Mugwarmer

By Tamyka Bullen

* Illuminated on/off switch

* No-mar, no-slip feet

Recently, I bought the mug warmer from the Canadian Tire store. It costed me $12.99 but with taxes it was $14.68. I did the little experiment with it. I decided to turn the warm drink cold, then placed it on the mug warmer to see if it could heat the drink. I left it for a short time, it didn't heat the cold drink, but it didn't prove that it didn't heat it enough because I turned off the mug warmer less than 30 minutes. The instruction said that it was NOT designed to heat drinks anyways. I placed the warm drink on it and left it for more than 30 minutes, behold and lo it was still warm. Other time, I left the warm drink on it again, still it was warm. It seems that it is designed to keep warm drinks warm. 

I read the information about the mug warmer. It said that the mug warmer will keep warm drinks at the ideal temperature. If you have the 110/120 volt electric outlet, it will work. 

Personally, I really like it a lot because first of all, it keeps my drink warm and it is perfect for any places that I can use as long as there are plug outlets. BUT it will torch plastic or styrofoam cups! It also can keep soups warm!!! Yummy!

 

(Note, we admit it does look a bit like a toilet seat.)

Milk Chocolate Vs Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds

Honestly, they are both good.

I recently tried both. Dark chocolate covered almonds from Bulk Barn (a large bag of it at a fair price) and a 330 g container of milk chocolate covered almonds made by a company called "M&L Quality Snacks".

The milk chocolate covered almonds were sweeter(higher sugar content), but the dark chocolate covered almonds were more chocolatety - more flavour due to more cocoa in it.

I cannot decide which one I like best, but I am leaning towards the dark chocolate because it is healthier and has a stronger flavour.

Chocolate Milk II - Low Calorie Edition

This is my 2nd post about Chocolate Milk... and it is delicious!

And it is brought to you by Sealtest 100 Calories Chocolate Milk. Why? Because it has less calories than the regular 160 calories per 250 mL chocolate milk - which is tasty, but has sugar added for sweetness.

The 100 Calories Chocolate Milk has no sugar added (instead it uses Splenda for sweetness), which means more wholesome milk without all the sugar. Still tastes great, but it is healthier for you.

PLUS the 100 Calories Chocolate Milk has more 14% protein. The 160 calorie / sugar added version is 28 grams of protein per 1000 mL. The 100 Calories Chocolate Milk version has 32 grams of protein. And lots of other healthy good stuff in it too.

So huzzah for healthier chocolate milk!

A&W Bacon and Egg Sandwich

Tried A&W's bacon and egg sandwich this morning.

$2.10, including coupon and tax. (Not sure what the regular price is without the coupon.)

Not bad for a breakfast sandwich. Really hit the spot.

 430 calories, and a whack load of sodium (790 mg) according to the A&W website.

PayPal Credit Card Not Available in Canada

I really hate credit cards.

I admit they are handy to have, but they're also very annoying when they get out of control.

Let me explain...

Let's pretend you make the average amount an American makes per year, which is $50,000 per year, but you max out your credit card and it has a really high spending limit of say $60,000. And you only pay the minimum each month which is 2% of the total.

Note: The average American has $15,185 in credit card debt (2011 stat). Some have no credit card debt at all, some have a lot more so the number of people out there who have $60,000 or more in credit card debt is a fair amount.

2% of $60,000 is $1,200 per month.

Now when you are only making $50,000 per year, $14,400 is a lot to be spending just on your credit card.

And then there is the interest. 19% on $60,000 is $11,400 annually (in reality it is compounded monthly so it ends up being a bit more than that).

So $14,400 minus $11,400 = $3,000 paid off the total amount. The rest is all interest.

It really makes you realize what a huge ripoff credit cards are.

Try doing the math on your own credit cards sometime. They're just a huge waste of money.

Lets pretend for a moment you have the same credit card debt as the Average American, which is $15,185. So you are paying minimum payments of $303.70 every month or $3,644.40 per year. And paying $2,885.15 in interest per year. So in reality you are only paying off the total by $759.25 per year and the rest is all interest. (Which means you only need to use your credit card for $63.27 each month and you are right back where you started from.)

Credit cards are basically a huge scam designed to entrap people and make them slaves-for-credit for the rest of their lives. Even elderly people have sometimes huge credit card debts!

Now if you pay an annual fee you can get a lower interest rate of 10% - which will save you thousands per year in interest.

However you are better off just consolidating your debt, and getting a line-of-credit at a much lower interest rate of 3 to 5%, depending on what your bank is offering. And you are better off doing it sooner than later, because if it grows out of control you may be looking at a 2nd mortgage, losing your home, or bankruptcy.

And then once you have cut up all your credit cards, pay off that debt and become credit card free (and DEBT FREE!) so you can go on with your life and use cash regularly.

I made the switch to cash years ago and I am loving it. Cash is so easy to use and there is a feeling of security with knowing I have lots of cash on me. (And live in a city with a really low crime rate.)

However I still sometimes purchase things online, using PayPal - which I love because it means the cash is already in your PayPal account and it is not credit, it is more like a bank debit card.

Which is why I LOVE the idea of a PayPal credit card, which allows you to buy things either online of offline and the amount comes straight out of your PayPal account in the same way a normal bank debit card works.

However in trying to apply for the PayPal credit card I learned a disappointing fact...

The PayPal Credit Card is Not Available in Canada.

Very disappointing PayPal. Why is it not available in Canada? I would seriously like to know.

Four Funny and Amazing Shampoo Commercials

Below are Four Funny and Amazing Shampoo Commercials I found on YouTube.

This is not an endorsement of any of these shampoo products, I just find these videos amusing.

No Name TV dinners

Got the following email from someone wanting to express their opinion on No Name TV dinners.

Just to add my two cents to theirs, I think all TV dinners are horrible tasting.

And I think it is a matter of no matter how good the ingredients are going into it, and how precooked the food is, heating up a meal like that that has been frozen is always going to taste bad. You will have way more enjoyment from fresh ingredients and food you prepare yourself.

Or if you really must have something that is quick and easy and prepackaged, I recommend couscous (just boil water...) with canned soup (I recommend Campbells).

The email...

"Please don’t misunderstand, most of NO NAME products I really like.  However the TV dinners are another matter.

 

Have you yourself tasted the potatoes?  Hoping to get rid of the taste I have tried “drowning potatoes in ketchup” regardless, that horrible taste still comes through? 

 

If the potatoes were like Swanson’s (just have a good potato taste) I would always buy NO NAME, as the rest of the dinner is delicious. 

 

I have only spoken about this matter with 4 friends, was surprised that all of them went back to Swanson - same reason – the yucky potatoes. 

 

I miss the apple crisp (which was a plus for me) however it wasn’t worth not being able to eat a whole dinner.

 

I solved my problem by buying my apple crisp separately.

 

I’m just letting you know from 5 people. if perhaps your sales may not be as good for tv dinners as you

had anticipated.

 

Swanson TV dinners have a brownie as desert, which doesn’t compare to apple crisp, but at least I can eat their potatoes.

 

Thanks for listening,

Bev Walker"

THE GREATEST RAID OF ALL

The Battle of St Nazaire - also known in military circles as the Greatest Raid of All Time. See the documentary below.

New Business Cards from Staples

Today I picked up new business cards today from Staples for my personal training business.

Since a lot of my personal training clients come from word of mouth and online, having business cards is kind of 20th century these days. In a world of twitter, facebook, youtube, social media the old fashioned business card is likewise an old fashioned and obsolete form of advertising.

Lets face it, websites are essentially online brochures for whatever it is you are promoting. They get a much bigger audience if you promoted with Search Engine Optimization, etc.

Yet sometimes people ask for them and I procrastinated about getting them for waaaaaaay too long.

Anyway, I got a discount on these cards from Staples. 250 cards for $29 roughly. Total would have been closer to $49 under normal circumstances.

Which proves a point. You can get a great deal on business cards if you time it right and buy them on sale.

For me getting 250 was a smart choice. In the past I have always purchased business card in 2000, 1000 or 500 units. And I never used them all. If I was lucky I used half of them. I only got them in such large numbers because my mentality was that I didn't want to run out of them. Which is backwards now that I think of it for a variety of reasons.

Another problem I have run into in the past is I would sometimes design a new / better business card... and then what do I do with the old cards? Just toss them out? Now when I run out of business cards I can just commission better new ones.

Same thing happens if my phone number changes or something like that. The old business cards then become a waste.

Thus I lucked out when Staples had a sale on 250 glossy paper full colour cards on the day I went in to order them.

Samuel L Jackson Movies

Word to the wise, if you have kids who are impressionable. Maybe you should not let them watch Samuel L. Jackson movies. Just a hint.

The video below stars Samuel L. Jackson and deals with this topic in a funny way.