Nose Frida

 Okay first and foremost, my child is now 7 years old and is a bit too old for this product.  HOWEVER, we did use it when she was a baby and a toddler.   So I will be speaking from that perspective.  

So you know when your baby/toddler gets a cold and their poor little noses get so stuffed up and crusted with BOOOOOGGGGGIIIIIEEEEEESSSS..... ehhhh sorry I got a little carried away there.  Boogies, snot, boogers, mucus, whatever you want to call it.  They toss and turn all night and cry and all that not so great stuff.  Well in walks this awesome product (albeit slightly gross, okay a lot gross) called the Nose Frida.

The Nose Frida is comprised of a cone like shaped tube.  Think of the shape of a chunky Crayola crayon.  It has a sponge filter that hooks to a tube.  Now here comes the gross part.  You take the pointed end of that tube and put it in one of your child's nostrils.  You take the other end and put it in your mouth.  Yes, you read correctly.  Then you proceed to suck the snot out of your child's nose like your are sucking drink from a straw.  It is the grossest thing ever.  But it works!  It sucks that snot right out.  

Pros:
It works

Cons: 
The little ones hate it.  Mine screamed and cried and thrashed about a lot!
It's gross, but if you can get past that tidbit, you're golden
The filter can fail.  (I learned that the hard way.  The filter failed on me once, but it was a hard booger that was sticky and gooey and did not want to come out, so more than normal suction was applied lol).  
Sometimes, it gets things flowing and an avalanche of snot will pour out of your child's nose, but that can be a plus.

Bottomline:
If you can get past the gross part, this product is a winner.  It gets the job done.  

Caron Cakes

If you don't like/use yarn, you might not have a need for this review. Plus, I'm fairly biased on this one. Just a heads up.  

If you know me, you will know I love yarn.  My yarn stash has probably reached S.A.B.L.E levels.  SABLE stands for stash accumulation beyond life expectancy.  I love yarn.  Buying yarn makes me extremely happy.  I love the bright colors, the different textures, the squishiness, and most important all the possibilities.  In 2014, my friend, Amanda, got me into loom knitting.  In 2018, I FINALLY got a handle on crocheting.  In 2017, my friend, Rhi, and I went craft store hopping.  Rhi is an exceptionally talented fiber artist. She knits and crochets amazing pieces of art.  Yes, crochet and knitting are considered art. So we were at Michaels looking around.  We saw this product called a Caron Cake.  Caron is a yarn brand that is owned by parent company Yarnspirations.  Yarnspirations also produces all Caron products, Red Heart (recently acquired), Bernat, so on and so forth.   

Let's backtrack for a moment.  If you loomknit, crochet, or knit with needles, then you know what huge pain it can be to color change.  The process by itself can be daunting at times, not to mention extra ends to weave in.  Ugh!  The latter is my least favorite part of it all.  Caron Cakes line of yarn are a self striping type of yarn in the shape of a "cake".  They don't look like a typical skein of yarn.  Sometimes they have colors grouped together that you would never think of combining.  Being the "lazy" fiber artist that I am, I loved this idea.  I bought my first three Caron Big Cakes (4 weight, 603 yards, 100% acrylic).  I made my first ever loom knit shawl. I followed LoomaHat's video on YouTube for the triangle prayer shawl.  

From that point, my obsession with self striping yarn intensified.  Caron produced several other types of cakes to their cake lines (and continues to do so).

I'm probably missing  quite a few but as far as I know off the top of my head there are:

Caron Cakes
Caron Big Cakes
Caron Sprinkle Cakes
Caron Chunky Cakes
Caron Tea Cakes
Caron Anniversary Cakes
Caron Cupcakes
Caron Chunky Cupcakes
Caron Skinny Cakes
Caron Cotton Cakes
Caron Baby Cakes
Caron Latte Cakes
Caron Lava Cakes
Caron Marble Cakes
Caron Angel Cakes
Caron Funnel Cakes
Caron Ripple Cakes
Caron Cinnamon Swirl Cakes
Caron Blossom Cakes
Caron Cloud Cakes
Caron Crystal Cakes

I know for a fact that there are some that I am missing. I love Caron Cakes.  It is to be noted that Caron Cakes is an all inclusive term to describe all the cake types, and is also a the name of one of the products in the Caron Cake line of products. 

I'm not even going to do a pros and cons list.  There is really only one con.  This con, however, is marketing genius.  They have figured out the secret to make customers purchase their products.  Their products are fairly seasonal.  Not all of the products are available year round.  And the really sucky part, is they discontinue colorways quite frequently.  This means that if you see a colorway/type of cake that you love, you better snatch up at least 6 minimum in order to ensure you have some when you get to the point of using it.  That's kind of how my yarn stash grew so big.  Sadly for me, I can no longer at this moment in time purchase anymore yarn.  I have a friend that was helping me organize my disaster of a craft room; she has dictated that I am no longer allowed to buy any yarn.  Yes, I am an adult and I am capable of doing whatever I want, but  I love my friend and I'd rather not find out what happens if I were to cross her lol.  She's not wrong, I really don't need to buy anymore, although it is killing me because they just came out with new colorways in the Latte Cakes.  Annnnnndddd I love the Blossom Cakes.  I wish I had purchased more of those before being "banned" from purchasing anymore yarn lol

I would like to add, that while the majority of my stash is comprised of Caron Cakes, I do use other yarn.  I'm not a total yarn snob.  I just have my favorites, but I will use other brands as well.  

Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker

 

Okay so when we see the words Mr. Coffee, we automatically associate that with coffee right?  I mean it's in the freaking name.  I guess brands expand out.  It just seems slightly sacrilegious to me.  But I digress.  I'm not much of a coffee drinker anyway.  But tea, YES PLEASE!!!!!! When I lived with my parents, my mama was constantly stocking the fridge with iced tea.  I bet I could go through a gallon or almost a gallon of that stuff a day.  I will say this, nobody and I mean nobody can make tea like my mama.   I drank so much tea growing up that I have the yellow tea stained teeth to prove it lol.  

Anyway, this was a Christmas gift.  I love tea.  I hate the process of making tea.  So this initially seems like a great idea.   I also hate spending a fortune on 20oz soda and water from the drink machine at work.  

First step, "dumpster dive" for a table to set the sucker on.  Check!  

So upon unboxing it, I was a little skeptical.  The plastic is flimsy and the machine is small.  I was expecting something studier akin to my Hamilton Beach K-Cup wannabe coffee maker I have at home.  Nope.  It is flimsy cheaply made plastic.  Seems like everything is made like that these days.  

It has a lever where you can select the brew strength either strong or mild.   It comes with a 3qt pitcher.  You put 3qts of water into the machine itself and then fill it up with 3qts of ice.  The measurement lines for each are clearly marked on the picture itself. 

So I tried it out.  Here are my thoughts. 

Pros: 
It makes tea quickly.  Less than ten minutes give or take.
Easy to follow instructions
The tea stays iced

Cons:
It is constructed out of cheap flimsy plastic
The power cord is extremely short.   If you are using it on a kitchen counter, it might be okay.  If you are trying to use it on an end table in an office, then you might have a problem
The measurement markings on the pitcher are only on one side.  This is not a deal breaker.  It would just be nice to be able to accommodate those with the opposite dominant hand. 
Does not fill up to 3qt line.  However, this could be due to all the ice not melting.  


Bottomline:  I give this 3 out of 5 stars.  I love the idea of the convenience and availability of ice tea. I'm not a fan of the flimsy plastic and I do not believe that this product will hold up to continuous use. I do not know what the price point is on this thing as it was a gift.