New York Renovator

OK, have you got an emergency kit for your home and car yet? You should have one! We have had some winter car mishaps, and have had power losses from time to time– an emergency kit is cheap and, believe me, it’s very, very convenient when you need it. You can also have all the individual “stuff” and place it in a big box, but a kit is nice because it’s compact, and because family members are less likely to “borrow” a tool from the kit and never put it back. Not like that has ever happened here. :-p We can never even seem to keep track of our flashlight…

ANYWAY, a kit is very important. It’s good to have one in the car for winter, and in the house year round.

A car good kit includes:
A hand-crank battery-operated flashlight
A hand-crank battery-operated radio
Antibiotic ointment and bandages
Aspirin or ibuprofen
Compass
Waterproof plastic zip bags, with one bag filled with matches
Whistle
Small, portable shovel
Flares
Small blanket
Small amount of cash

A good home kit includes:
A hand-crank battery-operated flashlight
A hand-crank battery-operated radio
Antibiotic ointment and bandages
Aspirin or ibuprofen
Waterproof plastic zip bags, with one bag filled with matches
Whistle
Fire extinguisher
List of emergency telephone numbers and contact names
Small amount of cash

Buy.com has a great sale on the First Survivor Emergency Kit. It’s only $17 and the shipping is free. It also includes a handy Mobile Phone Charger with Dynamo Hand Crank Power Generator.

Also, this is the time of year when you should check to make sure you have operating smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in your home. New laws have been passed in various municipalities. Here in New York, carbon monoxide detectors is now mandatory for all dwelling places, both new and existing.

It does not take very much time and effort to provide for safety in the home and car. And Buy.com has made it easy on the budget, too. They have great prices on smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (ooo and on radar detectors, too! heehee). Some manufacturers have come out with combination detectors, too, and Buy.com carries them.

Stay safe this summer!

As a kid, air conditioning was an extravagant luxury, meant for stores like Macy’s and really rich people. Back then, when it was 90, 100 degrees during the summer, we sweated it out. Yes, yes! I am now old enough to tell stories of how we “roughed it” when WE were youngsters!! I’ll spare you the stories of how we had to walk UPHILL 20 miles to school– BOTH ways!!

Anyway, I’ve lived without air conditioning all these years, and have survived! But now that I am updating the electric at the house, and now that I have a billion computers and electronics running in my home office every day, and now that it’s been in the mid-90s ALL WEEK and I am at the end of my tolerance level, lol…. oh, and now that Al Gore says global warming is practically HERE and will kill us all if we don’t DO SOMETHING– I am thinking of getting a small unit for the office. How cool is that? LOLOL

Problem is, all my local Big Box stores are sold out. Can you believe it?!?! They can’t keep these things in stock?! Hello, it’s summer! lol.. anyway… I am glad I am not at the mercy of the guy who orders the inventory at the local Big Box stores. Because I have Buy.com!!! Buy.com has stuff in stock! They have some really great prices, too, on name-brand air conditioners!

This is the Frigidaire FRA082AT7 Window Air Conditioner, providing 8,000 BTUs (enough to cool a 350 square foot room). I think it’s great! It plugs in to any three-prong outlet (although I recommend a dedicate circuit for something like this). It also has an anti-bacteria filter that helps prevent air-borne bacteria and odors. Nice! It’s $200 with shipping. And it’s IN STOCK. It fits in the window… which means I would have to fix my 100-year old window to get the thing open, yeah…. fun… it’s something I *have* to do, anyway.

I love Buy.com. They have everything, and lots of stuff is usually free shipping (and it’s very fast shipping, too). Plus, their prices are great. They are always having some sale or another– the electronics prices are incredible. Great job, Buy.com!

I have a home business. Somewhere in here, lol. It’s kind of in limbo right now, because of our ongoing renovations… but I DO actually have a home office here at home. I am realizing how very, very important it is to have a quiet, tidy, and organized home office, because mine is always dirty and chaotic right now. If it’s not filling up with plaster dust wafting in from the demolished kitchen, then it’s full of sneakers, dishes, boxes, pet supplies, and more…. wow I sure miss my tidy, organized space! I will have it, soon, once the kitchen and dining room are rebuilt and organized again.

I’m rethinking a lot of the organization here. My house has no storage space– there’s no attic (not for storage, anyway!) and the basement floods. So the only space I have is the attached garage… and the small bedroom closets.. and my office here in the living room. :-p Thank God that Buy.com has a special section for office storage and desk workstations. I’ve been looking into getting a corner desk (those are such great space savers), and other things like bookshelves and carts. This Kathy Ireland Huntington Club Executive Desk is absolutely gorgeous. Wow, this would look SO good in my living room. At $1300 and some change, it had better! It’s not in my budget right now, but it’s definitely what I’m looking for in a desk: warm wood tones, a furniture-like appearance, and lots of drawers.

If you;re inthe market for office supplies, or even school supplies since school is right around the corner, you should definitely check out Buy.com. They have loads and loads of stuff for the office and school: binders, storage boxes, desk organizers, pens and pencils and everything that goes with them, file cabinets, desk chairs, printers, tape, staplers, everything! The prices are very good, and Buy.com’s shipping is SUPERB bar none. When I order stuff from Buy.com, it is always here in a matter of a day or two, even with free shipping. They are just amazing with their customer service. I haven’t found anyone better than Buy.com, and I do a lot of online shopping, believe me.

Anyway, do check them out. Buy.com is renowned for their exceptional electronics sales and deals– they have them every week and weekend– but they are also a great place to get everything else, like household goods, clothing, books, household supplies, and more.

Sheesh! Remember how– seems like eons ago– you could just walk into a store and find a sturdy, tough, and affordable tool box? I was perusing the aisles at my local Big Box store. :-p yuk. Who on earth wants a plastic toolbox? Or a nylon bag toolbox?! I am pretty tough with my stuff. When I am pounding, sawing, banging, demolishing, etc., the LAST thing I want to do is fuss about my delicate toolbox falling over and its contents spilling out. Or throwing my crowbar into it and worrying about the end tearing the fabric. What ever happened to those good old, metal boxes with metal clasps and metal handles???

OK, rant over.

I have an old plastic toolbox and I’m not terribly pleased with it. The closing clasp is a dud (a plastic latch that you press over a plastic bar). I looked and looked for a toolbox- a good one- but didn’t find anything suitable and durable.

Lo an behold– Buy.com has one! I wish it was in pink or purple, but I guess you can’t have everything, lol. Behold the 20-inch red metal toolbox:

See those nice sliding drawers?! They lock in place when the lid is closed. No more digging through 10 inches of tools to find your nail punch or jigsaw blades at the bottom! And it’s metal. And notice that it has a metal flap for a combination lock, to keep tool thieves from taking off with your FAVORITE measuring tape and then losing it so that when you REALLY need it for your project, you spend half the day searching for it!!!!

*ahem*

So the toolbox is nice. Very handy. It’s a good price, too– about $60. That’s a good price for a toolbox that will last years and years. Those lousy nylon ones may be $30, but it’s no good when you have to buy them every year. :-p

Buy.com has tons of stuff like this: tools, organizers, household items, apparel, books, jewelry, and tons and tons of stuff. Buy.com is very well-known for their stupendous sales on electronics, too. They have weekly and daily specials that go fast. You can register to get their deal emails, to keep track of what’s on sale and learn about promotions. Thanks for great stuff, Buy.com!

I was at Buy.com, looking around for supplies for the kitchen, when I did a quick search– out of the blue– for wall-mounted gas heaters. Holy cow, Buy.com even has those! What a marvel! I’ll have more on central heating in a future post… we’re still working out the details, but I’m thinking of going to gas heaters.

Anyway, I’m hunting around, comparing prices for stuff like compact refrigerators, paint, and painting supplies. Can you believe that Buy.com has it all?! I’m amazed. Buy.com is known for its superior deals on electronics (sign up for their weekly sale flier to keep on top of their great deals– they do go fast!). But Buy.com also has some really, really selections and prices on scads of other stuff: jewelry, books, clothing, some footwear, household supplies, cookware, decor items, outdoor and garden accessories, and more. It’s quite impressive. I went to Buy.com for the purpose of looking up some nice iPod docks for the kitchen. I’m creating a small media center in the kitchen, and I want a very very nice iPod dock. I think Memorex is a reliable brand, and there’s a terrific price at Buy.com: $84 and it includes shipping. Nice! It’s the Memorex Mi1111 Mini Hi-Fi System, has an mp3 player, CD player, and is an iPod dock. I’ve had pretty good experience with Memorex. I may get it. I’ll let you know. I want something rather small, but big in sound. It’s simply beautiful, I know that. Look how classy it is.

Buy.com also has refrigerators! And vacuums! And paintbrushes! And power tools! And bedding! And loads more. Seriously, they seem to have everything. You have got to check them out. And they ship very fast. I love Buy.com!

*sigh*

Is ANYTHING made in the United States anymore??

We’ve been shopping for jigsaws. We have an old Skil saw that is, to put it bluntly, crap. We got it about 12 years ago (OMG I just realized that it was probably our first power tool that we bought!). It’s been through a lot, but it never worked well anyway. So we’ve been looking for a suitable replacement… and WHOA baby… tooooo many choices! And none of them very good! So much is made in China! Why is that?! Sheesh. The Hubs greatly dislikes the cheapo pressed tin housing that everything seems to come in. Even the Craftsman is a little chintzy-looking. We’d like a DeWalt (that’s what all the pros use, it seems), but DeWalt is WAY out of our league. I can’t see paying $300 for a jigsaw.

Oooo but I found something very cool today! A DeWalt DW317K Compact Jigsaw Kit on sale at Buy.com!!! This is the lowest price I have found yet, $150! It’s got orbital action (a must-have for me), and ALL METAL housing, and a steel case. Very nice!!!!

I know– I’m a rare breed of woman that gets ecstatic about power tools. But you know, back in the “olden” days when we first bought our home, the only tools we owned were a hammer, a hand saw, and a Phillips screwdriver. Believe it or not, I used to cut my wood BY HAND and then I screwed it in BY HAND with the screwdriver. NOT FUN. So that’s why I flip out over power tools. I LOVE them.

Score another for Buy.com! Thanks, dudes, for offering great prices on quality stuff!

The best thing about tearing apart the entire kitchen is getting to rebuild it EXACTLY as you want it. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.

I’m planning on wiring the entire house for ethernet, so that we don’t have to rely on wireless Internet so much. I have four teens, and I’m a computer geek, so we have a ton of devices on the Net. All that activity can slow things down a bit, especially via wireless. Plus, I like the security of wired stuff. Anyway, I’m planning on building at least one ethernet port into every room, and my eventual goal is to rig it all up to a control panel with switches and hubs. It’ll take some work (plus, getting the plumbing and electrical in is *kinda* a priority right now!). I’ll lay in the wires while the walls are open, and then I’ll hook it all up later.

I’m also planning on a multi-media center (next year I will build the room addition for that). But I do want to incorporate some media in the kitchen. We don’t have TV, I dislike TV, but I do like to have Internet capability and we definitely want music in the kitchen. So I’m looking at my options… I’ve always wanted an under-cabinet player, always. They are so efficient, s space-saving! This nice Sony Undercabinet Clock Radio and CD Player caught my eye. It doesn’t have an iPod dock, though…. but the price is really right- on sale right now for under $72. That’s a great price; my local Big Box retailer had something similar for $30 more. The Sony Undercabinet Player is, of course, at Buy.com. I’m going there more and more for our household needs, as well as our electronic gadget stuff. It is a superb store! The service is incredible, and I always get really good prices.

So…. my dream list is lengthening, lol. But I absolutely MUST incorporate music into the kitchen if I want the kids to help me out with kitchen chores! They’re getting a little tried of lugging out the big CD boom box to play their dish-washing music!

This woman, anyway.

I am dissatisfied with the duct tape at WalMart. That is, the stuff is useless!!! It doesn’t stick, hello?! Blahhh.

I am a duct tape fiend. We love duct tape. I think every old house homeowner loves duct tape. It comes in SO handy: for furnace seams (temporary of course), holding old door joints, taping window cracks, sealing doors and windows, wrapping around pipes for a temp fix, “fixing” soles of shoes that have come unglued…. etc etc etc…. but it’s kinda important to find duct tape that, like, WORKS. So I’ve been hunting around for the glorious duct tape.

Can you believe that Buy.com even sells DUCT TAPE?!?! Every kind of duct tape you can imagine! Intertape Polymer, wide, High Performance, Gorilla Duct Tape, duct tape in designer colors, “Sumo” duct tape, duct tape sheets and even transparent duct tape! All those choices, what is a girl to do?!

I think I’ll just get one of each, please.

That “Sumo” duct tape sounds terrific. LOL. And the HIGH performance stuff. I have to seal a billion doorways and heater vents… and I can’t have the junky, cheapo duct tape flopping off in the middle of my project, now can I?! And we all thought Buy.com sold only electronics! I love Buy.com. They have a huge selection of… well, everything! Prices are great, shipping is free on lots of stuff, and Buy.com takes PayPal as well as a variety of other payment choices. I get their weekly sale notice via email– that is mostly about electronics and computers– but loads of household stuff is always well-priced, too. Be sure to check them out if you need vacuum cleaners or parts, dishware, linens, books, clothes, shoes, tools, and tons of other stuff. AND DUCT TAPE! Yay!

We need a new jigsaw. We have an old Skil that we have been enduring (and I mean enduuuuuring) but I’ve decided that I’m not going to skimp on tools for our kitchen renovation project. Do you realize that when we moved here, the ONLY tools we had were a small hammer, a flathead screwdriver, and a (very lame) battery-operated handheld screwdriver? I did buy a handsaw. Can you believe that I built my front porch and renovated my front entry with a HANDSAW?! Yes, I did! Oh, the agony. And it’s no wonder that everything is curvy. :S

Well, we’ve acquired a few tools over the years. Hands down, my favorite tool is my miter saw. Oh my word, I love that thing! WHAT a blessing. And I do love my 14.4v power screwdriver. I would also love my jigsaw, but the one we have is unlovable. It stinks. It sticks, it overheats, it moans it groans. I’m getting a nice one this time. We went to the Big Box home improvement stores in the area.. looked around… waited *forever* for a tool department representative who never showed up… and left empty-handed. I wonder how many sales are lost because Big Box stores don’t have enough folks in the departments? I couldn’t find the jigsaw I wanted… it was on the display case, but no where on the shelves.

It's a 4.5 amp with a dust blower and a dial to adjust cutting speed. Sweet!

It doesn’t matter, because I came home to see if Buy.com has any jigsaws… and can you believe it?! They do! These guys have everything, I tell ya, and it’s always on sale! They even sell the blades! And I love Black & Decker products. They are built very well, in my opinion. Oh sure, I’d love a $1000 DeWalt hanging from my belt, but I couldn’t afford that- I’m not a professional. I think Black & Decker make the best “mid-line” products. And I love Craftsman, too. Buy.com has them all! Isn’t the jigsaw sweeeet! It’s an orbital saw- which means it makes curves as well as straight cuts. (heart beating with joy). I have to saw lathe in the upstairs bedrooms, to feed electrical wiring in– need me a saw. I’d be grateful for an orbital, as well, because cutting in squares–especially when you’re cutting a hole in a wall– is tough.

So the jigsaw I like is the Black & Decker JS6000B Jigsaw. Isn’t it beautiful!? The price is great: $53 which includes shipping. Me likey.

THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ‘BOUT.

If she’s anything like me, she wants that honking baby hanging from her tool belt, MMMHMMMMM!

When my kids wonder about what to get me for Mother’s Day or my birthday, I’m pretty predictable. I want the POWAH!!!!! That is a Rockwell 14.4-volt cordless drill with LIFETIME battery warranty. Sweeeet. At Buy.com, of course. I also like the Skil model, but that’s sold out. Oh, and Buy.com has a kickin’ Grinder Buffing Polishing Machine for only $50!!!

But what I really need is a nice garden hose and a hot plate. Because we’re going to be without a functional kitchen until August…. *sigh* The garden hose must be potable because we’ll be getting our drinking water from it, and washing our dishes in a basin outside; and the hot plate will be our only way to make tea and cook meals, because the stove is going to be in storage for a while. Kitchen renovations are SOOOO scary. I get this funky butterfly feeling when I think about it too much….

Anyway, Buy.com makes the transition a little easier. I can use my KICKIN’ power tools (every mom’s dream right?!) and get some great deals on everything from the PEX fittings to wall paint to the pots and pans. Buy.com also has some terrific weekly sale on electronics, too. I’m holding off on getting a laptop until the kitchen is done…. lol. I can’t wait until it’s all over and I haven’t even started!