Any recommendations for a reasonably priced dual-voltage hair straightener?
Not sure what reasonably priced to you is but I’ve had a Sedu for many years. Bought it because it has a wide paddle as I have a lot of hair. At the time, it was one of the few brands that offered this width. My daughter has the same one. I probably only use it a few times a month but it has lasted maybe 10 years? Think I paid around $100.
I have a Miele diswasher (not new) and a year or two ago thought it was getting gunked up and not doing such a great job cleaning, so I ordered the Miele dishwasher tabs and it definitely got better and I noticed my dishwasher did not get gunked up anymore.
Having said that, I have noticed that my clear glasses are all etched. Could this be from the Miele dishwasher tabs, especially since nothing else has changed? Is it the particular cycle I am using? I vary between using the express cycle and the normal cycle. I have a new set of glassware that I am fearful of using because I do not want them to get etched.
Has anyone else had this experience and what dishwasher detergent would you recommend that does not etch glass?
Our Groghe dishwasher was etching our glasses. We switched glasses to the stemless wine glasses from Costco. Those don’t seem to get etched.
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Replying to an earlier question of mine about painting a faded patio umbrella! Found a successful,economical solution!
Here’s the old cover - you can see how faded and mildewed even after attempts to power wash
Super happy to find at least a solution for now.
Here’s the solution ! A new cover from Amazon! Fits perfect! $21!! I don’t care if I have to change it each year! This will be a test for durability but I feel a legit price to test
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The Amazon link
Patio Umbrella 9 ft Replacement Canopy for 8 Ribs-Sky Blue By MASTERCANOPY https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SG8DSGD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_VE5DEWF4V3GSQSQGHXFN
If you click around on the colors and such you can find different sizes or #of ribs. Mine is a 9ft with 8 ribs
It could be that the granules aren’t dissolving all the way in the wash cycle. Our dishwasher repair guy told us to just use a bit of white vinegar once/week to prevent the gunking up with our normal detergent.
Great tip! I’ve previously replaced the whole umbrella!
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Has anyone had success convincing a child of the depression that they can spend retirement money on things like food? It’s pretty depressing to spend a bit of time going over FIL’s stock holdings with him (as I did yesterday), knowing how much he has there, plus knowing he has a lot more in CDs et al, and listening to him talk about how eggs are too expensive to buy now and he can’t get mustard because Aldi’s ran out of it. He won’t shop elsewhere because prices are too high.
He’s lost 15 +/- pounds recently (was 168 I think he said - now down to 152 or 3). That rose a red flag for H and me until we realized his diet is mostly just cabbage, sweet potatoes, and collards now that prices are higher. He’ll buy a rotisserie chicken and spread that meat out over a week or two.
We bring food when we visit and make sure we leave leftovers for him since we “can’t take them back with us.” He’ll still eat at Hardees for breakfast at times so he can get coffee to take home. I do the survey on those receipts so he can use the “Buy 1, Get 1” burger later to feel ok about getting those cost-wise when we’re gone.
But otherwise, we can’t be here all the time and we can’t seem to change his habits. He’s free to spend and eat what he likes, of course, but we’re getting more worried about his health with his weight loss. It’s not like he doesn’t enjoy other foods. He tells us it’s real good when we eat together. He just a “Depression Era kid” and thinks he doesn’t have the money for it I suspect. He’s also not interested in Meals on Wheels.
He cooks some, but not a ton - mostly fries or microwaves things, but will bake sweet potatoes. I’ve left boxed foods he enjoys here in the past, but he won’t make those himself. “Too difficult.” One just has to add milk, water, and butter…
Most foods we leave are ready to eat - things like grapes, eggs, potato salad, leftovers, etc. They only last for a little bit.
I’m trying to brainstorm.
Creekland - depression-era habits are hard to break (have seen it with my parents). Could you send him some high-caloric, non-perishable food via Amazon (granola bars, raisins, etc.)? He might object but at least he’d have it in the house and if they were tasty, maybe he’d be enticed to eat?
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We have an elderly relative like this too! She will choose a deal over quality even when it is a matter of just cents. We have had little success in changing her outlook. What we try to do (extended family included) is order deliveries for them, fresh goods and dry. Since this can be done long distance no one of us minds doing it.
This has made a slight difference in their diet but not in the outlook. The grumbling happens but we all just turn a deaf ear.
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I think it’s a common issue. My dad’s joke since retirement (decades ago) has been “Don’t worry about me. I have enough money to like like a King the rest of my life… if I die tomorrow. But figuring out how long it needs to last is the trick”
Can he eat nuts? If yes, that might be a good gift item from you and grandkids. Easy to serve, calorically dense. (you’d have to go unsalted if sodium / high blood pressure is a concern)
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He doesn’t eat nuts unless they are his pecans from his own trees, but in general, I like the idea of sending him things he would eat. We’ll start brainstorming that way.
His birthday is coming up. Besides the train trip out west we’re treating him to, I have already told H to check on his shirt size because he won’t spend money on those either apparently, and the one he’s wearing today would be iffy to use as a barn work shirt at our house. His going out in public with it (as he does) is bound to have people feeling sorry for the “poor” old man. He’s not poor. I’m keeping that in mind for my own “unintended, but happens” judgment when I see people. That probably falls in line with being a somewhat “typical” guy thinking, “it hasn’t fallen off of my body yet, so what’s wrong with it?” 
But getting back to food, since our kids all live in different areas I can see us working together to have folks send him “local” food packages of things “we” like that he can try " to see what he thinks" or something like that.
Fishing weather is almost here and he loves to fish, so that will give him another “free” option that he loves too.
Otherwise, just losing that much weight in the past couple of months doesn’t seem good to me. Hopefully it is just due to inflation and cutting back on higher calorie food due to increase in prices. He had a routine check up doctor appt recently and they didn’t say anything was off. He looks fine and his mind is still very sharp, etc, esp for being almost 94.
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What if you gave him gift cards to local grocery stores? It’s not money then it’s just a card! 
Or subscribe to a CSA that delivers and includes thinks I’m addition to vegetables- like dairy or meat
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This is a tough one. I had meals on wheels delivery to my mother when she was 92. She saved all the parts like milk, desert, etc and gave it to her neighbor. She only liked the soup, so I requested double soup. As a depression era child she also was very thrifty and shopped at Aldi.
I think I would go with care packages from different sources, as you don’t know what will strike a cord. Another thing we did was get takeouts and put them in a pyrex container singe servings. She could heat them up in the microwave. Does he microwave? There are a lot of microwave meals that might appeal to him you could buy when there. Then someone could count how many he has eaten on the next visit.
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I really like the gift card idea, esp with his birthday coming up. I’ll talk with the boys to see if they can get some too. Theirs will likely be to restaurants since the grocery stores don’t overlap, but if he has them for restaurants he goes to I think he’d use them. They’re better than coupons! We’ll let him know they do take out if he doesn’t want to eat in. Cracker Barrel used to be a favorite of his. I’ll talk with H to see if he can think of others around here.
He does use the microwave so I can check into these too. He wouldn’t buy them himself (too costly), but he’d likely eat them if they were here - same as food we bring and leave with him. It’s worth a try. “Easy” could be very appealing to him if “free” I would think.
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I feel like I at least did one good job at persuasion today.
We got on stocks yesterday because he can’t stand one he owns. He’s convinced they’re taking money from him (they aren’t), and rather than believe my explanation he told me, “If I can’t understand it, I don’t want it.” What has happened is the stock price has dropped, so his income from it has dropped considerably.
Ok, but he wanted to shift the money into two others he owns. They cost far more and pay less than half the dividend percentage-wise so he’d need to come up with thousands more to make the same amount from them. He was stumped on that and wanted some data from me to compare his two options before committing to one of them.
I clued him into one we own that gets good ratings from others, costs less per share than the one he wants to sell, and is slightly higher than their dividend percentage-wise, so he’ll get a few extra bucks each quarter without having to put thousands more in. Just sell one and buy the other with the same amount of $$.
What he “should” do is cash out the one and put it into his bank account to cover the higher cost of living for the next couple of years. He has more than enough elsewhere to continue living as a king, but since he “can’t” do that, at least this ought to help.
And hopefully the company I recommended doesn’t get hit by the next volcano, tsunami, or other unexpected major event. It has a good, upward track record going back a bit. He agrees with all the math and charts, but I’m definitely more comfortable investing our own money than someone else’s!
For now, it feels good being useful at least. FIL very, very rarely asks for my thoughts on anything, but H assured him I handle all our investments and finances (except taxes) so this will hopefully work for him too.
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Would he be open minded to Meals on Wheels? I’ve known reluctant people that gogh got to like it. You can arrange to just get certain days or (in some locations) pick by the meal calendar.
Did anyone watch (or is currently watching) the Jimmy Fallon/Jimmy Kimmel show swap tonight? It was a hoot. Fallon and Timberlake were a riot!! Much better then Kimmel and Hugh Jackman. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be simultaneously on both shows. .
He feels Meals on Wheels is for people who really need it (health-wise). He scoffs at getting it for himself, so H isn’t bringing it back up again.
He’s still quite active. This morning he’s been working with his seedlings and starting new ones. Right now he’s helping H crack pecans for our yams tomorrow and they’ve been talking about turkey hunting because the season for that opened today in VA. He plans to go next week. He’d have been out today, but his car broke down and he has to wait for the mechanic to call.
It’s just his hang up on spending money that concerns me and now that’s even more of an issue with inflation. Meals on Wheels would help, but he doesn’t feel he fits their profile.
I’d understand completely if he didn’t have the money, but he does. I don’t care that he wears worn out clothes (though it did trigger the birthday present thought) or won’t buy a new car/dishwasher/lawn mower vs getting his old ones repaired. But when it comes to just eating cabbage and sweet potatoes, plus his homegrown collards, because everything else is too expensive - then his significant lost weight, almost 10% of his bodyweight - I guess I feel the need to try to do something. Gift cards to grocery stores/restaurants and packages with various food items (as long as we can hide the real reason) might help, along with our typical leaving things behind. He seems to have no trouble eating with us - just spending money to buy foods.
We’ve also had conversations about rising prices and what’s a “common” price for things now vs before, but I don’t know if that will translate into a changed mindset.
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