General news: My Google Reader addiction

I've recently gotten pretty frothy about using Google Reader... yes, I know, I'm super-late to the game, especially since I myself have been blogging (both here on Blogger as well as Livejournal) since what seems like the dawn of time (or, more accurately, at least the last ten years).

Okay... so I admit lameness on only jumping on the Google Reader bandwagon recently. I hope my complete enthusiasm makes up for my pathetic lateness.

I've been using Google Reader for a number of reasons, but one of the the main ones is for inspiration for projects for this site. I'm sampling home design blogs like a hungry kid nibbling on samples at Sam's Club/Costco and you, dear readers, can benefit from my bloated excess of reading. Yes, I'll slog through the garbage and pull out the stuff worth your time and limited attention span.

First, I'm planning to add any blogs I'm in love with to the already existing blogs listing on the right... same with any great sites (especially those you can buy fabulous home design products from) too.

Second, feel free to peruse my Google Reader Shared Items list. I'll be focusing on sharing the best inspiration and project articles I find, some of which will likely be used as the basis of projects I complete for this site.

Enjoy!

Link: How to remove a stripped screw without an extractor

I am afeared I will at some point will need this detailed article from Apartment Therapy on how to get a stripped screw out... and so may you, so here's the link.

Mini Project #2: Headphone Hook / Cost: $ to $$

Uggg! Last month's race to finish the first draft of my Masters thesis was brutal. I didn't even have the time to do any major home projects last week. I did, however, manage to do a tiny one.

I attend online classes that require headphones with a mike. For the past 9 months I've just hung them off of my computer screen... which is a tiny thing, but it's really just so ugly that it bugs me on a visual level in a way that has no real relation to the actual size of the decorating problem.

What's a girl to do? I use the damn things so often it doesn't make sense to put them away, but they just get in the way all hanging off my screen all willy nilly.


Solution: cheap hook!





I had this hook lying around the house... I think it came from Ikea for some ridiculously cheap price. Seriously, you can get these things dirt cheap from home repair stores and the like. If you feel like being fancy, try this slick Moen hook from Home Depot for $19.99. Or how about these puppies that are on sale... they respect my deep love of orange AND are on sale at three for $7.49.

 If you're cursed with some walls made of solid concrete like I am (they are a decorating NIGHTMARE I tell you!) you still have options. 3M (and likely some other companies too) makes hooks that use a super-strong adhesive to stick to your wall, making screwing or nailing the blasted things in thankfully unnecessary. I remember when they used to be ugly plastic nubs that could barely support any weight; now they're actually decent looking and can support some serious poundage (this hook supports up to 5 pounds of weight without falling off your wall, is a somewhat reasonable $12.98, and is snappy-looking to boot).

Lucky for me my computer sits against a regular wall, so all it took was a minute to nail the thing in and presto, more tidy headphone solution!

Now, this doesn't solve the problem of the headphones being ugly (that's a mod project I probably won't get around to until school is done, but at least it gets them out of the way in a manner that doesn't make me loopy.

Final project cost to me: $0 !!!

Time to complete project: About 1 minute