“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”
Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed New Year. Thank you for visiting my little corner of the world; it means a lot to me that you take the time to come here. See you next year!
Here are a few articles of interest for your Friday:
We have become a bit of a throw-it-out society. If something doesn’t work right, instead of attempting to fix it, we pitch it and just get a new one. I’m one of the worst offenders when it comes to gadgets. I love to have the latest and greatest, so I often seize any excuse to update my technology. I’m trying to change this habit and do what I can to extend the life of things. I’m dying to get an iPhone 5; right now I’m using a factory unlocked iPhone 3GS on T-Mobile. ]I’m trying to hold out as long as I possibly can for a couple of reasons. First of all, to buy a replacement, I would have to purchase a factory unlocked phone in order to use it on T-Mobile. These phones are not inexpensive. Secondly, T-Mobile is getting the iPhone sometime next year so I want to hold out and see what kind of deal they will offer me on a new one. I’ve had my 3GS for two and half years. My goal is to make it last at least 3 years.
Recently, I’ve been having a lot of issues with it being unresponsive and sudden battery drain. The phone appears to have a full charge and next thing I know, it’s dead. I did a little internet research and found several people describing the same issues. They were able to fix it by replacing the battery, which makes sense. After all, my battery is 2.5 years old. I saw multiple comments about how simple it is to replace and there was a link to ifixit where I could purchase a replacement battery and the necessary tools for approximately $20. Knowing that the phone in it’s current state probably wouldn’t make it another six months, I decided to go for it and install a replacement. I ordered the battery from ifixit using a coupon code from Retailmenot.
One quiet afternoon when I was feeling brave, I took my phone apart and using this video and this video for guidance, put in the new battery. A little tip for you, if you follow along with a video, I recommend watching each step in its entirety before doing it yourself. There were a few moments when I felt like Trapper John diffusing the land mine on MASH. I’d do what the video said, and then the instructor would say, “…but be extra careful, this part is easy to break.” Fortunately, I did not break anything. I was able to put the phone back together and it even works! It did take me about an hour to do. I recommend using a hair dryer on the back of the phone to loosen the adhesive on the original battery. That was the most nerve-wracking part. I was really worried I was going to break something trying to get it out. It was much easier to remove once I’d heated the back of the phone.
The results: so far, so good. Everything seems to be working well. It seems a little faster and more responsive. I haven’t had the battery drain issue happen again, but it’s probably a little soon to know for sure if that’s fixed. I will add an update to this post once I’ve used it for a week or so. Assuming the replacement battery continues to work well, I would purchase parts from ifixit again. Their prices were reasonable and I received my order quickly. If you have opened up a computer, this is similar to that, but on a much, much smaller scale. If you’ve never done that, I imagine this might be a little stressful and might be better left to a professional.
Have you ever operated on any of your gadgets? How did it go?
I’m signing off for the holidays. Hope that you have a merry and safe Christmas! See you back here Wednesday.
Here are a few articles of interest for your Friday:
Have a great weekend!
I have been purchasing dog treats through Amazon’s subscription service for several years. After deciding that I really should feed them better quality treats, I made the decision that when the store bought treats ran out, I would begin making them myself. Well, the treats ran out a few weeks ago, consequently the dogs have been doing without treats for awhile. After an ambitious afternoon in the kitchen making Christmas cookies, I decided to get on it and make them some treats. I opted to start with this recipe. It only uses four ingredients and I had them on hand. I did make one small adjustment; here’s what I used:
I mixed the flour and baking power. Then I added the peanut butter and almond milk. Once everything was mixed up, I rolled out the dough on a floured surface. I decided to be festive and used a Christmas tree cookie cutter. It was a wise choice because it allowed me to flip the trees and stack them, making use of nearly all the space on my cookie sheet. I baked them for 25 minutes on 375º.
My dogs will eat nearly anything, so I’m not sure they are the best judge, but they seemed to really enjoy them. I will definitely be making these again. Have you made homemade dog treats? What was your experience?
Here are a few articles of interest for your Friday:
Have a great weekend!
After a couple of especially stressful weeks and a severe lack of sleep, I recently started to get that tickle in the back of my throat, accompanied by a little sinus pressure. I remembered having pinned this recipe and thought it was worth a try. I took a spoonful of this stuff for several days. This was not a scientific experiment because I did not just test this potion, I did everything I could to keep from getting sick, including taking my vitamins religiously and using my neti pot a couple of times a day. I did not get sick but think that has more to do with the neti pot than this elixir. I did feel like the cayenne pepper did help open up my sinuses, but it seemed to be a momentary event and not something that really lasted over time.
Ingredients:
Combine ingredients. Take one tablespoon.
I put the ingredients in a jar and stored it in the fridge. Before taking a spoonful I’d shake the jar well. I did not use organic vinegar nor did I use locally produced honey. I have heard that local honey can work wonders for those with allergies. Unlike the original poster of this recipe, I did not think the taste was “really good”. In fact, it’s best poured directly down your throat. I would definitely give this another try if I felt like I was getting sick. It can’t hurt, right?
Have you tried any homemade remedies? Did they work?
See a list of From Scratch features here.
I have been a homeowner for ten years and have not filed an insurance claim until this year. Now I’ve filed two claims, one for hail damage to my roof and the other for my recent burglary. Here are a few things I’ve learned from the experience.
Buying things online makes it much easier to track down receipts - When I was creating my list for the insurance company, I had receipts for most of the big items in my home inventory software. But there were also a lot of smaller things that were taken. I love Amazon for a lot of reasons. The fact that they keep a record of my entire purchase history is one of the biggest reasons. Not only did it make it easy to get copies of receipts, it also provided me with a list of the smaller stuff that I had not entered into the inventory software. I was also able to recover receipts from Best Buy, eBay, and Etsy.
Take photos - If you have groups of things, like jewelry or tools, I recommend taking a picture so you can easily determine what’s missing. Even if items aren’t valuable individually, take photos. Those are the kinds of things that take time to accumulate and while you might not spend a lot of money on each individual item, it starts to really add up if you need to replace it at one time.
Take your time - When filing a claim with the insurance company, take your time creating your list of lost items. It took me at least a week to complete my list after being robbed. I knew immediately that a lot of jewelry was missing but it took time to remember exactly what all of it was. I’m pretty certain there were still a few things missing from my list. If I’d had photos of my jewelry, it would have helped things go faster. Thieves often take random things that you might not notice immediately. There was obviously something missing from a desk drawer but it wasn’t until I found a dropped power converter that I realized they had stolen my travel adapter kit. I probably wouldn’t have figured it out until I went to pack for an overseas trip, which won’t be anytime soon.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions & enlist the help of those more knowledgable than you - Thankfully I have a very helpful attorney friend that has lots of experience working with insurance companies. He was very kind to answer my many questions. He told me that the replacement cost coverage I have should include sales tax. I did not see it on the list detailing what the insurance company would cover. I asked the adjuster about it, he said nobody had ever asked him about that before. They had included tax, but at a rate of 6.5%. Tax in my area is 8.375%. Because I asked, they changed it to the correct rate. I also discovered while reviewing the list that they had mistakenly valued my computer at $12.99, something they also corrected after I asked about it.
Work with a contractor that is used to dealing with insurance companies – When my roof suffered hail damage, I contacted the construction company that had replaced my sister’s roof after another hail storm. The owner knew the ins and outs of what needed to be done and what the insurance company would pay. I contacted the same company after my break-in. He was great about getting my door repaired quickly and recommended I take photos in case the insurance company wanted to see them. An adjuster did not come out to my house after the burglary, but according to the contractor, if I’d been insured by any other company they probably would have sent someone out to see the damage before it was repaired. Since I’d never experienced anything like this, I was thankful to have a contractor that was familiar with the process.
While this last month has been pretty stressful and things have not gone as I would have liked, ultimately I feel very blessed. Things could have been much worse. Very little of what was stolen had sentimental value. My pets were all okay. I learned some valuable lessongs. I am very thankful to my family and friends that helped me out and cheered me up during this frustrating time.
What lessons have you learned from filing an insurance claim?
Here are a few articles of interest for your Friday:
Have a great weekend!
