Another Round of Product Reviews

Here are some more items that I have had the pleasure of trying recently. These listed below made enough of an impression with me that I think they might make a good gift or spark some inspiration for those who are difficult to buy for.


A Gift of a Quiet Night: Anti-Bark Collars (Not to be used on the kids no matter how tempted I am.)


I can't tell you how many times something would sneak across the street (usually a stray cat) and get my dogs riled up for several hours of barking. I am a pretty light sleeper, and that would be all that it would take for me to get little to no sleep and revert back to the zombie like state that had previously only been induced  by having a newborn needing to eat every few hours.

I have a really large Golden Retriever/Lab/Chow mix. He is an adult dog that we "inherited" from a family member. He did not have any structured training in his formative years and as such has fully resisted several months of attentive training methods that worked for my Beagle/Boxer mix.

If I lived out in the country, his barking would not be an issue, but I live in an older well developed and otherwise quiet neighborhood. My neighbors know me and have been exceedingly patient with us and our large dog, but I can tell that their patience is starting to wear a little thin especially as I see the bags and dark circles under their eyes become more pronounced like mine.

For me training collars are the absolute last resort. I started off with the collar on the default setting, since he is a larger breed. At first, it did not phase him at all. I have since increased the level once and I am starting to notice a difference. My dog still barks, but it is less frequent and doesn't last as long. I will probably leave it at this level (5) as long as he continues to show progress. Hopefully in a few weeks we can try just setting it at the audible *reminder* setting.

A Gift of Relaxation: Calming Ocean Waves CD and Wine Aerator

Ryan Judd has composed a beautiful and relaxing soundtrack that will take you to the beach. 


The CD is exactly 1 hour long and offers consistent sounds of waves. There are no jarring noises like seagulls squawking to make you jump and get your adrenaline going while you are trying to relax. The CD comes in a thick envelope-type sleeve and not in a jewel case, which is no big deal to me but I thought I would mention it.

I use this CD for my meditation as well as for white noise to help my toddler fall asleep at nap time.





And when meditation fails to bring me calm and inner peace a nice glass of red will. Although I find that with a lot of affordable reds out there you have to let them breath for quite a while in order to get rid of that harsh tastes.

I found an explanation of this at the site Wonder-How-To: Food Hacks.

When wine is aerated, many volatile compounds like sulfides become oxidized and then turn into vapor. This means they don't end up in your mouth, where they can make the wine taste sour, tannic, or otherwise nasty. Ever sipped a glass of wine that has the taste of rubbing alcohol? That would be ethanol, another volatile compound. Exposing your wine to a lot of air reduces that harsh note as well.

So the longer wine is exposed to air, the more harsh flavors and notes begin to mellow out and blend together. If you have a very delicate older wine, you probably don't want it to aerate for too long or its singular aromas might literally turn into thin air. More recent vintages and very tannic wines (like Cabernet and Syrah) tend to be harsher and more concentrated. These can stand long periods of aeration and be better for it.

Since I usually don't have the patience to sit there and wait for a glass of wine to be ready, I like to lend a little hand to the breathing process. (No, I don't sit there an blow on the wine...anymore.)

I have graduated to using wine aerators. These little devices add air bubbles to the stream of wine as it is poured.

This was actually the second wine aerator I had purchased. While I love the one I originally purchased, it was awfully clumsy to use with out someone lending me an extra set of hands. You literally need three hands with my first aerator (one to hold the bottle, one to hold the aerator, and one to hold the glass.) It is not that big of a deal if you are pouring for others, but pouring for yourself will be a lesson in juggling.

This aerator by Vino Aria. It has a rubber collar on the small end that you shove into the wine bottle for a hands-free aeration. When I first opened up the packaging for the aerator and examined it, I was quite a bit disappointed as it is terribly light. My first aerator is heavy as it is made of hand-blown glass. As I got to thinking about it, the hardened plastic material suits me just fine. Out of all my wine accessories, do I really need another one that will shatter if accidentally dropped? With this one made from the hardened plastic, I feel comfortable carrying it with me and a bottle of wine over to my friend's house for a girls' night in.

A Gift of time: for those who are always late (and by that I mean a watch).

Topaz makes some surprisingly nice watches. The watch face is very nice. It was slightly larger than expected, but that makes sense as it it listed as a unisex watch. It is larger than watches listed as women's but smaller than a lot of watches tailored towards men. The numbers are easy to read and even though I have only had it a few days it appears to keep time well.

For more holiday gift ideas, check out Amazon's list of top toys for the season.



I had mentioned shipping deadlines in my last post.
Here is an update for shipping Christmas presents this year.

These are the published deadlines from the major shipping services.





USPS: December 15 is the last day the USPS recommends you use standard shipping if you want delivery on time; December 19 is the last day for First Class mail; December 21 for Priority Mail, and December 23 for Priority Mail Express.





 




UPS: December 18 is the last day to ship UPS 3 Day Select — if you want packages to be delivered before Christmas Day; December 22 is the last day for 2 Day Air, and December 23 is the deadline for overnight packages to arrive on the 24th.








 
FedEx: December 16 is the last day to ship FedEx Ground if you want delivery by Christmas Day: December 21 is the deadline for Express Saver, and December 22 is the deadline for 2 Day Air. The 23rd is the last day to send overnight packages for arrival on the 24th.



As always feedback, questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome. Please remember to follow the blog and register your email address at the top of the page to have new posts delivered right to your email inbox and never miss an update.

Disclaimer: please be aware that any item mentioned in this blog may have been received for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own regardless of how the items were acquired.