Heat Holders: A Review

This is one of those reviews that I had gotten to a point where fall had me so spoiled that I was sort of hoping I'd have to e-mail the nice people at Heat Holders back in February and say, "Gee, I'm sorry I couldn't review your product, but we never had winter this year!"  Ahhh the fantasies I have!

Months ago the fine folks at Heat Holders got in touch with me and asked me if I'd be willing to give their product a try and review it here on the blog.  I promised that I would try them out as soon as the weather got cold enough, and today my friends it DEFINITELY got cold enough.  I think with the wind chill it's running like what, 20 below outside or so right now?  Even by Alaskan standards...brrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

I had a bunch of errands to run today, so I thought I'd give these suckers a try as I walked (okay more like jogged hurriedly from heated building to heated building) around town.  So, what ARE Heat Holders?  Heat Holders are thermal socks, but not just ANY thermal socks.  Via their website:

"As far as is known and have ever been tested Heat Holders® socks are the warmest thermal socks in the world. They are over 7x warmer than regular cotton socks and 3x warmer than ordinary thermal socks. They are better than heated, electric or battery operated socks because you can just put them on without fussing with batteries, wires etc. Heat Holders® means No more cold feet!"

Now the "no more cold feet" promise, especially when it comes to ALASKAN cold, is no easy feat to meet, so I figured I'd give these socks my version of "cold basic training" today.  Now, just as a note here, I broke my foot in Junior High years ago and ever since then I've had nerve damage in my right foot.  This means that when my right foot gets cold (even though it's always cold feeling), it tends to do me damage in deciding to cramp up on me or other nastiness, so keeping my foot warm is a HUGE necessity for me.  So when I say I'm trying out socks to keep my feet warm, trust me, it's not just "gee my feet are cozy right now" types of feeling I'm going for.  It's, "do these socks keep my feet warm for as long as I need to be out so that I'm not in agony by the time I go inside" type of mindset.

And these socks met, and exceeded, my expectations.  By the time I hit my fifth errand in town, my coffee was cold from sitting in my car (I was actually surprised it wasn't iced coffee by the time I was done), I was cold from running outside to the point I couldn't feel my fingers anymore through my ski gloves, I think my nose is permanently frozen and my clothes were actually crinkling when I moved it was so cold outside.  Yet, and here's the cool part, my feet were WARM!!!  Which is nice because if there is one thing most people say is that if your feet stay warm it helps a lot to keep going.

So, yeah, I can safely recommend Heat Holders for your foot warming needs, even in extreme cold and wind like it is up here right now!  I'm actually seriously thinking about buying myself a pair in women's sizes (I originally thought my husband would review these for me, but he's been so busy and working inside that he hasn't had time), as I know as soon as my husband tries these suckers out he's going to grab the pair I have.

Now I'm off to microwave my very cold cup of coffee and try to warm the rest of me up to the point of matching the heat coming from my feet.  Stay warm everyone!

Green Giant Frozen Vegetable and Make a Difference Campaign Review!

Okay, this is one of those Sparks that I got offered in the e-mail and I got so excited I literally sat and waited for the box to come in the mail and stalked (and no I'm not kidding) the tracking information on the package until I could go and pick it up at the Post Office.

What was the spark?  Welllll, it was a spark for Green Giant Frozen Vegetables!  I will never, ever in my life turn down free vegetables.  Seriously, I'm a vegetable addict.  I love them.  I can only think of two vegetables I really can't get a liking for and those I keep thinking I just need to cook differently (eggplant and Brussels sprouts to those who are curious).  So, to say I was excited at the prospect of getting free vegetables I was mega excited!

The kit that came in the mail was even better than I thought it would be.  I received five coupons for free vegetables, a Health and Fitness Journal, a gym bag and a water infuser bottle (you put the fruit or whatever in the middle holder thingie, screw it into the lid and then place it down in your water.  And voila!  Flavored water).  My favorite water so far to make is cucumber water, the health and fitness journal comes complete with food journal pages, which is great for my weight loss goals and the gym bag has become a craft bag (for the time being until my kids give me time to do this thing called work out).  So, yeah, this was one of those Sparks that was awesome because I have used literally everything that came in the kit and use them often.

I've been on a mission the last four months or so to lose 30 pounds.  Yeah, I know that's a lot of weight to lose, but my goal is to get back to my early college "fighting weight"...the weight I was at when I felt really GOOD about my weight and felt really healthy.  I've been taking it slow and implementing changes to my diet slowly but surely.  The big ones I implemented right away was eating more vegetables, cutting fried foods (like french fries) out of my diet and cutting out as much sugar as I could.  As it stands today I've lost 14 pounds toward my 30 pound goal.  I'm feeling a lot better than I was when I started, have gone down a pants size (back solidly into a size four :) and am feeling like I'm on track to where I want to be in the end.  And the best part about taking it slow, at least to me, is that once the weight comes off?  I'm planning on it STAYING off.

Vegetables are a big love of mine so when I got the coupons to try out the new Green Giant blends, I jumped at the chance.  The one I was the most excited about was the Healthy Weight blend as it contained edamame.  I LOVE that stuff and often eat an entire thing of the frozen edamame that you can steam in the microwave for a snack *ahem*.  So, anyway I got excited and bought two of the Healthy Weight blend.

We have now tried all the blends that we got and my opinion on them?  Well, honestly, I can see where the new Green Giant vegetable blends would be tempting to pick up and a lot of them are tasty (I've tried the other blends since I received the coupons from Green Giant as my husband has been out of town a lot and the boxes are a perfect size for a meal for one...at least in my portion size).  However, I wanted to warn people that while the blends have some cool veggie combos in them, the portions are tiny and don't really equate to MY version of a "heaping bowl of vegetables" (as they say on their site).  Like one box was enough for a small side dish helping of veggies for my husband and I and filled up about 1/2 of a standard cereal bowl.  At 2.50 a box up here in Alaska...that could get spendy for a medium to large family. 

Now, don't get me wrong as I'm not trying to dissuade you from buying these blends as some of them are actually pretty darn good, they steam in your microwave in minutes and are nice and convenient to have on hand for a quick side dish with dinner.  The Healthy Weight blend was pretty good for veggies that were ready to eat in a couple of minutes in the microwave and I liked how the veggies all came together in the blend and worked well with the sauce.   Out of all of them my favorite of the ones I bought had to be the Garden Vegetable Medley (I don't think this is one of the new specialty blends, but I just got a good combo of things when I was at the store I figured we'd eat).  The potatoes in that blend were awesome tasting.  My least favorite was the Healthy Vision blend.  I was so wanting carrots that night and was thrilled by the amount of carrots in the blend, but my taste buds just didn't jive on the combo of carrots with rosemary.  I just plain didn't like it, although the zucchini and the green beans in the blend tasted good.

Green Giant would like to help you with your weight loss goals as well if one of the roads you take to losing weight includes eating more vegetables in your diet.  You can check out more about their products and get some cool resources for losing weight on the Green Giant Make a Difference Website.

Will I be buying more of the Green Giant Vegetable blends in the future as I continue to work hard at losing weight and eating more vegetables in my diet?  Well I already picked up another box of the Healthy Weight Blend vegetables to eat for lunch the other day, have tried the other blends available and have two boxes of the Garden Vegetable Medley in my freezer right now (husband's request), so I would say that "yes" would be a good answer there.

Disclosure: The information and prize pack have been provided by General Mills and Green Giant® through MyBlogSpark.  The opinions of said products, however, are 100% mine.

Winner of the V Tech Go Go Smartwheels Airport Playset!

Okay, so I was finally able to get a chance to tally up all the entries over the blog, Facebook and e-mail and here are the results!

So, out of all possible 33 entries, the winner of the V Tech Go Go Smart Wheels Airport Playset is (via the great Random number Gods at Random.org!)...

#9, which is Rochell S. via Facebook 
who said "My kids would love this! Thanks for the chance!"

So, thank you to all who participated!  Rochell, please e-mail me at alaskanbargainhunter@gmail.com within the next 48 hours with your address so that I can pass it on to V Tech!

Once again thank you to all who participated in the giveaway!  And congrats, Rochell! 

EDIT:  After numerous tries to contact Rochell, I was unable to do so.  The new winner is Rory Z. via e-mail who said, "I'd love to win this for my grand daughter.  Thank you!" 

Rory has already replied and your prize should be off to you shortly, Rory!  Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway!
 

Tattler Reusable Canning Lids: Pink Lids to Help Raise Money for Cancer Research

Tattler, the makers of reusable canning lids, recently contacted me about a promotion that they would be holding during the month of October to help those suffering from the monetary suffering that often times comes with battling cancer.

The details?  Direct from the press release that they e-mailed me...

"On October 1, 2013, Tattler Reusable Canning Lids will begin a month-long campaign in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  We will be offering Special Edition TATTLER Reusable Canning Lids in the color PINK during the entire month.  More importantly we will be donating 35% of the sales proceeds from the PINK lids to the Women's Cancer Fund which provides financial assistance for supportive care, to women battling cancer, when other means have been exhausted.  We have researched and found this program to be very worthy and extremely beneficial to those who have sought support, and we encourage you to help us in our endeavor to help women battle this devastating disease."

So, you ask, how can you help?

Well, starting October 1st, you can go HERE and order your very own pink reusable canning lids! 

That's it!  You get some really awesome pink canning lids and you help the Women's Cancer Fund.  Simple as that.

Tattler, to help promote this worthy endeavor, was kind enough to send me a sample of the pink lids (as well as some of the original white lids to compare) and I used some of the pink lids to lid up some strawberry rhubarb jam (that I made with rhubarb from my garden, I'm proud to say).  The only thing I wish is that I'd gotten the lids sooner as I bet they would have looked completely stunning on the blue mason jars I bought earlier.  But, they sure did make my Elite Collection Mason jars pop!

I'm looking forward to canning more with these lids as I finish up my yearly canning exploits and I hope you will consider adding some to your collection as well to help and fund a good cause and to add something cool to your canning supplies while you do it.  After all, they canning lids are reusable for years to come and are PINK!  How can you go wrong there?

Disclaimer:  I would like to thank Tattler for their generosity for sharing their new pink lids with me ahead of the release date in return for doing this post.  The opinions stated in said post are 100% mine, however.

V Tech Go Go Smart Wheels Airport Playset Review and Giveaway!

So, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that this is the first time I've ever done a giveaway on the blog for a toy!  So excited =D.  Especially when it's such a cool toy!

So, what is the toy?  Well, it's none other than the VTech Go Go Smart Wheels Airport Playset.

Photo Source:  Amazon.com

What is the VTech Go Go Smart Wheels Airport Playset?  Well, let me give you the description straight from the V-Tech site...

"Welcome to the Go! Go! Smart Wheels™ Airport Playset by VTech®. Watch the airplane (included) or other Go! Go! Smart Wheels™ vehicles (each sold separately) interact with the airport's six SmartPoint™ locations teaching letters, sounds, music and more. Strengthen fine motor skills and enhance pretend play as you 'fly' the airplane around the cloud platform and along the tracks visiting the fuel station and other role-play elements along the way. The learning fun never ends with over 120 responses that include educational phrases, music and fun sound effects! The tracks can be reconfigured or connected to other Go! Go! Smart Wheels™ playsets (each sold separately) to encourage your child’s creativity. It's miles of learning fun!"

 My opinions of the toy (and more importantly my kids)?  Well, let me break down my experience for you.

The box got delivered to me at my front door and as I walked I heard weird noises coming from inside the box.  Sure enough when I opened said box the toy immediately started talking to me and didn't want to stop.  To say that I was worried that I'd have yet another possessed toy that wouldn't stop making noises until it was accidentally destroyed maliciously was a vast understatement.  You know...those toys that suddenly start freaking out in the middle of the night, make you jump through the roof and make you think of old 80's horror movies?  Yeah, I was worried I had one of those toys.

Luckily, thank the Good Lord, that wasn't the case.  Turns out the airplane that comes with the playset had gotten it's "demo" button jammed up under the box somehow and so every time the box made a small movement the toy would go off.  As soon as I removed the airplane from the box the creepy, "possessed toy" feature stopped.  I then flipped the toy around and discovered the off switch, which is always a beautiful feature for a parent to find, so at least I don't have to worry about the toy becoming possessed later and start going crazy in the middle of the night when batteries start draining.

So, anyway, I then set up the track, with some help from my enthusiastic daughter, and waited to see what would happen.  Honestly, I figured that my daughter would be the only one that would play with the toy.  You would not believe the amount of toys I've bought for my son in the hopes that he'd like them only to find out that he wanted nothing to do with them.  So, I wasn't holding out a lot of hope that my autistic little boy would go for this one.

And boy, was I surprised when he actually picked up that airplane, worked it around the track and laughed as it made noises and such!  And the novelty hasn't really worn off for him.  This is a kid that I can keep
engaged with a toy for...oh...I'd say for about a minute tops (unless said toy IS a top or something that spins), so I was shocked and ecstatic when he played with this toy for three minutes at a pop!

I have found that the toy has a great way to encourage my son to use his fine motor skills,which is always a plus, as he moves the airplane around the track.   And the cause and effect with the sounds the toy makes area always a plus as Alvah loves cause and effect toys, so that helps keep him focused for a bit longer.  I'm looking forward to getting a few more of the playsets soon so I can connect them together and see if a bigger playset will appeal to him as much as the one playset does.

Okay, so now for pros and cons.  So, to break down on pros....

1. This toy is easy to clean.  Which yes, that is a definitely good thing when you have a kid that spits as one of his favorite stims.
2. The toy is easy to take apart and put back together.   My six year old daughter has done it a couple of times when she decided to play with it in different areas.
3. Nice and chunky construction so I'm not concerned about Alvah sticking it in his mouth and wrecking it (oral motor issues).

Cons of the toy that I could find are:

1.  Like so many toys today due to the interlocking track and the ability to connect to other playsets, there are parts in this to you have to deal with.  So, this is another "need to put it in a bin when not in use" toy for us around here.  At least the parts are easily recognized, so hopefully they won't get lost.
2. The playset only comes with one vehicle, which has created some sibling rivalry issues between the kids on a couple of occasions.  Not that big of a deal as I'm hoping to get more playsets pretty soon, but I wanted to put that in there as an additional warning for you all as if you have multiple kiddos you will probably want to get a few more vehicles to avoid fights or make sure you tell kids that they'll have to take turns.

So, there you are folks!  Want to buy one of these babies?  Well you can get them through, The VTech Site and Amazon.com.

Want to try your hand at winning one instead?  Well, okay!

We will be giving away one VTech Go Go Smart Wheels Airport Playset to one lucky reader!  To enter is simple and you can do it two ways (and yes you can do both).

1.  Leave a comment after this post.
2.  Leave a comment on Facebook after the comment launching this giveaway (I'll also post reminders on Facebook as well).

In all cases please leave your e-mail so that I can contact you if you win or be sure to check Facebook regularly so you'll be able to get back to me if you win!

Also as an aside if the blog or Facebook don't get along with you or you don't like to use them you can also e-mail your entry by e-mailing me at alaskanbargainhunter@gmail.com.  This is a one time entry method, however, so no it's not a way to get a third entry.

The giveaway will run from today, Monday Sept. 16th and run through Monday Sept. 23rd.  On Tuesday, Sept. 24th I'll pick a winner via Random.org.  The winner will then have forty eight hours to get back to me or I'll be forced to pick a new winner.  This giveaway is open to legal residents of the US only.

Good luck and enjoy!

Disclaimer:  I received a VTech Go Go Smart Wheels Airport Playset for purposes of this review from VTech Toys.  VTech Go Go Smart Wheels Airport Playset provided to winner of the giveaway provided by VTech toys.  In short, I was compensated for this post, but the opinions on the toy are 100% mine.

Motor Oil Matters Part II: The Oil Change

Meet my baby.  Well, okay, ONE of my babies.  This is my 2008 Chevy Equinox.  This is the one car in my entire life that I took for a test drive, after my husband insisted I do so, and I looked at my husband seconds after pulling back into the dealership and said, "I WANT this car."

So, to say that I take the care of my car seriously is a vast understatement.

Well, this last weekend the oil meter in my car went off saying that I needed an oil change and sure enough those three thousand mile calcs I'd been doing in my head matched what the car was saying.  Unfortunately for me my husband was out of town, but luckily my mother-in-law was willing to help me field the kids.  So I went for it and started calling around to see who could get me in for an oil change.  And I ended up with the Chevy dealership being the only place that could fit me in on my limited schedule.

Okay, so I have this THING with dealerships.  Allow me to tell you a tale of woe and frustration.  Years ago I took my current car at the time in to the dealership for an oil change.  A week later the headlight went out and so I got a replacement bulb and went to put said bulb into said car (well okay my HUSBAND went to put the bulb in said car...me no mechanically inclined).  Only to find that my hood would not open.  At all.  It was stuck so tight it took my husband and I worked on the blasted thing for weeks to get it open and prayed (it being the middle of winter) that I didn't get pulled over by a police officer in the meantime asking why I had an out headlight.  When the hood, after much reaming and cussing was had, finally popped it was to find a cap for a container of oil had been left where the hood latch came down and when the hood had been closed at the last oil change the latch had jammed with that nice plastic lid fitting in there so snug.   I called just to let the dealership know what had happened and advised them to warn their staff not to do that in the future as they might end up wrecking someone's hood next time and ending up with a repair bill.  I thought I was being nice, but the dealership acted like something like that couldn't happen, that I was making the entire thing up in some ruse to get money out of them (which I never wanted money and didn't mention monetary anything in the conversation). 

And so, I hadn't been back to a dealership since.

So, to say that I wasn't THRILLED at the idea of getting an oil change at a dealership, especially since I was going in with a checklist of questions to ask, was a vast understatement.  But, I pulled into the dealership, got out of the car, went and checked the car in and then I pulled out the checklist and started asking questions.

And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

First, before I went to the dealership, I not only checked my owner's manual to see what type of oil was recommended for my car, but also checked the oil fill cap under the hood and loe and behold it was there in nice easy to read letters what type of oil my car needed (this picture was actually taken today when the sun was out because the other pictures were too wet and dreary looking).  The mechanic I talked to at the dealership said that in most modern cars the oil you need to use is indeed printed on the fill cap because the manufacturers want to make sure that if you need to add a quart of oil to your car in a, shall we say less than desirable set of circumstances, that you will immediately know what type of oil to put into your car.

Also, he gave me a good bit of information too.  If you are ever curious about what type of oil is put into your car, not only are you free to ask at any time, but you can also look at the sticker that they put up on your windshield (yes, this is my sticker and my "custom awesome graphics" added ;) with the date and mileage of your next expected oil change and there should be what type of oil they used for your current oil change right on the decal.

The little windshield sticky should also have what type of oil they put into your car on it as, not only a way to inform you as to what type of oil they put into your car, but to inform you what type of oil your car should have added to it (as seen above).

I know I sort of punted on where to get my oil changed for this and I have to apologize for that.  I mean if ANY place should know to use good quality oil for an oil change and what type of oil to use for said oil change a car dealership that sells your brand of car should definitely be in the "know" about these things.  But, at least I learned a bit in the process and got an oil change when I needed it to be done.  Which, as any busy parent knows, is worth its weight in gold!

Disclaimer:  The giftcards that were received by me and given away to a reader, as well as the information in the original post found HERE and the checklist mentioned in this post were all provided courtesy of Motor Oil Matters.

Winner of the 50.00 Prepaid Visa from Motor Oil Matters

I am so tired tonight. Ever had one of those evenings where you say what you don't mean because your mind jumps around too much and then next thing you know your husband is not talking to you? Yeah, that was my night tonight and thus why I'm not sleeping.

Anyway *shakes head* I figured since I'm up, that I can at least let you all know who the winner of the 50.00 prepaid Visa is from the kind folks at Motor Oil Matters!

Out of 52 people who entered by Blogger and e-mail (not sure why no one entered via Facebook...I figured that'd be the easiest way to enter, but no one bit...shows that a four year marketing degree won't get you far in guessing how people will react *laugh*) only one can win.

 Soooo.... The winning number (via our great random Gods at Random.org) was...

 51 or Roxanne F. (chakam@...)

Who said, "An oil change? What's that? Kidding. I'd love to win." I have e-mailed the winner, so Roxanne be sure to get back to me ASAP and get me your address so I can forward it on to our friends at Motor Oil Matters. Thanks to all who participated!

Motor Oil Matters Information and Giveaway!

 I recently got an e-mail from a representative of Motor Oil Matters (or MOM for short) and was asked if I could fill you all in about the organization, what they are all about, receive a 50.00 prepaid Visa to use toward my next oil change (more on that a minute) and offer one up for grabs to one of my readers to use on THEIR next oil change...well I responded and said, "Of course!  Auto maintenance is something that pretty much everyone has to deal with and I know that would be a good fit with my readers!"

So, what IS MOM all about?  Well Motor Oil Matters is what it is called, essentially.  MOM is a non-profit organization dedicated to making you aware of the oil that goes into your car, making sure you have the RIGHT oil getting put into your car at an oil change and making sure you get your oil change done at a reputable outfit.  Essentially, they give you the tools to go in with on your next oil change to make sure your car is getting the oil it needs, the right TYPE of oil it needs and that you don't get ripped off.

To make sure you’re aware of what questions to ask at your next oil change, MOM has provided this checklist.  I will be using said checklist when I go in for my oil change (I'll be doing a follow up post on how that all went) and I'm looking forward to seeing how my garage of choice fairs.

Here's a bit of information that MOM provided that you might find of interest.

• AAA expects between the major summer holidays of Memorial Day and Labor Day to aid over eight million motorists, and cautions drivers that auto maintenance is key to avoiding summertime travel breakdowns. Ensuring quality motor oil in your car is one way to prevent road trip problems.
• Motor Oil Matters, or MOM, a new consumer education and industry watchdog program by the American Petroleum Institute, has been established to stress the benefits of quality licensed motor oils and call on to the carpet those who engage in deceptive practices.
• Service-locators can be quick to offer discounted services to people who are looking to reduce their automotive maintenance costs.  Make sure your service provider is pouring quality motor oil into your car before you decide on a cheaper deal.

Here are a few links that you might find useful in your search for more information about MOM:

-          Motor Oil Matters website: http://bit.ly/jS1SU

-          Their Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/195O1H7

-          Their Twitter Page: http://bit.ly/19Y9Uaf

Motor Oil Matters has not only sent me a 50.00 prepaid Visa to use on my next oil change (with handy dandy provided checklist in hand), but they were also cool enough to offer up an extra one to give away to one of my readers to use on their next oil change as well (where I hope they too will go in with checklist in hand). 

To enter to win a 50.00 prepaid Visa (provided by Motor Oil Matters to the winner) you can enter one of three ways.  Comment after this post (which I know can be sort of hard with how finicky Blogger is), leave a comment on Facebook after the post about this giveaway or e-mail me at alaskanbargainhunter@gmail.com (note that numbers will be associated by Blogger entries first, Facebook second and e-mail third because that's how I check them).  

Please provide a valid e-mail where you can be reached in the following format...someone (at) somewhere (dot) com to avoid those evil little spam bots. 

 This giveaway will run from today July 10th, 2013 and run through July 17th, 2013.  On July 18th, 2013 I will pick a winner via Random.org.  The winner will have 48 hours to get back to me or I will pick another winner.  Open to US residents only.

Good luck!

Disclaimer:  The Motor Oil Matters information and gift cards have been provided by Motor Oil Matters.

Product Review: Betty Crocker Gluten Free Baking Mixes

Disclosure: The prize pack pictured herein was provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

 It has been a long time since I got an e-mail asking for me to review something, so when I first got the e-mail from MyBlogSpark saying that I had a new spark waiting for a yes or a no from me I was sort of in shock and hit the "I accept" button right away.  It's sad when you get excited over the prospect of your opinion being wanted.  But, I was excited at the prospect of trying the line of Betty Crocker gluten free mixes.

 Why?  Easy.  Even though I DO like to make pretty much everything myself, there are times when you just really do WANT the convenience of having a box of stuff ready to get thrown into a bowl, mixed with a few ingredients and shoved into your oven.  Especially when you have friends who eat gluten free for their health, like eating gluten free a lot for your own health and you are the ONLY one in your house that eats gluten free for their health.  I have gotten into the habit of making a recipe of gluten free pound cake from a tried and decent tasting recipe that I got years ago, but there is only so many times that you can pull the same cupcake from the freezer for this or that get together before things get...well...boring?

 So, I was excited to see what the new mixes would have in store.

 

General Mills through MyBlogSpark sent me a "baking kit" to get me underway.  Oddly enough, while the baking kit included a rolling pin, a pastry brush, a silicone spatula, a timer and a baking pan (seen above) it didn't include a coupon for a free baking mix.  

 But, not to be deterred, I went to the store to get a baking mix since I'd agreed to review one.  I wasn't thrilled when I saw the price on the gluten free mixes at the store, but decided to pick up the good old box of yellow cake mix to see what it had in store for me.  I went home, mixed up the cake according to package directions EXACTLY and waited to try the finished product.  Now, I even did this without checking the package nutrition label first (which, as anyone with any allergies in their house knows, that this is NOT easy to do) because I wanted to do this taste test "blind" to what was in it so I didn't bias the review by seeing that it had this or that in it.

Big disclaimer here.  I did NOT ice this cake before trying it.  I wanted to get a real and honest taste of what the cake tasted like without anything masking it.  So, this review is based on the cake and only the cake.

My opinion of the finished product is...well...it was OKAY.  Do not get me wrong.  I have had far worse cakes in my time made from mixes.  When I first went gluten free I actually had quite a few of them before learning the ins and outs of gluten free baking.  This was not on my, "I will never, under any circumstances, pick up this mix ever again" list.  I would buy this mix if I was pressed for time, had run out of my favorite gluten free flours or had a friend who really just wanted a boxed cake mix for their birthday or something.

But, in blunt honesty, even though the finished product tasted okay, it didn't taste good enough that I'd overlook the ingredient list (which I checked after eating a piece of cake) to buy it again and again as a guilty pleasure.  It, like every other gluten free mix on the market, is made with rice flour .  While they did a good job masking the gritty texture of the rice flour...it was still there and the cake just came out tasting sort of bland, very sweet, a bit gritty and crumbly and it had an aftertaste.  And I could taste the potato starch they used.  My husband used the term, "chemical tasting" when referring to the strange aftertaste, but I really think it was the potato starch.

 So, final summary.  This cake mix isn't terrible, but it's also not great in my opinion.  But, I'm biased toward home made baked goods.

Have you tried the Betty Crocker gluten free mixes?  What did you think of them?

Product Review: Cloud B Twilight Constellation Night Light

 Just a quick note:  I'm not an active Amazon.com Associate anymore for my own reasons.  I still use them and will link to them, but I won't be using associate links anymore.  So, feel free to follow the links as they'll just be general linking to Amazon links, no worries about me making money off of you or anything :).

I normally don't really do a lot of reviews on the blog, but honestly this experience was so hysterical I just had to share.

As anyone who knows and talks to me for more than two seconds would tell you, I don't get a lot of sleep.  I'm normally walking around looking like a glorified zombie most days, I can't remember the last time I really looked in a mirror to see how bad that problem has gotten.

The lack of sleep is due to my son.  See due in part to undiagnosed food allergies when he was younger (not for certain, but it's my theory) and the autism as he got older, my son has been on the newborn sleep cycle (two hours sleep, up one hour if I'm lucky, down for two more hours, etc) since he was born.  It has not been fun.

The result of this sleep deprivation has resulted in me buying pretty much anything mentioned on any autism site that says it MIGHT help autistic children to sleep.

Thus how I found out about the Cloud B Ladybug Twilight Constellation Night Light.  They recommended it as a means to help autistic kids to sleep (other than Melatonin,which didn't work with Alvah when I tried it, and I'm worried about trying different forms of it due to having to give him allergy meds every day.  Don't want any weird reactions occuring).

My husband was going to be going out of town for work this week, so I ordered the nightlight with a good week and a half to spare time-wise.  And waited with baited breath for it to come in.

The funny part comes in when my brain synapses finally connected AFTER I'd gotten and tried the light and I realized how very badly I'd misread my son.

First, I'd like to give my impression of the night light itself.  This night light is awesome.  Seriously, I'd have loved to have had this night light as a child.  The night light comes in the form of a stuffed lady bug (you can also order it in a turtle form I believe) and when you turn it on, which is easy to do, it projects stars all over the ceiling and walls.

Not only does it project said stars on the wall, but there's actual constellations that are projected, so you can teach your child about Leo the Lion and some other constellations (I'd name off the constellations for you, but my son chewed up the booklet it came with).  You can also choose between three colors:  red, blue or green.  The red is the most subdued of the colors, but the green and blue are very nice and bright and it's lit by LEDs so it stays cool.

My son was throwing a tantrum about going to bed the other night, so I turned the night light on (it even comes with batteries by the way) and left the room for a second to field my daughter.  The light completely freaked my son out at first because he didn't know where the lights were coming from.  When I heard the freaked out screams I quickly rushed back into the room to check on Alvah and placed the night light beside him on the bed and showed him how to turn the night light on and off and how to switch the colors with the easy to use buttons.  He immediately calmed down when I did that, so I went and read my daughter a bedtime story and figured that when I went back into his room he'd be asleep.

Dumb me.

See my son loves movement and colors.  So, of course, I go back into the room and he's switching colors on the night light from one color to another, bouncing the lady bug on the bed by his hyper active movements, which made it even better for him, and he was laughing like a maniac.  Since then it has become a favorite night time toy of his, but I can definitely say with utter certainty that it does NOT put him to sleep in any way shape or form.

On the other hand, my daughter has always been afraid of the dark and has slept with a light on most of her life (night light or other).  The first time she saw the lady bug night light she was enthralled and fell in love with it almost immediately.

So, in short, my son gets to play with the nightlight about an hour before bedtime and then it's put into my daughter's room to lull her to sleep at night (it's got a 44 minute auto shut off function on it too.  Very neat!).  So, while this experiment definitely back fired, it has helped my daughter's sleep be more peaceful so I can't really complain.

So, for non autistic kids I'd say this nightlight is a keeper.  For autistic kids...well know your autistic kid before you order this out of desperation or you might end up like me and having a new and interesting toy to play with instead of a sleep aid *laugh*.

Try Something New Saturday: Food Saver Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer

One of the disadvantages of food allergies and sensitivities around here is that I found that my food storage that I'd worked so hard to stock up over the years is that with cross contamination issues it was now COMPLETELY worthless to me.  So, I ended up giving it away.  Not a great situation to be in by any stretch of the imagination.

I canned what I could, but I really wanted to get more dehydrated foods back into my stockpile, but I wasn't sure how to go about it since you can't really CAN dehydrated items.  I mean I could buy some #10 cans from our local LDS cannery and borrow a canner, but do you know how long it takes to dehydrate enough to fill up a #10 can with food?  Well...it takes a while let's put it that way.  And I would still not be sure that the canner was free of wheat and other allergens (LDS are big on wheat as part of your food storage).  And my dehydrator suggested storing dried foods in the fridge or freezer for optimal storage because there weren't any preservatives added to prevent mold growth, which wasn't really what I was looking for.  So, what was a girl who really wanted to start storing dried foods again to do?

In steps the FoodSaver T03-0023-01 Wide-Mouth Jar Sealer.  I found this while looking up food saver bags on Amazon and decided to give it a shot, as if it worked it'd be an awesome addition to my "self sufficiency stockpile of food gadgets" (as I like to call it ;).

Shot of the jar sealer turned over.

So, how does this thing work?  Well, first, don't worry as this isn't a "lid" that you have to buy one per jar or something.  This IS actually a jar sealer that you remove after you vacuum seal the jar and move on.  So, that was an upper to my day.

What you do is this.  You first fill a mason jar with dehydrated foods (you can also use this on wet foods, but be sure to note that since you are NOT heat processing this is NOT a substitute for good old fashioned canning.  Put it in other words don't seal up a thing of tomato sauce and then stick it in your pantry or you are going to be in for BADDDDD news okay?  It can help to extend the life of your items in your fridge though).  Than, I had to learn this after about four tries and THEN reading the directions (because I work on a wide stupidity curve sometimes), make sure the ring to the mason jar is removed and the lid is placed on the jar right.  I actually add an Oxygen Absorber to my jars too just as some added insurance against food spoilage later on, right before I place the lid on the jar.  Then just take the Food Saver Jar Sealer and push it down over the lid and everything until tight.

Then, using the accessories attachment for your Food Saver (mine came with the tube and everything and I just keep it in the box) plug the tube into the Food Saver and into the Food Saver Jar Sealer lid, switch to the accessory setting and push your Food Saver down to activate it.  It takes a LITTLE bit longer than a normal Food Saver sealing cycle since it's sucking air from the jar, but the Food Saver will let you know when it's done.

Then take one end of the tube (I just use the one stuck into the jar sealer lid) and remove THAT not the Jar Sealer itself or it'll remove the mason jar lid with with and wreck your seal (remember it's vacuumed to the lid right now).  A little poof of air will escape, but don't panic that's not the vacuum seal escaping, it's just the seal between the jar and the Jar Sealer.  Remove the jar sealer from the mason jar (which is the most challenging part for me as I'm always worried I'm going to wreck the seal).

And voila!  You should have a perfectly vacuum sealed mason jar perfect for long term dehydrated food storage.

So, overall what is my opinion of this contraption?  I LOVE it!!!  I've been using my dehydrator constantly since I bought it (nothing like realizing you'll never have to throw out bananas again when you can just dry them before they go bad :), so this is just a perfect thing for me to have around.  Sure, my food storage will be in glass instead of metal cans for now, but I don't really care.  It's just nice to know if I want carrots in my soup and realize I don't have carrots in the fridge that I'll be able to reach for a can of dehydrated ones instead.

So, yeah, if you want to have a stockpile of dehydrated foods I'd get me a Food Saver (if you don't already own one...I honestly don't know many people who DON'T have one), a jar sealer and some oxy absorbers and you'll be ready to rock!

Oh and as an aside I LOVE that you can seal the jars again and again too.  In the picture is a jar of dehydrated oranges that I'm slowly working on filling and I just seal up the jar in between dryings so that the food stays fresher.  Very cool stuff!

Enjoy!

Product Review: Mini Pops Popped Sorghum

 Okay, so I have finally found a product that is as good as sliced bread!  Okay, not really apples to apples, but how about this.  I finally found a product that is as good as popcorn, but NOT corn!!!

Recently I asked people on Facebook if they knew of a good alternative to popcorn as my son used to eat popcorn like a champ (until, of course, we found out he was allergic to it).  One of our readers was super awesome enough to point me toward Mini Pops Popped Sorghum as an alternative.  So, desperate to find my son some alternatives that would work to replace the few snack foods he'd eat, I ordered some online.  And so, today, trying to get my sick kiddo to eat something resembling food, I popped some.

The website proclaims that you can make the Mini Pops the EXACT same way you'd prepare popcorn, but to keep your batches small because the less amount you make the more the sorghum will pop (although, unlike popcorn you can eat the un-popped kernels and they won't break your teeth).  So, I prepared it exactly like I would home make popcorn (since I ordered the "home pop" mini pops).

It took me a couple of tries to get this right.  The "kernels" (as I'm calling them) are smaller then popcorn kernals and are a lot less hard, so it doesn't take as long to pop them, for one, and for two the sound of the popping is a LOT softer, so you have to sort of stick yourself to your microwave to make sure you don't burn the sorghum.  I burned about 2 batches before I got it right. 

Finally I was rewarded with this.

Ain't it cute?  It's mini "popcorn"!!!

For the 1/4 cup of "kernels" I popped this is how much popped sorghum I ended up with.  Now normally in popcorn terms 1/4 cup of popcorn would have filled the entire bowl with popcorn, as a comparison. 

But, here's the exciting part.  This stuff LOOKS like popcorn, albeit mini popcorn (yes with my son that is an important point of interest). 

And the most important part?  The sorghum TASTES like popcorn!  I kid you not!  I brought it to the kids and told my daughter it was "mini popcorn" and she proclaimed it "cute" and proceeded to eat it like a champ and my son, my "I will eat nothing new that you present before me" son took a kernel and popped it in his mouth.  And he, get this, went back for MORE!!!  Now just to show that I did NOTHING to the sorghum all I popped it in was a bit of home made popcorn salt (kosher salt put through a coffee grinder) and some olive oil and once it was out of the microwave I added a tiny bit more salt.  That's it! 

I've so far made another 1/4 cup batch of this as the kids devoured the first batch, but the nice thing about this stuff too is that you don't need to eat as much as with popcorn to feel full.  I LOVE the taste of popcorn and I've found light snacking on this gets the job done for me in the "feeling full" department.  And it's good for you!

And, can I admit, that I was super duper mega excited to find that their white cheddar cheese sorghum contains cheese powder that is JUST cheese powder and doesn't contain garlic (my son LOVED cheese flavored snacks before the garlic allergy :)!!!!  I put in an order for 3 bags of that along with another 3 lb bag of the home popping sorghum (to go with the 2 lbs I already have) to make sure I'm all stocked up for a little bit :).

I am so very delighted with this product that I just HAD to share.  Finding an alternative to popcorn, a gluten and corn free alternative that TASTES good, and an alternative that also sold a cheddar cheese "popcorn" that didn't contain garlic just put me over the MOON today!

So, yeah, if you are looking for a good alternative to popcorn due to allergies or intolerances, I'd DEFINITELY recommend this product!

Enjoy!

Product Review: Ghirardelli Milk and Truffle Chocolates

Image Source: Ghirardelli Website.

Have I mentioned my love of Shespeaks recently?  I've tried some pretty cool products through them over the last year or so and this time was no different.

Shespeaks recently sent me a bag of Ghirardelli's newest flavor of chocolates to try, Milk and Truffle.  I decided to write a review on these because they really did make an impression on me enough to want to share.

Okay, how to put this without seeming like a chocolate crazed oddball....ummm...I tried them and didn't want to share?

Yeah, that pretty much covers it.

I DID share though.  I gave some to my daughter to try, who loves chocolate (me normally?  Not really a chocolate fan unless it's DARK chocolate, so that's saying something for how good these suckers were...at least to me :) and she loved them.

I ended up eating some and then finding myself hiding them so my husband wouldn't eat them (how sad am I?) and I finally decided that my waist line did NOT need anymore of them so I gave the last few to my mother-in-law to spread out amongst the chocolate loving women in the family.

All I can say is if I ever get a chocolate craving and these are on sale and/or reduced....man I'm in trouble ;).

Skin MD: A Review...

When the makers of Skin MD offered me a full sized bottle of their product, and one to one lucky blog reader, I was enthusiastic to try the product. I have horribly dry skin in the winter and with my son having infintile eczema, I was curious to see what this stuff would do for me. I was pleasantly surprised.

As soon as I put the lotion on my hands, I noticed a couple of things. For one, it absorbed QUICKLY into the skin (a plus when you're a parent). And two, it didn't leave any nasty greasy residue. And when I got my hands wet when my keys fell into the snow on my deck, my hands didn't immediately resemble a grease slick. It was a nice change of pace compared to other moisturizers.

I liked Skin MD a lot. Now it didn't soften my skin immediately, but it sure did seem to almost adhere to the skin so that my hands didn't immediately dry out after a couple of hours. And the one scar that I have on my eyebrow that is slowly but surely resulting in a nasty wrinkle as a result of the scar seemed to tighten up and fade a lot, which was a plus for me (it's one of those things you notice but no one else does types of deals, but for me it was a bonus that I noticed the change).

My hands seem softer and actually tougher after nearly a week of using the lotion. Tougher in that after doing the dishes my hands aren't immediately stinging like mad from the dry skin and wanting to crack on me. They feel like normal "summer hands" (as I like to call it) to me. I'm super impressed with that because I've tried everything from Aquaphor to Vaseline Intensive Therapy, but those haven't had THAT type of result for me. Also, there isn't any nasty "mediciny" smell to this lotion either. You put it on and you would never know to smell your hands that it is there.

So, there you go folks. An honest to goodness opinion on this product. If you'd like to try and win a free full sized bottle of this product (since the makers were nice enough to offer one to one of you lucky people) GO HERE to join!

Pebble.com, a review

I don't know how many of you have ever used Pebble.com, but if you haven't...allow me to share the site with you.

You can use Pebble.com two different ways. You can go there and ask a question of the staff on a certain product you want to purchase and someone will answer your question (like for instance someone I talked to had asked if they could puree a certain viscosity in a certain food processor without danger of messing up the engine. The answer they got? No. But it was good to know before they went out and bought it :-). You can also share YOUR knowledge of products with others if they have a question that you have an answer to.

You can also use it to compare prices on appliances and other things that you are thinking of buying. I haven't used this feature on this site or really many other sites period because with shipping to Alaska we all know the "sticker price" on an item is 99% of the time misleading.

I DID use Pebble.com to look up my fridge that we were having an issue with a while ago and found that someone had already asked the question and gotten an answer, so I just read that. The answer was that it was covered by manufacturer warranty, we contacted the manufacturer and voila got it fixed. Easy peazy.

What did I like about the site? I liked how easy the site was to navigate (there is a "search" field...plug in question or product...easy. I liked how there is a question field on EVERY single product page for you to ask anything you want to know about (making things wayyyyy easier than trying to find that blasted "contact us" link all the time). I liked how the staff answered questions quickly (I didn't ask a question myself, but the person's answer I read who had the same question as me? Their question was answered within hours) and they answer them in a way that is VERY easy to understand (which with my brain capacity on no sleep sure did help out when I needed it). Other users can also answer your questions so you can get honest to goodness feedback on an item quickly and you can put in your two cents on something if you know the answer. I wish I had used this for my vaccuum cleaner...I would never have bought it if I had talked to other parents who had to vaccuum up cheerios first.

I would suggest checking out Pebble.com the next time you have a question on a certain item you are thinking about purchasing or if you want to compare prices quickly and in one spot.

Remember...you can never been TOO educated when shopping for a product. That's why I honestly wanted to mention this site. Because in this economy, "buyer beware" is becoming more and more of an issue and trying to "return" a defective item or one that doesn't match your expectations is becoming harder and harder (for instance? unless the item is defective, Target will charge you a restocking fee on electronics...I'm not sure about appliances, but I'm pretty sure that falls under there too, Wal-Mart only lets you return electronics for 15 days...you get the idea).

So, go educate yourself and share your knowledge!

Join "Kraft First Taste" for cool products and more!

Noooooo, I'm not being paid to advertise for "Kraft First Taste" (I wish I was *sniff*), but I am a fan. I've been able to try various product through them (I got a higher value coupon for "Digiorono Flatbread melts" and "Deli Creations Sandwiches" when I first joined) and got 2 Velveeta Shells and Cheese cups free with a coupon from them about a month or so ago. I'm waiting with baited breath for their next campaign =).

The reason I'm bringing this up, is that until September 1st (I just logged in today...I've been busy so I haven't had time before now) there is a contest you can enter once a day to win a 100.00 grocery card! So, if you are looking for the potential to win free groceries, go and join now and enter to win! And get free stuff offers for joining too! Bonus!

Product Review for today...

Yes, I know a lot of other sites out there do product reviews, but I just wanted to do this one because right now it is hitting close to home. I am coming down with a head cold (or my sinuses are bothering me because Spring is here...I can't really tell...either way my body is telling me about it). So, to assauge my sore throat I went to my stockpile of drink mixes by my microwave and reached for my stand-by when I am sick; Traditional Medicinals Organic Lemon Echinacea Throat Coat. Yes, I know that's a mouthfull to say, but trust me this stuff is great. Now, before anyone says something about me being a granola-crunching-organic-lover...actually I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on organic stuff. I have noticed that since getting into couponing I'm using a LOT more organic products because those companies seem to offer the best deals on products a lot, but otherwise, no I don't really care if I use only all organic things in my household.

The reason I like this tea is because, for me at least, it has shown results and tastes GOOD (I'm not usually a big tea drinker..unless it's iced). The Organic Throat Coat actually does feel like it coats your throat when you drink it and the lemon flavor in it helps to clear congestion. It sure does help to relieve sore throats for me. I'm not sure what the scientific results are about echinacea tea, but I find it does help me to get over a cold faster too.

Anyway, I just thought I'd put in my two cents on this product and oh GOODY!!! I just found a 1.50/2 coupon in my package! BONUS!!!!