Product Review: CSN Grain and Nut Grinder

 Recently CSN Store contacted me to do a product review. They provide a gift certificate, I choose an item and review it here on my blog. And being the food storage nerd that I am I chose a hand-cranked  Universal Grain, Corn and Nut Mill. I am fully aware that an electric one is faster, but I want to have both in the event that there's a power outage/ shortage.

Picture from CSN Store site

 As for the shopping process, I wished there was a product description or review. I realize that they ask people to do these things so they will have those reviews, but there wasn't enough information. I had to search for the same product elsewhere on the internet to get a description. They were however, very prompt in their shipping.

Here it is, set up in my kitchen

 Another minus for this product was that there were very little instructions. Just one diagram on the side of the box on how to assemble. I could only fit it on the back side of my kitchen island because the tightening screw is too wide to tighten it on the side counter lips. As I began to use it I found that the pieces don't fit together very well.

View looking down into the mill.

 As you can see there is a small gap between the two of the pieces where you pour in your product that you are grinding. No amount of turning closes this gap. This means that as you operate the mill little bits are flying onto the counter and floor and generally making a mess.

 Now it's kind of hard to see from this picture, but when all the pieces are tightened all the way, they don't fit together. When slightly looser, the gear and grinding plates are centered, but not very effective for grinding. And as you crank the mill, the pieces tighten a little more on their own, meaning that once again the pieces are not fitting together.

 Here are the wheat kernels that I sent through the mill ten times. They changed very little between the third and the tenth time through. I don't think that this thing could ever turn my wheat into flour. The picture on the website and the box show a bowl of finely ground corn meal. I can't imagine ever getting anything so fine out of this mill. It works for making cracked wheat or perhaps for grinding coffee beans, or corn kernels into feed, something where you want a coarse product, but not for turning grain into flour.

Now I really wanted to like this product and give it a good review. I was excited to get it and I have had good experiences with CSN Stores in the past, but I was less than impressed. I can't honestly recommend it. If I hadn't gotten this product for almost free I would have returned it, but it's not really worth the hassle for the chance that I might get back what I payed for shipping.

Apparently I only look like an adult...

So this morning I woke up at five-thirty, because that's what I always do. After trying for more than an hour to go back to sleep, I thought I would gather my coupons and head back to Smith's. I forgot to get eggs and perhaps there were still some great  mega coupon deals left.
 When I was stopped at the intersection near Smith's I noticed a motorcycle pass me. 'Was that a cop? I don't think so. Regardless, I'm ok. I'm definitely not speeding.' Except when I pulled into the parking lot, he came back and his lights started flashing. 'Whah, I should have stayed in bed!'
"Yes officer, I realise that my stickers are expired. I paid for my inspection at the one local inspection place that doesn't just give you the stickers there and when I paid for my vehicle registration online my printer wasn't working." Because this is the way that the universe works, I'm willing to bet that the stickers will come in the mail today, and I did get my printer working later, but totally forgot to print my temporary "sticker" '. :s
"Do you realize that your front headlight is out?"
"Ah! No, I didn't realize that. I just had it inspected last week and it was fine."
"Let me see you license, insurance and registration."
"Why does your license have holes punched in it?"
"Because my birth certificate is invalid."
He looked at me like I had lost my mind. 'What kind of a bogus excuse is that? Whose birth certificate is invalid anyway? Just mine, that's who.' "Here's my temporary license."
"Oh, good. This is what I need. I've never seen them punch holes through someone's middle name before." 'I'm just special that way.'
While he was looking for that I searched through my wallet for my car insurance card, which was MIA. See Thing 2 has an obsession with dumping things out of my wallet any chance he can, and apparently the last time my car insurance card didn't make it back in. More excuses.
While he called dispatch to verify my vehicle, I searched through the glove compartment and every other part of my car for my registration. Nothing. Nor can I think of remotely relevant excuse. 'Hi, my name is Heather, and apparently I only look like a competent adult, because I can't manage to do simple things like carry  proof of valid license, insurance and registration.' And as I write this I am eating cookies and milk for breakfast. Yup, I am an a-dult. I feel like this comic is becoming a reoccurring theme in my life. At least he was able to look up and see that I was in fact insured and registered.
He was very nice. I am just a spaz and being pulled over gives me anxiety. He wrote me a to-do list instead of a ticket. 'Thank you, sir. I actually can't function without those.'

I'm sure at some point I'm going to learn something from this.

 This morning I was supposed to work, but there weren't enough sick children, so I was put on-call. Hooray! I love being put on-call, it's my favorite. Especially on the weekends, because then my whole family is home. Yes, being on-call I make less than $3 an hour, but I get to be with my family, so it's worth it.

 Today I had marvelous plans. I did some small grocery shopping and rented a carpet cleaner. (Earlier this week when I tried to rent one there weren't any available, even though I called to verify beforehand. :S) Then I took my turkey carcass from the fridge, and threw it into the crock pot to make stock. Thing 2, who generally doesn't take much interest in my housekeeping activities found this to be very interesting. As I was chopping vegetables to put in it, he pulled up a chair and kept trying to convince me that we needed to put some purple grapes in the mix. :)

  Then I cleaned my house like some kind of crazy person. There is probably something wrong with me that I find it magical when my house is clean. I love it. But really it is fairly magical that I happened to have both the time and the energy to thoroughly clean my house. And looking at my carpets really makes me feel like singing. They really, really needed to be cleaned. Renting the carpet cleaner and buying solution came to $41, whereas paying someone to clean my carpets would cost at least $150. Hooray! Thing 2 also found carpet cleaning to be very interesting, for most of the cleaning he crawled along on the floor next to me watching the brushes. Silly boy.
  So my house is smelling like yumminess and my carpets were clean. When I was done I had more magical plans of pulling out all the Christmas decorations and bake cookies, maybe even do a little bit of shopping. The only thing left was my closet. Now for the past few weeks something has been amiss with my closet. There has been a musty odor, and it appeared about a week after I cleaned out and organized it. I had not the foggiest idea what it was. So my husband and I pulled everything out of our closet. Near the door we found a very moldy crayon. Thing 2 has a terrible habit of pouring water on the carpet. Why he enjoys this so much, I don't know, but we thought this was the cause of the problem. Then we kept pulling stuff out. Against the back wall sits our suitcase, and underneath it was more mold. (Shows how often we travel.) This had spread to 3 of my shoes (from 3 separate pairs) and my non-washable purse that I bought for $1 in Argentina. (I'm pretty sad about the bag, it was awesome.) When we pulled that away we discovered that there was about an inch of water damage along most of the baseboard. (Also of note my closet is inside my bathroom.) An inside wall mind you, which can only mean one thing. Plumbing issues. Murg. That totally puts a damper on the Christmas spirit and definitely no shopping.
  I cleaned everything with hydrogen peroxide and called a plumber. If he comes out today (Saturday), it will cost $130 per hour. If I wait until Monday it will only be $60 per hour. I can wait until Monday. Yes, this is a big pain in the neck that I need to address soon, but it totally can wait til Monday. I'm also thinking that putting my husband through school would have been a lot easier if I had been a plumber instead of a nurse. I'm sure that I will learn something useful from this experience and probably be able to get a blog post out of it with some helpful information to save someone else some hassle. And as I write this Thing 2 is shredding Styrofoam on my freshly cleaned carpet. That's my cue.

What to do should you spill water on your laptop

So last weekend I was writing my book review post and the book wouldn't stay open. There was a glass of water handy on the table so I sat in on the page of my book that I wanted to see. (Yes, I know not my most brilliant move.) It wasn't long before said glass of water was knocked onto my laptop (and no I can't even blame the kids.) And my husband the computer genius wasn't even there at the moment to fix it. Once upon a time he taught me to build a PC from parts, and from this experience I learned that anything with any significant power is going to have at least one fan, sometimes multiple fans. So I wiped it off and let it continue running and twitching hoping that the fan would be able to dry it off. (This is not what I'm recommending that you do, it's just what I did first. I'm not claiming that I'm the computer genius.) My poor little netbook kept shutting itself off. Even after I pulled out my blow-dryer. Eventually my knight in shining armor did come home and without any promises showed me what to do.

1. Remove the battery. Don't even bother to shut it down, just remove the battery.
2. Wipe off any excess water. (Already done)
3. Using a cool setting blow dry the battery and the computer from all angles.
4. Leave it alone for awhile.

If the computer is running the water can cause it to make connections between circuits that should not be connected. And of course how successful this method is depends on how much water was spilled on your laptop in the first place. Even though it was several hours before he pulled the battery out and I blow-dried the inside of the computer, when I put it together the next day it worked just fine and I haven't had any problems since. That's a relief. This may not work in every case, but it is certainly worth a shot and can't make the situation any worse.

Sorry guys...

Last night it was brought to my attention that blogger wasn't allowing most people to comment, making it difficult to enter the giveaway. So sorry. I think I fixed it. Try again, it should work this time.