When we moved into our new house we got our cable television with www.Cabletvadvisor.com. That is where I found my new favorite pastime watching The Travel Channel. I can just sit in my living room and feel like I am travelling all over the world. The other day I was watching that channel and saw a program on Jamaica which is where we went on our honeymoon. It showed so many places that we had seen in person. I felt like I was reliving my honeymoon except for the part where my husband was at work and not home. When we were there we had taken a couple of bus tours to different places on the island. We had gone to tour Bob Marley’s home and that was a feature on the program that I was watching. I learned even more about Bob while watching the show. It also showed this waterfall that we had climbed while we were there. I will never forget how afraid I was climbing that steep waterfall. But, we had a guide that showed us the best way to climb and before I knew what was happening, we were at the top. Watching that program about Jamaica made me want to go back there again.

I sometimes make cracks about not having insurance — it does suck — especially because the insurance I previously had, through the military was top-notch. It was so much better than any insurance program I was eligible for or involved in prior to that. On more than one occasion, I used that insurance for birth control refills as local Walgreens, which were then part of of the pharmacy provider network that for Express Scripts.

Express Scripts, if you’re unfamiliar, (I was!) is the organization that is the middle man between pharamacies and employers like the US military (which uses insurance through the umbrella company Tricare) and, despite Walgreens’ willingness to not raise and drug prices and to match any other pharmacy’s price for drugs that is in the network, Express Scripts refused to deal. You can read more about Walgreens and Express Scripts here.

What this means is that many service members and their family, along with other employees of businesses that relied on Express Scripts, will have to go elsewhere to purchase medications will have to find other pharmacies if they don’t or can’t afford to pay out of pocket for their prescriptions. Of course, that’s just not a suitable option for many people, especially those in small towns, remote areas or with mobility problems. Walgreens is trying to help its customers by offering discounts ($5 for individuals, $10 for family) for enrollment into the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens You can still save on thousands of medications by joining this club.

Even if you’re not a Walgreens customer (I rarely use them these days; although, I just dropped by one last night), this is a pretty serious issue and you probably know someone who is. If you think this action on the part of Express Scripts is incredibly shifty, you can contact your local news outlets. You an also hook up with Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook to let them know that you appreciate their support and support them in this issue.

I am a recent mother and have loved every second of motherhood. When the new show “Up All Night” previewed, I knew I had to watch it. It has now become one of my favorite shows. Some of the lines in it are corny and some are a little out there, but there are so many scenes that are right on the money. My husband and I were watching it one night and it was as if the entire scene was an exact conversation we had last week. I think the irony of the entire situation is that we watch the show late at night when we are up with the baby. Thank goodness for DVR. I do not think we would ever get to watch our favorite shows if it weren’t for that addition to one of our directtv packages. Even though we are behind, we are at least getting to watch them. It is amazing the changes that happen when you have a baby. They are all for the good, but it is definitely an adjustment.

It’s that time of year again, when headphones and hair freeze and sunglasses stick to your face. Okay, maybe those problems are specific to me but congestion is not. My sinuses act up as I grow older. Luckily. Advil makes congestion productions to help during cold and flu season, especially. Advil is also spearheading a community-oriented project that aims to reduce all sorts of congestion in local communities.

The project page is soliciting  stories from people like you and me. Hop over to tell how congestion is affecting your community — from the roads to living areas. Your story could earn your community up to $30,000 to combat congestion.

I am a member of One2One Network and I am eligble to receive product and prizing for my time. I make no claims about Advil Congestion Relief as a product or it’s effectiveness.

One such brand is Cake, which you can usually buy at stores like Sephora. This luxury line includes the raspberry and vanilla scented “Milk Made” line, which creates what might possibly be the best body wash I’ve ever used. They’ve got a bunch of other products I’m dying to try out now, too.

EdenFantasys is also selling Bella Il Fiore products. This company creates a range of body products and cosmetics such as the whipped body cream — and we all know how much I like whipped – which comes in almond and coconut scent.

Can you tell how much I’ve been obsessing over heavenly smelling products lately? (You can if you’ve been following my personal Twitter, that’s for sure). When I smell good, when the house smells good, life feels good. Now those are some good vibes.

Never mind that, come Spring, I wouldn’t want to clean out the pool, before filling it up for the season, rather than just using a winter cover that’s intended to deal with the stress and weight of the snow. Of course, I find the idea of installing swimming pool liners simply because they’re pretty and allow you to feel like you’re swimming with the fishes — not in the mafia way — or visiting the long-lost sunken island of Atlantis. I’m the kind of person who likes things just because they improve the look of things of some of the pool liners can make a home pool look much more like those from resorts than an above ground installation.

Either way, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with it.

MapleStory Thief Edition

This is a cool take on MapleStory and I enjoy playing it. It’s probably not best on the small screens and it’s super frustrating to play on a device that can’t multitask. I bet it would be awesome on tablets, even though I don’t have one. It just seems like the Android demographic would be much larger and maybe we could see more development with MapleStory games.

Frisbee Forever

Apparently this one is in the making. This frisbee tossing game is pretty addictive — even if I kind of suck at it — and I just think I’d get more use out of it on my phone.

Pogo

I play a lot of games on Pogo and while the iOS app is a little lacking, it’s better than nothing. In fact, Word Whomp! is one of my favorite Pogo games and it’s on the app. It looks like this one is already in the works, too. I hope I don’t have to wait too long and wouldn’t it be great if Pogo offered more games on the Android app?

Anything by Playfirst

Playfirst creates what I call my guilty pleasure of games: Diner Dash. The repetitive, sequential arcade games are a dime a dozen but Diner Dash is the one I recall doing it first. Not well, mind you, the browser game crashed all the time. The company makes a few different versions for iOS but it doesn’t seem like an leaders have emerged on the Android Market.

Are there any iOS apps you want to see available on Android? Or perhaps vice versa? Let me know!

]]> http://reviewsbycole.com/2011/11/4-ios-games-i-want-to-see-on-android/feed/ 0 http://reviewsbycole.com/2011/11/style-in-small-places/ http://reviewsbycole.com/2011/11/style-in-small-places/#comments Sun, 13 Nov 2011 06:45:01 +0000 Cole http://reviewsbycole.com/?p=2614 Sometimes I wish I was at the point in my life where I’m buying a house, if that point will ever come. I like to design the rooms and consider light fixtures and built-in bookshelves and what-have-you. Bathrooms are especially important to me. They need to be easy to clean but also offer a lot of storage for various cosmetics and healthy and beauty items.

Given the choice, I think I’d love the mission style vanities. They remind me just a bit of hotel vanities and offer a ton of storage space while looking extremely contemporary because of the open shelving. The open-bottom style allows towel storage, too, which can be lacking in many bathrooms. This style of bathroom vanity really gives a polished look, not just a mirror tacked up on the wall. Plus, they work well if you have enough space in your bathroom for a double sink so that you don’t have to fight over the water when brushing teeth or other activities.

The hardware is pretty to look at, too, not just functional. I love the tall faucets and porcelain that is so common and the lack of plumbing to hide is also a plus; although, I’m not entirely sure how they did that.

Alas, maybe some day I can do more than window shop.

]]> http://reviewsbycole.com/2011/11/style-in-small-places/feed/ 0 http://reviewsbycole.com/2011/11/watching-sarah-michelle-gellar-as-something-besides-buffy/ http://reviewsbycole.com/2011/11/watching-sarah-michelle-gellar-as-something-besides-buffy/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:21:48 +0000 Cole http://reviewsbycole.com/?p=2592 Guest post written by Hannah Younce

I’m one of those Buffy geeks. I’m not afraid to admit it. So after that show ran for so many seasons, I can totally get why Sarah Michelle Gellar would want to take a break from doing something as intensive as a show and focus a little more on starting a family. But I was so glad to hear that she was returning to TV again! I really do miss watching her on Buffy and interacting with the rest of the cast. Her show The Ringer that she’s on now is very different, but I’ll take it.

I’ve been keeping up with the first few episodes of the show with my direct tv internet and I’m a little confused as to what exactly is going on with the sister that she thought committed suicide. However, I’m sure that I’m not supposed to understand that yet.

I think that this is definitely going to be a keeper as far as my fall TV lineup goes. I already hope that it gets renewed for another season, but it seems to be getting a positive response already so it probably will.

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