Drink Coasters + Holder + Ice Ball Mold Maker

I took a couple days to determine which of my blogs I wanted to put this review on. I know that coasters or ice balls don't exactly fit in with the garden or homesteading.

What I do know though is my husband and I have a little habit that helps keep our marriage great. Life with 3 kids, work, child events, and homesteading is stressful! There aren't enough hours in the day.

Neither my husband or I consume large amount of alcohol anymore. What we do enjoy is a nice glass of whiskey and coke. Every night after we get all the kids to bed we each pour a glass. Then we go out back, water our plants, drink our whiskey, and talk about life. This is our time to talk about our future, things that may be bothering us, things we are looking forward to, or just complaining about the mosquitoes.

No matter what we talk about in that time, it still gives us a nice 30 minutes, uninterrupted by children to communicate. When we are done we come back in and watch some tv while my hubby (if it's the weekend) has another drink.

Because of our Whiskey tradition we have started collecting Whiskey related items. Decanters, whiskey glasses, that sort of thing. So when I got an opportunity from Wise Palace to review this coaster and ice ball kit my husband and I were happy to add to the collection.

Wise Palace Coasters and Ice Mold

So far we are really liking these. They look nice. We love the silicone coasters for several reasons:

• We don't have to worry about them getting broke by us. 
• We don't have to worry about the kids messing them up. 
• They are super easy to clean. 
• They are large enough that even if very tipsy you can still land the average glass on them.
• They grip the table very well unlike some coasters we have tried that slide around a lot. 

So these are a big hit in our house! They are super functional.

I have to admit, my husband and I have a corny pervy relationship. Double entendres are like a second language in our home. So my husband has really enjoyed these ice molds for many reasons! The common night time terms lately are "Can you grab my cold balls out the freezer" "Do you need an icy nipple in your glass" and "You want to take more pictures of my whiskey balls". Lol
My husband gives these as high a rating as he can!

Overall I have nothing but positives to say about these! Absolutely great product! Get yours here!

Alpha Home Expandable Lightweight Ultra Flexible Durable Kink-Free Garden and Utility Hose Set Review

So this whole homesteading on a budget thing has been rough. I am thankful that I am finding products that are making my life a bit easier.

At the start of the spring we went out and bought a 50 ft garden hose from the local Dollar general. Within a week it was leaking everywhere. It also didn't seem to actually be 50 ft long. We were having to stand just the right way to water the garden, arching the water flow just the right way to make it to the plants. Of course standing in this position caused the leak to flow nicely down our arm and into our shirt!

I lucked up and got the opportunity to review this cool expandable hose from Alpha Home Products.

I have to admit I was like a child in a candy store. We had been looking at these for a while. I had been debating it. Would the cost be worth it? Would I even really notice the difference? Is there even really a difference between a $10 hose and a $40 hose?

 

Alpha Home Expandable Lightweight Ultra Flexible Durable Kink-Free Garden and Utility Hose Set

 

Let me just say, the differences are extreme!! No! I am not exaggerating! Maybe it is the poor homesteader in me, but this hose is like no other I have used! Everything about it is awesome! I literally can't find one thing I don't like about it! 

So for starters, it expands all on it's own without getting kinked up. No having to unfold it or get knots out. Nope! It does it all on it's own. Then when you are done using it, you drain it, and it sucks itself back down to about 10 ft long! It does all the work for you! 

It is also much longer than our old 50 ft hose, which I got to wondering about. I measured our old hose and this hose is 11 ft longer. So I went to the store I bought it at and looked, I was right, the cheap one was being advertised as 50ft even though it was only 39 ft!!! I felt like I was back to the day I found out a Subway foot long was only 11 inches! Lol! This Alpha Expandable hose IS 50 feet long! 

This Alpha hose is by far the best hose we have ever had. All the different settings on the sprayer make it easy to water my plants. It easily reaches my garden. I'm no longer stopping 5 times to un-kink my hose. It's fantastic! 

You can get one too! Either go to Alpha Home website or click on the Amazon link below! 

Haus & Garten Pruning Shears

I recently got an offer to review the Haus & Garten Pruning Shears at a discount in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to try them. We are notorious for buying cheap shears just for them to either break or go so dull we can't use them within a few uses. Yes we should have learned our lessons, but instead we kept buying the cheap ones in hope that somehow it would get better.

These are a higher grade pruning shears. They retail for $38.90 on Amazon right now. When I first saw the price I think I had sticker shock. After thinking about it though, I think we have spent that much in the last couple years on pairs that were $5-$10. Now we do a lot of pruning. We are rural folks with land that needs care, trees that need trimmed back, and plants in our gardens that need care. So we may use shears a bit more than the average person, but still the costs add up.

 

So I got these, unsure of what to expect past the basics. I was surprised with the ease of cutting. I've been using cheap sheers so long that I guess I wasn't use to them just cutting right through. I have pretty bad arthritis in my writs which make pruning painful because of the amount of pressure I have to apply usually. With these though it cut with ease.

I did this short video of them in action. One handed because the camera was in my other hand. Most of these branches were smaller, but once I was done filming and had 2 hands I tried them out on some larger branches. They worked great. I didn't have any issues with them at all.

You can buy your Haus & Garten Pruning Shears here.
 

Leopard Outdoor Eva Molded Cooler Bag 24Can

I got an opportunity to review this Leopard Outdoor Cooler bag at a discount to review it with my unbiased opinion. As someone who goes fishing, camping, and to the lake a lot this was a perfect thing for me to review.



When I got it I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure why but I just assumed it would be a cheap feeling cooler bag like I have had in the past. So when I got it and realized the top was actually solid, (feels like very hard foam) and the sides feel like a very thick material I was excited.

#leopardoutdoor

2 Can Holders

Taking My New Leopard Outdoor Cooler to the Lake

So right after getting it we decided we would need to actually take it to the lake for a day to test it out. Our family consists of 5 people. Honestly we are all a bit tired of taking the standard big cooler we own. Since we don't actually need to pack 24 cans we were able to pack what we needed for a day trip. In total we packed into the cooler part 6 canned drinks, 12 fruit juice pouches, Mustard, 1 pack of hotdogs, 2 Sobe bottled drinks, onion, 1 container of worms for fishing, and one bag of frozen herring also for fishing. We of course then packed it with ice. In the interior zipper pouch attached to the lid we put a can opener, a spoon, a bottle of Tylenol, a fork, and a pair of scissors (last minute).  

Even with all of that in there, you can see in the pic, if we wanted to we could have stuffed a couple more drinks into it or even a pack of ground beef for hamburgers. It fit everything our family of 5 needed for a day at the lake. 

Filled, my 12 year old was able to easily carry the Leopard Cooler Bag with the padded shoulder strap into our picnic table by the lake. 

My Review of The Leopard Outdoor Cooler Bag

I really looked for something not to like with this bag. However after using it for both the lake trip, and the next day for fishing at a local pond I can't find a single thing to complain about. 

My 10 year old even spilled some of his fruit punch on the top of it and I quickly tilted the cooler on it's side. The fruit punch ran right off. I was expecting a stain, but there was not even a mark after about an hour.

It's a great bag. I really don't think I have ever owned a cooler of this high functionality and quality before. It certainly made our day easier than lugging around our full size cooler!

Find my Youtube video review here. 

I am in no way affiliated with this company. I never promise a positive rating, I am not compensated outside of the discounted product, and I always give you my honest opinion on a product.