i’m still loving my captivate phone! it is such a fun toy…seriously. this is the first smartphone i have and it is neat to play with. amazon had great prices on their phones for upgrades right before thanksgiving that the hubby got one too. two new phones for 1 penny each is not too bad for me.

i have been downloading apps off the Market here and there and have a few favorites. one of my favorite is the google voice that comes standard with all android phones. it’s quite funny that i have never even heard of that before.

what it does is, you sign in using your gmail account, pick a number, any number that is available from google. with that number, you can send text messages, using your existing data (or wifi) plan for free! i don’t text much so i would never pay for text messages but with this feature, i can send as many texts as i want within my data limit. if your friends and families text you back, they’ll have to send it to your google number instead of your cell # so you won’t get charge. the google number forwards everything to your designated number.

you can also choose to dial out using your google voice number as opposed to your cell phone too. i think that would still be using your minutes so i don’t really see the point. you can set up your google voicemail and use that as your cell voice mailbox as oppose to at&t’s. i thought that was really neat. i’m using google’s voicemail box and i really am digging it. google voice can transcript the voicemail messages too if they are clear enough. that way, you can glance at your voicemail to see if it need immediately attention or listen to it later.

i’m sure there are a lot more features to google voice that i don’t know about. i use only the basics, which still offer more options than the default voicemail.

totally recommended! at least give it a try! i think the app have just been approved for the iphones too.

check it out at: http://www.appbrain.com/app/google-voice/com.google.android.apps.googlevoice & http://google.com/voice

so courtesy of slickdeals (isn’t it always? :D), we found these magikan free for shipping.

it looks exactly like this diaper dekor plus diapering system on amazon. i said to james, we can get two so i can use one for the baby’s diapers and one for our kitchen trash. we ordered two and pay $25 shipping.

magikan

magikan – built-in door for taking out trash

they arrived in two days via fedex on friday. we opened them and was very impressed. instead of individual trash bags, you get this big roll of 1 trash bag that you can cut with the attached bag cutter and make additional trash bags. that way, you’re usually not smelling the trash since you’re taking them out from the bottom built in door. the bags have a nice fresh scent. hopefully, that will help with the odor. either way, for $12.50, it’s definitely not a bad deal. the bags too, are supposed to last months.

we have one in our kitchen right now and it’s working great so far. the one in our bedroom for the dirty cloth diapers is still waiting.

district b13

if you know me, you’ll probably know i love chinese movies – especially martial arts. well then, it was pretty surprising that i managed to watch district b13 last night with the hubby, courtesy of netflix’s watch instantly online.

this is not just any movie, it’s a french action movie (so we were reading subtitles but that’s nothing new), and much better than expected. i only played it because of some glowing reviews and i’m glad we did. all in all, a very enjoyable movie and the guys were very nimble. there were a few stunts like jackie chan’s and i thought i even saw a flying knee kick to the chest like tony jaa’s. what i liked about this is that the majority of the stunts doesn’t look like they use wires. that’s a big plus in my book.

if you get a chance, do pick it up. i’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

For eye-popping kinetic thrills, District B13 tops the class. In the near future, the worst ghettos of Paris have been walled in and left to rot. When a neutron bomb gets stolen by a criminal kingpin in seedy District B13, Damien–a cop who specializes in deep cover assignments (Cyril Raffaelli, a stuntman turned actor)–has to team up with Leito (David Belle), who grew up in the district and has his own reason for going back: the kingpin kidnapped his sister (tough yet adorable gamine Dany Verissimo). The plot takes a few preposterous turns, but it’s beside the point–every turn serves only to maintain the relentless flow of sheer physical prowess. Belle is one of the inventors of a sport called parkour, which treats a city’s architecture like an obstacle course; while running from gun-toting thugs, Leito leaps, bounds, and scrambles up and down buildings with astonishing grace. The fight sequences are just as down-to-earth yet over-the-top as Damien whirls, kicks, and crunches through armies of bad guys. Just as important is the tongue-in-cheek tone that never turns smirky; the movie doesn’t take itself seriously, but doesn’t mock itself or its basic cinematic pleasures. Anyone looking for a break from the overbearing CGI and self-important pomp of Hollywood action movies should watch District B13. –Bret Fetzer

our simple bed in our simple room.

it’s been a few weeks since we have our new memory foam mattress and platform bed set up. i have to say i LOVE it!! it’s definitely different from regular mattresses and my body took a few days to get use to the bed. however, since we’ve had it, i have not experience ANY back pain! that in itself is a miracle.

the thing is, with all of my pregnancies, i have back pain constantly. i’ll wake up feeling like i’m 80 years old. i still feel like that sometimes (cause of the sciatica) but no back pains. it’s made a huge difference. james have also been commenting on how much he loves it too!

it wasn’t a bad purchase afterall!

diaper stash organizer

and just because i couldn’t resist posting , we bought this storage shelf from costco for $29.97 to store baby’s diapers. it’s so much sturdier than i expected and so easy to install. no screws needed plus plenty of storage space. still have empty spaces at the bottom.

i’ll post a photo of my stash soon. my original budget for cloth diapers was $150. well, i ended up spending $200. here’s what i got:

23 little lions prefolds

13 newborn fitteds

6 small gdiaper covers

9 small/newborn covers

some doublers and pins.

i was practicing using a prefold on one of jaelynn’s dolls to get a feel – i’m going to need more practice. LOL

OT: get 1 year of prevention magazine free by filling out this short survey! (i did!) thanks to slickdeals! i have always receive my magazines from rewardsgold. i actually have a bunch of subscription magazines that come every month. the ones i don’t bother to read are elle (only flip through them), interview, and some others. i just throw them in the recycle bin. i do love shape, glamour, redbook, and body and soul.

i bought some new things for the household again (i always buy things *sigh*. and i use “household” because it’s not really for me. )

preserve toothbrushes in soft – you can recycle them afterwards. i’ve tried them before and love them! $16.22 for a pack of 6.

preserver toothbrushes for kids in soft – these are so cool! i love the idea of recycling, don’t you? and comes in colors. $17.22 for a pack of 6.

dropps laundry pacs - you use 1 small liquid pack per load of laundry. biodegradable and eco friendly. looks great huh? i’m going to use them for the baby’s diapers. they’re suppose to be low sudsing too. can’t wait to try them. $25.50 for 84 pacs (2 x 42 pacs each).

for two of the above products, i subscribe to their auto-delivery and save an additional 15%! that’s a great way to save. you can always cancel the subscriptions after. what a great way to try some of these more eco friendly things that i can’t get at the stores or cost a bunch somewhere else.

as for the bella b tummy honey (see post below), i love it!! smells great and the cream is very nice! will love to buy when run out…but at $15?? ouch!

oh and my bella b glowing face wash/mask should be here tomorrow.

you know, i don’t feel comfortable using the palmer’s cocoa butter all the time and so i stumbled upon some products from bella b that’s supposedly all natural and very safe for pregnant women. of course, i bought some to try so we’ll see how they work when they arrive on monday.

click here for a special on bella b’s tummy to toes lotion – $2.99 plus shipping

i swear, when i was reading the description of this product, i felt like it was made for me. i got melanin from my last pregnancy and have been wearing sunscreen a lot this time around to hopefully prevent more from forming on my upper cheekbones. $12.75 from amazon.

i needed thing to replace the palmer’s that i’m using. since palmer’s got a bunch of ingredients in there, i’m just hesitant about using it everyday, kwim? if i like this, i’ll be ordering more. $15.01 from amazon.

i bought this to try from the learning curve special they’re currently running. otherwise, i would have pass. will see how it works. $2.99 plus shipping from learning curve.

i also found out that you are not suppose to use certain products while pregnant. yikes! i’m breaking out like crazy and was using olay’s age defying night cream for 2 days and stopped because it contains beta alpha hydroxy. see more of what not to use from babycenter.

thankfully, i usually stop taking care of my face because i get too lazy with my pregnancies. LOL i just got back into the skin care routine and am using zia’s products.

on a side note, i gained about 27lbs and counting. *sigh* but that’s okay. i’ll work out (hopefully) and lose some of it afterwards. i’m carrying this baby very low and have a lot of back pains and sciatica. i know how an 80 year old woman feels. i’m so stiff sometimes i can hardly walk. my baby is moving and kicking me so much!! sometimes, very early in the morning, he’s already kicking me and i’m hardly awake yet. then at night times, i’m trying to go to sleep an he’s still moving around. i just love to hear the baby move. i find it all very fascinating.

2 thumbs up for this free, easy, and light defraggler from the makers of ccleaner so it’s free too!!

i have it on my pc for a while but never got to defragmenting it because i just didn’t think about it. two nights ago, i got brave and opened it up and had it on defrag during the night. i love this thing! it’s so light and free up 50gb of space on my harddrive. isn’t that just wonderful?? i love using ccleaner too so this is a great combo in my book! get it if you haven’t! it only takes a long time to defrag the first time.