Household Tips we can all use

I got this via email at work.



1. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro p izza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.



2. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.



3. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.



4. Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.



5. Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.



6. Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.



7. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.



8. Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.



9. Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.



10. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will no t have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and * ta da! -- static is gone.



11. Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. ext, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.



12. Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!



13. Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily



14. Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...



15. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!



16. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home", can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!



17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pull ed out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. WELL...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film , but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free - that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill l ower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!

The gentleman who installed my dryer five years ago warned me of this too.

WE LAUGHED, WE CRIED...

Actually...We laughed so hard that we cried! Thanks Cherri, Tobie, I'd forgotten that I could be social outside of work. I'm no wallflower, but far from social butterfly as well. I chat with the neighboors, go out with Mom, sometimes Dad. Do a thing or two with Tracy and Lucas. Yesterday after work, I went out for the first time in over ten years. I laugh a lot at work. A lot! I think of my boss, Barb as a friend, and we've had a couple opportunities to get together outside of work, and I consider myself lucky there. And now, Cherri and Tobie have both become friends of mine as well as co-workers, and we finally got together outside of work. We went to Blaze's on Halsey last night after work. We each had two Margrita's and a slice of pizza, and laughed so hard we cried. And we didn't even talk about work! It was bliss! Those two are funny, what wit! And I still got home in time for bed. I was in bed by nine, and here I am, up at four am on a Saturday! It seems that this happens to me every Saturday that Lexie isn't here. I wake up unable to get back to sleep around three or four in the morning. Usually I read a little until I'm able to fall back asleep. This morning I decided to blog.

Word(s) of the day: PLEBIAN

For some reason, that word just popped into my head at work today.

Dad had his procedure yesterday. I think it was over a year ago that we found out he had cancer in his bladder. Via an ingenious treatment of TB of all things, it was taken care of, only to resprout again a little while ago. So, another biopsy yesterday and another round of TB and he should be good to go again, what a trouper.

Next Saturday, Mom, Lexie and I will go take a look at the studio photos of Lex. You can be sure I'll post any I can. I'm hoping to talk Mom into taking a look at Beaverton's Saturday market too, since it's right next to the studio.

Right now it's raining, what a lovely sound. Yesterday I walked in the wind, and drove home to lighting. Allthough I truly love summer, fall is also wonderful if you know what to look for and appreciate.

Eerie picture

Lexie and Sam play mousetrap in the court.

Don't get lost in the corn!

Griffen went through the corn maze with us. He loved it!

Hello?

GINORMOUS TONSILLS! Lexie had her visit up at the hospital last Wednesday. All three doctors who saw her were amazed at the size of her tonsills. They also mentioned that she was smart for her age and such a brilliantly good patient that they wished they could use her when training doctor students. Upshot of visit...We have an appointment in December for a polysomnogram at the Marriot. Lex and I will spend the night, she gets a king sized bed, I get a couch. They feed us breakfast in the morning. One of the doctors said that he was about as sure as he could be, without the study, that she has obstructive sleep apnea due alone to her tonsil size. We shall see. We had a blast at the hospital, rode the tram and wandered around. A visitor desk employee gave both Lexie and I a pair of OHSU tram binoculars. The view up there is fantastic.

And...They're off!

Lots of pumpkins to choose from.

Lexie decided on one that was still attached to the vine, and a tug-of-war match ensued.

Lexie sits with her pumpkin and mine as we wait for the others and the train.

Lexie and two of her best friends, Alex and Sam.

Lexie is so proud of you doll house setup with her petshop collection.

Lexie and Lucas having a snack before the pumpkin hunt.

Now they wait for the pontoon boat.

Another day for a daydream...

I love Fridays! 

 

Lexie had dinner at a friend yesterday!  It was a first for her.  She has become fast friends with sibling neighbors Sam and Alex (both girls!)  The three seem to be equally spaced apart by a couple years.  They have a blast together. They play house and Jumanji and have incredibly active imaginations.  The RV is their new playhouse.  It’s fun to watch them play.

 

Tomorrow Lexie gets professional photos done.   I’ll post what I can, sometime

 

Next Wednesday Lexie has an initial consultation at the sleep disorder clinic up at OHSU.  Monster tonsils!  We’re going to take the tram, should be neat.  If we get out with any daylight left, we’ll try to meet up with her school that has the date scheduled at a class trip to the pumpkin patch.

 

Life is good, we are happy.

 

Took this from one of those circulating emails

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED: 
 
 
  1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats. 
  2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair. 
  3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person. 
  4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato. 
  5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food. 
  6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair. 
  7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time. 
  8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. 
  9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. 
  10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap. 
 
 
  GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED: 
 
  1) Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. 
  2) Wrinkles don't hurt. 
  3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts. 
  4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground. 
  5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside. 
  6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy. 
 
 
  GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD 
 
 
 1) Growing up is mandatory; growing old is optional. 
 2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get. 
 3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there. 
 4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster. 
 5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions. 
 6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician. 
 7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone. 
 
  THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE: 
 
  1) You believe in Santa Claus. 
  2) You don't believe in Santa Claus. 
  3) You are Santa Claus. 
  4) You look like Santa Claus. 
 
  SUCCESS: 
 
  At age 4 success is . . not peeing in your pants. 
  At age 12 success is . having friends. 
  At age 16 success is . . . having a drivers license. 
  At age 35 success is . having money. 
  At age 50 success is . . . having money. 
  At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers license. 
  At age 75 success is . having friends. 
  At age 80 success is . not peeing in your pants. 

 

I was walking down the street one day...

From the KGW website:

Portland bank robbery suspect tries to flee on MAX train

06:48 PM PDT on Thursday, October 11, 2007

By TERESA BELL-BLACKMAN, kgw.com Staff

A man wearing a disguise robbed a Northeast Portland bank Thursday and then fled on a MAX train, police said.

Police said a man wearing a wig and surgical mask came into the Sterling Savings Bank at 4728 NE Sandy and threatened the teller, saying he had a bomb.

The man took off with an unknown amount of cash.

A short time later, police caught up with the suspect at the MAX stop near the Lloyd Center Mall and arrested a suspect.

No one was hurt and no explosives or weapons were found, the FBI said.

End quote--

Sometime around 1:00pm yesterday I was walking down 47^th for my afternoon break walk. As I approached Halsey, I noticed a police car screech to a halt and an officer leapt out and ran. Suddenly, police cars sprouted from every horizon, dozens of them. No sirens, at first, just dozens of cars with lights flashing and engines roaring, all coming from four different directions towards the intersection I was about to turn on. Then they seemed to split and block streets individually while a group of about four or five turned on their sirens in what must have been pursuit. It was all quite surreal. I know I’ve mentioned what an interesting neighborhood I work in, so here’s another example.

Funny Email...

Last week, both Ryan and myself received voicemail from Bob at a local IT solutions company soliciting their services. I don’t know about Ryan, but I deleted the message fairly early on since he was giving the rambling spiel of the company. Then, a couple days later, I got an enormous email from him with all the ins and outs of their products and services, so I decided to reply.

From: Rachel K [mailto:rK@-----.com]
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 3:33 PM
To: Bob DSubject:
RE: A brief introduction from a local women owned company - G---Tek

At this time we do not have a need for your services. Our IT team and consultants have sufficient experience and knowledge to handle the services you provide in-house. Thank-you for your offer.

Rachel K
Techincal Lead / EDI contact

And then... Even though I just said “NO”, he pushes on.

From: Bob D--- [mailto:Bob.D--------.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 8:26 AM
To: Rachel K
Subject: RE: A brief introduction from a local women owned company – G----tek

Thank you for the reply.
I have attached a line card of products that we resell.
Perhaps you can help me understand what it would take to submit bids on items you purchase?
Please do let me know how else I might be of service.

Bob D
G------ Adaptive IT Solutions

So….Annoyed by his perseverance, I sent him this reply.

From: Rachel K [mailto:rK@-----.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 1:49 PM
To: Bob D
Subject: RE: A brief introduction from a local women owned company - G-----tek

Do you carry anything along the lines magic wands or genie lamps? Can you perhaps provide service for our Office Depot Easy Button, which seems to be on the blink?

Rachel K
Techincal Lead / EDI contact

And finally, I got this response, haven’t heard from the company since…

From: Bob D [mailto:Bob.D@-----.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 1:49 PM
To: Rachel K
Subject: RE: A brief introduction from a local women owned company - G-----tek

:)

Oh that I could it would make my job much easier as everyone would want at least two.

Thanks for the humor as it makes the day much easier.

Bob D