2005 Ford Ranger

We bought this truck in replacement of Nissan Sentra that hubby drives. We can't really buy anything big and take it home with us, it needed to be deliver with extra cost most of the time. We have van but it is pain removing and putting the seats back when ever we need to use it for something big. And sometimes it does not fit inside and most of the time I am using it and hubby is not able to use it.

When DH got it after a few months he noticed that is something is wrong when accelerating. He brought it in three times for a service and the third time I think they finally found what was wrong with it. It was a pain because he needs to leave it in the shop to work on and I had to drive and pick him up from work most of the time. Sometimes he was able to drive my van to work when I don't need it that day. I think this truck was working fine for two years now.

This is only 4 cylinder because we can't afford to put fuel with the big engine evey few days. Mind you the bigger engine is also affordable. The one we have has a regular cab and 7 feet long cargo box which gives DH more room to haul stuff. Yes, the price is little more than the one with regular cargo box and we only have one month of payment left. That is the best thing, less bill to pay after this is paid off.

Having a truck is very useful to pick up stuff like the kids cubicles, desk and most of the big appliances and furnitures we ahve around the house. He even lend it to anyone we know to move big things and to his friends who refuses to buy a truck and rather own a sports car. Can you fit a matress inside one of those? I use to own one too before I met DH.

I drove a Chevy Cavalier, Dodge Shadow (rental), Ford Ranger V6 engine, Pontiac Gran Prix (rental), Geo metro (rental), Plymouth Neon, Kia Spectra, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Altima (rental) and now my Kia Sedona. This lists is only the vehicles that I drove for more than a day and a week tops. The day rental and borrows are not included.

Maytag Quiet 400 Series

Jetclean II Two-Rack Dishwashers - Tallest tall tub with largest usable capacity - space for 14 place settings. ToughScrub Plus option - powers off dried-on, baked-on foods by adding heat and wash time to the cycle. Semi-integrated control panel - integrates the control panel on the top of the door, for a clean look. Microprocessor controls with 12 touch pads - add style and convenience. QuietSeries 400 sound package - our quietest dishwasher ever (56 db Sound Power; 47 db Sound Pressure).

What I like this dishwasher because of the three water spray arms. The utility basket is taller, when you put forks and spoons they don't tend to lay on each other. The removable top rack and you can position it higher if you got taller dishes at the bottom. With one touch on botton, last cycle recall and it cleans our dishes, glasses and silver wears without rinsing them first. And yes it came with on board garbage disposal. Of course you can not big pieces of food there it will not work.

Ok, here is the con: Most of the controls are on the top of the door. it only last for three years. It started not opening, not closing and the one start button stop working. DH thought it was the locking device not locking and end up breaking half of it. Sometimes it still work, but the time breaker for us when it did not stop washing. DH had to pull it out and disconnect it from the electric line.

I was very happy with it until that point. Our $700 worth of dishwasher went into the drain too fast. Why they can't make better appliances? I'll tell you why, because they don't earn money from it. I would think paying that much for a dishwasher should at least give us 10 year for it, but I was so wrong. They just wanted your money, they don't deliver quality anymore these days. Unless you build it yourself.

We have GE right now. I will give you my review on that one too.

LG enV VX9900 Phone

This is my newest (1 year old) cell phone from Verizon Wireless. We do get a free new phone every two years and we been in this company since early 2004.

Product Description

The ultimate in mobile entertainment just got better! The new enV from LG has everything you love about The V: EvDO high-speed technology, a QWERTY keyboard, a large internal screen, dual stereo speakers, and an external memory port. Not to mention exciting new features like an upgraded 2.0 megapixel camera & camcorder with autofocus and lens cover, and Bluetooth® stereo support for listening to music. Now, all this LG innovation is packed into a slimmer and lighter weight design. The LG enV. Thinner. Lighter. Better than ever.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #9616 in Cell Phone Accessories
* Color: Orange
* Brand: LG
* Model: enV
* Released on: 2007-07-02

I haven't really used all of the features because they cost money. I only got it because it was time to update my phone and it is free. The camera works as good as my powershot A20, however to get the video or pictures out I have to pay. Unless I pay more and get all those features for free. We have 4 cell phones in the house. One for my husband, one for my eldest son, one for one and one stays home. We don't have a land line and we only use cell phones.

There is slot for microSD card. I got my eldest son's memory card because he uses his ipod for music. Bluetooth capable, TXT messaging, Picture messeging, Video messegning, V Cast, V Cast music, Web 2.0, NZ navigator and TTY/TDD support. And you know what, they are not available at verizon anymore. I just tried locating it to read all the features but no luck there. I found the description somewhere else.

Brother HL 5240

The HL-5240 is a high-speed, printing workhorse built for reliable day-in and day-out laser printing. Ideal for busy offices, the HL-5240 features a flexible input capacity, including a 250-sheet capacity paper tray and 50-sheet capacity multi-purpose tray‡ for printing envelopes and letterhead.

We had this longer than my printer below. My hubby gets mad at our kids when they use my color printer, so he set this printer as a default for everyone. Not to mention our eldest son who likes to print anything he likes. We have not change the toner since we bought it. This is great for you if you like to print a lot of text from the internet or reports. This is fast, it prints 30 pages per minute with print resulotion of 1200 x 1200 dpi. If you need more information just type the name to google.

Canon PIXMA MP600

I won this from Microsoft in 2007, along with other things. And yes I have been using this since then. This is great for printing pictures and make sure you buy the nice ink and paper that goes along with printing pictures. I think it is cheaper if you go to your local Walmart to print it instead. The color ink is not cheap and the quality photo ink is expensive.

Anyway, I love this printer. I can plug my camera and memory card into it with out worrying about the drivers for it. We have cameras that take two different size memory card and I am able to stick both of them in there. There are two paper feeder, from the back or the bottom. I can make a copy of anything and print it directly with out scanning it first. I can scan colored or black and white. So far I don't have any problem with this product or maybe I have not use all the features yet. Over all I am very happy with it.

For more features and specifications google the name or go to Canon website.

Genius Headphones

The HS-02B is a new model in the Genius headset family for music and on-line talking. It features headphones and a microphone with on-line volume control. No matter if you use Skype or MSN Chat, net-phone, etc., this headset provides crystal clear quality and will not let you miss any sound. Its on-line volume control is also attached for easier volume adjustment.Listen to your favorite music or talk over the Internet with a friend. Bring fashion to your life with this classic stereo headset.

We got this headphones for my two home school kids. They are free and came with the computers. Don't get me wrong it does it's job but, when children using something so delicate they tend to break faster. I don't recommend this product for children. If you need something for them to use invest on something more expensive and better quality. The one that is can not easily brake when they walk away from their computer and forgot to take the headphones off. This headphone is very affordable and you get what you pay for.

I said it was free but we need to return it when the children leave the school. Now I need to buy two of the same thing and keep it in a safe place, then I need to find two better quality to last longer than 8 months. I would like the ones that will last for years.

Kia Sedona

We bought this before our 4th child was born. I been using it for 5 years now and I don't have any complain about it. It is very affordable, have the capacity of seven and the others have 8. Of course the more features you want in it the price goes higher. They came standard with v6 engine, you don't have to worry about hauling such a big vehicle with 4 cylinder.

If you have big family like us, and in the budget I like to recommend buying this one. Feel free to tell me that there is cheaper one out there. I used to have Kia Spectra for two years and had to trade it in for this. I will also give a review about it later. Anyway, if you get your car from a Kia dealer, you will get a discount for using Kia product. I can't remember how much it was, but I'm pretty sure it was over a thousand. The longer you used it I think the discount gets bigger. You may want to verify about it when you talk to one of their salesperson.

Thanks for the EC Drop

Thank you!