tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12994007710865310982024-03-14T01:43:51.867-05:00Common Cents LivingCommon sense ideas for living with a frugal twist.Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-80984909049795353732012-06-22T09:26:00.001-05:002012-07-05T20:15:41.161-05:00<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/06/20/mitch-mcconnell-would-like-the-poor-to-stop-taking-advantage-of-the-rich-please-video/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #660000; font-size: large;">Mitch McConnell Would Like The Poor To Stop Taking AdvantageOf The Rich, Please</span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span id="goog_28815905"></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #660000;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">From addictinginfo.org June 20, 2012 Response to: Mitch
McConnell Would Like The Poor To Stop Taking Advantage Of The Rich, Please<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">David Serventi · Top Commenter · Oakland, California</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">"Wow just wow. The elite really get me angry. As a staunch
Republican I don't trust intellectuals like this Ivy League educated
constitutional law college professor to understand our government. And I
certainly don’t trust a guy who became a community organizer…they’re a bad lot.
I prefer to go with my gut and prayer and listen to people like Michelle
Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Larry the Cable Guy, and Ted Nugent. I fear these
intellectuals, especially those in the scientific community. Science scares and
confuses me and therefore often angers me. Even though my life has improved
every single instance that I have taken time to figure out something that
confuses me, I just think it’s easier to get angry and form ideas about public
policy while angry. Science often goes against my religious beliefs. I want to
cut funding for education and I would rather teach my children at home with a
strong biblical curriculum; because I know I would be a better teacher than a
so-called “trained professional” with their thuggish tendencies. My biggest
issues are stopping the secret Muslim in the White house who was born in Kenya.
I want his birth certificate…again. I think we should eliminate welfare all
together. I have read those statistics that the over-whelming majority of
people use welfare as a bridge between jobs and never go on it again but I just
don’t believe those so-called “facts”. I go by what I see on TV, and I see lazy
people taking my money. They are not at all like the people that Jesus preached
about helping. As far as so-called abortion “rights”, I see no contradiction
with me being pro-war, pro-guns, anti-universal health care, pro-death penalty
and my being pro-life. I also want to stop gay marriage, because it really
scares me and other people marriages can have a huge impact on my life. I also
realize the world is out to get us and we need to constantly beef up our
military because we're in danger. I just can’t figure out why the elite think it’s
better to educate and help our own citizens get back on their feet when we can
be using tax dollars on killing people who may threaten us. We spend 800
billion on our military's annual budget and that China is second with only 80
billion in expenditures.....I say we cut funding for education and welfare
spend more on the military. I think that's the best way to make America the
world leader. We don't need brilliant minds and an educated public strong in
science and math. We just need prayer and a powerful military......Romney
2012.......</span></span></em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; color: #660000;">Eyes rolling."</span></em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">The commenter really had me going on the first few sentences. As funny as this is, there is alot of truth to it.</span></span><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"> </span></div>
</div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-62187541829615107152012-06-15T16:33:00.002-05:002012-06-15T17:34:18.357-05:00Ignorance?My question of the day: Is ignorance contagious? (Would you be a carrier if it were?)<br />
Guess I am a bit cynical today, which comes from reading and watching the news. For years I did not have time or the inclination to watch and research what's going on in the political arenas. Times certainly have changed, unfortunately not for the better. I have been an independent for most of my life and lean a bit left....or maybe even more than a bit left. The parties today do not look like the parties from the 60's and 70's. Back then I campaigned for George McGovern.<br />
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I love to read the comments on the news sites and analyze them a bit. The comments of the Fox is so different than those of... let's say the Huffington Post. <br />
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This week I found it hard to keep up with the flip flopping of Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush. I had hardly read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/11/jeb-bush-ronald-reagan_n_1586320.html" target="_blank">Jeb's comments</a> on how his party has changed and maybe the needed to be a bit more .... so, after a few more articles, I went back a few screens and refreshed. There was a new article and Jeb already had <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/jeb-bush-gop-criticism_n_1591117.html" target="_blank">"walked back"</a> on what he said. WOW that was fast!<br />
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So I decided I needed a little comic relief, so went to <a href="http://www.thepeopleofwalmart.com/" target="_blank">www.thepeopleofwalmart.com</a> to see if I knew anyone, which I did not. <br />
What came into mind was: THESE PEOPLE ARE AMERICANS AND VOTE!!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8pPYeYq5vY2Rn7K265dFHvrYsuqK4RLwDRkmzn5dv4_bHTqmXjPvau9vxZAlGiWocTtgNION1ZVyN_a7JLM4d6POd0prukN5RMtg5mjn5_2VwAIXjRQyQjTJo2hJmXiOTKXkF9zXJxg/s1600/and+we+let+them+vote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8pPYeYq5vY2Rn7K265dFHvrYsuqK4RLwDRkmzn5dv4_bHTqmXjPvau9vxZAlGiWocTtgNION1ZVyN_a7JLM4d6POd0prukN5RMtg5mjn5_2VwAIXjRQyQjTJo2hJmXiOTKXkF9zXJxg/s320/and+we+let+them+vote.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Tsvvz4o3th-jxZcdupEU6_y1nmDVVNA9fwDhvrScnktvOt2Xw5pgrobWHSng3yaXdEDcENa0AfF0giNBXZBhbvlDEFpdYaOiW8AFrAzPnp2uGZxI9pPsyzQQian1rvwpLxtjCjihYWc/s1600/and+we+let+them+vote4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Tsvvz4o3th-jxZcdupEU6_y1nmDVVNA9fwDhvrScnktvOt2Xw5pgrobWHSng3yaXdEDcENa0AfF0giNBXZBhbvlDEFpdYaOiW8AFrAzPnp2uGZxI9pPsyzQQian1rvwpLxtjCjihYWc/s320/and+we+let+them+vote4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITKsbAHoC5edJv4Gw8Srtma2GFN30rWoUV0u05EjYwz0r6ZcIXpkmcpOLRdxPi8bIIVzDM2TEbMGHI_PZuLVPabfhA0XVp0xZoFxzIb7UuvG0mnnJCz7lFvRy6H8zce6EUSlea4biuJw/s1600/and+we+let+them+vote3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITKsbAHoC5edJv4Gw8Srtma2GFN30rWoUV0u05EjYwz0r6ZcIXpkmcpOLRdxPi8bIIVzDM2TEbMGHI_PZuLVPabfhA0XVp0xZoFxzIb7UuvG0mnnJCz7lFvRy6H8zce6EUSlea4biuJw/s320/and+we+let+them+vote3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGP2qYZEw3yPjEJXKVYoyXOCy6T50WcS_MA1rrmuZl0uGXRkH85ysIsChIGjWOOHXaC1RTUThwPp6GLqTLTSJn1SGaHi9ro-01HUk7Lda9d-7aYVf8xkhCiOgseTOzqg_-vMPGsYXuYXY/s1600/fashion+cops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGP2qYZEw3yPjEJXKVYoyXOCy6T50WcS_MA1rrmuZl0uGXRkH85ysIsChIGjWOOHXaC1RTUThwPp6GLqTLTSJn1SGaHi9ro-01HUk7Lda9d-7aYVf8xkhCiOgseTOzqg_-vMPGsYXuYXY/s320/fashion+cops.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg310rGzkiYgrwdEdJsoITyji519EVo69ZLLGWnkxepw4nes4jwDUypw-eXVskUooNiSp2u3CgIMx_r7uI4XP90pFAFmcm1UoXnddvAcrIRdmByV8ZErcQGm2poZ3Kd5zbWUKbovNv9xoA/s1600/leggings2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg310rGzkiYgrwdEdJsoITyji519EVo69ZLLGWnkxepw4nes4jwDUypw-eXVskUooNiSp2u3CgIMx_r7uI4XP90pFAFmcm1UoXnddvAcrIRdmByV8ZErcQGm2poZ3Kd5zbWUKbovNv9xoA/s320/leggings2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am beginning to think ignorance is bliss.</span> <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0A2izqUq2StnzMe-ilCxjBZzq80UYhQHF9u3rlJubZITb0WsMsqAWI0XCat_0E6csVATp1IWKi4anaPMif2XqdYBl_N9mBWaqhhTYo527PShh1-6KM9hJJxfDrw9YPqibXtNivo5MDw/s1600/trashy+women.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0A2izqUq2StnzMe-ilCxjBZzq80UYhQHF9u3rlJubZITb0WsMsqAWI0XCat_0E6csVATp1IWKi4anaPMif2XqdYBl_N9mBWaqhhTYo527PShh1-6KM9hJJxfDrw9YPqibXtNivo5MDw/s320/trashy+women.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">My girlfriends felt very left out, so I told them I would post a picture of us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Trailer park trashy women: Billy Jean, PrairieFloozie, Sheena.</span></div>
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</div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-23224185987514479382012-05-23T16:36:00.000-05:002012-06-15T16:47:48.143-05:00<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This afternoon, I decided I would read everything I had
written over my time here. My, my, my how life has changed. My house is less
full, I was right about the recession, there is a new sewing machine in my
sewing room, I am heavier, cook less, and…. Let me catch you up. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">May of 2010: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As every
spring, Saturday morning found me out spading up the gardens and hanging out
clothes. Sunday morning my left knee really hurt. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Monday I went to work,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I noticed I still had some pain while
walking up the ramp to the building. I had only gotten about 20 feet into the
building, my left foot seemed to be stuck to the carpet and the pain in my knee
became unreal. Talk about stopping dead in your tracks! The gals who came in
with me ran to my desk and got my chair. They pushed me nearly a half block to
my cubicle. We all were laughing, but it was not really a laughing matter. Two
hours later I was back in town at my doctor’s office explaining the pain was
unreal. (Of course my insurance was not going to kick in for a month!) There
was an Xray, pain pills and I was told to stay off it for a week, then 6-8 weeks on crutches.
I was lucky, as my friend, Marie, had come to live with me for a little while.
She took good care of me and the furbrats.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">May of 2011: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
no more gardening for me. Luckily, I have one of the best neighbors in the
world. Beth takes care of moving my snow and mowing the grass and keeping the
yard looking presentable. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Beth loves to be outside and do yard work. I swear she use
to mow her yard 3 times a week! Over the 17 years she has lived next door, the
tree in her back yard has grown so large that her garden spot is mostly shaded.
For the last few years, her tomato and pepper plants were sadly puny. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I decided to invite her to use my garden spots and water, which
has worked out for both of us. I get veggies and she gets to play in the dirt.
Every day in the summer, there is a grocery bag of “the picks of the day”. I
gave her all my canning jars, so she can make (me) salsa and refrigerator
pickles. In the winter there is a bag several times a month with some wonderful
baked goods! <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-small;">May of 2012: I have hated to go into the back yard because
the flower beds have become a real mess. Beth has worked hard to keep the yard
cleaned up and looking neat, but those flower beds broke my heart. Late this
winter I decided to see if Beth would like to plant more areas. She said she
would be happy to have more space, so has pulled out most of the flower beds
and last week started planting. The space is rather bare, but I love the look
because I do not see a few flowers with all the weeds. There are still a few
flowered areas, which I hope I can at least clean up a bit.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-57415612464213104432010-02-28T08:09:00.004-06:002010-02-28T08:29:34.578-06:00Winter 2010<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">This winter has drug on and on. Maybe by June all this snow will melt, but I swear, it might be July! I have had to shovel a path out back so Charlie can go out and do his business. Luckily I dug the path over to the big fir tree in back and he can go under the tree where there is not much snow. Actually he has enjoyed having some room to move around under that tree.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">The last year has been rather difficult, as it seems like most of my family has died. Starting last Feb. my Aunt Sophie, who was my last living aunt, passed away. Then in June, it was my brother Leslie, then his twin LeRoy went in November. My sister, Karen, who had terminal cancer died in September. January my favorite cousin, Sandie quietly slipped away. Lately I have thought it was proably a good thing I was not real close to my siblings, as it would have really devestated me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">On a good note, I finally found a new inside sales position and am out of that job from Hell!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I got fired....yes, fired...and it was the best thing that could have happened, as I had a job interview set up for the day after I got fired. You all have no idea how relieved I was, since I had been looking for a job for as long as I had the job from Hell, which was 2 1/2 years! The depression and stress lifted instantly!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Talk about my luck changing? I had a string of things happen: </span><br /><br /><ul><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Found a great deal on tires, which I needed badly. The were 80,000 mile tires for the price of 50,000 mile. </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Needed clothes for work and it was clearance on clearance at Penney's and Gordman's. For less than $100 I got 3 sweaters, 5 pairs of nice dress slacks and a really cute blazer.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">For years I have not had a stove, which was not a big deal, since it was only me. I had been looking online and stopped at a few home stores to see what was out there. I looked in the classified section of our local tv station website and found one that looked really new for $150!</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">The new job is about a 60-65 mile round trip away. The 3rd day I got into a car pool for $15 a week.</span></li></ul><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I said to everyone I really should buy a lottery ticket!</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">This week end an old friend of mine moved in with me. We are still trying to find room for all the groceries she has and trying to figure out how to hook up the electronics we are putting together. The move will be good for both of us. Now hopefully she can find a permanent job!</span></p><br /><p><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">I am thinking I should buy a lottery ticket. :-)</span></p><br /><p></p>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-91732935045270713002009-05-24T08:12:00.013-05:002009-12-30T23:42:16.145-06:00What a Mess<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">This is the long week end when I work like a mad woman to get the yard in order. This year is different because I am downsizing the flower beds and dividing or getting rid of flowers. All of the flowers are perennials and quite hardy, so the beds become more jungle like every year.<br /><br /></span><div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">It had rained Friday night, so it was a perfect time to start pulling or dividing out unwanted or overgrown plants. The front flowerbed was over grown with Snow on the Mountain and Lily of the Valley, which were choking out the hostas and ferns. I pulled 5 grocery bags out and there will be another 6-7 from my east beds. Snow on the Mountain has become my main noxious weed! It has great color and is pretty, but if it is not contained...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#660000;"></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">In the afternoon my daughter came over to help her old Mom clean out junk that has to go. She is just starting to improve her yard, so many of the building materials I had laying around and flowers I need to divide have gone home with her. YES! </span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#660000;"></span></span></div><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 241px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339387373347834754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQrgFFHZbz4B-NbQcG_pVKRu6_hwn-upWWytmnBC1-jyT8JLUq11jj-3RxuWN28-C0shI2M7AgooPcjDH9gdP_2YA0DClRTiz4yQjWMccXuz6JHbuaKxtlnndmu90N8HUdNKZNgqoheo/s320/past+waterfall.jpg" /></span></p><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">This pile of rubble is what was left of the old waterfall berm after I pulled out all the old cinder block we used to elevate it. There was dirt put on top of the blocks, then the plants were added. I wanted it gone! (There are pictures in previous posts of the old waterfall, which had gone thru many transformations in the past.)<br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkNZzHsVOL7liaLbqCqCHgpSwhAtuQ-codSA43FgGgI2PIKRmb4HGLzin3ph_F23ZCzxzRPOb7Zy_X9crrHjVvPAhxXpW8LMSKkJAIyjULB-o1RGQDV3NFgoDTOEjz1xvSnwvgd4Ml6g/s1600-h/gone.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 241px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339387623338051378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWkNZzHsVOL7liaLbqCqCHgpSwhAtuQ-codSA43FgGgI2PIKRmb4HGLzin3ph_F23ZCzxzRPOb7Zy_X9crrHjVvPAhxXpW8LMSKkJAIyjULB-o1RGQDV3NFgoDTOEjz1xvSnwvgd4Ml6g/s320/gone.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Daughter really would like to have my honeysuckle bushes and thought she could dig them out. I did not say anything, but I knew that was not going to happen! There are 3 of them. She left them a bit ragged, but I can fix that. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I swear they grow about a foot a day until they reach about 7 feet tall! I really like them, but they are placed where they are shading my small tree and it was not doing well. (You can kind of see the left side of the tree is a bit sad.) Either I will have to keep them pruned on a monthly basis or try to kill them off, that decision has not been made yet. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-aUBG011bWVFIwiBdfy1iKpZz2aZvslmL4Z6pLSZdJtlK052sgsMIibYJGNq2i6OYvMKqrFidEOF0GCq-7TUEgheGRQHKpElqzgAv_-p05_-HepGwSomc9OuK_DJu94DV57wrut6Yujo/s1600-h/honeysuckle+gone.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 241px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339387965891286114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-aUBG011bWVFIwiBdfy1iKpZz2aZvslmL4Z6pLSZdJtlK052sgsMIibYJGNq2i6OYvMKqrFidEOF0GCq-7TUEgheGRQHKpElqzgAv_-p05_-HepGwSomc9OuK_DJu94DV57wrut6Yujo/s320/honeysuckle+gone.jpg" /></span></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">At the end of the afternoon there was a pickup load of cinder block from the old pond, a roll of fencing, a multitude of rolls of black edging, and numerous fence posts of metal and wood. It was about 4:30 when she left and we had worked for about 4 hours. She was going home to plant the boxes of flowers in her gardens. I wonder how much she got done.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">I got the trimmer out and edged all the path pavers and around a few of the beds. Today I need to mow and it will be looking wonderful!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Charlie and the Chihuahuas were outside all day and when we came in the house they wanted food and were ready for bed. After I had a shower, a pizza, and a few beers we all crawled into bed to watch Practical Magic. It was a fluffy movie, but a great ending to a very productive day.</span> </div><div></div><div></div></div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-89978614871472547352009-05-17T18:12:00.002-05:002009-05-17T18:18:59.180-05:00<span style="font-family:arial;">I am not sure where I have been, but have felt guilty I have not posted. Part has been that my camera died and I thought I should not post. So I got a new camera in Feb. and did not post. Life has twist and turns. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Do I have anything to say? For awhile I thought I did not. When you search the web and look at all there is going on....and now there is the twitter thing... Maybe I should worry less that everyone has <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">allot</span> to say..... and go back to thinking about writing like an old household <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">columnist</span> like Erma <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Bombeck</span>. OK, I am not as funny, but have a few things to impart.</span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-38672657476807634502008-06-22T09:44:00.007-05:002008-12-08T18:03:54.202-06:00A TRIP THRU MY GARDEN<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Yq12HOuFcX-IEK6hfsYLW223LFfwVVqQH2Js9uVJDzTW6qS7Ntpsxo7U-Gqiada1nDxLFj-TYtthHWVl7gYBVMSMVV_avf7PH28M3HtLEHAYIfyfCRDP7xRNFZyIqP31VbzNfE1BRrQ/s1600-h/circle+tree.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214721459417835778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Yq12HOuFcX-IEK6hfsYLW223LFfwVVqQH2Js9uVJDzTW6qS7Ntpsxo7U-Gqiada1nDxLFj-TYtthHWVl7gYBVMSMVV_avf7PH28M3HtLEHAYIfyfCRDP7xRNFZyIqP31VbzNfE1BRrQ/s320/circle+tree.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9V81nnimnsICWzxVUr22_3Y9C6I6C0NY-YPNdlasaH4LNSRhvopihcvD2GtoWIod2M3jGqje5h_uZ88lDazxa8E1Vgr5uSZVPSIeHt0qAe3MWEH1RcpcyHQbVDMOhyphenhyphensYYJ-lMjx_wJk/s1600-h/IM001449.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214721460918575954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9V81nnimnsICWzxVUr22_3Y9C6I6C0NY-YPNdlasaH4LNSRhvopihcvD2GtoWIod2M3jGqje5h_uZ88lDazxa8E1Vgr5uSZVPSIeHt0qAe3MWEH1RcpcyHQbVDMOhyphenhyphensYYJ-lMjx_wJk/s320/IM001449.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxy1fAp9cnwGM0TK1DHd0AbMIphcN0FqKJxVxat9Xf_yFzpo-siWXWVCEEBZBbwHciVgL12BRhYsgnV6vxiWiKvdnW2qP3M81M3EhrO8DHD4kfkMsaKJnLMV946Kz5Tnp5wsP4w6nHME/s1600-h/IM001448.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214721466633824418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxy1fAp9cnwGM0TK1DHd0AbMIphcN0FqKJxVxat9Xf_yFzpo-siWXWVCEEBZBbwHciVgL12BRhYsgnV6vxiWiKvdnW2qP3M81M3EhrO8DHD4kfkMsaKJnLMV946Kz5Tnp5wsP4w6nHME/s320/IM001448.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYqgz75lU7rIxbpKymXpHucbv4jx6aiLaIrwNzddMWHoUjMrVI7mqFl3jnSQpYub4wNRIMk6ZNNwFGfrebhRwDAwjB3HGZl_AH01BYyaY7h2WmxTWw9s6G92NoWrtYbf7cbIrNHo9F0Q/s1600-h/north+circle.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214718504652255362" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYqgz75lU7rIxbpKymXpHucbv4jx6aiLaIrwNzddMWHoUjMrVI7mqFl3jnSQpYub4wNRIMk6ZNNwFGfrebhRwDAwjB3HGZl_AH01BYyaY7h2WmxTWw9s6G92NoWrtYbf7cbIrNHo9F0Q/s320/north+circle.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2YO0_pkacKdb-Vind1eV9Q_V6NDexgVsqFTPz53xELWNCJ6M_G7C8a9HYOwWaoZeXaQgv4bd_ivtvJwUaF0O0E7W9F1hLLm9TBtESiRK5Oj_nq1tllGRu08MfWmdlAMsMzrfK-I9BaQ/s1600-h/path+to+east.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214718507331364130" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2YO0_pkacKdb-Vind1eV9Q_V6NDexgVsqFTPz53xELWNCJ6M_G7C8a9HYOwWaoZeXaQgv4bd_ivtvJwUaF0O0E7W9F1hLLm9TBtESiRK5Oj_nq1tllGRu08MfWmdlAMsMzrfK-I9BaQ/s320/path+to+east.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWs8HkroxbWGEeEyhLI9Z5Gzx4Z6-j0it2J9IusgaEGQDY3qu9CJSAzKPl4nh1Ks9bHhzsHAtcDzvkCatM5KZ5oQhgl1ICpcs5w9EmA1vpFrPjs4hyRawYZAHoA2xoZb_yKVFEuP-fB4U/s1600-h/IM001448.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214718515390252754" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWs8HkroxbWGEeEyhLI9Z5Gzx4Z6-j0it2J9IusgaEGQDY3qu9CJSAzKPl4nh1Ks9bHhzsHAtcDzvkCatM5KZ5oQhgl1ICpcs5w9EmA1vpFrPjs4hyRawYZAHoA2xoZb_yKVFEuP-fB4U/s320/IM001448.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214717730267559058" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZpgklPdX-E-mhffu4ic8XGcdfP9YWSmbrWvWamVsuhU5NiczvvxRizvqFdzLW3dU3GdDKR1a9DTRZJD2pwWQGZSHnuC3PjC9ZcfCACGzCYezIB-3BmOPc53ZlTtFo5_I5eKT7CRtEGsU/s320/bug+bed.JPG" border="0" /><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8WjSumKRgJXwakKbYcbGdLX2cwRWAkEGr-ypK96jheREmk5vAcKyw38K6M5vhevfQM8yTqW-x_tWMpTFidWrDYCdFmsHrDlLMxkTL2Z-uVXJmC6adps2nAylAiQwYWlLyoHG9sH2GuM/s1600-h/swing.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214718510829981234" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8WjSumKRgJXwakKbYcbGdLX2cwRWAkEGr-ypK96jheREmk5vAcKyw38K6M5vhevfQM8yTqW-x_tWMpTFidWrDYCdFmsHrDlLMxkTL2Z-uVXJmC6adps2nAylAiQwYWlLyoHG9sH2GuM/s320/swing.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOdVu1DFHXBP0aNmcF3__3VEtoL-ajjnAGPrIDdLrheMnE_Aksc2yMm1ofVHt9ok-HahAkMzJi5lpbLNsVkmijHNNBCKWJG_1FWUY_6jUnbnoz8K6fwuRyuf9DHmbsweo9HnlIzeJPXo/s1600-h/south+east.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214717716742864514" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOdVu1DFHXBP0aNmcF3__3VEtoL-ajjnAGPrIDdLrheMnE_Aksc2yMm1ofVHt9ok-HahAkMzJi5lpbLNsVkmijHNNBCKWJG_1FWUY_6jUnbnoz8K6fwuRyuf9DHmbsweo9HnlIzeJPXo/s320/south+east.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_hyQtx7u_RGm0uIQHsP-gu2w30DG4iPs4NIQmUpmad5lT0gvpOGDIX2GaeLF4_clPzAWhxLtNy_T9JsSpfNUQ3ONcLwxfH9wQvHVSD_fqgyXsEX10ikjD1apqzD4_KplBjGQLPTK1IQ/s1600-h/peonies.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214717721744508802" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_hyQtx7u_RGm0uIQHsP-gu2w30DG4iPs4NIQmUpmad5lT0gvpOGDIX2GaeLF4_clPzAWhxLtNy_T9JsSpfNUQ3ONcLwxfH9wQvHVSD_fqgyXsEX10ikjD1apqzD4_KplBjGQLPTK1IQ/s320/peonies.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">These pictures were taken June 14, 2008</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">The lilac bushes (23 of them) were in bloom and made a very nice backdrop for the rest of the garden. If you noticed the swing, you will see where I spend alot of my time when I am not digging in the dirt. </span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">This spring I took out 3 honeysuckle bushes and 8 huge brown yard bags of a variety of weeds and plants I thinned out. There are still a few carts of dirt to move and the front yard to thin. People keep saying they would love to have some of my perennials, but no one shows up to get them. There are no annuals, as the garden is definitely full and by the end of July will be a jungle. </span></div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><br /><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214724638627853474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGuT1UDEFSPnxGL92pHVOqZpYPlyMeY8h_v9YPOX8J3etiReqi1pkvNEXdYdQfkHUbxukoNjX3b-Z0EdfsLF54Is111qIso4G0R6xPLR5__9YJO89cZYgTWWBE1QBF8S5il2V46Z-qa8/s320/garden.JPG" border="0" />This is the vegetable garden..... 2 tomatoe plants and 3 green peppers. Oh and a few onion sets. This is certainly all I need. The spring has been unseasonably cool and wet. It seems they are not growing at all, but since the pix were taken a few weeks ago, they have grown alot. Finally we have had some warm weather so give them a growth spurt. </span></div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-52650444081613241732008-06-01T07:32:00.007-05:002008-12-08T18:03:54.463-06:00Spring in the Garden<span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">In the last years I have had various configurations of pond and waterfall. Two years ago I got tired of fixing leaks in the waterfall and rearranged the rocks around the pond without the waterfall. I really enjoyed the pond, but it was something I continously had to mess with and I decided the flower beds and yard was enough for me to do.</span><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214697348480864546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrHwr165FqSr-Iu63GYTd5omqNM2c6i0ncxP9DjpvSKjC7F34qbIl-Uv2H4S-CiA9RskGE5RzKbUGoNAoG5o8VJ9Y8A8oyJmFUU8hsrdhFTMJlnUBiobl3_AjyRCO19AOGzwZEMH3yEjo/s400/pond.JPG" border="0" /></span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Pond and Waterfall July 2004</span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Every spring the preformed basin is half full of fetid water, dead leaves, dead plants, worms, trash and occasionally a carcass of some small animal who did not know they could not swim. After skimming out all the debris, I pump or suck out the fetid water. It is just a very unpleasant job. </span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Every spring I say to myself, <em>"It is hard to remember you came to drain the swamp, when you are up to your arse in alligators".</em> Now with the water restrictions on in my area it is hard to justify filling the pond and maintaining it all summer. I love the water sound, but not the time I have to spend scooping out leaves, cleaning the pump filter, and trying to get the ph balance right so I do not have green slime. </span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">The first part of May the preformed pond (4’ x 6’ x 4’) was taken out. (I am wondering what to do with it, as it is sitting on my patio.) Some of the old waterfall berm of cinderblocks and other leftovers went into the pond hole. My neighbor, John, who does concrete work, brought me a load of nice clean black dirt and was nice enough to wheelbarrow the dirt to fill the hole.</span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">In March, my daughter and I happened upon a "bean pot" at Hobby Lobby, which I thought might work for a new water feature. Luckily it was on sale for 50% off, or I would not have bought it. Since I already had the tub, a small pump and tubing, it was just a matter of buying some 1/2" mesh wire to cover the bottom basin and top with the rock. <a href="http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.4bc414aa-91d0-41bb-adae-bdbc67be9a61&hl=en">Water feature diagram.</a></span> </div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#660000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I am very happy with the results. Now there is more time to play in the dirt!</span> </span></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214711569795711218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLd8xtEGnNo7yNWgS5tvk_P0RW7NIC-7elSu9LfcpbmgQHOpDxGr826Q2QuKtDd9-GRbdIfkBWAdYJlNPnK8d0mNoKTGvra8K9vxn5L-nG98E7ddgQoalOK0KXesLBvDIegWTJtpIqt6w/s400/water+pot.JPG" border="0" /> <p align="center"> <span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Water Feature May 2008</span><br /><br /></p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><br /><br /></span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-10029615182796898972008-05-29T20:52:00.002-05:002008-05-29T20:54:21.362-05:00Respecting Property<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">As most of you know I am getting closer to 60 and am wondering if I am not an old fashioned in my ways.<br /><br />Recently on the Frugal Living Forum there was a post about painting the interior of the house because the kids had been pretty hard on the walls. Several women made a comment about their young children had written and doodled on the walls that it was time to paint them.<br /><br />Another gal made a comment how the walls needed freshening up in her house as the fingerprints, grim and scars from the children’s wear and tear looked pretty bad. There were several posts commiserating on these comments.<br /><br />These remarks left me scratching my head, as I am wondering if people forgot how to respect the property they are working so hard to pay the mortage on. Why would you allow your children to write on the walls and abuse their property? What happened to pride in your home and all the hard work it takes to keep it looking nice and clean?<br /><br />IF, as a child, I would have had the courage to even think about writing, coloring, painting or marring my Mother's walls in anyway……………I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN TROUBLE!<br /><br />Mom was a single parent and worked hard to save to build our 1st house. She was fastididiouss and expected me to learn to be also. Her attitude was if I had to clean up the messes I made, I would make fewer. There was not the attitude of "kids will be kids"; they are going to be messy, doodle and write where ever they feel like it or run their grimy little hands along the hallway walls and smudge dirt around the light switches, spill milk on the floor etc.<br /><br /> After playing a sweaty game of ball it is necessary to use the bathroom and only naturally my grimy little paws, and those of my friends, would be slid down the hallway walls.<br />Have you noticed it is impossible for children not to lean against a corner or wall while asking to have friends over or perhaps go for ice cream? It is like the wall and you MUST support each other. A few summer evenings of the first year in the new house were spent washing grimy fingerprints off the hallway walls. I may have made a bigger mess on the floors, but Mom was making a point and teaching me respect for taking care of what I was blessed with…a nice home.<br /><br />I wish I would have a dime for every time Mom told me to keep my hands off the walls AND to tell my friends they do not to put their hands on the walls either. Yes, I did tell my little friends I would be “killed” if the walls were touched!<br /><br />To this very day, I wash my walls at least once a year and every few months or so wash around the light switches and around the door knobs etc. It is just general cleaning. Since I love decorating I might paint every 4-5 years, but it is not to cover up disrespect and dirt, nor has it been when I have had small children.<br /><br />Think about it. It is about respect and taking care of the property you are working hard to pay the mortgage on. How much does it save you in grief and even embarrassment to take care of your home? How much does soap and water cost? How much time and money does it save you by not having to paint? What does it teach your children?<br /><br />My blog and my thoughts……………</span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-40711637508192149502008-02-27T20:24:00.004-06:002008-12-08T18:03:54.773-06:00WHAT GOES AROUND...COMES AROUND<div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">Lately some of my spare time has gone to help my daughter paint the interior of her house. It is a good bonding experience and nice to eat someone else’s cooking. We make a great team, as I like to do the cutting in and she likes to do the rolling.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">Any color would be better than what she had, as it was the most non-descript color I have ever seen. I have a real aversion to taupe, but this was even worse. Have you ever noticed having an aversion to color? Does it nearly make you ill?<br /><br />Over time, I have had my color mistakes like everyone else, but as we say: It is only paint! There was a time in the mid 90’s I found a cute little comforter and curtain set for my bedroom. So, thinking I could not go wrong, I picked a “pink” from the set and painted the walls. It was a bit intense, but maybe I could get use to it? Change is not always easily accepted, but I figured after a few days…. NOT. In the morning, one eye would open and see the wall, the other would open and I would groan. It should have been soothing; after all it was Pepto Bismol Pink! 6 months was enough!<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeaQJAGpcTP_lUgmlz5nLMgsQ2vI5Layv7CpYFfpgZvBc2eqPr8sbRFvrccL5YsXiINi-xyd5qXctRKF9mCuvaqrmJ9EefQrxmhjmKPnG1uvWULPutD1dSggSn4U441ycngVfJQ_hc9k/s1600-h/1005-100855-001-th.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171853758364423890" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 139px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 131px" height="131" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeaQJAGpcTP_lUgmlz5nLMgsQ2vI5Layv7CpYFfpgZvBc2eqPr8sbRFvrccL5YsXiINi-xyd5qXctRKF9mCuvaqrmJ9EefQrxmhjmKPnG1uvWULPutD1dSggSn4U441ycngVfJQ_hc9k/s400/1005-100855-001-th.jpg" width="139" border="0" /></span></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeaQJAGpcTP_lUgmlz5nLMgsQ2vI5Layv7CpYFfpgZvBc2eqPr8sbRFvrccL5YsXiINi-xyd5qXctRKF9mCuvaqrmJ9EefQrxmhjmKPnG1uvWULPutD1dSggSn4U441ycngVfJQ_hc9k/s1600-h/1005-100855-001-th.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"></span></a> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">The trends today are going back to what I saw as a young adult in the late 60’s. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">My daughter has adopted the "brights" of the 60's-70's styles: lime green, bright turquoise, hot pink and loud orange. Her home office is called Jetfire, which is a tangerine color and much better than the pumpkin it was a few years ago. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">There are awesome new designers who are getting into the retro creations. This is a sample of fabric done by Jessica Jones, who has </span><a href="http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2007/03/thumb-tack-tutorial.html"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">How about orange... </span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">blog. Stop over there and see the neat ideas and creations she has going. For some of us it is a blast from the past. She does a great job updating furniture and has some </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/howaboutorange/sets/72157603590416587/"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">fun crafts.</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"> The graphic above is from her first fabric collection. There are alot of great links to other young creative people also!</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">It took a lot of dissuading to get my daughter to give up the idea of putting turquoise with it. All I could think of was Howard Johnson’s from the 70’s! I was abhorred, but since I do not live there…<br /><br />After I thought about the room design a long time, I realized I had a number of swatches of discontinued upholstery fabrics that I salvaged when I worked at the furniture store. I came up with some wonderful combos of wild prints and solids to use for pillows and perhaps some sort of wall art. I lugged the bag over to her house and made her look at the possibilities. Guess what! She liked the ideas. We discussed what we could do in the room, as it is very orange, a black framed futon covered in a dark brown. Cream recycled heavy weight sheers and mostly dark furniture.<br /><br />Once again inspiration hit me and I was on a roll. I really felt the color combo she had chosen was rather juvie. I told her she need something more adult, but she was afraid she might lose the FUN aspect. I explained you can decorate more adult and have a bit more class WITH WHIMSY. She said that is exactly what she wanted.<br /><br />The whimsy will come with the bright patchwork pillows using rather graphic fabrics and art work. It has been years since I have painted, but I think I can do something organically graphic? I am very excited! (Soon as I have pictures to post, they will be here.)<br /><br />Personally, my diningroom has taken a step back in time to the olive (NOT avocado), golds (NOT harvest gold) and rusts (NOT burnt orange). They are not quite the shades we had in the 60’s, as they are cleaner and clearer.<br /><br />After having lived with a burnt orange “living room set” for nearly 30 years, I have no desire to see that color again! Yes, it does pay to buy quality…and it is a good thing I learned to slipcover!</span> </div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-37590270334678695212008-02-20T19:11:00.001-06:002008-02-20T19:13:28.925-06:00MY CONVENIENCE OATMEAL "PACKETS"<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Last night I started to write about the winter doldrums, but got side tracked on changing the garden....easy to do these days.<br />Was going to talk about making your own convenience foods. If you will remember Sesame Street's Swedish Chef, you will have a good picture of my cooking style. After a week end of cooking I most definitely have to wipe down the cupboards, the floor and me! This is why I think cooking all at one time on the week end works out well for me.<br /><br />For some reason this winter oatmeal sounded good...evidently I was really bored with food because, I really have not had a taste for oatmeal for years. I tried a dish one morning and found it to be rather tasty, so decided it would be a good food to "prepackaged". Usually on the week end I make up a 9-12 of these because it is just easier than messing around every morning...especially since I am a very messy cook. <br /><br />I had saved a number of little yogurt cups (recycle!) and found they were just perfect to use for a single serving.<br /><em>1/2 cup quick oatmeal, a few raisins, a tablespoon of brown sugar or plain, a dash of cinnamon and if you wish a tablespoon of coffee creamer or powdered milk. Just dump in a bowl, add 1 1/3 yogurt cups of water and nuke. Sometimes I add a bit of milk, sometimes not. <br /></em><br />I have been trying to use up stuff just sitting in the cupboards.<br />The creamer is left over from making hot cocoa mix earlier this winter.<br />I was nearly out of brown sugar and remembered you can make your: 1 cup plain white sugar add 2 tablespoons of molasses (where did 2 bottles of molasses come from?) and mix well....this takes awhile and a fork works pretty good for stirring it up. After it sits a day or so it is yummy! Actually I think I like it better than boughten brown sugar.<br /> </span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-2333517113233027212008-02-18T21:09:00.007-06:002008-12-08T18:03:55.279-06:00WINTER DOLDRUMS<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Don't you hate this time of year? Seems like winter has drug on and I know we will have a few more months, complete with a few more snow storms. In Mexico and some parts of the southern US gardens are being planted and people are hoping for rain. I am so envious! Here in the northern climates the seed catalogs are in the mailboxes and we are just dreaming of what we are going to plant. </span><br /><div><div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">For those of you who have been in my back yard, you know it has become a jungle and definitely time to divide and conquer the plants. Every spring I watch the little shoots come up and think the beds really looks sparce. I am sure the whole garden is going to look really sickly. In reality, by June it is overgrown. It breaks my heart to destroy any of the plants and I keep telling people, to come over and adopt some plants. Hopefully a few will show up this year! </span></div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168533241838474914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyqjlk6PdE7dVIwhIsfOux68fC1FqbmnEK714bIccANRH7zs2YX9PHP-CtFSXf4yJID13852OXuhAp0gV7baDwI63HTNwAvQJqm2odWycdpbgP9PQioPwCXv1ojajYU0eaKbc78N05qk/s400/IM000757.JPG" border="0" /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_2nwLkCtM6z9K3Z3JoQmNthyphenhyphen0HUXg5Q8IoWuNsIB08OnIUkZEyMOd5BRx0FuTTU3ap2r-KwUNb3jUhEP2D3RYpWhocWEuqco1guB2hytnNbcOo5_BWaK66zt2YcyCHii7nw0rjuWVso/s1600-h/IM000865.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168534886810949298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="298" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX_2nwLkCtM6z9K3Z3JoQmNthyphenhyphen0HUXg5Q8IoWuNsIB08OnIUkZEyMOd5BRx0FuTTU3ap2r-KwUNb3jUhEP2D3RYpWhocWEuqco1guB2hytnNbcOo5_BWaK66zt2YcyCHii7nw0rjuWVso/s400/IM000865.JPG" width="300" border="0" /></a></span></p><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">The pond and waterfall are alot of fun, but a whole lot of work. The last several years I have told myself that pond has to go, as I do not want to deal with fish or green slime. My neighbor, Debbie, says she loves to listen to the sound of the fountain in the pond when her window is open at night. Of course, in the spring, she is not wading around in rubber garden boots and vacuuming the decaying leaves off the bottom, or fishing out the little critters who did not know how to swim. This year the pond is coming out! </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span> </div></div><div></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJg8M7foh61J0_DEpgcKVf2_pplUlrEDOv5WjGTdDwPcsXcWkI18yBpl_DiyPs2OuB-yxlTTV9dPlZpZejLkvr0gRoPeIcCo8PBlOHgVZmvMbAtUz6ZZY45DUrmgIzAgyIR1OV2_aeek/s1600-h/IM000788.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168536432999175874" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" height="400" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJg8M7foh61J0_DEpgcKVf2_pplUlrEDOv5WjGTdDwPcsXcWkI18yBpl_DiyPs2OuB-yxlTTV9dPlZpZejLkvr0gRoPeIcCo8PBlOHgVZmvMbAtUz6ZZY45DUrmgIzAgyIR1OV2_aeek/s400/IM000788.JPG" width="305" border="0" /></a></span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I want to go out with a cold beverage in had, sit on the swing, and listen to the sound of water over the sound of the traffic! So I have decided to cover up the pond, disassemble the water fall area and put in a simple, but noisy fountain. Now I just have to figure out what kind of fountain I want to do. I have the pumps and a variety of bits and pieces, so should be able to come up with something. Like interior design, it is time for a makeover of the yard. I have pictures and great memories, but it is time to move on to something new and less maintenace. This is the time of year to dream of the warm breezes and watching fireflies in the evening.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">I am anxious to go out and play in the dirt!</span></div></div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-84857963934873089502008-02-10T16:35:00.000-06:002008-02-10T16:45:51.424-06:00BLACK MAGIC CAKE<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Lately time has slipped away...unfortunately winter has not! The weather has been perfect to stay in and hibernate. Wanted to post this for a gal from the Frugal Living Forum and for a Valentine treat for you all to try. This is probably my favorite cake of all time.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">This has been a recipe I have used for years. It is a bit different as cakes go, as you do not put frosting on it, atho it says frost as desired. It is so moist that it would be difficult to try to smear frosting on top. Usually I serve it with ice cream or whipped cream. You might even want to try a bit of carmel over it with the ice cream.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>Black Magic Cake<br /></strong>2 cups sugar</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">1 3/4 cups all purpose flour</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">3/4 cup cocoa</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">2 teaspoons baking soda</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">1 teaspoon baking powder</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">1 teaspoon salt</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">2 eggs</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">1 cup strong black coffee </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">1 cup of buttermilk or sour milk*</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">1/2 cup vegetable oil</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch pans or one 13X9X2 inch pan. In large mixer bowl blend sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Batter will be thin. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes then remove from pans to wire racks. Frost as desired.* To sour milk: use 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-4980285011368481632008-01-28T18:23:00.000-06:002008-12-08T18:03:55.398-06:00USING UP FOODS - WEEK END COOKING<span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">Every week end I try to cook for the coming week. The pantry is a little slim right now, so worked on using what I had. There was a large bag of potatoes which were starting to sprout and I really did not want them to go bad.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">With the old Saladmaster grinder/shredder I make some of the taters into hash browns, skins and all. After shredding them, I nuked them so they were partially done, spread them on an old pizza pan to cool and bagged them up for the freezer. I love <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTkNgUja5oNdjtE1HbvKzteU6IluQQNA1XmM_KfrA84Yxpm2s-seYzE6eBWxJWRYY6PCkjHUANXm29-nucFxNI8fv4gAxTcsqfye63LnQMXg24FPv_vGtgFHdoE5Qz5xD27JdsQZILJwo/s1600-h/IM001397.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160704243952455714" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 220px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 179px" height="168" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTkNgUja5oNdjtE1HbvKzteU6IluQQNA1XmM_KfrA84Yxpm2s-seYzE6eBWxJWRYY6PCkjHUANXm29-nucFxNI8fv4gAxTcsqfye63LnQMXg24FPv_vGtgFHdoE5Qz5xD27JdsQZILJwo/s200/IM001397.JPG" width="217" border="0" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">hash browns!</span><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">The Saladmaster was boughten at a flea market for $10 about 5 years ago. At the time I thought it was a bit spendy, but I have really gotten alot of use out of it. Amazingly the original manual was with it. There were 6 "cams" with it. The best part is that it is stainless steel. I need a small screw to put a knob on the handle, so will have to remember that when I get to the hardware store.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">Some of the taters were peeled, as were some carrots, then boiled and mashed. If you have not tried this, you really should, as it is excellent. Babies love them too! The peels all went into my compost coffee can to be spread later this week on top of the snow over the flower beds. One of the gals from the Frugal Living Forum does this and says it works great. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">There was turkey from Thanksgiving in the freezer that needed to be used up too. I had some sauteed celery and onions in the freezer (also saved at the spare of the moment) and, of course, some chicken broth, then added some mixed frozen veggies for turkey soup. I made a few egg dumplings, then all of it was cooled and put in the freezer. </span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#990000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I always save the ends of my bread and whatever seems to be getting a bit old in a plastic bag in my freezer. There was enough to make some great bread pudding. Bread pudding is wonderful for desert with a bit of milk or ice cream or for breakfast.</span> </span></div><br /><p><span style="color:#990000;">Bread Pudding<br /><br />3-4 cups cubed dried bread. Wheat is ok! Dried, stale etc.<br />2 cups of milk heated, but not boiling (I used powdered milk)<br />2 T butter<br />1/8 t salt<br />½ cup sugar, I use brown sugar.<br />2-3 eggs beaten</span><br /></p><p><span style="color:#990000;">1 </span><span style="color:#990000;">t. vanilla<br />Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste<br />Raisins and - or dried cranberries<br /><br />Heat milk (Put the raisins in it to plump them up) and butter then add bread. Supposedly you are to let this cool, but I never do.<br />Beat eggs; add the rest of the ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 min. in a buttered or no stick pan.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">Sunday morning I had put a small beef roast in the crocked pot, so had a fabulous dinner about 2:20 of roast beef, mashed tater-carrots and some frozen broccoli. Yummy!</span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">Between cooking this and that, I wiped down the cupboards, throughly dusted the diningroom and livingroom and mopped up the laminate floors. Then I did a little rearranging of furniture to give things a new look. It lifted my spirits, if nothing else. </span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><span style="color:#990000;">Sunday evenings have become bread baking time. My daughter gave me a bread machine for Christmas and I am trying to get the nack of it. The white bread comes out great, but my wheat breads are either crusty and dry or crusty and doughy in the middle. I have gotten a few ideas from posters and am going to try wheat bread again.</span> </span><br /></p><div></div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-21104486982865649212008-01-22T17:35:00.000-06:002008-01-22T17:56:02.549-06:00A BIT OF FOLLOW UP<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">After writing "Are you making your share of trash?", I decided I would see how much my trash weighed this week. I made 10 #, which is not too bad, but would like to get it down lower yet! All the cardboard was torn up and flattened, no recycleable, puppy newpapers and chicken bones all fit into one large kitchen bag.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I know 5 pounds of it was skin and bones from the 10 pounds of chicken I cooked, cut up and froze. </span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I have wondered if buying Wal Mart's 10# chicken hindquarters was a good deal or not. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">It is alot of work: </span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">get the big roaster out</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">cook chicken, cool, drain</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">put the broth in a container for soups</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">skin, debone and chop up then bag it</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">clean the roaster and put it away. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">put the unusable parts in the garbage. </span></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">The 10# bag is $4.30. I end up with a bit less than 5 #'s of usuable chicken and some broth. So that is about $.86/#. Even adding in the energy to cook it and the garbage man to haul it away, it's still a good deal for chicken. Since I have the time...I will continue with this mess. It is nice to have the chicken for Maggie, Jack and me. It is convenient to have it in the freezer, but not convenient to make!</span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-49895007391568133722008-01-13T07:34:00.000-06:002008-01-21T07:15:26.857-06:00BEEN BUSY<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">In addition to keeping warm, I have been keeping busy sewing. Moving around generates heat. This year I am going to try to use up things I have around here. My fabric and craft stash would rival a small shop, so I need to get creative! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Sewing projects finished yesterday: </span><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">My daughter's dogs needed new beds, so I dug into my stash of fiberfill (saved from a good deal I got on fiber beds and comforters) and heavy duty fabric to make them new beds. </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">A friend noticed the draft stoppers and commented she was thinking she needed to buy some for her house. BUY? My friend will have 3 draft stoppers and a matching rice/flax bag. This just took a few scraps and flax seed given to me by my nice neighbor.</span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Next month is my daughter's 30 birthdayso made her a nice present, which I will not divulge, as she occasionally reads this blog. But it involved a beautiful piece of fleece and can be worn. </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I mended a patchwork jacket that has been hiding in my sewing cloest. Now I have another jacket to wear to work! 10 minutes of hand sewing saved the jacket from the rag pile. </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I made new tea cozy to match the rice/flax bag I use to keep the teapot warm.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span></li></ul><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">As most of you know I love rice bags and find all kinds of uses for them. I made my coworkers flaxseed bags for a little Christmas gift. There were 2 left, so I laid them on my boss's desk. The next day I asked him if he thought he and his wife could use them. His comment was, "Yes, thank you...Do you know what they are getting for these at the mall?" He then asked me to find a box for them and regifted them right in front of me!!! (We all knew he was Scrooge, but that was just plain rude far as I was concerned. This man is in his 60's and worth millions, and I would have thought would have had some manners, but guess not.</span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">The office manager loved hers. She has arthritis and neck problems. I mentioned I made one that goes around my shoulders and offered to let her try it out to see if it would help her back and artheritis problems. She tried it on and got a look of relief on her face. (Just the weight of the bag without the heat helps put your shoulders down from your ears.) She tried it a few days and I asked how it worked. She said she wanted one too, as it really did help. So she now has one to match her little rice bag. </span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">One of my other co workers got a rotten head cold, which settled in her ears. She used it on her ears and was surprised how good it felt. </span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Another friend called me a few weeks ago to tell me how comforting it was after surgery. She applied it to her incision. I do not know if that is a good thing to do or not, but it helped with the pain. It also works great for menstrual cramps. </span><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I am surprised at the number of sites which exclaim the </span><a href="http://www.cancerlynx.com/morericebag.html"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">comfort and relief</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"> these little bags provide.There is a multitude of online sites that sell them and the </span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">prices amazed me! I wonder how many are sold! Maybe I should go into business. LOL</span><br /></p>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-87107627024329714982008-01-12T16:36:00.000-06:002008-01-19T08:10:15.785-06:00ARE YOU MAKING YOUR SHARE OF TRASH?<span style="font-family:arial;"><em><span style="color:#660000;">"Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"--</span></em><a href="http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/solidwaste.html"><em><span style="color:#660000;">about 4.6 pounds per person per day</span></em></a><em><span style="color:#660000;">. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills. With a little forethought, we could reuse or recycle more than 70 percent of the landfilled waste, which includes valuable materials such as glass, metal, and paper. This would reduce the demand on virgin sources of these materials and eliminate potentially severe environmental, economic, and public health problems."</span></em></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#660000;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Ok, I have not weighted my garbage to see how much I accumulate in a week, but I know I am not contributing 4.6# per day! (That might be an interesting experiment.)<br /></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I was remembering a cross country trip about 10 years ago from South Dakota to LA in a semi. It had been years since I had been on a cross country trip and I was really excited. The driver was forever eating and it would not have been difficult for him to fill up the interior of the truck with garbage. (Trust me, when I owned trucks, I have seen some really raunchy interiors by drivers who were pigs!) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">It got me starting thinking about all the trash we create and do not know what to do with. While going through uninhabited parts of the west, I said we could bury all the trash out here in the middle of nowhere.......one of the hills for plastic, one for newspapers etc. He just laughed at me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I noticed the closer we got to LA, the more trash was strewn/left alongside the highway. I asked the driver if he remembered me saying that in the middle of nowhere would be a good place for a landfill. He said he did. I said <em>evidently the people out here in California have already started doing that, but they are not sorting it!</em> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I was totally amazed and appalled. Anything people did not want they dumped right by the side of the highway! There were bags of garbage strewn over the landscape, old tires, whitegoods, toys and anything you can imagine. The parking lots were filthy, and not just at truckstops, but malls and grocery store lots too. It was a very eye opening experience, but not one I was NOT ready for. The flora and fauna was so beautiful, but all I could think about was the trash it was probably hiding or was entangled in it.<br /><br />___________________________________________________________________________________</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">My daughter and I were discussing the price of our sanitary services. Last month there was a notice on my bill that the fee would be going up. With the increase of fuel costs and higher landfill fees it was enevitable. I live alone I usually can get buy with one container a week, in the summer I have more at times, as there is stuff from the yard I will not recycle. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Having to pay for throwing stuff away seems silly, but then I grew up when we could burn our trash or it would go to our own landfills on the farm. It was great fun digging around in our landfills and seeing all the neat stuff my family threw away over the years. (Gezzz, I wish I had some of those Avon perfume bottles now!)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">My daughter remarked that she had very little trash after she started <strong>sorting out all the recyclables</strong>. (I don't think our part of the country is good at recycling.) DUH! What an idea of keeping the cost down! Recyclables are not counted as part of the container.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I find if I <strong>crush or tear up any of the light weight cardboard</strong> packaging, it seems I have alot less trash and can fit more in a bag. So I save on bags and can get more garbage in my can. Does that make any sense? In actuality I do not usually have a full can. If the cardboard is torn up in smaller bits will it deteriorate in the landfill quicker?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">We need to <strong>stop being an unconscious consumer</strong>. Think before you buy and <strong>ask</strong> <strong>yourself if you really NEED</strong> “it” think about how much you really wanted it, will used it or how it will actually add to your life. Being GREEN can also be </span><a href="http://www.thegreenguide.com/issue.mhtml?i=for_budget_minded"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">frugal.</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><em>Personally I <strong>make a game out of it and try to think of at least 3 uses for things that are about to go in the trash.</strong></em> </span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">This year I am really going to be more <strong>conscious of packaging</strong> of the products I buy. Even now I try to <strong>reuse packaging</strong> for something else if possible. When buying meat, I can buy it out of a case and have it wrapped in freezer paper, so do not have the Styrofoam packaging to deal with later. The Styrofoam trays can be used for snacks, dog dishes, torn up and used for drainage in pots, paint trays, drawer dividers.... T</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Some of the glass bottles as olive oil, wine, BBQ sauce etc. are being saved to be used as vases for garden flowers for the neighbor ladies. The jam I buy at the discount bread store comes in jars with handles, which are great for vases, outdoor beverages, holding pencils.... </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Little yorgurt containers work great for little leftovers to go in the freezer for soup, the work perfectly for making my "instant" oatmeal packets for breakfast, they are great to store screws and extra paint for touch ups....</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="color:#660000;">Old <strong>household items should be recycled</strong> </span><a href="http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_moneysaving_recycle/"><span style="color:#660000;">HGTV </span></a><span style="color:#660000;">has some great ideas. The web has a ton of green living, recycling and reusing sites. Please take the time to look for some of them.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><strong>Questions in my mind:</strong><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Do people still use trash compactors? I have a built in one... my foot. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">If you save things that you have decided you can recycle, will you have more stuff to deal with? </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Gezz I hate to throw things and even as a child I was always going through our trash to see if there was <em>something</em> "good" that Mom threw out. Mom was frugal too. So maybe these ideas are kind of ingrained. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"><strong>If I do nothing else on this blog, I would like to encourage people think!!!</strong></span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-87167045774147454242008-01-12T15:56:00.001-06:002008-01-12T16:28:50.978-06:00NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS<span style="font-family:arial;">Seems most folks make some sort of promise to themselves to improve in some way at the start of a new year, but I am still working on last year's! Improvement should be an ongoing process; regardless if it is self improvement, your lifestyle, your home etc. Don't you think so?</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">Unfortunately I got into the consumerism mode with many other people and find I have way to much stuff. Slowly I am working my way of using, reusing and just trying to not buy anything I really do not need. NEED is the operative word! We all must get into asking ourselves if we really NEED or just want something and..... WELL........</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">This week one of the gal's on the Frugal Living Forum posted a link to a very interesting video, which gave me a whole new perspective on buying and using stuff. It is about 20 minutes long and very thought provoking. If you have a few minutes take the time to view it and think about it. It is simply called <a href="http://www.storyofstuff.com/">"The Story of Stuff".</a> </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">As an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ol</span>' <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">hippy</span> I was always <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">fascinated</span> by recycling items, but never really got into recycling aluminium cans, bottles, newspapers as that was for all the "tree <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">huggers</span>". I think we all pick and choose what we want as our "causes", but I think it has become increasingly necessary to think harder and take up more causes. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">This week a news commentator actually used the word recession. I could not believe I heard him, but it was said again. Seems the government and these financial wizards are always months behind knowing what is going on. Don't they buy fuel and groceries? How long does it take them to realize our money is not going very far. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">Is it my imagination or has the media been featuring more articles about living green, ways to save money and how life has gotten more difficult? Personally, I think it is going to get <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">alot</span> worse, and it will go on for a long time. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">Over a year ago I tried to talk to my daughter about this, but she did not want to hear anything about it. She thinks I am a harbinger of doom and gloom. I have had coworkers laugh at me and asked me where I would get such an idea as we are going to have a recession or depression. At that time I was working in a furniture store and I was seeing people were really shopping for deals, financing and there were more people just looking. The wealthy are still buying, as the upper end furniture stores were busy. This part of the country seems to be at least a year behind most of the country. The housing boom was stilling going, but one of the contractors said there were fewer spec homes being built. It is just a matter of time for the housing market to take a dive here. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;">I really feel bad for those who have no idea how to be frugal. A few nights ago I was perusing one of the well known lady's magazines online. There was an article of how to save money. It would be a good place to start if you are not into being frugal, but it was the basics. I am afraid many of us are going to have to use our black belt frugal skills to make it in the coming months. So my new years resolution, if you want to call it that, is to hone my frugal skills. </span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-84166746186344583282008-01-05T16:02:00.000-06:002008-01-05T16:20:19.029-06:00CRAB CAKES<span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Lately food has been very boring, so I decided I needed to make something different for dinner on New Year's Day. This is what I came up with and after mixing it up, I realized there was ALOT more there than I would eat. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">So I called my daughter to come to dinner. She was not really excited with the menu, but after one bite, she wanted leftovers to take home. This was my first attempt and I was very pleased.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Side dishes were a simple lettuce salad and brown and wild rice simmered in homemade chicken broth with mushrooms and onions added in. Very simple... but tasty!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">Our local Sunshine Grocery Store has mock crab on sale fairly often for $2 per 1# package, so this is a very thrifty "fancy" meal. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">Crab Cakes<br />1/3 cup </span><a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=159"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">mayonnaise</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><br />2 eggs<br />1teaspoon </span><a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=55"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">lemon juice</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><br />1 tablespoon </span><a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=176"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">Worcestershire sauce</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><br />1 teaspoon </span><a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=332"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">Dijon mustard</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><br />1 teaspoon </span><a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=337"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">black pepper</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><br />1/8 teaspoon </span><a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=359"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">salt</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><br />1/8 teaspoon Cajun seasoning<br />1/8 teaspoon </span><a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=507"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;">crushed red pepper flakes</span></a><span style="font-size:78%;color:#660000;"><br />1/2 cup finely diced celery<br />1 1/4 cups breadcrumbs (partially toasted and put in food processor)<br />1 </span></span><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">lb mock crabmeat flaked<br />1/2 Package Ritz crackers finely crushed<br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Mix all ingredients together except the Ritz cracker crumbs.</span><br />Make into patties – this recipe will make about 8-10 patties.<br />Put Ritz cracker crumbs on a plate or shallow dish and put each patty in and turn, so it is coated evenly. Fry in oil until golden brown.<br />Serve with a dab of salad dressing or mayo. This was a recipe I found on recipezaar.com, but modified for my use. I believe it was a copy cat recipe for Joe's Crab Shack Crab Cakes.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">If you try the recipe, please let me know what you think.</span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-64025415638957220212007-12-21T18:00:00.001-06:002007-12-21T18:28:16.266-06:00ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE HOLIDAYS?<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Finally Friday work is over and the week end has started. Everyone is so busy this time of year....NOT ME! Well........ that is after I do my laundry, sweep and mop floors, dust the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">livingroom</span>, vacuum rugs, make a few small gifts, finish chipping the ice off the end of the driveway, dig out the dishes and accessories for the Christmas eve table, grocery shop, and add a few tasks for the new year to my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Evernote</span> lists. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Christmas has been difficult since my Mom pasted away. In the last few years my daughter and I were still grieving. Last year we decided we needed to forget the past and start fresh with new traditions for just the two of us. Being the girls we are, we decided we would splurge and have anything we wanted for our Christmas eve dinner. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">This year I actually did a bit of decorating in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">livingroom</span>. I have always loved to decorate the tree and house, but with just me, it does not seem worth all the effort. Putting it all up is such fun, but taking it down and storing it all away is just too much work. Actually I have enough <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">decorations</span> to decorate a few homes, but this year I put out all the snow men ornaments and my daughter contributed her 3 scrawny <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">prelite</span> trees. You know the ones that are 3 different sizes and very tall, but not real full? I love those trees! Unfortunately I did not have <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">allot</span> of smaller ornaments, so they are not FULL like I usually decorate my trees. One of my new year projects will be to make smaller ornaments. (I better put that on my TO DO list.)</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Most of the decorations are contained in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">livingroom</span> and a few in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">diningroom</span>. Decorating the table should be fun, as I want to do a theme of gold glitz. That should light up our spirits! </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">It is hard to keep to a budget for gifts as my daughter keeps changing her list or adding to it. A few months ago I told her not to buy me anything I do not really NEED. (Stuff accumulates all too fast and it has raced into my house and garage.) ENOUGH! </span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I am excited to open my gifts and see what she thinks I really need. She knows my gifts to her are going to be useful and what she really needs.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">We discussed what I wanted to buy her, which is paint for the interior for her house, so she knows she is getting that. Daughter had been living out of the city and renting her house, then lived with me for a bit. The color on the walls has to be the most <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">awful</span> color I have ever seen AND DEPRESSING. Who ever said there was no bad color, just the wrong color, sure never saw this one! So in addition to the paint, I am going to help her paint the interior again. This will be the 3rd time! It will be a good "bonding" time, as she calls it. Good thing I love to paint. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">I hope all of you will have a bit of time to stop and smell the pine of the trees, taste the candy canes and give a big hug to all those who are important to you. Happy Holidays!</span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-7756402191518987992007-12-16T09:56:00.000-06:002008-12-08T18:03:55.634-06:00SCRAP PAPER CALENDARS<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Scratch Paper, Booklets, Calendars<br /><br />There are a lot of things to do with scrap paper. Way before the computer and the mounds of paper from junk mail I was reusing scrap paper bound together as tablets of paper. This method can also be used to “bind” a number of projects. Kids can make little books, or you might want to print out your favorite poems and bind them for little gifts. I am sure you will come up with a lots of ideas.<br /></span><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">This week end I decided to make a few calendars for the house. (For some reason I am not getting any in the mail from business as we did years ago. </span></div><br /><div><span style="color:#660000;"><strong>You will need:<br /></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Paper cutter (optional, but handy)<br />Several wooden sticks or small wooden slats (this was small, so I used to paint sticks.)<br />Clamps: Paper binders, C clamps, Rubber Bands etc<br />White Glue<br />Scrap paper cut to the same size<br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlrMleBVD1ml50k-FwFPa0OxSiZYhcYJ6sFWHDwsHst0uP-t1SIUV6hUpxMMIjhoeIKlh8evYJuRLbdmxgNb3G3n80csQ2CbXeHaber723n_H6l6X7bNgDVITyEZhktU5de-ggFp9x4zk/s1600-h/clamps.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144602035345271058" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlrMleBVD1ml50k-FwFPa0OxSiZYhcYJ6sFWHDwsHst0uP-t1SIUV6hUpxMMIjhoeIKlh8evYJuRLbdmxgNb3G3n80csQ2CbXeHaber723n_H6l6X7bNgDVITyEZhktU5de-ggFp9x4zk/s200/clamps.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div>Straighten the paper edges and put between the two wooden sticks.</div><div><strong>Leave about 1/8 sticking above the wood.</strong> Clamp the ends so the paper is tightly squished between the wooden sticks. Apply a thin layer of white glue to the top edges where you want the “binding” and spread out with your finger. Put another clamp on the middle if needed. Allow the glue to dry, then reapply 4-5 times leaving time for it to dry between coats. Take the pad of paper out and you have a tablet, or in this case a bound calendar you can tear the pages off.<br /></div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnkxgltAMxWg2GNk4Z4MNOvW4iiFFJLj4GsP1ZmnxpsY_N1gY28dFjXJjqI-GU1d63r8-midonRB3v2VSURhs5qcPXB6pBIJryGA38NRpHmPPZK_gIhqRiAbLUEUdXptdlS3-fv02HgAs/s1600-h/kit+cal.JPG"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144601146287040770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnkxgltAMxWg2GNk4Z4MNOvW4iiFFJLj4GsP1ZmnxpsY_N1gY28dFjXJjqI-GU1d63r8-midonRB3v2VSURhs5qcPXB6pBIJryGA38NRpHmPPZK_gIhqRiAbLUEUdXptdlS3-fv02HgAs/s200/kit+cal.JPG" border="0" /></span></a>These calendars were done using MSWord clipart to make a nice background, then glued the “tablet” of calendar pages on. The calendar pages were done in Excel, which took a bit of arranging and rearranging of pages to get the sizes I wanted. If you use the print preview feature you can get a good idea of the size you are making. There are sites you can download calendar pages.<br /></div><div>If the backing is not heavy enough you can glue it onto poster board. I used card stock and some fancy paper for a few of the calendars. You could also put them in a frame to give them more importance. </div><div></div><div> </div><div>If you come up with more ideas leave a comment!<br /></div></span></div>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-69184198887252497882007-12-16T08:50:00.000-06:002008-12-08T18:03:56.221-06:00DECORATOR BOOK - Part 3<span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">A decorating book can be as simple as a big brown envelope to a very elaborate, beautifully decorated book. (What a way to use your scrap booking skills!) The nice thing is that once it is done it will last you for many years. It is up to you to decide what all you are going to use it for and how involved you want to get. You may find over time your needs change, so it is ok to start out simple and after you have made your choices you can put it in a nice permanent type organizer or binder. There are companies who sell </span><a href="http://www.rushgideon.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=c_Products.viewProduct&catID=287&productID=3022&skunumber=428%2D2107&crow=1&OVRAW=Home%20Decorating&OVKEY=home%20decorating&OVMTC=standard"><strong><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">decorator files</span></strong></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"> which are great for ideas, but are rather expensive and you can put one together which will fit your needs for a lot less money.<br /><br />If you are starting from scratch developing your room you can now start by laying out your samples and start putting together what all works well for you and the look you are going for. Make a list of the things you are going to need for each room. Sit down and sort them out by rooms if you are doing more than one room. The idea is to develop your color palette before you go out and buy.<br /><br />If you already have a start on decorating your room round up samples of your décor and organize for new purchase or redo. When it is time to repaint or buy new furniture, etc. you are ready to go!<br /></span><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;"><strong>IDEAS OF WHAT TO USE: </strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs8DlM9AuNnvI1uvioT0e7Ub4T6ozAo2ju8f-9SxkWgGdV3umMof60se7ScstFL7yrIlpsFRf5ASf1JGLgqx-JKsWkmFS4owVV569XvxFT0-8afNERGIdt5-LhQPRjqljdZjvGmNwnlmI/s1600-h/portable.JPG"><strong><span style="color:#660000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144587187643328706" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs8DlM9AuNnvI1uvioT0e7Ub4T6ozAo2ju8f-9SxkWgGdV3umMof60se7ScstFL7yrIlpsFRf5ASf1JGLgqx-JKsWkmFS4owVV569XvxFT0-8afNERGIdt5-LhQPRjqljdZjvGmNwnlmI/s200/portable.JPG" border="0" /></span></strong></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">It is best to make it portable as possible because you will take it shopping with you. The easier it is to grab and go the better!<br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#660000;"><strong>Large brown envelope</strong> for each room. On the outside you can tape or glue the floor plan and other pertinent measurements. </span></span><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#660000;"><strong>Portable file box</strong> with hanging files to keep all the envelopes organized. </span></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#660000;">A tote bag works too.<br /></span></div></span><div align="left"><span style="color:#660000;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Accordion file</strong> sorted by room or have a small file for each room and use the dividers for different things as paint samples, flooring, pictures, floor plan and ideas.</span><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#660000;"><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong><span style="color:#660000;">3</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZ6DQzgKp9x_s2bvX7k7mLxLuHm3zgyvEHY5Mw9bUFWc_fOHqvdnSkCouXSQh8RdgQADgXigB0-YRRZW7usHzZXKISXhurwJ2dCQwGCDNInABY8ZqehPhGBDWEpuRKZUZSyGa-6hPm6Y/s1600-h/org+ideas.JPG"><span style="color:#660000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144588536263059682" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZ6DQzgKp9x_s2bvX7k7mLxLuHm3zgyvEHY5Mw9bUFWc_fOHqvdnSkCouXSQh8RdgQADgXigB0-YRRZW7usHzZXKISXhurwJ2dCQwGCDNInABY8ZqehPhGBDWEpuRKZUZSyGa-6hPm6Y/s200/org+ideas.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="color:#660000;"> ring binder or Day Planner or organizer </span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHRfK939_eX9nmRd3joRVja_js0LC3wLeZveTDXPGOJXMNiBVj5J9HINU2p173Tw4RlbxtuUcvHB0beeaPlgrrSi5vNH1Zyr-1o3ITX0-iNcctb9-lLL-4qp9-bxyZwIRtGMihv0fQbk/s1600-h/binder.JPG"><strong><span style="color:#660000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144587625729992914" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHRfK939_eX9nmRd3joRVja_js0LC3wLeZveTDXPGOJXMNiBVj5J9HINU2p173Tw4RlbxtuUcvHB0beeaPlgrrSi5vNH1Zyr-1o3ITX0-iNcctb9-lLL-4qp9-bxyZwIRtGMihv0fQbk/s200/binder.JPG" border="0" /></span></strong></a><span style="color:#660000;"><br />Add pocket pages and page protectors for your floor plan, pictures, or pages you feel would work well for you.<br />To hold carpet or flooring samples you can use large baggies and punch holes in the side of them. (I suggest putting a strip of duct tape on both sides of the baggie to strengthen the holes.)<br />With this style you can add graph paper and note paper to keep all kinds of info. </span></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><div align="left"><span style="color:#660000;"><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="color:#660000;"><em>HINT: If you are using the same paint, carpeting through out your home, you can have one envelope for the common items.</em><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#660000;"><strong>Rather than repeat what someone else has said, I am providing you with the sites and a few comments from my experience as a decorator/redesigner and former sales person.</strong><br /><br />About.com has great articles on decorating; how to put together a </span></span><a href="http://interiordec.about.com/od/articlesonbasics/a/a_decoratefile.htm"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>decorating book</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"> and </span><a href="http://interiordec.about.com/od/articlesonbasics/a/wheretostart.htm"><strong><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">starting the project</span></strong></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"> .<br /><br /><strong>FLOOR PLANS:</strong> It is essential to have a floor plan of the room, even a quick </span><a href="http://docs.google.com/Edit?tab=view&docid=df3mn338_24ffrhbzc6"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>rudimentary drawing</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"> is better than nothing. One of the best sites I have found to show you </span><a href="http://www.interiordezine.com/index.cfm/Essential_Design_Tools/How_to_Site_Measure"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>how to draw a floor plan</strong></span></a><span style="color:#660000;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> is from the interiordezine site</span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#660000;">, which has a lot of wonderful information.<br />There are a number of website on which you can do a nice neat floor plan online, save it for later or print it out. You will still need all your measurements to use their floor planners. So get your tape measure out and go to it!!!<br /><br /><em>Hint: If you do not have any ¼” graph paper you can easily make some in Excel by clicking the upper left corner of the spreadsheet to highlight it, then using your curser on the top move the columns to 24 pixels, then the rows to the same. Set the print margins to .25 with no headers or footers. Highlight a one page area and use the border tool to make the grid lines and print.</em><br /></span></span><div align="center"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>Samples, Swatches and Chips:</strong></span></div><br /><span style="color:#660000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144589781803575538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="207" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgap_DI4hZ9g9zUTAXiJyn_lN6Dyo5C669oCh15Z6-EVWOomJ-W1YGQLOFGYXUiuWMb0To_lJSSRT4fP_Tn-uYKM13Uflj3zuVOEpqrjxCBrBbggLqe5XjkhmUfmgTZwsUgYe4GIZwrjK4/s200/org+page.JPG" width="279" border="0" /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Above is an example of my upstairs bathroom pages. The left is a piece of the wallpaper boarder, to the left is the fabric for my window and shower curtains, a paint chip of the wall color and a small sample of the tile.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong></strong></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#660000;"><strong>PAINT SAMPLES:</strong><br /><br /><em>HINT: It is easier to pick a paint color after you have the chosen the furniture. You also need to see how the paint will coordinate with your woodwork and flooring. Your paint and fabric samples should be large enough to give a good indication of color, pattern etc. A little paint chip is not really big enough to give a good idea of the real color, so paint a sturdy piece of cardboard at least 5”X7” with your wall color. (Use two coats if necessary, to have the true color of the walls. This is essential for each room in your house book.</em><br /><br /><strong>FABRIC SAMPLES:</strong> If you are able to get fabric samples of what you have chosen. If you are buying new furniture or using furniture you already have, I would suggest you get samples of the fabric, or take a cushion or arm cover with you to pick out paint, other furniture etc.<br /><br /><strong>FURNITURE:</strong> It is great to look at on the web, but I do not want to buy anything I have not actually looked at and sat on. Fabric quality, construction and size is important. Look at the websites of your local stores and find out the brands they sell. Usually they have fabric samples to check out or will let you take home an arm cover or cushion. Use all your samples to eliminate what will not work!<br /><br />Measure your old furniture to determine what sizes will work for you. You also can make little templates of them to use on your floor plans to arrange your furniture without moving it.<br /><br /><strong>WINDOWS TREATMENTS:</strong> You will also want the measurements of your windows if you are going to do window treatments. Ready-made draperies come in standard lengths of 54", 63", and 84". A catalog, as JC Penney’s had a great section to help you do this. If you have </span></span><a href="http://www.villageworkroom.com/html/measuring_guide.html"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#660000;"><strong>window treatments</strong> </span></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">you will want to take a valance or some sort of sample of the color and texture, even a matching paint chip of the color is helpful.<br /><br /><strong>FLOORING AND WOODWORK SAMPLES:</strong> Make sure you have a flooring sample when purchasing furniture and paint etc. If you do not have a woodwork sample, use a stain brochure for an example. If you have an area rug you will be using, take a picture of it. Several of the rugs I purchased had a picture of it on the label so I saved it for the book.<br /><br /><strong>PHOTOS & PICTURES:</strong><br />When buying furniture and accessories it is good to take a few of the pictures you have collect of the look you are going for. This will give the sales people a good idea of what you are doing. This makes it much easier than trying to explain.<br /><br />Sometimes it is good to take pictures of your room from all angles or of the furniture or other furnishings you are already working with.<br /><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">You will have all the tools you need to shop. Please enlist the aide of a salesperson to help you. If you do not feel you are connecting with the salesperson….find a different one!<br /><br />Sort and put all your samples into your decorator book and get to decorating!!! If you have any questions, please leave me a comment or email me.</span></strong>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-19205289249487773422007-12-08T11:13:00.000-06:002007-12-08T13:00:05.872-06:00DECORATING BOOK Part 2<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#990000;">PREPLANNING:<br /><br />It is important to have a good idea of what style or look you want before you go out and buy anything. There are many styles and most of us use a combination of them to express our individuality. </span><a href="http://interiordec.about.com/od/decorateforbegin/a/a_whatisstyle.htm"><span style="color:#990000;">What is your style</span></a><span style="color:#990000;">? </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#990000;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><p><br /><span style="color:#990000;">Like any project… decorating takes planning. The plan will help you spend your time and money wisely. You do not want to buy a piece of furniture or paint walls a color which will look totally out of place with that you already have going or will not fit into the look you want. Even with eclectic interiors, you can ruin a look using the wrong piece or color.<br /><br />As a sales person, I was always amazed how unprepared customers were to shop. They were ready to buy, but really had no idea what they wanted and could not express what look they were going for. Sales people can be a real asset if you can give them a good idea of what you want. If you can show them a few pictures, a fabric swatch etc. they can show you what will work, and give you other suggestions and ideas. Sales people are trained to question you so they can find you what you need. If you are prepared this will speed the process! They will not have to probe you with questions and take you all over the store to get the idea of what you want.<br /><br />WHERE TO START:<br />Start by collecting pictures from decorator and women’s magazines. This link will take you to a great article about </span><a href="http://interiordec.about.com/cs/howtos/a/howtoreadmags_2.htm"><span style="color:#990000;">how to “read” a decorator magazine</span></a><span style="color:#990000;">. Learn how to get the most out of using photos and articles. </span></span></p><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><span style="color:#990000;">The internet has a wealth of <strong>photos collections</strong> for inspiration and putting together what you love. Also the sites feature the latest decorator trends. These are a few of the ones I find very helpful.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/designers_portfolio_main/"><span style="color:#990000;">HGTV</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.bhg.com/bhg/decorating/"><span style="color:#990000;">Better Homes & Gardens</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.the-creative-home.com/room-decorating-idea.html"><span style="color:#990000;">Creative Home</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://styleathome.com/StyleAtHome/client/en/HOMEGARDEN/ListNews.asp?IdSM=174"><span style="color:#990000;">Style At Home</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="color:#990000;">You might also look at some of the <strong>decorator magazine</strong> sites for pictures. Here are a few to get you started:<br /></span><a href="http://traditionalhome.com/"><span style="color:#990000;">Traditional Home </span></a></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.housebeautiful.com/"><span style="color:#990000;">House Beautiful</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"><a href="http://www.purecontemporary.com/index.jsp"><span style="color:#990000;">Pure Contemporary</span> </a></span><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.decorandstyle.com/home/"><span style="color:#990000;">Décor & Style</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.countryliving.com/"><span style="color:#990000;">Country Living</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><span style="color:#990000;"><em>HINT: When I start a project I collect pictures from websites and put them into a file on my hard drive. Later I go thru them and create PowerPoint presentations with pictures and notes. (You could also put them in a Word document with notes.) Personally I like PowerPoint because then I can flip thru them and they are easy rearrange and share with others. Later you can print them for your decorator book and shopping. Some great sites have photo collections of rooms and are invaluable because they are very up to date.<br /></em><br /><strong>JUST WINDOW SHOPPING:</strong> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#990000;">Take notes of what you have seen where and if you pick up samples put a note on them what it is: the collection, color name or number and price…and of course where you saw it. After looking for awhile it is all going to run together in your head.<br /><br />To start you might stop in the <strong>paint departments or stores</strong> for paint chips, wall paper and look over the displays of faux finishes, and the sheen of the paints. Collecting paint chips is a great way to match up more than paint. I have a very unusual finish on my bedroom set, so I have found a paint chip that matches the color, although not the exact finish. This furniture limits the colors I can use in my bedroom…but I absolutely have loved it for 35 years!<br /><br />You can also find great ideas on room colors and trends on the <strong>paint manufactures</strong> sites:<br /></span><a href="http://www.benjaminmoore.ca/home.aspx?userLanguage=en"><span style="color:#990000;">Benjamin Moore</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.sherwin-williams.com/do_it_yourself/"><span style="color:#990000;">Sherwin Williams</span></a><span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><span style="color:#990000;"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.glidden.com/home/index.jsp"><span style="color:#990000;">Glidden</span></a> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#990000;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#990000;"><em>HINT:Most have areas you can play with rooms and change the color online, which is fun</em> <em>and entertaining. Also some paint manufactures have small jars of samples for you to purchase. Then you can actually paint a poster board and try it up on your walls before you paint.</em><br /><br />Of course there is Wal Mart, which I like, but not everyone does. Then there is Sears and a multitude of local paint stores. I guess my favorite paint has been </span><a href="http://www.diamondvogel.com/HomOwnr.html"><span style="color:#990000;">Diamond Vogel </span></a></span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">, but it is a bit spendy and not available every where.<br /><br />Check out <strong>furniture stores</strong> to see what is available and what stores have the styles you like. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#990000;"><em>HINT: You might even take pictures of the furniture using your digital camera or cell phone camera. (I love technology!!!) Please keep in mind furniture changes, just like clothing, so if you think you can come back a year later to buy, you will be disappointed. In other words….go thru the stores that you think might have what you will be looking for.<br /></em><br /><strong>Home improvement stores</strong> you can pick up samples of flooring: Carpet, tile, vinyl, laminate or wood. Say you are out looking at woodwork pick up brochures of stains, this will come in handy later when you are looking at wood furniture etc. Don’t forget to check out the lighting fixture or bathroom hardware areas if you are going to need them. This will also give you an idea of what metal finishes are popular. </span></span></p><p><span style="color:#990000;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><em>HINT: While looking at flooring or counter tops etc.get a small sample of the material. Use an adhesive label on the back of it with the store name, what it is called and color number etc. Do not trust you will remember all of the info, as it is humanly impossible.</em><br /><br />Save <strong>sale flyers</strong> from home improvement and furniture stores as a reference of what is available and the cost.<br /><br />Most larger cities have <strong>home shows</strong> several times a year and hold <strong>open houses</strong> on new construction. These events can give you great ideas and a way to collect brochures, and learn about the resources available in your area.<br /><br />Perhaps you have seen a sumptuous fabric in a <strong>fabric store</strong>, you might buy a swatch. Also furniture stores have fabric samples you can check out and look at them at home in your lighting. Sometimes it will be a great inspiration for the color pallet you want.<br /><br /><strong>Catalogs</strong> are a wonderful place to get ideas of window treatments and other soft furnishings, as bedding, throws, pillows and rugs. Invest in a JCPenny’s catalog, as you can use the information about window treatment sizes etc. for your curtain and drapery needs.<br /><br />Well this should get you started on your preplanning phase. If you have questions please email me or leave a comment.<br /><br />Part 3 will be on what to do with all that STUFF you have collected and what else you might want to do to organize and prepare for your project.</span><br /></span></p>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-75918565753406264082007-12-02T10:54:00.000-06:002007-12-02T17:16:28.618-06:00A DECORATING BOOK - Part 1<p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong><span style="font-family:courier new;color:#333333;">This is kind of a pet project for me and a rather long one, so it will be presented in parts. Decorating is my passion. I want to share with you some of my ideas, information and experience.</span> </strong></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">What is a home decorating book?</span></strong><br />Basically it is a collection which will help you determine what will fit into your home decor. It gives you the necessary tools to make good decisions when decorating and buying things for your home. Many of the purchases you will live with a long time so you do not want to make costly mistakes.<br /><br /><strong>Making a home book does take time and organization, but it will make your life a lot easier for many years.</strong> If you are building a new residence, redecorating, repainting, buying furniture or just adding accessories you will appreciate the convenience of having a decorating book.<br /><br /><strong>Why do you need a home decorating book?</strong><br />Having worked in a fabric store, a drapery department and several furniture stores, I have seen a need for people to get organized so they have the information to make good buying decisions, save money, time and energy. This is especially true if you are design challenged and want the help of a professional sales person or friends.<br /><br /><strong>These are true life examples, </strong>which happen more often than you may think.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">Having room measurements is a great help, as is the measurement of your old sofa etc. as it aids you to buy the right furniture. Think of how disheartening it would be to buy a new sofa and find the delivery people can not get it into your home; the doors are too small, or there is not enough clearance to take it up a flight of stairs or there is one too many corners to go around. (Furniture seems to looks “smaller” in a furniture store than in your home due to the large area it is setting in.)<br /><br />You get the new furniture delivered and find there is very little room to walk or it looks out of place because it is too small or large for the space or does not look right with what you already have. I had a couple buy a sofa, loveseat, large chair and ottoman, only to find the room did not have room to walk. The loveseat and ottoman were returned. If they had taken the time to draw a floor plan, I could have helped them see how the furniture would fit. Even sketching or taking measurements of where the windows, heat vents and plug-ins are, you can save yourself a lot of grief. Having the measurements of how high the windows are from the floor can be helpful, as then you know how high a sofa can be etc.<br /><br />When people would come in to buy window treatments they would say they wanted curtains to fit a “standard” size window. Yes, windows do come in a variety of sizes and shapes, so it is imperative to know the correct size and how much wall space you have on each side for the draw of the drapery, also the correct width of the window to know how many panels you will need. It is also good to know what length you want. Do you want them to go to the edge of the window sill, to the floor or from the ceiling to the floor? Draperies and curtains do come in standard sizes, but you need to know how many panels you need and the lenght to give you the look you want.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><br />Another instance is people think they have a good idea of what color something is that they want to match or coordinate. A couple wanted to purchase a sofa in a neutral “light brown” and a chair in a coordinating print. They stated they had new carpeting that was beige and the walls were painted off white so any light brown tones would work. I asked them if they had brought a carpet sample in. They replied they had not, but KNEW (in their mind’s eye) the color of the carpeting.<br /><br />Well the human eye can distinguish about 10 million colors, so do not think there is anyone will actually remember a specific color. Also there are a number of factors which affect colors, as other colors in the room and the natural and electrical lighting. The couple picked out a sofa and wanted to purchase it on the spot. I insisted they take a few samples of fabric home and see how it looked with the paint and carpeting. Very begrudgingly they did and the next day they came in and thanked me for making them take samples home, as the fabric looked terrible. They still did not bring in a carpet sample, but took a number of samples home until they found just the right shade. They could have saved themselves a number of trips if they had a carpet and paint sample with them, as we could have eliminated a number of samples before they took them home. (A good sales person, who has your interest at heart, will ask you a lot of questions and make suggestions based on the info you have given them... the others are just there to sell you something.)<br /><br />To buy flooring, paint or wall paper you need to have the dimensions of the room to determine how much you will need.<br /><br />Different types and colors of paints may cover more or less square footage. An example is if you are going to cover a light colored wall with a deep color you might want to buy a pre-colored primer to use before then you will not have to use as many coats of paint. Carpeting comes in 12 and 15 ft rolls and is sold by the square foot or square yard so you will need to have the square footage of the room to see if you will need several pieces and where the seam might be placed.<br /><br />For most of us decorating is an ongoing process and we can not afford to buy everything at once. Most of us decorate in stages and add just the "right pieces" as we find them. Some of us do not have a decorating gene, so you need the decorating info to take with you for assistance. This all will save you alot of grief and from making a costly mistake you might have to live with a number of years.<br /><br /><strong>Ok, so I have I convinced you that you need to have your very own decorating book?</strong><br /></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;">In the next part I will give you examples of what you need to put in YOUR book and why, then ways you can put your information together to use. </span></p>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1299400771086531098.post-78047328655917483722007-11-27T20:18:00.000-06:002007-11-27T20:34:08.752-06:00In Praise of Rags<span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;">Sorry I have been so lax on posting lately. Seems like I have not had alot of creative energy for writing, but have been busy cooking, cleaning and getting a few Christmas gift ideas together. With all the cleaning, I started thinking about how I love my rags. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"><br />Some of my friends have said I have the nicest rags in town. Guess that is my claim to fame, albeit not a very distinguished one.<br /><br />I am from the era before <a href="http://www.cronigsmarket.com/community/paper_towels.cfm">paper towels</a>. When did paper towels show up in kitchens and cleaning buckets anyway? When I was growing up we did not have paper towels because we had hand towels to wipe our wet hands on, dishtowels for drying dishes and rags under the sink for cleaning and absorbing spills. They were changed and washed regularly. Yes paper towels are a convenience, although… one I have never really gotten into using, except for an occasional bit of cat barf or dog poo.<br /><br />One rag will do the job of 4-5 paper towels. If you do not have old towels or clothes to <a href="http://www.thefrugallife.com/towels.htm">make into rags</a> you can buy a pack of cheap wash cloths or shop rags and they will last you for years. In my way of thinking paper towels are an unnecessary item and extra cost. It is like throwing away money. I have heard you can shred or wet them and use them in compost, but have not tried it.<br /><br />My rags are mostly from terrycloth towels which no longer matched my décor or became too worn and tattered for daily use. They were cut to a manageable size, which means small enough to wring out, but large enough to do the job. The edges are zigzagged on my sewing machine. Over the years I found that if they were edge stitched they lasted a lot longer. Then I did not have to untangle them when the edges became frayed and wound their raveled strings to other pieces of laundry. Then they have a new home in my rag hamper in the laundry room or under the bathroom and kitchen sinks.<br /><br />I have rags that are used exclusively for certain purposes, like those I will use with furniture polish, which are kept in a metal coffee can, as they could be flammable. Floor cleaning or bathroom cleaning rags are only used for those purposes. Then they are washed with bleach or soaked in bleach before washing. The rags that are very worn out are used to polish shoes, clean the dogs muddy feet or clean up nasty messes and then are thrown out. My old cotton dishtowels which get stained and grubby looking are saved and used when I clean mirrors, glass top tables and do windows.<br /><br />So what does one do with a dirty rag? Rinse them out, let them dry and wash them with other grubby laundry. The ones that are used for heavy duty cleaning are washed with rugs. Like when we used cloth diapers you can put them in a bucket of water with soap and a bit of bleach until you are ready to wash them.<br /><br />I have never kept sponges, as I feel they breed germs, although I have read you can microwave them a few minutes and kill anything living in them. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#990000;"><br />In my kitchen I have a terry cloth hand towel for wiping my wet hands on and a dishtowel for drying my dishes, as I do not have a dishwasher. (Usually the dishes are not wiped but air dried.) They are changed every few days and all washed once a week. It is still possible to find the nice cotton muslin dishtowels at Wal-Mart. Gone are the days when the young ladies embroidered the days of the week on the dishtowels for their hope chests.<br /><br />When walking down the cleaning supply aisles in the stores I am amazed what people pay for all the new cleaning gadgets and stuff, when a rag would work solve the cleaning problem. They are fun to try, but I always go back to my old rags and not continue to buy and buy. </span><br /></span>Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08069609646810944273noreply@blogger.com1