New Appliances

Last week we got all new appliances for the kitchen and although they do look really nice, now that I started using them I find that keeping them clean is not that easy.

The glass top stove already doesn't look like new but I found some good suggestions for cleaning.

I bought some recommended cleaning product but I think this will work better using vinegar and baking soda - the magic for almost everything.

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/maintenance-and-repair/cleaning/how-to-clean-a-glass-top-stove

And here's a suggestion for the refrigerator doors

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/clean-black-highgloss-refrigerator-90189.html

Stinky cutting board - make a paste of 1 part water 3 parts baking soda
http://www.thekitchn.com/remove-unwanted-odors-from-cutting-boards-with-just-one-ingredient-cleaning-tips-from-the-kitchn-218853

Garbage Disposal Tips

Yesterday an awful smell was coming from the garbage disposal.  I took out the rubber piece which, even though I clean that regularly seemed to be covered with tons of black slimy stuff.  And then I stuck my hand inside the disposal, making sure no one was around to accidentally flip the switch.
YUK!!!  It was covered with black slimy stuff.  It was disgusting.

So I got out my sponge and started cleaning away.  When I got most of it, I put some Comet in to let it sit overnight and this morning it was almost good.  The bottom was nice and silvery except for some black gunk around those little stick up things.  Then I thought -- the internet must know what to do so here I am.  Here are some suggestions I found.


http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-clean-your-kitchen-sink-136771

http://www.angieslist.com/articles/how-clean-garbage-disposal-smells.htm

And I like this one the best http://www.askthebuilder.com/garbage-disposal-smell because in reading the comments it talks about the Insinkerator and how it is a design flaw.  I bet I have the same one that they're talking about because we never had this problem before.  Anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on it going forward.
Look how spotless it is now (except for a little stuff around those blades).

Mint Date Range

So that I don't have to look this up again.

Found it here https://mint.lc.intuit.com/questions/948537

Mint Jami, Sr. Community Manager

 

2 years ago

By design, Mint does not have a way to filter the transactions by date range on the Transactions page. This page will only allow you to search by Description and Category. However, there is a workaround you can try that should get you the desired results.

When you go to the Transaction page, the URL will be displayed as: https://wwws.mint.com/transaction.event.
If you add the following (with the date range you'd like to see) at the end of the URL above, it should pull transactions for that specific range: https://wwws.mint.com/transaction.event?startDate=01/01/2015&endDate=12/31/2015

For example, you would like to see transactions from June 01, 2014 to June 30, 2014 only, then the URL should look like this:https://wwws.mint.com/transaction.event?startDate=06/01/2014&endDate=06/30/2014

After that, as with any view in Transactions, you can then Export the list if you wish.

ADDITION FOR CHROME USERS: Though not from Mint, there is a Chrome extension that will allow you to select a Transaction date range, located here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mint-date-range/ndgpkdndeiehpgihohneegnmcdflpbmd?hl=en-US

Sweaters and Sheets

I saw this on Facebook.  It's from Everything My Momma Taught Me

Hanging Sweaters on Hangars
It was posted here-->   https://www.facebook.com/aprildawn1977/videos/10153106334111044/?fref=nf

How to Fold Fitted Sheets is 3rd video down on this page --> https://m.facebook.com/Everything-my-Mumma-has-taught-me-tips-and-tricks-for-everyday-life-1514430222183046/

Need to make sheet video full screen

How to Clean a Burnt Pot

This happened to me once before, only much worse but I was so frantic about getting it fixed that I never took any pictures.  This time I was much more relaxed, even though it occurred in the middle of my cooking, so I took pictures.

I was making chili and also catching up on watching "How to Get Away with Murder."  I guess I got really engrossed in the show and when I got up to stir the chili (I hadn't but in the tomatoes or beans yet) it was all burnt on the bottom.  I quickly shut off the stove and transferred what I had so far into a bowl.  I then looked up how to clean the pot since I didn't remember and I didn't document it the last time.  Below is what my pot looked like to start.  All that you see was firmly stuck to the pot.

WD-40 Uses

I got this from Facebook (Trish posted a share.)  I've seen the uses of WD-40 before but this is a good place for me to keep it so I can refer to it.

Before you read to the end, does anybody know what the main ingredient of WD-40?
No Cheating.....
WD-40 ~ Who knew!
I had a neighbour who bought a new pickup.
I got up very early one Sunday morning and saw that someone had spray
painted red all around the sides of this beige truck (for some unknown
reason).
I went over, woke him up, and told him the bad news.
He was very upset and was trying to figure out what to do ....
probably nothing until Monday morning, since nothing was open.
Another neighbour came out and told him to get his WD-40 and clean it off.
It removed the unwanted paint beautifully and did not harm his paint
job that was on the truck. I was impressed!
WD-40 who knew?
"Water Displacement #40".
The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and
degreaser to protect missile parts.
WD-40 was created in 1953, by three technicians at the San Diego
Rocket Chemical Company.
Its name comes from the project that was to find a 'Water
Displacement' Compound.
They were finally successful for a formulation, with their fortieth
attempt, thus WD-40. The 'Convair Company' bought it in bulk to
protect their atlas missile parts.
Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40
that would hurt you.
When you read the 'shower door' part, try it. It's the first thing
that has ever cleaned that spotty shower door. If yours is plastic,
it works just as well as on glass. It's a miracle!
Then try it on your stove-top.
It's now shinier than it's ever been.
You'll be amazed.

WD-40 Uses:
1. Protects silver from tarnishing.
2. Removes road tar and grime from cars.
3. Cleans and lubricates guitar strings.
4. Gives floor that 'just-waxed' sheen without making them slippery.
5. Keeps the flies off of Cows, Horses, and other Farm Critters.
6. Restores and cleans chalkboards.
7. Removes lipstick stains.
8. Loosens stubborn zippers.
9. Untangles jewellery chains.
10. Removes stains from stainless steel sinks.
11. Removes dirt and grime from the barbecue grill.
12. Keeps ceramic/terracotta garden pots from oxidising.
13. Removes tomato stains from clothing.
14. Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots.
15. Camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors.
16. Keeps scissors working smoothly.
17. Lubricates noisy door hinges on both home and vehicles doors.
18. It removes that nasty tar and scuff marks from the kitchen
flooring. It doesn't seem to harm the finish and you won't have to
scrub nearly as hard to get them off. Just remember to open some
windows if you have a lot of marks.
19. Remove those nasty bug guts that will eat away the finish
on your car if not removed quickly!
20. Gives a children's playground gym slide a shine for a super fast slide.
21. Lubricates gearshift and mower deck lever for ease of handling on
riding mowers.
22. Rids kids rocking chair and swings of squeaky noises.
23. Lubricates tracks in sticking home windows and makes them easier to open.
24. Spraying an umbrella stem makes it easier to open and close.
25. Restores and cleans padded leather dashboards in vehicles, as well
as vinyl bumpers.
26. Restores and cleans roof racks on vehicles.
27. Lubricates and stops squeaks in electric fans.
28. Lubricates wheel sprockets on tricycles, wagons and bicycles for
easy handling.
29. Lubricates fan belts on washers and dryers and keeps them running smoothly.
30. Keeps rust from forming on saws and saw blades, and other tools.
31. Removes grease splatters from stove-tops.
32. Keeps bathroom mirror from fogging.
33. Lubricates prosthetic limbs.
34. Keeps pigeons off the balcony (they hate the smell).
35. Removes all traces of duct tape.
36. Folks even spray it on their arms, hands, and knees to relieve
arthritis pain.
37. Florida 's favourite use is: 'cleans and removes love bugs from
grills and bumpers.'
38. The favourite use in the state of New York , it protects the Statue
of Liberty from the elements.
39. WD-40 attracts fish. Spray a little on live bait or lures and you
will be catching the big one in no time. Also, it's a lot cheaper than
the chemical attractants that are made for just that purpose. Keep
in mind though, using some chemical laced baits or lures for fishing
are not allowed in some states.
40. Use it for fire ant bites. It takes the sting away immediately and
stops the itch.
41. It is great for removing crayon from walls. Spray it on the marks
and wipe with a clean rag.
42. Also, if you've discovered that your teenage daughter has washed
and dried a tube of lipstick with a load of laundry, saturate the
lipstick spots with WD-40 and rewash. Presto! The lipstick is gone!
43. If you spray it inside a wet distributor cap, it will displace the
moisture, allowing the engine to start.
My discovery, Ants don't like it..................

P.S.
As for that Basic, Main Ingredient.......
Well.... it's FISH OIL....
Now This Is Definitely Worth SHARING!!

OS X Mountain Lion: Reinstall OS X and other solutions to frozen iMac

7/20/14

Maybe this would have helped the other 2 times but I had a similar experience this morning.  Last night I had to Force Quit BookWright and instead of reopening it, I shut down the computer and when I started it up this morning it wouldn't boot.  It wouldn't even let me get to the point to reinstall the OS.  It was showing that I needed new batteries for my keyboard/mouse.  I recently replaced the mouse batteries but maybe the reason I couldn't get to the reboot was because the keyboard wasn't working. While I was replacing the batteries and seeing what I could do, I used my laptop to look up why I couldn't get the iMac to boot.  I came across this http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570 and it did the trick.

At first I tried the Soft Boot by holding down the shift key and then it went back to the gray screen with the apple and spinning globe so I shut it off to try the boot where I could see what was going on by holding Shift-Command-V during start up. I liked this much better because it wasn't just looking at a screen, you saw words on what looked like an old DOS type screen.

In reading some of the print out I realized I left the speaker plugged in and quickly whipped it out.  Then a soft reboot - YEA!!  Then a normal restart and I'm back in business.






7/3/14
Thanks to BookWright and maybe my being on it for too long at a time, I've had to reinstall OS X twice in less than 24 hours.  Thought I better put these instructions here in case I forget.

Garage Door Won't Close

While I'm on my how-tos I better add this one.  On Friday the garage door stopped closing with the remotes and would only close by holding down the button inside the garage until it totally closed.  I didn't know this until I left for the store on Saturday and had to call Larry from my car and tell him I couldn't get the door to close.  He was already aware of it, that's why I knew it stopped on Friday.
On our way to Unos for dinner Saturday night, after Larry pulled the car out of the garage, I held down the button in the garage to close the door and then went through the house to go out the front door, then I used my phone to look up our garage door problem.

After reading the solution, I remembered that we had this problem before so I thought I better put the solution here so I can find it again.

Problem:  Garage door opens fine with remotes but won't close unless button inside garage is held down until it closes.

Possible Cause:  The sensors aren't aligned or the wire needs a jiggle (may be a bigger problem here) and the door thinks something is blocking the door so as a safety precaution, it won't close.  Holding down the button in the garage overrides this safety feature.

Fix:  Line up the sensors by making sure a green light (at least for our door) is glowing on each one.

iPhone Problems

Yesterday, all of a sudden, the headphone jack on my iPhone stopped working.  I was sitting down at the computer listening to a book on my phone and when I stood up the sound stopped.  At first I thought it just put itself on pause but that wasn't the case.  Then I thought maybe the earbuds weren't any good, even though it was a new set.  I tried other earbuds and my speaker but nothing worked.  That's when I decided to look up the issue on google.  I found lots of sort-of fixes, from rebooting to cleaning the jack to reinstalling the software.  I tried them all except for reinstalling the software because nothing changed from my sitting to standing.

I use my headphones a lot so it was something I definitely wanted working but since my phone is off warranty and everything else still works, I didn't want to have to get a new phone.  I thought maybe just an inexpensive mp3 player would work since all I really want it for is to listen to books.  Then I thought of my old iPhone (3GS) which stopped working a long time ago when the home button stopped working and it was before the workaround for the disabled.  That's when I got my current iPhone 4. Once the home button issue was resolved the other problem was that Voice Control would just come on all the time.  I jailbroke the phone so that I could find a fix for that but for some reason I was never able to, that is until yesterday.

I found this tweak "Disable Voice Control" and was able to install it and so far it works.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  www.ijailbreak.com/cydia/cydia-tweak-disable-voice-control/

How to Fix Google Chrome Freezing on Mac

I've had this problem a couple of times now so thought I better put how to fix it here so I don't have to keep finding the fix.  It's really annoying when it keeps doing it.

All you have to do is create a new browser user profile and delete the default profile folder.
Here's the link with instructions: http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/06/24/chrome-for-mac-crashing-on-you-you-arent-the-only-one/
1- choose Finder application
2- on the main menu go to Go -> Go to Folder
3- Paste: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/
4- Delete the "Default" folder
5- Open Google Chrome and another Default folder will be created.
That is it.

Deleting all photos from iPhone / iPad

Since I always have to look up how to do this (actually this is the 2nd time) I thought I would just post it here.  I usually save all the pictures I take on my phone until I realize they're taking up too much spae and then I want to delete them all.  They are all on my computer since I download them frequently so I'm not just throwing them out.

Here is one simple method I got from here:  http://www.mactrast.com/2012/12/how-to-remove-all-photos-from-an-iphone-at-once/

1. Connect the iPhone to the computer to the Mac’s USB port using your iPhone sync/charging cable.
2. Launch Image Capture. You’ll find this in the Applications Folder.
3. Make sure the iPhone is selected in the device list on the left side of the screen, and Press (Command Key + A) to Select All the photos.
4. Click the red Delete button, at bottom of screen (red circle with slash through it - as shown on link page), to delete all of the photos.
5. Confirm deletion when asked.
6. Wait for the deletion process to finish. (If you have Gigs of photos on your iPhone, this can take awhile.)

Egg yolk and plastic bottle

Everyone has probably seen the video of separating an egg yolk from the white using a plastic bottle.  I got it from my cousin Michael and when I first saw it and checked for others on youtube they were all in Chinese.  Leave it to the Chinese to come up with such a clever way to do this!

I wanted to try it myself but never got around to it, probably because I never needed to use an egg or maybe just forgot about it.  This morning I was making meatloaf and decided to try it.  IT WORKS!!  It is so easy!!
Watch >>>>>

Hidden files on Mac

I was looking for where the safari bookmarks were this morning and came across this helpful information about the library on the Mac using Lion here:
http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Os-X-Lion-Is-Hiding-Your-Library-Folder.htm

YIKES - my screen is huge!!!

If the screen on your mac has a window that got so big you can't tell what it is and you can't close it or make it smaller, someone may have accidently hit the keys that do this.
Try the following:

Hold down the "control" key and scroll with your mouse.  If you go down, it will become smaller, up makes it larger.

It's also a helpful tool if you need to see things larger than the standard size of the desktop.

Print Files from Folder

In order to get to use Terminal (in Utilities on a Mac) to list out the files and be able to save them do the following
Open Terminal - go to Application/Utilities

Type the following:
cd /volumes

An easier way to copy the files is:

1) Open TextEdit (or, I assume, any text application).

2) Navigate to the folder in question with your Finder.

3) Select a file within said folder and press command A to select all.

4) Press command C to copy.

5) Return to TextEdit and hold down command, option, and shift, and then hit V to paste and match style.

I found this here:  http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=586589

What is this memory all about anyway?

I'm not talking about my memory here.  What I refer to is the memory on my MacBook.
Before we left town I installed an extra GB of memory in both our laptops which we needed in order to upgrade to Lion.  2 GB is the max we can have on our old Macs which we bought in 2007.  They came with 1 GB.  Last night I saw in the App store a "free"  app called Free Memory. 

It monitors your memory in the menubar and frees memory with the click of your mouse.
After installing it I realized that I didn't understand what any of the memory meant.  If I only have 522 MB Free, how was I able to use my computer before when I only had a total of 1GB and what is that memory called Wired?
I searched to see what Wired memory was and found this blog posting
http://sg80bab.blogspot.com/2007/03/is-my-mac-using-too-much-memory.html

Then I checked the app that comes on the Mac in Utilities called Activity Monitor and it showed the same numbers as the App and also my details.  Firefox is the greediest of them all.

This might be interesting to add to my Dashboard too.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html

MacBook Memory Upgrade

In order to upgrade our latptops to Lion we needed to upgrade the memory to 2 GB since it only came with 1 GB.  I stopped into the Mac store on my way home from Greta's and some wonderful employee gave me the name of a website where I could be sure of getting the correct memory I needed for our laptops.  I ordered it and got it on Friday and followed the instructions on the Apple site and installed in.  Still haven't upgraded to Lion though.

Here I only had 1 GB of memory

This is the new memory

Here it is before I took it out of the box and with the supplies the instructions said I would need

 This is the view looking into the parts that needed to be removed

 A metal piece first needed to be removed by loosening three screws

 Here is the metal piece that needed to be removed

I removed the old memory and replaced them with the new

Just needed to make sure they got pushed in really hard so they weren't loose

And voila - 2 GB of memory

Symbols from Facebook

I found these on Facebook on a group called Typed Symbol Pictures that is going to be archived soon.
And here are some links to others:
http://facebook-symbols.com/
http://text-symbols.com/art/
http://facebook-emoticons-symbols.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook1st.com/birthday-wishes/unicode-symbolic-birthday-messages/
Happy B'Day to U ...♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy B'Day to U ...♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Happy B 'Day... ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪HappyB'Day... Happy...♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪B'Day...♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪. .. To......U..... ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪..... (◕_◕) HAPPY BIRTHDAY ♥

☀♫ .♥.•* ★¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.•´♥ ♫

~ `☀ Happy ☀ Birthday ☀`~

☀♫ .♥.•* ☀¨`*•♫.•´*.¸☀.•´♥

* ★¨`☀♫ .♥.•* ★¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.•´♥ ♫* ★¨`

~ `☀ Happy ☀ Belated ☀ Birthday ☀`~

* ★¨`☀♫ .♥.•* ☀¨`*•♫.•´*.¸☀.•´♥* ★¨`

* ★¨`☀♫ .♥.•* ★¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.•´♥ ♫* ★¨`

~ `☀ Happy ☀ Birthday ☀ Name ☀`~

* ★¨`☀♫ .♥.•* ☀¨`*•♫.•´*.¸☀.•´♥* ★¨`

* ★¨`☀♫ .♥.•* ★¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.•´♥ ♫* ★¨`

♡¨*•♫Happy ☀ Birthday ☀ Name♫•*¨♡

* ★¨`☀♫ .♥.•* ☀¨`*•♫.•´*.¸☀.•´♥* ★¨`

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday to You ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
♫  •  *  *  •  ♫  •  *  *  •  ♫      70     ♫  •  *  *  •  ♫  •  *  *  •  ♫
♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Birthday to You ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

How-tos for Kindle, DRM and Overdrive

This is mainly so I don't forget how to do what I just figured out how to do.  How did I ever live before Google?  Anything I want to know I can find.  And these are my findings for today.

Don't ask me what got me started looking on Overdrive for an ebook for Larry.  I should have been finishing the purse I started 1 1/2 years ago and finally got back to this morning.  Somehow I diverted to the computer and did some research on a salon that was offering a Keratin hair straightening on Groupon and the next thing I knew I found an app that could convert all types of ebooks to a Kindle.  Larry has a Kindle and I always listen to my books.  I've used Overdrive to download audio books and I knew that they also had ebooks but they were not compatible with the Kindle.
I've been using Overdrive since it first came out, or since our library first made it available.  At first it was mainly audio books but then they started adding ebooks.  Now the ebooks are so popular that all the books that I looked for had waiting list status only.

But I wanted to test the app that could convert to kindle, yes, now I remember, it was the software that got me started looking on Overdrive but I don't remember what led me to the software.  I downloaded some ebooks from Overdrive and from there I realized that it was a many step process, involving many downloads and installations to get what I wanted but IT WORKED!!

Here it goes:
The software to convert any type of ebook to any type of other format is called calibre and you can get it here:  http://calibre-ebook.com/  A wonderful app.

Calibre would be all that is needed except that the books that are downloaded from Overdrive need to be converted to epub format since they are downloaded as acsm files.  That means that Adobe Digital editions is needed to convert the book into an epub file.  That can be gotten here: http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/
Next, most of the books are DRE protected, which means they can't be used in any other way other than as intended.  A lot of people buy ebooks that have DRE and find they can't use them on the device they wanted.  Next comes the app that will remove the protection.  That is described here along with other helpful apps all rolled into one zip file:  http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/hello-world/
and that page will take you to here for the download:  http://www.datafilehost.com/download-542af277.html
and here are some instructions: http://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/dedrm-applescript-for-mac-os-x-10-5-10-6/

Now that I've documented all the places to get what is needed here is what needs to be done when there is a book that needs conversion:
1)  Get book from wherever you like and if it does not automatically work on a kindle, continue
2)  If it's from overdrive, right click on the acsm file and bring it into Adobe where it gets converted to an epub.  Adobe put my book
3)  Try to load it to the device.  If it says it is DRM protected, just drag and drop the file into the DeDRM 2.9.app and it will immediately convert it and put it in the folder you requested at setup.

Kapoosh Cutlery Block

Let the buyer beware!!

Just a word of advice.  If you buy a Kapoosh cutlery block, which I thought was the greatest thing when I bought it, don't try to clean it.

The thing that makes this so great is that there are moveable fibers vs slots that will hold any size knife you put in there.  However, after a time the rods get bent and the knives don't go in all the way which makes it dangerous with the blades sticking out.  They advertise that you can take out the rods which are attached to a base and put them in the dishwasher to clean.  Well, I didn't put them in the dishwasher, but I did wash them.


The bad news is that trying to put it back into the wooden frame just split it.

The good news is, the knives fit great now, even though it doesn't look that great.