The model we chose was the Samsung 4.0 Cu. Ft. Front Load Washer ENERGY STAR® (model# WF328AAR) and Samsung 7.3 Cu. Ft. Front Load Electric Dryer (model# DV328AER), both in tango red. No need to discuss the price we paid as prices are constantly changing and the amount we paid on credit makes me feel even less financially responsible during our nation’s economic hard times.

A week later, the set was finally delivered. A note about the delivery: The delivery person had the classic plumber’s butt crack showing, except the guy was standing straight up rather than bending over. Either he needed to pull up his pants or his crack is extraordinary long. Second, there was an issue with the dryer (which I’ll get into below) and he had instructed me to tell my mother to contact the appliance center for replacement. Not sure how to take this as I’m 30 years old and my mother lives miles away.

Back to the washer/dryer, I fired up both the washer and dryer and everything looked cherry until the delivery person opened the dryer door. Out came a steady flow of smoke, which he assured me is a common occurrence due to the oil residue burning off the drum, BUT the amount of smoke that came out was more than usual. We had the option to return it immediately or hold on to it and call if the dryer fails and they will replace it. Not wanting Jagger to go unclothed, I decided to take the latter route.

I’m very impressed with the technology that has gone into modern washers. No longer do I need to to set the load amount as the washer determines how much water is needed and the length of time to wash, rinse, and spin the clothes–although these items can be slightly adjusted by adding extra cycles.

One thing to note with front load washers is they require HE (stands for high efficiency) type detergent. From my research it’s mostly a low-sudsing mix. Also a close friend of the family works for a well-known parent company to a detergent manufacturer and stated that there is very little difference between HE and regular detergent. Not that I really had a choice in this as Dreft doesn’t make an HE detergent.

The washer is super quiet and the VRT (stablizes the washer during high speed spin) does it job effectively. The dryer is not whisper quiet like the washer, but produces a much less audible hum compared to our defunct GE dryer. I washed about 5-6 loads consisting of clothing, towels, linen, and 2 large comforters. The washer took them on like a champ without hesitation or hiccups.

The dryer handled its duties well, but left the comforters slightly damp. I had to time dry these rather than let the dryer run on auto. Speaking of auto, the washer has settings for bed linens, but not on the dryer. A little odd, but something that can be easily overcome with either setting the temperature to max or time drying.

Overall, I’m satisfied with our purchase, especially when compared to our older top load GE washer and dryer. I’ll report back in a few months to talk about the durability of the washer/dryer.

I bought Britney’s new CD, Circus, the day it came out. I am not ashamed to admit it, I am a big Britney fan and am rooting for her continued recovery. She’s had a tough year and I am proud of how she is working on improving her life. 

Britney’s new CD is what we would expect of Britney. It has both dance music and a few more ballads than her previous albums had. I really like Womanizer, Circus, Out From Under, Unusual You, Blur, My Baby, Mmm Papi, and If You Seek Amy. 

Speaking of If You Seek Amy, I read an article somewhere about a mother who bought her young sons this CD. She bought it because they like her. But she became horrified when she heard her sons singing the chorus. Part of the chorus goes like this, “But all of the boys and all of the girls are beggin’ to if you seek Amy”. However if you say it fast enough like Britney does, it sounds like she is saying, “But all of the boys and all of the girls are beggin’ to F.U.C.K. me”.

This is what mother heard her sons say and she got upset. I believed that she said that there should have been a warning label on the CD stating that there are bad words on there. First of all, why would someone buy her young sons a Britney CD? Every parent should know that Britney’s album is not appropriate for any young child. If they were a teenager, then it’s ok I guess, but these were little boys. Second of all, if she read the list of songs before buying it, she should have realized right away that this album is not for her children at all. The titles, Lace and Leather and Mmm Papi should have been a dead give a way that this album was not child appropriate don’t you think? 

There is one song on here that is child appropriate though. It’s the song, My Baby. When I first heard this song, I got a little teary. Britney had written it for her sons. And when I heard it, I could just picture myself holding my soon-to-be-born son and singing this to him.

I’ve had this MacBook laptop sleeve for a while, but I thought I’d share it with you. It’s handmade by Foof, an Australian based company that also makes sleeves for Apple iPhones, iPods, and Nintendo DS Lite </plug>. The sleeve that I have is for the older model MacBook aka the BlackBook. (warning: the innuendos below are strong with this one)

The Foof sleeve is offered in a variety of materials and patterns — 30 different color combinations in total, assuming my college probability math is correct. The one I have is camo and unfortunately for camo lovers, it’s no longer available in this material. 

The only other option is where you want the slit, either the wide or short end. I opted to have it from the short side so that I can easily pull out my laptop from the sleeve when used within my laptop bag. (It sits on its side within my laptop bag)

The construction is perfect for the MacBook. It slides in nicely into the sleeve. My version is lined with a soft cotton. The new models use a silkier like texture and now they offer sherpa lining, which I can only imagine is softer and tighter.

At roughly $22, it’s a nice, unique sleeve to use for those study nights at Starbucks. You’ll be the in the spotlight with all the ooh’s and aah’s.

Oreo has had a nasty little cough the past week or so. As suggested by Dr. Terinin, I should use a harness rather than a collar in order to ease up on his delicate trachea. I’ve been trying to find the right one for Oreo and as a result I have several harnesses waiting to be returned. Fortunately I think I’ve found the perfect harness: Premier’s Easy Walk Harness.

Easy to Put On

Oreo can get a little fussy when he’s in an unfamiliar position. So one of the requirements for the harness is that it goes on easily. Being that he’s still wearing his Comfy Cone, other harnesses would require me to either take it off each time, or struggle to get it around his head/cone. With the Easy Walk, it has two clip buckles. One is positioned near his underbelly and the other is over his shoulder. With this setup, the first clip is similar to putting a regular dog collar on and the second clip requires getting the strap around his underbelly. In addition, the loops are color coded so that you can easily identify which is which.

No Sled Dog Pulling

Another interesting thing I found with the harness is that the D loop (for the leash) is located in the front. Premier claims that this helps in discouraging the “opposition reflex” — the tendency for dogs to pull harder and drag you when wearing a normal collar/leash. With Premier’s harness, when your dog pulls it steers him to his side and redirecting his attention back to you. I only walked Oreo once with the harness since picking it up today, and from what I saw it did just as Premier promised.

Wish Us Luck

The harness is as advertised, although for the bigger picture, I hope Oreo heals from whatever is causing his cough. We have an appointment this week with the vet for a heart echo. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for good news.

Mythic Paint has a large selection of colors, more than I have seen with other low VOC paints like Benjamin Moore’s Harmony or Lowe’s Freshaire. In addition, they can match any color you like. In my case, I had a local Mythic Paint dealer match a Sherman Williams color – Aqua Sphere 7613.

I really like the consistency of the paint. It rolls on nice and thick and the paint self levels very well. For comparison, I’ve used other brands like Behr and Olympic and none of them compared to Mythic. This would take me roughly 3-4 coats in order to get an even finished. With Mythic it only took 2 coats (and I would certainly hope so at $50 per gallon)

The First Coat This is the same wall as shown in the primer review for consistency. At a distance, the color is near even. Up close there are some pinholes of the primer showing through. I was painting in about 4′ x 4′ patches. There was no noticeable building up the paint overlaps. Very amazing results for the first coat.

The Second and Final Coat Following Mythic’s recommendation, I waiting 4 hours before applying the second coat. I put it on nice and heavy. Dripping was never an issue here. Now the color is very even. I’d say we’re done here. Time to take the blue tape off. This performed better than previous paints that I had used as there were only 3-4 spots where the paint peeled along with the tape. Nothing major and should be easily fixed with a painter’s brush.

Conclusion
I’m very happy with the performance of the paint. The only standing negative thing I can say about Mythic is that it is pricey. It’s almost twice as much compared to your big box stores. But I’ll certainly pay the premium if it means non-toxic air for Mary, Jagger, and I to breathe. I give Mythic both thumbs up for the 6 year research they put into the paint. They definitely brought a great product to the market.

Read part 1 for primer application images and thought: Mythic Paint Hands On Testing – Applying Primer

When my darling husband informed me that the nursery would be in the 3rd bedroom(which is farther from our bedroom and because he plans on getting rid of the 2nd bedroom), I instantly knew that the baby would not be sleeping in there at night. There was no way I was going to be comfortable with that. If anything happened I would want to get to the baby as quick as possible. So I had to decide as to what to put the baby in so he can stay in our room at night. There was no way I was going to put his crib in there, it would have been to big. So I asked around and researched as to which one we should get, Co-Sleeper or Pack ‘N Play. I’ve weighed the pros and cons. Here is what I came up with:

Co-Sleeper

Pros
1. It attaches to the bed.
2. Easier to get to baby in the middle of the night.
3. It’s light.

Cons
1. It can’t be used once baby learns how to push himself up.
2. Not easy to travel with.

Pack N Play

Pros
1. Easy to travel with.
2. Longer useage.
3. It may come with a changing table.

Cons
1. It’s bulkier than a Co-Sleeper.
2. More costly.
3. Have to lean over to pick baby up.
4. Difficult to assemble.

After weighing my options and discussing it with Marvyn, I decided to go with the Pack N Play. Yes, it may be a bit pricier but at least I can get more use out of it.

I’ve started painting our basement this weekend using paint from the Mythic, who promote their brand as a non-toxic, ultra low odor paint. I have to admit that they have kept their promise on that end, but how well does its application really perform? Read on as I give my thoughts on the performance of this paint in my two part review.

Mythic’s Interior Drywall Primer can be applied to both bare drywall and painted walls. It is available in 1 or 5 gallon buckets. My basement is approximately 14×40 and I used roughly 4 gallons — 3 coats on the walls and 2 coats on the ceiling.

The First Coat The drywall is clearly visible after the first coat of primer. I was expecting a less opaque layer, but this is my first time ever applying primer to drywall, so I can’t fairly make a comparison to other brands. But at roughly $50 a gallon, multiple coats will get expensive.
The Second Coat The wall appears to be much more even. Up close the drywall is barely visible, if not at all. This is closer to the surface that I want before applying color, But there is still traces of (as the pro’s call it), photographing or joint banding — Meaning that the mud is “showing” through due to the difference in texture between drywall paper and joint compound, as well as the different absorption rates between the two. It’s not as visible head on, but it’s evident at low angles. There are some solutions to this, but at this point I’ll chalk it up as lesson learned.
The Third Coat Not much of a difference from a distance. Here the white color is much more solid than the second coat. There is still some joint banding in some areas, but I suspect that the this is partially caused by the mud being slightly uneven.

Afterthoughts
In hindsight, I think I should have tried skim coating the drywall. This involves covering the entire surface with a thin coat of joint compound, leaving a film thick enough to fill imperfections in the joint work, smooth the paper texture, and provide a uniform surface for decorating. Another option is to use specially formulated paints that act in the same manner as skim coating. But that would defeat the purpose of my no VOC painting.

As an added note to support Mythic’s claim to no odor, my father was over recently and was surprised that I had only painted a few days before and that there was no odor.

Continue with top coat application review: Mythic Paint Hands On Testing – Final Coat

Bertrand Leroy has released this free nifty little app to control your WowWee Rovio from your iPhone. While it is a little barebones in features, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Using the default web interface on Mobile Safari can be quite frustrating with the unresponsive buttons and start/stop type operation. Rovio Driver utilizes the iPhone’s accelerometer to control forward/backward movement, while a swipe across the screen rotates the Rovio on its axis. And double tapping the screen will adjust the camera head position. It’s honestly a very intuitive use of the iPhone’s UI. 

There are a few little quirks and hopefully Leroy will tend to them in future releases.

• The video only works when you are in play mode. That also means that the accelerometer is functional. So if you want to watch from a stopped position, forget it. 
• Currently there is no way to adjust the video quality. Set at best quality, there is a considerable amount of lag, even when operating within my LAN. There is a slider control for speed on the settings page, but it doesn’t seem to do anything.
• The settings screen comes up every time you access the app. It’s a bit of a nuisance as I don’t think many people need to adjust this at every launch. Also there doesn’t seem to be a way to get back to this screen without closing/relaunching the app.
• Over the edge network, the lag is so great that it’s unusable. Perhaps 3G iPhone owners have better luck. 

All in all, I say it’s the start of a great app. Keep it up Leroy!

After 3 months of use, I think it’s time to revisit this product and give my thoughts to how it has stood up to the test of time. My initial post on Wi-Ex’s Cell Phone Signal Booster Dual Band YX510 PCS/CEL explained how to install it, but I never covered how well it works or any pros/cons. 

I’m not going to go into how to setup/install the extender, as I’ve done that already. What I want to talk about is how well this product works. Before using the extender, I had at best 1-2 bars on my iPhone in any area of the basement. With it installed, I now have full signal strength. While the manufacturer suggests having line of sight to the base, I have no problems receiving signal in different rooms in the basement. Keep in mind that my walls are made of 2×4s and drywall. I highly doubt that signal will travel through cinderblock.

Once in a while, my signal indicator on my phone will drop to 3 (of 5) bars, but after a few seconds it will jump right back to full strength. I’m not sure if this has to do with my signal strength dropping from the receiver antenna mounted on my roof, or the base unit dropping the signal, or just my iPhone acting up. Regardless, it has never caused any calls to drop. So I’m not concerned about it.

I have used multiple cell phones simultaneously without causing any issues. So that’s a big plus for households with multi-cell phone users.

The base unit sits next to my wireless router and I have not noticed a drop in signal from either device. They do operate on different frequencies, but it’s worth noting when you have two devices next to each other that is emitting some type of signal.

To conclude, this product is definitely worth the $299 for those who need signal in certain areas of the house and cannot sacrifice moving to areas that do. My clients are impressed with my improved call quality and I no longer have to go outside to take a call.

Pros

• Extends signal to odd areas of your home/office.
• Different versions of the product for different carrier signals.
• Plug and play setup, no need to toggle switches, mess with software
• again…it extends signal to odd areas of your home/office.

Cons

• $299 price is not for everybody.
• It’s an extender, not a booster. If you have no signal to begin with, it’s not going to do anything for you.
• Installation may require you to go out to your roof. 

As Marvyn posted before, I received the Snoogle yesterday. I was so happy and relieved to see it when I got home last night that I could not wait to go to bed. Let me tell you, the pillow cost about $53 and it was very worth it! For the past few days I have been having trouble sleeping because I was not comfortable. Last night was the first time I had a good night sleep in days! I positioned the opening facing the left side and also positioned myself that way. The end of the pillow came up to my stomach and supported it. The whole complete side of the pillow supported my back and prevented me from lying on my back. It also relieved the discomfort I have been having on my back. It is also just as comfortable if you turn over to your right side.

I wish I could say it would keep me from waking up in the middle of the night but unfortunately, we pregnant women can’t control our bladders! I can say though that being it is so comfortable it makes you not want to get out of bed. So far I give this product 5 stars.

Now all I need next is a back pillow for my chair at work. Someone lent me theirs but it just wasn’t comfortable because it felt smaller and the ends hit my back and made it hurt more. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!