DogTagArt.com

I loved making a dog tag for our new puppy!

Some of the tags on the website are hysterical.  You can create your own tag or chose a design.

Check out DogTagArt

The company offers to reprint your dog tag if it ever fades or rubs off FOR FREE.  How great is that??  We bought the large tag - it's about the size of a quarter and it cost about $13 with tax and shipping.  The company printed and shipped the tag within 24 hours!  It's a very lightweight tag with a glossy finish and it came with a plastic ring to wrap around the tag to make it jingle less.  Honestly, I didn't know what the plastic ring was for and I almost threw it away, but it makes the tag quieter as our puppy runs around and/or sleeps at night.

Secret Clinical Strength

I've tried SO many deodorants in the past.  I tried clear, solid, gel, men's, women's, etc.  I bought Secret Clinical Strength about 5 1/2 years ago and haven't had to try another deodorant since!  Doug really likes the smell of the Light and Fresh Scent too.  I used to worry all the time about sweating and smelling bad, but this stuff has taken my worries away.  Of course I still sweat, but my concerns are not in the front of my mind all the time now. 

It crossed my mind that I haven't posted about this deodorant...I was thinking about my 5 year anniversary coming up tomorrow and I used this deodorant on my wedding day - imagine a hot wedding dress on a 100+ degree day and the wedding was outside...I was sweating!!  But I wasn't worried about my deodorant at all! 

You can check out their products and get special offers here:  Secret Clinical Strength

Magic Bullet Juicer

I decided to give our Magic Bullet a try again. I took everything out of the cupboard it's been sitting in for years because I wanted to try the juicer attachment. We were looking at getting a juicer and I thought, "Why not try the one we already have?" Well, this is why:That mess is 4 oranges cut into wedges and put through the Magic Bullet Juicer. All it did was smash them up and make a mess for me to clean up.

This is all the juice I got from those 4 oranges; I would have gotten much more if I would have juiced them by hand.

Although I joked about it, I actually gave my other Magic Bullet (the 2nd one I got free for ordering the first one) to my mom; she didn't use it either, but it ended up as a raffle prize to raise money for my grandma's nursing home. Hopefully the 3rd owner isn't as disappointed as I am with this product. The one we've had and used about 5 times over the last 5 years is now in a box and going to be donated.

Repels-All

I've tried both of these products for over a year and they don't work on cats. The liquid version in the spray bottle smells terrible; you will think something died in your yard. I highly recommend wearing gloves if you use this product. I got some on my finger and I tried soap, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover and finally bleach to get the smell off my finger. I sprayed a lot in one area of our yard that a cat has been digging and not even a few days later the bark was dug up again.The granule version seemed to work okay last year, but looking back it didn't stop the cat(s) from pooping on our patio furniture. I keep trying to get these products to work, but they don't. I'll keep using them until I run out and I'll try to find another way. Saturday I put a mixture of jalapeno juice, red pepper flakes and chili powder in our yard, so we'll see how that works.

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.

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.

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

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

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+.

Trader Joe Joe's cookies

These cookies are DELICIOUS!!! Imagine a Minty Oreo cookie with candy cane pieces in it. YUMMM

Here is the description: Trader Joe's website

A rich cocoa cookie sandwiching an intense peppermint filling and crushed candy canes.

Move over Thin Mints, your cousin visiting for the holidays is way hotter than you, and with her pink and brown colors of the season, a much snazzier dresser as well.

Fans of Trader Joe Joe's cookies already know that this stand-in for an Oreo has the unique ability to be both better tasting and less expensive than its Nabisco inspiration. The filling is lighter and fluffier, and in the case of the creamy vanilla flavor, has obvious flecks of vanilla in the filling.

Candy Cane Joe Joe's are a seasonal offering -- same great, dark cocoa wafers as the existing Chocolate Joe Joe's, but filled with a very bracing peppermint vanilla filling, which has crushed candy canes throughout.

The crushed canes are finely crushed enough not to shred your gumline, but gritty enough to still stand up and be noticed.

This is one "minty" taste combo; very strongly mint flavored, but very much candy cane at the same time. This means it doesn't taste or remind me of toothpaste -- my litmus taste for all mint flavored foods. It is strong enough you won't likely eat an entire handful or a box (a good thing), but not so strong it will create a hip rumor, like Altoids.

Set two out for Santa with a cup of Hot Cocoa, or give them to carolers this season.

Two Candy Cane Trader Joe Joe's are 140 calories, 6g fat, 19g carb, 1g protein.

**And 100% delicious!! **My added note. All the ladies in my office went crazy for them!