Mom Life in the PNW

Ninja Ultima Blender Review

Ninja Ultima Blender Review

I’ve always wanted a Ninja Ultima Blender ever since I seen how effortlessly it blended ice beverages at a friends house. My current 15 speed blender didn’t blend ice all the way, which made me realize I needed to upgrade in order to have my morning smoothies ice chunk free. I have mainly just used the Ninja Ultima for my smoothies, but I am interested in trying out other things like salsa, guacamole, puree baby food (when the time comes), almond butter (not sure if its capable, but I am surely going to try since this stuff is pretty spendy at the store), ice cream using frozen bananas, soups, and much much more. As you can see, the possibilities in creations are endless with this fabulous blender.

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I loved that it came with 3 personal 16oz travel cups with sip & seal™ to-go lids, which means my husband and I can make a smoothie of our choice in the morning and not fight over whose using the to-go cup when we leave the house. The best part about them is that they have a screw on blade attachment for when you need/want to make a single sized serving. Just screw on the blade attachment and lock it into the ninja blender and press pulse. I noticed that the personal travel cups don’t work on the regular blend setting, you have to use pulse and it CAN be pretty loud (24,000 rpm). At first I was a bit scared by how loud it was, since I wasn’t expecting it. I mean, it does have 1500 watts in this bad boy, which is equivalent to 2.5 horse power. (Think table saw or air compressor.. lol)

ninja ultima review

The blender features a 72 ounce pitcher, but for my morning smoothies, I find it more efficient to just use the smaller 16oz travel cups. Less clean up and less wasted ingredients. The pitcher is one of the biggest blender pitchers I have ever seen and can accommodate quite a bit of items. It has a convenient pour spout for easy pouring and less mess. I don’t know how many times I have had the smoothies pour down the side of the pitcher in my previous pitcher since it didn’t have that great of a pour spout. It is definitely convenient.

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I have used frozen fruits, ice, yogurt, protein powder, milk and juice in this blender and have had every smoothie be absolutely creamy and ice-chunk free. The blades are sharp, so I advise being awfully careful when cleaning this device. I recommend rinsing it out right away and letting it soak if extra messy that way the contents can soak away before you start scrubbing away at the blades.

I love love love this blender.

There is one thing, however, that I wish was different and that’s probably its size. This thing is tall and huge! I can’t fit it on my counter underneath the cupboards since its too tall. I have probably average sized space between the counter and cupboards so take that into consideration if you have no room. I just store it on my fridge. A little annoying to pull it down from there every morning, but I’ll live.

It also has convenient suction cups on the bottom so it doesn’t slide everywhere while its powerful motor blends away. The lid I found to be kind of awkward to get off. It has suction so you have to pull a little bit to get it off, which may or may not result in a messy facial explosion from the inside contents if they happen to be sprayed on the underside of the lid. This happened to me once. lol

If you’re a smoothie fanatic and looking for the perfect blender, this is it and at a fraction of the cost of Vitamix.

Ninja Ultima

 

Need recipes or ideas for the Ninja Ultima Blender? Check out their recipes.

Caught Me Some Clams for Clam Chowder!

I went clamming for the first time in my life down in Coos Bay, Oregon. The drive is a little far, but its a FREE place to stay and I am all about the frugal living if you haven’t gathered that by now. Once I started getting the hang of it, I enjoyed it… but apparently you’re not supposed to crack the shells, or at least try not to. Let’s say about 1/3 were cracked by me, at least the big ones were. The razor clams were a little bit more tricky to get to and get out since they can move and bury their selves deeper into the sand. Those tricky little bastards! So we didn’t get our limit on those ones, but I think we did well overall since we all got about 8 or 9 each.

The worst part about it, is their neck or breathing tube, whatever you want to call it (reminds me of a nasty looking elephant penis)… and cleaning them. Oh god the cleaning is so nasty. I just stood there for a good 20 minutes allowing the men to do 4 buckets full of clams, but they weren’t going to let me gawk for very much longer. I did not want to squeeze their poop sacs or cut them open and remove the tendons from the shell. I will tell you this, its a lot easier to get the meat out of these clams than it is crab. Not sure if i like the taste as much but we have about 3, 1lb bags I can use for clam chowder.

I love me some clam chowder, so I guess it was all worth it in the end.

Next time, I’ll catch em and the men can clean em.

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My husband all elbow deep

10 Shopping Sites to Score Amazing Deals!

10 Shopping Sites to Score Amazing Deals!

If you love saving money as much as I do, you’re going to want to check out these 10 sites listed below. I was recently asked how I find all the deals and freebies that I do. Well, I am about to tell you. I get help because there’s not enough time in the day to hunt for these deals myself and list them all here in a timely fashion. These sites make it simpler and way more efficient, which in turn makes me happy. Because they are deals, this means they are time sensitive. So if you see something listed for a price you’re willing to spend, you may want to jump on it and fast. Once it’s posted on SlickDeals, it’s availability is usually limited.

 

10 Sites for Amazing Online Deals

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Unique Volcanic Grown Flowers for That Special Someone

Have you ever seen or heard of a floral service provider who actually grows their flowers on a volcano? Neither did I until I found The Bouqs. The flowers are picked and cut when you order and are shipped directly from the farm in South America, so you know these are super fresh and aren’t sitting in a warehouse somewhere slowly dying. I love that since we all know how fast some flowers can die, more specifically my favorite flower, the lily. We have them planted in our garden and they last maybe 7 days at most and then wither away. So sad since they’re so pretty.

I ended up ordering the Desperado bouquet on TheBouqs for my sister and her husband for their recent marriage, which features 12 dozen pink roses and purple dianthus flowers or similar accents for $40 with free shipping. I loved how it popped in the online catalog photo, which is why I ordered it. But when it arrived, it didn’t have the purplish colored flowers; it was mainly all pink. I think the purple is what helped make it stand out more so I was slightly disappointed there, but they’re still beautiful regardless.

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You can also write a personalized message for free and have it sent out with the flowers, which I did. They also give your recipient a card featuring information about the company to show how unique your flowers truly are.

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The flowers had little cloth bags at the end of them that were filled with water to keep them fresh and well hydrated. You could tell that they were packaged with extreme care. I can even order them ahead of time every year and save 10% when I set up the concierge. I don’t think I will ever use another flower service ever when i can send these uniquely grown and well cared for flowers from TheBouqs.

Dentists: Such Ripoffs

So I had my dental appointment early this morning at a new dentist office to get my impacted wisdom tooth looked at and the rest of my teeth since it’s been a couple years since I’ve been to the dentist for lack of insurance reasons. Apparently I need to get 3 of 4 wisdom teeth cut and removed and have a few small fillings done. I swear the dentist told me I had 2 cavities on my right side and then 1 on the left, but when I went up to the check out counter to discuss costs with the receptionist, she listed 5 cavities. Hmm, I am not sure if they’re trying to swindle me here or if the dentist made a mistake. I know what I heard was correct, but it kind of makes me weary since I know some places practice this shady nonsense to get more money out of you.

I didn’t agree to anything since apparently they’re estimating that its going to cost almost $1,000 to get 3 widsoms removed and 5 fillings, and no, that’s not total, that’s just the amount I’d pay at the time of service with insurance covering the rest. I’ve never had to pay the amount upfront before, so I found that a bit odd. And, they’re tacking on IV sedation for like $400 of that total, so I am definitely not going along with that. Honestly, I am not that nervous or scared or too worried about it really, I just want them out, so I can be over with the random infection/swelling/mild pain that comes with the 1.

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So in about 6 weeks when they get the absolute total from insurance that I would have to pay, then I can proceed or find a different dental office. I mean, I’ve already waited this long, 6 more weeks probably won’t kill me… but the bill probably will.

You can read this guys story about how Dentists Are Ripping Us Off. He went to 50 different dentists offices and all of them gave vastly different diagnoses and prices. Unfortunately it happens and he’s living proof!