August 2008 - Posts
We flew to Ohio to visit my parents last week. The kids had a blast at Mammy and Papa's house and the trip went by way too fast, as usual. I know it's crazy, but as soon as our adventure began, I couldn't help but think of Lifetime. When we went through the airport security checkpoint, I counted seven Lifetime tables just at the one gate I was using! You know the table you put your carry-on luggage and shoes on before you push them through the conveyor belt? Yep, a majority of the time, those are Lifetime tables! Considering all of the hundreds of thousands of things that get dropped and scooted on the tables each day, they were in pretty good shape. It definitely speaks well to the strength and durability of Lifetime tables. (I did notice, however, they've started bringing in a few metal tables with built-in storage shelves underneath to stack those plastic gray bins that hold wallets, watches etc.)
When 9-11 occurred and the heightened security checks were initiated, I was a full-time employee at Lifetime. I remember we used to talk in staff meetings about how quickly we were seeing our tables popping up at airports. But, I hadn't put much thought into it lately...it was just another one of those airport fixtures I started to take for granted, I guess. Think about it though...ever wonder how many thousands of Lifetime tables must be in use in airports around the globe? Pretty cool and pretty mind-boggling!
In the months since we’ve started this blog, I've received several questions regarding Lifetime's fold-in-half tables... interestingly enough, most people ask the basic question: How do you to unfold them? Esther from Niceville, FL wrote in yesterday:
"I just bought your 5 ft fold-in-half table. It’s great, but I do not know how to open it up and there wasn't any directions. Sorry, I am 69 years old and not mechanically minded and am afraid that I might do something to mess it up..."
How do you unfold it?? The first few times I’ve seen this question, I admit, I thought it wouldn’t be all that hard. But then I walked down to our showroom and tried to open a new table myself... it took a little more elbow grease thought! I looked into why this is, and it turns out our engineers developed these tables to stay safely closed when you carry, transport, or store them, which is actually a really good thing. This means they are snugly shut the first few times you pull them out to use them, and opening them may require a strong tug.
Esther asked that we send some simple directions so, based on my experience, here they are!
Unfolding a Lifetime fold-in-half table
1- Place your hands inside the groove (on the side opposite of the table's hinges).
2- Pull the two sides apart. Though this can require a little strength the first few times, it will get easier the more you use your table.
3- Once you unfold it, lay it on its side and lock it in place with the red switch on the table's underside (if your table is an older model, lock it in place using the gray sliding bar).
4- From there, you can stand the table on its legs.
5- If it’s an adjustable-height table, you can place your foot on the cross bar while it's in the standing position, to easily raise and lower the table's height one side at a time.
The good news is, if you've gotten your table this year you'll enjoy an improved opening mechanism. In early 2008 our engineers realized that the clip holding the table shut was doing its job a little TOO well, so they took the opportunity to make some improvements. Tables made in 2008 and after have been developed to open easier, still close tight, and have that easy red tab to lock them in place when they’re set up. Hope this helps you, and you know more about our convenient and unique fold-in –half tables.
Earlier this summer, we had a garage sale. We had a lot of junk treasures, to clean out. I was excited about the prospect of making a good chunk of change based on a few of our "big" objects and the oodles of infant gear and kids' clothes, which are always hot garage sale items. But, I knew that presentation was the key to getting more things sold. The neater my "treasures" were displayed, the quicker and better they would sell.
We have annual garage sales so I've somewhat perfected my strategies over the years. I usually try to arrange things similar to a mini-store with all like-items placed together. Normally, I have enough table space simply by putting a big piece of plywood on top of our sawhorses, and setting up my card table and Lifetime 4'x2' table. I also always use my Lifetime Personal Table for my separate cash table. This year, however, we had way too much stuff...I needed more table space. My husband is in the Air Force and, luckily, his squadron had three Lifetime 8-foot tables we could borrow. Whoo-hoo! However, did I mention these tables are normally used by a bunch of fighter pilots for BBQs and lobster boils? Oh, and the tables are stored outside. Consequently, when Mike brought the tables home, they were disgusting. Dried on BBQ sauce, beverages, butter, and layers of dirt and filth. Do the guys ever clean these things?!? (Rhetorical question, I suppose.) But, just like Lifetime advertises, the tables are pretty much stain-resistant. Fortunately, most of the aged stains hosed right off, and only a few of the really crusty ones required a little more elbow grease with some soap and a brush.
Having all the table space was great. It allowed us to set up everything the night before in the garage and simply carry the tables out to the driveway in the morning to open business. And, I could use one table for baby items, one for household décor, one for electronics, etc. However, one thing tables aren't good for displaying at garage sales ...clothes. People tend to just rummage through neatly stacked piles and you end up with a huge heap of what looks like dirty laundry! So what did I do with the TON of kids' clothes I had? Well, here's a helpful tip... I took an extending pole (or use a shower rod) and laid it between the rungs of two ladders and tied the rod fast so it wouldn't roll. I hung all of the nicest and cutest outfits on the rod. Then, I used pink and blue index cards cut in half to make hang tags for the rods to separate each section of clothes by size and gender, just like you see in a store. For other clothing items like onsies, pajamas, shorts, etc, I used big clear bins with giant signs stating what sizes and gender it contained. Oh...and EVERYTHING was priced individually. It takes a little longer to price everything individually and organize it well, but it's definitely worth it in the end...we made over $400 in four hours and our biggest ticket item was only a $40 TV! If you plan on having a garage sale in the near future, check out some more handy garage sale tips at http://www.lifetime.com/tipssolutions/organization/article.aspx?PostID=170.
Like most people, I enjoy firing up the BBQ grill to cook dinner outside. I’m usually a big fan of steaks, marinated pork loins, and the occasional chicken breasts. Last week, however, I almost tried a new cut of meat… RAT!! Ugh. My husband opened the lid to light the grill and, much to his surprise, a rat was scurrying around under the rack!
Unfortunately, this isn’t our first rat encounter. About a month ago, I was in our backyard and saw two rats run across our wooden fence. I FREAKED! We just had friends in a subdivision a few miles down the road who had one rat do $8,000 damage to their new house when a rat in their attic chewed through AC lines! And now, the nasty little vermin are daring to venture into my yard. Let me make it clear – I don’t do RODENTS!! I immediately called our exterminator who set some bait boxes by the fence and some glue boards in our attic just as a precaution. The exterminator checks the boxes every week and – lucky us – we have “lots of activity”! Do I win a prize? Is this supposed to make me feel good? Apparently, according to the exterminator, it’s a neighborhood problem. Lovely.
So, after seeing the rat in our grill last week, I frantically hopped online in hopes of finding more ways to deter the rats. It seems many people have had success with placing cotton balls saturated with peppermint oil around the house. Yep, you can bet I immediately ran out to buy lots of peppermint oil… I’ll try anything. I’m not sure yet if it works since it’s only been one day. I’ll keep you posted. If anyone has any surefire ways to deter rats, please comment, I’d love the help!
In the meantime, my next project is to clear the patio and only keep the bare essentials so the rats have fewer places to lurk. Right now, we have patio table umbrellas and too many toddler toys stacked in the corner of the patio. So, my hubby Mike and I decided it’s time to put a shed in our backyard to help eliminate clutter from both our patio and over-flowing garage. At first, Mike wanted to make it a “manly” project and build a wood shed. However, we have a sloped yard with lots of trees that really only allows one ideal flat spot for a shed… in the far back corner wedged up against the fence on two sides and trees on the third side. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that a shed with real shingles requires a city permit. The city permit requires a shed to be three feet from the fence… which we can’t do. So, to make a long story short, now we’ve been looking at Lifetime’s sheds. With the realistic-looking plastic molded siding and shingles, it still looks classy (unlike comparable-sized metal sheds). It will be quicker and easier to install than actually building a wood shed and we can even take it with us when we move. And, best of all, since it’s not a permanent structure, it does not require a city permit… so it doesn’t have to be placed away from the fence! Overall, it seems like a pretty good route to go. Now, we just have to do some measuring to see which Lifetime shed is best for us. I’ll let you know what we decide and how it turns out in my future posts. Rest assured though, whatever we choose, there will be lots of peppermint cotton balls inside!
Oh… so what ever happened to the rat in our grill? Well, it jumped out and ran under a storage bench we had beside the patio. I quickly grabbed some rat glue boards. My husband placed the boards on each side of the bench and then pounded on the bench to scare the rat. Bam, it ran right onto the glue board! I am now too freaked out to even think about opening the grill and my husband obviously is still slightly skittish. However, my 4-year-old son thinks it’s pretty cool that "Ratatouille" and his friends live in our backyard! Ugh.
My best friend recently replaced all her wicker patio furniture with Lifetime patio furniture—her wicker chairs and table had rotted from sun exposure in less than two years! As she said, “I like the wicker look, but I’m not made out of money. These tables and chairs will last forever.”
Maybe they won’t last forever, but they should last a good deal longer, and I agree with her that they look a lot better. Her wicker furniture was faded and ratty in the first summer, even before it fell apart. The clean, smooth finish on her new Lifetime patio furniture will last much longer.
I know, because I’ve been using Lifetime tables and chairs as patio furniture for ages. Long before I came to work for Lifetime, we had a Lifetime picnic table on our deck and Lifetime folding chairs sitting in the shade under our walnut tree. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Since coming to Lifetime and learning to recognize the products, I’ve seen them everywhere. People use our tables and chairs on their decks, their patios, their lawns, their gardens.
So, we figured if everyone is already recognizing how great our products look on their patios, it’s about time we did too! We have a created a whole new category just for patio furniture on BuyLifetime. It groups our most popular patio furniture into a single location on the site, making it easier to compare the different products and choose which table or chair or bench would best suit your outdoor living areas.
Personally, my current favorite and next intended purchase is the glider bench. What’s yours?
Our friends over at the Costco Blog have a very nice write-up on our 44" Round Picnic Table. They also mention our durable [banquet tables] and chairs, and even praise our revolutionary [folding trailer].
Thanks for the kudos guys!
*Costco Blog is not affiliated with Costco Warehouses or Costco.com
So, we have a new dinner table.
My wife and I have talked about getting a new, bigger table for our kitchen, so we finally decided to just do it. But, we felt like we had to sell our old table first. The old table was the very first piece of furniture we bought when we got married back in 1997, so it's a bit of an emotional sell for us. So she put it on the local classified ad website and it sold...in like 40 minutes. Did I mention she sold the chairs with it?
Now we don't have a dinner table! Luckily, I work for a company that makes folding tables. So I brought one home and now it's what we use to eat all of our meals on. Now, I have to admit, I'm actually a big fan of our stuff, but only in an informal setting. I love them outside, or at church or downstairs when my buddies and I have a game night, but NEVER in the kitchen! In this case, we have done it out of necessity - and I'm glad we had the table. And...the chairs, or course.
It's actually quite nice to have. It's perfect for our two-year-old to reach, it's great for coloring and little crafty things that my girls do, and it doesn't look all that bad. That being said, the exact moment we get the new table, we'll move it right out where it belongs - the storage shed to be used the next time we have company over or have a game night downstairs!
It's been fun though... and I think my five-year-old will be sad.
