I've worked in this industry for over 20 years, having owned and built my own business and now I work at training people. I am one of a relatively small group who believe carpet cleaners should be qualified. We are cleaning thousands of dollars worth of carpet and home furnishings. Electricians and plumbers don't deal with property worth as much as what a textile floor cleaner does yet they must have a full certificate and serve an apprenticeship. The Carpet and Rug institute recommends technicians certified with the IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification). Most of the Standards boards world wide will only recommend Hot Water Extraction HWE as a full restoration style of cleaning. I think Chem-Dry were losing market share due to this and in more recent years added HWE (They had been using it on carpeted stairs for years). To continue their "Dry" branding they promote their patented Carbonated cleaning method. I have had many discussions with Chem-Dry technicians over the years and they all sprout the glories of their unique system but I've never seen results from them results to go with it. In the end it always comes down to the operator. You need someone who cares enough to pay attention to detail and who wants to be trained in all aspects of their craft = Fibre technology, suitable chemistry for those fibres, stain removal, water damage restoration etc. etc. This often comes from an owner operator of a small business who truly wants to impress you and so do the best possible job. For me it was seeing colleagues who didn't care and wanting to rise above that and restore rather than destroy carpets. May I suggest next time you need your carpet cleaned that you try the IICRC for a recommended cleaner and compare the difference? I'm not suggesting you will get a bad job from Chem-Dry, I am only suggesting you check their qualifications and look for the very best option. http://www.iicrc.org/ All the best

You won't be able to dye it in the cone, of course. You'll need to make it into skeins....tie each skein together, loosely, in several places, to hold it together. If too tight, you wil 'miss' areas that will be covered up with the rest of the yarn.(tie it in a figure eight, with the cross over in the middle of the skein). You CAN use squeeze bottles with different colors...use those with the pointy end that you get in hair product supply places..those that are used for 'doing roots, etc. Personally, I'd try a sample skein, to see if you like it, see how the yarn 'takes the color', etc.. (dry yarn will take it completely differently than a damp skein). You wouldn't have to use large skeins, with lots of yarn...just a small one, tied the way you plan to tie the bigger ones will let you know if you like your results, without wasting a lot of yarn. (you want it loose enough so you can sort of 'fan out' the skein). After you've finished, be sure to then wash it, to see what effect that will have on the finished product. You might also want to do some internet reading on using kool ade to dye with...I've not tried it,(nor have I died cotton yarn...I'm strictly a wool gal), but you can get very bright and WOW colors using koolade. I've not actually seen it done on yarn itself, but on roving BEFORE it was spun into yarn, but the principle should be the same.

Over the course of a year I will cook literally hundreds of pounds of rice. Most of that is cooked in 20 pound batches in large cast iron kettles. I also own and regularly use several electric rice cookers in various sizes. The largest will cook 3 lbs of rice. I like to cook Cajun style potatoes in my electric rice cookers because of the "special flavor" that develops in them. It comes from the "browning" that occurs during the cooking cycle. The taste is very unique and absolutely delicious. With that said........... THE MOST HANDIEST rice cooker of them all are my "microwave" rice cookers. I am single and use a 6-cup rice cooker the most. I can cook 1 to 6 cooked cups of rice in it......which meets most of my needs. It is made out of inert high temperature plastic and has a lid & insert that by design, allows steam to "circulate", creating the perfect steam cooking environment. It has locking handles to keep the lid secure. It comes with a graduated cup for measuring the rice and water.....and it comes with a rice spoon for fluffing it up. And best of all; since it is made out of inert high temperature plastic, you can store any left over rice in the cooker right in the refrigerator. AND since it is made out of that high temperature plastic, cooked rice CANNOT STICK. So cleanup is super simple. And when you want to use that leftover rice, just put a couple of TBS of water in the container and heat it backup in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Rice will taste as good as if freshly cooked. These microwave rice cookers are very VERY cheap.......only 6 dollars at Walmart. They are made by Miracle Ware.....with Main-Stays Home the brand name. These do not take of much space on the shelf. Don't let the cheap price fool you.....this is a well made, high quality product and it will cook rice perfectly every time with absolutely no attention. Again, this is "THE BEST DEVICE" for cooking perfect rice every time...since sliced bread. IMO, everybody should have one of these microwave rice cookers. Now the electric rice cookers are great too. However, they take up much more room and you should not store any leftover rice in its aluminum cooking pot in the refrigerator. And they are not as easy to clean up since rice will stick to the aluminum cooking insert. My microwave is used only to boil water, warm up leftovers & TV dinners, make roux, and cook rice. It is used most often for cooking my small batches of rice........only takes 15 minutes to cook a batch......and takes less than 1 minute to clean it. Dan Semper Fi-cus

Boiling ... is boiling ... is boiling. Stuff doesn't cook any faster at a fast boil than at a slow boil: apart from being in pressure cooker, the temp. is the same ... the heat level is the same, and, as someone said, the extra heat makes steam that adds both heat and moisture to the air and when the vapour returns to water, gives off heat. When your friend is heating her house, perhaps that vapour will add to the warmth, but not enough to be appreciable, I think. Actually, I keep it warmest near my computer (so I can produce all of that hot air that appears here), but cooler in the kitchen, as usually I'm moving about and working when I'm there. Or in the bedroom, as I have several quilts on the bed. I haven't turned on the furnace, yet - trying to beat last year's Nov. 16th, but that's a bit artificial, as the outside temperature is the main deciding factor. My little electric fan has been quite active, though. Usually keep the temp. about 60 - 62 or so ... with several layers of clothing, and with a washcloth covering my mouse-operating hand, held by a safety pin (the other one placed under my rump, as necessary). It's 64 now, but I'm wearing clothing that got wet when I was cutting roots and tops off of turnips and beets in the rain: (haven't changed as I have been going out occasionally to try to get the van started to haul the produce to the house ... battery's low). Good wishes for getting the most value from your energy use. ole joyful