Reviews by Friends of Larupi

CyndiA says "Love these little mini 5 x 7 inch legal pads in pastel colors." about Tops Docket 5 x 7 Mini Legal Pads

CyndiA — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:04:49 GMT

Legal pads are convenient but bulky, but these Tops Docket 5 x 7 inch are just perfect for most situations. I can even stick one in my purse which comes in handy for so many times when I want to write down a quick note.

I first ordered these at work through Office Depot, and I continue to do so. My boss found out that he liked the little pads better than the big ones too - or for most things.

They are, as I said, 5 x 7 inches - a nice size.

These little notepads are lined which is nice. They may have unlined paper pads too. I've never checked. I personally like lines on my paper.

The colors that I get here are yellow, blue, and my favorite - lavender. They call them pastels. They have a bit of color but not enough to make it hard to read over them. It's very easy to read my black and blue pens over these colors.

I do use full size legal pads from time to time, but these 5 x 7 inch writing pads are my "go to" now. I really like the size.

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CyndiA says "Yay - Found Rainbo Rolls so can make little ham cheese snacks." about Rainbo Dinner Rolls in Foil Tray

CyndiA — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:35:21 GMT

Remember those little ham and cheese roll sandwiches that always got gobbled up at parties? Well, maybe they were not big all over, but they were super popular in the South.

For some reason, the grocery stores around don't carry the little Pepperidge Farm rolls now, so that knocked out these appetizers. Until . . . Rainbo started selling a similar type roll in the foil tray.

And, yes, it is Rainbo with no w and not Rainbow rolls. Bet that will confuse a lot of folks huh.

Rainbo rolls can just be heated up as bread, but I usually make the ham and cheese sandwiches. The whole tray of rolls are split like one giant sandwich. Then just put ham and cheese in there and pour butter with mustard and poppy seeds (though I used parsley this last time).

I'm glad I was able to find this brand making the tiny rolls. It had been ages since we had ham cheese appetizers, and they went over great at our family gathering this past weekend.

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CyndiA says "Sea Best Tilapia - healthy and does not taste fishy." about Sea Best Tilapia Fillets

CyndiA — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:41:19 GMT

We are trying to eat healthier and especially like tilapia, because it does not taste fishy like some fish. There are several brands I buy, but I like Sea Best which comes in a one pound bag with each fish fillet individually wrapped. I can cook up one fish fillet or the whole bag, and the fish all stays fresh.

There are six fillets per bag or, at least, the bags I've bought have had six. The sizes are small, and the bag says it's 4 servings. So, I guess they figure on everyone eating one and one half piece of small tilapia fillet. That seems rather odd - but well . . . OK. They are small enough that my son actually needs 4 to fill up.

Tilapia is healthy and has the good fish oil, and this is straight up fish and not breaded or coated with anything. And, it comes it at under 100 calories per serving, but as I mentioned, the fillets are small.

We quick pan fry the tilapia or broil it, but my son likes it's baked with cheese and butter which is fabulous - but that kind of sucks the "healthy"...

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Jolie says "buyuggsboot.net is a scam! Ugg Boots from China that are fake." about www.buyuggsboot.net

Jolie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:22:46 GMT

Background on Buyuggsboot.net

A friend of mine at Viewpoints recently passed along a site called www.buyuggsboot.net. She found it online. www.buyuggsboot.net is a web site that sells all styles of Ugg Boots at discounted prices.

We werent certain if www.buyuggsboot.net were the real or not. But after a thorough review of the site, we thought it was legit. Buyuggsboot.net looks like a reasonable reseller of Ugg Boots. The page is designed well, the pictures look authentic and they make claim to having the real deal. They also consistently site throughout the web site having customer satisfaction commitments.

To add to the thought it was authentic, the pricing seemed good but not amazing. As you probably know a typical pair of Ugg Boots cost about $110. On Buyuggsboot.net the cost was $89.00- approximately a $20 savings. Seemed like a good deal, but they werent so cheap that I thought it could be scam. As an aside, last year Nordstrom had a similiar sale on Ugg boots so the pricing seemed...

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CyndiA says "Pelonis heater is great for spot heating in your home. " about Pelonis H0-0218 Heater

CyndiA — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:48:40 GMT

I am sitting here beside my Pelonis heater cube. I tend to chill when sitting still at the computer but hate to heat up the whole house when I know that I'm warm enough when I'm up moving around. Also, the boys tend to like the house cooler. So the Pelonis heater works out great in my small computer area.

My Granny had the Pelonis heater and used it to heat her small living room where she quilted. It was made the whole room nice and cozy, and she didn't much use the other rooms in her apartment, so that worked out great for her. That's what made me decide to get a little portable heater. I really liked hers.

For the size, the Pelonis puts out an amazing amount of heat. I have a bigger model at work, but it does not put out as much heat. It's enough for under my desk. But that one cycles on and off - meaning I'm cold about half the time. The Pelonis has a good fan and just keeps putting out heat until it's actually turned off. So - no cold periods of time.

On high and with the heater right...

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CyndiA says "Masterbuilt Indoor Turkey Fryer - Safer and Easier Large Fryer" about Masterbuilt Indoor Turkey Fryer - Butterball

CyndiA — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:32:22 GMT

We wore out our last turkey fryer and went with the Masterbuilt Indoor Turkey Fryer this time. It's built smaller and safer, plus it can be used indoors which is nice on really cold days which is usually when we fry turkey.

Butterball Turkey company teamed up with Mastbuilt (bit name in turkey or outdoor fryers) for this model which is much like the indoor fryers for chicken and French fries.

There's a housing box and then the oil goes in the unit. A large basket and a lifter round out the product.

It takes around a gallon and a half of oil, so that's a lot. It can be strained and used again. But, I season the turkey pretty heavy, so I don't think it looks good enough to try to strain with all the Holen One rub floating in there. Oh well. Straining oil through cheese cloth and finding a place to store it is not my idea of a good time anyway.

Since we did a turkey breast last night, we ran the temp at 325 F. For a large turkey, it would go up to 375 for frying. With these high temps, we...

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CyndiA says "Easy to cook or grill but plain bratwurst are better." about Hillshire Farm Smoked Bratwurst

CyndiA — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:01:36 GMT

I like Hillshire Farms bratwurst sausages, because they are easy to make and taste good. Most often we grill the brats and have them on big buns with spicy mustard.

The Hillshire Farms Smoked Bratwursts are made with pork and beef, and I think they have an all beef version. That wasn't available at Food Lion when I went.

Off the top, I have to say I'm usually not keen on smoke added flavor, although there are some exceptions. If it's Liquid Smoke, then that is what it tastes like - not smoked - just fake smoke and nothing else similar. That, fortunately, was not the flavoring in the Hillshire Farms Smoked Brats. Still, it was not a real smoke taste or not like off the grill anyway.

We boiled our brats (well - simmered really) in beer with butter and onions like usual, and then put the brats on the grill. So, we got some of the grilled smoke taste too. But, the secondary smoke taste was there.

The smoked Hillshire Farms brats aren't bad. If you don't grill, you might like them for a change...

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CyndiA says "Honda Accord - very solid family car with good gas mileage. " about Honda Accord 4-cyl. - 2009

CyndiA — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:02:53 GMT

I got the Honda Accord 4 cyl on the 2009 Cash for Clunkers deal this past summer. That was a short program, so I had to decide fast. With the good reputation on the Honda Accord, I felt it was a safe choice.

To be honest, I much prefer trucks and sports cars. But, I really needed to go with a family car with good sized teen boys and with older relatives who really don't need to try to climb in and out of stadium seating on a 4W drive SUV. Also, I wanted something easier on gas than the Xterra. The Honda Accord fit the bill as far as being sensible and with a nice price with the Clunker rebate.

I went with the black on the Accord with black interior. That is hard to keep clean, but it looks cooler than the other colors (the red being a really awful shade as far as I was concerned). It also does not have the fake wood look inside like with the tan inside option. That reminded me of 1960s station wagons, so I did not like the fake wood trim inside at all. The black has a silver trim which...

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CyndiA says "Splitting logs or wood is a breeze with Yard Machines." about Yard Machines Log Splitter - 25 ton 6 hp

CyndiA — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:33:09 GMT

I am a part owner of a Yard Machines log splittler. They are expensive, so my Dad, his buddy, and I went together and got the wood splitter.

Anyone who has split logs or wood by hand will know that's a really hard job. I'm not really big enough or strong enough to do many splits. My Dad and his friend were getting on up in years. So, it made sense to get a machine to take care of the larger pieces of wood.

I wasn't so sure about the Yard Machines brand, since I'd had a lawnmower by that brand that really was cheap and junky. It only lasted a couple of years and was a rider. I was not impressed.

Yard Machines did get it right with the log splitter. It's been in my garage at least six years with no repairs needed. The only issue that came up was the tires with Dad and his friend taking it to Virginia (3 plus hrs away) to split wood for my aunt. That was hard on the tires with pulling the wood splitter behind the truck. We just got a pull behind cart which takes the weight and miles off the...

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CyndiA says "CVS Q-tips are like trying to put your elbow in your ear. " about CVS cotton swabs

CyndiA — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:05:46 GMT

I like our CVS pharmacy, so I thought I'd try their brand on cotton swabs which are bascially Q-tips with no brand name and used to clean ears and for other odd jobs.

I really should have known better. I tried the CVS brand on a toothbrush, and it was so bad that I only used it once and threw it away. So much for any savings there huh?

The CVS cotton swabs look just like any other normal cotton swab ear cleaners. Well duh. Just how much can you pretty those things up.

The problem with CVS cotton swabs is that the center part - the stick - it bends. You use CVS cotton swabs, and it is like trying to stick your elbow in your ear to clean it. Bend. Stretch. Wobble. I about hurt myself just trying to get the darn thing lined up.

To add some insult to that close injury, the cotton is wrapped loose. No thank you. I do not want to chance having a blob of cotton stuck inside my ear and a trip to ER for removal. Get a better cotton wrap machine or glue or whatever it takes to keep the cotton blob...

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CyndiA says "French's spicy brown mustard - nice taste with a little kick. " about French's brown mustard

CyndiA — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:31:54 GMT

My son just discovered French's spicy brown mustard which made me laugh, since I've always had some on hand. I'll eat the regular hot dog mustard, but I like the little extra zip with the spicy brown. The kid didn't touch it, since it said "spicy." He's not big on hot foods.

I grilled brats, and we were out of yellow mustard. So, the kid decided to try French's spicy brown, and it was love at first bite.

Don't let the name fool you. French's spicy brown is just a nice balanced mustard with a bit of extra flavor but not enough to put anyone off. If it had much kick, the kid would not have eaten it and sure would not be using up all my French's spicy brown mustard now.

Looks like I can cut way back on plain yellow mustard and double up on French's spicy. My son likes it on burgers, sandwiches, and on fried Spam or Treet meat. It's his new favorite condiment.

If you've hesitated to try French's spicy brown due to the spicy name, give it a try. It really is not hot at all. It just packs a bit...

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CyndiA says "Grill Floss - best barbecue grill cleaning tool I've ever owned." about Grillfloss - Barbecue Cleaning Tool, GFLXL, Stainless Steel

CyndiA — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:06:00 GMT

I looked at GrillFloss a long time before I bought one, and I was blown away by how well it worked. It's one of those products that I should have bought long ago. It makes cleaning a barbecue grill so much easier.

Grill Floss has a hook on the end. The hook can be flipped over for larger sized grates. I generally use the smaller end with charcoal grates, since I cook over charcoal most often. And, those grates tend to be the thinner wire types. But, Grill Floss works well on the larger gas grill grates too.

With the little hook design, this just slides right up and down the grate and into the corners and does a great job in getting the gunk off. It takes hardly any elbow grease at all especially if you use GrillFloss when the grates are still warm.

I was so impressed with Grill Floss that I added it at my Open Sky Yes You Can Grill barbecue store online. I just carry top picks for outdoor cooking, so this is definately a thumbs up and a grill cleaning tool I'd recommend to anyone who grills...

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CyndiA says "Acer Aspire netbook - great "on the go" computer in a mini size." about Acer Netbook Aspire One

CyndiA — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:54:45 GMT

One of my students showed up with an Acer Aspire, and I was amazed at how small the little netbook is compared to a full sized laptop computer. I'm not tall enough to actualy use a laptop on my lap, but the Acer looked like it might work. And, it did. The Acer Aspire fits right on my lap with room to move my elbows out and type. Yay!

Now, I have an Acer. It's red, but the red color is not fire engine. It's more a burnt red color. They have pink like in the photo as well as blue, black, and white.

Mine is the 10 inch, since they are phasing out the 9 inch. The only difference is screen size. You don't get a smaller netbook with a 9 inch. You just get a little more plastic around the edges.

The main difference with the netbooks is that they have less storage space, but I do an heavy duty computer work on my desktop computer. A netbook is not designed to hold big programs like PageMaker, but it does fine with MS Word and a few other smaller programs loaded on there. You do need a portable...

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