A Simple Thank You

This was the screen that greeted me at the end of an Apple survey regarding my recent repair visit and I thought it was so simple and clean and nice that I wanted to share it.

Improved Candy Hearts

I am not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day. At some point February 14th became the time for ridiculous mark-ups on flowers and candy that will be 75% off on February 15th. Yes, I am a jaded New Yorker. So sue me. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for the idea of candy hearts. I say the idea of them, because I don’t really love the taste. I do however love the taste of shortbread and the idea of spray painting cookies. If this sounds good to you, head on over to Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories (love the name!) because this is the post for you! Wonderful step by step instructions with pictures to make these adorable over-sized hearts. The geeky messages are a nice addition. Maybe this year my sweetie and I will spend some quality time together baking cookies. To me, that is the spirit of Valentine’s Day. via

I Heart David Trubridge

David Trubridge has done it again. First making beautiful lampshades out of wood laminate and now making shade kits that the rest of us can afford. These lovely lamps are made from recyclable polypropylene and include the parts to make any of the above designs. I am partial to the round design. I love that you can combine kits to make a larger lamp if you are feeling especially creative. And if you send in your configuration it could be featured on the David Trubridge website. Unfortunately, it seems that you can only get them from this online shop in NZ for now and the shipping is $30, but $116 still beats over $500 for his coral lamp. via

Flashback: Beijing 2006

Today while waiting to cross the street for whatever reason I had a flashback to our trip to Beijing in October 2006. I had been reading guidebooks to get myself somewhat acquainted with the city and happened upon a small side note about how to cross the street. Huh? Don’t you just wait for the light and then cross. Apparently it is common practice for cars to ignore lights and go anyway and you just have to go or you won’t get across. When I read this, I was shocked, if you ever tried that in NY, you would be crushed by a cab or a bus. No way I am doing that! When I got there it was a different story, you don’t have a choice and everyone is doing it. Have you ever played Frogger? You know how you start across and then wait and then go and then wait and then go? It was pretty much like that. Although somehow the cars got out of your way the slightest bit, while in NY they would aim for you. My strategy was to cross at the same time as someone with a bike, even better if it was a bike with a cart attached. There was one harrowing time where M&I were in the middle of a street with no median, and two buses passed each other. So scary.

Bunk Beds for Adults

It still very clearly winter here in New York, I can’t help but think ahead to warmer weather and what we are going to do with our little 10×10 living space up north. Right now it is a blank slate. We haven’t even put in the flooring. Once it is warm enough to do that, it is warm enough to start laying out the space. With such a small footprint, everything will have to do double duty and if we can loft the bed, all the more floor space for when we aren’t sleeping. I saw this great post today on Little Diggs about bunk… I mean loft beds for adults. I love how the beds are tucked under a platform floor in this option. I do have to wonder why they aren’t on casters though…

Be Careful What You Wish For

When I am inclined to read, Neil Gaiman is an author I look to for entertainment. I have read many of his books and figured I would give his “children’s story” Coraline a chance. I really enjoyed it, although to be honest, it seemed a little scary for the a children’s story. Maybe I am just a scardy cat. All the graphics I have seen for the upcoming movie are wonderful. In my mind great graphics + great story = great movie, right? Hopefully. Today on NotCot, I saw that on the movie website you can create your own flower, among other things. I highly recommend giving it a look. You can choose up to three layers of the 24 petals, you can change their color, number and size and when you remove petals to try something new the petals fall away. It is wonderful! If you are so inclined you can also button up your eyes. That was a little too scary for me.

Customer Service

Recently I have had several very pleasant customer service experiences that I would like to share. Frankly when I have to call or go in about a repair or return because of an issue with a product, I expect I am going to have to fight, plead and or cajole in some combination. In the first case, a return of a set of headphones that stopped working after a month, I didn’t even have to talk to anyone. A series of clicks with my mouse and a new pair was on the way. Thank you Amazon. In the second case, I was hoping to get a replacement for a cracked jar to a blender we bought secondhand. No problem, I just had to tell them where to send it. No charge. Thank you L’Equip. Today was my latest incident. My iPhone developed a pretty nasty crack somehow which was threatening to split my precious in two! I made an appointment with the Apple Genius bar feeling very lucky to get an appointment at 10:30 am only to learn that I wasn’t lucky at all and I had shown up 12 hours too early for my 10:30 PM appointment. Normally this would have been a DOH! moment but a very nice gentleman said, “Let me see what I can find out for you.” In a few minutes I was sitting in front of another very nice Apple Genius (whose shirt aptly stated that not all heroes wear capes) who could tell the crack was not from an accident, was kind enough to override what the computer was telling him and replace my iPhone without charge under warranty. Hero indeed. Thank you Apple Genius.

Infestation!!!

Ack! Ack! Ack! I recently surmised that we have an indian meal moth infestation. My skin is crawling just thinking about it! I am currently in the process of checking and tossing anything that looks like it might be tainted. What a pain in the butt! These little buggers get into everything and the only way to get rid of them is to take away their source of food. You know, your flour, spices, granola, nuts, cereal… if it is in your cupboard, it is fair game. The next step is to clean up everything. I suppose I should look at this as an opportunity to organize, but ack!

T-shirt Rug

I love turning things I don’t use into something different and new. M&I have been playing soccer for a few years now and that means 4 seasons x 2 free t-shirts = lots of brightly colored shirts we aren’t going to use. I sent a bunch off to Goodwill, but I still have plenty to make up one of these great crochet t-shirt rugs. I have to admit that this year I haven’t pulled out my knitting needles or crochet hooks yet this season. This tutorial includes terrific instructions on how to cut the shirts and attach them together to get a nice long strip. via

Bunny!!

I love this adorable bunny vase! So round and white with his little ears sticking up. And how lovely with a few blossoms peeking out. via