Reviews Archives - Page 7 of 23

Kaboo Tablet Bag

April 4, 2013 By Michelle Barneck 3 Comments

This review and giveaway is sponsored by Kaboo. The content is all my own.

With a new Kindle Fire HD, I decided I needed a safe place to tote it around with me. It didn’t take me long to decide I needed a Kaboo bag. They are the cutest tablet bags I’ve seen, plus they are a local company which I love. I ordered up the Riley Pearl. Isn’t she pretty?

I am totally loving it so far. I took it on a weekend getaway and loved how it fit my electronics perfectly! There are so many pockets. Seriously, an organized place for everything. You can see how I packed everything with the labels below.

Though the Riley Pearl is meant to be a tablet bag, not a camera bag, I figured with the padded lining on one side my camera was safer in there than in any other bag I carry. I am excited to take it to the SNAP conference to keep all my tech gear close at hand.

The Kaboo bag is kind of like a mullet. Wait for it…business in the front and party in the middle. I love how the lining is such a fun colorful print.

With seven pockets on the outside there is no shortage of storage. I love these pockets for my phone, wallet, keys, and other items I need to get to often. There’s also a pocket the perfect size for my camera charger. Love!

So, I am really excited about my bag. Can you tell? Wanna be twinsees with me?

Kaboo is giving a Riley Pearl Kaboo Bag to one of my lucky readers!

Enter using the rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I’m on Fire!

March 29, 2013 By Michelle Barneck 2 Comments

Let’s talk tablets. I love having a portable information giant that can fit
in my handbag. For Valentine’s Day we decided to get a tablet and we began shopping around.

Want to know the highlights of what I found when comparing the Ipad and the Kindle Fire HD?

Ipad has a better front/back camera, bigger screen, more apps, and is trendy.

Kindle Fire is thinner, comes with “Free Time” where you can set daily time limits and add favorite for your kids to enjoy safely, Amazon Prime members (which I am) can borrow over 180,000 books and multiple movies and tv series at no cost, and it costs over $200 less.

This was a no brainer for me. Bring on the Fire!

Guess what else? When I was shopping around, and here comes the shocker, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 inch was $30 cheaper at Staples. I know right?! Who knew they even sold them at Staples?!

I ordered it and have been loving it ever since! I love watching free tv (Parenthood and Downton Abbey being my most recent) in bed or when the flat screen is otherwise occupied. The kids love all the new game options. And the hubs is pleased to be able to see and edit the kindle version of his soon to be completed novel. Win, win, win.

Just call me a pyromaniac, cause I love my Fire.

Disclosure: Staples provided the product for review, but the opinions and info are all my own.

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How to Paint a Ceiling {the easy way}

March 22, 2013 By Michelle Barneck 3 Comments

Up until this weekend I was a ceiling painting virgin. Ceilings scared me, the thought of covering everything and paint in my hair and having a sore neck kept me away. I was a chicken really, but no more. I put on my big girl painting pants and with the help of a new tool gave it a go.

Now that I’ve done it I am embarrassed at how nervous I was. I started small with out guest bathroom so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed and I was actually underwhelmed. It took me all of about 15 minutes including set up for the first coat. I am totally in love with the fresh clean white!

My secret weapon? The PaintStick EZ-Twist from HomeRight. This handy tool sucks the paint right in to the handle and eliminates the need for a paint tray!

You just place a little nozzle in your paint bucket and follow the instructions to pull the paint right in to the handle. My paint bucket was a little shorter than most so I had to hold it down well while pulling the paint in.

Once the paint is in, you just push in or twist the handle to get more paint in the roller. Fancy!

Now just roll it on! It even has a little tray to catch drips. I was painting over old linoleum so I didn’t even cover anything, though if your flooring or surfaces are nicer I would recommend protecting them. I didn’t see any white drips anywhere.

I filled in the edges with a regular paint brush. I did not tape or anything because I was painting the walls.

Doesn’t it look sooo much better? From a dingy cream color everywhere to crisp white and a nice clean gray. Phase 1 of guest bathroom makeover complete!

Now for my thoughts on the PaintStick:

Pros:

Easy set up with much less covering
No messy paint tray.
Easy to reach normal ceilings without a ladder
Easy to get a good coat without pushing hard
Makes painting ceilings and rooms much faster

Cons:

While still simple, clean up is more time intensive than throwing away a paint tray liner.
Not meant for use in cramped spaced with lots of built in items (I didn’t use it for the walls in the bathroom because of the long handle)

The PaintStick runs for about $20 at big box and hardware stores. I think the time saved is worth the investment, especially if you would have to buy rollers/covers/paint trays anyway.

I can’t wait to try the PaintStick out on a bigger room!

This is a sponsored post on behalf of HomeRight but the thoughts and opinions are my own. See my disclosure for further details.

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12 Favorite Windows Phone Apps for Kids

March 14, 2013 By Michelle Barneck Leave a Comment

When getting a new phone I always like to know what are the good apps. Especially for kids, there are a lot of games that are not worth the download. So, let us save any Windows Phone users some time and share our list of our favorite Windows 8 apps for kids.

We chose to keep the list super budget friendly, so all apps listed are 99 cents or under (eight are free).

Animal Fun – question games, puzzles, matching and a sticker book, all revolving around a collection of cute cartoon animals.
Color Me – by far my 2 year old favorite app of all.
Scooby Doo – over 80 Scooby-Doo episodes
Kid Songs Machine – sings 6 classic songs with cute graphics that kids can interact with
AE Gun Ball – My favorite childhood game in mobile form.
Frogsling 2 – slingshot frogs into buckets, onto bullseyes and more.
Where’s my water? – physics-based game where you try to get the water to the alligator so he can take a shower.
AE Fruit Slash – practice your slicing action on a variety of fruit
Shuriken Ninja – My karate obsessed 5 year old’s favorite. Master the ninja star. Stars are physics based and will ricochet or stick to different surfaces. Get the right angle to break the targets.
Where’s my Perry? – a physics-based game using water in all its different forms, ice, steam and liquid, to solve the puzzle.
Star Wars Angry Birds – Star Wars + Angry Birds. Need I say more?
Cut the Rope – Cut the rope to feed candy to little monster Om Nom

Also, did you know that Windows phone comes with a separate screen for your kids?!

They get their own start screen called kid’s corner where you can customize it with music, games and apps just for them. When in Kid’s Corner they can’t access your screen and re-arrange it, download things, or make random calls to your lady dr. They are locked in to what you have approved. Is that not the best ever?!