A Word to the Wise

I got a call today for my business from a company selling advertising in a brochure detailing upcoming movies at my local theaters.  As my sister had recently told me about advertising on screen for the theater I thought I would hear them out.  The  price was reasonable and the idea sounded plausible and when she offered a further discount when I himmed and hawed, I just couldn't resist.  However, when the billing woman called me back to settle the bill, it sounded kind of fishy.  It almost sounded like the same woman as the salesperson just using a nasally voice.  Even though red flags started going off in my head, I went ahead and authorized payment for the ad space. 

It was only afterwards, when I decided to look up the company online for reviews that I got sick to my stomach.  Not only were there several  reviews, they were all bad, extemporizing on what a rip off this company was.  They didn't hold up on the prescribed ad space, and in addition continued to charge you for services not rendered in the future.  I was devastated, $800 down the drain for a scam.  How could I be so stupid?

I immediately called back the company and cancelled said ad space within 30 minutes of the previous call.  The woman on the phone agreed that the ad space could be cancelled and said nothing would be charged to my account.  Being what I thought was a scam anyway, I followed my sister's advice and called up my credit card company.  Apparently they had already posted the charge with no action toward reversing or cancelling the charges.  My only recourse?  To wait until the charges posted, i.e. my credit card company paid those nasties, and then file a complaint to dispute the charges.  At this point I have no idea if I will get my money back or if I just lost a ton of money on a stupid mistake.  Don't follow in my footsteps, prevent these kind of costly mistakes by adhering to the following advice.

How to Avoid Being Scammed

Step 1:  Never, and I mean NEVER make a snap or instant decision to do anything.  They will try to offer you all kinds of deals and discounts if you do it NOW, NOW, NOW, but don't fall for that trap.  If the deal isn't good enough later on, it is probably too good to be true now.  Prime example, timeshares.  They will try to sell you on the timeshare today with all kinds of discounts, but when you stop to think about it, most of the time it would be cheaper to set aside said money each month or year and pay for a vacation yourself.  Bonus, this way you can go where you want and are not tied down to one location.  There are also usually added on fees and maintenance charges you don't hear about until after you purchase your timeshare.

Step 2:  If you do fall for the instant decision for the discount, at least take the time to look them up online first and never use your debit card.  Keep them talking, trust me they love to keep talking about all they can offer you, then casually look up reviews of the company online.  If it is an older scam it will usually pop up with all kinds of bad reviews on the BBB or ripoff.com, etc..  You just need to type the company name into a search engine followed by "reviews" to get instant proof of the scam.  If your search doesn't reveal anything chances are it is a newer scam or, and I doubt, it is legit.  If it is legit, it usually pops up with good reviews and then you are good to go.

Step 3:  If by some chance you were an idiot like me and ignored your first instincts and didn't look up reviews online first, make sure you cover your butt.  Call the company back right away and try to cancel.  Then call your credit card company directly and report that you cancelled said charge with the company.  If the charge still posts you will then need to call the credit card company back and dispute the charges.  Unfortunately if the company bills you anyway, which if it is a scam they will, then the credit card company has to let it post (meaning they pay them), then you can dispute the charges after the fact.  If this happens it is a good idea to cancel your card so they can no longer charge you for services cancelled or non-rendered. 

Hopefully it all turns out well for me as I was unlucky enough to fall for a total scam.  Wish me luck disputing the charges.  My only wish is that you follow step 1 and never fall victim to a scam yourself.

How to do an Invisible Zipper

While finishing up Butterfly's dress I had to come to terms with installing an invisible zipper.  Not one of my areas of expertise, so I enlisted a little help from Lolita Patterns.  Most of the tutorial was helpful and easy except for finishing up the last bit of the zipper.  I think I will have to do some more research on that part as I ended up with one of those ugly bulges at the bottom of the zipper this time. 

How to Install an Invisible Zipper

Step 1:  Press the zipper coils open (press on wrong side of tape).  Definitely an important step that makes it much easier to stitch as close to the coils as possible.  Then pin the right side of the zipper to the right side of the dress center back seem.  Make sure the zipper top (not tape top) is at the top edge of the dress and that the coils are facing away from the raw edge of the dress seam.  Also make sure that the coils are on the edge of your seam allowance, the tape area being within your seam allowance.

It should look like this when you are done pinning.

I happen to have a zipper foot, which looks like this.  This is the easiest way to stitch close to the coils, but you can also use a regular foot and push the coils to the side.

Step 2:  Stitching as close to the coils as possible, sew the zipper into place from the top to as close as you can get to the zipper bottom.  Note that when using your zipper foot the foot should be positioned as seen in the photo in relation to your coils.

Step 3:  Zip up your zipper to test it, then place a mark on your zipper tape next to the waist seam.  You will use this mark to then match up to the waist seam on the opposite side of the center back seam.  That way when you are finished sewing your zipper, the waist seams match up on both sides of the zipper. 

Step 4:  This is the tricky part, pinning and sewing the other side of the zipper.  You will be pinning the right side of the tape once again to the right side of your dress seam.  I HIGHLY recommend pinning the top portion to the dress seam while you have the zipper still zipped up.  This way there will be no confusion or seam ripping necessary.  Once you have the top portion pinned in place, unzip the zipper, match up your waist seam mark and adjust if necessary (do not flip or turn over tape at this point). 

Notice here that I have matched up the center waist seam mark that we made earlier to the waist seam on the opposite side of the dress back.

This is what it should look like when you are done pinning,

Here I have taken a little extra time to make sure before I sew that the zipper is placed properly while the pins hold the zipper tape in place.

Step 5:  Once you are assured that your zipper is placed correctly, sew that zipper tape in place.

When you are done you will notice that the center back seam is still open and also that the zipper bottom is left unstitched as well.

Step 6:  This is where you will stitch up your center back seam as normal, right sides together, from the bottom up to about 1/2" below where you stitched your zipper tape.  Make sure your seam allowance is the same or you will end up with a pucker like me ;(  Make sure that you hold the end of the zipper tape out of the way and don't get it caught in the seam.

Step 7:  Use your zipper foot once again to finish stitching from where you left off your center back seam to where you left off on the zipper tape.  This encloses the zipper tape bottom into the center back seam.

Unfortunately I ended up with this horrible pucker in mine.  Not completely sure why.

Hopefully yours comes out better in the end than mine.  Next up for the finale, hem the dress bottom.  Wish me luck.

Can't Take it Anymore

I went shopping today and came home with a ton of groceries. I went to set them on the kitchen counter, but unfortunately there was no available counter space so they ended up on the floor. There was also no where to put them because my cupboards are also a disaster. After trying unsuccessfully to shove a box of Belvita bars into the cupboard I finally decided it was high time to organize the kitchen again. I had done a little bit before but obviously not enough. 

Here is what my counters looked like. 

See all that junk cluttering up the place?  That is pretty much what it looked like when I was done unpacking the kitchen boxes and I never found a place to put it all later. Then entropy took over and made it even more of a disaster. I'm fed up with moving things back and forth just to make space to prepare dinner. 

No pin for this project, just things I have picked up along the way. First thing, I want more counter space to work on and I don't want a bunch of clutter on the counter. Therefore I had to remove and find a place for all the stuff I don't use and I hid away some of the appliances I don't use everyday. Then I shifted some things around to provide a little more functionality. I also put away some of the food items like hubby's snacks and that huge bag of rice. Here is the finished product. 

That still left the cupboards, however, which I turned to next.

  The problem with my cupboards is that they are too high up and at awkward angles which makes it hard to reach things inside. I figure the fix then was to put things into bins so that I could pull them out and easily find what I need. I also found as I did so that I needed to rearrange some things as the cupboard I had my canned goods in was very awkward to get to. Therefore I switched them to a more accessible cabinet over the stove and put items I don't normally use into the crappy cabinet. One exception though, I did put my spices into this cupboard in the most reachable spot. We will see how it goes. I may rearrange things later.  Here is the finished product. 

I'm pooped. See ya next week. Wish me luck. 

Stop Weeds Before they Begin

I got really lazy last month with the weeding.  It had been raining a lot and when it stopped I just wasn't up to going out into the yard and weeding.  Next thing I knew they were as tall as me, you think I'm kidding but I'm not, and harder than heck to pull out.  I looked kind of like this while pulling them out.

 

 

 

Here it is, that time again when the weeds become so predominant I can't pass my eyes over them anymore.  Is it just me or does anyone else absolutely hate this chore?  I don't know how gardeners do it.  I know I need to go out and do it before they get to be five feet tall again, but why when they are just going to grow back in a couple of weeks.  I'm surprised at this rate weeds haven't taken over the world yet. 

 

As an acupuncturist I'm always telling my clients that we have to treat the root or cause of the illness/injury as well as the symptoms or they will just come back, yet I keep pulling the weeds week in and week out without actually dealing with the cause of this overgrowth.  Hence why they keep coming back so quickly.  So I thought, why not think smarter and keep them from returning as quickly if at all? 

 

Setting about in search of a "cure" for my weed infestation I came across a pin on how to prevent weeds from germinating, thereby preventing their growth before they can take root.  Brilliant!  Whoever came up with this one was a pure genius, Einstein like.  Who would have thought it could be as easy as sprinkling a little corn meal into the planter beds?  A note from the original author, apparently the cornmeal will keep any seeds from germinating so make sure your veggies or plants are fully grown before you sprinkle the cornmeal or you risk stunting their growth as well.  You can find the original post here.

Before I can implement said strategy though I first have to go pull all the weeds.  Ugh!  Oh well the dirty work needs to get done some time, might as well be now.  I get down to it and two hours later I've got both the front and back yard planters de-weeded (not sure if that is really a word, but I like it so I'm going with it).  Now for the cornmeal, *rubbing my hands together with an evil look on my face*.  The post doesn't really give much instruction so I just use a scoop and sprinkle a generous amount throughout the garden beds. 

 

Not much to do now but wait and hope that Monkey is wrong and we don't attract a bunch of birds to the cornmeal.  Although, bonus, it seems that ants also like to eat the cornmeal but cannot digest it, killing them all off (link to that little nugget here along with some other fun facts).  Yes, maybe I will sprinkle it along the driveway as well into their nest.

 

I also found out that lining the soil with wet newspaper and mulch will keep weeds from growing so I plan on doing that as well in the future.  I want to see what the cornmeal on its own can do first.

 

I'll keep you posted on the results.  Until next time, wish me luck.



Music to my Ears

Remember the 80's when everyone played their music on cassette tapes on a great big boom box?  Okay so maybe I'm a little too young to really reminisce those days, but I do remember having one when I was a kid.  Boy were they big, awkward and hard to transport.  If I walked around with one of those things nowadays I would get some pretty funny looks, maybe even catch a post of myself on youtube the very next day. 

Then things got a little more high tech in the 90's.  We had these nifty things called CD players and you could even get them in a tiny portable size.  What a revolution for music.  No more cassette tapes just small, compact CDs with a little tiny player.  Now I do remember walking around with one of these on my hip, a large set of ear muff head phones over my ears.  I'd probably get some funny looks wearing on of those out these days as well.  I mean things have advanced so much kids don't even have stereo systems anymore.  Not with the easy accessibility of MP3 players or iPods.  Do people even still by CDs, I mean other than me?  Sometimes I still feel like I'm in the stone ages.

Today I was really missing my old stereo that could broadcast my  music throughout the entire house.  When I'm busy doing housework, I don't want to be wearing little earbuds in my ears or carry around my phone.  Last time I did that it ended up taking a dive in the bathtub.  Nothing a big bag of rice can't fix by the way. 

Imagine my surprise when I saw this little post on Pinterest.  Just a flicker picture really, no directions on how to make it, but then again it looked pretty easy.  I thought for sure I could make that and so I did (instructions provided below).  I was a little disappointed at the advertised sound quality.  The post advertised that it would fill the whole room with music and so it did, but then again so did the phone by itself.  In fact I didn't hear much of a difference between the two.  I was in need of something more, bigger, better.  After reviewing another post in which you simply put your iPhone into a glass for greater amplification, I decided on a science project.  A contest if you will to determine which was better, louder, with more robust sound.  Something worthy of true stereo sound.

Science Experiment

Hubby was willing to help out with the experiment (must have been the Queen being broadcast at high volumes that brought him up from the dungeon) so I posted him in another room.  Starting with just the iPhone, I played some Queen at high volume, gradually turning it down and instructed him to inform me when he could no longer hear the music.  With the standard iPhone 4S he could no longer hear the music at the 6th volume bar.
I the turned the volume back up to where he could hear it and placed it inside the "speaker" set pictured above.  Gradually turning it down he informed me he could no longer hear it at 5 volume bars.  A minor increase in amplification.  I was looking for more so we continued on with the experiment.

After repeating the process in the tall skinny glass, small fat glass, and medium rounded glass he reported loss of music at 1 volume bar, 2 volume bars, and three volume bars respectively.  Awesome, a huge increase in amplification was reported for the tall skinny glass, however, in this glass the sound became slightly distorted due to echo.  Therefore we determined that the greatest amplification that still produced a high quality sound came from the short wide glass.  Finally a winner worthy enough to be dubbed a stereo.

Now off to do some chores :(  Wish me luck.

How to make a stereo out of two Solo cups and a toilet paper roll

Step 1:  Gather your materials as pictured below.
 

Step 2:  Placing the TP roll on the Solo cup, mark four dots on the cup to delineate how big your circle will need to be to fit the TP roll.
 

 

Step 3:  Using your sharpie connect the four dots you made into a cross or circle on your cup.

 

 

Step 4:  Use scissors to cut out a circle in your cup along the markings you have already made.  Be careful as the plastic cups are fragile and may end up a mess like this one.

 

Step 5:  Cut out a portion in the middle of your TP roll that will fit your iPhone.  Once you have your cutouts made, fit the TP roll inside the holes.  It should look like this.  Place your iPhone inside the cutout and play away.  It should amplify your music a little, but you get much better amplification by simply placing your phone into a glass or ceramic mug or glass.  Note: as proven above, a shorter, fatter glass works best.

It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time

Trying to start up a small business is hard work and involves a lot of advertising which can get expensive. Why not try to save some money by making your own marketing materials?  There are hundreds of DIY posts on making things like T-shirts, paper pads, coffee mugs, etc. So when I spotted one in how to print on fabric using your very own printer I couldn't resist. Now I can sew up tote bags, hand warmers or eye pillows with my logo on them. All for the cost of my labor and a few cheap supplies I already have around the house. 

Looking through this fabulous post on six ways to print on fabric I think I've hit the jackpot until I realize I don't have any of the supplies necessary to complete any of the six methods and it's too late to acquire them from the store. :( 

I dejectedly put that one aside for another day and continue to troll through my posts for something to do. Then I find a post on how to do a wax paper transfer. This in itself would be great for making coffee mugs or other things with my logo on it, but then I think why not modify it to print on fabric. After all the only reason I couldn't do the other methods is because I lacked the various adhesive materials to attach the stabilizer to the fabric. In this tutorial, however, they simply use tape to attach the wax paper to a piece of card stock. This I can do. I giggle a little and hop to it. 

Step 1:  cut a piece of fabric about an inch smaller all the way around than your piece of paper. 

Step 2:  I then used tape to attach my fabric to the piece of paper making sure there were no frayed bits or fabric overhanging the paper (apparently this keeps your fabric from catching in the printer and jamming it up). 

Step 3:  use your computer to find an image for printing. I used a word processing program to create columns of my logo spaced just so. This took the most time and was incredibly frustrating. I'm no computer genius. What I need is a graphics designer. Or come to think of it I'm sure my eleven year old niece, Butterfly could do it much better and faster then me. Puts me to shame really. Oh well. 

Step 4:  Load the paper, mine was fabric side down but you may need to mark a sheet of paper on one side and run it through to see which side it printed on. Make sure to have the fabric side on the side that the printing will be on. Duh I know but it's easy to make a mistake here. 

Step 5:  press print and wait and see what comes out. Cross your fingers it doesn't jam. J/K there was no problem for me. 

As you can see it didn't turn out so well for me. It was somewhat blurry and smudged all over the place. I'm honestly not sure what went wrong. In theory it should have worked.

I'm determined to find out what went wrong or buy the proper materials and make it right but today I'm tired and a little disappointed. Until next time. Wish me luck. 

How to Cure a Sore Throat

While having lunch with hubby I noticed him sniffling and looked over to see him holding his throat as he swallowed. Turns out he is getting a cold and has had a sore throat for two days now. Instead of telling me about it he decided to go to Wallgreens and pick up an assortment of cold and flu products when I know plenty of at home remedies to fix both. Unfortunately I think it's my fault. 

While in school for Chinese Medicine I learned of a formula to treat sore throats. It's called Superior Sore Throat Powder and for good reason. It works instantaneously and the sore throat usually doesn't return. The catch is it tastes nasty, and I mean real nasty. So bad in fact I wouldn't recommend using it unless you feel like your throat is on fire. On one occasion my husband had a horrid throat on fire kind of sore throat which required the use of said formula. Knowing he wouldn't take it if I told him about the taste I just instructed him to puff some of the powder into the back of his throat and it would be gone for good. Unwittingly he did as instructed and immediately started hacking and gagging from the taste. Cost of the formula, $3, the look on his face, priceless. 

He vowed never again to use it. It's also probably why he never tells me when he is sick anymore. Thankfully I have since found some remedies, while not as effective, that taste much better. 

Remedy #1:  Gargle with salt water. This method make take a few times before you get relief. The salt basically creates an inhospitable environment for the bacteria, thereby killing them off. As a side note, salt in Chinese medicine is cold in temperature and good at drawing out the heat of a sore throat for example. 

Remedy #2:  Gargle with vinegar. Okay so this one tastes awful too but works incredibly. Just like for a sunburn, the vinegar draws the heat out, stopping the pain in its tracks. 

Remedy #3:  Drink warm water with lemon and honey. This one tastes much better and surprisingly cures a mild sore throat. The honey coats and soothes the throat. 

Remedy #4:  This one is just rumor for me so far as I haven't yet had the opportunity to try it out. Eating marshmallows or more accurately drinking marshmallow root tea. The gelatin in the root is said to soothe the throat. 

There you have it folks. Now if only I can get my husband to trust me long enough to try one of these out. He likes marshmallows, maybe I'll try that one first. Wish me luck.