Category: Reviews

Father's Day, Mother's Day, Non-seasonal, Reviews, Seattle Area Attractions, Travel

Nomad Battery Cable: Lightning Cable and Charger in One

Erin Sluka

I was provided sample. Opinions are my own

How many cords and chargers are lying around? Funny how 10 years ago we would wonder why I would ask such a question and here we are carrying cords, battery packs and extra car chargers around with us. With a house of boys it is a constant struggle to keep track of cords and battery packs. The Nomad Battery Cable is a game changer in this house and now I need 1-2 more for even more organization. Here is why…

I have a battery pack and so does my husband and son. Each of those bulky packs needs the cord. So, I always keep 2 cords in my car, one for our son in the back and for us in the front seat. Then I do the same in our truck for when we drive that. Those cords never stay put! That is because it gets grabbed to use for a charger and then never put back.

The Battery Cable from Nomad is a lightning cable and charger in one! Better yet, the charger is a small cylinder and not a large ‘brick’. Now, my goal is to just keep one of these in each car and one in the living room. This way plugging the charger back in means the cord is also available with it and that is less of a cord hunt when we need one.

  • New robust aluminum housing
  • 2,800mAh of power storage
  • 1X iPhone charge
  • Apple MFi approved
  • Pass-through charging technology
  • ballistic nylon braided
  • The battery enables one full charge for iPad, iPhone 7, 7 Plus, X, 8, iPhone 6, 6S and 6/6s Plus.
  • charges your phone first before then charging its internal battery

It is compact enough to just slip in my purse and if I need the phone plugged in, I can just reach for the lightning end of the cord and plug it into my phone without taking it fully out of my purse or travel bag.

You will love the convenience of carrying 1 cord that is light and compact! They make great gifts for Mom, Dad and are a game changer for traveling!

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Food, Non-seasonal, Recipes, Reviews

Easy Cauliflower and Sausage Casserole in my Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Erin Sluka

I was sent the Dutch Oven mentioned. Opinions and recipe is my own

I won’t start a recipe post with 17 paragraphs of a life story because I know you just want the recipe! However, I will give credit to this fabulous Dutch Oven I am in love with. I will also mention some variations so you can make this dish match your taste.

This Easy Cauliflower and Sausage Casserole is one of our favorite ‘leftover’ meals. I say that because it is a great way to use up leftover veggies and meat. We love Aidells sausage so I always make it with sausage, but you can use any (cooked) meat you may have leftover such as pork or steak.

You just need 2 pots on your stove to cook the meat and onions in. You can also add any leftover veggies you need to use up like belle peppers, zucchini or diced potatoes.

If you have soft veggies like tomatoes to use, don’t add those quite yet. Just head the meat and veggies and you can add spices or use the flavored sausage like I do and no extra spices are needed, but some salt or pepper.

In your second pot, blanch the cauliflower. Cut in chinks or use frozen flowerettes like I did and boil for 3-4 minutes in salt water. You can also substitute broccoli if you are not a fan of cauliflower.

Let me take a quick moment and tell you about my Cast Iron Dutch Oven by Marquette Castings. It works great from stove top to oven and comes in 4Qt or 6Qt. It has an enamel finish, non-stick, non-toxic, easy to clean, beautiful and durable. Built to last a lifetime (even with lifetime warranties).

Marquette Castings has affordable, high quality cookware you will love as much as I do! Isn’t the white stunning?

Don’t you love recipes that allow you to use up those veggies in your fridge?

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Home, Mother's Day, Reviews, Travel

myCharge HubPlus 6700mAh Portable Charger Review

Erin Sluka

I was sent a charger for feature. This post contains affiliate links. Opinions are my own.

myCharge HubPlus 6700mAh Portable Charger Review

While we like to travel several times a year, having a portable charger along for the trip is a must. Taking lots of photos and video drains a phone battery fast so I got used to lugging around chargers and cords. Then I was gifted a myCharge Hub and I did not need bulky cords in my purse anymore. The first myCharge I owned was a HubXtra and I would get so many comments on it while using it, especially from other travelers.

Now I have upgraded to the myCharge HubPlus. This charger has 3.5 times extra battery and also comes with the built-in lightning and micro-usb cords as well as built-in wall prongs to charge the unit.

We just got back from a few days in Las Vegas for Spring Break and I had my myCharge HubPlus in my purse everyday. I used it halfway through the day when my phone battery got to 19% and by the time we finished lunch it was charged back up and only 1 of the 4 charge indicators was off. I could have charged mine and my husbands phone many more times if needed.

I cannot stress enough how convenient it is to have an all-in-one portable charger like the options from myCharge. Bulky cords are so hard to travel with and get left behind. No more cords and that is my favorite feature in this portable charger review! It makes a great gift for Newlyweds on their honeymoon, Grads, Moms and Dads!

Visit myCharge to see all of their built-in cable portable chargers.

Buy myCharge HubPlus on Amazon

Home, Mother's Day, Reviews

VIDBOX Video Conversion and Audio Conversion Suite Review

Erin Sluka
Video Conversion and Audio Conversion Suite

This is so exciting and what a great Mother’s Day gift! This is the VIDBOX Video Conversion and Audio Conversion Suite. This little box takes your old VCR (VHS, Betamax, S-VHS), camcorder (8mm, DV, mini DV, HDV, AVCHD) home movies and converts them to digital files.

I grew up in the 80’s and my younger siblings were into the 90’s so all of our home movies are on VHS and a few on 8mm. Do you even know what I had to go through to find someone who still has a VCR? That’s how long it has been since we saw our tapes and without owning a VCR we don’t get to sit and organize them or share.

The first 4 VHS tapes I played were taped TV shows, which was comical, such as ER, Will and Grace and even some old Fit TV episodes which I assume are my sisters recordings. I could just ignore those and not record.

Then I got to a stash of my youngest sister. Katie’s ballet show from 1996, her Middle School and High School choir and talent shows. Some Christmas family video and even one with my brother’s beloved dog he lost in a car accident (Shaft was in a Christmas video-such tears)! The memories are so fun!

Converting was so easy! You simply use the USB to plug in the VIDBOX to your PC or laptop (mine is the Mac version). Second, you use either RCA (composite) and/or S-Video outputs to connect VIDBOX to your VCR or video player/console. Then you will get a screen asking you length of the video you will record and then you get the actual record screen.

Here is the record screen (a bit blurry but that was my camera taking a moving photo on auto and not a reflection of VIDBOX quality). You simply get the video to the spot to record and hit RECORD. Then hit STOP and the NEXT arrow. At that point you can choose where to download to such as iTunes folder, file on computer, iMovie to edit and more.

The blur was my camera taking a moving video-VIDBOX conversions quality is great!

It’s that easy! TIP*** I recommend as converting these VHS tapes is a hefty file size that you record in 10-20 minute increments. That worked best for me in all formats of converting.

Buy VIDBOX Conversion Suite