My Favourite Things #1

There are a lot of hard things about being an immigrant (sometimes, especially in the beginning it feels like a mountainous climb to "get over the homesickness") so sometimes it's really easy to focus on the negatives but much like this idea **Memory Jar** sometimes it's a good idea to focus on the good instead and slowly your mind will start to think less negatively (hopefully).

This "favourite things" list is made up of products I found while living in the US or something I like about living here in the US. It doesn't mean the product or thing I like is JUST in the US, just that I found it here and I love it :D

SO for my first list of favourite things I'm gunna start small and probably pretty obvious on a couple :P This won't be a weekly or monthly thing, I'll just keep a list until I decide it's big enough (or I have nothing better to post :P). Please click on the name and it should take you to a photo or other link to show you what I'm talking about :D

1. Lysol Hand Soap Dispenser
I'm not sure why I think this is so awesome but I saw one at a friends house, then on an advert and I HAD to have it and I LOVE it. I have it in the bathroom with Grapefruit in it. Smells yummy, easy to use, and no germs. It looks better (in my opinion) that another options but I kinda wish you could get "skins" for them... maybe I'll copyright that idea NO STEALING! :P

2. Garbage disposal
I hate throwing food product (chicken cut-off, food scraps etc) in the bin. Especially in the kitchen bin where it can stink up the place. Some people have a special "food scrap" bin and if you have pigs or something else like that (yep I live near farms so not totally irrational) it makes sense but we don't have a "big bin" like we do at home in Aus so it would just go in the regular kitchen bin so blegh. I like that if I have food that's gone bad, or cut-off or whatever down it goes (within reason of course!)! You can buy little smelly things for it (I get lemon scented "Plink") and it's just handy and mess free... except when you accidentally (read: stupidly don't realise you shouldn't but when your husband point it out you feel like a moron) put something down there that you shouldn't and it jams or trips the reset button thingy.

3. Butt Girl
Ahh Butt Girl. Not her ACTUAL name but when you have to plug into her butt to charge her or listen to music then it makes sense (okay so maybe I'm crazy but I sing it to the the Batman theme when I'm looking for her). The sound is surprisingly strong and not tinny at all. She's very cute looking and when you're doing the dishes it's easier to plug her into my phone to play Pandora (see next item) and sit her on the windowsill to dance like an idiot (and annoy my dogs in the process... funny stuff) than to plug in headphones and do it that way.

4. Pandora
Internet, phone app.. all awesome. Basically it's a free site where you make "channels" based on your favourite song or artist and it will play songs that are similar, same artist or whatever. If you like or dislike the song you can select the thumbs up or down sign and it will know that you like that style and personalise even more. Thumbs down it will skip to the next song AND never play that song on that channel again. For example I have a Katy Perry channel (it's the song I was listening to when I was personalising mine) and the music that I get from that is all pretty much what I like. I also have an Adele and Christmas one. I should make more but I'll do it one day :D My Katy one is the one I listen to the most.

5. Bottle Tops
EXTREMELY handy for car rides, drinks in your hand bag etc. Bottle tops are supposed to stop your drink from spilling. I've had some pretty good success but when they get old they get loose and sometimes leak a little (not a big deal 'cause I have heaps :D). They're coloured (purple and pink and green and other pretty colours) and I just feel a lot safer having a can with a bottle top on it when I'm on my lappy, and no icky sticky mess if I turn a corner too sharp in my truck and end up with a little spill. Plus no fear of bees, wasps or other bugs flying/walking in (I can't be the only kid scared to death when my parents warned me about that!) when you're out and about. I got mine as a present but you can get them at Walmart, Walgreens and all sorts of places :)

6. Netflix
Extremely awesome when you first arrive and can't work. There's a website, apps for your phone and also for your Wii and probably other devices (I have a Wii so I don't know about the rest :P). Netflix is like having a video store at your house. Basically you pay a fee for monthly usage ($8 I think at the moment for streaming only) and you can stream movies and TV shows to your phone, Wii, TV and computer. For the purpose of this blog I decided to test it and I can watch Netflix on my phone while watching something else on my computer which is GREAT. My husband watches stuff at work sometimes and it's good to know what i watch won't interrupt what he is watching :) There are also plans where you can get DVD's only, or streaming AND DVD's. It's real handy for those cheaper movie nights in with loved ones. They have pretty ready access to some TV shows as well. I know when I first arrived I caught up on some series I had never seen and some I was behind on.

7. Wax Melter thing..
Everyone (I assume) loves having a house that smells good. It's a bit of an obsession of mine actually to make sure my house ALWAYS smells good. I've tried oil burners, candles, reed diffusers (had this really awesome one in Aus but couldn't tell you the brand or smell to save my life), plug-ins and a myriad of other ideas. This one so far is the best. I find the smell permeates the house better. There's a wide range of smells available (you can use any brand of candle wax/melt) and they're cheap. My house usually smells citrusy because it's a smell that least bothers my husband :)

That's all for now. Hope I've given you some ideas for things to try. If you have any suggestions for me, please leave a comment and maybe I can check them out and feature it on my next "Favourite Things" list :)