"Yes we can can"

Okay, it's not the protest / coming together / "we can work it out" song that the Pointer Sisters' had on the radio - Yes We Can Can (track 1 off of Yes We Can Can: The Best Of The Blue Thumb Recordings) or the Young@Heart Chorus cover of the song on their 2008 Documentary. But my mom received a Kitchen Mama Mini Electric Can Opener as a surprise gift from a cousin because he wanted her to try it before he bought one for himself. He has a new house and wanted something small and easy and knew she not only needed a new opener, but she would gladly give it a shot. 

Since this week has been soup weather in Florida (it's been high of 75 all week with no humidity. Low of 40 and they're expecting frost at some point), my mother tried the opener by making meals for a few days. 

It took a few tries once we put the batteries in (2 AA), but we figured it out (because of false starts). It has to align just right with the can in order to work properly. You don't think it's doing its thing, but it really is. You just need to trust the process, I guess. Watching it spin around the can, all I could think about was the line in the song "yes you can can" because the opener was turning with a struggle and we wanted to help it out, but knew not to touch it while it was going. It has to move without help or the can won't open right and you'll break the mechanisms in the opener.

As much as the description says it doesn't leave sharp edges, you have to still be careful because the cut creates a lid to put back on the can. So you need to attempt to wiggle off the new top since it no longer falls into the can you just opened. 

Don't mind the K-Cup in the bottom picture; we try to combine recycling when we can. 

The lid is dull, but it's still sharp because it's piercing the sides of the rim. It's weird to explain and the pictures don't do it justice. 

Not even the video helps, but it did seriously take almost three minutes to open the can, and these are new batteries. 

I think; it doesn't sound like they're new batteries, but at least it worked? 

My mother also took a video and sent it to her cousin. She gave her review and he was excited. He told my mother's brother, who ended up buying one for himself as well. So now three people have this can opener because one person wanted it for himself. What a whim of a purchase? Too bad ours is orange, because it doesn't match everything else in the house. Cousin should have spent the extra thirty one dollars and bought the rechargeable red one. Shh; don't tell anyone or it may just happen. We tend to get random stuff sent to us - sometimes amazing, sometimes not so amazing (once in a while we get repeats). 

Switching gears, while I was in Bradenton last week, we stopped in Ollie's. 

I ended up buying five Tazo Iced Passion Tea concentrates because it's the lowest I've seen them in years ($1.99). 

I used to buy them in Publix for $3.49 and sometimes found a dollar off coupon (making them $2.49). Then the price went up to 4.49 and 5.49. There's been no coupons for a while either. Now they're up to $6.49 and I've been saying "nope" ever since they were 4.49.

Walmart has it for $5.28 and that's still too expensive.

So seeing it for under two bucks, I'm like "don't be greedy", but I was the fat kid in a candy store. I couldn't help it; I like this tea, as much as I know I shouldn't drink it. Spending ten bucks and change was worth it, because I don't have to worry about watching for any type of "sale" for a while. 

Yes, before you ask, the dates on the Tazo are far enough out, that I am happy to report that they won't spoil before I have opportunity to drink them. I might end up trying a little in a smoothie one of these days.. see how that plays out.

To go online shopping, Amazon has it for over six dollars, but it's one of those "sold by Whole Foods" things attached to it as well as an added delivery fee (almost $14), so that's out of the question. However, there's a two pack that is "Sold by Amazon" and with subscribe and save option for $10.98. It's retailing for  $14.99, so the sale price right now makes it $5.49 a box. Which is a dollar cheaper than Publix and 21 cents more than Walmart. However, if you're already doing a monthly subscription for something with Amazon, it goes down to $10.43 and you save five per cent. 

Is it worth it? For the little times I drink it lately, no. But as a treat, yes, espcially for the deal I got. You still need to do your research when buying things. This is something I've said time and again, and this particular thing shows how prices fluctuate in different places. Even the Ollie's sticker says "Their price $4.49", if you look close enough. 

Ollie's is good like that: They put a competitor's price on the tag so you know you're getting a "deal", as big or little as that may be. I've seen a swing of fifty cent difference, all the way up to ten dollars or more. Shopping at Ollie's makes me miss shopping at Building #19 (and their other shops) as well as Ocean State Job Lot. At leas the latter is still in business. The former has been defunct for decades. I'm willing to bet a lot of New Englanders reading this post remember Building #19. Wonder which one you all went to! I think there was one in Norwood, but my mother remembers the one in Hingham.

You don't know what you miss until you see knockoffs. I know Ollie's is using Building #19's artwork, and that's originally what I said about the store - Ollie's is the new 19. Which makes everything relevant again in some way, shape or form. Got to get "good stuff, cheap" as they say, and sometimes the cheap is worth it as you never know what you'll find. 

Going to wrap this up for now, and hope to find more bargains some where, some time, soon.

Stay warm and stay classy for nostalgia;

Cheers; 

See Also:

* All photos (and video) taken with an iPhone 11

* Photos edited in Photoshop

* Video roughly edited in Pinnacle Studio (because I really need a new computer. This edit took way too long and I had a faulty ending)