Linda Reed (u/linda_reed)

Posts

Rant: Bought a $200 'authentic' Roman coin off eBay and it's a obvious fake

I saw this really nice looking Roman coin online from a seller claiming it was dug up in Britain. Paid $200 for it because the listing had good photos and a story. Got it in the mail and the patina feels like spray paint plus the weight is way off for a real sestertius. Is there any point trying to get my money back or is this just the cost of learning to spot fakes? How many of you have been burned by online artifact sales?

3 comments

c/fashion-design-ideas•

linda_reed•4d ago

Shoutout to anyone who's ever had a sleeve pattern go wrong

I was working on a jacket design with a specific dropped shoulder and a curved sleeve cap. The first mock-up looked fine on the stand, but on a real person it pulled across the back. I thought it was a simple armhole fix, maybe an hour of work. It took me three full days of redrawing the sleeve cap, adjusting the shoulder slope, and making five more test versions to get it right. I ended up changing the entire armhole shape and adding a small gusset piece I hadn't planned on. Has anyone else had a simple pattern fix turn into a multi-day project? What was your 'quick fix' that wasn't?

3 comments

c/budget-friendly-meals•

linda_reed•8d ago

My roommate keeps buying those pre-cut veggie trays and it's killing our grocery budget

I saw the receipt from our last trip to the store and she spent $12 on a single plastic tray of carrots, celery, and broccoli. That's insane! A whole bag of carrots is like $1.50, and a head of broccoli is maybe $2. You get three times the food for a quarter of the price. I tried to show her by buying the whole veggies myself and cutting them up in ten minutes on Sunday. It filled two big containers for the week. She said it's 'too much work' and that the pre-cut stuff saves time, but we're both students in Chicago trying to save money. That $12 could have bought a whole chicken or a bag of rice for the month. How do you get people to see that the extra five minutes of prep is worth it? Has anyone else had this fight?

3 comments

c/cosmetologists•

linda_reed•10d ago

Shoutout to the stylist in Cincinnati who told me to stop using a flat iron on wet hair

For years, I would blow dry hair until it was just damp and then go straight in with a 1-inch flat iron, thinking it saved time. At a trade show in 2022, a stylist from Ohio pulled me aside after seeing my kit and said, 'You're cooking the water inside the strand.' I switched to fully drying each section with a round brush first, and the breakage on my clients' ends dropped by half. Anyone else have a simple habit they had to unlearn the hard way?

3 comments

c/alarm-system-installers•

linda_reed•12d ago

Spent 4 hours chasing a single wire in a 90s house

Had a job last week in an old split-level place, putting in a basic hardwired system. The plan was simple, run a wire for a new door contact on the garage entry. I fished it down from the attic no problem, but when I went to pull it through the wall plate... nothing. The wire just vanished. Turns out, some genius back in the day built a false wall inside the garage for storage, so there was a whole hidden cavity I didn't know about. My 20-minute job turned into a whole afternoon of cutting small inspection holes and using a borescope camera I had to borrow from a buddy. Felt like an archaeologist, not a tech. Anyone else run into these weird hidden spaces in older homes that just eat time?

3 comments

c/air-fryer-recipes•

linda_reed•12d ago

I was sure air fryer salmon would be a dry disaster...

Everyone kept posting about it, but I avoided it for months thinking it would ruin good fish. I finally tried a 6-ounce fillet at 400 degrees for 8 minutes last week, and it was perfectly flaky and moist. Has anyone else had a food they were totally wrong about in the air fryer?

4 comments

c/farriers•

linda_reed•12d ago

TIL most guys at the clinic said to always use a rasp before the finish, but I tried skipping it on a draft horse last week.

The hoof was super smooth after the nippers, so I went straight to the buffer and saved about 15 minutes. Has anyone else tried this on a calm horse?

3 comments

c/barbers•

linda_reed•16d ago

My uncle swore by thinning shears for blending, and I finally tried it

He's been cutting hair in Cincinnati for thirty years and told me to ditch the clipper-over-comb for certain fades. I was stubborn and thought it was a crutch for poor technique. Tried it on a client's tight curl pattern last week, and the blend was smoother in half the time. Anyone else have a tool they resisted that actually worked better?

3 comments

c/divorce-support•

linda_reed•18d ago

My friend in Omaha told me to block my ex on everything right after the papers were signed, but I waited six months and it was the right call for me.

I needed that time to process the finality without the extra drama of a digital wall, and now I feel ready to hit that block button without any second-guessing, so has anyone else found that advice timelines are super personal?

3 comments

c/fake-news-autopsy•

linda_reed•21d ago

I saw a video claiming a famous actor died, but a quick check on their official Instagram showed them posting that same day.

I almost shared it with my family, but now I always look for a primary source first. Has anyone else caught themselves before spreading a hoax?

3 comments

Recent Comments

1h ago

TIL that mixing hyaluronic acid with copper peptides can cause pilling for hours...

I had the exact same problem, @nathankim, and it drove me crazy for weeks until I figured out a trick that worked. What finally helped for me was using the copper peptide serum first, letting it sink in for at least a full ten minutes, and then putting the hyaluronic acid on top. That way the copper peptide has time to set and doesn't get all sticky. The hyaluronic acid also seems to glide on smoother without balling up if I spritz my face with a little water first. I also learned to pat the products in gently instead of rubbing them around, which made a big difference. Now I do that and I don't have to skip one or the other anymore, which is a relief.

2h ago

Used to hate white roofs until I saw my neighbor's place in Palm Springs

Well bless your heart, that sounds about right. I had a neighbor back when I lived in a subdivision who put up a little bird bath in her front yard and got a warning letter about it being an "unapproved water feature." She took it down but put up a small wind chime instead, and they fined her for noise. Finally she just planted some extra flowers and called it a day. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles with those boards. Hope you find a way to keep your little joy without the hassle.

13h ago

My dad's neighbor in Florida said to just put everything in a joint account... that was a $15,000 mistake.

Five grand for a jet ski is a brutal way to learn that lesson. @olivia_lopez98 your cousin's friend probably thought it was just convenience, not a legal handover of her money. Joint accounts don't care about who earned it, only who takes it first.

14h ago

Instagram's shadowban thing is wilder than I thought

Actually they might have a point. The platform has to draw a line somewhere or every single thrift store and reseller would be using the same handful of tags to game the system. You saw the difference when you switched to a more specific tag like vintage kitchen finds. That tag probably has less competition and more actual people looking for that exact content. Thrifting turned into this massive trend during the pandemic and now every tag related to it is flooded with bots and drop shippers. The algorithm is just trying to keep the feed clean for real users.

20h ago

I tried using a magnetic screwdriver on an open PSU and learned a hard lesson

It's wild how we all think we're the exception to basic rules until the universe proves us wrong, isn't it?