Of tags for Christmas lights & your Pavlovian dog
“Of tags for Christmas lights & your Pavlovian dog”
Volume III, No. 20 (December 18, 2005)
Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2005
When the heart is narrow, the tongue is wide.
-- Solomon Ibn Gabriel
HOUSEHOLD HINTS:
For our Christian friends: A good way to use up the bread wrappers’ tabs that you might have been saying is for decorating your Christmas tree with lights more easily. Just attach the wires of colored or white bulbs to the tree with the tabs. And, if you don’t have the tabs this year, here’s a good incentive to save them for Christmas of 2006!
Don’t you hate it when a recipe calls for just 1 oz of a 6 oz can of tomato paste? You COULD freeze the other 5 oz in 1 oz portions in an ice cube tray. Here’s a more imaginative solution. Just use ketchup instead of the tomato paste, measure for measure!
You have probably heard from friends – or at least have read – about buying furniture directly from its North Carolina source. Doing so can sometimes be a good deal – but the company may be a rogue. Check with the Better Business Bureau in the locality before ordering. Also, ascertain the terms of their return policy (if any). Factor any return shipment price into the budget for your purchase, just to be on the safe side.
You say that you’re painting a room or an outside wall? You know that the job will take more than a day. You don’t have to clean your brush(es). Just toss it or them into a plastic bag & freeze. When you’re ready to paint again, there’s no need to fully defrost the brush(es). Just leave it or them at room temperature for an hour before returning to your job. This is as good a time as any for me to tell you to line your roller tray with a plastic bag, so that you can just throw it away at the end of the job & have one thing less to clean, (You can also use aluminum foil for lining, but that’s an expense, considering that you bring home from stores plastic bags that you don’t directly pay for.)
Don’t clean your cat’s litter box with bleach. The lingering ammonia from her urine will yield fumes toxic to her sensitive nose, & you’ll deserve any resulting accidents.
You’ll get a better buy on potatoes if you buy all-purpose “russet” instead of “Idaho” baking-only ones. You can also use the russet potatoes for boiling, such as for making potato salad or mashed potatoes. They are cheaper than the small “boiling potatoes,” &, cut up, are tasty substitutes.
When preparing meat or poultry soup stock, add 1 T white vinegar to the pot, to facilitate the beneficial leakage of calcium from the bones into the broth.
If you are in the market for a new car, narrow your preferences to 2 or 3 models. Then rent each for a weekend. You’ll see each car’s bad & good features, & will be in a better position to buy.
If you have a gas range, & a burner doesn’t seem to be working well (you’ll see just a small flame), try cleaning out the “ports” (holes in the fixture under the drip pan). Use a sewing pin for this task. Do NOT work on or near the pilot light, if your model has one.
When you buy soap, dry it (“cure it”) by letting it sit opened in a drawer for several months. Besides increasing the life of the soap, this will also give the drawer & its contents a pleasant aroma.
To quickly obtain brown sugar that flows (out of hard sugar), one solution is to grate it on a hand-grater. If you have a day to wait, put a cut apple into a solidly closed sugar container.
A handy bit of knowledge: Unless you take a sledge-hammer to it, a toilet will last a lifetime. It may need minor repairs now & then, but will not have to be replaced except for water-savings purposes.
Once you have parked, turn off the ignition key IMMEDIATELY to save big on fuel.
To remove old wallpaper, you need a solution to assist. You can get by with just 1 T liquid fabric softener in a gallon of warm water.
You’ll save calories when making a white sauce if you use cornstarch in place of flour. This is because you only need to use ½ the amount of cornstarch as you would have to use of flour.
Let Pavlov show your dog how to alert you when he needs a walk. Put a string of bells on the inside knob of the front door. Jingle them vigorously every time that you take him out. Soon, he will be jingling them himself when he wants to go out.
Volume III, No. 20 (December 18, 2005)
Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2005
When the heart is narrow, the tongue is wide.
-- Solomon Ibn Gabriel
HOUSEHOLD HINTS:
For our Christian friends: A good way to use up the bread wrappers’ tabs that you might have been saying is for decorating your Christmas tree with lights more easily. Just attach the wires of colored or white bulbs to the tree with the tabs. And, if you don’t have the tabs this year, here’s a good incentive to save them for Christmas of 2006!
Don’t you hate it when a recipe calls for just 1 oz of a 6 oz can of tomato paste? You COULD freeze the other 5 oz in 1 oz portions in an ice cube tray. Here’s a more imaginative solution. Just use ketchup instead of the tomato paste, measure for measure!
You have probably heard from friends – or at least have read – about buying furniture directly from its North Carolina source. Doing so can sometimes be a good deal – but the company may be a rogue. Check with the Better Business Bureau in the locality before ordering. Also, ascertain the terms of their return policy (if any). Factor any return shipment price into the budget for your purchase, just to be on the safe side.
You say that you’re painting a room or an outside wall? You know that the job will take more than a day. You don’t have to clean your brush(es). Just toss it or them into a plastic bag & freeze. When you’re ready to paint again, there’s no need to fully defrost the brush(es). Just leave it or them at room temperature for an hour before returning to your job. This is as good a time as any for me to tell you to line your roller tray with a plastic bag, so that you can just throw it away at the end of the job & have one thing less to clean, (You can also use aluminum foil for lining, but that’s an expense, considering that you bring home from stores plastic bags that you don’t directly pay for.)
Don’t clean your cat’s litter box with bleach. The lingering ammonia from her urine will yield fumes toxic to her sensitive nose, & you’ll deserve any resulting accidents.
You’ll get a better buy on potatoes if you buy all-purpose “russet” instead of “Idaho” baking-only ones. You can also use the russet potatoes for boiling, such as for making potato salad or mashed potatoes. They are cheaper than the small “boiling potatoes,” &, cut up, are tasty substitutes.
When preparing meat or poultry soup stock, add 1 T white vinegar to the pot, to facilitate the beneficial leakage of calcium from the bones into the broth.
If you are in the market for a new car, narrow your preferences to 2 or 3 models. Then rent each for a weekend. You’ll see each car’s bad & good features, & will be in a better position to buy.
If you have a gas range, & a burner doesn’t seem to be working well (you’ll see just a small flame), try cleaning out the “ports” (holes in the fixture under the drip pan). Use a sewing pin for this task. Do NOT work on or near the pilot light, if your model has one.
When you buy soap, dry it (“cure it”) by letting it sit opened in a drawer for several months. Besides increasing the life of the soap, this will also give the drawer & its contents a pleasant aroma.
To quickly obtain brown sugar that flows (out of hard sugar), one solution is to grate it on a hand-grater. If you have a day to wait, put a cut apple into a solidly closed sugar container.
A handy bit of knowledge: Unless you take a sledge-hammer to it, a toilet will last a lifetime. It may need minor repairs now & then, but will not have to be replaced except for water-savings purposes.
Once you have parked, turn off the ignition key IMMEDIATELY to save big on fuel.
To remove old wallpaper, you need a solution to assist. You can get by with just 1 T liquid fabric softener in a gallon of warm water.
You’ll save calories when making a white sauce if you use cornstarch in place of flour. This is because you only need to use ½ the amount of cornstarch as you would have to use of flour.
Let Pavlov show your dog how to alert you when he needs a walk. Put a string of bells on the inside knob of the front door. Jingle them vigorously every time that you take him out. Soon, he will be jingling them himself when he wants to go out.
posted by THE PENNY ORCHID -- "Thrift with Flair" at 1:14 PM
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