Oxo Mandoline

I bought this mandoline quite a while ago and didn't use it much.  I have used it a lot lately and I love it!  I slice sweet potatoes for dog treats and although the orange in the sweet potatoes stains the white plastic, I'm okay with it.  It's easy to pull apart and clean.  I wash it by hand.  There are numerous blades to use.  It's very sturdy although it's plastic; it's lightweight too. Everything stores neatly on the mandoline, except the fairly large hand guard.  One small downside is taking the other blades off the gadget when I clean it.  It may not be neccessary for me to pull them all off, but I do.  I don't want water to get trapped while it's drying.  I think I paid about $40 for it at Target.  It's worth the money if you want and easy way to slice fruits and veggies.

Here is the company website for more information:

OXO

Nesco Dehydrator

I had my first experience with a dehydrator.  They sure are easy to use!  My only critique is there isn’t an on and off switch; it’s either on or unplugged each time I move the food to a different tray.  I used a mandoline to slice the sweet potatoes and loaded up the dehydrator.  Super easy!  Although, I followed a suggestion in the booklet to microwave the sweet potatoes to do whatever it said – I can’t remember the fancy reason why.  It made the sweet potatoes sweat, so I’m not sure if it shortened the dehydration process or not.  The sweet potatoes took FOREVER in the dehydrator!!  I expected them to take about 6 hours since the booklet said carrots take 6 hours.  I think they were in the dehydrator for about 8 hours.  The oven only takes 3 hours, but there is less user error and I don’t have to think about it if I use the dehydrator.  I guess depending on the amount of time I have to make more Ruger (our dog) treats will determine the method of drying I use in the future.  PS I bought a bag of “Natural Sweet Potato Rawhides” for $7+ to see how different they are to what I make for Ruger. 

The bag I bought only has about 10-15 “rawhides”, they are soft, not crunchy at all (not a good or bad thing, just a difference) and only last about 15 seconds when Ruger gets a hold of one.  I’ll stick to making them myself.  For only a few dollars I can make dozens of treats; 3 sweet potatoes filled the 4 trays in the dehydrator and 2 pans for the oven.

(This is before the shrink up)  If you want to try the oven version - Cut the sweet potatoes into rounds or the long way for longer treats.  We like the "chips".  Cut them about 1/8-1/4 inch thick (a mandoline is very helpful as sweet potatoes are tough to cut).  200 degrees for 3 hours, flip at 1 1/2 hours.  Make sure to watch them towards the end of the cook time so they don't burn.  I've tried different thicknesses and cook times, so you may have to tweak the temperature and/or time a little.

Omega Paw Treat Ball

We bought this Omega Paw Treat Ball when we were going to pick up our puppy.  It has a single hole to fill it with treats or food.  We use the dog's food and he loves it.  It has become a special treat while he is crated during the morning hours.  The ball is easy to fill and it doesn't dump a bunch of food all at once.  I definitely recommend this ball!  This type of treat toy is not cheap though.  I think we paid over $10 for this ball at Petco, but it's made of a heavy plastic and will last for a very long time.  You can get this ball on Amazon for about $11.

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