Guest Geek Post - Dean Winchester, A Pumpkin Pie Kinda Guy

Hello folks,

Today we have a guest post by Christina Clawson of Geekyloot.com and writer for Lifehack.org.  Enjoy!

Dean Winchester - A Pumpkin Pie Kinda Guy

This Supernatural themed pie is full of sugar, spice, and everything nice, and has a touch of salt and burn, for that just-exorcised-demon flavor. Nothing beats a slice of this pie on the road after a night of hunting. Its made with a non-traditional crust – and trust me, it tastes so much better than you can ever imagine!

Ingredients for Filling

2 cups canned pumpkin puree

1 ½ cups heavy cream

2 eggs, plus the yolk of a 3^rd egg, beaten

1/2 cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar

1/2 cup White Sugar

3 tsp ground cinnamon

1 ½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground cloves

Small ground Himalayan Pink Salt (or rock salt casings... in a pinch)

Zest of one Meyer Lemon

Ingredients for Graham Cracker Pie Crust

2 cups crushed graham crackers

6 Tbsp Melted Unsalted Butter

½ tsp Cinnamon

1/3 cup white sugar

Ingredients for Maple Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

Maple Syrup to taste

Assemble all of your ingredients so they are within easy reach. Preheat your oven depending on whether you are making your own crust or using a store-bought one.

Step 1: Prepare the crust!

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon until well mixed. Press this mixture into a 9 inch pie plate to get an even layer that goes up the sides of the pie tin. Make sure to press it well, using the back of a spoon or measuring cup to get an even surface.

Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes and allow to completely cool. Make sure you place the crust on a baking sheet for later.

Alternatively you can buy a pre-made graham crust. No need to bake! Place on a baking sheet.

Step 2: Prepare the Filling!

Carefully crack your eggs and add them to a large mixing bowl. Beat until they are well combined.

Add your sugars, salt, spices, and zest to the bowl and mix until combined.

Pour heavy cream into the bowl a little at the time, whisking until the batter is smooth.

Pour mixture carefully into the cooled pie crust.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

Then lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 55 minutes.

The pie will come out looking puffy but as it cools it will fall. This is normal!

Allow the pie to cool for at least 2 hours on a cooling rack. If you like chilled pumpkin pie, after this time place in the refrigerator for 2 more hours.

Step 3: Make the cream!

Pour cream into a large mixing bowl. Add maple syrup. Beat with a mixer or by hand until the cream is thick and doesn't fall when you turn the bowl upside down. Cover the pumpkin pie with the cream and allow to chill.

Step 4: Decorate!

To ward off evil, we're placing a protective symbol on the pie. To get this supernatural symbol on your pie, simply print out this symbol on a sheet of paper. Cut it out. Hold cutout over the pie and dust the outline with cinnamon. The shape should be visible on the pie!

Step 5: Devour!

Recipe Courtesy of Christina Clawson, blogger at Geekyloot.com, all images provided by the author!

Thred Up VS Poshmark + A Julep Giveaway!

Hi friends!

Today I'm finally getting to my comparison review of Poshmark and Thred Up.  Both are excellent sites to sell your new and gently used clothing, shoes, and on Poshmark accessories and makeup too.  So, let's take a look!

Thred Up

Buying from Thred up

Pros: 

1. Good sized inventory for most sizes
2. Quick turnover, especially in plus sizes
3. Pretty fast delivery since your order comes straight from their warehouse
4. Items have little or no signs of use (supposedly, for what it's worth I bought a dress that had a rip in it which got past their inspectors)
5. Free returns within 2 weeks of receiving your order
6. You can get $20 in credit (no strings attached! You receive it in your account as soon as your friend makes their first order of any amount.) for each person you refer, and they get $20 too.  Here is my link - http://www.thredup.com/r/A6CEKT

Cons:

1. Very little plus size selection over a size 18, there are typically 200 or less items in my size (20-24)
2. Some fantastic brands are not accepted by their site - City Chic, Aeropostale, American Apparel, many department store brands from stores like Belk, JC Penney, Kohls, etc, and other less known or foreign brands.
3. People can hoard items by putting items in their cart for 24 hours, and repeating before time is up (I've found leaving a browser window with the first page of your size open and hitting reload every 10-15 minutes in the evening will show new items often)
4. Items may be missing belts or other accessories, always noted.
5. It can take 3 weeks or more to process a return
6. They're desperate enough for plus sizes they tend to have a good number of items that aren't on trend from brands targeted to more mature women simply because they're nice quality. (example below, hello dated seasonal applique!)
7. The site has sales on items only when they've been in their stock longer than they'd like, which I have never seen happen with any plus size items because the demand is so great.

My buying experience:

I bought 4 items between the credit I had from a friend, the $5 payout and spend $11 out of pocket for the remaining amount.  Of the 4 items two were too big, one was surprisingly too small, and one item fit beautifully, but had a rip at the waist.  I loved the ripped item enough to keep and repair, though I was surprised that it got past their inspections.  The other items were pristine though!  I think in most cases you will not run into this issue, so I will be buying from them again.

This is what I ordered, the green dress was the item kept, the boots were too small in the calf, but gave no measurement so I was ordering blind and assuming Lane Bryant would have reasonably wide calf boots.  The tiny flaws listed on two of the items were marks that would come out in the wash or very light signs of wear.

Selling on Thred Up

Pros:

1. They do the work for you - you get a postage paid bag sent to you, which you fill and send back.
2. It takes very little time.
3. You can get cash (through Paypal) or credit for your items.
4. You can clean out your closet in the least intimidating way possible.

Cons:

1. They typically accept under half of most bags sent to them.
2. You have to be very critical of what items you send in regards to condition.
3. The don't accept certain brands and are overstocked on others, check their site for details.
4. You get 1/4 of whatever they think any item is worth, which may not be very much.

My selling experience:

I sent a bag with a total of 17 accepted items (out of about 28, so a good ratio for those selling plus size).  I got a total if $18.06 for those items, and paid $12.99 to have the remaining items shipped back to me.  I'm glad I did because I didn't realize until after mailing things to them that they wouldn't accept items from City Chic (an Australian brand I love which is sold in Nordstrom and a growing number of their own US stores, which are so far all in California.)  So I made a whopping $5 in profit.  I was not impressed, and quickly knew I wouldn't be selling with them again.  However, depending on the stores you prefer you may do much better than I did.  I don't think their service is bad, just not right for me.  I'd rather put in the work and see greater profits because of it.

Which brings me to Poshmark

Buying from Poshmark

Pros:

1. You usually see the exact condition of the item you're getting
2. You can ask the seller questions
3. The site will have sales that give you free shipping or other discounts pretty regularly.
4. You can make a lower offer on an item you like.
5. Shipping is usually pretty fast because sellers want to please their buyers.
6. There is a huge amount of plus sized items!
7. There is more variety in brands, and items since they also allow you to sell jewelry and makeup.
8. You can earn $5 when a friend uses your code on their first purchase.  It also gets them $5 off their purchase, win-win!  You can use my code PYIHF for $5 off at http://www.Poshmark.com

Cons:

1. There is a chance you could get an item that doesn't match up with the pictures or condition it was reported to be in, but you can dispute that and get a refund.
2. There are more well used items to sift through.
3. Photos of items may be less than ideal.
4. There are people who make careers selling here, which you may or may not want to deal with.
5. You can't return items, though you can certainly resell them.

My buying experience: 

I haven't bought from Poshmark yet, but having made a sale I can see pretty well how it works from a buyer's standpoint.  You'll be a little nervous the first time or two, but mostly have great luck with honest people like you who want to sell their clothing for fair prices.  I have my eye on several pairs of purple converse sneakers and there's much less rush to purchase items.  You have a much better chance to compare items without the pressure to buy while it's available as Thred Up would be.  Here's a shot of their search interface for desktop, it just keeps scrolling and has hundreds of items for what I searched:

Selling on Poshmark

Pros:

1. It's easy for anyone who's tried eBay or Etsy.
2. You mostly fill in blanks and pick the category your item is in.
3. You print a prepaid shipping label and drop your item in the mail if your item sells.
4. You can get cash or credit from Poshmark.
5. You can bundle items (and add a slight discount on bundles), which make buyers more likely to purchase from you.
6. You get a better cut of your sales.
7. You can always go back and edit your item listings, and even lower an item's price, which will send an email to anyone who saved it if you changed the price by 15% or more.

Cons:

1. You have to follow site rules, not too tough.
2. You get better results if you use your own photos, so you have to be able to take reasonably good photos.  
3. You have to post all sales through their app, not on a desktop site.
4. You have to make your item as accurate as possible and be very honest about any flaws it may have, which can take work to sounds good.
5. You have to remember buyers are also paying $5 for shipping.

My selling experience:

I listed my first items on October 4th and added a couple more a few days later.  One of the items listed later (October 12th!), sold on October 14th.  And I've found the process very easy to handle.  I listed the item at $15 (originally $25, it was still in new condition), a person made me an offer for $12, which I accepted, and I earned $9 off the sale. You only need 1-3 sentences about your item, a good description and a couple photos.  Pictures of the item on you or another person who's not a model tend to do well, but my first item only had a shot of it on a hanger as the main picture and a picture of the model wearing it as a secondary photo.  I love the site, and I think the only thing I don't like is that I can't list on my computer.

Thred Up

Use this Thred Up link for $20 off!     

Poshmark

My Poshmark Closet (use code PYIHF for $5 off)


If you've got more tips are trick for either site let me know in the comments.  Thanks so much for reading and please look below for my first ever giveaway!

Love,
Lydia

Julep Giveaway!

One lucky reader will get a set of 4 Julep nail colors and a set of holographic decals.  Julep makes amazing nail polish which last up to a week without chipping, and they even have a subscription box!  You can sign up here via my affiliate link and read more about my last unboxing here to find out more.  This giveaway will last just over a week, so hurry and enter while you can!  The colors included are as follows: 

1. Lydia - a Stardust textured finish in a pyrite color that shows as gold to green
2. Lee - a red creme finish (these first two being my first and middle names!)
3. Florence - a lovely nude creme shade
4. Sandi - an eggplant creme color

a Rafflecopter giveaway