Who Would Of Thought? Safety Pins?

There was a great article in Women's Day which I thought was chock-full of neat uses for safety pins, and I am going to share them with YOU!

1. Prevent Static Cling! To keep your skirts or pants from sticking to the inside of your tights, put the safety pin on the inside of the clothing. One or two should be good because the metal is a good conductor for electricity, so it will divert the static away.

2. Deter Pickpockets! If you are going to a crowded place, and pick pocketers are something that really concerns you, safety pin your bag shut. It is also a great way from keeping everything from spilling out every time you set the bag down.

3. Open Tricky gadgets! Use the sliver end to open the back of your cell phone or television remote when it is not cooperating with your plans.

4. Clean Kitchen Implements!  Keep a safety pin in your utensil drawer to remove dried garlic from a press or clumped salt in the shaker.

5. Decorate Cakes! Use one to trace Happy Birthday into a cake before you frost it right up. This way it will be nicely spaced, and serves as a great tracer to make sure your designs turns out great!  



>Do you hate when all your plastic lids for tupperware are falling all over the place and driving you CRAZY!?  Here is a great solution also from Women's Day. This blog is basically going to be devoted to them. You can use a letter holder to sort the lids, even by size, and a great way to keep them organized and under control.  What a awesome idea!

>Want an easy way to hang your silk or any type of thin scarf so they stop falling all over the floor because the coat hanger is just TOO slippery? A great way to prevent this is clip shower rings together, or binder rings, and hang them through the binder ring. It keeps all the scarfs together and the rings are thin and keeps them hung up beautifully!




Thanks for reading, and until Halloween........

Brides Against Breast Cancer

I went to this event and I wanted to write about it because my experience was great, and if I could spread it's amazing-ness then why not blog it!

It was a wedding dress expo that was called Brides for Breast Cancer.  People and designers donate their dresses, ALL out for the taking.   They only do certain cities at certain times, so you have to catch it if you can or plan ahead if possible.  Tickets are $5, and the proceeds go towards treatment programs for cancer patients and their families.  It is also tax deductible!

THE SCOOP ON THE DAY!
We arrived a little early, to beat the crowds, which was no problem even though our ticket said we couldn't start searching til 12pm. Already a super awesome aspect!  They immediately handed us a bag of things, and told us to proceed to the vendors for all sorts of stuff. Flowers, make-up, more flowers, jewelry, shoes, more jewelry and shoes.  After passing that section, a volunteer takes you to another personal volunteer that helps take dresses to the dressing room and makes sure you are A ok the entire time you are there!  All the dresses were sorted by sizes which made looking through them a breeze, but you were only allowed three at a time. I would imagine this was too insure that everyone has the chance to see as many dresses as they can.  The dressing rooms were no big deal, shower curtains with mirrors in the main area so you can see how B E A utiful you looked.

I tried on dozens of dresses, and ended up finding the ONE, which is really pretty and costed the whopping price of $300.  It was a little big, but nothing a few threads and needles can't fix.  If anyone is getting married, or know someone who is and this is something they would be interested in, this organization is all over the United States, and I would recommend over and over again.   Here is all the information!

Brides Against Breast Cancer!

Thanks for reading.

PS- The worms are doing great!

Goofy Tid Bits

I did a bunch of goofy random things, or I should say I had to fix a bunch of random things, so here I am dumping it all on you.  The first of many was eating chocolate chips on the couch, and then someone sat on one or two and it congealed to their pants. Awesome! Of course chocolate on the butt looks like a big poo stain, so we needed to fix that.

>Chocolate on Clothing:  First, scrape off any excessive chocolate that was left on the clothing. Then rub an ice cube on the chocolate for a few minutes, freeze that baby, then scrap off any other other frozen chocolate that you can. Apply carpet stain remover and rub it into the stain. Rinse it off under water or throw it into the washing machine and it should come right out.  

That picture is similar to what I looked like eating my chocolate chips but significantly less cute. 

>Freezing for easy removal:  I like to burn candles but they are always in a candle holder, so when the candle gets all melty you have a waxy mess on your hands. For easy removal of the wax, stick it in the freezer for an hour or two, and it will chip right off when you take it back out.  This can also be used for any liquid substance that gets stuck on something and could pry off when it gets cold and hard. I am blanking on another instance it could happen with, but I know they are out there.

>Removing wax from carpet:  Heat up an iron, put paper towel on top of the wax, put the iron directly on top of stain/paper towel, and eventually the paper towel will "soak" up the candle wax.  As a heads up, you may need multiple paper towels. It takes a little while, but worth not having that nasty stain. 

>Mildew in clothes: The smell of mildew is not appealing to my nose, in fact, I strongly dislike it.  At times I have gotten attacked by the mildew gods and I found a pretty good way to fix it.  This relates mainly to clothes and towels.....wash your load with vinegar first, then follow with your normal detergent.  My washer has a short cycle that I use to rinse it with the vinegar, then I wash with detergent for a full cycle following. Dry as you normally would.  A side cause of mildew could also be the water residue that is left in the washing machine.  If dirty water keeps washing your already dirty clothes, they are never going to get fully clean. Wipe the inside of the washing machine with a water and vinegar mix or run the 'clean cycle" with vinegar if offered on your washing machines.  I know a lot of the front loaders have this option, and water does get trapped in the rubber that lines the door, so make sure you get in there and soak it up. The same goes for the residue that is left on the actual door. 

Did you spill something in the microwave?  To easily remove a spill from the micro, wet a paper towel, put it on top of the spill. Nuke it for 30 seconds, and the spill will get absorbed in the paper towel for an inpecable clean up! Yes! No one really likes cleaning out the microwave.  A piece of advice: Clean the mess right away so you don't have hard dried food on your hands, which is never any fun. 

If you didn't have time to clean it right away, microwave a cup of water and it will steam the food making it soft for a then easy clean up. Adding vinegar or lemon juice will take out any nasty smell that might have been left behind. Neat. 

Until Next Time....

Critters Snacking, Flatulence, And Tons of Useful Ideas!

Critters! I was having a problem with little critters eating my plants/peppers/tomatoes on the side of the house. I had read that you could sprinkle cayenne pepper on the leaves and plants and it would deter those guys from having a little snack. I did not have cayenne pepper around the spice cabinet, so I found a great alternative that also worked quite well.  Crushed Red Pepper. I sprinkled that all over the plants, leaves, pots, and it proved successful over the past couple weeks. A positive side note- if you use crushed red pepper it rinses off easily, and does not effect the taste of the leaves or veggies or fruits.

Flatulence! I had grown up using matches as a smell eliminator and I thought this was something that was common knowledge. Talking to some people, they didn't know that this could be something that rids the stank in the bathroom, so here I am telling you that matches are a fantastic solution.  The sulfur dioxide that is emitted when the match is struck is a very pungent smell, which does a great job of covering up the other really pungent smell.  Not too be fooled though, it doesn't RID the smell, it just masks it or fools our brains to think that it is riding it. Apparently there was a 2006 Mythbusters episode on this phenomenon and they concluded that the smell of the match being lit and then burnt really just masks our perception of the odors rather then the match neutralizing the gases.   Proof!

Tons of Ideas!

Stay Fresh, And Away From The Mess

Hey! I have been doing some more experimenting and I wanted to share MORE tricks for the blog.

This cartoon picture is ridiculous, and the
exact opposite of what is happening right now.

Corn!  I like to buy corn at the farmers market but it is on Fridays, and we don't always get to eating it that day. The solution: take the corn out of the husk, wrap it in plastic wrap and stick it into the refrigerator. I left it in there for about a week, took it out of the wrap, boiled the corn, and it was just as fresh and delicious as day 1.


My roommate taught me THE magic trick for NON-STICKY bar or restaurant napkins. To avoid your glass sticking to the napkin, throw some salt right on the napkin and it creates a barrier between the glasses and napkin.  No more awkward 'drink with napkin' move.

The Stick of the Scis-sor:
I don't know about you, but I strongly dislike when you go to use a pair of scissors and they are sticky or just hard to open because something has gotten stuck up in there.  Usually the scissors come apart so you can easily goo gone or scrape the gunky stuff, BUT for those scissors that do not come apart here is a solution.  Take some rubbing alcohol and pour it over the scissor part that is sticking, preferably over a bowl and just let it sit for 20 minutes or so.  Since you can't get in there to scrub it, it doesn't cure it completely, but does help to decrease cutting frustration.

My food guru fahja sent me these helpful pointers. Check it out, it's pretty neat!
3 Surprisingly Heart-Healthy Foods
>Beer
Red wine may soon have company on the healthy drinks menu. According to a recent review of more than 18 studies on booze, beer is just as good for your heart as vino. Drinking a little more than a pint of beer a day could make you 30 percent less likely than non-drinkers to suffer from stroke, heart attacks, and heart disease, researchers found. Credit heart benefits to the alcohol itself, and polyphenols (antioxidants) in beer. And make sure to drink that beer with a smile.
>Burgers
As long as they’re grass-fed. How come? A heart-healthy diet has to be balanced in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio is usually way out of whack on most of your conventional beef, but with grass-fed beef, it’s close to 1:3—similar to the ratio found in most heart-healthy fish. Another bonus? Grass-fed beef is loaded with cardio-protective vitamin E. Check out your local farmer’s market to find the best grass-fed beef. http://www.tallgrassbeef.com/
>Eggs
A study in the Journal of Nutrition found that eating eggs increases HDL (“good”) cholesterol but not LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. So eggs actually help your arteries stay clear! In another study, overweight participants ate a 340-calorie breakfast of either two eggs or a single bagel 5 days a week for 8 weeks. Those who ate eggs (including the yolk) reported higher energy levels and lost 65 percent more weight—with no effect on their total cholesterol levels.

Hola! It has been a little while, did a little traveling, and answered a pretty important question.  Of course while away from the blog, I was constantly thinking about new material and here I am back and ready for action.

As soon as I mentioned that I did not have fruit flies (which is one of the major down sides to composting), they must have read the blog and then flew straight to my kitchen. Oh course I sighed and said sh**, but then looked it up in my vermicomposting book and came up with a solution.  If they travel to your house for one reason or another, the best way to trap and rid them is TO set a cup with apple cider vinegar about half full, put plastic wrap over and secure with a rubber band. THEN poke some holes in the top, but not too big. You want them to get in but not be able to get out. They will be drawn to the vinegar, and away from your kitchen.  My cup is pretty full with those little fruit eaters!

My new recent obsession mixed with an old obsession has created a great cleaning bonanza in the house. Not literally mixing them together, but having them both near by.  The new: Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and the old: tea tree oil.  You can basically get anything done with both of these bad boys (oh! and of course my best friend vinegar).  Mr. Clean takes off the dirt from the lawn chairs, stains on the kitchen floor, and scum in between the tiles in the bathroom. Tea Tree oil (diluted with water) gets the makeup off the counter, oil off of my skin from my bike chain, and so many other things.  Absolutely love them both, and you can literally use them for just about any household anything.  I mentioned in a previous post, but will reiterate, tea tree oil is great for your skin too.  Helps reduce pimples, heal bacterial infections, and great for your cuticles.  It does have a very potent odor, so it's not for the weak of smell.

I did answer an important question and now have a bit of bling on my left ring finger.  It was my grandma's engagement ring, and therefore had a couple of years behind its '"belt".  I wanted to give it a little extra lovin, and mixed it in a solution of 6 parts water to one part ammonium and put it into a vibrating denture cleaning machine.  Of course this is something that I have access to because of where I work, but this solution will also work if you let them soak for a while.  After your rings have relaxed for a bit, rinse with soap and water and scrub with a soft brush. The key to this is PLUG THE SINK when doing this so your valuables don't go right down the pipe.  This solution can be used on gold, sterling silver, diamonds, all types of jewels.  Should have taken a before and after photo, but if you trust me, it definitely makes things sparklier.

The next and final tid bit was given to me by a generous contributor and I have not  tried it personally.  You can clean dry erase boards with nail polish remover.  If they are starting to look a little dingy, you can pour a bit on there and it will clean right up. Apparently the acetone-free type worked great too!

Thanks! Flanagan out. 

It's Been A Year

That's right, it is my anniversary and I have been blogging for a year. Wow-zaaas! Of course I could not have done it without the eyeballs of you guys and gals.  Thanks for clicking and checking back every now and again!

I decided to devote this episode to my worms and give you the update on those little buggers because I just love talking about them. AND if you have made one on one contact with me I am also obsessed with the fact that I got attacked by a Canadian goose while I was riding my bike the other week.  It looked sometime along the lines of this: with a side of pecking at my bike helmet. For real.

And this is how to avoid a goose attack in case I have scared anyone to death. Goose Survival Guide

Ok, enough of those terrible Canadian geese, and onto the worms. They are much more caring, and less terrifying, plus they dig the food that I give them.  I have been doing the vermicompost for two months now, and they have pretty much eaten up a good chunk of the food and are ready to move into bigger and better places.  How the system works that I have is, you build upwards and the worms are able to detect where the food is and they migrate north.  There are little holes in the bottom of every "bin" which is how they move from one to the other.  They are all in one bin as of right now which is pretty full, so the bottom tray is going to be used in the garden as planting compost, and they are going to start breaking down the food in the "working bin".  Was that confusing? I took pictures to better show what I am trying to describe. 

 

      The Old Set-Up --->     

                 The New Set-Up --->
 

 The very top bin is the "working" one. The worms to head to their summer northern home, and leave behind all their other memories.  In the old set-up it looks like 2 bins (including the Spigot one), and in the new there are 3. The bin that has the spigot on it doesn't have any worms in it, that collects excess moisture which is rich in nutrients to be used in household plants or in the garden. 

The "Hole-y" bin

Things that might be interesting or questions one might have.  They really prefer kinds of foods over others. For example, avocados which were already mentioned, corn in the cob, they were wrapped about those bad boys which was pretty neat.  Fruit, specifically watermelon rinds, grapes, and strawberry tops.  It is still in my kitchen, and still doesn't smell. The actual garbage can smells much much worse.  No fruit flies hanging around the kitchen, which is a really common problem, but as a preventative measure I have been putting the scraps in the freezer or fridge.  I have a container that is the overflow until I feed them, which is about 2 times a week.  I have not had too many scraps yet, but the summer is coming which means more fresh veggies, fruits, so we will see what happens. When it got too hot in the house they knew right away and started fleeing the dirt to cool down, that was a pretty cool process to watch.  Not actually leaving the bin because it's impossible, but going down to the spigot level where they are not supposed to go. At first I was offended they didn't want to hang out in the home that I made them, but then I figured it out, and felt bad for the crawlers.  The air was turned on shortly after, not for the worms though, for the humans. Honest.

I think that's about it.....One year down with another one just upon us.

Later gators!