Staying Fueled On The Go With The Lifeguard MINI 1 Portable Charger

***The following product was provided by the manufacturer, through Tomoson. Regardless all photos and opinions below are original and copyright Momma Told Me 2015.

Momma Told Me: Save your battery!


Last week I shared my anxiety over having my phone die while traveling home, through Log Angeles at night. While it's not ideal, I do experience quite a bit of stress when I am disconnected from my mobile tools during the workday. In that post I shared several tips for extending the battery life of your smartphone, from decreasing screen brightness an manually closing unused apps to backup batteries and charging methods. While there was no such thing as a smartphone, or even a cell phone, when Momma was raising me, modern portable technology has become a necessity for the mainstream consumer.

I remember, as a teenager, mobile phones were a convenient way for people to stay connected in emergencies, and while on the go, away from business. to 'text' someone you simply had to enter about 54 keystrokes for a basic 7 word sentence- or 2,2,2- 2- 5,5,5- 5,5,5-_6- 3,3 for 'Call Me.' It's amazing what we would go through to communicate a single message when the technology was new,  while today we exhibit impatience over the 10 second loading time of a single application. And, seeing as I can actually type faster on my smartphone than my PC, it is certainly a tool that has proven itself invaluable in modern times. After all, the present day smartphone combines all the innovations of the past decade into one portable device!

Just as a smartphone or mobile device can make life easier, the lack of having one charged and ready can be disastrous, as our own dependency on it grows. Will you be caught without battery to phone a taxi because you played too much Candy Crush? Have you ever needed to inform someone you'd be late but found your phone died while it was ringing? Yes, our smartphones are amazing, convenient, devices but we use them for so much, and so often, that they can often be taxed when we need them most. And that's precisely what makes a portable charger, such as the Lifeguard MINI 1 invaluable.

I keep a portable smartphone charger in my purse, my glove compartment, my gym bag, and even kitchen junk drawer (you never know when the power will go out and you will depend on that smartphone for updates and communication!) While many of us smartphone owners have a portable or backup charger, it truly is a tool you should own multiple of, and the perfect gift for any tech savvy consumer. I was personally attracted to the Lifeguard MINI 1 for it's vibrant color option, which included a HOT PINK hue that I could easily locate at the bottom of my purse in a bind. Not only is it stylish and stable to use with it's flat sides, but the MINI 1 Portable Charger features a Samsung battery core with 3000mAh capacity.

The MINI 1 features a Quick Charge output that can fully restore most modern smartphone batteries from empty in as little as 1.5- 2 hours, and will withstand over 800 recharges through the life of the device. It's backed by an 18-month money-back guarantee, and currently is featured online for less than $25, shipped with Prime 2-Day shipping, and a limited time bonus 3' Lightening Charging Cable for Apple 'i' devices. If you're like me and still an Android user at heart, no worries, the MINI 1 comes standard with both an Android and Apple charging cable. How do you keep your smartphone charged for when you need it most?

What Daughter Says: Even careful users can end up disconnected when it matters- secure your smartphone with a mobile charger.

Simple Gift Solutions Online: #OldFactory Candles Giveaway

***The following product was provided by Old Factory Candles in promotion through Tomoson. All photos an opinions below are copyright Momma Told Me Blog 2014.

Momma Told Me: Put that out before your father gets home!

When I was a young girl, Momma would often burn candles upon her arrival home, from picking me up after school. I recall she was most attracted to elaborately carved beeswax ones with intricate designs. I still have 2 of her favorite candles, one of which is entirely made of wax and illuminates from within to project beautiful shapes onto the wall. While Momma burned them primarily for relaxation and mood-setting, it was a running joke in our home that my father could not stand the perfumed scents an flowery smells. Momma and I would play a game in which we'd see how long we could burn a candle, and still have it extinguished before my father arrived home, without him knowing it has been burning at all. I always found it amusing how she would flutter about spraying the room with aerosol to mask the smell of the fragrant candles.

Fast forward 20 something years later and I am often reaching into my grocery stockpile to hand over various air fresheners for my father's home. He keeps an impressively tidy place, but he cooks a lot (and pungent things at that,) so he is often found attempting to mask the smell of bacon or chorizo. (Personally, I work hard to make my home smell like those things, but the scents do tend to work their way into fabrics and furniture.) For a while he has been using an automated 'Sense and Spray' style unit which spritzes a burst of 'Clean Linen' aroma into the air at specific intervals throughout the day. I have heard countless complaints about the aroma being constant and strong, and even 'flowery,' so I set out to remedy this dilemma with a gift of Man Candles- Man Cave Candles to be exact.

Old Factory Candles are USA made and hand poured with an all natural soy base and cotton wick. They are currently sold exclusively online through Amazon with free 2-day Prime shipping (hello last minute holiday shopping!) Their fragrance collections have thoughtful blends to help craft a mood when burned together, or suit a singular aroma when burned solo. With 3 (2oz) 20 hour candles per gift set these are well worth the gifting price of $25- and you can even order them gift wrapped! Choose from fragrance sets such as Coffee Shop with Coffee Bean, Chai Tea, and Hazelnut, or the tongue in cheek 50 Shades featuring Leather, Vanilla, and Jasmine Bubbles.

Attempting to break my father of his misconceptions that all candles were 'feminine,' I presented him with the Man Cave Old Factory Candle collection; Straight Razor, Leather, and Mahogany. The brand's rustic image and clean cut packaging certainly wasn't gender specific but I still caught  sense of skepticism as he eyed the 2oz candle jars. I reasoned that these candles were a much more practical solution to aromatic control, with long lasting fragrance that would only linger after a candle was burned, rather than 24/7 all ay (as the air freshener had.)

It turns out that Mahogany was the strongest fragrance, and a bit on the perfumed side- but Straight Razor had  delightful barbershop aroma of aloe and shaving cream, where Leather proved to be a distinct favorite and appropriate match to this man's man cave. He was also happy to note that the jars could be easily stashed away, when not in use, thanks to the screw on lids, and small footprint. In all, we were highly impressed by the strength of fragrance and burn time, and I've already added several more sets to my shopping list for the holidays. My biggest wish for the brand? Produce an unscented set for those with scent sensitivities and allergies! Otherwise, you can't beat the convenience of shopping online through Amazon with free shipping and guaranteed satisfaction!

What Daughter Says: Finally, man-candles my father can tolerate!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

One Momma Told Me reader will win their own Old Factory Candle gift set!

What I'm Streaming: Drunk History (2013+, Comedy Central)

Momma Told Me: Never dial when drunk.

Oh the things one finds when roaming the listings of Amazon Prime late at night. We don't have cable, so even mainstream shows that may have been heavily advertised on their networks often escape us for months or years at a time. Drunk History is the perfect example. It's not exactly a gem, but it's certainly a show worth note.

I've never been a 'drinker,' in fact, Momma taught me long before I had my first drink, that watching drunk people was much more fun than ever being drunk one's self. Any of our family gatherings, where libations were present were always present is case and point. When great grandma bea began tossing back her 'margaritas' nobody was safe from the sharp tongue and muddled recollections of their childhood. In a sense that was our family's version of Drunk History.

Now, Drunk History, the show, is precisely as it sounds, but presented in a much more intelligent way. Primarily comedians, of varied notoriety, are given an except of factual historic events to read and recall prior to their filming. They are then handed several helpings of alcohol, until they fail a sobriety test, and asked to recall the short historical tale in the comfort of their own home. Think of it as an adult finalizing of telephone; the individual is recalling the simple tale, but is drunk so they are often distracted, left filling in holes of their memory, and given to add-lib.

This is all, of course, filmed for posterity. The real entertainment comes in when big time comedians and actors step up to play the roles of the historic characters, with the drunken re-telling as a voice-over. This mish-mash of drunken reality and over the top acting is where the comedic genius sets in. Some of the historic tales are classic events you will know immediately, others are hidden gems of history you will find yourself truly learning.

Because the show is co-produced by Will Ferrell, you can expect to see a lot of his 'usual' crew appear in cameos; John C Reilly, Michael Cera, and Jack Black lend their talents among several Saturday Night Live alumni and some unexpected stars like Winona Ryder and the Wilson (Owen and Luke) brothers. Every show is packed with big name movie stars and easy to recognize comedic stand-outs. Because the show is on Comedy Central the dialogue can get a little bleepy (and bleep they do), but the content itself isn't particularly offensive. This show is sure to please any fans of Will Ferrell, and even curate an interest in history from those just tuning in for the stars. I know I will be watching the second season July 1st!

What Daughter Says: I don't drink to get drunk, but I do find funny it when people in controlled circumstances do!

What I'm Streaming: Fringe, The Complete Series (2008-2013)

Momma Told Me: Challenge definition.

As someone who watched all 6 seasons of LOST ('04-'10), and was severely disappointed by the seemingly rushed dealing of the series multiple mysteries and questions, I was hesitant to dive into yet another situation when beginning Fringe. While I had watched the Fox network series when it first began in 2008, and for a season and a half after, the complicated plot and characters soon found themselves with little time in my schedule to follow along. It's not exactly the sort of series where you can skip an episode without missing something. While the majority of the first three seasons feature independent cases that wrap by episode's end, the character development and larger story is constantly being developed through subliminal reveals and subtle side-tracks.

There are, however, a few good things about having a series like J.J. Abrams' Fringe available as a complete series, today. For those, like Jay and I, who no longer subscribe to live-stream cable service, we look forward to watching a series where we will not have to wait several weeks, or even months to watch the next episode. Fringe offers 100, yes, 100, hour long episodes over it's 6 seasons. While the show itself is a strange hybrid of X-Files and (crime investigation style) Bones, it is put together quite masterfully by J.J. Abrams and Fox. With a generous budget, and wonderfully complex characters portrayed by amazing actors, some of the shows more 'unbelievable' aspects suddenly seem entirely possible.

The show's title, Fringe, is highly appropriate in that the show's main characters work for a highly classified government agency that deals exclusively with Fringe science; the classification of research and theory which lies on the outer 'fringe' of orthodox and mainstream concepts. Need some examples? Teleportation, rapid aging, sonic weaponry, mutation, and alternate universes are just a small cross-section of the cases and topics covered by the Fringe team. But, unlike most 'case and crime' style shows, there is a much bigger storyline wrapped around the core characters, their own cases have yet to unravel. One thing is clear, the world, as we know it, is ending, but who caused this, and how can it be stopped- that will remain a question until the very last episode!

Fringe is most certainly not a series than can be watched as background noise, which also makes it a good candidate for 're-watching.' As you are drawn into the lovable characters, each arguably with their own flaws, you sometimes miss the ingenious nods to the series themes of humanity, fate vs. free will, and even the human compulsion to play God. Fan of the series will also appreciate the several recurring 'gems' of special characters, Sci-Fi cameos, and multi-part mini-series events within the larger series as a whole. While the plot may be hard to follow at times, the show never gets dull with changes in creative styling, dramatic character re-imagining, and the show's quirky but lovable main character, Walter. If you're bored with the current prime-time lineup, or started the series back in 2008, and never had a chance to finish, I highly suggest Fringe!

What Daughter Says: Fringe may not convince you anything is possible, but it just might make you question what is.

What I'm Streaming: Under The Dome Season 1 (2013)

Momma Told Me: Small town, big secrets.

I've been noticing a pleasant trend in streaming libraries as of late. While most television series and shows contract themselves exclusively to one of the 'big' brands (Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix), they tend to release entire previous seasons in anticipation of the airing of an upcoming one. This is precisely how I've discovered my last few streaming picks. Originally slated as a stand alone mini-series, Under The Dome is based fairly strictly off the 2009 Stephen King novel of the same name. As the title suggests, the series follows the small town of Chester's Mill, Maine, and the societal collapse following the encasement of the town in a mysterious dome. Under The Dome, as you may infer, is much more classic Stephen King human observation, metaphors, and eerie twists than horror.

While the premise sounds quite simple at face, the series follows several practical impacts caused by the dome, most ordinary people would overlook. What happens if a fire breaks out? How do they handle a shortage of insulin and medical supplies? What happens when the water is contaminated? As these circumstances arise the towns characters begin to come to life; there's the mysterious traveler from out of town, the unexpected hero, the town figure who turns out to be a big snake, and even a few romances. Chester's Mill is full of secrets, but the viewer is always left asking, "What is the dome?" as it interacts with the residents and even guides unexpected character development.

Having just finished the first season, which in truth ran a little long for my interests, I am honestly left with just as many questions as I began. However, every episode was packed with mystery and drama, from murder and kidnapping to tornadoes and swarms of butterflies, The Dome is never dull. I have to admit, I sincerely expected all of the main characters to have killed one another by the season finale, as the agitation of being cut off and abandoned (by the government and outside) became quite palpable. Marshall law had set in, and some of the strongest characters were put to the test in a perplexing and vindicating finale that will certainly have me tuning in this June for the second season.

What Daughter Says: Don't always assume simple is boring.

What I'm Streaming: Masterpiece's Mr. Selfridge (2013), Season 1

Momma Told Me: The past can be quite entertaining.

It's quite funny, really; I cant focus at all with a television on, if even in the background. And, as we don't subscribe to cable, what I choose to dedicate my viewing time towards is limited in library, and often bordering the more obscure. Pretty much the only time I get to watch 'my programming' in in the precious hour between finishing my work and the other half's arrival home from his- a rare hour of photo editing and cinematic exploration. Recently we had decided we'd grown bored in the Netflix selection and re-subscribed to Amazon Prime, which is cheaper by month (but must be paid for a year in advance), and also offers the Prime benefits of free 2 day shipping. But that is neither here nor there.

This week I decided to give the pilot of a new Masterpiece (PBS) show, Mr. Selfridge a shot. The name sounded familiar, from historical references, but I truly had no idea of this show's underground popularity, or the fact that it's first season had only just aired in 2013. Every streamer knows it's a cardinal error to get involved with a show that is still airing, let alone entering a new season of production. This is how I came to buy Downton Abbey by the DVD ever Winter over the past several years! But I digress, I have a general attraction to Masterpiece shows, and am happy to divulge that Mr. Selfridge has yet to disappoint.

Based on the real early 1900's American businessman, Mr. Harry Gordon Selfridge, this series chronicles the impact of Mr. Selfridge's grandiose visions of one of the first modern department stores in London. Opened in 1909, Selfridge and Co faced the cultural stigma of wealthy Americans integrating into British lifestyles, while pioneering groundbreaking and often controversial selling formats, such as over-the-top window displays and a first floor cosmetics counter. Like most Masterpiece shows there is a modest amount of intrigue and drama between the casts numerous central characters; but all is done within taste for the modern viewer. Such a storytelling format always seems to hook me in, after all, the less you see, the more you keep guessing!

Mr. Selfridge showcases 3 affluent female positions between clumsy socialite Ellen Love, over-zealous stage performer and 'Spirit of Selfridge's' Lady Mae, and the painfully aware wife, Rose Selfridge. Though, amongst the scandal and intrigue it is the class breakdown, an the interactions of the employees which truly capture my interest the most, as the somewhat bumbling dreamer, Agnes Towler has several suitors bidding for her attention between silk scarves and window displays. With beautifully developed characters and an equally well designed replica set, Mr. Selfridge is well worth an investment towards the too short (in my opinion) first season. Find Mr. Selfridge streaming through Amazon Prime, or PBS.com for cable subscribers, and returning with a fresh season this March.

What Daughter Says: The right balance of scandal and history can be quite entertaining, indeed!