, one more thing. It keeps my darks, dark! No fading & I just love that fact! (This product is available in small & large size.)

Soft Fabric Fragrance Free Dryer Sheets. These are so cool & so different from traditional dryer sheets. Instead of soft, they have a rough, crunchy texture to them. I toss one in every single load & when the load is complete, I open the garage door & toss it in the recycling bin. They're biodegradable! Love them.

Nature Bright Laundry Booster & Stain Remover. I used to use this product in whites alone, but I now use it in every load, even darks. It freshens every load & is superior in removing stains. I've used it on my carpet, even, to remove a 5 year old carpet stain! I use it on my counters to whiten the grout. I use it any & everywhere I want to whiten & brighten & remove stains. Phenomenal.

That's it! Those 3 products are all I use to get our clothes fresh & clean. Shaklee does offer a fabric softener but I admit, I've never used it. I have never used fabric softener, so I've just never tried it. But I hear it's pretty darn good, too. Here's the link if you want to check it out: Soft Fabric Concentrate.

If you are searching for healthier laundry products, I urge you to try them. I promise, you'll love them! Heck, if you don't, just call Shaklee & let them know. Shaklee has a 100% money back guarantee. If you have any questions, email me & it will be my pleasure to help you. My email is: adoringthesimple@gmail.com

Happy laundering!

(There are some links on the right sidebar ------> that show even more examples of how fantastic Shaklee's products are. Feel free to peek!)

Mexican Quinoa & homemade garlic bread.

What to do for dinner? The holidays are over & I have yet to get to the store to restock. Being it's so cold here & almost all of our smoke alarms malfunctioned during the night, I knew grocery shopping wasn't going to happen today. I'm also currently in the mindset, I ain't wasting nothin'. I'm about saving money this year, not tossing it in the trash. Which, unfortunately, sometimes I did in the past.

I knew I had 2 lbs. of hamburger meat. I knew I had a box of Quinoa, which I plan on incorporating into a lot more of our meals. Quinoa is so healthy! Do some googling. I had some onions that my husband had cut up a few nights ago, & I had some celery stalks that had gotten lost amongst frig items. Using those 4 ingredients, I sat down & googled. And found this recipe.



I dug in the pantry & found a can of diced tomatoes (that's luck - I don't buy them - my husband must have). When reading the recipe, I also read the comments. Some noted the recipe was good, but bland, & that they added taco seasoning. Great! But I didn't have any taco seasoning. I was searching for a homemade recipe, when one of my Shaklee partners led me to this recipe. Fortunately, I had all the ingredients! But one. I made it anyway! I was very leery about homemade taco seasoning but I have to say - it tasted great! Will use it from now on.

Here are the ingredients I used for my Mexican Quonia:

2 lbs. ground beef.
chopped onion - I didn't have as much as I would have liked - probably 1 cup or less.
chopped celery - I didn't measure - just chopped some up & tossed it in. I'll include this every time - added a nice crunch.
(I browned the meat with the onion & celery, & also threw on some dried onions & garlic salt. Why not?)
1 can diced tomatoes - could have used 2 cans, but we aren't huge cooked tomato fans - so one was ample for us.
2 cups uncooked Quinoa (rinse it first, which I did).
1.5 cups water.
Taco seasoning - I didn't measure, but probably used about 2.5 tablespoons - next time I'll use just a tad less. It had a yummy kick!
Cooked uncovered, stirring frequently, until the Quinoa is done.

Topped with just a tiny bit of sharp shredded cheese (I shred my own now - no more preshredded!)



Recipe makes a ton & is very filling. Fed 5 (my youngest did not like it - no surprise there - other 3 kids loved it!) & have a lot left over. Next time, & there will be a next time, I'll add corn & beans & will probably top with a bit of sour cream. Really, you can change this recipe up any way you want. My husband thinks it would be great in a taco shell.

I decided to make some garlic bread to go with it. This is my sister's-in-law recipe that I've used for years. Sometimes I cheat & buy the frozen, but most of the time, I make this.

Bread.
Generous amount of butter (real butter!).
Light sprinkle of garlic salt (don't do too much!)
Top with parmesan.
350 degrees, top rack, for about 8 minutes or until cheese is melted.



So good! I forgot to add a veggie with dinner. I'm a tad tired due to last night. We'll blame it on that. I did attempt grapes, but they didn't look too good. They, too, had gotten lost in the frig. So I tossed those. No one seemed to mind.



I better get to the store tomorrow.

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Happy New Year!

Oh my gosh! Hi! Happy New Year! Have I really not blogged since December 12th? Wow! I am ready for things to settle down!

I'm so excited & ready for 2014. An opportunity to begin again, an opportunity to start fresh. Yes, please! I'm already making my to-do list! Ok, honestly, it's just adding to my current one. Top three? 1.) Getting my photography business off the ground! Why do I always choose the worst time to do this? Christmastime, really? Cold outside, people traveling, Christmas photos already done - geeze. 2.) Working my Shaklee business bigger, badder & more intensely! I want a huge team & I'm looking for serious Distributors and/or Partners! Best darn products available! Yip! Products everyone uses - it's just a matter of switching brands! 3.) Decorating & recipes - big time! (Maybe that should be #3 & 4?) I am going to whip my house into shape & beautify this puppy if it kills me! I have so many new ideas, & lots that I've had on my list but still need to do! And now that the holidays are over, I'm jumping right back into our improved eating. I don't regret, at all, pigging during the holidays. Heck no! Life is too short to fuss over foods during the holidays. But certainly, that eating regimen can't continue. School starts back on Monday (I am so heartbroken - I hate sending my kids back to school & it just gets harder every time it's time. Sniff.) & so does our typical routine.

What have I been doing over the last 3 weeks? Christmas, obviously. Purchasing, wrapping, 3 school Christmas parties, my husband's family Christmas, tying up loose ends, spending quality time with the kids just enjoying, our family Christmas & immediately following that, 3 of my children had birthdays! Christmastime at our home is exhausting! 3 birthdays following Christmas is so hard. But that's what God gave us & we make it work!

This year for birthdays, I did something new. I combined all 3 birthdays & we celebrated on one day. That means 2 had to wait for their birthdays & one had hers early. I was worried. Then I felt so guilty. But the day of the celebration, it worked! We went to Chuck E. Cheese (my kids' all time favorite!), then we took them to Toys R Us & let them pick out what gifts they wanted (on a budget, of course) & then we came home & had ice cream cake. The result? The kids loved it & asked to do the same for their next birthdays! I don't know if I'll comply, but the day was different & quite honestly, so much easier! But I don't want to be about easy all the time - I want to be about special. So we'll see.



Funny, I forgot candles. Turns out, I had just enough (of a mismatched variety) to equal their birthdays totaled together - 25! Ha! Improvise. Winning!

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And thank you so much for following my blog & supporting my business - I appreciate you SO much!

Here's to a beautiful, healthy, happy, positive, fun, shiny '14!