Pop Quiz: Email Etiquette

1. When you receive an email, how much of it should you read?

a. Just the subject line.
b. The first paragraph.
c. Until I get bored.
d. The whole thing.

2. When you receive an email where the sender requests answers to questions, how many of the questions should you answer?

a. Just the first one.
b. The subject line didn't have any questions so there are no questions to answer.
c. Only the ones I want to answer.
d. All that I can answer and explain why I can't answer the others.

3. True or False: Using all caps (upper-case) means that I really enjoyed writing the email.

4. When replying to an email, what is the difference between Reply and Reply-to-all?

a. Reply means I only read part of the email and Reply-to-all means I read the whole email.
b. There is no difference.
c. My email only has a Reply-to-all.
d. Reply replies to just the sender when Reply-to-all replies to everyone the sender sent the email to.

5. True or False: Email is a casual form of communication so there is no need to spell-check or proof read before sending an email.

Answers:
1. The answer to #1 is obviously d. If someone is going to take the time to send you information in an email, you probably need to read the whole thing.

2. The answer to #2 is most definitely d. People don't ask questions via email just because they like to type. If someone is asking a question, they probably need the answer.

3. #3 is False. Caps (upper-case letters) are used for emphasis. When an entire email, or a section of an email (or any other internet-type of communication) means that you are yelling; it is rude.

4. The answer to #4 is d. If everyone that the email was sent to needs to see your response (like in a collaborate group discussion), use the Reply-to-all. If only the sender needs to see your response (like a request for your address or other personal information), use the Reply option.

5. The answer to #5 is always False. Email can be a casual form of communication but it is still important to proof-read in order to make sure that you are sending exactly what you intend to send to your recipients.

I don't know if there is anything more frustrating when trying to convey information to a person when that person is not paying attention or doesn't seem to care. This can happen with email too.

When trying to communicate in a non-vocal way (text message, email, social networking, etc.), it is important to be clear, thorough, and keep a level tone because the reader of the message can't hear your voice to determine the type of non-vocal communication you are using. For example, sarcasm can be difficult to convey in writing because writing doesn't have the vocal fluctuations that you'd hear when talking to someone using sarcasm.

Please be smart when emailing in both casual and professional settings. Thanks.

Our Water Usage Issues

CJ and I have had an interesting experience with our water since moving into our house in January.

Our first bill charged us for 2000 gallons of water. We figure that since we hadn't lived in the house for a full month that our water bill would be higher the following month.

We were right. It was much higher the following month. On our second water bill we were charged for 11,000 gallons of water. After doing some research I found that there was probably no way that CJ and I were using more than 5,000 gallons a month considering that we didn't have any leaks that we knew of (and I'm pretty sure we would have noticed a 6,000 + gallon leak). CJ decided to sit on this bill and just see what the next was like.

Our third water bill charged us for 14,000 gallons of water. Ok, now there is something seriously wrong here. There is no way we are using that much water and we wouldn't be able to miss a 9,000 + gallon leak. So CJ called in. The lady he talked to said she'd send someone to check the meter and we'd need to call back in a few days.

The first time we called back they hadn't actually looked at the meter even though they said it would have been looked at by then.

The second time CJ called back he was told that there was nothing wrong with the meter, it was functioning perfectly.

(The following dialogue is paraphrased and based on what CJ told me, I wasn't actually part of the conversation.)
CJ: Then why are we being charged for 14,000 gallons of water?
Water Company (WC): It can be surprising how much water a household uses.
CJ: Sure, but 14,000 gallons?
WC: It appears that that is about the same amount that was billed this time last year.
CJ: Really? 14,000 gallons of water in one month? Our neighbors only used 4,000 gallons last month.
WC: Well, you can't compare different households because everyone's water consumption is different.
CJ: 10,000 gallons different? What else can I do to get this resolved?
WC: If you don't think you are using that much water you probably have a leak, you should call a plumber.
CJ: I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a 10,000 gallon leak. There has to be something else that the water company can do to look into this.
WC: All we can do is send a technician over and explain to you that the meter is working.
CJ: Fine, let's do that. How about tomorrow around 4:30?
WC: 4:30 doesn't work because we make our last appointment for the day at 4pm.
CJ: How about during the day on Saturday?
WC: Our offices aren't open on Saturday.
CJ: So you are saying that I have to take time off of work to do this?
WC: Yes, you could do it on your lunch break.
CJ: Fine, then tomorrow at noon?
WC: We'll have a technician at your house tomorrow at noon.

The next day at about 10am I got a call from CJ. The water company called him to tell him that he didn't need to be there to talk to the technician because a technician looked at the meter in the morning and noticed that it had the wrong kind of valve so it was calculating water consumption on a different scale (something about how many rotations of the dial = how many gallons of water; we were being charged for 14 rotations on a valve that calculated 1 rotation as 1,000 gallons of water when there should have been a valve that calculated 1 rotation as more like 250 gallons of water). This means that the first 2,000 gallons we were charged for was actually only for 4 -5 days of water usage and not half a month like we thought.

My thought was "Really? And you first technician didn't notice this?" Apparently CJ had the same question and was told that it was something that wasn't very noticeable.

This is when he brought up that the previous owners of the house had been charged for a lot more water than they actually used. The water company said that if they contacted them they would be refunded for their water usage. CJ called the selling agent from when we bought the house. He didn't answer so CJ just left a message. Hopefully the previous owners call up to get their refund and also complain profusely that this even happened in the first place.

Long story longer: it is all worked out now and we should no longer be charged for an outrageous amount of water usage; which is a huge relief.

Meet Samus

On August 17, 2010, CJ and I adopted a rabbit from the Humane Society. We named her Samus, after a video game character.

At the time we adopted Samus we lived in an apartment that only allowed caged pets. CJ and I also both work full time and aren't home during the day most days. These two factors led us to a rabbit instead of a dog - a rabbit can stay in a cage during the day with no problem.

Right away I knew I wanted a young black female rabbit. Young so that she'd be around for a while, black because the white rabbits tend to get all the attention and I don't know why a female. While searching the Utah Humane Society's website for animals they had available we found two 2-year old black females and one 3 month old black male. Since rabbits only live for about 10 years, 2 seemed a little old so I got my heart set on the male.

When we actually went to the Humane Society we found that one of the black females was actually 3 months old instead of 2 years. She hid from us at first when we tried to pick her up but once I had her and she started licking my arm (a sign of affection from rabbits) I was taken. We also found out that she was much smaller that then other available black rabbits and that she was likely from the same liter as the male (there was a gray rabbit and a caramel rabbit from the same liter as well). Samus (at the time she was called "Tiny") was much smaller than her siblings and she was missing a patch of hair on the back of her neck so we figure she was the runt of the liter and was beat up a bit by her much bigger siblings.

We hadn't planned on adopting on our first trip to the Humane Society but they don't hold animals or keep them at their location after they are adopted, so they put her in a cardboard carrying box and we headed to the pet store for a cage, food, litter box, litter, food bowl, bedding, hay, water bottle, play pen, and some toys.


Samus is a total cutie but also a typical rabbit. She sleeps a lot during the day and night and is most active in the mornings and evenings. When she is awake she does a lot of pooping, exploring, eating, and chewing. (As I wrote this blog entry she chewed right through the only cord I have that connects my camera to my computer and she took a chunk out of the scroller on my mouse; I should have been paying better attention to her.) Some of her favorite vegetables are basil, radicchio, and dandelion greens; she does not like chard or mustard greens. She also likes all the fruits that we've tried to give her: apples, bananas, watermelon, frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, and frozen raspberries. But, her favorite treat ever is almonds. She goes crazy if she smells them near her and she'll even eat them when she is stressed out and won't eat any other treats.

Like most rabbits, Samus is a total diva. She has to have everything her way or she gets very upset. She's constantly moving her food and hay bowls in her cage because CJ and I don't always put them where she likes them. She doesn't like to be picked up, cuddled with, or have her toe nails clipped and CJ and I have the scars to prove it. Once I was moving something out of her way that I didn't want her to chew on and she bit a nice chunk of skin off my finger.

But she is also very nice. Samus is often quite content just sitting in her favorite spots or licking CJ's head or my eyebrows. It's really precious. Once I was half asleep on the couch and she jumped on my chest and started licking my face. It was really funny. CJ got a video on his phone but it isn't very good quality so I can't put it here.

We are very grateful to have Samus with us. Even though she can be a handful, she's a lot of fun to have around.

Recipe: Raspberry Ganache Pie

Doesn't this look divine? Guess what. It is divine! This is one of my favorite, easy to make pies. To be honest, I don't really make pies. In fact, this might be one of the only pie recipes I've ever followed. I guess I picked a good one!

I found this recipe on kraftrecipe.com, one of my favorite recipe websites. I mostly like it because they show videos for some recipes that seem a little intimidating and because they show the nutritional value of all their recipes.

Here's how it works:

1 pkg.(8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup whipping cream
6 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam, divided
1 OREO Pie Crust(6 oz.)
2 cups raspberries
1 Tbsp. water

Microwave chocolate and cream in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after each minute. Beat with whisk until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Stir in 2 Tbsp. jam.

Pour into crust. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Arrange berries on top of pie. Microwave remaining jam and water in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec.; stir until well blended. Brush onto berries. Keep refrigerated.

My tips:

I've never coarsely chopped my Baker's chocolate. I find that putting all 8 one ounce pieces into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup with the cream and stirring about every 30 seconds until it is nice and creamy is sufficient.

Definitely let the pie refrigerate for at least four hours before adding the berries. If the chocolate parts don't refrigerate long enough, the texture never quite gets right and the pie ends up being a little mushy. It still tastes good, but it has a strange texture and it is difficult to serve.

The pie is fine without adding the extra jam on top.

The raspberries and raspberry jam can be replaced with strawberries and strawberry jam or whatever other kind of berry you'd like to top it with.

Nutritional Information (1 serving is 1/10 of the pie):

Enjoy!

I Love Pesto

Not too long after we were first married, CJ introduced me to pesto as something that could be a staple in our diet. I have since developed a great love for pesto and its versatility.

The first time CJ and I had pesto I made it from scratch. It is surprisingly easy to make. The recipe I used is:

• Put a handful of pine nuts and fresh basil in a food processor with some parmesean cheese and garlic cloves.
• Blend.
• While mixing with a spoon, add extra virgin olive oil until your pesto is the consistency you want it.

Easy. However, fresh basil is not cheap, nor are pine nuts. I found that this was a pretty expensive way to make pesto so CJ and I started looking for different pesto at the grocery store. The first one we tried was by McCormick and came in an envelope for about $2 for 4 servings (enough to go with half a box of pasta), we had to add water and oil. This pesto was a little boring and didn't seem to have much flavor so we moved on to Buitoni's pre-made pesto that came in a plastic package ready to eat. We definitely liked the Buitoni better than the McCormick but 6 - 8 servings of Buitoni costs about $4 at Walmart and I even paid $6 for it once at Harmons when Walmart was out of stock.

That was over a year ago. Recently, in the last month or so, CJ and I were dinking around Costco and saw that they had a large pre-made pesto in a plastic package for about $7. This package has about 18 - 24 servings if it is being added to pasta. I was excited to see this and the next time we were planning on eating pesto we got the Costco variety. I am pleased to announce that the Costco variety is very, very good. I even like it better that the Buitoni variety.

Pasta is a popular way to serve pesto but there are many other ways as well. My other favorite way in on a sandwich. Pesto can be added to a sandwich in addition to or as a replacement for miracle whip/mayo, mustard, relish, etc. One of my favorite sandwiches that has pesto on it is the Milano at Zupas. Delicious.

Here is a list of a few other ways that pesto can be used:

• With any kind of pasta including tortellini and ravioli.
• On pizza as the only sauce or mixed in with marinara or alfredo sauce.
• In Lasagna.
• On all kinds of sandwiches: turkey, chicken, grilled cheese, BLT.
• Mixed with sour cream or cream cheese as a dip for crackers.
• On tomatoes.
• Added to broccoli cheddar soup.
• A replacement for garlic butter on French or Italian bread.
• On baked chicken or fish.
• In stuffed tomatoes.
• With gnocchi.
• Added to mac & cheese.

I'm sure there are a ton of other ways as well, those are just the ones I could think of.

The recipe I listed above is for basil pesto and the only kinds of pesto that CJ and I have purchased are also basil pesto, but there are many kinds of pesto. Other kinds are probably more difficult to find in stores but they are probably just as easy to make from scratch. Here is a list of types of pesto that I've heard of:

• Basil pesto.
• Mint pesto.
• Rosemary pesto.
• Cilantro pesto.
• Spinach pesto.
• Red pepper pesto.
• Arugula pesto.
• Parsley pesto.
• Walnut pesto (this could be any of the above pesto made with walnuts instead of pine nuts).

As you can see, pesto is very versatile and can be very fun to experiment with.

As I'm sure you noticed, one of the main ingredients in pesto is extra virgin olive oil. Because of this, some people might think that pesto isn't a very healthy option for cooking with. Of course, if pesto is consumed a lot, the consumer is going to consume quite a bit of fats and calories. However, when consumed in moderation, pesto is extremely healthy. Here is the nutritional information for the Costco variety pesto that I currently have in my refrigerator.


As you can see, there is quite a bit of fat per serving but most of that is the healthy, unsaturated fats. There is also a surprising amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and protein with very little sodium and sugar.

To sum up: pesto is great. I hope everyone gives it a try to find out for themselves how great it really is.

DIY: Fabric Backing For Shelves

I had black shelves with a black back that were pretty boring. Plus, they became a mess after CJ and I moved into our new place. I wanted to do something interesting with them. I came across a design article on MSN (if I remembered where I'd link to it but I don't, sorry) that said putting wallpaper on the inside back of shelves could add color and make shelves more interesting. I decided to try it.

My first thought was that wallpaper can be a messy project so I was going to try to find contact paper that had the color and pattern I wanted. However, nice looking contact paper is not easy to find. I did see a few online at specialty stores that I liked but it was really expensive.

So I started to look for wallpapers. Since I wanted a yellowish damask or paisley design, I figured wallpaper would be easy to find. I did find some that I liked but I also found that it was expensive and only came in huge rolls so I'd end up having a lot of extra wallpaper that I paid for that I'd never use.

So I moved on to fabric. Once I found the fabric I wanted I had to figure out which method to use. I found three methods for getting fabric on to the back of shelves.

1. The Whole Back Method. This method requires taking the whole back off the shelves (or creating a back for backless shelves), gluing the fabric on, then attaching the fabriced backing back onto the back of the shelves. I thought this blog did a good job of explaining this method.

2. The Starch Method. This method required dipping the fabric in a starch mixture then smoothing it onto the backing. This can be done while the back of the shelves is still attached to the shelving. This blog was helpful.

3. The Insert Method. This method is similar to method #1. Instead of adding fabric to the whole back, create new backing panels, add the fabric to those panels, and place the panels in the shelving. This is the blog that I found for this method.

Because I couldn't get the back of my shelves off (I definitely tried) and because starch isn't something I have ever worked with (CJ's shirts don't even get starched) I decided to go with the third method.

Tools I used and cost:

• Fabric - I purchased 5 yards so I'd have a little extra for other decor, like pillows or something to put on the wall. It was $5 a yard, so about $25.
• Fabric scissors - I actually had to go out and buy these; I paid about $15.
• Something for the backing - I used matte board, it was half off at Hobby Lobby. I got four 32" x 40" matte boards for $3.50 each, so about $14. I chose matte board because it was the right depth. Something too thick would have made putting the selves back on difficult.
• Hot glue gun and hot glue - I already had these on hand. My hot glue gun is one of the really cheap ones that takes the thin hot glue sticks, so the whole project took several sticks of glue.
• Something to measure with - I used a tape measure that was laying around.

That makes the total cost of this project about $54. Obviously the $15 for the scissors isn't going to be an expense that I'll have to put in every time I do a fabric project and I do have extra fabric for projects later on.

This is how I did it.

Step 1. Choose your fabric. This is easier said that done, but maybe that is because I had something very specific in mind. The walls in the room I'm putting the shelves are green. My kitchen is a teal-ish color and my dining room is yellow. I wanted something that would look nice with the green but also integrate with one of the other rooms, I chose yellow. I wanted a pattern that was fun but also sophisticated so I decided on either damask or paisley. While at the fabric store I found all kinds of damask and paisley patterns in every color but yellow, it was very frustrating. On my second walk through the store I found the fabric in this picture. It isn't quite the bright and happy yellow that I was going for but I like it anyway.

Step 2. Measure and Cut. Cut the backing to be about 1/8 to 1/16 inch smaller that your shelves. This allows a little room for when the fabric is added. Cut the fabric to be about 1 inch bigger than the backing on all sides. Hint: before moving on to step 3, place the backing on your shelves to make sure it fits. I found that either my matte board wasn't straight to begin with or I was doing something really crazy with my measuring or my cutting. There was one board that I had to trim several times to make sure it fill well in the shelves.

Step 3. Iron the Fabric. Winkles will probably show on the shelves unless they are ironed out.

Step 4. Place Backing on Fabric. If you have a pattern on your fabric that has a definite top, make sure to put in on the backing so that it is actually going to right direction.

Step 5. Glue Fabric to Backing. This is pretty easy and self-explanatory. The hardest part was figuring out how to make the corners look nice (which really doesn't matter because it isn't going to be seen). The corner I liked the best is the one in the third image below.








Step 6. Place Backing in Shelves. If everything was measured correctly everything should fit nicely. After the backing is in, put the actual shelves back on. If the backing doesn't fit perfectly, the selves should help hold it together.

Once all backing is in the shelves and the shelves themselves are put into place, the shelves are ready for books (or whatever else goes on shelves). Here is my finished product.

Halloween Themed Baby Shower For A Baby Boy

My little sister is having a baby in December and Little Sister's favorite holiday is Halloween so it only made sense to throw a Halloween themed Baby Shower for her on the Saturday before Halloween. The difficulty came in trying to figure out how to combine Halloween with the whole Baby Boy thing. It started with an invitation:


I took the whole black and orange thing for Halloween and added in a little blue. The ultrasound on the front of the card doubles nicely as a scary alien. I probably would have done more but the Halloween clip art hadn't yet been uploaded to the SendOutCards web-site, so I figured I'd just keep it simple. I think it turned out nicely.

The next challenge was what do you do at the actual Baby Shower to combine the two themes. The only solid idea I had was cupcakes with baby blue frosting and some kind of Halloween touch; so I headed to Gygi's to see what they had to offer. While there I found some bat candies for the cupcakes, a clear spider web table cloth and a baby blue table cloth, and some Halloween plates and napkins:



Again, I tried to keep things pretty simple. I topped the whole thing off with Little Sister's Thank you cards. By the time the shower came around, the Halloween clip art was available, so I was able to make something pretty cute:


The baby blue argyle patterns came from the baby themed clip art while everything else came from the Halloween clip art. The border around the name had some pretty creepy spiders on it so I just covered them up with some cutsie clip art.

Overall I think the whole Halloween themed Baby Shower themes worked well together. It might have worked easier for a baby girl because I just could have used purple instead of blue since purple is a generally accepted color for Halloween and for girls.

Maybe next year.