Thrift store finds

Found a vintage Thermos pitcher this weekend at Thrift World for $2.98.  Is it just me or is this thing amazingly adorable?

Oh, and when I was trying to figure out exactly how old it was and I stumbled across an Etsy seller that listed the same one for $14, plus $7 shipping.  Look at some of the other cute things she has for sale:

$12.00

$14.00

After I snapped a photo of the pitcher, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the chest that it sat on.  It's my favorite vintage item.  It's a 70 year old cedar chest that my Grandma Tiffin got as a little girl.

Margarita night with Grandma and Grandpa Tiffin!

A few years aago for Christmas my grandma gave me twelve coupons for margarita night at their house, and the margarita night tradition has carried on long after the coupons have been used up.  God, I hope Kevin and I are this cool when we're their age.  Heck, I hope we're still alive when at their age... my grandma just turned 81 (and she has her own facebook page!).  Here's a picture of my lovely grandparents on Kevin and I's wedding day:

Kevin and I have been working very hard to only eat all natural and organic foods (especially animal products.. meats, dairies, cheeses, etc.), so instead of having my grandparents try to accommodate us, we decided to invite them over for dinner at our place. 

Of course we had to carry on the margarita tradition, but just a few problems... no tequila, margarita mix, margarita glasses or even a blender.  Well, I guess that's not entirely true.  We do own a blender, but let's just say that I tried to blend up some chickpeas to make hummus a couple months ago, and after spending about 20 minutes trying to get the blender to do it, I discovered that mashing the chickpeas with my bare hands was more efficient.

So, it was off to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a new blender.  Usually I make these type of purchases online, but having only realized our margarita predicament yesterday, there was definitely no time for that.  Luckily I found a great blog post on how to choose a blender.  I mean who would write a blog post about blenders... oh wait.. 

Here's our new Cuisinart SmartPower Deluxe Duet Blender and Food Processor conveniently purchased from Bed Bath and Beyond for only $99!

It blended the ice for the margaritas in about 5 seconds.  Incredible.  And actually, the picture above is really just half of it.  It came with a different attachment that goes on the motor that's a food processor.  Oh the possibilities!

Human Factors in Design and Global Knives

I'm taking a class called Human Factors in Information Systems at Creighton and we have been learning all about user-centered design of information systems.  I really enjoyed this video that my teacher Dr. Corritore showed tonight during class.  This is the author of one of the books we are reading for class (Don Norman).  If you have time, watch the whole video, otherwise start out at the 3:55 minute mark on the video.  Isn't it crazy how much the reactions in our brain induced by our surroundings can affect our thinking?



On another note, I've been wanting some new knives for a few months now - we have just been using some super cheap ones that Kevin has had for years.  My parents got me some nice Kitchen Aid knives during college, but God help me if I could find them (sorry mom if you're reading this...wish I could find them!).  On the video above Dr. Norman points out how the Global knife that he says is both beautiful and functional.  Of course that immediately caught my eye during class so I checked out the Amazon reviews... and the reviews are solid!  I don't think we could afford a whole set, but maybe we should invest in just one really good quality multi-purpose 8-inch Global knife ($99)?

Blogger templates

I've changed the look of my blog!  Comment to let me know what you think.  I'm still playing around with it, so don't get too attached to this one yet.  I found an awesome website for templates... here's the link.  Of course like most things it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be.  If you are using blogger here are the step-by-step instructions to take advantage of shabby chic's beautiful templates:

Change the template

1. Click the "design" tab
2. Select "edit HTML"
3. Select "layout template"
4. Click "Minima"
5. Click "Save Template"

Add the shaggy chick template

1. Click the "design" tab
2. Click "Add a gadget"
3. Select the "HTML/Javascript" gadget
4. Go to the shaggy chick blogger templates
5. Select the template you like and click "install background"
6. Copy the HTML text from shaggy chick
7. Paste the HTML into the content section of the "HTML/Javascript" gadget
8. Click save

Adjust the colors

1. Click the "design" tab
2. Click "template designer"
3. Click "advanced"
4. Change the blog title color, post title description, visited link color, ect., by selelecting a color from the drop down box.

Remove the navbar:

1. Click the "design" tab
2. Click "template designer"
3. Click "advanced"
4. Click "Add CSS"
5. Copy and paste the following HTML into the "Add CSS" box to remove the Navbar (the ugly blogger searchbar at the top)  Here's what you need to copy and paste:  #navbar-iframe { display: none !important; }

Thrift store finds

So in high school I worked at a thrift store called Thrift America and pretty much wore all thrift store clothes, and I loved it.  Yeah, maybe I would have preferred the designer clothes at Abercrombie and Fitch or American Eagle, but I had fun with my thrift store clothes and obviously didn't have to spend very much money to do so.  Then somewhere between college and corporate america I forgot just how wonderful thrift store shopping can be... not only cheap but also environmentally friendly.  Reduce, reuse, and recycle!  I can't wait to reuse the stuff I found this last Thursday at Thrift World.  A scarf, two books, a vase, and four tops all under $19.62!  My new goal is to buy 80% of my clothes / accessories at thrift stores!

Cleaning without chemicals or paper towels? What???

      

My Aunt Kate told me about this cleaning product she has been using for the last year that cleans only using a re-useable microfiber cloth and water.  I guess my cousin Janelle has been selling Norowex products for a few years and a lot of the women in my extended family swear by them. 

This has the potential to eliminate the 3 large paper towel rolls I go through every week (thank you Stephanie for making me feel so guilty!).  Here are the products that I bought today.  I'll keep you updated on my reviews:

Click here for a full list of products and additional information - click here!

So what is this magic cleaning?  Here's the brief summary my cousin Janelle put together.

________________________________________________________________

“Top Questions and Answers”

What is Norwex? 

Norwex is a company that originated in Norway in 1994. The product line was originally developed for cleaning hospitals in Norway and has been tested and proven to be more effective than hazardous cleaning chemicals.  All you use is water!  The Norwex Mission statement is "To radically improve the quality of life by reducing the use of cleaning and personal care products".  

How does it work? 

• Imagine a human hair split lengthwise 6 times, so that each of the 6 splits picks up dirt, debris and bacteria. That defines “microfiber,” 1/6^th the size of a human hair.
• Now imagine that same hair split lengthwise 100 times so that each of the 100 splits does the same. This defines a Norwex microfiber cloth.
• Additionally, Norwex microfiber has a patent-pending silver agent (approved by the FDA and EPA) woven into the cloth itself.  Laboratory tests show that it kills 99.94% of all viruses (see pg 4.)

Why is Norwex microfiber better?

• All you need to clean is water! NO CHEMICALS EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
• A non-Norwex microfiber cloth will maintain its cleaning ability for up to about 25 washes, and will then become like a regular cotton cloth in its ability to clean. A Norwex Antibac microfiber cloth, on the other hand, still picks up 99.4% of bacteria after 500 washings!
• 2.9 million meters of microfiber is used to make one small Enviro Cloth.

• It holds up to seven times its weight in water.
• Can reach into the tiniest crevices (even those in surfaces which appear smooth to the human eye) and scoop out hidden dirt and bacteria.  
• Has a natural static charge that acts like a magnet to attract even the tiniest particles of dirt
• Creates a capillary action  that draws dirt, grime and bacteria into the center wedge-shaped areas of the cloth

The IPad

So I played with an Ipad for the first time tonight during my Human Factors in Information Systems class at Creighton tonight.  Our main group project for the semester is developing a prototype for an Ipad application, so my professor brought in her and her husbands Ipads so we could play around on them.  From what I could tell, the best part about them is how easy it is to search and surf the internet... so much more fun than a computer because you can catch up on your internet news, blogs, and facebook from the comfort of your bed, couch, kitchen, etc.

I soooooo want one, but can I justify a $499 toy?