In My Bag

Jimmy Dean’s Sausage, Egg & Cheese on a Biscuit is delicious, but something I will never, EVER purchase again. On August 12th, 2008 I purchased a six pack of these sandwiches. I stored them per instructions. Today I went to microwave the last of the six sandwiches, and was greeted by a big spot of fuzzy green mold on the sausage patty.

Now, I will tell you that these sandwiches are delicious. They’re easy to make — wrap in a paper towel and microwave for fifty seconds (or in the case of my overexcited microwave, thirty seconds), then enjoy. They taste good, they’re filling, the cheese melts appropriately and the biscuit isn’t soggy. But if I need to worry about eating moldy sandwiches, I think I’ll pass on the deliciousness!

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Every few days a new post pops up on Twitter (twitter.com) or Lavish (lavish.nu) asking for recommendations on webhosting providers. I have my own recommendations, of course (vonetwork.com and estarr.com), but sometimes people are looking for webhosting providers that aren’t so popular in our little blogging circles.

I checked out some of the recommendations other people have, and one site that was mentioned a few times is webhostingrating.com. The site offers reviews and ratings (gathered from unbiased customers) on many different hosting companies. Categories include unix and windows hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, shared, dedicated and other types of hosting. There’s even an awards section, which offers awards to the best hosts for budget hosting, php hosting, email hosting, multi-domain hosting and more.

In addition to a comprehensive directory of hosting companies, webhostingrating.com also offers an extensive selection of articles, which cover a variety of topics related to domains, hosting and the technical aspects of owning a domain and creating files for it.

Check them out at webhostingrating.com.

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Wearing a larger cup size means shopping at specialty stores for bras. For the past three years all of my bras have come from Lane Bryant. I have good reason for sticking to this store’s bras: not only do they come in my size (DDD), but they fit true to size. And they’re not just your run of the mill over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders, that are built for function and not for style. Lane Bryant’s bras do provide support and are quite functional, but they are also quite attractive. Of course, even LB, one of the leading stores for plus size clothing, discriminates against plus size women. Their extensive collection of attractive, sexy and feminine bras typically run to DD and no higher. For us DDD+ ladies, we have a much smaller collection of pretty bras available to us.

Anyway, the bra that I am reviewing is one that I am wearing right now: Cacique’s sheer lace full-coverage bra. I have two of these bras (black and pink), and I plan on going back to the LB outlet to pick up a few more. The bra does come with underwires along the bottom, and stiff side panels, all of which seem well contained within the fabric. The cups are slightly stretchy, and are definitely not the full coverage as the page claims they are. I would label this bra style to be a balconette.

The bra is very comfortable, breathes well and fits nicely. It’s easy to adjust, and I am having no problems with the back riding up or straps digging into my shoulders. I do have two complaints about the bra. First, the underwires are very thick and solid, so they sometimes dig in and rub the skin underneath my breasts. And second, the material of the bra is rather sheer, so make sure to not wear a sheer top, or else you’ll be giving everyone a good glimpse of your nipples!

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A friend of mine is wanting to hook up her webcam with an online service in order to use live event video streaming, but she’s not sure where to start. She has a new laptop with an integrated webcam, but unfortunately she’s having issues with it working with Windows Movie Maker. I think that’s incredibly crappy, and also ironic, considering the computer was built to Windows Vista specifications and loaded with the Vista operating system.

I have a webcam. Two, actually. One is a Logitech Quickcam Orbit, and is for my desktop, and the other is a Logitech Quickcam for Notebooks Deluxe, and obviously it’s for my laptop. I really should sell them or give them away, because the truth of the matter is, ever since having kids I haven’t done any live feeds. Privacy and such. :/

Organic baby clothes are a nice change from the mass-produced clothing that is made up of chemically treated materials, or at the very least materials that came from chemically treated plants (cotton). Estella NYC has a full line of organic clothing, so your baby, toddler or child can be clothed head to toe in all things organic! From the basic onesie to long pajamas, cardigans and leg warmers, the organic baby clothes section at Estella NYC offers a variety of items to mix and match for adorable, show-stopping outfits for your little one.

My favorite organic item is the striped romper:

Does your baby wear organic?

Estella-NYC.com specializes in designer baby clothes. Their designer line includes clothes for babies (boys and girls), toddlers and kids up to size 6 (which is somewhere around the age of 5-7, depending on the size of your child). In addition to designer baby clothes, Estella-NYC also has items for moms and moms-to-be, and various baby gear, gift certificates and other apparel.

The clothing is adorable, but definitely out of my price range! However, some of the items would make for a fabulous baby gift for moms-to-be and young children. ♥

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The Ashley Stewart Butterfly Bra is the answer to every big chested girl’s prayers. Prior to having children, I was a DD cup. After two pregnancies and two years of combined breastfeeding, I have remained steady at a DDD cup. Needless to say, it can be somewhat difficult to find stylish, supportive bras in my size. And when I do, it’s a hit or miss thing in terms of that bra being comfortable.

I would say that my biggest complaint with any bra is straps digging in, and a back band that isn’t wide enough, and winds up rolling up/down onto itself. This is definitely a problem with any strapless bra that I have had.

The Ashley Stewart Butterfly Bra claims to solve a lot of problems us big chested girls run into, including:

• straps that dig in
• narrow back bands
• sides that are too high or too low
• unflattering styles

I splurged and purchased the strapless Ashley Stewart Butterfly Bra. It’s built the same way the regular bra is, except that its straps are clear and can be adjusted in six different ways, including being removed altogether.

I think the best feature of the Butterfly Bra is the back of it. Rather than one narrow band, there are two wide bands, spaced 2-3 inches apart from one another. This means that while it can be a pain to get yourself in and out of the bra, the support is amazing, because the weight of your breasts and the support of them is distributed widely and evenly across your back. Backaches and rolled up/down back bands are a thing of the past with this bra!

Of course, where there’s good, there’s bad. The bra is amazing and comfortable, but it can be difficult to get into and out of yourself. Also, the bra is very restrictive when latched and pulled up to the right height; I had trouble drawing a full breath!

But I will say that the bra is comfortable and does its job; as you can see from the following photos, there is definitely good support going on!

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