Jamison Rody: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

My Last Flat Iron Post, I Promise

Seems like flat irons are a pretty big topic of conversation around our household lately. In fact just a few days ago I told you about how my wife loves her new flat iron. How it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. How she's finally settled on one she'll use forever and ever until a mechanical error do them part.

Then yesterday my daughter came over and told my wife about her Izunami flat iron. How this is the one that's really the best ever, etc., etc. Now I'm sounding like Yul Brenner in The King And I. There's a guy who didn't need a flat iron.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. This Izunami flat iron is supposed to be really good. It's supposed to be the one that get's used in all the high end salons.

I don't know if my daughter's sales pitch was enough to make my wife switch. Perhaps it was but I hope not. It's kind of a sore spot for right now.

So as you would expect I did some research and put up a Squidoo lens. I've been doing a lot of writing lately. Can you tell?

Got A New Parker Crossbow And Am Ready To Hunt

I'm a hunter. It's what we do in this area of the country. And I especially enjoy crossbow hunting.

And yesterday I gave myself an early Christmas present by getting a new Parker crossbow. I've pretty much used Barnett's in the past, but a buddy of mine has a Parker and he let me try it out. I was sold.

Thing is, a lot of these Parker crossbows can get pretty expensive. Some of them are over $1000 dollars. No I didn't get one of the top of the line models, but I can't wait to try out the one I did get. I won't be hunting this weekend, but I will be going out to the range tomorrow to try it out.

If I'm as thrilled as I expect to be, I'll be taking it on our next hunt.

If you're a hunter too, you should probably see everything that Parker makes and try one out.

And here's my Squidoo lens on the topic. Enjoy!

Peacock Feather Earrings? Really?

I get it. The peacock is a beautiful bird. The multi-colored plume never made out kids fail to go "WOW" when we would see them at the zoo. Our grandkids do the same today.

But that doesn't mean I want to see them hanging out of your ears!

I know peacock feather earrings are popular these days, and actually have been for quite a while. But when a teenage friend of one of our daughters came over wearing them, I couldn't help but stare and ask questions.

The I did some research. It's amazing all the different types of earrings, necklaces and other jewelry that's made using these feathers. And here I thought it was something you would only see from Native Americans. I realize I'm stereotyping.

Anyway, you'll be surprised too when you check out my new Squidoo lens.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Who Woud Have Thought Cordless Meant Freedom

If there's one thing my wife and I have in common it's that we don't like being tied down. But there are times when one or both of us take it to the extreme.

Such is the case when, in her never ending quest for the perfect flat iron, my wife decided to purchase a cordless flat iron.

I'm not sure that's a good thing. If I'm trying to get some work done in my office she can now come in and visit me even if she just got out of the shower. She can take that thing anywhere. Now she can talk and do her hair at the same time.

If I sound like I'm complaining, I'm really not. It's kind of a joke. Kind of.

But think about the freedom of not having to straighten your hair sitting at a vanity mirror or worse, standing in front of that full length mirror on the back of your door. Of course you have to be pretty talented to fix your hair without looking, but my wife certainly is.

So as always, when something new happens I put up a new lens on it. Here it is.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

My Wife's ISO Flat Iron

My wife goes through flat irons like my grandkids go through diapers. It doesn't matter if it's an expensive model, it will either stop working or she'll become unhappy with the way it's working.

So it's time to try a new one.

Yesterday she purchased an ISO flat iron. Truthfully I don't really know much about flat irons. At my age straightening my hair is not exactly a priority. My priority is figuring out where all my hair has gone.

But she still has long, curly hair. Why she wants to straighten it is beyond me but that's another subject.

Anyway, she just bought this new flat iron and has been raving about it ever since. And best of all, it was really inexpensive. So that means we're both happy. LOL.

Here's a look at what she bought.

Time For A New Above Ground Pool Heater

Does the title of the post make sense? After all it is winter. Well that's exactly why it makes perfect sense actually.

We have shut our above ground pool down for the winter, but when next spring arrives we want it to be functioning a peak efficiency. It really wasn't towards the end of the summer. The heater wasn't heating like it once was. So we figured it was time to get a new one.

And winter is the perfect time to buy an above ground pool heater, Why? Because now is the time to get the best deals. Merchants typically lower their prices since very few people will buy during the cold weather months.

Since I'm a do it yourself kind of person, I'll buy it now, then put it in myself next spring.

The question is, what kind to get. I'm leaning towards solar heaters but I hear they don't heat quite as well as your standard gas heaters. But gas is getting so costly.

Anyway, here's a look at my options from my new lens on Squidoo.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Winter Is Here But Our Garage Floor Mat Keeps The Grime Out

Think about all the stuff that falls off your car every time you put it in the garage. Of course there's rain water in the spring and summer, and plenty of mud too if you drive through a puddle. In the winter you get snow and all the dirt and grime that accumulates on that as people drive through it. Maybe you've just found out you just got a small oil leak. You garage floor is an absolute mess.

I think it's time you invest in a garage floor mat.

All that stuff on the concrete without it not only looks bad, it can actually damage your garage floor, lowering the value of you home. It only makes sens to protect it.

The good news is there's plenty of options to choose from. Sure you can use that big piece of leftover old carpet but it's not nearly as good as using something made specifically for your garage. And the truth is, if you care about how your garage looks, those old carpets look horrible.

Check out all the great options now available to you and read about the strengths and weaknesses of each one.

An Electric Skillet Proves A Very Useful Item

Now that all but one of the kids has grown and left the house we've learned that we no longer have the need to cook huge meals like we once did. That's why we decided to get a brand new electric skillet.

This little item has proved to be incredibly useful in more ways than we could have imagined.

It uses less power than stove top or oven cooking so that's one immediate advantage. But there's so much we can do with it.

Casseroles of course are a breeze, but so is just about everything we make. We use this for everything from grilled sandwiches, to pancakes, to lasagna. We even got a deeper one so we can use it for fried items like chicken and french fries. OK so that might now be a good thing since we're trying to cut down on fatty items but you get the idea.

And it's so easy to clean too. The non-stick surface means we just need to wipe it out with some dish soap, rinse it, then put it away. How easy is that?

Anyway, if you want to learn how you might benefit from one of these in your home and find out which ones are great and which ones aren't, you might want to check out the links below.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

A Wide Belt Sander - My Christmas Wish List

Woodworking is one of my favorite hobbies, but I'm always searching for ways to make my work (play) more efficient. That's why I've decided I need to have a wide belt sander.

I know these are mostly used by large woodworking businesses, but it would be great to have one in my shop as well. Not one of those huge models, but they do make them with 16 inch belts which would be great for my purposes.

Yes these sanders can be pretty expensive, but I can wish right? And it's amazing all the things you can do with even the smaller models.

As usual, when I find out about something I generally make a Squidoo lens about it. So here it is. Check it out.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

New Lens - Softball Pitching Machine

I have a young teenage daughter who has been playing softball (actually started playing t-ball with the boys) since age 5. She loves it and she's good at it.

She would literally stay at the field all day and hit if my pitching arm could hold out that long. Unfortunately, it can't.

So she's going to love her Christmas gift. We're getting her a softball pitching machine. If you're wondering why this is a good thing, check out the Squidoo lens I just put up on the topic.

You'll find it here Softball Pitching Machine

And check out all the additional softball information I provided in case this might be something you daughter would want. Or maybe you coach a team. If you do, you really need one of these.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Just Got A New Barnett Quad 400 Crossbow Case

Some of you may not know this but I'm a pretty avid hunter, specifically with a crossbow. I have published several Squidoo lenses on crossbows, but my favorite is the Barnett Quad 400 crossbow.

I just ordered and received a new case for my bow and it's really good. Lightweight, padded, easy to carry, and with enough room and pockets to carry all of my accessories too.

I just updated the particular lens with info on this case.

You can check it out as well as all the other info on this crossbow at the following links.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Time To Get Healthy

You may not know this but I've lost about 30 pounds. I still have another 20 to go but it seems I've hit the dreaded plateau. So I'm going to get past it the best way I know how. I'm going to start jogging.

It seems like the wrong time of year to do that because it can get pretty cold around here in the winter. Maybe I'll go out and get myself a treadmill, I'm not sure yet. I'm going to try running around the neighborhood first.

I really wasn't sure where to start, but I found this site and it's a pretty good way to begin.

http://benefitsofrunning.net

Now to get a good new pair of shoes for running in (my old Nike's are pretty beat up), and some sweats and off I go. I'll let you know if it helps drop the pounds.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Flour Sack Towels?

Seems like I've been in a publishing mood lately. So now I'm going to tell you a little bit about something my wife has been doing. Seems she recently found a new hobby. She has been spending a lot of time embroidering flour sack towels.

What are flour sack towels? I'm glad you asked, because I just put up a page on these wonderful little things over on Squidoo. Where else would you think I would put it. Check it out here. Flour Sack Towels.

Anyway, she's gotten really good at it. So good in fact that now our neighbors and relatives are asking her to make some of these towels for them. Perhaps she should start charging. Sounds like a good way to make a little side income at home.

Oh, and flour sack towels have a pretty amazing story behind them. Head on over to the link above to find out more.

Those Darn Raccoons

It seems like anytime something happens in my life I feel compelled to tell everyone about it via a Squidoo lens. Such is the case here.

Here's the situation. Our dog food bowl in the yard seemed to be getting empty awfully fast. This had been going on for a month or so but our dog certainly wasn't getting any fatter. It couldn't have been the neighbors dogs because there's no way for them to get in to or out of our yard. Naturally my first thought was that my dog was sick.

That is until one evening I saw this furry creature wearing a bandit mask coming up to the bowl. A raccoon had been eating all the food.

If I lived in the country I might have gotten out the shotgun and taken care of the problem that way. OK so not really, but it makes me sound big and bad. Anyway, I began researching ways to get rid of raccoons without trapping them. The result (besides the raccoon now being gone) is this lens: Raccoon Repellent.

Go ahead and check it out.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

I Want A Cargo Van

I don't own a business that demands the use of a cargo van, so it would seem pretty silly of me to want one of these vans. But I do. They're big and you can just do so much with them.

If I got one, I would use it for road trips. The really cool thing I found out is that you can basically do whatever you want in the back of these things. If you want to set it up for camping, you can do that. Of course you can set it up for business too. What you plan to do with it determines what cargo van accessories you get. And I was pretty amazed by what's available.

For me, back seating, insulation, and a storage cabinet are a must. You can make this thing like a mini RV. I wouldn't take it cross country, but it would be great while traveling to my kid's out of town baseball tournaments and other things like that.

Of course I will get a roof rack too, just in case I want to take it on my next ski vacations. Which by the way, would be my first. But it sounds good.

Oh well, I'm probably just dreaming anyway.

Anyone want to join me?

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

My New Desk

I love my computer. My wife hates it. Actually she just hates seeing it on that big table on the living room.

Well I'm nothing if not good at compromise so I found a way to take up less space. I purchased a small corner computer desk. I've been so impressed by the way it opens up the room that I decided to put up a quick website detailing the advantages of this marvelous little table. You can check it out here...

http://cornercomputertable.net

I got one with a hutch because I have a lot of stuff, but the hutch has cabinet doors so it keeps a lot of things hidden. Thus I'm hearing less complaints about how hideous my stuff looks in the room.

If you're looking for a way to open up space in whatever room your computer is in, you may want to think about getting one of these.

Monday, November 5, 2012

My Backyard Putting Green

I admit the title of this post is a little misleading. I don't actually have one yet, but one of my goals is to have a backyard putting green installed at my home by next spring.

This is quite an undertaking so I've been doing a ton of research. I'm serious when I say I've spent hours surfing the net to find out everything I could find about getting one of these greens in my yard. I was shocked at the number of possibilities... and at the cost.

I figured I might as well save others who might be considering adding a golf green to their yard by documenting all my findings. The result is a new Squidoo lens.

If you're a golfer I hope you'll check it out at Backyard Putting Green.

Jamison Rody