Why do people hate doing the dishes so much? I can’t comment on why people dislike all types of menial labor, but in the case of dirty dishes it may have a lot to do with the useless bottle of dishwashing soap sitting atop the sink like a little king lording over his dirty subjects. To you, dishwashing soap, I say, you are useless! You do not cut through grease coating my baking pan, scrub off the melted cheese on my china plates, or eat through the crust in a lasagna pan left overnight! It is time for your reign of terror to end! No longer will I be up to my arms in suds, desperately trying to pick off the remains of last night’s potato’s au gratin, marring my manicure beyond retrieval. No longer, I say! It’s it’s time for all of us procrastinating dishwashers to switch soaps for the good of ourselves and the dishes, and I’m just the lady to tell you what to buy.
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Do you know what it’s like to be covered in dirt, worn into the ground, and scrubbed over until your nerves are just a messy tangle of split-ends? Do you how it feels to be walked all over by a feckless majority?! Then you know how those warped linoleum floors and threadbare carpets in your house have been feeling for the past 10 years. I can actually hear them crying for help out now. Yes, my dear, it’s time for you to get off your butt and do something kind for those poor excuses for flooring. And I don’t mean cleaning them. Again.

You need new floors and you need them now. Man cannot live on linoleum alone, no matter how spill resistant and easy to clean it may be. It’s just boring. As the great girl band Le Tigre once sang, “I’m so bored, I could be entertained even by a linoleum floor.” Amen, ladies. (more…)

It’s not even summer yet, but it feels like it. It’s so hot, you wish you could make like a goose and migrate for the season, but with gas prices being what they are, until your SUV learns how to fly, buying a new air conditioner sounds like the saner option.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll assume you’re thinking of installing a unit air conditioner, which is the big box most people think of when you say “air conditioner.” Yes, you might consider central cooling, which is a lot more expensive and hardly a DIY task, but if you want push-button cooling convenience, that’s the way to go. Our only advice for that option: save up and find yourself an expert contractor, since we know nothing about that stuff.

However, if you’re just looking to cool a room or two, then a unit air conditioner will save you time and money.
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Like many of you, when I first heard the buzz about flat-screen TVs, I scratched my head, “Isn’t my TV already flat?” Even when I saw them, I wasn’t that impressed, “Oh, you mean, thin-screen TVs.” However, now that the Joneses have one, you need one too. So here’s what you need to know going forward.

There are two kinds of flat-screen TVs: plasma and LCD. I won’t bore with details of what exactly the differences are between the two technologies, partly because I don’t know, but mostly because you don’t care. What’s more important is knowing which is more appropriate for your couch-potato lifestyle. First, what’s not different: price. Generally, for the same sized TV, a plasma or LCD TV will lighten the load in your wallet by a slightly higher amount - up to a degree. If you’re after a much larger monster-sized TV, then the LCD screens will get a bit pricier.

The biggest difference between the two is their contrast, particularly dark or dimly lit scenes. LCD screens tend to have lower contrast (which, in turn, means lower picture quality) than their plasma counterparts. Of course, cheaper plasma screens will also have poorer contrast than their more expensive brethren. For this reason, you might want to bring your own viewing material to the store to test any flat-screens you’re considering. Keep an eye on those dark scenes. Are they watchable?
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