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| Throw away |
I would add more specifically, and especially: Never buy Christmas gifts at those kiosks that spring up in November.
That advice was good, but it came two years too late for me. I bought this purple item* for my husband for Christmas a couple of years ago. A very stupid purchase. He is very happy that I'm throwing it out - as he would have done himself, except that it was a gift from me.
* My husband insists that I explain what the purple item is...
It is one of those gimmicky heating pads that magically and quickly heats up when you set off a chemical reaction within the purple goo by clicking a metal thing inside of it. When demonstrated at the kiosk in the mall, it is really amazing and works so well. What they don't show you at the kiosk is the laborious and complicated process of reversing this reaction, so you can repeat the process again... This involves a large pot of boiling water, tongs, burning your fingers, not letting it touch the sides of the pot, checking carefully that every part of the purple goo is liquid again... very cumbersome and not worth it. Basically, this item just stayed rock hard in the back of a drawer for the past two years.
We actually own 3 simpler things that work much better as heating pads:
- a hot water bottle (fill with hot water)
- a cloth bag filled with beans or something (just pop in microwave for 2 min)
- a gel pack that can be microwaved or frozen and doubles as a heating pad or cold compress
