Product review: Totes Boot Women's Dual Side Zip Cold Weather Boot

My favorite feature of this Tote boot is the double zipper.  No matter how thick the sock is I am trying to jam into this shoe it is easy to put on.  The double zipper has fabric behind it, so if I have to unzip outdoors the snow does not get into the boot.

The boots are warm. Overall, I like the boots. However, it has two short comings:
* I wish it had a more textured sole so I feel more secure on the slippery areas. 
* I wish the boot had more arch support. I added an insole with extra arch support and that made it much better.


You can find Tote boots on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Eon Luxe Solutions Fruit Fly Trap - Gnats, Drain Flies, Mosquito, Insect Killer

This trap works by attracting small flying inspects by UV light.  When the insects get close to the light a fan inside the trap sucks them in and the airflow pushes them towards the sticky pad at the bottom of the trap.  If they manage not to get stuck on the glue pad immediately then they will die from dehydration and fall on to the pad eventually. The instructions recommend replacing the sticky pad about once a month.  The trap works best in the dark as it needs to attract the bugs by light, and it is better if there is no competing light source.

This trap works for small insects such as fruit flies, knuts, no noseeums, small mosquitoes.  It does not work for house flyes, ladybugs, moths, wasps, large mosquitoes.

The trap feels well made, everything fits well, the tap cover closes with a satisfying click.

I installed the trap on December 25, 2019. I opened it up to check progress on January 10, 2020.  In the 16 days, the trap caught one insect.  Winter is a low insect period where I live as the weather is cold, often below freezing.  Overall, I think this 16 days experiment showed that the trap is capable of catching insects. I plan to update this review in the summer when we have a lot more insects and it will be easier to tell how effective the trap is. 

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review

Product review: SNOW DEER Heated Socks with rechargeable battery

I purchased these socks in October, and have been using them for two months as I write this review. The warmth they generate is good, but there are also things I don't like about them as noted in this review.

I read reviews and product descriptions for about a dozen electric socks.  These socks are more expensive then a good number of other electric socks, but they have two features that others did not.  I selected these socks because they have the heating elements both on the top and the bottom of the toe area (unlike many socks that only heat the top or the bottom of the food, and often not in the toe area). 

A secondary consideration was that these socks are not one size fit all, but come in small, medium and large sizes.  I  picked Medium and they fit my 7.5 shoe size foot pretty well toe to heel.  However, the top of the sock (the calf area) is too tight and the sock slides down as I wear it. I have average size calves, I never have issues with socks or boots being too tight except for these socks.

The heat in these socks has three settings high, medium, and low.  I start out on high and in about 5 minutes switch to low.  This generates pleasant warmth, I can wear socks all day long as I work at my desk. I don't need to remove them from overheating as I had to do in the past when I used electric Mastex booties (ASIN B00KH6QHCM).  I had to turn off Mastex booties after 30 minutes as they become uncomfortably hot.  We keep the house fairly cool in the winter, and my feet always get painfully cold. These socks resolved the problem better than other solutions I have tried before.

The button that turns the sock on and off is in the logo that appears on the battery pocket.  The manual does not show where the button is. I am including the photo that shows the button: red LED indicates high setting, blue LED is medium, and WHITE is low setting.  To turn them off I need to hold the button for a few seconds until LED turns off.  When set to a low setting I get enough battery juice to wear the socks all day long.  Once I tried sleeping with them, but the battery on the side of the sock creates an uncomfortable bump.

Before buying the socks I made sure that I can buy replacement batteries for Snow Deer socks and found the Amazon carries them at $40 for two batteries:
Additional batteries for the socks

Bottom line: good but not perfect. The socks are too narrow at the top and not comfortable for an average size calf.  The poor fit in the calf drops my evaluation by a star from five-star socks to four-star socks. 

You can find these on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Vesafe Wireless Tire Pressure Monitoring System

My Honda CRV has a built-in tire monitoring system, but it only tells me that one of the four tires has low pressure.  It does not give me any numbers or tell me which one of the four tires is low. Vesafe tire pressure monitor solves this problem by showing the pressure of all four tires on the display plugged into the cigarette lighter.

The display runs off power in the cigarette lighter. Each of the four monitors has a battery (CR1632).  When the monitor is removed or the battery runs out of juice the display gadget generates an alarm (I show this in my video).

Installation of the tire monitors is a little fussy, as they require tightening the hex hut with a wrench (this wrench is included in the package).  You also need to loosen the hex nut with the wrench when you remove the monitor to add air to the tires.  The hex nut holds the monitor in place and one cannot remove it without loosening the hex nut. This means you always need to have a wrench in the car in case of an emergency.

Overall, the system worked well.  However, the reading it showed on the display was lower by several PSI compared to measurements by several separate tire pressure testers.  On the positive side, the difference was consistent between several measurements, so it is something I need to keep in mind as I look at the readout.  This monitoring system gives me an early warning and shows which tire is lower than others when the car's build-in system tells me one of the tires is low.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Oliveda B32 Body Oil Grapefruit Rose

Oliveda Body Oil first impression: it smells great. Rose smell is pretty but sometimes can be too strong or too sweet.  Turns out mixing rose scent with grapefruit scent results in a very fresh and pleasant combination, it smells mostly as a rose but with citrus undertones.

The product is made from olive oil and the texture of the product is just like the cooking olive we are all familiar with.  It is a thick deep-colored oil.  The instructions on the bottle call for it to be used after a shower/bath.  I use it on my problem area for the most part, on my heels.  I massage it into my skin, I can see a light sheen from the oil, but the skin does not feel greasy and I see no discoloration on my socks.  If I don't moisturize my feet in the winter I get tiny cracks that feel painful.  I have been using this body oil for about 10 days as I write this review and my skin feels good: softer and smoother then it was before.  I also love applying the oil, the scent is very pleasant.  I cannot smell it on my feet, but my hands smell nice for a bit after massaging the oil in my skin.

Here is a link to Oliveda store on Amazon.

Here is a link to Body Oil on Oliveda website

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Mr IRONSTONE Kitchen Utility 4-Tier Shelf

 

Mr. Iron Stone kitchen shelf has a lot of space and an attractive finish. It has six shelves and one basket. The large shelf has the 66-pound capacity, the four medium-size shelves have 15-pound capacity, and the top shelf has 11 pounds capacity.

The shelf is well made, arrived without any blemishes. All hardware was well labeled and instructions were good. They were clear and with diagrams that showed how things fit together. Everything (with one exception I will describe below) fits well.  The only problem I had during assembly is that the four screws (labeled G) that were meant to hold the rails for the basket were too wide to fit into the four holes in the metal frame. Luckily, they were fairly easy to replace with my own screws which were slightly smaller in diameter.

Assembly tips: when you start assembly be careful to determine which frame is the middle frame and which one is the right frame.  The middle frame has more holes than the right frame.  This is shown in the diagram but it is easy to overlook.  I made this mistake and caught it when I had to attach the left frame and realized the holes for the basket rails do not line up.

I had no problems assembling the shelf alone. I used the dining room table to assemble all but the top shelf.  I would rate the assembly as easy. It took me about 2 hours.  All hardware and tools I needed were included.

Overall, I am pleased the shelf: it looks very nice and my kitchen is better organized now.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Progresso Soup, Reduced Sodium, Roasted Chicken Noodle 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 roasted chicken noodle soup.  This is a pretty thick soup, not watery.  The base of the soup is pretty flavorful and not too salty. I like it better then the traditional version of the soup roasted chicken is less bland the chicken pieces in the traditional chicken noodle 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 ★★★☆☆