Product review: AirArtDeco 5 Inch Mini USB Oscillating Desk Fan

AirArtDeco fan is 5" across.  The fan has a metal cage, the body and the blades are plastic. The fan has two speeds, and it oscillates. It comes with a USB cord that has a round connector (not a mini USB connector). The round connectors are harder to replace if they get lost or go bad.  The fan also can run on four AA batteries (batteries are not included).

The best feature of the fan that it is small but provides good airflow by oscillating.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Progresso Soup, Traditional, Homestyle Chicken Soup (food review)

Progresso chicken noodle soup is my "emergency" meal when there is no time to prepare anything else.  Progresso has a large number of chicken noodle soup variations.  In this review I evaluating homestyle chicken noodle.  This is a pretty thick soup, not watery.  The base of the soup is pretty flavorful and not too salty.  The chicken pieces are fairly bland.  t is chunkier than the traditional version of the soup. The soup does not taste as good as home-made soup but a pretty good emergency meal.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: AirArtDeco 6 Inch USB Portable Desk Fan

AirArtDeco fan is 6" across and made out of plastic. It looks well made, the button and controls operate smoothly. The fan has two speeds, they both provide good air movement. It can be tilted 90 degrees, including pointing up. It comes with a built-in non-removable USB cord.  The cord is 5 feet long.

The best feature of the fan that it is very quiet, with no rattles on either setting.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Riapow Solar Fountain for Bird Bath

   

We have a lot of wildlife in the back yard so adding a solar fountain sounded like a great idea.


Riapow solar fountain comes with 8 different nozzles.  It fits nicely into our birdbath sitting in the center while leaving enough room for birds and other creatures to drunk from the sides.



However, we did not get a lot of height out of the fountain on its best days it just bubbles from the nozzle as you see in the video.  Some days it does not produce any water even after sitting in the sun all day.  It is still fairly cold here (45 degrees Fahrenheit ) so maybe the batteries will perform better in the summer.  As of right now, I found it disappointing. I will post an update when the weather gets warmer.

I contacted the seller and she confirmed that the issue is related to temperature. I will be keeping an eye on the fountain as the weather gets warmer, stay tuned.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review (rating is pending)

Product review: Blood Pressure Monitor by COOCEER

I was looking for a small blood pressure monitor to keep at work. My Omron blood pressure monitor is relatively large but has been calibrated by taking it to my doctor's office to check against her measurements a couple of times, so I know it is accurate within a few points of her instruments. I compared COOCEER blood monitor against it and that they both gave a similar reading (a few points apart). I took the measurements several times, and they were fairly consistent.

It is quite small in size, its base is 2.5" x 3.5", and it comes with a carrying bag to keep everything together.

COOCEER monitor has several other features that I liked:
- I like that it came with a USB power cord, so I don't need to feed it batteries. It does have a battery compartment and can run on four AA batteries.
- I like the latching mechanism; it is easy to operate with one hand. I like it better than Omron's mechanism.
- It has a memory for 2 people so that each person can keep track of their history. This way if co-worker wants to borrow it, I don't have to mix them up with my readings.
- Large size sleeve, the cuff has the length to accommodate 8.7" to 12.6" arm.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: MOOSOO Cordless Handheld Vacuum

This handheld vacuum exceeded my expectations. It has strong suction, it is light, it is narrow so I can get into small places, and it is easy to clean. What do I mean by light? It weighs 1 pound and 1 oz on my digital scale. It comes with a narrow and long crevice tool that fits nicely in the grooves of my sliding deck doors, my old hand vac (Black and Decker PHV 1810) could not do because its crevice tool was a little too thick get into the grooves of the sliding door.

In addition to the crevice tool, it also has a retractable brush that works quite well in the car dislodge small stones stuck in the car's rug.  Its motor has two speeds.

The vac runs on a 2500mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It takes 5 hrs to recharge the battery. I fully charge it after use and then keep disconnected.

It comes with a HEPA filter with a stainless steel mesh cover that goes over the filter.  It can be washed to minimize the number of new filters I will need.  I found that replacement filters are being sold on Amazon (current price is 10.99 for three filters):

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

You can find filters for this vac on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Replens Long-Lasting Feminine Moisturizer, 35g Tube with Reusable applicator

Meh. Not my favorite moisturize.  Discharge is unpleasant.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Coastacloud Breathable Spa Bath Pillow with 4 Large Suction Cups and a hook for drying

This is my second purchase of this bath pillow. The first pillow was purchased in the beginning of 2016 and it has been heavily used over the past four years. The best feature of this pillow is the hook that allows me to dry it between uses, so the pillow never grew mold or smelled bad, unlike its hookless predecessors.

The old pillow is still functional, but the foam yellowed on the edges and it does not have as much resiliency as when the pillow was new. When I saw this pillow on Black Friday sale I got it just to have a backup.  This bath pillow has the best design I ever used. It is comfortable for the head, it sticks well to the tub,  and it dries well even when I use it every day.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Womens Stone Mountain Black Embossed Leather purse and belt

I purchased a set of black embossed leather belts with a built-in pouch at a local TJ Maxx.  They are nice looking and practical.  The embossing is well done and makes the pouch look dressy.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product: GiNT 51 Oz Stainless Steel Thermal Coffee Carafe

GiNT carafe is 11 inches tall and its base is 4" in diameter.  It holds 51 oz of water.

This carafe's construction is two stainless steel walls with a vacuum between them. This construction is similar to the old glass Thermos bottles with steel replacing the glass. The thermal conductivity of glass is lower than steel so the glass thermos keeps the temperature better, but stainless steel is unbreakable. I recall a few occasions when I used Thermos as a youngster finding the content to be full of glass shards.  Not a problem we'll ever see with a stainless steel carafe!

GiNT holds the temperature pretty well. I filled it with hot water and measured the temperature several times over 14 hours with a temperature probe.

★ start ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  187 degrees
★ 6 h later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 136 degrees
★ 14.5 hours later ~~~~~~~~  106 degrees

The carafe closes very tightly (it takes a bit of force to open it) and it leak-free.  You can pour water either by pressing the lever on the cap which allows you to pour the liquid through the spout or by removing the cap and using the wide opening of the carafe to pour out.  The carafe opening is large so it is easy to add ice cubes when I take it along in for a car trip in warm weather.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Wolfgang Puck Organic Soup, Free Range Chicken

This is my first try of Wolfgang Pick canned soups (I tried chicken noodle and this tomato bisque).  It was a week where I could not cook and I decided to spend a little more money to get what I thought would be above average soup.  However, I was disappointed, I like Progresso Chicken soups more.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: Imarku Kitchen Knife,10-Inch High Carbon German Steel Cook's Knife

This is a nice knife!  The handle has a nice shape I am finding it very comfortable to hold.  It is sharp, cuts well and is easy to handle. Its blade is 10 inches long, and the handle is 5" long. Its weight is 7.1 oz. It has a nice feel overall, and 7.1 oz heft makes it not to heavy and not too light.

This knife had been used for every day cooking for almost two weeks. It remained sharp, I do not see any imperfections or dents.  I am quite pleased with it.  In the attached video, you can see the knife in action.

The knife comes in a very attractive packaging that would be suitable for a gift.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Del Monte Pear Halves, 8.5-Ounce cans

These sliced pears are pretty tasty whether you eat them right as they are, use as a tart topper, or sauce.  My latest encounter is part of a low residue diet and these pear halves were one of the very few items allowed that were actually tasty on this diet.  Thumbs up!



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Annie's Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks, Variety Pack, 24 Pouche

This a very tasty gummy snack!  Nice texture and flavors, while not overly sweet. I got the variety pack at Costco to try different flavors. I like that they come in convenient blister packs so I can take one pack each day to work, otherwise I would eat too many! Citrus and strawberry were my favorite. 

a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://amzn.to/33sVpeo"> You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Wolfgang Puck Organic 25% Less Sodium Tomato Basil Bisque

This is my first try of Wolfgang Pick canned soups (I tried chicken noodle and this tomato bisque).  It was a week where I could not cook and I decided to spend a little more money to get what I thought would be above average soup.  However, I was disappointed, I like Trader Joe's Tomato soup much more.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Product review: JELL-O Orange Gelatin Dessert Mix jello low residue diet

I really like Jell-O.  My latest encounter is part of a low residue diet and jello is one of the very few are actually enjoy this diet. Orange if my second favorite flavor after lemon. Thumbs up!

You can find the lemon flavor on Amazon by following this link.

You can find the orange flavor on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Angles Wool Rug from The Company Store

Angles Wool Rug is a nice quality wool rug.  It arrived rolled rather folded so there were no fold creases from shipping.  The rug did not have an odor and looks well made with neat even edges.




The stock photo looked to me like it has browns and peach shade of pink, which matched my decor very well. In reality, the rug has no browns at all.  It has various shades of grey and peach. I was surprised by silver threads between triangles in about a dozen places. I am not sure if they are part of the design or the thread used to connect different colors together.   The backing of the rug is beige.  I was a little disappointed by the color discrepancy initially, but over the next week the rug won me over. I am including several pictures that show the colors better than the stock photo.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

You can find the store by following this link and get friends and family $50 off discount.