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An excellent article on why PS3 is one the most future proof players on the market- ready for the new 2.0 Blu-Ray format. Hewre is good article on why PlayStation 3 : http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080118-new-nlu-ray-2-0-spec-makes-ps3-the-most-future-proof-player.html
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Audio and Video at 6:49 PM EST
I have had constant dishwasher problems. In our old house I go so frustrated I went and out a new one- only to have it break down 1 month after warranty expired.
I have been able to solve three of them.
One this was caused by a clogged drain. The kitchen drain had about 6 broken wooden Popsicle sticks in it. I discovered this Christmas’s day and had my kitchen torn apart while making turkey dinner.
After a bit of investigative work I discovered that we had run out of dishwasher detergent and my husband used regular liquid dish washing dish soap. When you do that air bubbles get trapped and water can’t get out. You may not see bubbles- they will be in drains.
This was more challenging. I tried running dishwasher with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil to break up soap.. but found using vinegar worked better. Add about 2 cups of vinegar and run. You will have to repeat a couple of times.
The sprayer/spray arm clogged. Took it apart and found all kinds of weird stuff. Alot of plastic triangles from cut corners of milk bags for some reason.
If you have a dishwasher problem- please post - if you found a solution- please post!
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Appliances, General Home and Garden, Home Repairs at 12:06 PM EST
Did something fun today- The Mexican restaurant, El Pollo Loco has a contest for promoting their legendary flame-grilled Mexican chicken. It is a video contest- you basically create a short video ( under two minutes) and upload to You Tube. I am very challenged when it comes to this kind of things and found it quite easy. They want you to go “loco” and create a video explain why you like their flame grilled chicken the best. Video with highest rating win. You can get full details and rules on their site : contest details here. Basically you need to be US resident, 18 years or older and video must be “family” friendly. My niece was over tonight and we tried making our own - feel free to vote for us!!!
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Contests, Freebies and Coupons, General Home and Garden at 10:27 PM EST
Got lots of comments and questions about this. Did the mothballs get rid of the raccoon that was living under our house? I write at length abut this in my post, Getting Rid of Raccoon in House, and I happy to report no signs of the raccoon for at least a month.
The horrible smell of mothballs still lingers though. I did buy an air purifier - with a hep filter- this is key, getting a HEPA style filter. for basement where we put the mothballs- My son has bad asthma and I noticed if he was down there for a few hours he would really suffer. We may have to rip up carpet and put down hardwood floors. We steam cleaned the carpets just after we moved in because of cats that was living here but he still reacts. The air purifier is working pretty well- and got rid of smell- well most of it -very embarrassing when people come over!
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Health and Fitness at 3:26 PM EST
I am posting here because I am so frustrated. I deal with Royal Bank and don’t usually have a problem. The bank let an email money transfer hang in limbo- it showed up in my account but was not officially “posted”. I wrote a cheque that LOOKED like was fine when I went into my online banking account. It wasn’t. I was charged and NSF fee of 35.00 and the cheque bounced. I called bank to ask why- as it clearly showed their was money in the account. The took a few minutes to figure out and admitted it was there error. The reversed the NSF charge, I also wanted a note for the company to whom the cheque was returned. IN an example of the WORST customer service I have ever heard of- they said they would- for a fee of 10.00!!!!!!!!! How insane is this??? Wow. I lost my mind. They would not budge. I am sure I could have taken to another level- and most likely will on Monday. I just didn’t have it in me. I was so neaten down by the experience. Even though it was not my fault I feel horrible and embarrassed about the bounced cheque. I don;t think I have bounced a cheque in 15 years.
Would love to hear other’s “Worst Customer Service Stories” Please Share!
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden at 1:35 PM EST
OUCH! I am kind of living every day in slight fear of the bulb on our HD TV going out. We have and HP TV that uses a VERY expensive bulb. The bulb costs about 350.00 to replace and should last about 2-3 years. We are coming up to the one year mark on owning the TV. No to mention the model of our television is DISCONTINUED by HP and some people cannot find parts for the TV!
Argh We paid almost 4,000 for this TV because it was considered the best available. We had the light engine replaced under warranty last year- thank god- cost was 950. I have been reading posts on various forums and have read that you can;t even BUY a light engine for the TV anymore will have to verify, If this is true I will lose mind.
I was reluctant to purchase a TV for this much money. I remember when you could buy a TV for 500.00 and would last you 20 years. Not sure about this buy a TV for 3,000and have it last 3 years and/or be obsolete. My friend husband has decided to go the DLP projector route. I think this may be an option for us as well. The way our media room is set up (and by media room I mean the room we have in our basement where TV is… ) would accommodate perfectly. There is no light and shape of room is perfect. I am been quite surprised at the picture quality. One good thing about one of the is the LCD projector bulb life and portability- if we move don’t have to worry so much abut size and shape of the new room.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Audio and Video at 2:37 PM EST
My brother is off to school- quite proud - he will be attending Oxford University in Oxford. My kids are pretty impressed as this is home to “Hogwart’s Great Hall” from the Harry Potter movie series!
Sooo.. whole family in a tizzy looking for travel and flight deals. My cousin got married in South Africa two years ago ( yes, I know another destination wedding! ) and we used a UK travel agency to book our flights to Johannesburg and help plan our trip. We went for 3 weeks and it was beautiful.
I am of course proud of my brother but also thrilled that I have an excuse to go to Europe! I like London- though crazy expensive, but I would like to see a few others Countries at some pint- Poland and Holland come to mind. I am fascinated by the history of the Warsaw ghettos and my husband has never been to Holland or Amsterdam and I would say it is on of my favorite cities I the work the people are just wonderful- warm, friendly and funny!
It’s going to be an expensive year for us- travel wise- so not sure we will be able to go until at LEAST the fall.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden at 2:14 PM EST
Looks like Blu-Ray will win the HD war. SO I am glad I picked up that player. Still not that many titles available. Here are some Hi def movies worth watching.
Of course top of the list is the Planet Earth series- these are simply amazing. Nature shows like they should be done.
We watched “Curse of The Golden Flower” on the weekend and is was unbelievable. The movie was done by same director as hero and “House of Flying Daggers” . The movie itself was good- a solid 7/10 but the “look” was 10/10. Visually my favorite movie that I have seen in HD so far.
I am going to keep adding to the list as I see more movies.
Unforgiven Sunshine Pan’s Labrynth Casino Royale ( exceptional sound)
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Audio and Video at 2:03 PM EST
I don’t normally post movies here but I saw an absolutely fantastic movie this week, called “Juno” by Jason Reitman ( Ivan’s son) and starring actress Ellen Page- who to me is the next Jodie Foster. The cast of the movie is surprising- Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are both excellent. As are Jk Simmons and Alison Jenney. The plot is about a very quirky and precocious 16 year, Juno, who finds herself pregnant. The story is about what she plans to do with baby. It is both funny and sweet- without being sentimental. Really really good.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden at 1:45 PM EST
I was listening to one of my favorite radio shows this week - if not one of my favorite shows period- the Howard Stern Show. On Monday he had a guest who was a plastic surgeon. The doctor was a specialist- and did a kind of surgery I had never heard about- it is quite alternative and a new field- labia plastic surgery. This is a legitimate field. I didnt realize there was such a need- but apparently a lot of women suffer from embarrassment about they way their privates look. I am not against plastic surgery in general if it is needed. I was a bit dubious about the actual need for this type of surgery- but in fact after looking at some before and after pictures- I can see why.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden at 9:01 PM EST
Our house was freezing all week and it shouldn’t have been it hasn’t been all that cold. The first floor wasn’t too bad but upstairs and bedrooms were down right arctic temperatures. I mentioned it several times to my husband who said he would check filters but he “just cleaned them” 4 months ago (!) … Yes they were completely clogged. I vaguely recalled a furnace guy telling me to vacuum and then out in dishwasher to get clean and double checked various methods and the best way to clean you furnace filters. I called a friends who’s husband is HVAC guy and he told me best method.
First - check your filters often- every 4-6 weeks- especially if you have a lot of dust and/or have pets.
Turn of furnace and remove filters.
Vacuum the filters well.
You can clean outside with a hose- then DRY before putting back in.
You can also run through the dishwasher- with dishwasher detergent BY Themselves!!!
If you have air conditioning- clean in summer as well.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Heating and Air Conditioning for Homes at 1:16 PM EST
I am have a real problem with numbers. I work in IT and can look at code and figure out where a problem is quite easily- despite having something called dyscalculia- which is like a sort of dyslexia with numbers. I rely very heavily ion software to do math and calculations for me- and eve then I have trouble because problems inputting numbers. My software of choice has been Quickbooks- I have been using for about 5 years for basic invoicing. I really need to step it up a nothc and use for my banking- my banking is totally out of control and I have a hard time keeping track of balances and bills. I have looked for online tutorials and books for help but none seem to help. One company, Fast-tek, IT consulting offers not only all kinds of IT services like web hosting data recovery, etc but they also will do Quickbooks training- which i desperately need! I wonder if this is the route to take or can some one offer a better solution?
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden at 5:13 PM EST
Todays Woot.com deal is a pairt of Power Sentry 5 Outlet PowerSquid for 7.99+ 5.00 shipping, these are great to use instead of strip power bars- they can handle large power adapters/transformers because of their admittedly odd looking “squid” design.
Features:
<li>5 Flexible Power Outlets</li>
<li>3 Foot, 14 Gauge Grounded Power Cord</li>
<li>Lighted Switch with 15-Amp Circuit Breaker</li>
<li>Built-In Keyhole Slots (On Back)</li>
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Deals-Coupons-Freebies at 8:02 AM EST
My brother is getting married and sprung on the family that he is planning a “destination” wedding. ARGH. I hate when people do this to you! I have to spend thousands of dollars to got to some one else’s wedding. He is my brother so will be schlepping everyone down t Las Vegas for the week.
We have been looking for stuff to do other than gamble. I am not against gambling- we just have kids and we need to find some activities to do with them. My friend suggested we go to the rodeo! The will be a big deal rode on that week. Looking for Wrangler National Finals Rodeo tickets I was surprised at the cost! Was a bit more than I thought it would be. Tickets run around two hundred dollars.
It really will be a once in lifetime experience- I can’t see us going to many others! I did get a chance to see Calgary Stampede when I was younger and it was unbelievable- a real spectacle. I think my kids- especially my youngest son will get a real “kick ” out of seeing a real live rodeo . The rodeo takes place over several days and will feature some of the foremost cowboys in North America.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Family and Kids, Travel at 11:24 PM EST
Got a Magic Bullet as a Christmas gift.. They used to be advertised all the time on infomercial, I think they were really overpriced. I was vaguely interested but not at 100+ dollars.
Sooo finally got one . It is not the “full” set with all the attachments and gizmos- which is fine with me. This kit, which I think is called the Magic Bullet Express kit just comes with two “glasses” and one additional mixing jar. I wish it had two more glasses. My kids have gone nuts with it and we are going through ridiculous amount of milk- they make smoothies with them constantly. They have come up some weird one! My daughter made one with cucumber in it.. which was awful.
I make protein shakes in them pretty much every morning. Much easier to use than hauling out blender and a great way to use up old bananas. I throw bananas that are over ripe into freezer and use to make smoothies later.
This was a good find. I think my sister paid 25.00 for it. I have seen “knock” off of Magic Bullet type blender at discount stores and see no reason why it would matter. They look to be pretty much same thing- unless motor burns out or something.
Here is What They Look Like:
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden at 9:09 PM EST
Can’t wait to get to Florida! I do not look forward to the 3 days of driving (we take it easy because we have small kids).
This year my mother may be joining us. We are just trying to find her her own hotel/condo. If you have ever been to Florida- especially Orlando area you know how it and miss it can be! You may find yourself in the middle of NO WHERE. We go to Orlando for the kids but we also try and go somewhere new every year. One year we would really like to get to the Keys but it is such a brutal drive. There is only one hi-way going into the Florida keys and traffic is crazy- prices are also insane. We are going to check out other part of the “panhandle” and are planning and looking for Destin vacation rentals. On the site, WeNeedaVacation.com they now feature video of possible rental spots. The prices aren’t too bad- you can get a place with private pool in the 1500/week range. Much better than an over priced hotel room. Now days you can get super cheap flight to Orlando, so pretty good vacation spot all around.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden at 8:27 PM EST
Tomorrow Dell starting its 10 Days of Deals.
here is the 10 Days fo Deals Link In the past they have featired good deal on sewing machines, microwaves and oh ya- computers.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Deals-Coupons-Freebies at 8:15 PM EST
Not posting with info- I want to know! I ran out out of Alka up for our hot tub and can’t find it in our small town so I have to mail ordere. I do have some for our pool- could I just use that?
I am also tempted just to use baking soda- am I nuts? I need something to increase alkalinity and don;t see whay this wouldnt work or how ti could be harmful Stop me before I do any damage!
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Hot Tubs and Spas at 4:31 PM EST
I have been doing some work on a relatives website- he is a real estate agent. I have been try to add some “bulk” to his web site. One of the sites I came across is an really good resource if you are moving or relocating. Relocation.com has a nice feature that I hadn’t seen before- you can get quotes from multiple movie companies, rather than having to phone each company and waiting for them to get back to you, change their mid, etc. At least here yo have something in writing! We moved last year and this was a job that turned out to be really really stressful for me. I would get different answers and numbers based on who I spoke with and had nothing in writing so prices changed and there was little I could do about it. This alone is very attractive.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as General Home and Garden, Real Estate at 1:03 PM EST
Costco has promotion on now, good until January 20, 2008. Submit your prints with their online photo processing service and get your 10 prints free. You can just order 10 prints.
Link to Costco Photo Site
Enter coupon code MICR1210 to get 10 free 4×6 photos.
You do need to be a member of Costco to use.
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Posted by Linda- Home and Garden Ideas as Deals-Coupons-Freebies at 12:53 PM EST