Category: General

I’m a bit of a tech geek. I’ll try a brand and if it performs well and the company gives great customer service I’m a fan for life. Up until recently we have been a D-Link family. Our modems, routers & switches have all been D-Link. Twelve months ago we bought a Belkin modem (for a customer of our IT business). Cut a long story short we ended up with the modem. No complaints about it.

Fast forward a month and we bought a colour laser printer. Our router had the ability to connect to the printer so we could print from any computer in the house. Fast forward another 3 months and the printer started dropping out randomly At first we thought it was the printer. Upgraded it to the latest firmware and software. Worked ok for a day or two then the drop outs started again. And then it started dropping our wireless randomly.

Fast forward about a month and the wireless network drop outs were more frequent. Came home from a day out and the drop outs were every 5 minutes! The poor iPhone got a work out to see if we could find out what could be the problem. Seems it is a problem with the router, and the router had been discontinued.

After some research (& a call out on Twitter) we decided to go with a Belkin Play Max N600 HD Wireless N Dual-Band Router Modem.

Set up, according to hubby, was a breeze. Security settings – simple. Connecting to our network printer – so much easier – no requesting the printer each time you want to print something.

A couple of months in and I have no real complaints. The drop outs are limited to very rarely (and are mainly internet drop outs). The only thing I find slightly frustrating is whenever I start up my computer, the Belkin Set up box pops up (any Belkin techs reading this, is there a solution to stop this??).

I LOVE the apps the router comes with. Attach an external hard drive to this baby and you can do sooo much. Play your music collection wirelessly, priotise your data streams (be it online gaming, VoIP, videos),  back up valuable documents (like photos) and the “SELF-HEALING App automatically detects and resolves network problems and runs routine maintenance scans to give you the clearest wireless channel”.

We have recently had a new addition to our family. And quite a cute little thing she is too. Her name is Rori (& *squee* she’s purple – my favourite colour).

When Rori arrived I think I had more fun playing with her than Miss K, but she has slowly taken a shine to her new ‘pet’ and Rori has been out and about with us a couple of times now. Zhu Zhu Pets are recommended for ages 4 & up but Miss K is only 18 months and is quite happy to play with Rori, supervised of course. She wasn’t keen to pick her up to start with but now carries her Zhu’s around most of the day and find various play spaces for them. The kitchen is the favourite at the moment and it’s nothing unusual to see our three Zhu’s scooting around the kitchen. Oh yeah, I should warn you – Zhu Zhu’s are addictive, since Rori came to live with us we’ve acquired Kacee & Harlow.

We share our house with a couple of cats (or more they share their house with us) and they have both taken an interest in Rori and the other bhns with one even coming up to give Rori a lick when she’s not running round the kitchen.

Here’s two of the Zhu Zhus doing what they do best, running round the kitchen being chased by Miss K (please ignore the mess. And the high pitch squealing from Miss K)

Zhu Zhu Pets are the cutest little plush robotic hamster toys. They can be put in either of two play modes: “nurturing mode,” in which they coo and purr, or “adventure mode,” in which they explore their habitat and respond to various stimuli.

Things I like:
* Runs well on a variety of surfaces
* Keeps Miss K amused for awhile
* Is cute and a good replacement pet if you can’t have real pets
* Not overly expensive
* The website – The Zhu-niverse – is a great place for both parents & children to learn about the Zhus and play games in a safe online area. And create a list of what Zhus and accessories you own or want to own.

Things I’m not to keep on:
* The noise. It’s cute but after awhile can get a little annoying
* No off switch. You have to let your pet go to ‘sleep’ and ours seem to chat for ages after we press the buttons.

Hubby has decided there should be one called Harvey. Hmm yup, a Weird Al fan.

Update: I can see more Zhu Zhu Pets and accessories will be on the wish list for Christmas this year. So much so we bought the Burger Overpass set. And I’m sure I’ll find another couple of Zhu related things for the stocking

Disclaimer: I was given a Zhu Zhu Pet and accessory pack for Miss K to have a play with. All opinions are my own.

I am not a huge fan of rice cakes. In fact I remember mum buying a packet when I was younger, me taking one, taking a bite and spitting it out. They were bland and had the texture of cardboard. So when I was asked if I would like to try Table of Plenty Mini Rice Cakes I was a little hesitant. Would they be bland? Would they have no flavour? Would they be as yuck as I remember rice cakes from my youth being? Did I want to subject Miss K to them if I myself wouldn’t eat them?
I can say I’m glad I did agree to try them and I was pleasantly surprised.

When the rice cakes arrived we dove into the milk chocolate ones first. Cause, well they were chocolate. Hmm not bad. Hubby thought they were a bit bland so didn’t have any more. No biggie – more for me & Miss K. Triple Berry was next. OMG yum. Nice berry flavour. They went in a day. Last but not least was the dark choc. Nom nom. The chocolate was scrummy.

Table of Plenty are an Australian owned company established by mum, Kate Weiss (you can read more about Kate here) ‘to bring top quality products into the supermarkets; products with life, education, innovation and style that stands out from the ordinary’.

The Mini Rice Cakes are only 15 calories per cake, have no preservatives, don’t contain any palm or vegetable oils AND are gluten free. The chocolate on both the milk & dark is Belgian (yum) and the Triple Berry topping is made from yoghurt and berry powders. They are also mini and cute. Perfect for a snack for littlies or Mum while putting your feet up with a cuppa (yeah right). A great on the go snack. I found it hard to just have one or two.

Overall I was very happy with the rice cakes and can see the dark chocolate and berry flavours making their way into our groceries as a healthy snack for me & Miss K. I gave a couple of packets to Mum to try and apparently Dad ate the whole Triple Berry packet (minus one or two) and that’s pretty impressive for someone who doesn’t eat yoghurt. Mum agrees they taste better than the old plain rice cakes. So there you have it, a great healthy snack that actually tastes good.

Disclaimer – I was provided a Cool Gelmat pillow size & a Toasty Buns to try. All opinions are my own.

So a cool mat is probably something you would think wouldn’t be that useful in Tasmania, especially in winter when it does get very chilly BUT this little gelmat has been a saviour on a couple of occasions recently. I, like many others, am one of the unfortunate sufferers of migraines. You know the ones that get so bad that you have to go into a dark room to get any relief.

The last time I got a migraine I decided to give the Cool Gelmat a try. Usually, I’ll lie down in our bedroom, with all the curtains shut, some essential oil burning (anything but lavender as I’m allergic to it) and a cold face washer over the temples. After about 10 minutes, I’ll be yelling at hubby to cool the face washer down again. This time I popped the Cool Gelmat on my pillow and lay down. It’s quite comfy and doesn’t feel like there is anything bulky on your pillow. Bonus. Hubby came to check on me after about 15 minutes, apparently – don’t remember it as I’d fallen asleep! I woke about an hour and a half later feeling much better and refreshed. Not the usual drowsy I’ve-just-had-an-afternoon-nap feeling. Another bonus.

I also suffer from lower back problems and after doing some lifting over the last few days of boxes that were a little too heavy (yeah I know bad me) I was suffering from the tell tale back twinge that was a sign of worse things to come. After a nice relaxing bath (well as relaxing as a bath can be when Miss K decided to join me lol) I thought I’d give the gelmat a try to see if it offered any relief. I was very surprised to say it did. Cooled the sore regions and left me feeling a lot better than just a bath alone. Was still sore the next morning but not as sore as usual when I do something silly – like lifting stuff that is too heavy.

Cool Gelmats are advertised to provide heat relief from Headaches, Fevers, Migraines, Hot Flushes, Menopause, Radiation treatment, Oncology, Multiple Sclerosis, Sun Burn (look forward to trying it out if I get sunburnt this summer), Sleeping Hot, Heat Stroke, and Diabetic side-effects. You can find out more on their website http://www.coolgelmat.com.au/

Toasty Buns are such a cute idea. I spent the first couple of nights using it to warm my bum. Hey it was cold lol.

Toasty Buns “Works by retaining your body’s own natural warmth. Thousands of isolated bubbles capture and accumulate body heat and prevent cold air from circulating. Doesn’t rely on electricity making it safe and portable. No expensive power bills makes Toasty Buns cost effective and environmentally friendly. Perfect for on the couch, at the office, in the car, going camping, at the footy or anywhere you feel the cold!”

It’s now being used in Miss K’s bed to keep her warm. She (like her mother) feels the cold of a night. I don’t like the idea of having an electric blanket or a hot water bottle in kid’s beds (I recently saw a child’s electric blanket advertised with pretty patterns on it) so Toasty Buns sounded like a great solution. It seems to work well. Miss K is sleeping a lot warmer and her bed doesn’t feel cold if I have to give her an overnight feed. I do know I’m looking forward to taking it to the footy next year. That’s if I can get it away from Miss K.

More information on Toasty Buns can be found at their website