SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
oldrustybucket

Patting myself on the back....

13 years ago

hopefuly, have solved two problems which have really been irrating me for several months today...

#1 Our bed pillows continually sliding upward at night making sleep uncomfortable! Bought a roll of spongy kitchen drawer (Contact Grip), rolled it across the bed and replaced the pillows...no more pillows climbing up the wall!

#2 Purchased a new flat screen Vizio for our bedroom Christmas...love it..but hate the manufactures name on the front glaring in my eyes at night...I have Fibromalgyia and lights at night are almost unbearable...called tech support to see if light could be adjusted like the dimmers on clocks...not possible..his suggestion "can you unplug it or plug it into a power strip that you can turn on and off at night",,,well duh...why would I buy a TV with a sleep timer & be forced to get out of bed when I'm ready for sleep to turn it off?" besides, it serves no purpose other than displaying a name! I was brave and remained calm instead of threating to return the TV which was what I felt like doing....short of duct tape on the front of my $$ flat screen for the bedroom...I improvised and was able to cover it with an empty black cd box instead of the lid to my jewlery box...works like a champ so far...

I know, not rocket science, but "made my day"! How have solved similiar little irrating issues?

Comments (18)

  • 13 years ago

    I've used black electrical tape to cover those annoying bright lights on certain things, like the bright blue lights on my computer tower and on my computer speakers...they're blinding and serve no purpose.

    Nice way to keep the pillows from moving around! :)

  • 13 years ago

    I have solved little irritating problems before, can't think of any certain ones at the moment, but do remember the feeling of satisfaction when I did. Pat your self on the back, ORB, you deserve it!!

  • Related Discussions

    pat myself on back

    Q

    Comments (1)
    All the time! Good job being a steward of all he provides.
    ...See More

    Patting Myself On The Back

    Q

    Comments (1)
    Looking forward to them! Some people say the flowers on rexes and rhizomatous aren't worth bothering about, but I think some of them are quite beautiful, and all are nice, even the clouds of really tiny flowers on things like U003, which is one of my favorites.
    ...See More

    I did it! Took my Oasis apart , myself!

    Q

    Comments (14)
    dadoes, Thanks! I've seen you come thru for lots of us wanna bees! fordtech, I bought her set used from a couple who upgraded to a FL about 4 yrs. ago, so I'm guessing the set is about 6-8 yrs. old. My mom uses hot water often and has no mold in the boot etc... Now if I can look into how to tear it apart, I will look for inner mold and clean it for her. Do I have to have a rivet gun to release the existing rivets and replace with new strips? Just found out she sprayed WD-40 up and around the drum! She said she ran an empty cycle and no more squeaks. Time will tell, but I'm sure this isn't a fix. I'll ck out the teardown, thanks so much for helping me out!! Great day to all!
    ...See More

    Have to pat myself on the back

    Q

    Comments (8)
    Good for you! You know when the Kens were doing my kitchen and bath remodel I watched them closely so I could learn something. I couldn't believe how easy things were to install or take out. I think you just need the confidence that you can do it yourself. I think I would be able to replace a toilet now and change faucets but I don't really want to have to. LOL Here's an extra pat on the back from me. Anne
    ...See More
  • 13 years ago

    I turned off my computer a couple of nights ago, then the lamp and looked back to confirm that the PC did turn off. Good grief all of those little lights look like Christmas. I had never noticed it before. The printer, modem, router, phone, answering machine, speakers......LOL

  • 13 years ago

    great! don't you love solving those kind of things?

  • 13 years ago

    Good for you!! I have fibromyalgia, too, and I can relate. My bedroom TV is in an armoire, and I make sure it's closed at night so I'm not bothered by the lights on the DVD player. What we consider overly stimulating, other people might not even notice. :-)

  • 13 years ago

    Solving the irritating things with a simple but effective solution is even more satisfying. I like that non-slip shelf liner stuff. I use a small chunk on the back of my GPS to keep it from sliding on the dashboard or wherever I happen to set it.

    I haven't finished it yet but I think I just found the solution to a problem. My small kitchen area is fine but I need easier access to things like spatulas and utensils I use for cooking. I just bought a couple of tension rods and will put one above the stove and one above the sink, put some hooks on there and hang the utensils up there rather than putting in the drawer or a crock or as I have been doing lately just leave in the dish drainer! And this way I can use my grabber to get it if I can't reach it.

    The other little problem was I wasn't cooking at home much. It just is too difficult to be on my feet that much, especially after a long day at work, so I wound up eating out more and more. I missed cooking and it hit me that if I simply put a stool to sit on as needed, I could handle it. I can sit there, close to the stove, close enough to the frig and close to the sink. Use the grabber to adjust the stove knobs and it works well. I don't have to sit all the time but it let's me sit when needed. Have cut down my "eating out" tremendously, I'm eating better and enjoying it more too.

    Simple solutions are simply satisfying...

  • 13 years ago

    Both ideas worked great..no more "Bright Light, Bright Light" glaring and the CD box is barely noticeable, plus it doesn't cover any of the screen! The Contact Grip under the pillow worked also...I've just got to refrain from unconsciously putting my arm under the pillow to hold it in place..that habit..kinda bunches up the gripper, otherwise..we both rested better last night! In fact, HD is still snoozing at 8:30 a.m...that reminds me, where is that glass of ice water!

  • 13 years ago

    My husbad set up our DVD,TV, satellite and VCR so that one remote works all 4. But to turn off the TV at night you have to get up, walk to the TV and push the on-off button. What a genius!

  • 13 years ago

    It seems like every little electric item has a ready light these days. At night, my bathroom is well illuminated just from the light on the toothbrush, facial brush and iPod charger. No more need for night lights! LOL!

    Congratulations on finding solutions for those little irritations. I use a waffle weave carpet pad to keep my mattress topper from sliding. I'm pretty sure that I read about the idea on GW!

  • 13 years ago

    I love it when the little things work out and give us joy LOL

    I can not stand but for a very few minutes and it makes it very hard to do so many of the things we take for granted. I got a little rolling chair for my kitchen, it does go up and down, I am now able to do most everything while seated and I just wheel it around all over the kitchen, it works great on the tile. I am in a wheel chair in the rest of the house but find the little rolling chair so much easier in the kitchen and takes up less room.
    The first day I got it I had it up too high and did end up on my backside on the floor! Now I know not to try to lean over too far!

    I have used the really big safety pins on my pillows to attach them to the bed sheet back when I had no headboard to hold them in place.

    That same rubbery shelf liner is what is used for putting under rugs to keep them from crawling but a large one is expensive, I have found that stuff in place mat size for very cheap, if you buy 4 and attach them to the 4 corners of a large rug it works well if it is a really big rug you may want to use 6, it can be attached with self stick velcro, cost a lot less than the big rug pad.

    When I have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom I hate turning on a bright light so I found these little bitty led clip on lights at walgreens, they are supposed to be for reading etc, I clip on onto the front of my wheeled walker click it on and have a headlight which does not wake up anyone and provides plenty of light to see my path is clear. I picked up several of those for a few bucks and have found many uses for them. I keep one on my beside table in case the power goes out, takes up much less room than a flashlight but works well enough to give me light to go light candles or oil lamps.

  • 13 years ago

    Now, I feel really dumb! Technology is not my thing...and neither is knowing the differance between a CD case and a DVD case either obviously! I stand corrected..(glad no one was here to notice) but, it is a DVD cover...whew..not a CD that I used! What is even dumber, that I would tell this on myself!

  • 13 years ago

    Hi, there, ready to go into ORB-it over the successes,

    Well ... in any case - it works! That's the main thing.

    A friend gave me knit slippers for Christmas, and neighbour lady tells me that they're real slippery - to get sticky pieces that one uses on chair pads to sew on them so that they won't slip nearly as much.

    ole joyful

  • 13 years ago

    Couldn't you just paint over the letters? Just a light touch up would do. Good ideas!

    The one thing I did that I was real happy with is, I bought a plug in for my christmas tree with a remote so you can turn it off from the couch rather then having to go behind the tree every time. Well, when Christmas was over I decided to use this plug in thing with remote for our fan. Now DH can turn the fan off & on without getting getting off the couch. Or rather, I don't have to get up.

  • 13 years ago

    Those remote control switches are just great! I've been using one for my DSL modem. This past Xmas I bought a 3pack with a single remote to control them all. Put one on the Xmast tree, one on the lights heading upstairs and didn't use the 3rd one yet. Now I plugged the 3in1 into the one that had the tree on it.

    And the non-slip shelf liner is so useful for so many things. I have wood steps that are great to look at but are rather slippery at times. I was puppy sitting a standard Poodle for some friends and she was getting up in years. She walked very stiff-legged as do most poods and she insisted on going up those steps. She'd slide and it was like a fawn on an icy lake. So I put some shelf liner on the steps and no more sliding around. She was one pleased pooch!

  • 13 years ago

    we love those remote control extension cords!! I want more of those, we got a real heavy duty one for the Christmas tree lights, we put our tree out in our atrium in the center of the house so being able to sit inside and hit the remote is great. Then we decided to put up some strand and rope type lights all around the inside of the atrium to light it up and give it some ambiance, the remote now controls all of those lights too. Wish we had got more than one and can not remember where we got the one we have it is a very nice heavy duty one rated for outdoor use.

    Where did you find the 3 pack cynic?

  • 13 years ago

    I got my single cord remote at Walgreens 1/2 price in Dec. I never noticed if they had a 3 pack. Maybe lowes or home depot would have them

  • 13 years ago

    Ravencajun I got mine at Target in the Christmas section but they might still have them in the area with extension cords and timers. I also saw them at Home Depot (again though, at Christmastime) and was considering getting another set but wasn't sure and couldn't find out whether I could set the frequency so they'd all be different. I didn't want to have a situation where I go to turn 2 items on or off because of overlapping frequency. To clarify, mine aren't extension cords, they're switchable outlets all individually controlled by one remote. You plug the item into the little box, then plug the box into the wall. The remote has 6 buttons on it. On and off for each one. Mine is branded Westinghouse and IIRC I paid $14.99 for the package and I just noticed the retail price printed on it is $19.99. There's single versions and they had a two-unit version available too. My only fear is losing the remote! But I keep it hanging on the side of teh phone table and so far, so good.

  • 13 years ago

    thanks for that info I have not seen the type you mentioned only the actual extension cord ones so I will definitely look at your type that sounds even better. We keep the remote in the little drawer where we keep the tv remotes so far have not lost it.