How many times have your teens told you "I've gotta have..." and fill int the blank. I've gotta have the newest electronic device, I've gotta have a certain brand of clothing/shoes. It seems to forever be the plight of kids and teen-agers. I remember being there myself. How do you handle the "I gotta have..." statements in your house?
Do you give it to them? After all, they're only young once.
Do you say, "No, we cannot afford it."
Do you say, "You want it, you buy it."
Do you say, "You cannot have it. I'm not buying it for you and you are not wasting your money on it either."
What then happens when they break or lose it and ask you to replace it?
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Bergland Ford Mazda
Today I had to take my car, 2012 Mazda 3, in for an oil change. It is the first oil change I have had to do since we bought the car last summer. We got the car with 5,000 miles on it. It was the dealer's demo car. We now passed 10,000 miles so it was time to get the oil changed. I had an 11:00 appointment and had never been there so I showed up a little early and went into the Mazda building on the Berglund lot in Salem, VA. They very kindly redirected me to the Ford building next door as all service is done at the Ford building. I could put a Ford joke in here but I won't.
When I got to the service department, a very nice gentleman, Johnny Mercer, took all my information and went outside to get the information he needed from the car. *Note: We did not buy our Mazda at this dealership but rather at another Mazda dealership in Northern Virginia.* He put all the information in his computer and let me know that there was a recall on the car and that the recall repair would, of course, not cost me anything. He asked for permission to fix the recall while they had the car. [The recall was a reprogramming that needed to be done to keep the car from possibly stalling if it sat idling for a long time period.] I told him to go ahead and fix it. I also wanted to have the tires rotated as the manual and tire warranty both suggest doing so at 10,000 miles. Mr. Mercer asked me if I was going to come back to pick it up or would be waiting. I told him I would be waiting and asked how long it would take. He said that with the recall, tires, and oil change, it would probably be about an hour and 20 or 30 minutes. He then showed me where the coffee, rest rooms, and waiting area were.
I passed on the coffee, took a mental note of where the rest rooms were and headed to the waiting area. I am no stranger to garage waiting areas. Until we got this car all of our vehicles were older vehicles that require a lot of mechanic attention. This waiting room was in a separate little building connected to the main building with a carport cover between them. This waiting room wasn't anything fancy. There's weren't the leather sofas you see in the high end vehicle waiting areas. There was a desk and chair to work at if you so desired. There was a row of chairs with a coffee table in front of them facing a television. The coffee table had 2 current newspapers on it and several magazines laid out very neatly so that all titles could be seen. I looked through the newspaper sale ads but didn't bother with any magazines as none of them was anything I would be interested in. They were primarily car magazines with a few hunting/sports magazines in there. The television was on and the remote to the television was on the coffee table. It was nice to be able to choose what channel I wished to watch instead of being stuck on one channel as is often the case in waiting areas. In garages, the television is often on a car maintenance channel being piped in or they have it set on the Weather Channel, CNN, or something like that. Those channels are fine if you are there for 10 minutes but can be too much, in my opinion, for an hour and a half. I put on a show I enjoyed (The View) and was quite content watching it but my husband called and invited me out to lunch so he picked me up and out we went.
While having lunch, I got a call that my car was ready. It was only 12:00 so it was ready ahead of time. When I went back to pick up my car, Mr. Mercer was at lunch so another gentleman helped me. This gentleman was quite flirty but otherwise very nice. The only issue I had was that I had left the maintenance logs on my front passenger seat so they would be filled in but when I got back in my car they had not been filled in. I was not really upset since I had not specifically asked anyone to do so and just assumed they would see them and fill them in. I gathered the booklets and took them inside where the gentlemen there were more than happy to fill them in for me and sign them. Overall, I had great service today.
What was the cost:
Oil Change (full synthetic), and tire rotation: $72.51
Recall: no charge
I left there a satisfied customer and will return.
*I received nothing in compensation for this review and all opinions are 100% my own.
When I got to the service department, a very nice gentleman, Johnny Mercer, took all my information and went outside to get the information he needed from the car. *Note: We did not buy our Mazda at this dealership but rather at another Mazda dealership in Northern Virginia.* He put all the information in his computer and let me know that there was a recall on the car and that the recall repair would, of course, not cost me anything. He asked for permission to fix the recall while they had the car. [The recall was a reprogramming that needed to be done to keep the car from possibly stalling if it sat idling for a long time period.] I told him to go ahead and fix it. I also wanted to have the tires rotated as the manual and tire warranty both suggest doing so at 10,000 miles. Mr. Mercer asked me if I was going to come back to pick it up or would be waiting. I told him I would be waiting and asked how long it would take. He said that with the recall, tires, and oil change, it would probably be about an hour and 20 or 30 minutes. He then showed me where the coffee, rest rooms, and waiting area were.
I passed on the coffee, took a mental note of where the rest rooms were and headed to the waiting area. I am no stranger to garage waiting areas. Until we got this car all of our vehicles were older vehicles that require a lot of mechanic attention. This waiting room was in a separate little building connected to the main building with a carport cover between them. This waiting room wasn't anything fancy. There's weren't the leather sofas you see in the high end vehicle waiting areas. There was a desk and chair to work at if you so desired. There was a row of chairs with a coffee table in front of them facing a television. The coffee table had 2 current newspapers on it and several magazines laid out very neatly so that all titles could be seen. I looked through the newspaper sale ads but didn't bother with any magazines as none of them was anything I would be interested in. They were primarily car magazines with a few hunting/sports magazines in there. The television was on and the remote to the television was on the coffee table. It was nice to be able to choose what channel I wished to watch instead of being stuck on one channel as is often the case in waiting areas. In garages, the television is often on a car maintenance channel being piped in or they have it set on the Weather Channel, CNN, or something like that. Those channels are fine if you are there for 10 minutes but can be too much, in my opinion, for an hour and a half. I put on a show I enjoyed (The View) and was quite content watching it but my husband called and invited me out to lunch so he picked me up and out we went.
While having lunch, I got a call that my car was ready. It was only 12:00 so it was ready ahead of time. When I went back to pick up my car, Mr. Mercer was at lunch so another gentleman helped me. This gentleman was quite flirty but otherwise very nice. The only issue I had was that I had left the maintenance logs on my front passenger seat so they would be filled in but when I got back in my car they had not been filled in. I was not really upset since I had not specifically asked anyone to do so and just assumed they would see them and fill them in. I gathered the booklets and took them inside where the gentlemen there were more than happy to fill them in for me and sign them. Overall, I had great service today.
What was the cost:
Oil Change (full synthetic), and tire rotation: $72.51
Recall: no charge
I left there a satisfied customer and will return.
*I received nothing in compensation for this review and all opinions are 100% my own.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Apple Juice Anyone?
I don't know about your house but with teens in and out of our house we go through a lot of juice and a juice staple in our house is Member's Mark 100% Apple Juice. We buy the double pack of two 96 ounce bottles from Sam's Club. We go through a lot of this juice. My whole family loves it and so do their friends. It is 100% juice unlike many fruit juices out there which contain only 10-15% fruit juice.
Here are the nutritional details:
As you can see from the label, an 8 ounce glass of Member's Mark Apple Juice has 110 calories and 0 grams of fat. It has 1% of the recommended sodium for a day and 7% of the daily recommended dose of Potasium. It also has 9% of the recommended daily intake of Carbohydrates and 0% protein. They did add extra Ascorbic Acid which is Vitamin C. An 8 ounce glass contains 130% of the daily recommended does of Vitamin C.
With that, the juice is filtered water, apple juice concentrate, and vitamin C. Yes, drinking the juice is not a substitute for eating the apple. We all know it is healthiest to eat the apple itself but when I have thirsty teenagers, I would much rather they had a glass of Member's Mark Apple Juice than a glass of a 10% juice drink or something with no fruit juice at all.
I asked my 13 year old son to describe the taste and his response was, "It tastes like eating apples without the chunks and without having to chew them." I think that sums it up pretty well.
So, we love Member's Mark 100% Apple Juice from Sam's Club and would recommend it. You don't have to be afraid of the generic store brand on this one. Enjoy!
~ Frederica
*I have received nothing in trade for this review. The review is 100% my own opinion.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Gateway NV52 laptop computer
My first review for my blog is for something I have owned for three and a half years and have used almost daily that entire time. What is that? It’s my laptop. It’s a Gatway NV52 which we purchased at Best Buy. There were several reasons why we chose a Gateway when we were computer shopping. The name is well known as a quality brand. Personally, we liked that it came with Windows 7 and has 4 USB Ports, an HDMI port and even 2 Ethernet ports. I also like that it has the number pad on the side as well as across the top of the keyboard. It also came with a multi-gesture touchpad, HD LCD display and a card reader. The brand new laptop my husband's company just gave him doesn't even have nearly that many ports or features.
My Gateway has been an indispensable tool as I home-schooled both of my children for three years and still continue to home-school my son today. It came with a free trial of Microsoft Office which I have purchased the full Microsoft Office and installed it on my laptop. I have researched curriculum through the internet on the computer, made hotel reservations for trips, researched field trip ideas, and even made worksheets and tests with it. It was also indispensable while I was my church’s Youth Group Leader. I used the computer for many, many tasks. I am on my computer daily for researching, email, social networking, games, shopping, and blogging. It is not unusual for me to have 20-25 internet tabs up and running at a time and my laptop keeps up with it without any problems. My computer is almost never turned off although it is put in “sleep” mode while I sleep at night and run errands. With all that use, I still have 227/286 GB free on my hard drive.
With all that said, my Gateway NV52 laptop has been through a lot of abuse. It has been carried around wherever I go. It has even been dropped a few times. It has come through with little more than scratches most of the time. One time the power button got stuck in the off position so we went on the internet and learned how to fix it. We patched it together and I continue to use it daily.
I regularly recommend Gateway to my friends and will continue to do so. It is a great quality computer. It's 3 1/2 years later and I still say, "I love it!!"
I have not received anything in exchange for this product review.
My Gateway has been an indispensable tool as I home-schooled both of my children for three years and still continue to home-school my son today. It came with a free trial of Microsoft Office which I have purchased the full Microsoft Office and installed it on my laptop. I have researched curriculum through the internet on the computer, made hotel reservations for trips, researched field trip ideas, and even made worksheets and tests with it. It was also indispensable while I was my church’s Youth Group Leader. I used the computer for many, many tasks. I am on my computer daily for researching, email, social networking, games, shopping, and blogging. It is not unusual for me to have 20-25 internet tabs up and running at a time and my laptop keeps up with it without any problems. My computer is almost never turned off although it is put in “sleep” mode while I sleep at night and run errands. With all that use, I still have 227/286 GB free on my hard drive.
With all that said, my Gateway NV52 laptop has been through a lot of abuse. It has been carried around wherever I go. It has even been dropped a few times. It has come through with little more than scratches most of the time. One time the power button got stuck in the off position so we went on the internet and learned how to fix it. We patched it together and I continue to use it daily.
I regularly recommend Gateway to my friends and will continue to do so. It is a great quality computer. It's 3 1/2 years later and I still say, "I love it!!"
I have not received anything in exchange for this product review.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Why Do Reviews?
Have you ever seen an advertisement for a product and wondered if the product is really as good as it is portrayed in the ad? Of course the commercial, ad, or infomercial makes it look great because they have paid the advertising company big bucks to make it look as great as possible. I have fallen for the hype enough times to know that everything is not as wonderful as it appears in the ads. Unfortunately, I am sure that this reluctance to believe everything I see has caused me to miss many great products out there.
I decided to take things into my own hands. I am going to review items I regularly buy and items that I have been allowed to review in exchange for access to a product. I will always be honest in my reviews and will be up front as to whether it is a product I regularly buy or one I have been given a product in exchange for the review.
What makes me think I can review products out there? Is it because I am an advertising executive? No! Exactly the opposite. I am a married mom of two teenagers: one of each gender. Therefore we are real people in our house. One man, one woman, a teenage girl and a teenage boy. One of my children is home-schooled while the other is in our local public school system. Our house is very lived in and full of people flowing in and out constantly. I'm not interested in telling people to buy things that aren't any good. Our money comes too hard to throw it away and I'm sure yours does too. I am here to help everyone stretch their dollar by only purchasing things that really do what they say they do.
I decided to take things into my own hands. I am going to review items I regularly buy and items that I have been allowed to review in exchange for access to a product. I will always be honest in my reviews and will be up front as to whether it is a product I regularly buy or one I have been given a product in exchange for the review.
What makes me think I can review products out there? Is it because I am an advertising executive? No! Exactly the opposite. I am a married mom of two teenagers: one of each gender. Therefore we are real people in our house. One man, one woman, a teenage girl and a teenage boy. One of my children is home-schooled while the other is in our local public school system. Our house is very lived in and full of people flowing in and out constantly. I'm not interested in telling people to buy things that aren't any good. Our money comes too hard to throw it away and I'm sure yours does too. I am here to help everyone stretch their dollar by only purchasing things that really do what they say they do.
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