Product Review - Crest Spin Brush

I told you guys that this blog reviews everything.

Being a hygiene fanatic, from time to time I will review various beauty products, like today, in which I review the Crest SpinBrush:

The picture to the right is courtesy of http://www.dentist.net/.

Being someone who was content with a simple, inexpensive manual toothbrush, I never concerned myself with the fancy gadgets and gizmos of the oral hygiene industry. I figured that quality toothpaste and a firm bristled brush would do the work for me.

My visits to the dentist are semi-annually, well, they were until I lost my job a year or so ago and went without insurance for several months. I soon became employed and received insurance again. Yay, me.

Before I lost my job back in August of 2007, I visited my dentist. For the past two years, there had been a small, dark spot behind my upper left 'canine' that they had been closely monitoring and sending me home with headaches after digging at it for so long. Moving on, I lost the job, got a new job in September of that same year, and Christmas showed up with this toothbrush in my stocking. Thanks, Mom.

I have used this toothbrush since Christmas of 2007. I visited the dentist last week for my much needed annual cleaning, opened my mouth for x-rays, and questioned the progress of the dark spot. My hygienist peered into the x-rays on the computer and said, "Weird, I don't see it anymore." I was relieved, but still unsure why my girls were so concerned over the spot in the first place. It wasn't causing me any pain or discomfort...until the dentist walked in and said, "Yeah, that spot was the makings of a cavity. Impressive! That thing has been there for two years!"

Sure, you can claim that it was a stroke of luck, or that I moved my head at the last minute, causing the x-rays to blur, so on and so forth. You're wrong. I've always prided myself in the excellent condition of my chompers, and was even more proud of myself now that the spot had cleared.

My cleaning went on smoothly, despite my very sensitive gums being attacked. However, for someone who hadn't been in over a year, my teeth recovered well. I have noticed a whiter appearance and less gum bleeding now that I use this brush.

Some specs of the SpinBrush: The toothbrush I purchased comes in various colors, for you finicky color-schemed fanatics out there. Mine is, yes, pink, as in the above picture. It is a double A battery operated mechanism that lasts about 8 months before it starts to slow down. This is with twice daily brushing. The heads are replaceable. The cost of my brush was approximately $14.00 from Wal Mart, the 2 pack of heads about $5.00. It is a little bulky because of the battery case, but worth the extra weight. Besides, you need to work out your forearm and wrist more often!

The pros: Hey, I'm missing one less hole in my head. Need I say more?

The cons: Yep, a little more landfill waste than what I prefer, with replacing the heads. However, it's better than replacing a toothbrush every 3-4 months. I want to invest in rechargeable batteries as it is.

Restaurant Review: Grand Lux cafe

I apologize for the lack of a review. I have been in the midst of Hurricane Ike and upon my return to my real job, was greeted with over 200 new emails.

However, I recently came upon something available to review. Now, I'm no real food critic, but I know what good food is and what isn't. Grand Lux is the first victim to my unsual and sometimes picky tastebuds. The following is a review of a few of their menu items.

To begin:

Grand Lux is a highly rated and sometimes pricy restaurant with a location in the Galleria area of Houston, TX (where I am based...no stalkers, please!) They serve the standard items - meat, sandwich/burgers, salads, and pasta plates, all with their own 'signature style'. I suppose anything with garlic added to it must be a signature.

The first time I ate at the Galleria location was a few months ago with coworkers. I ordered the following combo for lunch:

Lunch Sandwich Special One-Half of a Chicken Salad, Turkey, B.L.T or Tuna “Nicoise” Sandwich, a Cup of Our Soup and a Small House Salad (source: http://www.grandluxcafe.com/menu.htm)

The price at this location was 10.95. A little high for my tastes, until I saw the amount of food I was presented. The salad was slightly bland with their house dressing and wasn't really dressed. The bread was sourdough, a Turkey sandwich. The soup? Fantastic. I ate the chicken mushroom soup and couldn't get enough of it. Fabulous.

This afternoon, my coworkers had another urge to return to the cafe, and I decided to try something different - and with less food. I ordered this:

Lunch Oven Baked Rustic Pizza & Salad A Half of an Oven Baked Pizza and a Small House Salad. Your Choice of: Margherita, Pepperoni, B.B.Q. Chicken or Fresh Mozzarella (Source same as above)

It was another giant portion. I ordered the mozzarella pizza with the house salad (ranch dressing - yep, they chunked garlic in there too.)

My friend ordered the margherita pizza and we decided to share, since we both wanted both pizzas.

The mozzarella pizza was tasty for the first two slices, then started to feel greasy as I continued to eat. The garlic chunks were large, with fresh spinach and sundried tomatoes. The salad was light, a typical house salad. The price: $10.95. For the size of the pizza and salad, this was fairly priced. The margherita pizza consisted mainly of tomatoes and cheese, and didn't have the feel of a true pizza like what one could purchase from the California Pizza Kitchen. The tomatoes could have used a little seasoning to them. However, both pizzas tasted fresh and well-prepared, the dough being crispy and soft in all the right places.

Overall, though the menu is high priced, the portions that are served coincide with the size of dollar you want to spend. With a glass of tea, my total came to $14.02. My server was well informed of the menu (as all servers are required to be at this place). The location was impecably clean, and food was served promptly during the busy lunch hour. I will continue to dine here, giving the restaurant a 3 1/2 out of a 5 star rating...for now. I may try a burger next time.

If you go, check out the chicken and mushroom soup! It's fantastic. Also check out their homemade chocolate chip and nut infused cookies. They are the size of a bread plate. Next time I will also attempt one of their desserts.

Product Review - Magic Bullet

It’s Saturday night and you’ve just returned from yet another night on the town, but aren’t quite ready to go to bed yet. You still have to clear the cigarette smoke from your lungs and down six bottles of water before you attempt to sleep. What do most people do? They click on the TV. The first thing you are met with? Infomercials.

Throughout this website, you will find several product review from items “As Seen on TV!”. Such as the following product:

http://www.buythebullet.com/

Meet the infamous Magic Bullet. Created by Homeland Housewares, its relatives include a Fat Burning supplement, an upgrade kit, and a recipe booklet. The Bullet appeared a few years ago for the one-time low price of $99.95, but now is available in most home goods stores.

I purchased my Bullet from one of those local stores with a 20% off coupon clutched tightly in my fat little hands. I eagerly hurried home, thousands of recipes in my head for amazing, fat free meals that could be ready to pour in only 10 seconds.

The basic setup includes the motor, four ‘party cups’ two sealant lids, shaker and steamer tops, two blades, and two cups – a large and a small. Oh, the party cups come with 4 various colored ‘comfort rings’, as the site so eloquently put it. I also pulled out an instruction manual and recipe booklet, which as of late I unfortunately have not opened. In fact, I can’t recall where I put it. The instructions lasted about two days before my first explosion.

To start off with, I read some reviews on one of my favorite shopping sites: Amazon. One review stated that there was a strange smell when the motor was run for more than 10 seconds. Other reviewers loved the product, while some reeked of a standardized review from the company with nothing but the actual product name replaced.

My first ‘recipe’ was, and still is, my standard breakfast protein shake. I used the tall cup because of the amount of milk and powder required to create my desired amount of breakfast goodness. I used the basic two blade attachment to mix the drink. The outcome is the same each time: While the consistency of the shake tastes fine – no chunks of powder get lodged in my throat while I’m hurriedly driving to work – about a half inch of the drink by the blade turns into a foamy concoction, causing me to swallow large amounts of air. I attempted to drink out of a party cup with the yellow comfort lid, all to discover that those lids are not suitable for the dishwasher and warp if you use the heat dry option on it. The drink promptly spilled all over my white shirt, and I was clutching my purse to my chest most of the day. I have since not used the rings. In fact, those are gone too…maybe somewhere with the recipe manual.

Not to give up so easily, I attempted my first food chopping experience with the trusty Bullet. I use a lot of garlic in my dishes because of its heart-healthy benefits, but the smell on fingers of garlic is not pleasant after the second day. I decided to try to create a simple marinade using olive oil, a few cloves of garlic, and a few other spices. I used the main blade with the 4 pronged chopper, and the small cup. The result was pleasant, and at this point I did notice a slight ‘heat’ smell associated with running the motor longer than 10 seconds. I checked the machine over, with no visible problems, I continued using it.

The marinade came out beautifully, and my hands were not tormented by the sticky, garlic feeling that takes a week to wash off. As of now, I have chopped onions, cheese, and pureed fruit with it. The smell also has not returned.

I also made a fruit smoothie using frozen fruit, yoghurt, and some milk with it. My only complaint with the cups is that there should be a third cup in a larger size, as the smoothie turned out to expand a little more than I anticipated.

Here are some notes on caring for the Bullet:

Don’t wash the blades in the dishwasher. My advice is if you are in a hurry, rinse the residue from your creation off and leave it until you get home in the evening. At that time, I advise handwashing the blade. My experience with a fruit smoothie yesterday consisted of the rubber ring within the blade’s cap becoming loose and popping out of the chamber, delightfully spraying purple paste all over my refrigerator, and making me change into a new shirt.

The rings are a waste of time. I use the party cups when my other two cups are dirty and are in the dishwasher – these are the only things that can be thrown in there.

If you decide to make a smoothie and it calls for one cup of milk, add a little extra. The blades are not standard blender blades. This machine is ideal for apartment dwellers that have little space, but because of its small size, it can’t handle the stress of frozen fruit as well as a standard blender can. Hence why I bought the machine - I lived in a tiny, 730 square foot apartment with the world's smallest kitchen.

Overall, I like my little Magic Bullet and continue to use the product. If I can find the recipe booklet, I’ll try out one of the recipes. It’s probably with those darn party cup rings somewhere….

Special thanks to Kat for giving me the idea for my first review!

About Us.

Welcome to my site.

I am your host, the nameless one. There is nothing more you need to know about me, other than I write for a living and have also been blogging since 2004. For the past year, I have been interested in writing reviews for specific products. Why? When I read the average product reviews on amazon.com , bestbuy.com, and other websites, I never get a true 'feel' of the users overall opinion.

So I created this site, with a play on words in the title, and reviews that don't contain opinions like the following:

"This is a great album!! People on here bitchin about a harder album can go listen to something else!! Staind has always been best with their slower tunes! Just like Pearl Jam when they try to speed it up their music sucks!! These bands are best with slower tunes!! Face it!! "

Link stolen from here .

These are real reviews, with real opinions that contain more than the 100 basic words of the English language. I welcome product suggestions (within reason, please) and guest reviews at any time.

The first review will be coming soon. Check back often!

Signed,

LadyJ