Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

  I needed to replace my kitchen faucet.   I looked on-line at Lowes, Home Depot, Amazon and a couple of specialty places.  The specialty places were through the roof on pricing.   I found one with appealing looks at a very competitive price at Amazon.   It included all the parts necessary for installation with the exception of the reinforced flexible tubing to tie it to your plumbing.   It installed easily and works great.   Keep an eye on price though, it fluctuates even on Amazon. The pull out sprayer works very well and eliminates the need for the second hole and handle.  I recommend this product.  I received no compensation for this post and did not get the product free for evaluation. Ceramic disc valving for a reliable, leak-free operation Single-control faucet with pull-out sprayer Swivel spout ADA compliant If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Somehow the willingness to hear both sides of a story, the tolerance to see someone else’s viewpoint and not vilify them has disappeared from our society.   There truly are very few things that are totally black and white.    However if you listen to the bombardment of political nonsense, all candidates have horns, forked tails and tongues and deserve to be confined to a fiery Hell. On the eve of Pennsylvania’s primary election I implore the apparently few who have still retained their sanity to look at solutions and plans not demagogy.    I would also like someday to see open primaries(gasp) where the voters could decide on candidates based on their merit not their political affiliation.    Conservative seems to have become the moniker of the Republican Party.    Sadly the current definition of Conservative seems to be one who is in lockstep with the status quo, who feels women should be barefoot and pregnant, who derides civility in favor of bombastic outrage and

This appears to be the same sprayer as the 20020 model but this one includes the brass fan tip, the measuring cup and the spray shield.    The spray shield is next to useless.    You can’t see the stream of liquid with the shield on so it makes it harder to be precise with your spray.    I am also not impressed with the brass fan spray tip.   I would have preferred a general purpose brass tip as opposed to the plastic tip.   The fan spray is useless for precise spraying in spot control of weeds.    It would work for doing along a fence but it thinned out the spray so much that any kind of wind would give you drifting spray.    I prefer more of a stream which is not prone to a lot of drift unless it is really windy and then you really wouldn’t be spraying anyway.    The measuring cup is fine but I’m not sure it has much value as most of the chemicals come with measuring caps.    There seems to be a $10 difference between the 20020 model and this one.    As far as I can

Be warned this is a large printer, that is to be expected when you see that it can print large format paper but it was still a bit surprising to get it out of the box and see how big it really is. 22 x 16.3 x 10.4 inches ; 27.1 pounds Installation on my network through Ethernet went well.  My only caution on that is that the first screen that identifies the printer shows the printer greyed out.   I discovered that you just push through, hitting next and finally it all installs and lets you print a test page.   The first test page took several minutes.   After that the test pages from the other two computers were quite prompt. I installed the software on an Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP machines.  All worked fine, saw the printer and printed out beautifully.  I printed out some photos on glossy paper and they were also beautiful.  I know from past experience that Epson printers actually do print out better on Epson brand paper but I was more than happy with the res

How the internet has changed the way we should buy insurance. The internet has got a lot to answer for, and the way we communicate with each other, even in the same house has been changed by our ease of access to technology. Rarely do families now sit around the lounge actually talking to each other, instead communicating with each other and the outside world through a range of devices including smart phones, tablets and laptop computers.  The way in which we do our shopping has also changed quite substantially, although many, apart from the shop based retailers, will agree for the better as we can now do our shopping online, or reserve products in a store before visiting ourselves to collect the items we need. We can also compared the price of different products before visiting the shop that sells it the cheapest, something we may have had to do on foot, or over the phone previously. The biggest difference the online world has made to shopping online comes in the

If you are shopping for a new home in 2012, granite is a big buzz word.    The realtor ads may not mention that the home has an outhouse but they will mention if it has granite counter tops.     Granite is claimed to be the swing vote when comparing new homes.   Yea if it has it and nay if it doesn’t.     A family member who is a realtor states stoutly (she’s not) that granite will help you get your asking price or help your house sell more quickly.   That is subjective and I can not quantify it but there does seem to be a lot of substantiating collaboration.   After a little research it is easy to say that there are no easy answers in granite.    One company advertises that their granite is 95% granite and 5% polymer.    They state that it is stronger than slab granite and they can put it right over your old countertops.    Since it is obviously made of left over granite chunks ground up and glued together (think particle board) it should be cheaper than slab granit

 Note, be aware not beware.    Replacement windows can be a very positive thing for your older home.    Depending on your builder, your home doesn’t have to be that old to have leaky and rattling windows.    If you have plans to resell in the near future or even a piece down the road you may want to consider replacement windows if your windows leak and rattle.    If you are planning a near time sale, you may even get the cost of the windows out of your sale.   Note, MAY!   What new windows may also do is get your property sold before the next one that still has leaky, rattling windows.   If your sale plans are further ahead, you may reap the benefits of new windows through lower energy costs.   You have probably noted the overuse of MAY in this post.    May is used because no one, especially realtors and window sales people can guarantee you that replacement windows will make your house sell faster, for more money or even save you money in energy.    They may

Polished stones are a treasure for many folks, particularly those of diminutive statue.   No, I’m not talking about dwarves and their love of stone, I’m referring to kids.   Kids like cool things they can carry around.  They particularly like cool things that don’t break easily and can go through the wash and not be destroyed.   Oddly enough, stones fit the bill.   I was shopping for stones for a diminutive family member and was surprised the local toy store did not have any.   I turned to the web and found a wealth of choices on eBay and Amazon.   I finally settled on Redwood Treasures.  If you read my blog at all, you know I am very fond of patronizing small businesses.   I had two and know the trials of being a small business owner.   I had questions on the stones and was able to get the owner on the phone and get my questions answered.   If you read how they describe themselves, I think you too will see they have the “right stuff” to be put in your favored places to buy