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Ok I don’t hand out many household tips or ideas. Considering my total lack of interest in housework it is sorta like the car mechanic giving advice on taxes – absolutely no reason to believe the advice would be good given the skill set of the adviser. I swear in another life I was a duchess or a princess who had a lot of servants thereby explaining my disinterest in housework – more likely I was the servant and that better explains the current attitude.

And besides, I always figure if I know a household tip, everyone over eight years old must know the same info.

But, I have one that I think only the old-timers know well and utilize. I learned it from my grandmother just by watching her do it. Hubby called me crazy the first dozen times he saw me do it. After that he just said I was senile. And his mother actually didn’t help my case when she said she does the same thing. Hubby thinks we are all nuts.

I have explained to him my reluctance to put meat bones down the garbage disposal because you don’t know when the bone will stick, and besides some of them are too large to fit in the disposal anyway! And as anyone who has ever put fat into a garbage disposal knows, it just goes whhhhrrrr whhhhrrrr and ends up a big blobby mess. And sticking your hand down the garbage disposal to pull out a wad of mushed up fat is not anyone’s idea of a good time.

So, I make a weekly fat-and-bones-bag during the warm months of the year, and stick the bag in the freezer. Every time we have fat or bones or other animal products that are not candidates for the garbage disposal, I add them to the bag. I even keep the wrappings from the raw product in the bag too! Then, when garbage day comes I just drop the whole bag into the can and it is whisked away by the fine folks from the refuse company. We also have a grease can and do the same, but that can will last the entire season before it fills up.

Now why do this? Simple. See these guys?

I don’t like them! And freezing animal fat, bones, leftover meats, etc., means lack of flies in the garbage bins, and no maggots. I actually dread when we have weekend parties in the summer because people just toss everything in the trash ignoring my request to leave their plates on the counter, (they think they are being helpful) and I just have to hope for no critter visits.

Do you have any obscure household tips? You know, something you do that you see no one else do, but it it a great help to the cleanliness and general well-being of your household? Is so, please share!

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So wouldn’t you know it? Pink slime was a hot topic last week, and we discover we are out of ground beef. Now hubby and I usually buy a cow or buy directly from the butcher. And even if we had to buy locally, Tops is not on the pink slime list. But, we didn’t have time to drive out to the butcher (we frequent a few that are about 45 minutes away and slaughter), and ground beef didn’t seem to be on sale last week, so we decided to have it ground by a local grocery store butcher.

The local store had strip loin for $2.99#. After speaking to the butcher, he said the fat content was going to be between 10-15% if we ground the strip loin. That is actually quite a good ratio for meatloaf or burgers for our use.

Ever made a burger with 93%- 95% lean ground beef? Well, let’s just say it isn’t for me.

So we had the butcher double ground the strip loin. For us that is more versatile than a single grind which is quite coarse (think chili grind as a single grind).

When we got the meat home, hubby portioned it out into two pound bags.

He then used his hand-dandy foodsaver to prepare seven of the bags for freezing.

And we held one back to use this week.

Yes, we (that is the royal “we” ’cause everyone knows it would have been hubby and not me) could have ground it ourselves, but why? It took the butcher just a few minutes, and saved us the grinder clean-up!

So a great way to choose what makes up your ground beef is to buy a hunk of meat and have the butcher grind it, or grind it yourself. And I still recommend buying a cow – which we will be doing again this fall.

If you are interested in what pink slime is, and whether or not your store’s ground beef uses pink slime, click here.

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A lot has been written lately about Pink Slime, and you probably want to know if your store carries ground beef that contains pink slime or not.

But first, what exactly is pink slime?

“Pink slime” results from grinding together connective tissue and beef scraps normally used to make dog food or for rendering (that would be fat to make lard). The grindings are then treated with ammonia hydroxide, which kills pathogens such as E coli and salmonella. The term pink slime was first coined by microbiologist Gerald Zirnstein in 2002.

It is estimated that up to 70% of the nation’s grocery stores’ ground beef contains pink slime.

Here are the responses I could find for major grocery stores as to whether or not their ground beef contains pink slime. The hyperlinks in the store name lead directly to their corporate responses.

• A&P (Pathmark, Superfresh, Waldbaums, The Food Emporium, Food Basics, USA) – does not use pink slime

• Ahold (Stop & Shop, Giant, Martin’s, Peapod) – Stores operated by the divisions of Ahold USA do carry ground beef made with Boneless Lean Beef Trimmings (BLBT), also called Finely Textured Beef (FTB)
Update Ahold will no longer sell pink slime meat!

• Albertsons – does use pink slime
Update Albertson’s (supervalu stores will “no longer purchase fresh ground beef products that contain finely textured beef. ”

• Aldi’s – declines to respond
Update Adli “Over the last week, customers have been telling us that they do not want ground beef made with lean finely textured beef. That’s why ALDI has decided that we no longer will purchase ground beef made with this ingredient.”

• Bi-Lo LLC and Winn-Dixie Stores Inc will discontinue pink slime use.

• BJ’s – does use pink slime
Update: BJs discontinues pink slime use 4/7/12 for fresh products, and 4/20/12 for frozen products.

• Buehler’s Fresh Foods – issued a statement Tuesday to say that its Certified Angus Beef contains no pink slime.

• Commissaries – updated their information, and they do use pink slime. Thanks for the update Dealzstealz!

• Costco – does not use pink slime

• Crest Foods – does not use pink slime

• Food Lion - does not add lean finely textured beef (LFTB) to the ground beef we produce in stores.

• Fred Meyer yes, and no Slime free Fred Meyer products: Private Selection Angus Ground Beef 90%,
Private Selection All Natural Ground Beef 93% lean, Private Selection Organic Ground Beef 90% Lean, Store made Ground Beef from store trimmings prepared in store, 85% Ground Chili Meat 1 & 3LB 80%, 85% and 93% Ground Beef Chub Rolls, 5LB 73% Ground Beef Chub Rolls, – All beef in AK stores is slime free.
Update: – Fred Meyer will no longer carry pink slime.

• Giant Eagle – spokesperson said she had no information on the subject. UPDATE: Giant Eagle does use pink slime. The Nature’s Basket products are slime -free Thanks Jennifer!
Update: – Giant Eagle will no longer use pink slime: “After careful review of feedback from our customers, Giant Eagle has decided that effective immediately, the company will no longer source fresh ground beef” that contains the filler also known as boneless lean beef trim, Roberts said on Thursday.

• Hannaford – maybe They will not rule out pink slime use from suppliers.
Update: – Hannaford – will discontinue pink slime use

• Harris Teeter – does not use pink slime Thanks Kelly!
Thank you for your email. Our suppliers do not use pink slime in any of our Harris Teeter brands of ground beef. This includes our Harris Teeter Naturals, Rancher and Angus ground beef.
Sincerely,
Melisa
Harris Teeter Customer Relations

• H-E-B – All our ground beef sold at H-E-B is 100% pure with no additives.

• Hen House – no response on facebook page to this direct question. Hen House does not carry pink slime.

• Hy-Vee – yes, and no – If you wish to purchase Hy-Vee ground beef that is not blended with LFTB, we would suggest our 85 Percent Lean Amana Chuck Trim.
Hy-Vee will no longer carry pink slime products.
Update: 3/28/12 Hy Vee will continue to offer pink slime to give their customers a choice Thanks Deb!

• Ingles – does not Thanks Dealzstealz!

• Kroger (Ralph’s, Fry’s, King Scoopers, Smith’s, QFC, Gerbes, Baker’s, City Market, Dillons) – yes, and no – Kroger carries ground beef both with and without lean finely textured beef. For customers who choose to avoid it, we offer a variety of options including Kroger’s Private Selection Angus Ground Chuck, Round and Sirloin; Private Selection All Natural Ground Beef and Private Selection Organic Ground Beef solid in 1 lb. packages, labeled 80% lean and above; Laura’s Lean Ground Beef; and ground beef prepared in store. All ground beef you find at your local Kroger is USDA-regulated, inspected and approved for food safety and quality. That includes beef products made with lean finely textured beef.
Update Kroger will no longer sell pink slime meat!

• Meijer – yes, and no – We want our customers to know that most types of fresh ground beef that Meijer sells do not have lean finely textured beef as an ingredient.
Update: Meijer will no longer be carrying pink slime.

• Publix – We have never allowed the use of LFTB (pink slime) in our meat. It’s 100 percent ground beef with no LFTB.

• Safeway (Carrs, Dominick’s, Genuardi’s, Pak ‘n’ Save, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, Vons, Pavilions) – does – We rely on the federal government to help guide us on food safety issues. USDA has been clear in its judgment that Lean Finely Textured Ground Beef is a safe source of nutrition. However, we are reviewing the matter at this time.
Update: Safeway pulls pink slime! Thanks Barbee!

• Save Mart – does use pink slime

• Sam’s Club – does use pink slime. Thanks Mini!

• Superfresh – does not use pink slime

• SuperValu – (Acme, Alberstons, Cub, Jewel-Osco, Shaw/Star Market, Shop ‘n Save and Shoppers) – does use pink slime
Update – SuperValue stores will “no longer purchase fresh ground beef products that contain finely textured beef.”
Acme
Albertson’s
Jewel
Shaws

• Target – Its ground beef vendors do not use the ammonia treatment during production.
Target places great emphasis on sourcing food and products from industry leaders for safety and quality. Our ground beef vendors do not use an ammonium hydroxide treatment in their production processes. Any additional questions can be directed to vendors.

• Tops Markets – does not use pink slime.

• WalMart – declines to respond – WalMart does use pink slime. Thanks Mini!
Update:
On 3/21 WalMart stated that WalMart & Sam’s Club stores will begin selling meat that doesn’t contain the additive. They did not say they would no longer carry pink slime meat.
On 3/22 Wal-Mart updated its Wednesday statement to say that it will have the new, slime free products in stores asap, and to ask the butcher for help in locating them

• Waldbaums – does not use pink slime

• Wegmans – does (sorta) – While most ground beef contains a small percentage of boneless lean beef trimmings, our processor does not use ammoniated meat products in the production of fresh ground beef
Update: Wegmans abandons pink slime!

• Weis Supermarket – does use pink slime in their ground beef
Update: Weis to stop selling pink slime!

• Whole Foods – Does not use pink slime.

• Winco – they do not know! Updated: winco facebook page – the winco brand does not have pink slime, however, they have other brands they carry and they do not know if they contain pink slime. Thanks Troy!

• Zaycon Foods – does not – We buy all of the ground beef from National Beef and have asked them directly about the “pink slime” and they have said no. Note: Zaycon amended to : “we are awaiting more information” Zaycon has been amended to DOES use pink slime. Thanks Rachel!

If you are unsure of your local store, contact their corporate headquarters, or ask on their facebook page. And if all else fails, you could always buy a cow directly from your local farmer or rancher, or have the butcher grind a roast for you instead of picking up that ground beef package.

Sources:
9WSYR.com
ABC News
Cdapress.com
Examiner.com
kmbc.com
New York Times
TimesReporter.com
Syracuse.com

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Recently, for the second time in less than a year, my credit card information was stolen. The first time my CC company called me about suspicious activity, and the account was immediately closed without any fraudulent activity ever being added to my account. I was then sent new cards, and all was good.

Or so I thought.

Thereafter at least once a month I would get a call from the fraud alert department of my credit card company asking me if this-or-that charge was authorized. This was a giant PITA because Sonny-boy uses my card, and while some items were easily recognizable, other items I had to call back about later. Inevitably, every fraud alert call was a waste of my time … until a few weeks ago.

While down in Florida, I received another call. Some inner sense must have kicked in, because instead of getting testy with another useless call, I was very pleasant to the rep calling.

The fraud agent asked me about some charges that were coming from somewhere in Europe. They were not mine, so all three were denied, and never hit the account. I thought all was well, when two weeks later I received yet another call. This time, over $1600 in charges that were not mine had been placed on my card in just a few days.

My credit card company emailed me a fraud statement that I had to sign. When I checked it to return, the dates did not match-up. I was looking at my paper statement, and the fraudulent charges started 2/8/12 not the 2/15/12 listed in the email.

After placing another call to my credit card company, we figured out another $2400 in fraudulent charges had been added to this card. Everything from adult websites to clothing stores to auto part retailers, and nearly all charges were from Europe or South America.

I saw a great deal of irony in the fact that so many of my valid charges were called upon for verification in the last eight months, but a week long spat of overseas charges for adult entertainment was completely missed by my credit card company.

So what can you do to protect yourself from a cyber thief?

• While most major retailer websites have secure check-outs, always check for a secure feature (remember the lock on ie?)
• Try and use a credit card online that offers a one-time-use feature. Citibank is the only card I know of that currently has this feature, and is what hubby and I use for online purchases. You can be sure Sonny-boy will be applying when he gets home from spring break.
• Some credit cards allow you to receive an email alert for every charge to your card. It is a great way to keep tabs on your account activity.
• Many websites now accept paypal as payment. If your credit card is attached to your paypal account, it is another layer of protection against internet thieves.
• Know where your credit card is at all times. Sometimes you can’t keep the server that is swiping your card at a restaurant in sight at all times, but do try.
• Shred your old statements if you still receive paper ones. Make sure you shred your receipts too once you compare them to your bill for proper account reconciliation.

And what do you do if your information is stolen, and fraudulent charges are placed on your card?

• If you suspect your card has been compromised, contact the fraud department of your credit card to report the charge. Some credit cards accept verbal confirmation of an unauthorized charge, and will email you a form to email back to confirm you did not make these charges. Other credit card companies may require written verification. It is best to ask when you call the fraud department exactly what they want.
• Here are the federal guidelines on stolen credit cards.
• Close your credit card and have a new one reissued. Yes, it is a pain, but so is never knowing when the next bad charge will arrive.
• And remember, if a website looks iffy, don’t buy there. Better safe than sorry.

And sometimes, there is nothing you can do. Very secure websites are compromised. Someone swipes the credit card image and you never saw it. There are all types of thieves out there that would rather use their talents for evil instead of good. Just remember that you are not liable for unauthorized charges, and while inconvenient, waiting for a new credit card is better than the alternatives.

Do you have any other thoughts on what to do if your credit card information is stolen?

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When we purchased our house seven years ago, the number one thing I did not want was a pool!

So of course, our house came with an in-ground pool.

For years I lobbied to have it filled in, always being vetoed by Hubby and Sonny-boy.

For the first few years that we lived here, Sonny-boy and his buddies would use the pool several times a week. While I disliked the cost and the maintenance, at least someone was using the pool.

Or at least that was the argument Hubby and Sonny-boy would give me.

And the truth is, I refused to clean the pool or add water to it, or prime the filter, or purchase the chemicals, or… well, do just about anything related to the pool. And yes, that did include swim in it.

Over the years, Sonny-boy went off to college and Hubby was working insane hours so slowly it became my job to add the water so the filter would still run. I also scheduled the opening and closing, and picked up after the pool guys. Slowly but surely the slippery slope developed where I was adding water, then chemicals, then cleaning the sides of the pool … pretty soon I could see that I would be vacuuming and skimming and that is when I put my foot down. We hired the pool company to do the weekly maintenance.

They were about $100 a week, but it was either that or marriage counseling, so the cost was negligible by comparison. And all this money was for something that was being used under half a dozen times a year!

Throughout this period, I was still lobbying hard to get the pool filled in. I figured we were spending about $3000 a year on a pool no one used! What a complete waste of money.

All of this came to a head last year when the pool guys could not get the pool blue. They would come out, clean it, add chemicals, etc, but no amount of shock was clearing the pool water. It turned out that our pool had become porous, and an algae of some-sort-or-another was living in the lining, and could not be removed. The cost to empty the pool, blast the sides, reskim, fix the one broken tile and redo the cool-decking was $15,000. Yup, FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. To fix a 35 year old pool that probably didn’t cost that much to be installed originally.

When we first moved in, I had given a cursory look into filling in the pool, and that cost was approximately $10,000.

Hmmmmm $15,000 to fix a pool we seldom used + the $3000 yearly costs, versus $10,000 to fill it in and be done with the headache and regain a portion of our yard.

Seemed like a no-brainer to me!

Well, over the course of the winter hubby ruminated on the idea. I kept offering to get a few more quotes to fix the pool, and he kept putting it off. I suspected he was coming around to my way of thinking, but wasn’t certain.

Three weeks ago, we had a clean-up landscaper over to quote spring cleaning yard work and trim the bushes that enclose our backyard (they are almost 16 feet tall and that is totally beyond us). During casual conversation, we mentioned the issue of the pool and that we only knew of one place that filled in pools in the area. He told us of someone he worked with frequently who specialized in pool-fill-ins, and gave us a name and number.

A few days later, the excavator stopped by, gave us a quote for $7,800 to fill in the pool and that included sod and resodding.

Done! Hubby checked references, and we signed on the dotted line.

Two days later, they were here and starting the work of breaking up the pool.

Max would like to help!

The final empty.

They moved in a small bobcat while the pool was emptying.

He punched hundreds of holes in the pool for water drainage.

Once he got an area weak enough, he’d start collapsing the exterior of the pool and the cool deck.

While no one else was amazed with the bobcat operator, I was simply astounded he didn’t dump the bobcat in the empty pool!

They had intended to fill in the pool with fill the next day, but as luck would have it rain was forecast and they were concerned that we’d have a mudhole in the backyard before the sod could be laid and the inspector signed off on the work.

So, the initial break-up work was done on Thursday, and they did not return to fill in the pool until the following Tuesday.

Some groundwater did sink back in, but we have a guarantee that if the fill-in sinks, they will come back next year and refill and resod the depressed area.

They covered all the sidewalks

And the grass

And then the dump trucks started arriving with the clean fill.

In all, we were told that the 10 rounds of trucks (two per time) were dumping 20 yards of fill each time … 200 yards of fill total.

The bobcat driver made himself a path that he kept driving over again and again. Not only did that allow him to reach the furthest end of the pool, but he was basically tamping down the fill as he went!

Almost done.

And they filled it!

After they finished filling in the broken apart pool with the clean fill, they added a layer of topsoil and screened.

The next day, Wednesday, our sprinkler guy (who is all sorts of awesome! Truly, I can’t recommend this guy enough. If anyone in the Buffalo-area needs a recommendation, email me!) came in to lay the lines, the inspector came to check the electric, they laid the sod, cleaned up after themselves (they were amazing!) and we now have this:

We had a heater and a sand filter in the garage, as well as electric for the pool lights, the filter and pipes for the natural gas. That is all gone now too! They dumped the sand into the pool, wheeled that empty container out along with the heater, took all the pipes and the pool cover (a shame that could not be reused on another pool, but it is custom made). We now have a good eighth of our garage back which I am sure hubby will quickly fill with useless stuff.

Also, even though it is only April and the daytime highs are only in the 50s, we still need the new sod watered heavily. The sprinklers did this once in the middle of the night, and once during the day for a little over a week. It was soggy, but that sod grass has greened-up nicely.

All in all for us, this was a wonderful experience. It took three days total to go from a useless, old pool to a wonderful green yard that we will enjoy thoroughly, especially when I consider we are saving thousands of dollars per year on not having to maintain a pool! If we had done this when we moved in, the fill-in would have paid for itself in three years. Oh well, hindsight is 20-20. I am just glad it is done and we can now enjoy the savings.

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Do you research your purchases both large and small? Oh I don’t just mean your price books for lowest sale pricing for grocery store, I mean researching your furniture purchases, mattresses, appliances, and cars.

We do. As a matter of fact, I think hubby and I can research things to death! When we decided to get rid of our Sante Fe a few years back, it took almost three years before we settled on the Ford Edge.

When we bought mattresses, I found a forum that explained exactly what we were looking for to make for a longterm purchase. Construction, durability, high, low and middling models were explained in full (the forum has since closed).

Our furniture purchases were even more interesting. I spent months and months reading about, and educating myself on, furniture. It helped that my grandfather worked for Kittinger’s for 40 years, and any questions I had about construction he could answer. The negative was everything was “too expensive” to him – he’d been retired for over 20 years when we went looking! Hubby and I did make the trip to North Carolina after seeing the Metro NYC furniture pricing, and that was well worth it (in the middle of a hurricane, which is a story in itself, but I digress).

For those starting out researching any major household purchase, I always recommend Gardenweb’s Home Forums. Some of the forums are better than others – the laundry people are serious about their soaps and washers and dryers, for instance. You will be amazed!

What do you do to research a major purchase? Magazines? Books? Home-centers? Any tips and hints you would like to share with us!?

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Our time in Florida has come to an end for winter, 2012. We may head back in late fall to double check the rental we have chosen for next February, but for now it is back up north for us!

I thought I would share some of the pics of our vacation with you all.

This was the view from our Miami Beach condo. We were on the 28th floor, and on a clear day you truly could see forever! Every day the cruise ships sailed by, flocks of pelicans flew by, and oddly, the helicopters that flew below our condo level.

Two cruise ships pulling out at 5pm. They actually looked at lot closer with the naked eye.

And this is a picture of the beach after a storm.

We ended up looking for dog friendly beaches, and found them in the St Augustine area. Max abosultely loved playing with the waves! It was hilarious how he would play with them running back and forth so as not to get wet. Once, he was so engrossed by something that had washed up with a wave that he didn’t notice the next one come at him – and BAM! – he got a mouthful of seawater. I really wish I had had a video of that!

We really did enjoy our time in Florida, and we look forward to doing another month-long vacation next year.

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