Click on a category: Men| Women | Both

FOR MEN

	Shred Sled Fun for all ages, this is the first 4-wheel inline caster board available. It combines the movements of snowboarding, surfing and skateboarding into one unique experience. Two decks, connected by a flexible middle component, revolve around horizontal and vertical axes, and make the Shred Sled smoother and easier for both kids and adults to use. Instead of pushing off the board like a regular skateboard, riders use their hips, legs and arms to move the board, similar to movements used to propel surfboards and snowboards. For better control, each deck has a grip surface to maximize traction and stability while the concave decks make for better foot control. Available in your choice of three colors: black, blue or red, the Shred Sled retails for $119.99 is on sale for $89.95! I’m still working on mastering my Shred Sled, but a review will be up soon! * Riders should always wear a helmet and safety gear when using The Shred Sled. Click here to buy it.
	Casio Pathfinder Digital Watch Whether the man in your life likes hiking, running or fishing, a Casio Pathfinder watch is one tool he shouldn’t be without. The PAG40-7 is a good choice (and it’s 50% off right now!). Like all Pathfinder watches, it features a compass, altimeter, barometer, and a thermometer, and is water resistant. The digital compass will help him find his position and plan his route, while the barometer/thermometer can help him predict what kind of weather lies ahead. The altimeter tracks altitude, cumulative ascent and decent in route to his destination. With a easy one-touch operation, and an approximate battery life of 18 months, this is a watch that any guy would appreciate. Retails for $200, but find it on Amazon for $99! Click here to buy online.
	Rubik’s TouchCube Though I’m not great at solving a Rubik’s cube, I played with this for a while and found it to be fun. It’s the first completely electronic, solvable Rubik’s Cube and uses technology similar to that found in an iPod touch. All six sides utilize touch sensor technology; slide the lights with a simple swipe of your finger to mimic the moves of the original Cube. A motion-detecting accelerometer only recognizes moves made on the top side of the Cube, so that a player’s fingers won’t move the lights on other sides when holding it. Internal memory allows players to save their current puzzle so they can resume play anytime, and if you’re ever stuck, it can give you a hint or solve itself step by step right before your very eyes. It’s also pretty to look at – the colors pulsate, fade, and change while the TouchCube recharges in its stand. Oh, and did I mention it has sound? Choose from modern or classic sound effects at varying volume levels. Retails for $149.99. Click here to buy it online. (back to the top)

FOR WOMEN

	KL-60 Label printer I’m all for useful gifts, and this is one of those! The KL-60 helps you stay organized in the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle. Casio has made it simpler than ever to label items for your business and personal use. Now you can easily organize your photos, books, files, movies, toys, clothes and holiday décor. The easy to use QWERTY keyboard makes creating labels simple and fast. The KL-60 includes a 4-digit, 1 line, LCD display with one built-in font and 6 character sizes. With a resolution of 160 DPI, it can print in three sizes (12mm, 9mm, 6mm). Retails for $19.99 and can be found in store at Staples, Office Depot and Office Max. Click here to buy it online.
	Casio Baby-G Sport Watch I reviewed another Baby-G watch a few months back, but saw this sweet version and thought it would make a great gift! The Heart Style Baby-G is decorated with rhinestones and a heart design, which adds a graceful, feminine touch. Shock resistant and water resistant to 100M, it’s outfitted with an analog and convenient digital dial for the best of both worlds. Two LED displays provide world time, countdown timer, five daily alarms, 24-hour time, and stopwatch features. Available in lustrous pink and white or a more subtle grey, it’s something casual and tough enough for everyday use. Retails for $99.99. On sale for $65! Click here to buy online.
	Frigidaire Affinity Washer & Dryer If you’re looking to buy your wife/girlfriend/mom/grandma a really unique, amazing gift, think about getting them a new washer and dryer. It’s a gift that will keep giving back all year long (and hopefully for many years thereafter!) It’s remarkable how a new appliance gives me such a sense of pride. Thanks to Frigidaire, my laundry room is no longer just a utility room. It’s a part of my home! Read about my experiences with my washer and dryer. Starting at $749 and up. Click here to buy it online. (back to the top)

FOR BOTH

	Keurig B40 Elite Brewer The Keurig B40 Elite Brewer is the ideal brewing system for entertaining! It brews a fresh cup of gourmet coffee or tea in around 30 seconds, using Keurig’s patented K-Cups, which offer over 70 varieties of pre-measured gourmet coffee and tea from a variety of premium brands. The brewers patented one-touch technology ensures precise control of brewing, and there is no messy grinding or clean up. Simply open the lid, insert a K-Cup, close the lid, and select a cup size. It uses less power than a light bulb to keep water hot. Find it on www.shoffee.com for $99.95. Click here to buy it.
	iPod touch There’s not much I can say about this. It leaves me speechless! I’m kidding. But really – the iPod touch is my favorite gadget EVER and I recommend that everyone buy it. NOW. And no, they didn’t send me one for free. I owe it all to my hubby’s hard earned cash. The 8 GB version is just right. It holds up to 1,750 songs, 10,000 photos, or 10 hours of video, and comes with a bunch of apps already installed. I use it for everything – to listen to music, surf the web, read email, chat on AIM, check Facebook, watch videos, play games, check the weather, and more! It’s basically like a mini computer. I wouldn’t mind if the battery lasted a little longer, as the apps and Wi-Fi drain it pretty fast. That would be my only complaint, though. The screen is beautiful, the sound quality is good, and the sheer amount of apps available (there’s an app for that!) is incredible. 8 GB retails for $199.99, but it’s on sale on Amazon for $188.95! 16GB and 32 GB also available. Click here to buy it.
	Casio Exilim FS10 Digital Camera What I found appealing about this camera are some of its unique features – 30 shot-per-second high-speed burst shooting and high-speed night scene functions, just to name a few. All elements usually found only in big, bulky cameras! The EX-FS10 may be super thin, but it’s chock-full of options. You can set in advance the time lag between the moment that you want to capture and the actual time of taking a picture, for instance. You can also capture a still image while viewing the movement of the subject in slow motion and automatically selecting and saving one frame from continuous shots. And I can’t forget to mention the video feature! The high-speed movie function can record motion that is ordinarily too fast for the human eye to see, and then play it back in ultra-slow motion. The HD Movie function will record high quality videos at a size of 1280×720 pixels. Retails for $299. On sale for $176.95! Click here to buy it.

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Not that I took them for granted or anything, but I think I had finally settled in and laundry started to become a standard routine again. Using my mom’s washer and dryer a few times made me aware of just how lucky I am to have had this opportunity to be a Test Drive Mom. I missed my husband, of course, but I may have longed for my Frigidaire Affinity twosome even more so!

Thanks to these beauties, laundry isn’t so much of a chore anymore. I haven’t found a single item of clothing that I can’t wash. Even my most delicate “unmentionables” can be tossed in there without a second thought.

A friend of mine asked me if I’ve really saved time with my Frigidaire Affinity washer and dryer, and I’m happy to say I have. Energy, too. I know it’s hard to get from a photo, but just look at how big these machines are…

• The Fits-More 7.0 cu. Ft. Dryer (on the right) is the largest capacity dryer in a standard size*. This lets me dry more at once, saving me time and energy in the long run. (*based on dryers 36″ or less in height and 27″ or less in depth)

• TimeWise™ technology: wash time equals dry time – so you don’t wait for clothes to dry.

There really is a 25 minute cycle! I use this Quick cycle for washing all the time, but sometimes the dryer needs a little more time, especially of it’s a larger load. This cycle has been a lifesaver, however, for those times when I’ve realized at the last minute that something needed to be washed right away.

• Save Your Settings feature: The last wash/dry settings are automatically saved so I don’t have to waste time changing things around the next time I do laundry.

This is great. It’s the little things, you know? Always having the signal volume at the level I want… keeping the water cold, just how I like it… it’s nice not having to worry about those things.

• Energy Saver Option: Reduces water temperature which saves energy when washing clothes.

I haven’t taken a look at my utility bills to see just how much I’ve saved in the past few months, but I’m sure the difference will be clear this winter, when our gas bill is usually sky-high. Once I actually sit down and compare numbers, I’ll let you know what I find!

Remember to make your pledge to Make Time for Change. Pledge one hour of your time to your child and be automatically entered to win a Frigidaire Professional double wall oven! You can enter every day through the end of the year. Mom Central’s giving away another oven, but you only have until October 8th to enter to win that one. Just sign-n and leave a comment on their post. Good luck!

In between crafting, Jennifer mentioned the fact that she’s teaming up with Frigidaire to launch the Make Time for CHANGE campaign. Through this program, $250K will be donated to Save the Children, a charity she’s very passionate about. I love Jen. I don’t think Frigidaire could have picked a more fitting celebrity ambassador!

Save the Children created the CHANGE program (Creating Healthy, Active, and Nurturing Growing-up Environments) to promote healthier lifestyles for children living in poverty by providing nutritious snacks and regular opportunities for them to be physically active. For everyone who goes to Frigidaire.com and raises their hand with a pledge to make time for their child, Frigidaire will donate $1 to support the Change program and Save the Children’s work to help children in need in the U.S. And in addition to that fuzzy feeling you get from doing something good, everyone who pledges their time will be entered for a chance to win a new Frigidaire Professional double wall oven! Those in the market for top-notch new appliances should also know that, for every new Frigidaire Professional double wall oven sold, Frigidaire will donate $100 to Save the Children’s U.S Programs as part of their $250,000 commitment to this worthy cause.

So think ahead and pledge an hour on November 1st. It’s Daylight Savings, so we get an extra hour of sleep since we turn the clocks back early that morning. Pledge that hour to a child in need and be automatically entered to win a Frigidaire double wall oven. As you know, I’ve experienced first-hand just how great Frigidaire appliances are, so don’t miss this chance to win. Visit Make Time for Change to make your pledge and Mom Central for a second chance at winning the oven.

My Frigidaire washer’s instruction manual came with an extensive stain removal guide that covers just about everything. Reading through the list of stains and their respective treatments, the keyword that stuck out over and over again is pre-treat. I have to admit that I used to forget to do that. I would throw the stained garment in the hamper and then complain a week later when, even after washing it, the outfit was ruined.

After pre-treating, it’s also important to pay attention to the water temperature that you wash the stained garments in. Some stains, like beverages spills, should be washed in cold water, whereas others, such as grease, respond best to the hottest water that’s safe for the fabric. For some reason I feel compelled to try out every possible setting whenever I get a new gadget or appliance, and that’s exactly what I’ve done with my Frigidaire Affinity washer and dryer. I am loving the fact that I can customize every single step of the laundry process!

A few of my favorite stain-fighting features:

• Deep Clean Sanitize cycle - Not only does this cycle ensure that my laundry will be 99.9% bacteria free, but it also removes heavy soils and stains, thanks to the super hot water temperature (up to 152 degrees!) and the fast tumbling. At 90 minutes, this is the longest of all the washing cycles. What’s really neat is that as soon as the water temperature reaches 130 degrees, the washer door locks, and won’t unlock until it’s cooled down. So smart! (This cycle has been certi?ed by NSF International, an independent third party testing and certi?cation organization dedicated to public health, safety and environmental protection.)
• Heavy cycle - This provides an extra 20 minutes of reverse tumbling for very soiled garments.
• Whitest Whites cycle - 15 minutes of tumble wash goodness! And not just one rinse, but two. I always add a splash of bleach to this as well, and my hubby’s dingy socks come out bright white.
• Soil Level setting - Heavy, Normal, and Light Soil levels are available. This adjusts the wash time by 3-minute increments, depending on how dirty I think the clothes is.
• Stain Clean option - Adds a 5-minute soak period in the middle of the wash cycle.
• Extra Rinse option – Pretty self-explanatory I use it whenever I want to remove excess dirt or soap from the laundry. Perfect for washing baby clothes or for those family members that have sensitive skin!

I used to pull out Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook to figure out how to remove stains, but now my stain removing secret is my Frigidaire washer!

There’s a little hint of a red drawer…

The installers are super nice, by the way! Thanks, Czarnowski & Acclaimed Plumbing.

Some of the features that I’m looking forward to:

THE WASHER:

• Fast, 28-minute Q uick Wash cycle.
• WashSense™ technology: ensures clothes get clean with care.
• Advanced Rinse Technology: final rinse uses fresh water to ensure whiter whites and reduce allergens.
• Express-Select™ Controls: easy-to-select options and cycles at the touch of a button.

THE DRYER:

• Fast, 28-minute Quick Dry cycle.
• Fits-More™ 7.0 cu.ft. Dryer: largest capacity dryer in a standard size 7 so you can dry more at once.
• Handy DrySense™ technology: dries clothes more precisely, reducing wrinkles so you spend less time ironing!
• TimeWise™ technology: wash time equals dry time – so you don’t wait for clothes to dry.
• Express-Select™ Controls: easy-to-select options and cycles at the touch of a button.

I’ll be washing lots of clothes this weekend, and I’ll let you know how it goes!

So happy to be getting rid of this:

This month Frigidaire is rolling out a new collection of more than 250 kitchen and laundry appliances, just in time for Mother’s Day! They designed these high-performance products with easy-to-use, time-saving features to give Moms more free time away from the kitchen and laundry room. And isn’t that what we need? More time for ourselves!

I’m delighted to be one of only a handful of moms that will get to test drive some of these appliances in the comfort of our own homes. What do I get to try out? The new Frigidaire Affinity washer and dryer!! And I get to KEEP them! Yes, I’ve hit the motherload, so to speak!

I’ve never had a new washer and dryer, so this is big! Like so many people, I’ve just made do with the set that was in our house when we moved in. And to tell you that what we have now is ancient would be an understatement. I mean, the machines do their job… I can’t really complain. But are they efficient? Not so much. It takes around 55 minutes for an average load of laundry to dry. I thought this was normal until I read that the Affinity dryer has a 25-minute dry cycle! This means that my drying time will potentially be cut by more than half. How amazing is that!? Just thinking about how much I’ll save on my gas bill is giving me chills… and with the new TimeWise technology that makes the dryer and washing cycle equal, gone will be the days where I have a wet clothes just sitting in the washer, waiting for the previous load to be dried!

Frigidaire has SO much confidence in the efficiency of these new products that they are offering a “More Me-Time” Guarantee: Moms will reduce the amount of time they typically spend on housework by at least 8 hours a month using a combination of three or more select Frigidaire appliances or they can return the appliances to their place of purchase within 30 days and get their money back!

What you would do if you had an extra hour of “me-time”? Frigidaire wants to know! Starting today, moms can go to Frigidaire.com to report the 5 things they would do with an extra hour each day. All participants will be entered for a chance to win an entire suite of NEW Frigidaire appliances. Plus, check out other prizes you can win – like a gorgeous new Frigidaire Affinity washer/dryer like the set I’ll be receiving!

Aren’t they beautiful?

And they look darling in my dream laundry room!

I was going to take a “before” picture of my laundry room, but I don’t want to give you nightmares… just the piles of dirty clothes are enough to scare anyone away!

But for the next several months, I will be posting regularly about my experiences using my new Affinity washer and dryer and taking lots of photos (and even video!) so you’ll just have to come back and see how it goes!

Visit the Frigidaire Facebook page, become a fan, and meet some of the other Test Drive Moms! Oh, and make sure to follow us on Twitter (#FrigidaireTeam) for more info.

Thanks so much to Frigidaire and Mom Central for this phenomenal opportunity!