Fire it Up. It's Time. Let's Talk

Fireplaces are a commitment, but worth it to some folks. Ah, the heat and those hypnotizing flames are relaxing. I know a family that gathers around their fire place like most families watch TV. And that's exactly what they do during the off season. They create a cozy area to watch TV, covering up the big dark hole in the wall.

I thought of a couple more ideas. I looked for more but couldn't find any other ways to make use of a fireplace. other than the traditional. If you could add a comment about your fire place usage, likes, dislikes. If you want. Thank you for that.

• Candles displayed and lit in place of the logs might be the less messy choice. They would light the room and produce more heat than you would think. 
• Decorate the area for each holiday throughout the year. Everybody would get a kick out of it.

A sweet aroma coming from the fireplace adds another reason to keep the flames burning. Besides it's cold outside. Making your own pine cone fire starters are easy enough.

1. Melt paraffin wax in a coffee can that is placed in a pan of water on top of the stove.
2. As your wax melts add drops of your favorite scented oil.
3. Tie a piece of string or candlewick to the top of a pine cone.
4. Dip pine cone into the scented paraffin wax.
5. Allow to completely harden and then dip again.
6. Repeat.
7. Place pine cone under logs and start your fire.

If you would rather just buy your fire starters, Etsy.com is the place to go on the Internet. They have a nice selection to choose from.

Fire it up. It's cold outside. 

Resources:

Tiptionary 2 by Mary Hunt. 

Plastic Lids, Potatoes and Wading Pools Have This In Common

Potatoes, wading pools and plastic lids are all super stars when it comes to usefulness and easily done.  Easily done means no crazy ingredients or weirdness. Those are the two requirements that must be met for any tip to get my attention. They all passed the test with flying colors.

I know for sure I will never look at a plastic lid the same way again. A bag of potatoes will become a staple again in my kitchen. And I guess I'm just speechless when it comes to the wading pool.

Potatoes on Overtime

• Dye your hair darker with potato water. Dip a comb in the water that potatoes were boiled in and then comb through hair. To speed the effect and help set the darker color, dry hair in the sun or a blow dryer. Heat is what we are going for here. I have had success with putting on a shower cap. The heat coming from my head is trapped which intensifies the effects of dye.

• Black paint is made by baking potatoes until they are completely dried out and black. Grind thoroughly with a mortar and pestle. I bet there is a setting for that on a fancy blender or maybe food processor. I don't have either so it's up to you to let me know by leaving a comment. Add enough linseed oil to form a paint like consistency. I never have enough black paint.
• First aid kit inclusion as a compress after an accident. Boil a potato for a warm compress. Put that boiled potato in the refrigerator for a cold compress.
• First aid kit as itch relief. Salt a thin slice of a raw potato. Rub on hives or insect bites for itch relief.

Plastic Lids Do Double Duty

• Use the caps from spray paint cans to organize the screws, nails and other small find-me-not items that scatter about. Attach caps to a sturdy bottom so it's easily removed or maybe just setting them down in a drawer is just as good. An easy trim if they are a little too tall.  
• A three or four inch plastic lid from a tub of butter with an X cut into the center becomes an impromptu ponytail holder. The same plastic lid and the same X slid onto the handle of a paint brush becomes a shield to catch accidental paint drippings that can cause havoc.
• Rim down and placed over a drain makes a plastic lid a sink stopper.
• Be on the lookout for those lids that will be a perfect fit on a magnifier, binoculars or camera lenses. I really like this idea. I'm on the hunt.
• Plastic lids can be cut and used as stencils. Hey, haven't we heard that a potato... no wait, I'm thinking about a raw potato used as a stamp. Never mind. But this is a good one to remember.

Image by Pixabay

Wading pools are not just for keeping cool in the summer, but for looking cool too. Obviously, just look at him. So cool. Even though the price was right when I saw wading pools on clearance a couple of months a go. I could not figure out where to store my bargains until next summer, so no deal. Until now. I might even  buy a wading pool at full price when summer gets here

During the summer months fill with fresh cold water from the hose for your feet. Toddlers will love to swim in them and when your back is turned so will the birds. Filled with ice, they make a great cooler for drinks at your next party. Or corral toys and other yard stuff laying about.

Here's where my mind is blown. A new approach. I missed it plain and simple. An easy fix to my problem, couldn't see it. Completely missed it. I think two or three wading pools would be fun and functional in the summer.

During the winter months wading pools become storage containers for what ever fits into them leaving enough clearance to slide easily under a bed. Out of sight. This is a personal favorite of mine. Wading pools can be used in several different ways all year long, useful multiplied. Fairly inexpensive and available for purchase just about anywhere during the summer, easily done.

I think I have seen quite a few wading pools thrown away at the end of summer, either in a dumpster or setting beside the road for trash pick up. You betcha I'll be watching out for them now. And when buying a new one probably gonna consider how sturdy and dimensions.
Wading pools could be super useful for those long tubes of wrapping paper. And what a great organizer. Portable and stocked with everything needed on Christmas morning for Santa's helpers.

Tag you're it. Leave a note. Thanks

Resources:
Images from Pixabay.com
1991 Reader's Digest's Practical Problem Solver 

5 Simple Make-Up Tricks For Full Lips So Easy Works For Everyone

1. Add some sugar to the cleanser you use on your face for a d-i-y lip scrub. Scrubbing lips in a circle pattern, not too hard, makes them smooth and stimulate puff.
2. Choose glossy over matte every time when it comes to lip color.
3. With a white, shimmery liner pencil outline just above the V of the cupid's bow. You will love the overflowing effect this gives to you lips. 
4. Line the length of the top lip line only with a nude pencil. This will make it disappear and give an appearance your lip goes on and on. And then fill in entire lips with the nude or a soft pink colored lip pencil.
5. Lighter colors reflect light and creates depth. Darker shades define a border

D-I-Y body scrub is created by mixing 2 parts baby oil with 1 part sugar.

*Did you know taking B vitamins strengthens fingernails.*

D-I-Y dandruff rinse can be made by mixing 1 part mouthwash with 9 parts water. 

Apply to scalp and leave on.

Not just a nail polish anymore. 

• It's a sealant to keep important information like directions from getting water damaged.
• Prevents rust from forming when applied to the bottom rim of metal cans stored around water.
• Mend a small tear in fabric screen. Even a small tear will give those pesky bugs a way in.
• Here's a cute idea that deserves repeating. Seal envelopes for party invitations, use party color.
• Chips or nicks easily disguised with the right color applied.
• Clear polish will create a barrier between jewelry metal and skin 

Lighten Up With LED Save $

LED light bulbs have come down in price since they first were introduced. As much as 90% some say. It's a proven fact they use much less, 80 to 90 % less, electricity than their predecessor. There is no longer any reason to keep from switching from the incandescent bulb to the LED bulb. If it's the unfamiliar terms keeping you from being confident your making the right choice. Let me shed some,"light" on the subject for you.


Replacement wattage is the wattage of the bulb that you are replacing.

Wattage is the actual amount of electricity the new LED bulb is using. The range of use is usually 8 - 20 watts for a typical LED bulb.

Lumens is the measure of brightness. The more lumens per watts the better. More brightness for less money is the way to go.

Kelvins are represented by a "K" and is the unit of measure for the CCT (correlated color temperature). Living rooms and bedrooms use a "warm" or "soft white" tone (3000 K and below). For a bathroom look for "cool" to describe the most efficient bulb (3100 K - 4500 K) Workshops and outside are the place to put a "daylight" tone LED bulb (4600 K and up).

The word "Dimmable" is added to the packaging if the LED bulb inside works with a dimmer switch.

Guess who is selling LED light bulbs for just one dollar. I don't mean the Dollar General or the Family Dollar. Some people call these two stores, dollar stores. But they are not. True dollar stores are the ones that sell everything for only one dollar. Love, love, love the dollar stores. Don''t you?

Now you know. Get out there and save some money.

10 Useful Ways To Use Hair Spray (Doesn't Include Hair)

     Besides being a musical.  Turns out hair spray can be a protective barrier, spot remover and bug killer.  Who knew!  We spray it all around and into the surrounding air we and everybody else in the house breathes.  Maybe we should re-think the way we use this stuff so close to our body.  I'm just saying, think about it.

Anyway...

1. Extend the life of cut flowers to postpone wilting.  Stand about a foot away from the bouquet and give it a quick spray making sure to only spray on the undersides of the petals and leaves.
2. Protect the artwork your child brings home from school.  Before you put the artwork in the place of honor (refrigerator door), spray the artwork entirely with hair spray.  This works especially well on chalk work that seems to smudge easily.
3. Ink marks on clothing or upholstery should come right off after spraying  hair spray directly on the ink spot.
4. Those new drapes for the living room look great.  Keep that new look longer by applying several coats of hair spray.  The trick is to let each coat dry completely before applying the next one.  This will work for the curtains you have just laundered too.
5. A good coating of hair spray will prevent recipe cards from getting all messy when in use in the kitchen.  OK maybe not prevent the messy but they will be easily wiped clean.
6. Lightly spraying your freshly polished shoes with hair spray will keep the polish from easily being wiped off. 
7. A light spray will keep a fresh Christmas wreath's needles in tact by keeping the moisture in them for longer.  Happy Holidays!
8. Lipstick stains on clothing are easily removed with hair spray.  Let the hair spray set a minute on the stain then wipe it off.  Launder the clothing as usual.
9. Reduce the amount of runs in your panty hose by spraying the hair spray on the toes of a new pair of pantie hose.  The toe area is where most runs start.  The hair spray strengthen the threads so they last longer.
10. They will drop like flies because they are flies.  Those pesky house flies won't survive one squirt.  But make sure it's the water soluble hair spray in case you miss the target and have to clean the wall.  Works on wasps and bees too! 

If you can't do without hair spray for your hair why not try a natural, non-toxic approach.  If you will, I will.  I have found a simple and inexpensive recipe for hair spray by the Imperfect Homemaker.

Would love to here about your homemade hairspray in a comment.  And please don't forget to leave a link, please.

Ordinary Household Item Will Fix Dent In Your Car

I would have never thought to even try to fix a dent on my own car myself.  And I sure would have never thought that a common household plunger would do the trick.  Just wet the edges and pull the dent out.  It only works on small dents, of course.  For the major body repairs you'll have to take it to a professional.

 And there's more...  

Sharpen your scissors with sandpaper.  You thought I was going to say aluminum foil.  Hopefully I've got some new tips.  Plus, I never have been able to make the foil work for sharpening a thing.  Cut through a sheet of fine-grit sandpaper to finish off the edge and keep cuts clean.  

 

Poking your sewing needles through a piece of fine-grit sandpaper keeps them sharp.  Or you could twist that sewing needle in a folded piece of sandpaper and make it sharper than ever.  

Make a conformable, slushy ice pack by mixing 1 part rubbing alcohol with 3 parts water in a zipper type plastic freezer bag.  Your choice size, just adjust the ingredients accordingly.  When needed wrap your ice pack in a cloth and apply it to the area in need.  Your ice pack won't be stiff and cause more pain as it conforms to the shape where applied.

*Confused about denatured alcohol versus rubbing alcohol.  Denatured alcohol is ethanol (drinking alcohol) to which poisonous and awful-tasting chemicals have been added to make it unfit to drink.  Rubbing alcohol is made of chemicals safer for your skin and it most often is labeled 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and 30 percent water.

 

Rubbing alcohol is perfect for cleaning and disinfecting your phone.  But you probably already knew that.

Okay, just one more for now...

Rubber bands don't get the attention they deserve.  

1. Wrap a rubber band around the handles of cabinets to keep the little ones from getting into something they shouldn't.  
2. Use as a bookmark by wrapping around the part you've already read from top to bottom.  The rubber band stays in place even if you drop your book.  
3. Secure bed slats under your mattress.  They will stay in place by wrapping rubber bands around the ends.
4. Oh, you can also have make a ball with rubber bands.

Did I say one more? 

I need more, please tell me more, more ideas, tips, tricks, hints, shortcuts that I have not heard about yet.  Someone out there somewhere has got the juice.  Lay it on us in a comment, please. thanks !

3 Natural Effective Deodorizers For Home

     Simmering the eucalyptus leaves in water for 10 minutes will cleanse the air and it's good for your sinuses.

     For that musty or stale smelling odor in that room that hardly gets used.  But when you need to go in there, the smell is not pleasant.  You can either display a few branches in a vase or put together a decorative wreath to display right in the room. I have purchased eucalyptus at hobby lobby before. I am positive you will find it anywhere floral supplies are sold.  It's very popular stuff. A strong scent will last up to 2 weeks.

     Vinegar will neutralize cooking odors, musty smells in drawers and even cigarette smoke.  Pour the white vinegar in a deep glass dish about 1/2 inch should work.  Place the dish in the offending room or drawer until the odor dissipates.  Every household probably has vinegar in the pantry.  But if you don't, every grocery store in town will have some on the baking isle.  With Easter (April 5th) right around the corner, you will probably find your vinegar on display (sale priced?) with the egg coloring kits.

...force be with you.

Here's a link to make your egg dyes the natural way.

Half a dozen lemon slices plus a handful of cloves simmered together in water for about 10 minutes will eliminate strong odors from cooking fish or veggies.

Moist Meatballs Trick

To make meatballs that are wonderfully moist, put a small ice cube in the center of each ball before browning.  Cook as usual.

For relief from mosquito or black fly bites, use regular underarm deodorant.  Rub it right across the bite itself for instant relief.

The main ingredient in wd-40 is fish oil.  Believe it or not!  Fish oil has been known to relieve some types of athritis pain.  Wd-40 can do a lot of tricks, untangles jewelry chains. loosens stubborn zippers, removes lipstick stains, cleans chalkboards, keeps flies off cows, protects silver from tarnishing,camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors.  removes tomato stains from clothing, lubricates noisy door hinges, removes crayon from walls, removes bug guts from the front of car, protects the Statue of Liberty from the elements, removes splattered grease on stove...  

Mouthwash
 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cup water.  Mix, gargle, spit.

                                                                Fingernail polish remover cleans a dry erase board.

MAKEUP REMOVER

1 cup distilled water 

1/4 teaspoon Dr. Bronner’s unscented baby-mild liquid castile soap 

1 teaspoon olive oil

     another...

     MAKEUP REMOVER

• 1 Tablespoon of tearless baby shampoo
• 1 cup of water
• ¼ teaspoon of mineral or baby oil

"The one above looks easy enough.  Definitely gonna try the one above.  How 'bout you?"

Baking Soda Expires?

How fresh is your baking soda.  Not sure?  Let's test it.  Pour 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar in a little bowl, then you add 1 tablespoon of baking soda.  If it fizzes, it's fresh enough to get the job done.  No reaction when combined with the vinegar means it's no good.  But fresh or not, it's always good to pour down the drain.

Update:  Baking powder can also lose its "potential."  Here is how you can test for that.  Put 1/2 teaspoon baking powder in 1/4 cup hot water.  If the powder is fresh and vibrant, the water will bubble actively.

When plastic wrap becomes unruly and does nothing but stick to itself, the freezer is your only option to straighten things out.  Keep the  plastic wrap in the freezer and you will never have to struggle with your wrap again.

If your plastic wrap won't stick to the container you are trying to wrap, just dampen the edge of the container and then put the plastic wrap on.

Make your own scouring powder by mixing together 1 cup borax powder, 1 cup baking soda and cup of table salt.  This works great for scouring sinks or bathtubs.  Store in an airtight container with other cleaning supplies.  And don't forget to label it.  For easy application use a large salt shaker. Better yet, this would be a good opportunity to recycle a Parmesan cheese container.  Again please label.  No one wants to scour the top of their pizza.

Exactly how long after a power outage is the food in the refrigerator still good.  First of all try to figure out exactly when the power went out.  An electric clock (one that plugs in) would tell you this. You should keep the refrigerator and freezer doors shut.  Generally food kept cold in an unopened refrigerator will last about 4 hours.  Food in a full, unopened freezer will stay frozen for about 48 hours.  Food in a semi-full, unopened freezer will stay frozen for up to 24 hours.

Your freezer does work its best when it is 2/3 full.  To occupy more space use water bottles until you go shopping.  Water expands so make sure to leave a little room when filling the water bottles.  These frozen bottles work great in a cooler too!

Just The Facts Moon Just The Facts

Mooning-  the act of displaying one's bare buttocks by lowering the backside of one's trousers and underpants, usually bending over.

 

What is the pressed ham?

                       - the bare buttocks of the mooner is forced onto the face of the moonie.  (Eww!)  

Butt Seriously Let's Move On...

*The Moon's Effect on the Body

*"Human knowledge and mythology throughout time have spoken of the moon's effect on the earth and the human body. The moon's gravitational pull dictates the action of the ocean's tides. A woman's menstrual cycle runs in parallel to the cycle of the moon. Some believe the moon affects the emotions—for example, the full moon stimulates aggressive behavior."

*"In addition, the moon can affect the water contained in the human body. The human body is 60% water. When the moon reaches its full phase and new phase, its gravitational pull combines with the sun for the greatest gravitational effect. This period of increased effect lasts about 24 hours."

 

• A full moon always rises at sunset.
• February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• The Apollo II had only 20 seconds of fuel left when it landed on the moon.
• Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon with his left foot first.
• Buzz Aldrin was the first man to pee his pants on the moon.
• Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name was Moon. 
• The moon has no atmosphere, therefore no wind.
• The moon has 3 types of rock.  These types of rocks can also be found on Earth.
• There is no global magnetic field on the moon.  
• *The golf ball hit by Alan Sheppard while on the moon, went 2400 feet, approx. 1/2 a mile.
• *13% of people surveyed in 1988 actually thought the moon was made of cheese.
• A man's dying wish was to have his ashes placed on the moon.  The ashes were placed in 1999.

*Free calculator to determine your weight on the moon.
*Have you heard of the Moon Diet?  Aka Werewolf Diet.
*See the current Moon phase.
*Moon phases calendar.                                                             

Most folks know their Sun sign.  But what about your moon sign.  Free calculator!

*David Rose is the creator of QuickPhase Pro, a popular moon phase software program. Visithttp://www.moonconnection.com/quickphase/ to discover the fun and easy ways to view the phases of the moon.