Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

I'm not sure why titanium was used but these are no doubt the strongest scissors I own.  I took them out of their packaging and immediately used them to cut the bubble envelope and pasteboard the scissors came mounted on.  They cut threw the envelope and cardboard with no difficulty whatsoever.   I don't have any fabric I can cut, at least without annoying someone.  Paper and cardboard cut well, the pink is not a color that I personally would choose to put in my tackle box or on my work bench, but it isn't offensive, just not terribly masculine.  These are now the nicest scissors I own.  Now if they could only cut my taxes! LOL From the vendor:  ·                         5x harder than stainless steel ·                     ...

I'm not a birder!  At least I don't think I am, but I do enjoy watching the birds at my feeder.   This little feeder adheres to a window.  I put it at a window that hopefully will allow me to see the birds close up and personal.   The feeder assembled easily.  It has accessories that make it either a sunflower seed dispenser or thistle dispenser.   It sticks to the window with suction cups.  Frankly I was somewhat amazed that it actually stuck.  My experience with suction cups has been less than stellar.   However we have had some surprisingly wide temperature variations, a down pour, a thunderstorm and wind and it is still sticking to the window.  That's all the good news.  The bad is that so far the birds have shown no interest in the feeder.  Hopefully that will change.   Later: I moved this to about six feet from the stand alone feeder.  I have yet to see a bird on it after six weeks. ...

Even the mesh bag is nice in this set.  The mask has greater clarity than any I have ever used before.  The fins propel fine and adjust easily.  The snorkel is great, I done deep and it closed off perfectly.   I was surprised how much easier it is to swim with a mask and snorkel. Later, I have since reviewed two other snorkel and mask combos and this is by far the best of the three! from the vendor: ·                         These Snorkeling fins are easy to get on and off your feet thanks to a quick-release strap system ·                         Angle of blade is optimized for maximum thrust with minimal effort ·                 ...

The blower assembled easily.   The directions were clear and concise.   The battery charger has clear instructions printed right on the charger.   The unit worked at least as well as my electric blower.  I don't have a gas blower so I don't know if it is as powerful as a gas one.   The blower worked surprisingly well on wet snow even when I didn't anticipate it working on wet snow at all.  The battery aspect makes it perfect for my pool deck as the 100 feet of electric cord on my electric blower was always threatening to go into the pool.  The blower is powerful and even with the very heavy battery seemed well balanced.   There was a metal plate in the battery charger box that appears to allow it to be mounted.   Since there was no mention of it (that I could find), I really don't have a clue on it's purpose.  I hate messing with gas powered tools as they always defy my best attempts to start them wh...

The calculator is as advertised.  It is not too big but big enough that big hands and fat fingers can use it with no difficulty.  It uses standard calculator tape, whatever that is, which is good since it comes with a weenie, minuscule roll of paper that is barely enough to test it and see if it works.  Beside that the packaging was good and it was not impossible to get into it.  Price of $14.95 from Office Max through Amazon was commensurate with other places and having it come to the door saves gasoline. If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

In spite of having the same specifications thickness wise as my previous mats, this mat seems thinner.   It is not as soft as I had hoped.  Otherwise it is fine.  I let it breathe overnight in hopes that it's tight wrapping had compressed it thinner but that didn't seem the case.  If you are on a hard surface you may wish to find a thicker mat.  $14.25 at Amazon. Later:  after some use this mat is not wearing well.  My bare feet are tearing up the waffle pattern.  In addition this is only 1/8" thick which is barely satisfactory on carpet and totally inadequate on hardwood.   I found the mat below on Amazon at a better price and one of it's most complimented features in the reviews is it's thickness.  It will be my next mat and considering how fast this one is wearing, probably soon.  If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

This map is very nice quality.  The workmanship is superior.  My only beef is that the magnetic aspect is a bit wimpy.   The map is mounted on a nice board with cord that allows it to be hung.   The pieces "hang" in there but it doesn't take too much bumping to knock them off the map.   Five year olds do a lot of bumping.  That is the only negative I found.   The world is illustrated with lots of colorful graphics and folkish things like the nesting dolls over Russia .   There are areas that can be a touch confusing but input from an adult should take care of that.   The English Channel is part of a piece and it might be a touch confusing about the separation from the continent.   Indonesia will need to be clarified as to the water between places.   Overall, I think this will be a terrific learning and teaching tool.   The only reason it is four star instead of five is ...