As Seen On TV: Does ANY of this crap work?

[ivygirl]

I'm obsessed with the ridiculousness that is Angry Mama, a perpetually grimacing piece of plastic which steam-cleans the microwave with vinegar (I think). I know there are other ways of accomplishing this, but it's just so silly I'm tempted to pick it up. Anyone tried it?

[peacheslatour]

I just use Clorox Wipes, they work a treat on microwaves.

[Brattinella]

41 minutes ago, ivygirl said:

I'm obsessed with the ridiculousness that is Angry Mama, a perpetually grimacing piece of plastic which steam-cleans the microwave with vinegar (I think). I know there are other ways of accomplishing this, but it's just so silly I'm tempted to pick it up. Anyone tried it?

I have been tempted by this Angry Mama as well, kind of a silly item.  I hope someone has tried it.

[theatremouse]

4 hours ago, ivygirl said:

I'm obsessed with the ridiculousness that is Angry Mama, a perpetually grimacing piece of plastic which steam-cleans the microwave with vinegar (I think). I know there are other ways of accomplishing this, but it's just so silly I'm tempted to pick it up. Anyone tried it?

I haven't seen the item you're talking about, and if it amuses you and is cheap enough that you don't really care, sure go for it. But putting a mug of vinegar in the microwave and running it will probably have much the same impact? So if you don't want a doohickey for this purpose, you don't need a doohickey.

Edited November 29, 2016 by theatremouse

[ivygirl]

Thanks for the advice. I am certain that I already do a bang-up job of cleaning the microwave but this is just so goofy it's hard for me to resist.

I love the shots of Angry Mama supervising the wipe down of the microwave.

 

[chessiegal]

44 minutes ago, ivygirl said:

Thanks for the advice. I am certain that I already do a bang-up job of cleaning the microwave but this is just so goofy it's hard for me to resist.

I love the shots of Angry Mama supervising the wipe down of the microwave.

 

Holy cow, the inside of my microwaves (yes, I have 2, a built in that was in the house and a stand alone we moved with us, and thankfully the fuses don't blow when we use both at the same time) and they have never looked that bad, and I use them almost every day. I know my cleaning service wipes them down inside, but I have never had them look like that!

[ivygirl]

16 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Holy cow, the inside of my microwaves (yes, I have 2, a built in that was in the house and a stand alone we moved with us, and thankfully the fuses don't blow when we use both at the same time) and they have never looked that bad, and I use them almost every day. I know my cleaning service wipes them down inside, but I have never had them look like that!

Never fear. I think you have to live in Infomercial Black and White World for that to happen :D

Either that, or work in a large office where no one takes responsibility for cleaning up their own mess in the kitchen. 

[Muffyn]

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 7:56 PM, riley702 said:

I have this one. I think I'm on my fourth in 20-odd years. Chiefly because I'm a lazy sod at heart, but also because cat litter and pop are heavy items. I like the stair-climbing one you linked, frenchtoast, because my current apartment has 4 concrete steps up into the building. Currently, I'll turn it around and pull it up one step at a time. Those stair-climbing wheely things look like they'd make it easier for me.

Has anyone ever used those Forearm Forklifts? Do they really make it as easy as it looks to lift heavy items?

The movers I hired used straps like these.  They did seem to make it easier to move really heavy items.  Then again, they were two very strong young men so they would probably have been successful without the straps.

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 1:08 PM, aquarian1 said:

I don't remember seeing any more of these claims in the commercials I've seen.  They must have been somewhere, though, if not in my neck of the woods (Mpls).

Does my pillow treat neck of the woods?  Don't worry, I'll let myself out.

[riley702]

12 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

I bought a Hurricane Spin brush at BBB with a 20% off coupon (of course). It works pretty well, comes with three brushes. It's great for cleaning the ceiling in my bathroom.  

You're supposed to clean the ceiling?!? All the time or was there a terrrible accident?

[ivygirl]

43 minutes ago, Muffyn said:

Does my pillow treat neck of the woods?  Don't worry, I'll let myself out.

Nah, you have to go to the Lumbar Yard to get a pillow for that. :)

[Cobalt Stargazer]

12 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Agreed. The delivery notification said the spin brush was delivered - Fed Ex to the USPO and then to me, and then there's an addendum that it was sent back for having an incorrect address. I don't know who screwed up - did Spin Brush not include my unit # or did the temp contract worker for the USPO just not give a shit & sent it back.  But I plan on cancelling the whole freaking thing if I don't get it this week.

I know that Amazon can be very picky about not delivering items if an apartment number or whatever isn't listed in the address. I've never bought anything that's sold on TV, but its likely they want all their I's dotted and T's crossed.

[Prevailing Wind]

I once had a FedEx guy leave a package for me across the street. My address ends in 29. He saw 28 and assumed next door would be 29 and left my package there.  Idiot had no concept of odd numbers on one side of the street, evens on the other. AND he has a job delivering packages. <SMH>

As for Angry Mama...who leaves the rotating glass platter IN the microwave in the attempt to clean it?  Why wouldn't you take it out & clean it in, oh, I dunno, say THE DISHWASHER??!??!?  (or at least in the sink.)

[DeLurker]

7 hours ago, riley702 said:

You're supposed to clean the ceiling?!? All the time or was there a terrrible accident?

Mine was the result of a terrible accident.  I was startled while carrying a pan of spaghetti sauce.  A few droplets had impressive range and hit the upper wall and ceiling.

[bad things are bad]

The bathroom ceiling has some mildew that bugs me. 

[LoneHaranguer]

I've been seeing an ad with one of the people from Shark Tank pushing a piece of molded plastic you're supposed to use for exercise. Looks like a quick way to ruin a spot on your floor.

[ennui]

On 11/28/2016 at 7:39 PM, ivygirl said:

Either that, or work in a large office where no one takes responsibility for cleaning up their own mess in the kitchen. 

This. Office microwaves are scary dirty. 

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 8:06 PM, friendperidot said:

I guess I should look it up on reviews, but I'm kind of wanting one of those red copper pans. I want to melt plastic cups in my pan then cook eggs. Actually, I never cook eggs, hate eggs. But I use old Corning Ware, so I can go from fridge to oven to freezer to stove top. And put the pans on the table = or just eat out of them which is more likely with my lifestyle.

My step-mom got one of those non-stick copper pans and they're not nonstick but kept it b/c she needed a big-ass skillet.

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 5:36 PM, peacheslatour said:

Our across the street neighbors have one of those projection thingies and I have to admit it does look kind of cool, but they also have conventional Christmas lights as well. It would probably look stupid with just the projected ones. 

My neighbor has one. It's OK, I guess.

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 5:22 PM, cpcathy said:

How come I keep thinking that the Star Shower is something for your shower and even though I read the entire post above, I still wondered why you need lights in your shower?

Funny enough, I saw an ad for a showerhead with LED lights in it, presumably to entice your children to want to take showers.

On ‎11‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 9:34 AM, Qoass said:

I saw an ad for a room heater that is supposed to work like those infrared consoles that are all the rage but it's about the size of a shoe so it can plug right into the wall outlet.  It seems to good to be true but if anybody gets one, I'd love a review.

Are you talking about the fake Amish fireplace boxes?

[Qoass]

Well, the big ones (about a sixteen inch cube?) were supposedly Amish but the ones I'm seeing now plug right into the outlet like a carbon monoxide detector.

This is the one I'm wondering about.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Qoass

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Qoass said:

Well, the big ones (about a sixteen inch cube?) were supposedly Amish but the ones I'm seeing now plug right into the outlet like a carbon monoxide detector.

This is the one I'm wondering about.

I'd be afraid that it's a fire hazard.

[DeLurker]

On 12/5/2016 at 8:56 AM, Qoass said:

Well, the big ones (about a sixteen inch cube?) were supposedly Amish but the ones I'm seeing now plug right into the outlet like a carbon monoxide detector.

This is the one I'm wondering about.

A quick check of reviews generally gave it low scores.  One of the reviews I read said it was not UL Classified which is not a good sign.

Mom ordered a couple of heaters after reading a glowing review in some newspaper handyman article.  It is pretty small and works well in the kitchen or a bath (where the voltage* capacity is higher) but when I plugged it into a living room outlet, it blew the circuit.

*I may be making up names for stuff here.  In any event, bathrooms and kitchens are usually wired to take more electrical juice than the rest of the house.

[Silver Raven]

Quote

Mom ordered a couple of heaters after reading a glowing review in some newspaper handyman article.  It is pretty small and works well in the kitchen or a bath (where the voltage* capacity is higher) but when I plugged it into a living room outlet, it blew the circuit.

A few weeks ago our furnace stopped working and I had to go out to get a couple of space heaters. 
They kept blowing circuits, we couldn't run the microwave on the same circuit as one of them, and the oven didn't heat up even though it's gas heat, when running on the same circuit as the other one.

[Bastet]

Space heaters are notorious for blowing circuits -- anything containing both a motor and a heating element draws a lot of power.  If you plug it into an outlet that's on a circuit with a 15-amp breaker, the space heater alone is using most of the available power, so it doesn't take much else on that circuit to overload it and trip the breaker.  Even a 20-amp breaker can be a problem if there are enough other things running on that same circuit. 

[peacheslatour]

We have a bunch of those little radiators. they work great and heat our small house really well except for when it's extremely cold.

[chessiegal]

We have 2 Lasko Ceramic Tower Electric space heaters, 1 for the bedroom and 1 for the bath. I can use my hair dryer and heater in the bathroom and it never blows a circuit. They do a great job heating the rooms and our bedroom is huge.

[theatremouse]

2 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

They kept blowing circuits, we couldn't run the microwave on the same circuit as one of them

JFYI, PSA, it's not really recommended to run anything else on the same circuit as a microwave. Space heater is unsurprisingly problematic for reasons others already mentioned, but microwaves ought to be on a dedicated circuit anyway.

[chessiegal]

We have 2 microwaves in the kitchen and can use both of them at the same time without tripping a circuit. We must have magic wiring. ?

[riley702]

3 hours ago, chessiegal said:

We have 2 Lasko Ceramic Tower Electric space heaters, 1 for the bedroom and 1 for the bath. I can use my hair dryer and heater in the bathroom and it never blows a circuit. They do a great job heating the rooms and our bedroom is huge.

Sounds great. Have you noticed a spike in the electric bill when using them?

[Prevailing Wind]

I learned the hard way not to run the microwave and the vacuum at the same time. Almost every outlet near the kitchen & living room is on the same stupid circuit.  I did get my panel upgraded to 100 amp instead of 50, but it still blows.

[peacheslatour]

We can't run our dishwasher and microwave at the same time.

[FormerMod-a1]

To bring back the pillow discussion.  I tried my friend's My Pillow.  Yes, it does look lumpy in the sense that it doesn't look smooth, due to the pieces of memory foam.  However, it doesn't feel lumpy.  It's quite comfy actually.  You do need to get the right kind for how you sleep though.  Apparently there are differences in firmness and other design features based on that, and your height and size, etc.  I know on the My Pillow website, you can take an evaluation that is 4 simple questions (screen shot below).  That said, I haven't bought one because I had bought the Miracle Pillow a few weeks ago and I really like it.  You shape it once and it holds that shape while you sleep.  It also is cooler than other memory foam pillows, and maybe even a little cooler than regular pillows, but it's not "cool" cool, if you know what I mean.  It's cooler in a comfortable sense.  I tried a Casper pillow and while comfy in terms of fit and support for head, it was HOT, like it seemed to exude heat during the night somehow.

I can't believe I've tried so many pillows is such a short amount of time.

[ennui]

On 12/5/2016 at 6:56 AM, Qoass said:

Well, the big ones (about a sixteen inch cube?) were supposedly Amish but the ones I'm seeing now plug right into the outlet like a carbon monoxide detector.

This is the one I'm wondering about.

I've seen that commercial, too. "Too good to be true." Cracks me up that everyone is sitting around barefoot, because it's so warm. Ha! 

[chessiegal]

18 hours ago, riley702 said:

Sounds great. Have you noticed a spike in the electric bill when using them?

Nope.

[LoneHaranguer]

18 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I learned the hard way not to run the microwave and the vacuum at the same time. Almost every outlet near the kitchen & living room is on the same stupid circuit.  I did get my panel upgraded to 100 amp instead of 50, but it still blows.

The capacity of a circuit depends on the thickness of the wire. Upgrading the panel just lets you add more circuits by running more wire for new outlets or to split a current circuit into pieces.

[riley702]

I just learned something! Thanks, LH!

[riley702]

I've been seeing ads for mattresses in a box (Casper, etc.) delivered by mail. Well, I got my Sealy Cocoon memeory foam/gel hybrid mattress yesterday in the mail and... I like it! I got the firm vs soft (my usual preference) and also went for the "chill" version with a top layer that is supposed to wick away body heat. I got a queen size, and it's about 11 inches deep. I got $100 off using the promo code OPRAH, as it is apparently one of her "favorite things". So it cost $750 with free shipping and a 100 night money-back guarantee. It comes vacuum-squished and rolled up in a 15x15x45 box and weighs about 75 pounds. I had some nigglings doubts I'd be able to set it up myself, and while it wasn't quite as easy as the demo below (I'm a 55 yr-old woman, not a fit young man), it was definitely doable without throwing my back out. I asked about that money-back guarantee: "Umm, how would I get it back in the box?" and they said they would donate it to a charity in my area and inform them to go pick it up. The charity would give me a receipt that I would then e-mail back to Sealy for a refund. Very nice way to handle things! I approve, but I don't think that's going to be necessary unless something drastic changes in the next 3 months. It only took 30 minutes to fully expand, and I used that time to put on the mattress protector I had bought, the sheets and comforter, etc. Slept like a baby.

PS - I kept the old box springs and put it on top of that.

Edited December 10, 2016 by riley702
link

[revbfc]

I think my favorite part of the TacLight ad is 20 seconds in when the wife pushes her husband out of the bed to check on the noise.  Her body language is all "Bitch, get out the bed and defend me!!!"

[friendperidot]

There's a lantern commercial revbfc that I like the bit where the announcer proclaims that if the power goes out you may have to hold that flashlight for hours! And they show a couple having dinner with the man holding the flashlight with his chin while he tries to eat. Nobody does that! if you must use a flashlight to eat by, just lay it on the table, maybe stand it up on it's non light end! The lantern actually looks practical, it's just the uses that are stupid. Sort of cramming a qtip down your ear stupid or cutting paper with scissors turned sideways stupid. The product might be good, it's the ads that are stupid.

[Prevailing Wind]

Telebrands said they'll refund me what I paid for the Spin Brushes that never arrived.  Yeah, sure.

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, friendperidot said:

And they show a couple having dinner with the man holding the flashlight with his chin while he tries to eat. Nobody does that!

He is holding it under his chin in black and white?

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, friendperidot said:

There's a lantern commercial revbfc that I like the bit where the announcer proclaims that if the power goes out you may have to hold that flashlight for hours! And they show a couple having dinner with the man holding the flashlight with his chin while he tries to eat. Nobody does that! if you must use a flashlight to eat by, just lay it on the table, maybe stand it up on it's non light end! The lantern actually looks practical, it's just the uses that are stupid. Sort of cramming a qtip down your ear stupid or cutting paper with scissors turned sideways stupid. The product might be good, it's the ads that are stupid.

And they're trying to eat spaghetti, no less.

[ennui]

22 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

And they're trying to eat spaghetti, no less.

How did they cook the spaghetti if the power's out? Or are they having cold Spaghetti-O's?

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, ennui said:

How did they cook the spaghetti if the power's out? Or are they having cold Spaghetti-O's?

Maybe they have a gas stove (I know the burners are electronic ignition, but I believe you can light them with a match if you have to).

[Moose135]

25 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Maybe they have a gas stove

If they are living in the Black & White World, it must be a gas stove, electricity wasn't around much back then.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Maybe they have a gas stove (I know the burners are electronic ignition, but I believe you can light them with a match if you have to).

Once when the power went out we cooked hot dogs on sticks on the fireplace. I though we were weird until one day I saw an old episode of Dragnet and they were grilling steaks in the fireplace. In the living room.

[ennui]

I think I saw that episode of Dragnet.

[janie jones]

My friend's ex-boyfriend wanted to roast hotdogs and/or marshmallows in the fireplace in their apartment, and my friend found it very off-putting.

[Brattinella]

I would think cooking most anything in the fireplace (particularly meat) would cause a layer of fat and stink in the chimney. 

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Brattinella said:

I would think cooking most anything in the fireplace (particularly meat) would cause a layer of fat and stink in the chimney. 

Right? That's why it was so strange seeing it Dragnet. Joe Friday (I think) was over at Bill's house and they were totally acting like it was a normal thing to grill steaks in the fireplace. In. The. Living. Room.

[Brattinella]

I'll confess something.  When we were in the midst of a week-long ice storm, we had no power and only a gas pipe in the fireplace.  I did open up a can of stew and heat it up a little in the fire (just to not be ice-cold).  I'll never forget it.  When we finally were able to get the car out of the frozen-shut garage, I went to walmart and got one of their rotisserie chickens, our first hot meal, and it was pure heaven!