screaming goats

A little silliness for a Thursday. The hubby and I were crying when we watched this.



And another funny video as Shelby suggested.  :)

cleaning sterling sliver

Take a look at the right most earring above.  That's what sterling sliver is supposed to look like and the other 3 on the left are tarnished and dark. It's weird. Sometimes my sterling sliver earrings stay nice and shiny and other ones get tarnished super quick. I use a polishing cloth for bigger sterling silver accessories like rings but for delicate earrings it could take a long time and potentially bend the pieces. To clean your tarnished sterling silver jewelry at once use the following method. (**Disclaimer: make sure your pieces are really sterling sliver and that the other chichis on them can withstand boiling water.)

1. Gather your tarnished rings, earrings, necklaces, whatever. Line a heat proof container with foil while you boil some water (I used my electric kettle). I used a plastic bowl. Place your jewelry on top of the foil.

2. Lightly cover your jewelry with baking soda.

3. Pour the boiling water to cover the jewelry. Use plastic or wooden chopsticks to move the jewelry around so that all the silver touches the foil. (The sulfur smell of rotten eggs is normal) 

4. Rinse your jewelry and dry. All done!

the plaid barn

If you have some expendable income then check out today's deal (as in, only for today) at The Plaid Barn. Shown above washi tape syles for only $1.99.  Also, check out A Beautiful Mess' giveaway for an instant washi collection through The Plaid Barn.

psa

Lately I've been getting frequent calls from random states (ie Florida, Tennessee, Virgina). I usually don't answer but sometimes they leave messages. Often times the messages are recorded messages which I delete but recently they've been actual people leaving messages that concerned me.

One of the callers came at least twice a week claiming to be from a debt collection agency trying to pursue collecting a debt from me (904-733-3033). The other was a person claiming to be from my mobile service provider trying to collect on charges that hadn't been paid yet (888-315-0912). The hubby Googled the numbers and it turned out that other people had posted similar stories saying they were both scams.

What was most disturbing to me was that someone had called my mother-in-law regarding the debt collection trying to get information from her. Luckily, she is a very smart woman and ignored the call. After that little incident I warned my folks about such calls too. The other scam is scary too because I think a lot of people might not question a unpaid charge and go along with the scam.

I think this goes without saying but if you get a call from a random number from a weird state then I would recommend to always ignore the number. If you repeatedly get a call from them and they leave messages that seem concerning then I would Google the number and see who owns that number or if other people have had strange experiences too. The next step would be to block these numbers if they become a nuisance. 

Be careful! Scammers are working everyday!

kimchi pasta

 Mmmm, kimchi pasta. It's a creamy, rich, slightly spicy sauce tossed with al dente fettuccine. It's essentially an Alfredo sauce mixed with kimchi so using store-bought Alfredo sauce is definitely an option. However, if you have the ingredients and the time I think making it from scratch is more yummy and it will help control the salt content (store-bought always tastes salty to me). The base Alfredo sauce is adapted from ATK. The recipe is very versatile and can be adjusted with any number of ingredients like a can of clams for a seafood touch. I think adding a handful of baby spinach to the pasta would be good too. And, of course, you could add more or less kimchi if you like. 

diy love

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I'm already thinking about the weekend....

Recently my sweet hubby came up with the great idea to rearrange some furniture and the results were wonderful but the huge wall that was once covered with the TV became bare. I thought I'd add a little seasonal flare with a Valentine's installation.

I used twisted brown paper that was used as packing material and tacked it on the wall. Sidebar: what is the deal with the overkill of packing material these days? The only part I had to be careful with was twisting gingerly on the perforated parts of the paper because it had a tendency to tear.

Next, I painted some sheets of paper green and cut them out for the leaves. Lastly, I made a few 2-finger pompoms for flowers out of baker's twine using Creature Comforts' method, here.

for my mom

Happy birthday to my mom! Today she turns 63 years old. We can't celebrate together because we live in different states but in her honor I'm listening to Les Misérables (the original London cast) today. She has a love for music and particularly for singing. When I was little my parents took me to my first musical, Les Mis, and when the 10th anniversary concert aired in the 1990's on PBS my mom and I were glued to the TV. I haven't seen the motion picture version but I think I'd rather watch this concert instead. There can only be one Jean Valjean and his name is Colm Wilkinson.

Sidebar: Can you recognize the Japanese Jean Valjean at the end of the concert?