Friday, July 8, 2011

Motorola Roadster


I bought this a few months ago and I LOVE it. It is a bluetooth device that clips to your visor. It's great for all the "hands free" laws that are in effect. You can drive with both hands on the wheel, and not have that little speaker thing on your ear.

Features:

  • Answers phone calls automatically
  • Announces the caller's ID
  • Reads text messages through the speaker
  • Allows you to make phone calls by speaking (you have to push a button first)
  • You can reply audibly to text messages
  • You can listen to any music you have on your phone through your car speakers (I haven't figured out that one yet.
The product does recommend downloading MotoSpeak on your phone.

It comes with a car charger and the battery lasts about 2 weeks on standby. It also lets you know the battery level when your phone is in the car.

Overall, it is a pretty nifty gadget.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Weber Grill Pan

I bought a grill pan for Doug about a year ago. I was looking for one for a while and it just so happened they were testing them on one of my favorite shows, America's Test Kitchen. They ran through many grill pans and the durability, even grilling ability, hole shape/size, and price put this pan at the top of the pack. I bought ours online through Amazon which was cheaper as usual, but not by much. Right now they are on the Weber website for $22.99 and on Amazon for $19.00.

The only thing I wish is that I could have kept it pretty and shiny (that's just me), but even after the first use it was stained - what can I expect when it's cooking at hundreds of degrees on a barbecue?

It's a great pan and I'm glad we have it.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

HangMan Hanging System

This picture/mirror hanging system is really easy to use. Hangman includes all the hardware you'll need to hang your item, even a level. Helpful tools to have on hand: drill, hammer, screwdriver and pencil.
You put the appropriate piece on the wall and the other piece on the back of the picture or mirror you would like to hang.
Make sure you face them the correct way so the item piece will sit in the piece on the wall. The kits we used hold up to 200 lbs; they were $10.88 per kit at Lowes.
And, it's really that easy. I've messed up a few of our walls while hanging things with screws and wire, but this system was easy and painless.
The mirrors are not completely level, but I'm sure that was my lack of skills and not the product; It's hard to tell that they aren't level.
My only issue was my idea of how low the mirrors were going to hang. Both of them are too high, especially the one above. I measured over and over again and somehow it still ended up too high.

Check out their products here: Hangman

Saturday, February 26, 2011

ThermaCare

I had bronchitis a couple weeks ago, so I was coughing A LOT. I was coughing so much I was dry heaving and gagging. After a couple weeks of coughing like that I started having really bad rib pain. After another trip to the doctor to see if I broke a rib, the doctor told me to take anti-inflammatory medication and use heat pads to ease the pain. I can't plug my heating pad into the car or take it where I need to go, so I picked up some ThermaCare HeatWraps. These heat wraps are great. They stay warm for a long time. They say "8 hours of heat", but when I take it off 9-10 hours later they still feel warm. (The package advises not to wear them for longer than 8 hours.) The adhesive works really well; the wraps stay in place and after hours I don't worry about them moving or coming off. I have an allergy to tape and adhesives and I was worried about using these, but I've been through 6 of them and I haven't had any issues with redness or blistering. I recommend making sure you know exactly where you want the wrap because they don't stick as well if you take it off and move it. I suggest removing them slowly so you won't damage your skin.

You can check out their products and get special offers here:  Thermacare

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Turtle Wax and RainX

I've had issues with my car windows fogging up on the inside, so I tried the RainX Glass Cleaner with Anti-Fog (right). They come in a tissue box type dispenser which is very handy. I did not like the wipes. They leave some serious streaking on the windows, I was really hoping they would have been more like a Windex product - glass cleaners shouldn't leave so many streaks.
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I've always (until those wipes) been a fan of RainX (middle) as a rain repellent on the outside windows. It takes a little bit to make sure there aren't streaks on the outside of the window; it's like waxing a car. The product applies easy and wipes off easily too; just spray it on, wait for it to turn to a haze and then wipe it off. I've used another product by RainX also, it's a dual product that is a rain repellent and cleaner in one and it works really well. If you're in a hurry, you can spray it on the windshield and turn the wipers on.
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And the last product is by Turtle Wax. It's a headlight restoration kit (left). Here are my results:
They have a one step application unless your headlights look like mine...then it becomes a 4 step process, but it's all in the one box. I'll admit my arm was a little tired afterwards, but I'm very happy with the outcome and it didn't take very long.. This was the cheapest product on the shelf and it worked really well. It was $8 for the Turtle Wax kit while the other products were $15+.