Helpful Household Hints You Probably Didn’t Know!

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:21:11 -0500

DID YOU KNOW?...
>Bananas: Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.
>Bananas: Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
>Cheese: Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold.
>Peppers: Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
>Ground Beef: Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
>Scrambled Eggs: To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
>Brownies: For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.
>Garlic: Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
>Snickers: Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!
>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 pizza.
>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.
>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.
>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.
>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.
>No More Mosquitoes: Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
>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.
>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.
>Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not 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.
>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. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
>Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
>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.
>Shaving your legs: Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's 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.
>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!
>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 and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
>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 pulled 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 and 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 potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and 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! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that.

A Great Safety Tip!

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:44:26 -0500

PUT YOUR CAR KEYS BESIDE YOUR BED AT NIGHT.
(I recently received this email and thought it was worth passing on:)
Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your Dr.'s Office, the check out girl at the market, everyone you run across. Put your car keys beside your bed at night.
If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won't stick around... after a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that! And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there.
This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or prevent a sexual assault. My Mom has suggested to my Dad that he carry his car keys with him in case he falls outside and she doesn't hear him. He can activate the car alarm and then she'll know there's a problem.
P.S. I am sending this to everyone I know because I think it is fantastic. It would also be useful for any emergency, such as a heart attack, where you can't reach a phone.
What a GREAT idea!

Our Mail Lady is Retiring...

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:37:50 -0500

From Terry Fenimore: For your info:
I was at the Trafalgar Post Office just before Christmas, and our mail lady, Pat Shultz, was in there wrapping a package to send to her son. I talked to her a bit, then asked her about the substitute that had been delivering our mail some days.
Pat told me that she has cut back to working only the last three days of the week, as her hands are bothering her. She also told me that she is planning to retire soonly. (Oh yeah??) I asked her about the timing of her retirement. Pat said that she plans to retire officially at the end of February, but that she also had a lot of vacation piled up. She is thinking about hanging it up somewhere between mid and late January, using her vacation to fill out the rest of her days.
So, I thought that I would pass this info on, so anyone who wants to wish her well has the chance to do so before she hangs it up next month. (I know that Rose Ann and I have sure appreciated Pat's dedication, and her going out of her way to bring large packages to our door instead of us having to go pick them up at the Post Office.)
Regards,
Terry Fenimore

New Road is Being Paved!

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 14:59:40 -0500

The new road across the Earlham Dam is in the process of being paved. It looks great and it is wonderful to be back to normal on Lamb Lake! Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to get this project completed before winter!

Pam Gaertner for NJH School Board!

Tue, 7 Oct 2008 15:09:43 -0400

Pam Gaertner, Resident of Lamb Lake since 1983, is running for Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson School Board At Large. Pam has been an active member of the Lamb Lake Community, serving on the Board, chairing the Clothe-A-Child Fundraiser, and also offering her services on various committees and events. She and her husband, Rick, have 2 adult sons who graduated from Indian Creek High School. Both sons have recently served in the military. Pam has been an active part of the Indian Creek Schools, working in the offices for many years. I have personally known Pam for 24 years and I am excited for her to be running for School Board. I feel Pam has great incite to contribute.