Pam Reviews It All

Product Review: Handy Caddy, Sliding Kitchen Appliance Caddy

Rugby and I need our Go-Go Juice in the mornings. Without coffee, I only work at 60%, and Rugby is 100% intolerable. (It's okay-- he knows it and I'm used to it.) We switched over to a Keurig machine after our traditional coffee-maker crapped out on us, and it has been a life-changer in terms of how fast we can get the stuff down our throats.

In fact, it's so easy, some mornings Squirt makes us coffee and brings it to us in bed. But everyone knows how great the Keurig is by now. So I'm not posting about that.

Today, Pam Reviews Handy Caddy!

It's the item I didn't know I'd always looked for, but could never find!

The Most Boring Thing to Ever Change My Life

As if getting my coffee fix in the morning hadn't already been simplified enough, this incredibly simple sliding tray has smoothed out the only other kink in my morning routine.

On the box it reads:

"Tired of rearranging your counter to access your coffeemaker, blender or other appliances? Start your day on a roll with the Handy Caddy sliding tray."

Because all my counters also have cabinets over head, I could not open the Keurig's pod dispenser hatch wide enough to drop in/take out the coffee pods. See?

My life is so hard.

I'd have to pick up the machine and move it forward, and when the water reservoir is full, it's not exactly light. 9 times out of 10 it would sit there in the middle of the counter until I needed the space again for cooking or whatever. It seems like a tiny inconvenience, but when you're already dealing with a tight kitchen, stuff like this works your nerves.

Then I saw the Handy Caddy at Ross one day for $3.99. I was worried that our Keurig would be too large for it, but it fits on top perfectly. (We have the Keurig B40 Elite Brewing System.)

Now it's never a fight to move the Keurig. I just slide the tray forward, and the whole machine comes along with it. The thing rolls smoothly and feels pretty stable.

My life got so much easier!

Amazing! When I'm done, the whole thing rolls neatly back under the cabinet!

Now it's time to answer....

Pam's Product Review Questions

Does the product do what it says it will? Yes, it slides appliances back and forth on the counter top with ease.
Is the product worth the money you paid? I paid a whopping $4, plus tax, so YES! I've seen the Handy Caddy and similar products priced on Amazon between $7 and $20.
How would you improve the product? It might be nice to see in other colors to coordinate with different decor.
Would you repurchase/recommend to others? Yes. I see the Handy Caddy working well with traditional coffee makers and other appliances as well.
Caveats: A. Make sure your appliance fits. (Here are the caddy measurements: 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches.) B. Try to find it for as cheap as I did, if you can.

Handy Caddy: Where to Find It

Amazon
Bed Bath and Beyond
I found mine at Ross!

Adult Braces: Spacers Make Me Want to Punch People

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What Are Spacers?

So like I said in my previous braces post, I'm going in for full "installation" on Friday. The brackets are the little square guys they put on each individual tooth and through which the "arch wire" is threaded across the teeth. In my case, they are putting metal bands around four molars, one on each side of both the top and bottom teeth. The bands are there to anchor the wire.

To make it easier for them to slide the bands around the molars they placed "spacers" on either side of each molar. These spacers are pretty much tiny, but thick rubber bands that they force between the teeth to create more space in between.

This picture was swiped off the innernetz. It's not me, but pretty much what I've got going on.

Spacers Suck.

The gals at the ortho's office told me that the two weeks I have the spacers in will be the worst two weeks of my whole treatment.

P'shaw, said I. I had braces twice already. I don't remember spacers being bad.

Spacers are bad. Let me try to describe it for you:

Imagine chewing on a big, dry piece of steak. And imagine that huge strings of meat got stuck in 8 separate places in your teeth, and that everytime you chewed on something else, those pieces of meat get lodged further and further between your teeth, cutting into your gums. Now imagine THAT YOU HAD TO KEEP THAT CRAP IN YOUR TEETH FOR 14 DAYS STRAIGHT.

(Side note: There's a Filipino word for stuff that gets stuck in your teeth, "tinga" pronounced tee-NGAH. There's no word for that in English.)

And it hurts like a mother, y'all... It's wierd. These spacers make my teeth and head hurt. And I swear, my inner ears are burning. The pain doesn't eventually subside, like the pressure of braces does. It just pretty much hangs around all day.

Obviously, this is just my experience, so I can't say that spacers will make you want to punch folks in the face. But me, I'm ready to sock someone. If only someone would let me. So far, no takers.

These little bitches come out on Friday!!! And then the real fun begins! I'm excited to get this party started.

Brace Yourself!

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ALEX TREBEC

The answer is... "So you didn't wear your retainer..."

PAM

What is "The thing you don't say to a 38-year-old woman upon her walking into an orthodontist office to be fitted with braces for the the third time in her life"?

ALEX TREBEC

Correct! I would have also taken, "What is totally obvious?"

PAM

Super! Next, I'll take "Things You Learn the Hard, Expensive Way for $5000", Alex.

**Retain This, B*tches.**

I'm getting braces. Again (again). At 38 years old. Yes, I'm about to be THAT lady. And every time I explain to anyone that I'd already had braces as a child, I always get slapped in the face with some variation of, "Tsk tsk, you didn't wear your retainer, did you?"

You mean the retainer that I was given when I was 15? Ummm, no, dudes.

And seriously, I know tons of people my age who had braces and stopped wearing their retainers. And their teeth still look great.

Life just ain't fair.

Brief History of Pam's Mouth Hole

At 9 years old, my two front permanent teeth grew in janky, like a V pointing inward. Then my right canine started growing in all high on the gums. At 12 years old, x-rays confirmed that a mutant canine was also growing through the middle of my pallette.

?

Take a minute to process that. A tooth was growing through the roof of my mouth. The dentist joked that I was part shark.

Several gum-gouging oral surgeries, headgears, and torture devices later, I was finally only just ready for braces. Over the next two years, they managed to slowly and painfully drag the mutant canine from the roof of my mouth to the spot it was supposed to live.

Success! They took the braces off.

3 months later they said, "Just kidding!" and put the braces back on. 1 year after that, they took them off again. I was 15.

23 years after all that mess, I'm going in again for Round 3 of braces. There's been a lot of shifting. It seems that my mutant canine is migrating upstream to its home in the middle of my pallette. Possibly to spawn, like a salmon.

Why Now?

I'm more a summer chicken than a spring one. And I mean, my teeth can look straight in pictures if I work my angles and/or make sure my mouth is slightly open so you don't see the crazy crossbite. Plus, I already gotz a man, so why spare the discomfort and the considerable expense?

It bothers me when I see a bad picture (which is often-- thanks, FB)
Whenever I bite into an apple I see the teethmarks of the chupacabra (who also needs braces)
My mother points it out to me every other time she sees me.
My jaw has shifted to the right, so I don't have just crooked teeth. I also have a crooked face.
It's getting worse with each passing year.

That's why.

And if you're wondering why I just don't do Invisalign: My mutant canine is kind of a dick with its own agenda. Invisalign won't do shit for the mutiny happening in my gums.

I am, however, doing clear brackets up top, which is a nice improvement from the days of the full metal teeth jackets.

Braces: Reviewing the Process

So, I'm going to document this whole process from beginning to end to help any of you older, dentally challenged peeps out there who are going through the same thing or are considering doing this.

Here is a "before" picture of my teef, taken May 2013.

PAM'S TEEF.

I'm scheduled to get the brackets and wiring in on Friday. It's gonna be like 1987 all over again.

Wish me luck.

Oh, and you better believe I'm going to wear my retainer till the end. I've already told Rugby and Squirt that I wish to be buried with the retainer in my mouth so that mutant canine will know its place forever.

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