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I've got plenty of files on my computer for keeping notes on various things. Now I've created a file specifically to keep track of where I put odds and ends. For those times I'm putting something away, and think, "Where can I put it, so that I'll remember that's where I put it?"
When I first moved into this house 8 years ago, I bought a pair of curtain hold-backs but didn't end up using them. Now I'd like to, but can't find them. I'm not sure if I got rid of them or not. I looked for them in the garage yesterday, but they weren't in the obvious place. Instead, I found the roll of magnetic strip that I was looking for last week. (Even though I had searched for that in the exact same place, so having a notes file wouldn't have helped in that case.) But I had already ended up buying another roll of magnetic strip.
I suppose now if I buy another pair of curtain hold-backs, next week I'll find the old ones.
The reason I need hold-backs now, is that I've put up the curtain track as mentioned in this post. It works so well - the sliders slide along the track so easily - that the curtains tend to spread out on their own, even after you push them to the side. So having a hold-back would help.
I'm still working on the curtains and black-out liners.
I thought the hardware would be the hard part. But the curtains and liners have given me more trouble.
Originally, I found a pair of curtains I liked in a JCPenny store. I tried to order them from their website, as the store didn't have them in the length I wanted.
First problem: when I put the item in my cart, the price was $10 higher than shown on the webpage. I called customer service and after explaining the problem, submitted the order over the phone to get the right price. To avoid delivery issues because of our dogs in the yard, I wanted it shipped to the store. But another item I was ordering (shears) didn't allow ship-to-store. So I ended up getting both items shipped to my house for free. I also used a 25% off coupon which the webpage had given me. And then there was 8% tax.
2nd problem: after hanging up the phone, I rechecked the amounts I had written down and realized that I'd been charged the higher amount for the curtains after all! I called back, talked to someone else, and though they couldn't easily correct the order, they assured me they'd credit my card for the extra $10 after the item was shipped. And they did - no problem with that.
3rd problem: UPS emailed me that the item would be sent by SurePost. In other words, I could expect it to be delivered by the U.S. postal service on Thursday. On Thursday, I checked the tracking page, and found that UPS had attempted delivery twice, and I hadn't been home! They hadn't emailed me to tell me that they were going to deliver it themselves after all!
So I worked from home on Friday, and received 2 other packages that I had ordered, but not that particular package. The tracking page simply displayed "In Transit". They ended up attempting the 3rd delivery again on Monday, when I wasn't home! Because of that, we had to drive across town to pick the package up. Actually, Qiao picked it up for me, wonderful guy that he is.
Next problem: The curtains had a sort of plasticky-metallic smell to them. I aired them out, but the smell didn't go away. The label said dry-clean only. But what the heck, I took a chance and washed them. Then I ironed them to get rid of the wrinkles caused by the washing. No harm done. The smell was reduced, but still present. It seems to be intrinsic to the fabric.
I don't want smelly curtains. So I decided not to keep these after all. I'll give them to Goodwill.
Next problem: The black-out liners. They smelled ok to begin with. But after hanging them in the window for a few days, with the sun hitting them, they started to emit a dirty-sock odor. Sigh. I don't want smelly curtains.
So instead of using those, I'm now scavenging old black-out liners that I had replaced in the past, and cutting and sewing them to the correct size.
The shears, at least, were fine.
When I first moved into this house 8 years ago, I bought a pair of curtain hold-backs but didn't end up using them. Now I'd like to, but can't find them. I'm not sure if I got rid of them or not. I looked for them in the garage yesterday, but they weren't in the obvious place. Instead, I found the roll of magnetic strip that I was looking for last week. (Even though I had searched for that in the exact same place, so having a notes file wouldn't have helped in that case.) But I had already ended up buying another roll of magnetic strip.
I suppose now if I buy another pair of curtain hold-backs, next week I'll find the old ones.
The reason I need hold-backs now, is that I've put up the curtain track as mentioned in this post. It works so well - the sliders slide along the track so easily - that the curtains tend to spread out on their own, even after you push them to the side. So having a hold-back would help.
I'm still working on the curtains and black-out liners.
I thought the hardware would be the hard part. But the curtains and liners have given me more trouble.
Originally, I found a pair of curtains I liked in a JCPenny store. I tried to order them from their website, as the store didn't have them in the length I wanted.
First problem: when I put the item in my cart, the price was $10 higher than shown on the webpage. I called customer service and after explaining the problem, submitted the order over the phone to get the right price. To avoid delivery issues because of our dogs in the yard, I wanted it shipped to the store. But another item I was ordering (shears) didn't allow ship-to-store. So I ended up getting both items shipped to my house for free. I also used a 25% off coupon which the webpage had given me. And then there was 8% tax.
2nd problem: after hanging up the phone, I rechecked the amounts I had written down and realized that I'd been charged the higher amount for the curtains after all! I called back, talked to someone else, and though they couldn't easily correct the order, they assured me they'd credit my card for the extra $10 after the item was shipped. And they did - no problem with that.
3rd problem: UPS emailed me that the item would be sent by SurePost. In other words, I could expect it to be delivered by the U.S. postal service on Thursday. On Thursday, I checked the tracking page, and found that UPS had attempted delivery twice, and I hadn't been home! They hadn't emailed me to tell me that they were going to deliver it themselves after all!
So I worked from home on Friday, and received 2 other packages that I had ordered, but not that particular package. The tracking page simply displayed "In Transit". They ended up attempting the 3rd delivery again on Monday, when I wasn't home! Because of that, we had to drive across town to pick the package up. Actually, Qiao picked it up for me, wonderful guy that he is.
Next problem: The curtains had a sort of plasticky-metallic smell to them. I aired them out, but the smell didn't go away. The label said dry-clean only. But what the heck, I took a chance and washed them. Then I ironed them to get rid of the wrinkles caused by the washing. No harm done. The smell was reduced, but still present. It seems to be intrinsic to the fabric.
I don't want smelly curtains. So I decided not to keep these after all. I'll give them to Goodwill.
Next problem: The black-out liners. They smelled ok to begin with. But after hanging them in the window for a few days, with the sun hitting them, they started to emit a dirty-sock odor. Sigh. I don't want smelly curtains.
So instead of using those, I'm now scavenging old black-out liners that I had replaced in the past, and cutting and sewing them to the correct size.
The shears, at least, were fine.