My Favorite Things

Last week, I just received the item from Pamper Chef that I ordered from my friend's Pamper Chef party. I have to say that it has quickly become one of my favorite thing to use in the kitchen. It's not the tool that can do it all like Kitchen Aid. It's just a small little tool that make sandwich prettier. It's the Cut-N-Seal. Kellie was talking about it at Busy Mamas blog on how great it will help prepare lunch for your kid.

The verdict is... drum roll please... It's amazing. I like that it seals the sandwich so there is no mess and no falling cheese or jelly from the sandwich. Miss J now loves to bring PB&J to school. It will make my lunch packing routine much easier. I can just prepare it all in bulk and freeze it in the freezer. The best part is I can do a lot more than just PB&J. I can make Ham and Cheese sandwich, Sausage and Egg sandwich, Turkey sandwich or anything your kiddies love to eat.

Hello New Friend!

Say 'Hi' to my new walking/jogging partner.. the New Balance 767 For the Cure Running shoe.

I'm getting serious people! I have been walking 3 times a week for a couple weeks now. And I plan to do so till I can jog for te 5K challenge next month. So Mr. Rojo has been pushing me to check my feet and look for a new pair of shoes that has better support. I got to admit my old pair is probably more than 7 years old. Plus I don't even know if it's the tennis shoes, training shoes or walking shoes. My only concern at that time was.. was it on sale!

I guess after living with me for so long my frugality has rubbed in on Mr. Rojo. He found 20% off coupon from Sport Authority. So we headed there today and checked out if I can find any shoes in my price range. I'm all for better shoes to protect my ever-changing knees. But I don't want to spend a fortune for that either.

When we got there it was like a mad house. Too busy but I found 2 NB shoes (767 and 768 models). Those 2 are pretty good with stability control for people who pronate (ok.. I haven't heard this word before we start running.. From what I understand it's the way you walk inward). Anyway, the best part is the 767 is on sale for 50% off from $89.99 to $49.99. So with additional 20% off I paid only $40 and changes.. Oh..yeah!! And another good part is this model is part of the Lace Up for The Cure. So part of the proceed will benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation.

I have to say though.. I thought getting better shoes might make me run faster.. I guess that's not the case. hehe..

Attention Organic Shoppers!

I have been shopping for organic food for a while. I think it started when I picked up coupons and see that the saving I have on my grocery budget allows me to be able to buy more organic food.

I learn a lot along the way on how to shop organic without breaking the bank. Here are a few tips I have learned.

Shop even at the unexpected place

If your area has Big Lots, I suggest you at least check it out. There are several organic items on sale consistently. Keep in mind that Big Lots is like Marshalls of all things. What you see this week might not be there the next week. Also check the expiration date before pick it up. I have found Organic Mac & Cheese that won't expire till 2009. For $1 per box of Organic Mac & Cheese, you can't beat that price

Check out online source for coupons
You don't need to be a price expert to know when it's a good price. Just let your finger do the work for you. Check out online forum or blog ranging from Hot Coupon World, Organic Grocery Deals, Fiddledeedee, Money Saving Mom, The Centsible Sawyers.. These are my main site that I check each week to see what deals are out there. They have done a great job in compiling all the information for you. Then match those deals with your coupons and head to the store to stock up on sale items. This week I paid $1.50 for a half gallon Organic Valley milk. That's $3/gallon for an organic milk.. You can't even buy that for a conventional milk.

Don't buy only brand name
With the push for more Green and Organic products, grocery stores come out with their own generic brand of organic food.. Good news for you! Look for those products when you can't find coupon for national brand.

Wait for sale and stock up

This week the organic milk is really a good deal for my area. I am experimenting in freezing my millk. I will let you know the result later.. If you have frozen milk before, please let me know.

You don't need that Organic Lollipop

It will be nice if we all can afford all organic in our pantry. But the fact is it's too expensive. So shop wisely and don't get caught up in all organic for those junk food. I mean come on.. do you really need that Organic Lollipop? If you can only afford one organic item, then pick the one that you eat the most like Milk, Bread, Poultry, or anything from the Dirty Dozen list. It will be different for each family so you should be able to take the list and see which one your family tends to consume the most.

How about you? What are things you know or learn along the way shopping organically?

I won... I won...

I won An Island Life Giveaway gift that is.. I have never won any giveaway on the blogosphere before. So I was so thrilled to receive an email from Kailani informing me that I won her Salty Chix giveaway.

Diane - the owner of Salty Chix - was so wonderful. She contacted me almost immediately and shipped my lovely, super soft, super chix t-shirt to me within a few days. Not only I won a t-shirt for myself, to my surprise when I opened the package I also received a hat to match my cool shirt and a toddler t-shirt. My daugther eventhough she is no longer a toddler is a very petite girl. So the shirt fits her perfectly. See how happy she is to get a matching t-shirt with mommy!

The shirt comes in a nice pouch that my daughter now claims it for her little treasure. The fabric of the shirt is supersoft. The cutting is very good. It fits me perfectly. The design is so chix and so beachy. I can't wait for our next beach trip. Living in Atlanta, I know how hot and humid it can be. So I know that this shirt will be perfect for my summer wardrobe.

Thanks, Diane and Kailani.. I love my Salty Chix shirt!

Underwater Camera

For our cruise, I have planned a couple excursions at the ports of call. Since we will be going to the Carribean, it is logical to have a good chunck of water activities. One of those activities is snorkeling. Then, it occurred to me that we don't have an underwater camera. I don’t plan to be a professional photographer for National Geographic magazine.. But I would still like to have the ability to take some pictures underwater while we are swimming with the Stingrays.

So I started searching for our options. Basically, you can go two ways. One is to get a waterproof housing to protect our current digital camera. Now with this option, there are a cheap way and a right way. The cheap way is universal waterproof case. For less than $30 you can get a DiCAPac WP-500 Underwater Waterproof Digital Camera Housing Case. I have never used one but I have read a lot of horror stories about it. Plus, Mr. Rojo said.. why don't we just use the Ziploc if we are gonna buy this! Point taken.. Next!

Next option for the housing is to buy brand specific housing that make for your camera. For our case, Sony has a Marine pack for our camera. But... yes.. there is a 'but'. Ready.. Sony MPKTHE Marine Pack for the DSC-T Series Digital Cameras costs $199.. Ouch!!! With that much money I think I'm better off buying a new digital camera. Plus, Mr. Rojo said it didn’t actually list the model of our camera.

Hence, we moved on to our 2nd option. Getting a waterproof digital camera. There are several choices to pick from. I started to feel overwhelmed. But we have narrowed down our choices quickly by budget.

The first choice is Olympus Stylus 850SW 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver) for the price range around $260-270. It's a better alternative than a Sony Marine pack. The nice thing about the Olympus is that it allows video recording for a wee bit of 10 seconds.. Hey.. 10 seconds is a good chunk of time underwater I might say. :) Also this won't be a choice for a serious diver. It will only go up to 10 feet deep. But for us, we just want something for the snorkeling. I mean if Mr. Rojo decides he wants to take up on Scuba diving then I will be happy to oblige to a better camera.. shhhhhh

The second choice is actually another Olympus. Olympus Stylus 1030SW 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3.6x Optical Wide Angle Zoom (Silver) has bigger resolution and can go down deeper. With slightly higher price, I am still thinking about it. So it's the tough decision that needs to be made soon. We are running out of time if we want to order it online.. By the way… This is the camera that Mr. Rojo is jockeying for. I guess this is his way of buying a high tech device for the trip. And no Mr. Rojo, you still can’t get those high tech infrared goggles…

Can I ride?

Today I stumble upon a great blog on Intelligent Travel about the great suitcase just for kid. Trunki - Part suitcase, part toy.. what not to love. Basically, it's a suitcase that your kid can ride on it instead of just pull it. It's the mix of ride-on toy and suitcase. I have to put this on my must-buy list for our cruise. Seeing that there will be a long line to get on a cruise, this will help entertain them for a while. Plus, we have bi-annual trip to Thailand so it will be a big help at the airport.

There are 2 colors for the original Trunki which created by British designer. And they even have a name for each color. How cute!! When I checked on the UK site, there are more designs but I guess for the US customer we will have to wait. Or you can order online and pay for the shipping for the second generation of this design.

So I checked out on Amazon and found the price here:
=> Trunki - Trixie Pink $39.84 for Pink color
=> Trunki - Terrance Blue $34 for Blue color

Well, there will be a test run soon. So more report to follow..