Product Review: Scentsy Pot

One of the favorite gifts I received this Christmas was a Scentsy Pot. These little pots have a light bulb inside them and a wax holder on top, and when you turn the pot on and melt the wax in the top, they release any variety of scents.

Now admittedly, there are a zillion scent-releasing items available to shoppers today. Anything from scented candles to tea-light pots that also melt wax to outlet plug-ins. So let me list why I like my pot so much.

1. It doesn't get hot--which is really nice, considering I have two little boys under five years old who are endlessly curious about any new thing mom gets. This is one of Scentsy's biggest boasts: the pot doesn't get hot enough to burn. Don't ask me how they manage this. But I'll verify that though the outside of the pot gets warm, it doesn't burn. Even the melted Scentsy wax isn't hot enough to burn.

2. It doesn't use a candle. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to make our house smell pleasant by using a scented candle of some sort. It doesn't matter where I put the candle or what type of candle I use, one of my boys will find a way to play with it. They'll climb on the table to get it or dump the melted wax into one of their play dishes. My eldest even singed the hair on a couple of his stuffed animals once. No, I am not a bad mom who doesn't watch my kids and lets them play with fire. It's just that a candle is far too fascinating for little boys, and the second mom's back is turned, they're into it.

3. It scents the entire downstairs of our house. Granted, our house isn't very big. But even with the pot plugged in the kitchen at the back of our house, I walk in the front door and smell it.

4. The scent lasts a long time. I've used scented wax before, and it always seemed that the wax would loose its scent long before the wax evaporated. I haven't noticed that with the Scentsy brand wax. I'm sure it will eventually loose its scent; it would have to. But I've been using the scents for about a month, switching them alternately back and forth, and I haven't thrown any wax out yet.

An interesting variable: I picked up some cheaper wax from WalMart ($2 for a brick with six cubes). I wanted to see if the pot got hot enough to melt all waxes, or if I had to use only the Scentsy brand. The pot melted the wax and released a wonderful aroma. However, the melted Walmart wax is hotter than the melted Scentsy wax. If a young child dipped his or her fingers in the wax, it might burn for a couple seconds, though I doubt it would do more than leave a red mark. Also, the Walmart wax seemed to loose its scent quicker than the Scentsy. After two days time, had to replace the wax, though that still comes out to paying under a quarter a day for the scent.

Scentsy sells its products through home-based sales representatives (similar to Mary Kay). If you want more information or to get in contact with one of their sales reps, go to their website Scentsy.net. And as I'm writing this post at the table, my kitchen is filled with the wonderful aroma of Black Raspberry Vanilla. Thank you Scentsy.

Tomorrow I'll be announcing the winner of a free ebook copy of Dina Sleiman's Dance of the Dandelion. If you haven't stopped by that post and left a comment and email address, be sure to do so, and you'll be entered in the contest. Otherwise, have a wonderful weekend!

Product Review: Crayola Story Studio

For Christmas this year, my five-year-old son received Crayola's Story Studio Spider-Man Comic Book Maker. The set came with colored pencils, printer paper, and an access code so that we could log onto the Crayola Story Studio website and make comic books.

I wasn't sure how the "comic book making" would go. After all, my son is only five, and the package said ages six and up. But in short, he LOVED it. It's probably been his favorite present so far.

The coolest thing about the story studio is that it allows you to insert your own character into the story. And you literally get to build this character, which means you can not only name the character after your child, but you can build him to look somewhat like your child as well.

The site also features a photo upload to build your character. Just a warning, but the photo/character look-alike doesn't come out the way it appears on the advertising. Uploading your child's photo only gives you a basic head shape and nothing else. You still have to build your character from scratch. This wasn't an issue for me or my son, who wanted a character with crazy hair and who wears a crown, not one who looks exactly like him. But I've read some reviews where parents were pretty miffed about the character not looking close enough to their child when all was said and done.

So how does the site work? It essentially gives you a series of choices. You pick the shape of your character's head, then his hair, eyes, mouth, ears, super power, cape, boots, etc. Then you pick your bad guy, and you get a nine page story based on the bad guy you've picked. Inside the story, most pages offer things you can change. So your child chooses whether the Green Goblin gets trapped by a web or a cage, whether Spider-Man stands in front of a car or rocket ship.


After you're finished, you can save, download, and print the story. The cover prints in color, and everything else is black and white. Nine pages of comic book is a LOT for a five year old to color. I doubt he'll ever color one of the stories completely. But he's still thrilled to have a story he created. As you can well imagine, we already have a story featuring my oldest, Nathanael, and my youngest, Jeremiah.

You can purchase stories for boys or girls. My son received the Spider-Man one, but Cars and Fairy Tale Princesses are also available, with Barbie and Star Wars coming soon. The site allows you to save ten characters and ten stories to it, and you can delete these stories as you save to the computer. Overall, I'm pleased with this product, and I'm thinking my son will enjoy the $10.00 present for a long time to come. Because it's pretty cool to put yourself into a story with your favorite super hero. :-)

You Need A Budget Software Review

My first year of marriage, I was still in school and we made a total of $21,000/yr. and every month I worked to keep the check register above zero. Then I got a job teaching and made $34,000/yr by myself and STILL had to keep the check register above zero. When I noted that after a few months I knew something was wrong.

I first used Larry Burkett's Crown Financial Envelope system and photocopied pages, but that got cumbersome and complicated when I was trying to keep track of small temporary things I was saving for. And just last year, I did Dave Ramsey--good information--but the budget system was similar to Burkett's and I'd never change from my budget software (YNAB or You Need A Budget) which I've been using for over 5 years.

It practices one tenet that neither Larry Burkett or Dave Ramsey seem to advocate--living on last month's money. If you don't make a set amount of money, I believe it is a must! And even though my income doesn't change much anymore, I still wouldn't change back to living on the money I'm making today.

Here's a video on the 4 rules YNAB teaches, including living on last month's income:


This software does cost $60 but it is very worth it. If you do a paper copied budget, it will save you paper and ink cost, and that alone becomes worth it after a year or two, but it makes working with your budget so much easier and takes less time and time is money, right? When I've counseled people about their finances and realize they have no money, I still recommend that they find the $60, because if they use this system, they'll save that money easily.

If your budget is frustrating or not working well or you don't have one--You Need A Budget!

The only con I have with this software is its reports. I hardly have a need for the reports, but the few times I've wanted to use it, it's not that great, it has set reports for you to look at and isn't very customizable. Also, I'd like to print my transactions for an entire year, but you have to print them all which when you've used this for several years, that's annoying. But, that said, the reports being as they are, I still recommend it highly, plus the guy behind it always takes suggestions and one of these days he'll take mine, right?

So, how has the budget software helped me? Staying home, we now make less than when I was a teacher, but we adjusted easily with the help of this software. Instead of having to be careful to keep my check register above zero, I normally have heart flutters if it's below one month's budget which is a little over a couple thousand dollars, however with the third rule, the heart flutters are minimal because I know even if I messed up, I can easily recover without worrying about incurring fees or bouncing checks or anything of that sort. But I rarely have those heart flutters because I normally have much more money than that since I now save for my auto tags instead of letting those "surprise" and bankrupt me, and I know exactly how much money I can spend on clothing if I go shopping on a whim without hurting my ability to pay the bills.

Seriously, you should get it unless you have a good, easy-to-track budget system in place that is helping you meet your money goals.

(You can watch more than one account with the software, so I run my business budget and home budget with the same software.)

Chicken or Beef, The Choice Is Yours!

Two great recipes to choose from! Today's recipe post features KerryAnn Foster's Cooking Traditional Foods Menu Mailers. These two recipes are just a tantalizing temptation to what can be found in her menu mailers. I have subscribed to KerryAnn's menu mailers in the past and they are wonderful helps. The thing that I love most about KerryAnn's recipes is knowing that healthy meals don't have to take all day to make nor do they have to taste like cardboard! She offers gluten-free options on her menus as well as casein-free options for those sensitive to dairy.

• • Apple and Maple Chicken

    
    Tuesday Serves 4-6
    Hands-on: 25 minutes
    Hands-off: 20-40 minutes

    
    
    2-3 apples, sliced
    1 cup plus 2 Tbs coconut oil, melted
    ½ cup white or apple cider vinegar
    ¼ cup lemon juice
    scant 3 Tbs Dijon mustard
    2 garlic cloves, chopped
    2 tsp dried basil
    2 tsp dried oregano
    1 tsp salt
    ¼ tsp pepper
    1/3 to ½ cup maple syrup or honey
    1 onion, sliced
    1 whole chicken, cut up, or 4 breasts or 8 thighs, bone-in and skin-on
    
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish, scatter apples in dish and set aside. In a blender, combine the 1 cup oil, vinegar, lemon, mustard, garlic, basil, oregano, ½ tsp salt, pepper and maple syrup. Blend until well combined, taste and adjust seasonings if needed, and set aside.
    
    Sprinkle the remaining salt over the chicken breasts. In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt the remaining 2 Tbs coconut oil. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove

    
    from the pan. Place the chicken skin side down and brown for 4 minutes. Flip the chicken over and brown for another 4 minutes. Transfer pieces to the baking dish and sprinkle the onion over top. Pour the reserved sauce over all. Place in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes for a whole chicken, 30-40 minutes for breasts alone, 40-50 minutes for thighs, or 20-25 for cubed, boneless, skinless breasts.
    
    Serve over rice with sautéed greens.

    And for the beef lovers, here's one for you!

    
    

    Sweet and Sour Beef Stew

    
    

    Saturday Serves 4-6

    Hands-on: 20 minutes
    Hands-off: 1 ½ hours
    
    2 Tbs coconut oil, butter, ghee or tallow
    1½ lbs beef stew meat, cubed
    2 onions, sliced
    2 carrots, shredded
    1 cup tomato sauce
    ½ cup beef stock
    ¼ cup rapadura
    ¼ cup vinegar
    1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
    1 tsp salt
    1 Tbs cold water
    2 tsp cornstarch
    
    In a Dutch oven or stock pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the stew meat and brown on all sides, in batches if necessary. Stir in the onion and carrot and sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, stock, rapadura, vinegar, Worcestershire and salt. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1½ hours or until the meat is

    
    tender.
    
    In a small bowl, whisk the cold water and cornstarch until smooth. Stir into the stew and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.
    
    Serve over noodles.

Cooking Tradiditonal Foods has a giveaway going on right now, ends Oct 31, 2011, in which you can enter to win a year's subscription to the Menu Mailer and the Recipe Archive. Besides subscriptions, CTF has e-Books for sale including Kid's Favorites.

KerryAnn Foster runs Cooking Traditional Foods, the longest running Traditional Foods Menu Mailer on the internet. She has over nine years of traditional foods experience and is a former Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader. CTF was founded in 2005 and helps you feed your family nourishing foods they will love!

Product Review: Skytex E-book Reader

Earlier this year I was planning on purchasing a Nook to help us with homeschooling (I've got a huge bookshelf inside my PC). I was looking at the black and white, thinking that I'd save a few bucks and that we really didn't color anyway!
However, Providence intervened and I was given a very unexpected and much appreciated gift last month, a Skytex Primer.

I really love my e-reader by this point. I think that I've read more in the last month than I probably have in the previous 6 months. It just makes it much easier for me to read. No bookmarks to get pulled out by the toddler. No paper pages to be torn by inquisitive little hands, or colored on... I never thought that I would be the one using it so much! But so far, I'm the only one using it! I have had difficulty in finding free downloads of books that I'm interested in though!

The Skytex is color too. Wow, I really like having color! I have loaded a few photos on it and the picture quality is very good. (just remember, I have no point of comparison, so someone who owns another e-reader should share their experiences in the comments section!) The screen size is 7 inches. It is not as thin as the Kindles I have seen.
The e-reader comes with a protective cover, wall charger, head set, auto charger and mini-USB cable. The one drawback is that the instruction manual is lacking. It only gives instructions on how to start it up and plug it in. For this techno-challenged mama, I'd appreciate a bit more! However, there is a youTube tutorial that walks you through the steps of loading e-books onto your reader.

There is no browser with the e-reader, so you have to download your e-books to your PC then load them onto your e-reader. If this isn't a problem for you, if your like me, saving some money is more important that having an browser on your e-reader, then I would highly recommend this e-reader!

Details:

• 2 GB Internal Memory
• Micro SD card support (up to 16 GB) *available for separate purchase
• USB 2.0 to link to your PC (for drag-and-drop loading of media files)
• Plug & Play design compatible with PC and Mac
• Supports eBook formats including: PDF, TXT, ePub, HTML and Irc
• Supports Audio/Video Formats: MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC MKV, AVI, RM, RMVB, VOB, DAT, MP4, FLV, 3GP
• System requirements: USB 2.0 Win7 / Vista / WinXP / 2003 / 2000
• One year limited Warranty on parts and labor

Two Product Reviews for the Home~

It seems like it's been awhile since I have been responsible for a "home" blog and although I have moved to a new place and been busy with all entailed, I found myself lacking in inspiration. That was until this morning, when I was so disappointed in a new purchase! Eureka! Product reviews were born.

Casa Bella, BeCool Silicon Ice Trays, purchased at Function Junction in Crown Center, Kansas City ($12.99 for a pkg of two)

Rating: 2 Stars :(

I was elated when I saw these ice 'trays' in the store! I am an ice eater, but full size ice cubes are hard on the teeth and I am usually most happy with restaurant or convenience store ice that is small and less than bite size. Obviously at home, these sources are useless. These were in the 'bar' section of this great store, so possibly intended for mixed drinks, etc.

I have had success with silicon products in the past, including baking 'pans', pot holders, condiment bowls, etc. So I was excited and expecting a great experience. This was not the case after all.

The cubes are about half inch square and nearly impossible to remove from the tray. I guess this may be because they are so small, but it takes a great deal of time and energy to extract a tray/glass worth, which of course leads one to think you may not bother after awhile. Also, when I do get them out, it requires touching almost every cube with my fingers, so clearly using these for guests is out!

Disappointed!

The Automatic Robo Stir (As Seen on TV)
Purchased at Dollar General ($9.99)

I was sooo excited about this gadget, I bought two! One for my best friend and one for me. Alas, fool me twice. :/ Rating: 1.5 Stars (Danger)

Once again I am full of hope and optimism, thinking I have found something absolutely amazing for my kitchen! Why didn't it occur to me, "This thing has been on tv, and yet I have not heard about it...from anyone!" Ho hum.

As you can see from the photo, the idea is three prongs that act as stirrers, while the battery operated handle, vibrates and turns while you go about your business, stirring your pot for you. The tips of the prongs are silicon as well as the top where you handle it, which also houses the battery compartment.

Problem #1: No power. I had this in about an inch of soup, somewhat thick, but certainly not the thickest..and only an inch!! Almost immediately, on the highest setting, it was clear this was not going to work. It was barely moving and certainly not spinning around the bowl as advertised or imagined.

Problem #2: Foiled again, I reached to remove it from the soup. When I did, the silicon handle slid right off in my hand, dropping the still vibrating battery compartment into my soup, with exposed batteries, wires and plastic! It vibrated away, on an open flame, while I tried to fish it out!

Soup ruined. RoboStir vibrating in the trash.

*******
Sorry to be such a negative Nancy, but I couldn't think of any new home purchase I have made that I could rave about today! At the very least, I am happy to have broadcasted the warnings on these two. :)