Sleeptracker Pro
24 Jul 2008 1:00pm GMT As a frequent traveler and someone who has a hard time sleeping in strange hotels, I live with a recipe for many sleepless nights. Seems like the alarm always goes off just when I have just fallen asleep. To help me get a good read on my sleep patterns and to get more restful sleep, I bought the Sleeptracker Pro, a wrist watch that monitors your sleep cycle from barely asleep to REM by tracking a succession of small bodily movements. You set the alarm for, say, 6:30 am and specify...
Benjamin Moore Aura Paint
23 Jul 2008 1:00pm GMT When my husband and I moved into our new apartment recently, we knew a coat of fresh paint would spiff up the place, but with a new baby we wanted to pay special attention to the kind of paint we used. Unlike a lot of VOC-free paints (VOC = volatile organic compounds), Benjamin Moore's Aura line of low-VOC acrylic paints isn't thin or runny, dries really fast (literally an hour or less) and it's available in a satisfying array of colors in eggshell, matte, satin, and semi-gloss....
IKEA Frost Drying Rack
22 Jul 2008 1:00pm GMT Drying clothing on a rack is cheaper and better for the environment than using a dryer, but the design of a lot of drying racks is far from ideal. IKEA's Frost rack is a long series of bars that are horizontally parallel to one another, which maximizes the use for each bar. The closely-spaced bars allow me either to pack in small laundry or put sweaters and thicker laundry across two or more bars to let more air pass around it. On the other hand, many racks are situated with each...
NEOS Overshoes
21 Jul 2008 5:15pm GMT NEOS (New England Overshoes) are basically big insulated, gusseted bags with soles. They fit over my hiking boots, sneakers or, if it's just a quick errand outdoors, my socks. The gusset folds over the top of the foot and ankle with a hook and loop (Velcro) closure. A strap across the instep makes for a snug, secure fit. I discovered NEOS a couple of years ago working as a film extra in rural Pennsylvania. We were outside in cold, wet snowy weather all late fall and early winter....
Kayaks You Can Build
18 Jul 2008 1:00pm GMT I have built several simple fiberglass canoes and repaired my sailboats, but using this book I was able to build my first "real," high-performance boat, a Pygmy Coho stitch and glue plywood construction sea kayak. I read a lot of books on kayak construction, stitch and glue type in particular. I also used the Coho building manual from Pygmy some. But I absolutely would not have been as successful with my boat had I not read this book before building and referenced it during...