gift cards tip

when you buy a giftcard, look at the receipt and compare it to the card numbers on the back of the giftcard.  the last couple of giftcard transactions, the cards were not activated.  this could be the cashier trying to steal the cards for himself and giving you blanks, or it could just be a mistake.   

writing tip

i say we get rid of capitalizing the first letter in every sentence!  sure, all you have to do is simply hit the shift key but think of all the sentences you type out.  that's a lot of shift keys.  plus it's mostly redundant, no?  i mean, you've already got your sentence ending punctuations--periods, exclamation points, question marks--so you know the letter immediately after is most likely going to be the start of another sentence.  it would just save so much time to not have to capitalize the initial letter.

feeding goats tip

took a toddler to the petting zoo today.  instead of buying a 50 cent cone of goat food, you can just pick up the scraps off the floor and feed the goats with that.  people just drop the food on the ground.  daughter really loved feeding the goats!

saving songs from cd to usb flash drive tip

i used itunes.  first you want to make sure the files convert to mp3 format.

•Launch iTunes – You can launch it from the Start Menu Programs
•Select ‘Edit > Preferences > General, and press Import Settings’.
•Change the ‘Import Using’ to ‘MP3 Encoder’.
•Save the settings.
•Go to the library and right-click on a music track and choose the option which reads ‘Convert Selection to MP3′. If the track is not protected then you’ll be able to convert it to MP3 format. However, if the track is a protected one then iTunes will pop-up a window telling you that the protected track cannot be converted to other formats

Simplest method is this.

1) Press “Control” and “A” to select all songs

2) Push “Advanced” at the top

3) Choose “Create MP3 Version” option

4) wait for the conversion to complete.

then you put in your cd and your usb.  on the bottom right, click on "import cd" to import whole thing.  if you don't want the whole cd, then uncheck the boxes next to the individual tracks.  the import is pretty fast.  then you go to your music folder (start-->music) -->itunes-->itunes media-->music-->compilation.  so . . . somewhere thereabouts should be your cd songs.  then you drag and drop the folder with your cd songs into the usb window.

now i'm guessing there are other ways of doing it, but this is how i did it.

keeping track of feedings tip

a simple way of keeping track of feedings for newborn is to use a cellphone.  i use an asterisk to denote which boob and just type in the start time and hit send.  then if i need to see what time i last nursed, i just look in my call history.  so for example, at 8:18 i nursed him on my right boob.  that's 818*--note the asterisk is ON THE RIGHT.  then i nursed him on my left boob at 8:40.  that's *840--note the asterisk is ON THE LEFT.  wish i'd thought of this method when i had the 1st baby.  

car keys tip

i hate the modern car keys with the stupid remote keyless entry.  that key is twice the size of everything else on my keychain.  it's going to be uncomfortable in my pants pocket.  at first i considered just using the valet key but then . . . the passenger side doesn't even have a keyhole :o(  i miss my 95 car . . . a simpler time, a simpler car.  sigh.  bring back the simple key with keyhole on the passenger side.  please.

free napkins tip

when you go out to eat, restaurants typically will give you a stack of napkins.  keep what you don't use and take the rest home.  no need to buy napkins anymore!

and if you've got kids, it's probably a good idea to keep some napkins in the car as well.

hair tip

if you've got an event and need to get your hair done, be cognizant that some styles take a really long time to complete.  so before you commit to a style with the hairdresser, you might ask how long it would take and if it's too long then ask for suggestions of styles that would be quicker to prepare.  i once had a french twist that took freaking forever.  had i known, i would have chosen a "messy" hairstyle that was fast and easy.

turkey baster washing tip

how to clean a turkey baster?  i recently used one to baste the chicken grease, butter and maple syrup back onto the chicken skin and washed it after use.  i took apart the bulb from the "syringe" and soaked it in soapy water but even after rinsing there was serious grease trapped in the "syringe."  

take a napkin and wrap it around a chopstick.  then swirl the napkin inside the "syringe."  all clean!

pan fried trout tip

made pan fried trout for the first time.  here's how i did it--super simple.  

i got 2 trout that were pan ready from food maxx.  salt both sides and the inside.

on high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.  sure, butter is way less healthy than olive oil but it smells so great!

when the butter is melted, lower the heat a bit to medium heat.  then cook one side of the fish for five minutes.  then flip and cook the other side of the fish for 5 minutes.  that's it!

you can sprinkle with lemon juice if you want but if not it's still good.  the skin is crunchy and the meat is delicious!

artichoke tip

get the bigger artichoke.  it costs more but there's way more "meat."  i recently got a couple of small artichokes and the outside leaves were completely wasted.  at least with the bigger artichoke, you get some more meat.

food tips

heads up--union landing has food trucks on thursday evenings!  and san leandro downtown has a farmer's market that's just opened back up again.

easy "frosting" tip

just made a discovery this afternoon!  beat heavy whipping cream with trader joe's cocoa almond spread.  i'm sure you could sub nutella.  sorry, i didn't measure anything out so not sure of how much of the ingredients i used.  first i beat the whipping cream until it thickened a little, then i added two big knife blobs of the cocoa almond spread.  it's runnier than real frosting and you could swear it's almost like chocolate pudding.  

i put it on some yellow cupcakes (trader joe's cake mix).  the cake mix makes 24 cupcakes but i just made a third of the recipe which worked out well.

computer camera tip

just read a frightening article in GQ about a dude with a lot of free time who would hack into people's computers.  he was able to spy on the computer user by turning on their camera.  this guy would watch people eat, sleep, go to the bathroom (people often take their laptop to the toilet) have sex, etc. 

 

stick a post-it on your computer camera to cover it.