My other posts from this series:

Furnishing a Nursery

Choosing a Stroller and a Car Seat

Choosing a Jogging Stroller

In this post I am going to focus on other baby gear that I personally found important to have and why. If you’re about to have a baby shower for your first child, walking through the baby store’s isles can be overwhelming. So many articles, they all seem important and possibly necessary. Monitors, crib mobiles, swings, playpens, bath tubs, changing table pads, diaper disposals etc, etc… I think it’s important to separate these items into three categories, “not needed”, “I could possibly use that” and “I definitely need it”! From that point you can make a decision for what you need to purchase based on the necessity level and the budget.

Even with my first one, I used careful judgment at picking baby items (yep, I’m a minimalista!).  I evaluated how long I would be using the item, how much it costs and what is its necessity level. And since I knew ahead of time that we were planning on two kids, I picked the colors to cover either gender.

This is a list of items that I’m glad I got, since they were well worth getting.

Playpen/bassinet combination with changing pad is a definite necessity and will serve your child from birth until 2 or 3 years old. I decided not to purchase changing table, see why in my previous article and started using playpen from the time my daughter was born. I didn’t use it as a bassinet, since it’s bulky and not easily movable. When my daughter grew up a little, I got rid of the changing pad and started using it as an actual playpen. It’s definitely a lifesaver when you need to leave the room to take a shower or if you’re cleaning the house or when they simply misbehave! Since it can be folded into a compact bag, it served as a bed for her when we went to visit relatives overnight. She outgrew its bed purpose at around two, when she got too tall for it.

Bassinet is a very convenient item to have, but not worth buying brand new. It’s only great for the first 3 months of your baby’s life. It’s small and portable. I used to wheel it around the house everywhere I went. At night the bassinet was next to my bed for the convenience of breastfeeding. During the day it sat next to me in the family room. When I went on the porch, I brought it along as well. Since its use is limited to only first three months, I saw no point of getting a brand new bassinet. I borrowed it from a friend. If it’s not an option, look for a used one. Just make sure it’s stable, the base is not missing any screws and the wheels are in working condition.

Baby swing is a definite necessity. I used it from almost time she was born until about a year from then. The motion kept her quiet while I was able to get other things done.  She would often dose off in it.

Shopping cart cover got its use for the ten bucs I spent on it. I used it from the time my daughter was about 6 months until she was a little over a year. You can definitely use it longer than that, I just didn’t seem to have a necessity for it.

Baby carrier/sling (0-3 months) for newborns. We used it quite a bit to walk around the neighborhood for the first 3+ months of her life. I left it up to my husband to carry her around in it. The weight was a little too much for my back for the whole stretch of the walk.

Baby gym is a little on the pricey side for a brand new, but it had a good run with my first one and will be with my 2nd as well. She started to interact with it at about 2-3 months of age until we decided to pack it up around the time she started walking. She enjoyed the lights going on and off with the sound of the music. She didn’t start grabbing the toys until few months later, but it kept her entertained overall. Even now, at two years old, she sneaks into her closet (that’s where we store it), closes the door from the inside and turns on the music with blinking lights. It’s like she’s having her own little party in there, no parents invited .

Baby intercom is a definite necessity if your baby is sleeping in a separate room. I would recommend purchasing the one that is running on high frequency, the kind that the cordless phones use, rather than the low radio frequency. At first we got the low frequency one, and it drove us nuts at night. It was making all kinds of static noises, and we were just having a hard time sleeping. Also, if your neighbors happen to come across the radio frequency you’re using, they can listen in on your conversation in the nursery. After a few days I bought the high frequency intercom and had no problems with it. No static noises, just the baby! Some people complain that they’re having a hard time hearing the baby, but I didn’t find it to be a problem at all.

Crib Mobile/Crib Aquarium are not the “can’t live without” type items, but they are nice to have. My daughter was enjoying them since infant until we moved her to the big girl’s room at 2. Even then she couldn’t part with her musical aquarium.

Infant bath tub (0-6 mo) I found to be very useful. You could definitely use other means to wash the baby, like the sink or a regular bathtub, but it can be a bit tricky in the early months, having to support his head and washing him at the same time. So with my first one I played it safe by getting a special bathtub, and it worked out very well.

There is no way to cover absolutely every baby item. This is just my take on the things that I consider important and  personally use to make my life easier. If you have something to add, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I love to learn from others how they do things.

In my next post I’ll focus on the items that I consider unnecessary based on my personal experience and judgment.

In my earlier post I talked about saving money on furnishing and decorating the nursery. In this post I’ll be talking about picking the right stroller.

In my opinion, an every day stroller is not a thing to buy at the garage sale. Since it has a few nuts and bolts, moving parts, folding mechanism, you want these things to be sturdy, last a while and work well. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be using your stroller a lot. I use it to go on the walks in the neighborhood, shopping, play dates, adventure parks, etc.

Before purchasing I would strongly recommend to physically check out the item at the store, if available. You will get to try it out, see how it works and get a good idea of what it would be like to own it.

If this option or is not available or even if it is, second best thing is to look at the product’s reviews. This will give you an overview of its durability and expected problems down the road. Amazon.com and Babies’r'us are couple of popular sites to check out. I usually go with a product that has at least 15 reviews. This way I know that the product is not brand new, it’s been tried by others, and I get to find out how well it works from real people. Even if a product has a good rating, still browse through some poor reviews. If you see a certain complaint repeats itself, you know what to expect, and whether that particular feature is important enough to you to make a “move on” or “no big deal” decision.

If you’re planning on more than one child, going with neutral colors is one of the way to economize.

We chose to go with Graco Passage Travel System that included the car seat and the stroller together. This type of set up can be used from the time they’re newborn and up to about 5 years of age or 50 pounds in weight. Even though this stroller is on the less expensive side, under $200, it’s surprisingly sturdy. My kid is over 2 years old now, but the stroller barely has a scratch on it. I am not exactly the most smooth operator either, I do tend to bump it into things at times and it seems to take the “abuse” fairly well. Here are some other features that I like:

• The folding mechanism, I can do with one hand.
• The fabric is spill proof. Spills can be wiped off easily without having to throw the whole thing into the wash. I actually haven’t washed anything yet (besides the car seat cover) and it looks just like new!
• It has a generous size canopy, perfect for Florida’s glaring sun.
• It’s fairly easy to maneuver.
• Big storage basket underneath. It easily fits a diaper bag, my purse and the jackets for me, husband and baby.
• The price is under $200.
• 4.5 out 5 stars rating on Amazon.com, which is not bad compared to other strollers.

Here are couple of cons for me:

• I wish the stroller were a little lighter (it’s about 27 pounds). Even though I don’t ever think about it when I’m actually using it, I do feel it when I have to get it in and out of the car.
• The car seat is heavy as well. Not sure how much it weighs, but I do feel it when I get it in and out of the car.

Overall though, it’s a good stroller for the money.

In the travel system, car seat usually comes with the base for the car and also fits comfortably on top of the stroller. Another advantage of the travel system is the portability of the car seat. You can take it with you anywhere without disturbing your baby, if he happens to be napping at the time. And babies nap a lot! This way you don’t have to worry about how you’re planning on carrying your baby around without the car seat. For example, if you’re going shopping, you can place the car seat over the front part of most shopping carts, leaving you hands-free from carrying your baby.

One of the disadvantages of buying travel system is that you can only use the car seat for up for to about 12-14 months of age or 20 pounds. Then you have to invest in a new car seat. Usually they will accommodate a child starting from the newborn to up to 40-50 pounds. They are also bulky and non-portable. Even though I call myself a minimalista, I decided to invest in a more expensive (for me) Evenflo Symphony 65 with Surelatch All In One Car Seat.

Here are some of the positives of this car seat that I care about:

• It reclines into four different positions. If we happen to travel during her nap time, I recline the seat into the least steep angle position ahead of time. This way her head doesn’t drop on her chest and she doesn’t look like she’s getting a big pain in the neck, LOL!
• This seat comes with additional head support and protection on the sides. So in case of an accident, the head doesn’t jerk too much to either side.
• The straps are very easy to adjust from up front. I use this feature all the time, because of what she’s wearing or when I get her in and out of the car.
• The head support adjusts easily, without having to unbuckle the seat. I don’t use this feature much, but it’s still convenient.
• It comes with an optional cup holder for the child.
• The seat seems to be extremely comfortable, lots of padding!
• It’s rating is 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com.

Honestly, I haven’t found any negatives about this car sit yet. And I had for over a year now.

You can get a child’s car seat as inexpensively as $40 and the most expensive ones that I’ve seen are almost $300. As a tip, if you’re planning on purchasing from Babies-R-Us, you can usually find a coupon for $20 off travel system ether online or in their flier.

Some of you might want to purchase a stroller, which is a combination between an every day stroller and a jogging stroller. In my next post I’m planning to talk about jogging strollers, so stay tuned!

After two unappealing reviews of Seacret’s Eye Cream and Age-Defying Eye cream I received a message from the company’s marketing manager with an offer to try out their Restore Age-Defying serum and Refresh Vitamin-Rich moisturizer. I happily agreed.

It’s been at least a month since I’ve been using the products. The goal is to use them at least once per day, preferably before going to bed. First the serum needs to be applied over face and neck, followed by the moisturizer. This is exactly what I did!

I can not say that I saw much of a difference in my skin. I’m attaching some pictures of my face. It’s possible that some blemishes have faded, but it’s hard to tell.

As far as wrinkles are concerned, I don’t believe I saw much change either. See pictures below.

Though, in Seacret’s defense, I would like to quote a comment that Vera left on my previous review of Seacret Spa’s Age-Defying Eye cream:

“I have been using Seacret Eye Gel, night and day cream as well as the mud mask and I found all of them fantastic. I have been getting comments about how much younger I look and did I have a  face lift? Maybe it does not work on young skin or if it does it is not noticeably as all you would need is a good nights sleep and some concealer. Unfortunately they only come to my part of Australia once a year, before Xmas so I have to buy a years supply.”

I also heard good reviews from the mothers of my peers. They seem to love this line. So maybe it works better on older skin?

Here is my take on it: if your skin is still in decent shape, and if you are under the age of 35 or possibly 40, you probably won’t see much difference. If your skin has more damage or age under its belt, you will probably see improvement.

Each product will cost you $80 at the mall. I believe you can find them cheaper on Ebay or other online retailers (just watch out for the expiration date). The good thing is you get a lot of product for the money. The company estimates that they should last for a whole year. I believe the 1.7-ounce jar of moisturizer might last me that long, but not the 1.o-ounce bottle of serum. I estimate serum to last about 6 months, if I use it once per day.

I would like to know what you think about these products. Would you be willing to pay this much? Do or did you use these products? What was your experience?

This giveaway is closed, the winner is Storm, the owner of comment #35, congrats Storm! Thanks for participating everyone!

There isn’t a more perfect time to use Skin MD Natural Shielding lotion than in the winter.  Even though I live in Florida, as the temperature drops below 60F and subsequently does the moisture in the air, my skin feels it big time! My hands suffer the most. Being a mommy to a toddler, I wet my hands close to every hour throughout the day. When the temperature outside is warm, the skin on my hands seems to hold pretty well. But as the cold hits, same skin gets extremely dry and rough. I’m a 32-year old woman, but by looking just at my hands, you would probably give me all 55 or more. I can’t even imagine how folks up north deal with their dry and itchy skin. Besides my hands, my elbows and my knees take #2 place in dryness. During such times I try to use very rich moisturizers, petroleum jelly and even olive oil! They help a little, but feel extremely oily. I have to rub them in forever and then wait a while for the oily feeling to go away.

When I tried Skin MD Natural Shielding lotion, one of the first things I noticed is how light and non-greasy it feels. Just a few moments after rubbing a small amount into the skin, the skin feels very soft and moist, yet without a hint of grease! I also like the fact that it’s odorless, therefore it’s prego and allergies prone friendly. Did I mention it’s hypoallergenic?  Another plus for me is that many of the ingredients are plant derived, like the aloe leaf extract, extracts of arnica montana flower, comfrey, chamomile, yarrow.

The reason the lotion is called shielding is because it protects skin from the environmental effects and the every day chemicals that tend to strip the skin off its natural oils. Soaps, shampoos, paint, furniture polish, cold weather take moisture away from the skin, causing it to dry, itch, peel and even crack. Continual application of this lotion will restore skin’s natural moisture usually within a few days.

So now is the best part:

The company will send the giveaway winner his/her own bottle of Skin MD Natural Shielding lotion. All you have to do is visit their website and leave a comment HERE about why you would like to have this product. A retweet of this post counts as a separate entry. Just make sure you include my twitter name in your retweet, @malikarisley.

The winner will be randomly selected by the random number generator. The contest ends within four weeks from today, which falls on midnight (Eastern Time) of February 16, 2010.

This giveaway is also posted on

Online-Sweepstakes website

GJ’s Sweepstakes Crazy – Your Source for Online Sweepstakes and Contests
– Detailed listings to hundreds of free sweepstakes, contests, games, and lottos you can enter on the Web.

Thank you and good luck!

With the 2-yr old and the second one on the way, I decided to look for a double stroller. I wanted a side-by-side type, with jogging/running capability, good size canopy for sun protection and compact enough to fit through a door. By looking through a ton of strollers online at the Babies-R-Us store, I decided to go with the Baby Jogger City Elite double stroller. It seemed to have everything, nice soft reclining seats, good size basket underneath, large size canopy for each seat and an easy fold-up technology. What else could a mom dream of? I found the stroller on the Babies-r-Us site under Jogging/Running strollers. Though the price tag wasn’t small, it retails for $420.

When my mother-in-law brought over the heavy box, she pointed out that there was a warning right on the box:

I was surprised to see this sign since it was made by “Baby Jogger” and listed under Jogging/Running strollers on Babies-r-Us website. I decided to call Baby Jogger to make sure that it wasn’t a mistake. Unfortunately, the rep confirmed that this model is not intended for running or jogging. I was shocked, to me, when I pay over $400 for a stroller, I would expect it do flips in the air!! LOL! She suggested that I call Babies-R-Us directly and deal with the issue.

My goal was to return the stroller without having to pay for shipping from my own pocket. Trust me, the box is very heavy!  When I called Babies-R-Us and explained my issue, the rep was very nice. He emailed us the UPS shipping label and all we have to do now is print it, attach it to the box and call UPS store for a pick up.

I guess my disappointment with Baby Jogger is that they omitted to mention a pretty important piece of information on their website “not intended for running or jogging!” The description mentions all of its great features, which I can’t deny. They are definitely great selling points, but please let me know what its limitations are as well. This would solve all the confusions and disappointments.

I was very pleased with Babies-R-Us. They are a great customer relations company, every time I get them on the phone they are very friendly and polite. I will definitely deal with them again!

Lesson learned: call manufacturer directly before making a purchase to ensure that the product has the features of interest.

As of now, I’m continuing to look for a nice double stroller for my babies.

After unsuccessfully trying out Seacret Regain Age-Defying Eye Cream for under-eye darkness, I decided to go back to the mall and exchange it for the Eye Gel. I didn’t have much choice, they don’t give refunds, exchanges only for 30 days after purchase. After explaining to the suave salesman that the product didn’t work and showing my receipt, he agreed to do an exchange for me.  The salesman convinced me that in order for the Regain product to work, I have to use the Eye Gel as a base (even though I was told otherwise when I purchased Regain). He was trying hard to up sell me on the facial serum as well, but after my experience with their Regain Eye Cream I wasn’t willing to spend any more money on any products from their stand. After I expressed my opinion, he proudly showed me a few impressive before and after pictures of people using their products. But how can I trust a picture if the product didn’t work on ME?

His next move was to show me how the product works on me. He dabbed quite a bit of gel under my eye, handed me a mirror and asked whether I could see the difference. The only difference I could see at the moment was the excessive shininess under the gelled eye. His verdict was that it looked lighter and smoother. In any case, I accepted his advice and decided to try out the Gel.

As I did in my previous review of Seacret Regain product, I treated only one eye for 16 days in a row. I took daily pictures of my eyes to see whether the difference can be noticed between the treated and the untreated eye.

So here are my picture results:

So here is the test for you. Can you see which eye I was treating? What do you think? My opinion is that I can’t see any difference between my eyes at this point.

Since I didn’t even get a receipt for my exchange this time around, I don’t think I will be successful at exchanging the product. But honestly, I don’t have much confidence at this point in Seacret line anyways. I guess now I see why they don’t take refunds!

If you have a success story with your eye cream (mainly removing/lightening dark circles) please leave a comment. I’d love to know!

Related Articles:

Seacret Spa Age-Defying Serum and Moisturizer Review

I decided to start looking into under eye creams to help lighten up the dark circles under my eyes. When I was in my mid twenties, I tried a couple of the drug store brands, but didn’t get much satisfaction.

Now in my early thirties I am on the quest again. The most bothersome thing about my eyes are the dark circles. Luckily I don’t yet have the bags or the aging crow feet. But whenever I look at myself in the mirror without make up, I can’t help but be bothered by the reddish-brown circles under and slightly above my eyes. The raccoon eyes are staring back at me, screaming for attention!

I am not exactly sure why I get these ugly things. I think heredity got a lot to do with it, thanks to my mother’s side. Otherwise I feel like I have a reasonably healthy lifestyle as far as sleep, diet and exercise are concerned.

My friend loves Seacret under eye cream and her eyes look great. She swears she doesn’t use any concealer.   So I decided to give it a try. We have a couple of Seacret booths at the local mall, and I approached one of them to learn a little more about the secret of  Seacret. A smooth talking young Israeli lady explained to me that the company uses minerals from the Dead Sea in each of its products. Dead Sea is reach in minerals and helps heal problems like joint pain, arthritis, swelling, etc. She insured me that all of the ingredients are natural and her mom is in love with this line.

I explained to her my problem and she recommended that I try Seacret Regain eye cream. It supposed to help with dark circles, wrinkles and swelling. She told me that one ounce of cream costs $140, but since I wasn’t willing to spend that much, she said she’ll give me a special deal of $74. So $80 later and full of hope, I headed for the try. I also found out that the special deal I got still doesn’t beat the Ebay’s price of $60. She’s was also trying really hard to push the face cream, the face scrub and the serum, but spending $80 on a beauty product was plenty for me.

My directions were that for the best results, I need to use the cream every night before sleep for the first two weeks and then every other night after that. She also noted that I should be able to see the difference within first two to three days.

So here is what I decided to do. I decided to apply the cream every night to only one eye consistently. This way I can definitely see whether the cream is working by comparison. I took a picture of my eyes almost every night for 14 nights in the row after applying the cream. Enough talking, because a picture is worth a thousand words. In my case it’s ten pictures.

The true test of whether the cream is working, is whether you can see which eye I was treating. So see for yourself!
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 9
Day 10
Day 14

Can you see which eye I was treating? Personally I am disappointed. I can’t see any color difference under my eyes! On the positive note, I think the skin under the eye that I was treating got a little smoother. So when I smile, the wrinkles are a tad smaller. But this wasn’t a problem for me to begin with! The problem that I was trying to fix, was not improved, even by a tiny bit.

Unfortunately I can not return the product and get my money back, but I can exchange it for another product withing 30 days from purchase. I think that’s what I’m going to do.

Maybe you can let me know what products you used or are using that help you with the dark cirles.

Related Articles

Seacret Eye Gel Review

Seacret Spa Age-Defying Serum and Moisturizer Review

My husband and I decided to purchase a larger vehicle for me sometime in the future since we are expecting a new addition. I was driving Honda Accord at the time and we were leaning towards purchasing an SUV. Since I had absolutely no idea what manufacturer or model I actually would like, I decided to stop in at a couple of dealerships to try out different vehicles. I knew that I wanted to stick with something used, Japanese and low miles.  The first place I went to was Courtesy Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Brandon, on the corner of Lakewood drive and highway 60. The sales manager met me outside, we talked and like a good salesman he offered me a car, that he thought was just right for me. He showed me this blue Lexus RX300 and I absolutely fell in love with it, once I sat in it. I admit, Lexus knows how to make you feel special. I told him right away that I am not ready to purchase yet, it would have to go through my husband, so he was happy to put together a cost sheet for me. I then stopped by a couple of other dealerships, got to drive couple of Honda CRV’s, which were a little newer, more expensive and with higher mileage. And I wasn’t in love with them!

That night I went online, checked out the blue book values for the Lexus and for my Honda and looked at the comparisons. I tell you right away, it was a little tricky to get what I want for the budget I had, so I really had to be fishing for a deal. And Lexus deal was pretty good, below blue book, he was offering $1000 more for my trade-in than the other two places I went to and I loved the car!

The next day I drove back to the dealership, talked to the sales manager, got the car down by another $500 (even though he wasn’t very happy about it, but agreed), and we made a deal. For financing we decided to go through our credit union, and we were happy to hear that the dealership deals with them directly. Since my husband is self-employed, and I am a home maker, the bank requested last two years of business’ and personal income tax paperwork with all of the spreadsheets and forms attached. All of our paperwork added up to about 100 pages. We brought it all to the lady who deals with the loans, which she supposedly faxed to the bank.

Three weeks later, we get a call from the sales manager saying that the bank didn’t approve us, and that he pre-qualified us for a loan through Wachovia bank. The attempt of finding the reason for loan disapproval from him was unsuccessful.  We were a little surprised, being that the loan amount wasn’t that much and the car was worth at least one and a half times the loan amount. And beside the fact, isn’t it illegal to pre-qualify someone for a new loan without their consent?

Since the interest rate through Wachovia is quite a bit higher, I decided not to give up on our bank, so went there myself. Come to find out, the bank only got first few pages of our 2007 income tax paperwork. They were waiting for the rest of the paperwork that never arrived from the dealership. So I had to gather all of the paperwork again, bring it to the bank and god bless the sweet associate at the Suncoast Schools Credit Union in Riverview, who spent 45 minutes faxing all of this paperwork to their corporate office, I got the task accomplished. In the meantime the dealership kept getting on my case about going with the new loan through Wachovia. Thank goodness our loan got approved in a few days after they received all of the paperwork.

In the meantime, I decided to do a vehicle inspection at the Lexus dealership, while it was still under 60-day/2000 mile warranty. And I’m glad I did! They found an oil leak in the rear main seal. It is a big job, since the transmission needs to be pulled out in order to get to the seal itself. Lexus quoted me $1250 for the job. I called Brandon’s Chrysler Jeep Dodge maintenance department, explained my situation and was told to bring the vehicle in for inspection. It took couple of hours the next morning for the mechanic to confirm that in fact, the car did have an oil leak in the main rear seal. He said that he has to get with the dealership, where I bought the car (apparently they are not the same), and get an approval. It would take couple of days. After two days I called them back and dealt the the maintenance manager. He told me that we didn’t have the financing approved yet (you know the story already), and he doesn’t have the approval to fix the car till then. Once I found out that the loan is approved, I called him again, for which he replied, he still didn’t get the permission from the dealership to fix the car. I felt like in order for this job to happen, I have to step in again, so I decided to swing by the dealership in person the next morning. One guy got on the phone with the maintenance shop, and I got an appointment scheduled for a week in advance. Scott explained that they needed this time to order the part. So comes my appointment time, and the maintenance manager estimated that the repair job would take all day. I called later that afternoon to check up on things, to only find out that the wrong part came in, the right part is on its way, and the vehicle will have to be kept overnight. When I asked him if I could have a loaner car (my salesman mentioned that they do offer a loaner car in case the repair takes more than a day), he said that he is not responsible for getting me a loaner car, and that I have to deal directly with the dealership on that matter. By that time I was already fed up with the dealership on the matter of financing, so I decided to patiently wait. I called the following afternoon to find out when I can pick up my car and was told, that the part just came in, and the car won’t be ready until the morning after. So finally, the next morning I did receive a voice mail from the maintenance manager that the car was ready to be picked up.

Once I drove it off the lot, I noticed that my steering wheel was about 30 degrees off the center point. I didn’t have time that afternoon to go back to the shop, so I called them. The maintenance manager’s exact words were “We never touched the steering wheel, I don’t know why it’s doing it, we just fixed what you told us…” Even though I know for a fact that they had to mess with the steering system, because changing main rear oil seal is a big job involving taking out transmission, disconnecting electrical and realigning the steering system after the seal is changed. I asked him whether I could bring the car back in the morning and wait for them to inspect it. He told me that I have to leave it for a day again, because it will take them a couple of hours just to check it out.

Do these people realize what kind of effort it takes for me and my family to sit there without a car for three days only to find out that it wasn’t properly fixed and having to leave it there again for at least a day? Dragging my husband and child to the maintenance shop and back, not being able to leave the house and accomplish my errands?  I  At this point I was fed up with this piece of crap customer service and decided to head straight to my local mechanic, Riverview Tire and Auto, awesome guys, very trustworthy. They got my car realigned and ready to go within 40 minutes. I was glad to pay them 50 bucks and be on my way!

So here is a lesson I learned, there is no “too good to be true” deal, it always comes with strings attached. I happened to get cought exactly by these strings. So what would I have done differently? First, I would have gotten the car inspected before I purchased it, warranty or not. Once they get your money, they don’t care anymore. They do a slow, sloppy job and no one is responsible for anything. Like the maintenance manager told me, “it’s not my problem that the wrong part came in”, “I’m not responsible for giving you a loaner vehicle”, “it’s not my problem that the dealership didn’t approve the repair”, “I don’t know what happened with steering wheel”, etc, etc, etc. Second, I would have gone directly to my bank for a loan, versus getting it through the dealership. The smaller the number of parties involved, the less chance for a mistake to be made!

I now see one of the reasons why this company is in trouble. In order for a group or a company to survive, there has to be a certain responsibility level between its members or coworkers. If one slipped, another should be able to pick up the slack and vice versa. When every one is trying to haphazardly cover his own ass, business fails.

On that note, good luck to you, Brandon Courtesy Chrysler Jeep Dodge, you won’t be seeing me anymore!

I was offered to try this test by my sister-in-law, who works in the corporate office of a large supermarket chain here in Florida. She said that the distributor of this test would like to test this product on public to see how easy it is to do and how accurate it actually is. She referred me as a test subject and I happily agreed, since I didn’t have to pay for it. Currently the test retails for $35 and states 90% accuracy rate. Hey, I’ll try anything once and it sounded like a fun thing to try!

I decided to review this test by discussing each step of the instructions that come with the test kit. So you can decide whether this test is for you!

1. When you wake, please fill the collection cup with your first morning urine when collecting your sample. It is very important to use first morning urine when collecting your sample. Failure to do so will likely result in an incorrect result. Once collected, set the urine sample aside and get the test kit ready for use. Remove the white overcap, exposing the kit’s lid. Remove the white oval tab from the top of the lid, exposing a small hole in the middle. You will need to keep the tab close by as you will replace it over the hole once the urine has been added. You are now ready to perform the test.

Okay, whoever wrote this, more likely has never been pregnant. Excuse me, but like most pregnant women, I happen to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, so usually by the time the morning comes around, there is not much urine left over to collect! So here is my question, can I pee in the cup at 3 or 4 in the morning and do the test once I wake up for good? Or if I can’t do so, can I use the urine that starts collecting in the middle of the night (if I have any left)?

I believe on the morning of doing the test, I had to get up in the middle of the night, but ended up using the fresh urine that collected after that. So I hope that this is still okay.

The rest of the step was easy to follow.

2. Placing the tip of the syringe into the urine, “pull” 20 ml’s of urine (as indicated on the side of the syringe) up into the syringe.

No problems there, the syringe is very clearly marked, so you can’t miss it!

3. Place the tip of the syringe into the hole on the top of the test’s lid and inject your urine.

4. Remove the syringe and immediately replace the white oval tab over the hole. Replace the white overcap.

These two steps were easy to follow, hard to do them wrong.

5. Gently pick up the test kit and swirl rapidly in a circular motion for 10 seconds. Do not shake. Place the activated kit on a white paper plate, paper towel or piece of paper where it can be easily read without disturbing. This will help eliminate any background color when reading the results.

This step was easy to execute, I just had to make sure I didn’t overdo the swirling, like it says “Do not shake.”

6. Read your gender result promptly at 10 minutes. If your urine has turned dark or is a smoky green, you are having a boy! If your urine stays relatively unchanged or turns a deeper yellow or orange, then you are having a girl!

Here is where I got into a pickle. After 10 minutes, I got back and the urine appeared to be of darker color, kind of yellowish green, but it didn’t seem to match any of the shades shown on the kit. The color was lighter than the lightest green, but darker than the darkest yellow. But it still appeared to be more on a darker side, closer to the green shade. Perplexed I kept staring at the bottle to see if anything would change or if I would somehow find a logical answer.

Results after 10 minutes

I had to get back to my family, so I left the sample on the counter. After about one hour I happened to be back in the bathroom and that’s when I saw a clear light yellow liquid in the bottle. All of the dark particles seemed to settle on the bottom. At this point the liquid color clearly matched the color shown on the kit.

Result after 1 hour

So am I definite to say that I am having a girl according to the test? Not really, and here is my reasoning. The directions state to read the result in 10 minutes after swirling. Instead of getting a matching color, I got an in-between color at the 10-minute mark. Though the color matched very well after about 1 hour (maybe it happened earlier), I don’t know whether the result is valid due to it being later than the stated time. I decided to check out Intelligender website’s FAQ’s, but wasn’t able to find the answers I needed to clarify my confusion.

Update:  After doing an official ultrasound, we ended up with a boy!

Since I got pregnant, my sweet tooth has slightly increased. Even though it’s not in my nature to ever buy any type of cookies, I saw these Classic Crème cookies in the organic section and on the whim decided to give them a try. I think seeing Oreos commercials in the past few days, made me decide that perhaps I was craving Oreos.

A large picture of cookies on the box grabbed my eye right away, after all they looked like a carbon copy of Oreos. As I looked closer, to the left of the picture, it said “no artificial preservatives, colors or flavors”, “no high fructose corn syrup” and “no hydrogenated oils.” Then I looked below to see the price, which stroke me as very reasonable at $2.99 for a 12-oz box. Just to ensure that I was making the right choice, I checked out the ingredients list on the side. It wasn’t exactly short, but the fact that the list included some organic ingredients, unprocessed sweeteners and expeller-pressed oils finalized my decision as I placed the box in the shopping cart.

The taste didn’t disappoint me a bit. On the contrary, the cookies were crunchy, the cream wasn’t too heavy or too sticky. My daughter and husband seem to enjoy it just as much. In no way it is a low fat or a low calorie snack, two of these cookies have 130 calories and 6 grams of fat, but they’re yum-yum good!