Thank you Iserlohn for sending us these office wheels to review!

I used to roller-blade quite often before having kids.  I still put on my Rollerblades every so often, but not as much as I used to.  I’m familiar with doing standard maintenance including rotating the wheels and greasing/replacing the bearings in them. There are many different kinds of wheels available and in varying degrees of firmness.  The softer wheels will give you a smoother ride, but will wear down faster.    Apparently, softer wheels are great on office chairs if you have wood, or another smooth floor surface.  I wish I had known about these before our wood floors got scratched up by the anti-scratch mats we bought for them. If we would have started off with these wheels, our ruined wood floor could have been avoided entirely!

Included in this $19.99 bundle are five orange or teal wheels with ABEC 7 bearings in them.  These are some pretty fast bearings! They make me want to roll down my driveway, or a big hill, or a long corridor if I worked in a stuffy office building.  If I did give into that temptation, I would no doubt lodge some gravel or sand into my wheels and ruin my wood floor some more!  

Installation was a breeze.  It took me less than a minute to pull off my old wheels and install the new ones.  The orange wheels are much brighter and are definitely more noticeable.  Black or gray would be more professional, but are not available from this vendor.  When going in a single direction the movement on these wheels is buttery smooth.  However, changing directions takes a little more effort with these wheels than the standard wide ones.  Vertically challenged people will be happy to know that these wheels will raise your chair an extra inch or so.

Despite the more effort needed to change directions, I’m still pleased with these wheels.  When we get our floors fixed and remove the throw rug covering the scuffs, we’ll be buying a couple more sets!

Thank you Iserlohn for sending us this 50-foot expandable hose to review!

Last summer we had the pleasure of reviewing VicTsing’s garden hose nozzle and my kids helped in the reviewing process by washing our cars with it and getting sprayed down when it was hot outside.  While I didn’t have any issues with the nozzle in that review, my hose was definitely aging and leaking by the faucet, causing a reduction in water pressure.  A new hose was in order and now we got one to test out.  

Since it’s not even spring and barely in the 50’s temperature wise, our testing options are limited.  I hooked up this flexible hose next to our deck and proceeded to spray liquid and solid forms of dog waste off of our deck.  The water leaking issue by the faucet was gone and the water pressure was strong enough to remove some of the stain from our deck that was painted only last year.  For what it’s worth it was chipping last year too and we plan on using a different brand next time.

I like the braided fabric that’s available in multiple colors including black, blue, green, and red.  No matter what color you choose, the handy carrying bag is blue.  I also like that they include twelve extra washers for when the current ones get worn out and cracked.  While not part of the Amazon package, I also received another VicTsing garden hose nozzle which sadly disintegrated upon use.  Fortunately, last year’s model is still working perfectly.

The brass connectors seem sturdy, though the rubber sleeves underneath them slide out of place.  The shut off valve is nice and works as expected.  Before using the hose, it managed to get tangled a bit but untangling it wasn’t that bad.  I like how this hose doesn’t kink-up and stop the water flow like my old one did.

Thank you VicTsing for sending us this product to review!

There are many uses for a garden hose nozzle and we put this eight-mode gadget to the test by using it on three children and washing two cars.  While hosing down my kids on a hot summer day, they seemed to enjoy the mist mode the best. Not only was it gentle and refreshing, it also produced rainbows as an added bonus.  The Cone mode is a little stronger than the mist and the kids liked that one as well.  If you’re looking for some more power that’s not too forceful, the flat mode is another good option to use.

The soaker mode was a disappointment and seemed to dribble more than soak anything.  It could be an issue on my end since there was water leaking out of both ends of my garden hose.  All of the other modes worked flawlessly despite the leaks.  There wasn’t any text or instructions included in the packaging.  Just the nozzle and an extra washer.  The nozzle did have a washer in place as I checked to make sure that wasn’t the source of the water leak.  The hose used is old so I blame that for the leaks and not the nozzle.

If you need a bunch of streams, the center mode is a good one to use and the aptly named shower mode has several streams as well.  The shower mode is great for watering plants.    The jet mode has a powerful beam and the rinse mode is similar but stronger and great for taking off soap from a freshly washed car.

New video out! It's a bit different from our usual Sonic Sitcom cartoons. Any Professor Layton fans out there? How about Phoenix Wright fans? I think you guys would enjoy this one:

Thank you VicTsing for sending us a review sample!

In all honesty, I rarely drink.  In fact, all of the alcohol in the house is used for cooking recipes only.  To test this breathalyzer out, I drank ¼ cup of soft, semi-dry white wine while preparing some braised chicken that called for it.  Setting up and using the breathalyzer is pretty easy.  The most difficult part (other than drinking wine that I’m not fond of) was putting in the three AAA batteries.  The batteries were a pretty tight fit, but I got them in by applying some pressure.  

On the back side of the device is storage for five mouthpieces.  To use the device, simply insert a mouthpiece on either side of the device and press the power button.  The breathalyzer will beep and warm up for fifteen seconds.  When it’s ready it will beep again and you’ll have to blow for five to ten seconds until it beeps again to let you know that it’s done.

Buyus Colored Drawing Sketching Pencils
Developed by: BuyusDirect
Price: $12.95
(Amazon Affiliate Link)

Highlights:

Strong Points: Very durable pencils; sturdy container; hex-shape makes them less likely to roll
Weak Points: Faint colors unless you press hard

Thank you, BuyusDirect, for sending us a set of these pencils to review!

We were approached at Christ Centered Gamer to review a set of colored pencils from a company called BuyusDirect – not normally a product we cover, but we don't mind being experimental. It's good to branch out now and then!

Thank you uFashion3C for sending us a review sample!

Every morning I remember to put some pants on. However, I don’t always choose to wear sweat pants with built in pockets. As luck would have it, those are typically days with ideal weather for walking the dog or riding my bike. For short shopping trips I like to ride my bike and I need to have my phone on me for the inevitable phone call asking me to pick up another item while I’m at the store. Without pockets, what am I to do?

My fluorescent yellow fanny pack is an option, though long out of style. Even if I did have my phone in there I wouldn’t be able to interact with it without removing it from the fanny pack. The universal running waist pack solved that problem with a slim design and a plastic window that accepts your swipes without having to remove the phone. The model reviewed supports iPhone 6/6S/6S Plus, and the Samsung Galaxy S5, S6, as well as Note 4/5. My Galaxy S4 with an Otterbox cover worked just fine. 

Another great feature is the headphone jack port that lets you connect ear buds to your phone without having to remove it from the belt. The straps are adjustable up to a 48” waist and the water resistant/sweat proof material is smooth and soft to the touch. (Much softer than my fanny pack!)

There are a wide variety of colors available from fluorescent pink, green, blue to dark blue, red, white and black. My hubby was bummed that I chose hot pink. For an additional ten dollars, hydration models sporting two water bottles are available. The base model is a reasonable $9.99 on Amazon and ships free if you’re a prime member. If you’re into exercising and don’t want to miss a call, then I highly recommend picking up a running belt from uFashion3C. 

My siblings and I have two new videos on YouTube.

One is a continuation of our Sonic videos. It is about our versions of the characters meeting the Sonic Boom versions of the characters: 

The other is a message video from our other channel, Ordinary People. It takes Bible verses and puts them together like a story: