Coffee Break: Emergency Hand-Crank Radio
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If you lost power during the big storm last week and want to be more prepared next time — or y'know, be ready for a zombie apocalypse — this hand-crank radio is helpful to have on hand.
Like the solar-powered phone/device charger I bought last year and shared in a previous Coffee Break, this is one of my “just in case” purchases that make me feel a bit better about potential emergencies. I'm far from a prepper, but I like to have peace of mind. (I also recommend keeping emergency glow sticks handy in case your flashlight batteries run out.)
In a long-term power outage, your laptop battery and phone battery will eventually die, so it's nice to have a radio as a backup. (Plus, if you're an “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” fan, you can entertain yourself by singing “Crank you for being a crank” as you charge the built-in battery.) This radio has a flashlight function and can charge your devices, too, though you'll probably want to conserve battery power to use the radio! It can be charged via solar, too, but the product description doesn't seem to recommend it. (I think — the English isn't exactly perfect.)
While I haven't used it yet, this seems sturdy enough for occasional use, and it's a good size for carrying around your home during an emergency, and for storing in the meantime.
This hand-crank radio is under $20 at Amazon and is available in three colors. (I received two of them when I ordered a couple months ago, but I'm pretty sure that was a mistake, because I don't see any mention of it coming as a pair.)
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- Elie Tahari – Great sale! Love this sweater blazer, and this reader-favorite sleeveless silk blouse is down to $50 from $198
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- J.Crew Factory – Up to 70% off everything + extra 70% off clearance (ends 1/27) + 50-60% off hundreds of styles
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- M.M.LaFleur – Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Neiman Marcus – Up to $250 off + up to 70% off select sale styles
- Talbots – Extra 70% off select winter markdowns + extra 60% off all other markdowns (both end midnight 1/27)
I’m interested in getting an upholstered bedframe or headboard but am worried that it will not stay clean in the long run due to oil from my hair and skin. Is there anyone here who has managed to keep an upholstered bedframe looking good for several years? I also see some slipcovered models, which I’m interested in, but is doesn’t seem the slipcovers are actually intended to be washed (spot clean only). Specific recommendations also appreciated. Budget is around $1,000, and I see lots of super cheap ($300) or super expensive ($2,000) and not much in between.
I think you’re right to wonder; I’ve never yet seen a second hand one that wasn’t visibly grody. So maybe go for one of the cheaper ones expecting that spot cleaning may not be enough in the long run.
We have an ivory upholstered headboard and it still looks new after many years, but we don’t ever really touch it either – like if we’re reading in bed, it’s with pillows between us and the headboard, so no oils come into contact. We also seldom have food or drink in the bedroom and have no kids or pets.
+1 and we have pets. It’s no different than a couch.
+2. Mine (taupe) is nine years old with no visible grime. On the rare occasion we sit up to read we put a pillow behind our head.
I’ve had one for 10 years and have not noticed any stains. I vacuum it a few times a year but that’s all the maintenance I’ve done. Mine is from room and board.
We have a grayish tweedy one from, I think, World Market and I just noticed it starting to look a little off after 8-9 years? FWIW, it’s only on one side from where Mr. AIMS likes to sit and work in bed (he does not use any pillow so I think whatever is in his hair is responsible). All in all, I don’t think it’s a bad deal after all this time and it is barely noticeable unless you really look. I also think it may be something you could clean with a Bissell. If you like the look, I would take a chance.
so we purchased one in november of 2021 from wayfair for $189 called Pomfret Upholstered Low Profile Standard Bed by Zipcode Design. It was supposed to be our temporary one bc this was when some things were still backordered from covid and we were moving into our new house and needed a bed. well, when it came it looked good and rather than order the $$$$ wooden one from restoration hardware that we were going to get, our decorator suggested we just keep using the one we had bc it looked good. the part where i sleep isn’t in pristine condition bc i’ve leaned against it with wet hair. i think if i had scotched guarded it when we first got it and/or thought from the outset we’d be keeping it longterm i would’ve treated it better and then it would be totally fine.
We have one at our rental unit (we bought it furnished, or I would not have purchased it). We did scotch guard ours when we purchased the unit (so not brand new), and the cleaning service vacuums it every cleaning. It can also be steam cleaned if needed. We check the unit every few weeks, and it looks great (it’s a nubby textured cream fabric – the texture helps – I don’t think a cream linen would have held up as long).
I wonder whether you could have it steam-cleaned like a sofa?
We have an upholstered headboard* that my husband made, and it has held up well for 8+ years. There is a little bit of an oil stain on his side; he’s balding and frankly doesn’t wash his hair that often. But generally our heads and bodies don’t touch it, just pillows.
*This is also a really easy thing to DIY if you are at all handy since the back is hidden and attached to the wall. Or if you buy one and it gets trashed, it would be easy to recover it.
I like to have TV on in the background when doing busy work – in the past I’ve watched things like Gilmore Girls, Franklin and Bash, Suits, Real Housewives, etc. Things where you don’t have to pay too much attention. But I’ve run through all my current shows. Any suggestions?
Sex and the City, Gossip Girl, and Friends are my go-tos for this purpose (and not the remakes for the first two – I heard the GG remake was horrific).
Jersey Shore
Girls
New Girl
West Wing
Game of Thrones
I just finished Downton Abbey (show and movies) as my background WFH show. I just started a rewatch of Schitt’s Creek in honor of Catherine O’Hara. Harry Potter movies are MVPs too.
Ghosts (UK and US)
all the HBO greats – The Wire, Sopranos, Succession, maybe even early SATC
Breaking Bad
House maybe?
Scandal
Abbott Elementary
English Teacher
Modern Family (early seasons)
Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
I’ll add Brooklyn 99 to this list.
Adding – due to your caveat about early seasons – it made me absolutely insane when they wrote that both Claire and the dad basically walked away from Pritchard’s Closets. Him for dog beds, and her for ??? I actually had to go back and even find the two seconds they devoted to her walking away from/leaving Pritchard’s Closets. I don’t know why it bugged me so much (not like I’m leaving a thriving business to my kids and I’m worried about this happening, but WHAT?!)
It drove me nuts that Claire – the housewife who reportedly never did well in school and never had any sort of job – was suddenly in charge of Pritchard’s Closets to begin with.
Great British Bake-off
Younger, Gossip Girl, Emily in Paris, Southern Charm
Scrubs, The Good Place, Parks & Rec, Brooklyn 99
This is my list! You are my people! I will say that I LOVED Scrubs when I was watching it in real time, but I couldn’t re-watch. I loved the friendship between the guys, but the mentor’s trope of calling JD girls’ names and the sexism was bananas and hard to stomach on a rewatch.
Schitts Creek should be at the top of the list, in honor of Catherine O’Hara. Still so sad about this.
Of course! Should have thought of this already.
I love a lot of the recs here!
I am LOVING Amy Poehler’s Goodhang podcast. It is good in its own right, but I also think it would good background noise because it’s just two people chatting.
Anyone been to St. Martin lately? We’re going in a few weeks for a destination wedding, but extending the trip by a few days to have time to explore on our own. We’ve been before, but not since pre-Irma, and even at that, only for a long weekend where we quickly realized we preferred the French side to the Dutch.
We’re in our 40s and looking for great but not $$$ French dining, or beach restaurants where you can rent loungers for the day but that aren’t a big scene. Will have a rental car.
I love SXM! I think it’s such an underrated island. Where are you staying? We stayed in Grand Case and loved it, but the island is very easy to navigate by rental car. We mostly ate in Grand Case and ate a lot of French food – Le Pressoir, Ocean 82 and La Villa are the ones I remember the most clearly. Also we didn’t venture to the Dutch side much but we loved Little Jerusalem right by the airport. If you want non-beach stuff there’s a bird sanctuary that’s really fun.
Thanks! We stayed on Grand Case last time and loved Le Pressoir, so glad to hear it’s held up. Our day on Simpson’s Bay is what convinced us we made the right call, as it was swarming with sloppy-drunk cruise excursions, yuck.
This time we will be in a villa on Terres Basses, near La Samanna, and probably want to spend one of our days on Grand Case if the parking situation isn’t too terrible.
Here’s a tricky one.
My ex-H, the father of my daughter, recently stayed with us for a two week visit (he lives out of state). Our relationship is not good and we have limited (but civil) communications otherwise, really only focused on our daughter. He has a history of depression and drinking, but I believe he is treating his depression and lately I have not noticed that he’s drinking, at all (he was quite bad at hiding his drinking, so I think I would have known if he was drinking while he was here). While I have often noticed that his personal hygiene is not great (probably due to the depression) and he doesn’t shower often, this time he had a new and different smell that stayed behind even if he left a room. It was really overbearing and not something I had noticed before.
I went down a bit of a Google rabbit hole on what medical conditions could change body odor, and the one that popped out was liver failure / cirrhosis. The smell was described as musty, sweet and garlicky, which seems similar. He also looks quite unwell – tired, bags under his eyes, sad. I’m not going to pretend to diagnose him with a medical condition just based on the smell, but it made me wonder if there’s something going on, especially given his past drinking problem. I don’t think I will bring anything up since me trying to address his drinking in the past backfired majorly. It could also be my perimenopausal nose being more sensitive. I do care about him though, and I hope if there is a medical issue he will get it checked out.
Has this ever happened to a relative of yours? Did you say anything?
How old is he? There is also an “old people smell” that people begin to develop around age 40.
wait what?
I wish you knew if he was seeing a doctor already. I’ve read that it can be a symptom of liver issues if an alcoholic spontaneously quits drinking (not that everyone who needs to does, but sometimes when someone does it’s a sign).
My dad was an alcoholic and he only quit because his doctor said he would die if he didn’t. He’s been sober 10 years against his will.
That’s interesting. Usually when he visits he will go and buy some beer for himself (I put away all the alcohol before he arrives) but this time he didn’t. He has had a very rough year with losing his job and not being able to find a new one, so it’s no wonder he’s looking unwell, but I do wonder if something else is going on.
I think you’ve posted before. You’re doing something that takes a lot of strength. Good luck to both of you doing the best you can to raise a child. I admire it.
What would be the downside to mentioning to him that he is showing signs of cirrhosis and should get checked out?
It sounds like it’s a sensitive topic. Most men my age or older seem to need some kind of encouragement just to make it to their annual check up though.
I think you can maybe say something like, “I know we don’t get along but you’re always family to me and DD — your visit concerned me because you looked unwell. I don’t want to pry but please see your doctor.” I wouldn’t mention a smell at all if you can get around it, hopefully the doctor will see it.
I think this is a good script. OP, wishing you the best. You are handling a tough situation with a lot of grace.
Another suggestion is diet. When my husband went on a low/no carb diet, his breath and overall body smell was VERY different and quite unpleasant. That doesn’t seem to match his disposition but just another potential option.
That’s ketosis.
I think that’s a misconception, but it can be from eating way too much protein.
How old is your daughter? Is it something she noticed and could possibly bring up?
I’m so sorry you are all dealing with this. My FIL had a bad smell that my husband was hearing about second hand. When he was finally able to see him in person, he realized that FIL’s legs were so swollen that he had fluid seeping through his skin that smelled bad. I’m guessing that is not the issue here, but mentioning it as it was difficult to figure out at a distance what was causing the problem.
Has anyone gotten a dental implant? I may need to get one and am trying to ballpark recovery time and how long I might be loopy for. I understand that getting a grown out in later will be quick and easy and done in the office.
It’s a multi-stage process: tooth extraction, bone graft if needed, implant, crown. Expect significant healing time between the extraction/graft and the implant, and then shorter healing (but not fun)between the implant and the crown. And expect to spend $$ even if you have dental insurance. If you are taking meds for osteoporosis or osteopenia, talk to your doctor and dentist to figure out a plan.
adding on, my dr had me wait the 3 months before bone graft to see if it really was necessary- it was not! yay! I was fortunate to have dental insurance that helped offset the cost.
If you are in/near NYC the NYU school of dentistry does a fantastic job with implants for significantly less $. My friend and brother have both used them with great results.
Yes, when I had mine the extraction day was a little rough/loopy for me because the tooth had broken into tiny pieces and I ended up needing more painkillers than I anticipated. I’ve had other extractions that were much easier, so this isn’t guaranteed! But the recovery from the implant day was easy, and I was back to work within an hour.
You got painkillers? I need a new dentist.
I had one some years ago. Try to do it the procedures on Fridays so you have the weekend to recover. it wasn’t a barrel of laughs, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected.
any recommendations for a trusts/estates lawyer around Columbia, SC area? able to travel, but want to put a home in a trust, do will, etc. future planning.
how on earth is everyone eating enough protein? If I don’t prioritize it I end up at like 40g a day, but I’m supposed to be doing 130g for macros. I can usually make 100g but only if I prioritize it at every meal, one meal of something low protein like mac and cheese or sushi rolls blows it.
That seems like a really high target to me, but maybe you’re some kind of power lifter. I easily hit 80g a day without eating anything I don’t want to. I just avoid filling up on starchy foods.
Remember when “carb loading” was the thing to do for athletes? Now it’s all about protein but do you personally really need that much?
130g is a very high goal. I usually aim for 90-100g (and I’m an triathlete). I do this with normal meals + 1 serving of a protein supplement (Fairlife protein shake, a smoothie with protein powder).
If left to my own devices, I would eat simple carbs only, so protein consumption is something I do think about. But, a with a more “normal” natural diet, I could probably hit my goals (or close to them).
Maybe I could maximize my gains if I consumed more protein, but I am not a professional. I am a serious amateur, but an amateur. I have too many other things going on to care about the extra 40g of protein.
The easy way to get it is to eat highly processed foods like protein bars and shakes, or maybe a lot of meat. That’s not always correlated with longevity and health, though. Some of the trends around eating high protein are more bro science than actual science. I personally consider 100g good enough for me, someone that lifts 4x per week. I feel like I’m in good shape now? Maybe if I was trying to be a bodybuilder I’d be more concerned.
I have 2 mugs of coffee per day and use a protein shake as my creamer. That takes care of 40g.
Most people don’t need as much protein as what is trendy right now. It’s really easy to get enough protein if you’re a typical person and all you’re aiming for is what your doc or RD tells advises. No meat or protein powders necessary.
I aim for 75-90 and I can’t do that without consciously trying.
Same. My doctor, fwiw, is not concerned. Protein is getting a lot of attention at the moment, but she is more concerned about making sure I get enough fiber and dairy (lots of women in my family have osteoparosis).
Recommendation is 1 g perk KG of body weight, so either you’re very large or you messed up your math somewhere.
I also aim for 100g+ of protein per day, and usually hit 110-120g/day. I do supplement with a whey protein powder, usually blended into a smoothie with Greek yogurt for extra protein.
I have eggs for breakfast several times per week, and if I’m worried I’m low on protein, I add an extra egg white or two to the pan.
I eat meat at lunch and dinner, usually lean ground beef, lean ground turkey, or chicken br3@st. I eat lean seafood several times per month (tilapia, shrimp, etc., not fatty fish like salmon).
If you eat meat, choose lean meats, and you should be able to hit 100g/day without too much issue and without messing up your fat intake.
We eat meat often.
It’s a huge struggle for me too although I’m mostly vegetarian at home. I’ll eat a steak at a really good steakhouse but I don’t cook meat. I eat a lot of eggs but that only gets you so far.
I don’t hit 130 grams a day, but I’m also a vegetarian.
My go-tos:
Greek yogurt
Homemade Perfect Bars
Almond butter toast on seed bread
Tempeh
Tofu
Gardein
Cashews and other nuts
Pepitas on everything that’s Mexican or Mexican-adjacent
Omelettes
Egg salad (Greek yogurt dressing instead of mayo)
That seems very high for a goal and short of powders and bars, I cannot imagine you can make that without prioritizing protein at every single meal. May I ask how you came up with that goal? There is a long way between 40g per day (which is too low for most people) and 130g.
I get 40g for breakfast/mid-morning snack every day (Barebells protein bar + Greek yogurt + 1 oz almonds), which sets me up for meeting my goal of 95 grams per day. But unless you are eating like a professional athlete who is burning a lot of calories, I cannot think of a way to hit 130 without processed foods or living off Greek yogurt, chicken, and fish.
130 is really high. I have to deliberately eat high protein and also supplement with protein shakes/bars/etc. to get over 100.
Yeah I don’t think my kidneys want me to eat 130 grams of protein every day. I do get that some people don’t digest protein well and need to eat more to get enough.
I seldom hit 90 and eat tofu, sardines, hard boiled eggs, cheese, nuts and seeds, and yogurt very routinely, often in addition to some chicken, pork, beef, or salmon based dinner.
Help me with a fashion conundrum. How do I make ankle jeans look more proportionate on my body? I’m 5’9″ and carry all my weight in the hips and thighs (size 14/16). My calves are slimmer in comparison, which means there’s extra fabric through that part of the leg.
I would like to wear more ankle jeans/pants during warm weather to show off the shoes, but how?! I know flattery isn’t everything, but trust me, they look blocky and very unflattering. I think part of the problem might be the color. Maybe I need to go darker than what I’d usually pick for warm weather jeans? A stretchier fabric? Rigid fabric just hangs off the curves but not in a cute way.
look for styles that are bootcut or flare crops – i.e., where the jeans leg narrows in at the knee before widening again. As opposed to straight-cut or wide-leg crop.