Whirlpool Cabrio Washer/Dryer

I recently got the Whirlpool Cabrio 4.3 Washer and 7.0 Gas Dryer. So far, so good.
The washer automatically senses the amount of clothing in the load, and will adjust the amount of water accordingly. The dryer works fairly well, although sometimes I think my clothing needs to go a little longer, as a few things have come out slightly damp.

I like that, when you turn them on, they play a little tune. And instead of a loud, annoying beep for the alarm at the end, there's another happy little tune. I'm not a fan of only using HE detergent, but that's mostly because I have two huge containers of regular detergent sitting in my basement. I do like that the washer will tell you how energy-efficient you are, depending on the temperature of the water, and whether or not you do an extra rinse. With the dryer, I like that the door opens down, rather than to the side. It was the only one I saw at Lowe's like that.

Overall, I am happy with the washer and dryer so far. I have done 6 loads in them so far with no issue, and have the extended warranty just in case. I will try to remember to update this review if something bad happens. For now, on a scale of 1-5, I give the washer and dryer a 4. There haven't been any issues yet, but they are very new still.

Sorry everybody

I have been absent from doing reviews. part of this is because I have moved into a new house, and things have just been kind of busy. I hope to pick back up with this, and would love to find new things to review.

I just got the Whirlpool Carbio washer/dryer set (4.3 washer, 7.0 dryer) and will let every1 know what I think once the dryer is hooked up so that I can use it. I got the gas dryer, due to hookups in my house.

Lake George Pancake House, Lake George NY

I almost forgot that we even ate at the Lake George Pancake House, if that tells you anything about the experience. We went in at around 9am to get breakfast. It took the waitress around 10 minutes to even come over and get our drink order. Then, about 10-15 minutes later, she returned to get our food order, without bringing our drinks. My Father-in-law asked about our drinks and she pointed to her notepad and told us she remembered the order.
My Mother-in-law got the wrong drink, but drank it anyways. Luckily I just got water so it wasn't hard to get right. I think it was just after 10am when we got our food. Around that time, the waitress spilled a tray with two cups of coffee on the floor. She apologized multiple times to our table and the neighboring table, and then asked the hostess to clean it up for her.
I only got one scrambled egg and a sausage link, as I don't eat a lot of breakfast. It was $5 just for that, which was a little surprising to me. The prices at the pancake house were more than I expected. My son got a children's chocolate milk and there was probably 5oz of milk in the cup when they brought it over.

On a scale of 1-5, I give the Lake George Pancake House a 2. I would not go back for breakfast if we went back to Lake George. My food wasn't bad, but I could have gotten a lot more for my money and time at other places. After that morning, we ate breakfast at McDonald's for the remainder of the trip.

Barnsider Smokehouse, Lake George NY

For family vacation, my sister-in-law and her husband watched our son so that my husband, his parents, and myself could go out for dinner. We chose the Barnsider Smokehouse for our dinner spot.

There was indoor and outdoor seating, and since it was a nice night, we chose outside. They had a guy set up to play live jazz music, although I don't think that's the norm at the smokehouse, I think it was a special night. The hostess was quick to seat us, and pretty much let us decide where we wanted to sit.

The food was good and reasonably priced. I got 1/3 rack of ribs and 1/2 a chicken with 2 sides for $16. I didn't eat a whole lot of it because we got sweet potato fries for an appetizer and I sort of filled up before my food got there.

On a scale of 1-5, I would give the Barnsider Smokehouse a 4.5. The prices weren't bad, especially for a tourist town, and the food was good. The servers were very polite and attentive. If we were to go back to Lake George, I would choose to have dinner there again.

Natural Stone Bridge and Caves

Four of us decided to go to the Natural Stone Bridge and Caves near Lake George, New York during the vacation. The trails are about 3/4 mile total. There's a lot of going up and down stairs. The caves were fun to see and look into. There were some great views to look at while we were walking, and spots to sit and rest if you needed to.

On a scale of 1-5, I would give this attraction a 4. If you go, bring sneakers and possibly a bottle of water. We opted to not bring my 3 year old, and that was a good decision. I was told that children could do it, but I don't know how. All four of us that went (all adults) tripped at least once at different points.

I believe it was about $13 a piece to get in to this attraction, children cheaper.

Usher Beach, Lake George NY

Usher Beach and Usher Park are more of a local spot than a tourist attraction. The park is very nicely shaded and has typical park stuff: slides, swings, other normal stuff. The beach is small and great for little kids. There is a lifeguard, but you can use floaties for your children (or at least we were able to and I did not see a sign against it.) My son had on a floaty and another child had a life vest on with no issue from the lifeguard. Most beaches near me do not allow anything that will aid in swimming.

Usher Beach also had their own supply of sand toys for children to use while there. Shovels, little boats, and castle-making equipment was there. The water had 2 areas roped off, side-by-side. One for very little children that was probably 8 feet wide and went out to about 2 feet deep. The larger area was about 12-15 feet across and went out to about 4 feet deep.

The only issue with the beach is the boats that go by on the lake. There's nothing to be done about them, but the waves created can be a little overwhelming for a smaller child.

On a scale of 1-5, I give Usher Park and Beach a 4.5. The water and sand were both very clean, and the kids had a great time.

Magic Forest, Lake George NY

Magic Forest is a children's ride park for kids under 10. There's 25 rides total I believe, and I think 4 are geared towards adults (ferris wheel, tilt a whirl, and 2 others). There are 2 shows. One is a magic show, and one is a diving horse. I personally didn't catch the shows, although I heard from my sister-in-law that the diving horse was interesting.

My son had a GREAT time. He's 3 1/2 years old and loved the ferris wheel (my husband said that every time they got to the top my son yelled "oh my god, this is so high") and a lot of the other rides. The only thing he tried to get off of a ride was the mini carousel. He tried to climb off of the horse while it was moving and I had to get him to sit still.

For pricing, the kids 2-10 are $15.99, as are seniors (I think 55 and older). Regular adults are $17.99 each. The hours are from 9:30 until 5pm, and if you go after 3pm, you can get in the next day for free. We did that option, and showed up around 4.

There's a picnic area, so you can bring in food and eat your own food without issue. You can also buy snacks from a concession stand, along with probably hot dogs and stuff of that nature.

Overall, on a scale of 1-5, I would give the park a 3.5. I wish they would update some of the rides, but the old school rides were also fun. They had a mini roller coaster that was literally kick started. The worker had to push with his foot to get the ride going. A lot of the rides are from probably the 50's.

The only thing I would caution people about is that, at least when I was there, most of the workers did not speak good english. It wasn't really an issue for us, but there could be an issue with a language barrier.

Colonel Williams Resort, Lake George NY

For a Christmas gift to my mother and father-in-law, my husband and his sister brought the family to Lake George, NY for a 4-day vacation. We spent 3 nights in the Colonel Williams resort.

Know in advance, if you plan to stay there, NO juice boxes or coolers will be allowed in rooms. If they are in there during the daily inspection by the owner, they will be removed. We came back one afternoon to find my father-in-law's cooler on the front porch area. The owner came over when he saw us pull in and told us that we signed a paper acknowledging that we were not allowed to have coolers. The only thing I remember signing was the swimming rules for NY state. My father-in-law explained that they had medications that needed to stay cool and the owner told him to either put the medication in the tiny fridge in the room, or keep refilling the cooler with ice and keep it outside. If he had found any juice boxes, he would have thrown them out.

There is an indoor and outdoor pool, sauna, jacuzzi, hot tub, playground, and a game room. The indoor pool was small and not very clean. It was also cold water, which was odd to me. Any indoor pools I have been in before were a lot warmer than the pool here. The outdoor pool wasn't bad. The playground is across a grassy area from the rooms and is not open until 9am. We were asked to leave at 8:50am when we were playing very quietly.

The first full day we were there, I put out the "do not disturb" sign before we left because we didn't need anything done to the room and didn't want the maids wasting time making our beds. I came back to the sign back in our room and it was apparent that they ignored the sign and came in anyways. Luckily I wasn't sleeping naked at the time or anything of that sort.

Overall, on a scale of 1-5, I would rate this "resort" a 2 at best. If you are a very thin person (the shower was small, no bathtub, only a shower, unless you got a suite, the toilet was very close to the shower stall and sink) and are only using the room for sleeping, it may be worth it. I would not recommend the resort to people with children, mostly due to the no juice box rule. If you stay here, I would pay the extra for the suite so that you can have a bathtub and a couch. The room I stayed in was one with two double beds that were very close together, except for the bathroom door in between.

Lake George!

My family and I just went on a 4-day Lake George vacation. So the next few blogs will be things to do there. I will be reviewing Magic Forest; Natural Stone, Bridge and Caves; Colonel Williams Resort; Lake George Pancake House; the Barnsider restaurant; and Usher Beach.

Enjoy!

Sorry I've been absent

I feel that I should apologize to the few followers I have. I have been busy, looking to move into a new house and everything that goes with it. Hopefully I will have more products to review soon.

In the meantime, feel free to check out swagbucks.com. You can do surveys and such and earn "swag bucks" towards free prizes.

Panera Bread

Tonight I went to Panera Bread for the first time. The restaurant was set up great, with good seating and a decent sized area to order in (some places I feel closterphobic because the ordering area is tiny).

I ordered the turkey sandwich, it came on some kind of country bread. I felt kind of dumb when the girl asked if I wanted everything on it and I had to ask what came with it. So for those who don't know, apparently lettuce, onion, mustard, mayo, tomato all come standard on the sandwiches there. I went w/o onion and mustard, but do what you will.

Overall, it's basically an expensive sandwich. The bread was good, but the rest was basically what I would do at home. The chips that they give you with it are more or less kettle cooked chips, but they were yummy.

I also ordered a chocolate walnut cookie (cannot remember the full name of it). It was really good. It wasn't too hard, but also not so soft that you couldn't pick it up and eat it.

I think my meal (with a drink) was around $7-$8. Is it a place I would go often? no. But the meal was satisfactory. I would go again and enjoy it, but I would also think that I could make about a dozen sandwiches at home for the same price.

On a scale of 1-5, I give Panera a 3.5. The half point is due to the guts they have to charge what they do for a sandwich. The rest is because I enjoyed it overall.

Clean&Clear dual action moisturizer

I have been using this moisturizer for close to a year now. I love it because I don't have to use a lot, and my skin feels just right. Not dry and not oily, a good balance.

You can buy it in a 4oz bottle for I think $6 of $7. I can't remember exactly, as I bought this bottle over a month ago. The 4 fl. oz bottle lasts me a few months, which is good because I'm cheap and don't want to pay a lot for a bottle I'll just have to buy again next week.

Not only moisturizer, this product also has acne medication in it. I have noticed a reduction in break-outs since I have been using it.

On a scale of 1-5, I give this product a 4.5. I don't really see what they could fix, but I feel like maybe they could improve it somehow.... maybe adding sunblock into it?

D*ck in a box

Yeah, you read that right. I got a d*ck in a box from www.crazydogtshirts.com. I opened the package today and was immediately cracking up over it. Again, I'm a 12 y/o boy at heart.

The slogan across the top reads "we supply the box. You supply the rest." So, being a girl, I don't have the equipment to properly use it, and the husband is not going to pose for pictures with it on. Poor sport. The box attaches to your belt. There's perforated circles where you can remove according to size.

The steps on the box are as follows: "step 1: cut a hole in a box. Step 2: Put your junk in the box. Step 3: Make her open the box."

Please, make sure this is a girl you know opening the box, neither www.crazydogtshirts.com nor myself will be held responsible for resulting sexual harrassment or related charges.

On a scale of 1-5, I give this a 3.5. It's a fun product, even if you don't actually stick your junk in it. I would buy multiples to send to guys I know for Christmas. The only problem I see is lack of places to wear it w/o getting slapped.

Wii Fit

I received the Wii Fit for Christmas in 2008, not long after it came out.

I honestly really like it, when I remember to use it. The game that you get, the Wii Fit game, has I believe 40 activities, if not more. They aren't all unlocked when you start, but as you do activities, you unlock the rest of them.

You can choose from kickboxing, step aerobics, hula hooping, yoga poses, tricep extensions, running in place, and a lot more. When I was doing the Wii Fit 4-5 nights a week for probably around 45 minutes a night, I lost 10 pounds in 2 months, without really changing my eating habits.

On a scale of 1-5, I give the wii fit a 4.5. I kind of wish there was a way to put in your own image, but you can use the mii you create for yourself, so I guess that's close enough. It's the Wii, so the graphics aren't so great in general, but it's fun.

PowerBar energy gels

I did my first 5K this morning and busted out my free sample of powerbar energy gels I got in the mail a few weeks ago.

I opened the package and was surprised. They were a little bigger than expected, and kind of tasted like gummy bears. My son (he's 3 1/2) had one and spit it out, he wasn't excited about them. I didn't really experience any extra energy, but running in 80+ degree weather in the sun isn't fun to begin with.

Overall, I would give them a 3 on a scale of 1-5. The taste wasn't bad, but I don't know what they actually gave me an energy boost.

The Monster Under The Shed (Thomas the Train)

I was at the local Border's bookstore looking for more Thomas the Train books for my son. He is OBSESSED with Thomas. We found "The Monster Under The Shed" and brought it home.

This book isn't half bad, for being a children's book. It is about how James tells Thomas and the other trains a story about an engine-eating monster. Percy gets scared, and then Thomas gets scared. I won't ruin the ending for you, but it made me giggle. The monster pays Thomas a visit, but it wasn't truly a monster. If you want to know what it was, check out the book.

On a scale of 1-5, I give this book a 4. It's no James Patterson, but my son loves it. I wish the illustrations were a little better, but what can you do? I found it at Borders for, I think, $4.

Iron Man 2

Tonight the husband and I went to see Iron Man 2. I don't remember a lot of the first one, other than the basics. Robert Downey Jr. makes himself a contraption to keep himself alive, and it more or less powers his Iron Man suit.
In the second movie, Mickey Rourke's character wants to put an end to Tony Stark for reasons I won't give away. He creates his own suit to try and kill Tony, or at least show the world that he isn't God afterall. He gets up into jail and then gets busted out by a guy who also wants to see Robert Downey Jr.'s character gone.

I won't give away too much of the movie, what's the fun in that? I would say it's worth seeing, although if you're not into the comic book characters, save it for a rental or Netflix.

Overall, on a scale of 1-5, I would give Iron Man 2 a 3.5. There were parts that made you laugh, parts that might make you jump, and some other parts that weren't of much importance.

Regis Salon

I have been feeling somewhat in a rut so I decided to change my hair. I went to the Regis salon in Carousel Mall in Syracuse, NY. I had wanted to go completely blonde. The hair dresser talked me out of it, saying that my hair would get too damaged if she did that, as well as expensive.
We settled on a full head of high-lights and a haircut. 2 1/2 hours later, we were done. Full high-lights start at $80, and the haircut was $33, but they had a special going on until the end of the month where you saved $10 if you did cut and color.

On a scale of 1-5, I'd give the salon a 4. It was a little more expensive than I expected, and my haircut isn't 100% what I wanted.

Quaker Steak and Lube

Quaker Steak and Lube started in, I believe, Pennsylvania. They now have franchises in multiple states, including my local Lube in Syracuse, NY.

Last night we went out for dinner, mostly because on Monday, kids eat free. I love the food there. I got a boneless chicken wrap, the husband got wings and ribs. Our son got the cheez pizza. His pizza was basically a frozen pizza that they heated for him, but he was happy.

My chicken wrap was fabulous. There was carrots, lettuce, chicken, ranch dressing, tomatoes and more. The husband's wings and ribs were great, as usual.

The service was also great. Our waitress was awesome and made sure to come over and check on us if we looked like we needed anything.

On a scale of 1-5, I give the Lube a 4.5. I am not sure what I would improve, other than maybe the quality of my son's pizza. For the 3 of us, with mozzerella sticks for an appetizer, it ended up being about $40.

check out their menu and locations at www.quakersteakandlube.com

Clinique Vitamin C Lip Smoothie

Sorry everybody, I took the weekend off from reviewing.

I recently went to the Clinique counter to try out their make-up. I had the girl at the counter put the make-up on me so that it was done correctly. I purchased the Vitamin C Lip Smoothie in "pink me up" as well as an eye base. The lip smoothie feels great on my lips, although it is slightly sticky, but that is the same as most lip products I have tried.

It has a good shine, and the husband said that he thinks it looks good. So that works for me. I believe it was $17.50 for the lip smoothie, and it is .05 fl oz.

On a scale of 1-5, I give it a 4. I like the lip smoothie, but I wish it wasn't sticky. If I put on chapstick real quick after, it doesn't get sticky.

Folding Potty Seat

With a potty-training child, you look for anything to make it easier. A few friends of mine had various folding toilet seats that you could put in the package and put in your purse/diaper bag.

I thought "what the heck?" and I bought one. It is plain white with blue flexible parts to fold for storage. We paid $10 for it from Babies 'r' us. I brought it to the mall with me probably two days later to try it out while we were out of the house.

My son says he has to go potty, so I put the seat on. But guess what? The flexible parts aren't so flexible, and as soon as I put the seat over the adult toilet seat, it folded up and fell into the toilet (luckily it was a clean toilet). I put it back in the package, and held him over the toilet seat to pee. He has since learned to deal with that, and we no longer feel the need to try this toilet seat.

If you choose to get a toilet seat to travel with, do not bother with this one. I wish I had the name of it, but we lock the packaging. It was one of those main brands, like "safety first" or something like that, btu I cannot remember exactly.

On a scale of 1-5, I give this seat a 2. Great concept, poor execution. There are ones with Disney princesses and Elmo I think that were a different brand and like a dollar cheaper. They didn't have those in stock when I bought my seat, but I have only heard good things about them.

New Executive Chair

My husband got a new office chair from Office Max (www.officemax.com) the other day. I tried it out today. It's ok, leather and fairly plush. It has adjustable heights, and you can sort of rock back and forth.

I am by no means a chair expert. But I was not that impressed by it. For the price (got it on sale for $80, as opposed to the original price of around $180) it wasn't bad. But I don't love the chair.

On a scale of 1-5, I would give the chair about a 3. Luckily I am not the one who will be sitting on the chair on a regular basis.

CrazyDog T-shirts!

I won a free t-shirt through CrazyDog T-shirts and just got it in the mail today. Of course, as soon as I got it, I ripped the package open like a kid on Christmas morning. The fabric was extremely soft and comfortable. The shirt fit me like a glove.

When I ordered my t-shirt, I had a very hard time choosing, a LOT of cute shirts to choose from. I finally settled on the "spooning leads to forking" t-shirt because, to be honest, it made me laugh the hardest. They have t-shirts that are quotes from movies and TV shows. They also just have some silly t-shirts that are meant to be funny, without a television reference. I wish I could have tried on all of the shirts to show you, but I'm not exactly made out of money.

My shipping also was extremely fast. I ordered on Saturday and it came today (Tuesday). I honestly didn't expect it for at least a week, but maybe I'm just a VIP.

The t-shirts on the site go through specials, where certain shirts may be on sale for $6.99. They are roughly between $10 and $25. If you ask me, they are definitely worth the price.

On a scale of 1-5, I give CrazyDog T-shirts a 5. I will definitely be ordering from them again, for myself and for gifts. Quality t-shirts at reasonable prices. So check out www.crazydogtshirts.com

Also, become a fan on facebook and enter to win free stuff. They rock!

Syracuse, NY- Mountain Goat Run

On May 2nd, I raced in the Dunn Tire Mountain Goat Run in Syracuse, NY. It was my first actual race that I participated in. There were options for a children's 1/2 mile race, a 3K, and a 10 mile race. I did the 3K.

Overall, it wasn't really a family event. There was beer for runners after the 10 mile. Apparently there were real goats during the 10-mile race, although I didn't see them during the 3K. There were no water areas as promised during the 3K. Not that it was totally necessary, but it was mentioned in the information for the race.

My husband and son watched me cross the finish line. The course layout was fine, as it was on roads in the city. There were no hills for the 3K, despite the name.

On a scale of 1-5, I give the race a 3.5. There could be more of a family feel, especially with the children's race. The price wasn't bad (I think it was $14 for early applicants for the 3K, and went up to $20 on race day.) Would I race it again? Yes, I think I would, because the course was decent. But I wouldn't expect my husband and son to wait around on the curb for me.

I have no pictures for this review, as I forgot the camera that day.

Day Out with Thomas.

Yesterday, we drove out to Medina, NY for the "Day Out with Thomas". When we got there, the parking was fabulous. I was surprised that they didn't charge for parking.

We went into the actual Thomas area and there was a row of tents with things to do. There was a Thomas-shaped bounce house with a little slide on it as well. There were temporary tattoos, face painting, and also a play area that had coloring and a big table with toys and it was filled with rice (must be because it's less messy than sand)

The train museum was nice, had a huge table in the middle of it that had a massive model train set. There was also a story area where they had a TV playing movies in between a woman reading a story to the kids.

The actual train ride was about 25 minutes. There were 5 coaches, and lines for each coach. The train went about 10 minutes one way down the track, and then went back along the same line to the station. Thomas was at the end, so he "pulled" the train back into the station for all of the kids to see. The conductor in our coach was really nice, and sat down next to my son for a minute to say hello and stamp his ticket.

All in all, it was a nice day. If you plan on doing it, I would say go about 90 minutes before your train, maybe longer. That way you can see the different areas and ride the train. Check out www.thomasandfriends.com and look for information on "Day Out with Thomas". Our tickets were $18 each, plus shipping and processing. Order far enough in advance so you don't have to pay the extra for rush shipping. The gift shop had a lot of nice stuff as well, although it adds up quickly.

On a scale of 1-5, I would give this attraction a 4. It would have been nice to have Sir Topham Hatt there the whole time to take pictures, instead of half of the time.

Nelliebugs.com crayons

The owner of www.nelliebugs.com sent me a sample of her crayons through a giveaway on Cafemom. I got two crayons from her, one star and one Lego man shape. My son and I love them. We have both had fun drawing with them. I used them to simply write the website address for a photo in here. The crayons are good quality.
The only drawback to the crayons was that the Lego guy one was a little harder to hold than the star. The crayons also come in different shapes, some more suitable for girls, some more exciting to boys.

Overall, on a scale of one to five, I give these crayons a 4.5.

They are on sale on the site for anywhere from 1.99 for one crayon (big tulip crayons) to 3.49 for a set of six. They are made from recycled crayons, so I am going to say they're non-toxic, as most crayons are non-toxic.