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I'm getting a little obsessed. With silicone, that it. Not that I've jumped the silicone wedding ring wagon or anything (no, thanks!). But in the kitchen, it's replacing everything. It's replacing my utensils, it's replacing my muffin pans, it's replacing my pot holders, and now even my trivets! What's so great? Well, if you haven't tried it, let me open your eyes to the wonder of silicone.
Okay, so at first I was scared to use anything silicone. It was thin and soft, it worried me. I just knew that it would melt or allow me to get burned. But I also knew Kitchen silicone is all the rage and that many people can't be wrong, so I got a pair of silicone gloves for family for Christmas and tested them out before hand. I loved them so much that I kept them, here's why:
First and foremost, you will not burn. Silicone gloves barely let any warmth through to your hands. You mostly feel nothing. You can reach in and grab the oven rack directly and pull it out and feel mild warmth on your hands. It's incredible!
Secondly, it doesn't melt. It feels so unnatural to put soft rubber onto a frying pan or into the oven, but it really doesn't melt! I've let my silicone spatula just sit in the pan and nothing happens. No smell, no burning, no deformation... nothing!
And also, it's really terribly difficult to damage. I suppose you could take scissors to them, but in normal use it would be very hard. Since they don't melt with normal cooking temperatures and they don't tear, you would have to cut it to damage it.
So I'm a little obsessed, I've always been terrified of taking hot things out of the oven and these erase that fear... mostly, it's a bit of an irrational fear. Anyways, I'm collecting. And I just came across this silicone cooking set that not only gave me two more gloves, but also two double-duty pot holder/trivets. Here's what I thought of them:
The gloves are a lot like other gloves I have seen and tried. They are red though, which is different. They have a really sweet heart design all over them on the outside. They are smooth on the inside and fit me well, but will also work well for my husband who has much larger hands.
The trivets are great. The design isn't the same, but it's the same color, so it matches just fine. It has a big hole to hang from, which I like. A big hole is pretty high on my list of kitchen-worthy criteria because I hang a lot of my things.
It's made from the same awesome silicone that the gloves are. This stuff will protect your counter tops, protect your hands, and anything else. They are a nice size, big enough for even the big pans. You can double them up to protect your table form cookie sheets or roasters. They're just awesome.
If you haven't taken the plunge and tried silicone yet, I highly recommend it. It's easy to clean and looks great too. I think the only downfall at all is that it tends to stick to hair/fur, and the like. So even rubbing against your shirt could cause it to need rinsing. But it's the only downfall. I will never go back.
To learn more, check out Zevuo on Amazon.
Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.
This past week, I went to the ER. I didn't know that I had insurance, and normally I'd just sit at home and suffer, but this was a pretty substantial slice through my thumb. I got it from working with food. Onions in particular, which is probably why my thumb healed up so nicely. I won't show you the actual wound, it looked fake, like a Hollywood zombie artist created it. It looks better now, but my thumb tip is still numb.
Cuts are actually pretty low on my food-related injuries list. Actually, I don't often get any injuries in the kitchen. Occasionally I will burn myself a little when my bacon is spitting or I reach in to grab a cookie sheet from the oven.
One product made to combat burns in the kitchen is silicone. Silicone has exploded lately, you see silicone everything! Muffin pans, trivets, baking pan liners, whisks and spatulas, it's crazy. To be honest, I was too scared to even try anything silicone for years. The concept of it all excited me, but the idea of putting something so soft in a hot oven seemed unfathomable.
Well, I'm glad to say now that I have finally entered the silicone cooking world and it's nowhere near as scary as I thought! My first try was a pair of mitts much like these. I decided to keep them, but I also wanted to give some out for Christmas. So I got this pair of SafeT Gloves, they're silicone oven mitts to keep your hands and wrists safe while cooking.
I think the little heart design is sweet. But it also serves to be extra grippy and extra protective. The inside of the mitts are smooth and comfortable. They fit me with just being a little large, most gloves in any variety are large, so it's nice to feel like these fit. However, they are big enough where I think they could fit almost anyone. The wrist part is nonrestrictive, which is great because I don't have small wrists.
When I reached in and grabbed the oven, I didn't even feel the warmth until I held onto the rack directly for a few moments. I didn't feel at anytime like I was going to get burned. These things are amazing. They have cloth mitts beat by a long shot.
And for handy sake, like most mitts, there is a way to hang it. Instead of large loops though, it has small holes in the corner to hand from a nail or such. You could also hang it from a carabiner or other clip.
I love these mitts and I definitely recommend them to anyone who spends time in the kitchen. To learn more, check out SafeT Glove on Amazon.
Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.
Did you know that about 2,400 children each year are injured by sticking things in the outlet? I know that at least one of my kids have done it. She was about two years old at the time and we had just gotten our new apartment. We're settling in and enjoying our time together and the next thing you know, she's crying. Turns out she had shoved a car key into the outlet. The outlet was charred and her finger was burned. Luckily, it didn't require any hospital treatment and she only received a white mark on her finger. But it was super scary!
Until that time, we didn't really think our kids would actually shove things into the outlets. After that we got tons of those small plugs. She was a pretty resourceful kid though, she was always pulling them out, ripping down baby gates, breaking cabinet door locks. Nothing would keep her from doing what she wanted. She's 11 now, and still just as willful. But now we have a solution that will work better for the younger kids than it did her. In fact, it might even work for her!
It's called the Shock Shutter. It's an outlet cover. It works because it has two sets of guards that block things from getting through unless both guards are pressed at the same time. The guards are made in such a way that a plug pressed into the outlet will hit a slanted surface and force the plastic piece for contract and push over sideways, allowing the plug to get through.
It's deeper than your regular covers. It looks really nice and seems durable. The screw that comes with it wasn't long enough to work for a lot of my outlets, it will work best on receptacles that are flush with the wall without being recessed.
To install it, you just remove the old cover and screw in this one, so easy! Now, here's where I'm gonna be honest. I thought I'd received a broken product. I couldn't get the plug to go in at all. I pushed and pushed, I thought I'd break it. So I took it apart and checked if there was something amiss. I tried turning the guards over and it sort of worked. I turned them back around to it's original configuration and eventually did get the plug in, it just took a LOT of pushing, I really thought it was going to break. Like really thought it would.
But it didn't, it certainly works, that's for sure! So if you want to baby-proof your home without compromising the look of the room, this is a good choice. To learn more, check out Shock Shutter on Facebook, Twitter, and on Indiegogo.
Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.
This is Rosco. Regardless of anything that I say about Rosco in the next few paragraphs, I do love him. I swear, I do. He's loving, loyal, and protective. He's mostly obedient and he's like a shop vac when spills happen. He's awesome.
Rosco has one little problem though. He barks. He didn't used to bark all the time, but this past year it's been all the time. I don't know if he thinks he's showing off for the other dogs that live here or what. But he barks all day long. He barks if he needs to go out, he used to gently paw the door. He barks when he's thirsty, he used to gently paw his dish. He barks when the weather is nice or the grass is green or the sun is still in the sky. See what I'm saying? It's constant. He used to paw things or do this really irritating half yawn thing that gave me chills. But now he barks.
It's loud. It's also the kind of bark that goes in one ear, ricochets off your skull, vibrates through your entire brain, down your brain stem and into your jaw, where it finally makes it's way out your other ear and leaves a sour taste in your mouth. How does it even do that!? And the jerk will come and sit by you lovingly and be there a minute, then suddenly and without warning he will bark. Loud. Right in your face. It makes you want to throw the nearest object at him. It will startle a person 9 times out of 10.
I looked into collars, but I haven't taken that step yet. I'm kinda hoping that other measures will work. So I'm trying this dog whistle from Pets+. The plan is, you use it to train your dog. I think it would be ideal if you start when they are a puppy, but it is what it is. Rosco just celebrated his 6th birthday in July, he's no puppy anymore.
The whistle is sold as an ultrasonic whistle to help stop your dog from barking. While I found both of those claims to be quite inaccurate.The whistle was definitely loud and audible, and my dog barked back at me when I blew on it. I think he thought I was playing. The whistle makes a great survival whistle for when you are out hiking though. It will definitely get you heard. By humans. When Boogie realized the kind of noise it was, it became his new favorite thing. I think he just liked seeing the expressions on people's faces.
It does have a pretty neat feature though, and that is that you can change the frequency of it. So if the high pitched whistle kills your ear drums, you can bring it down a bit and lock it into place. You do this by adjusting the screw at the end and then tightening the wheel to keep the whistle in place. It also comes with a lanyard.
I'm gonna go ahead and say that as a dog whistle, I can't really recommend it. It's not ultrasonic, not like what you'd think you'd get for a dog whistle. For a hiking or personal safety whistle, I would definitely recommend it. Blow this sucker in an assailant's ears and they will shrivel up and cry out to their mommy. So I guess it would depend on what you want it for. I mean, it is a nice whistle and it fit on your key chain or on your coat zipper... It will fit pretty much anywhere. It's just not ultrasonic.
Do you use a dog whistle? What's been your experience with one?
To learn more, check out Pets+ on Amazon.
Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.
Kids get into things. I'm sure this isn't news to you. I couldn't count the number of times I have had to install locks just to keep things out of reach. It really stinks when you live in an apartment. I installed locks, but the landlord might not have been too happy when we left and all those holes were there. And even in our homes, I buy locks, screw them in and they break a week later. Then I have to buy the same crappy locks over again or buy new ones with a different hole set-up. It's a pain and it's expensive. For a long time, I just gave up on locks. Bad, I know... but the frustration alone was killing me.
Turns out that my kids like to get into things now that they're older. Yes, my big kids, the one's who aren't babies. SO regular old baby locks weren't gonna work. That's where our new Birch Safety Cabinet Locks come in.
They make it so that even grown-ups can't get in! Unless they know how, that is.
First of all, no hardware involved. No drilling, no nailing, no screwing, nothing! Just peel and stick. And the bond is strong, it wasn't your stupid average peel and stick things that come right off. And because it is a strong hold, it comes with a measuring tool to help you out. I didn't use it and only had to readjust a couple times. It is possible to readjust, by the way. Not super easy, but definitely doable and the bond stays strong.
Secondly, you know how when you install locks, they are all made so that you can stick your fingers into the door and press some latch thing..? Well these aren't designed that way! No fingers can get in there to figure out the lock or to pry the door open and break the lock. There's no gap for fingers to get into, it just doesn't open!
So finally, the key is magnetic. It can stick to the washer, dryer, fridge, stove, whatever. But in case you need it, the kit comes with a peel and stick key holder. Okay, so here's how it works.
After you stick it where it's supposed to be, you can choose to activate the lock or not. This is great because when your child is away overnight, you can choose to keep it inactive so you don't need a key to get to your spices or whatever. You do this by flipping the little switch on top of the lock.
If you choose to have it in the lock position, then all you need to do is place the lock against the door and the lock will be magnetically lifted into the inactive position while the key is there. As soon as the key is removed, the lock becomes active again. The only down side to this whole thing is that you need two hands to open the door, unless you're super talented.
These locks are by far the best child locks that I have ever used. EVER. I recommend them whole-heartedly. They make a great baby shower gift too. Do you keep any cupboards locked?
To learn more, check out Birch Safety on Amazon.
Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.
