Sandra Lee (u/sandralee)

Posts

Saw a client's hair transform after just 3 olaplex treatments, not the 6 I thought she'd need

I had this client in Chicago who came in with major bleach damage from a box dye disaster. I told her to expect at least 6 sessions before seeing real improvement, but after the 3rd treatment her hair was actually soft and had its curl pattern back. Made me realize I've been overselling how long it takes to fix protein bonds. Has anyone else found that some treatments work way faster than the bottle says?

2 comments

c/fashion-design-ideas•

sandralee•22d ago

Pro tip: stop pressing so hard when you're hand sewing hems

I was hemming a pair of linen pants last night for a friend and my thumb was killing me from pulling the needle through. I've been sewing since I was a kid and I always thought you had to push hard to get the needle through thick fabric. Then my grandma walked by and asked why I was fighting the fabric so much. She showed me how to use a thimble to push from the side instead of jamming straight down. Turns out I was bending my needle tips after every 6 stitches and just throwing them away. I went through a whole pack of 20 needles last month on one project. Now I'm using the same needle for 3 days and my hand doesn't ache after 15 minutes. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized a small tweak to your technique saved you tons of frustration?

2 comments

c/climate-action•

sandralee•23d ago

Just replaced my old HVAC filter and saw a big drop in my electric bill

My buddy Mike who works in energy efficiency told me last summer to swap my filter every 6 weeks, not just when it looks dirty. I always thought it was fine to wait a few months. This year I finally started doing it, and after 3 months I compared my bills from last year. My electric bill dropped by about $18 a month, which adds up to over $200 for the whole cooling season. Plus the air in my house actually feels cleaner, less dust on the furniture. I never realized how much a clogged filter makes the AC work harder. Has anyone else seen a real money difference from something as simple as changing filters more often?

2 comments

-1

c/apartment-composting•

sandralee•25d ago

Hit 500 pounds of compost from my tiny kitchen and it blew my mind

I've been collecting scraps in a 5 gallon bucket under my sink for about 2 years now. Last week I finally dumped it all at the community drop-off and the guy weighed it. 512 pounds. That's like a quarter of a car. I'm in a 600 square foot apartment in Austin. Never thought one person making coffee and chopping veggies could add up to that much. Anyone else ever tally up their total and get shocked?

2 comments

c/diy-homeowners•

sandralee•27d ago

My neighbor Bill said I could just use duct tape on a plumbing leak

Last Saturday my kitchen sink pipe started dripping and Bill from two doors over told me a wrap of duct tape would hold it for a week until I could buy a real coupling. By Sunday morning the whole cabinet flooded and I found out the hard way that duct tape and water pressure don't mix. Has anyone else been given advice by a neighbor that ended in disaster like this?

2 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

sandralee•29d ago

Warning: my $12 inflatable sleeping pad exploded at 2am in the rain last month

I was camping at Dead Horse Point State Park when the seam split wide open, and I spent the rest of the night shivering on a tarp with my backpack as a pillow - has anyone else had a cheap pad fail on them like that?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

sandralee•1mo ago

Solved my cutterhead clogging problem with a garden hose trick

I was digging out wet clay near a creek in Ohio last month and my cutterhead kept packing up every 15 minutes. Stopping to pick that stuff out with a bar was eating hours off my shift. On a whim I taped a cheap garden sprayer nozzle to my ladder pipe and gave it a constant trickle of water right at the cutter. It washed the clay off before it could stick, and I went 6 hours without a single clog. Anyone else tried something weird like that to keep material moving?

3 comments

c/carpet-installers•

sandralee•1mo ago

Just got back from a home show in Tulsa - saw the wildest carpet pattern I've ever seen

Was at the Tulsa Home & Garden Show last Saturday and this one booth had a carpet that looked like a galaxy print. Blue and purple swirls with little silver flecks. The installer said they put it in a kid's bedroom last month and the kid thought it was glowing at night. Has anyone ever installed something that wild? I mostly do berber and plush, this was a whole different world.

2 comments

c/chefs•

sandralee•1mo ago

Bought a $400 meat grinder and it paid for itself in 3 months

I got tired of paying $8 a pound for ground beef at the store. So I grabbed a Lem grinder off Amazon and started grinding my own chuck roasts at $3.50 a pound. After 3 months I calculated the savings and it was over $150. Has anyone else done the math on breaking down whole cuts yourself?

2 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

sandralee•1mo ago

The time a senior guy told me to always zero my torque wrench after every use

I had this old timer named Doug at my first shop in Denver who swore up and down you had to back the torque wrench down to zero after every single job. He said leaving it set at 20 inch pounds or whatever would mess up the spring over time. I listened to him for like two years straight, never had an issue. Then I swapped to a new hangar and the lead tech there laughed at me for doing it. He showed me the manual for the same brand torque wrench and it said storing it at the lowest setting is fine, just not maxed out. I felt kind of dumb but also Doug was so sure about it. Anyone else get told some old school rule that turned out to be overkill or just plain wrong?

3 comments

Recent Comments

5h ago

My credit card auto pay glitched and I caught it at a gas station in Tulsa

You mentioned catching it "at a gas station on Route 66" and I gotta ask, were you actually on a road trip or just getting gas? Because for me the scary part is always when I'm traveling and not checking stuff regularly. I've had autopay mess up twice, once it was because my card expired and they never sent a new one, and the other time it was some weird bank holiday thing. How often do you usually check your bank app? I'm bad about it sometimes and only look when I get a notification. Makes me wonder if all card companies are actually good about waiving fees when you catch it fast like that or if you just got lucky.

1d ago

Just found out my deck stain cost me way more in labor than material

oh man i totally get this. i did my own deck last summer and it was brutal. i spent like 10 hours scraping and staining, and then realized i coulda paid a kid down the street like 100 bucks to do it in a day. but honestly, what saved me was doing it in sections. i did the railing one weekend, the floor boards the next. it made it feel less like a whole weekend waste and more like a little project. plus i got to enjoy the deck sooner instead of staring at a half finished mess for weeks.

1d ago

Last summer I hit 500 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail section near Crater Lake

Started counting my steps once. Got to like 47 before I gave up and just enjoyed the view.

1d ago

That 3 week gap in my kraut batch was a total game changer

Totally get what you're saying about the mushiness (been there, it's rough). For me, I started doing shorter ferments in smaller jars, like 2-liter mason jars instead of big crocks. That way I can pull one batch at the 2 week mark and another at 3 weeks, and I never end up with a whole 5 week batch I hate. Also found that keeping the temp a little cooler, like in my basement around 65 degrees, really helps the crunch stay longer.

2d ago

Had a boiler tube leak on a job last week and the fix was a real pain

Oh man, that "gap too tight for my 6010 rod" part hit home. I had a similar nightmare on a 150 psi boiler last winter, same pinhole leak issue right at the back sheet. I spent a whole afternoon swapping between different rod angles and finally had to grind and hit it with a smaller tungsten like you did. Did you try using a 7018 cap after you got the penetration sorted? That helped me avoid a third attempt.