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Friday, June 9, 2017

MORE GOOD TIPS

Mona Lisa called and said, "Hey, we haven't seen any GOOD TIPS lately."  Just for you, ML; this was published in 2011:

1. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove; set heat to medium-low and heat until warm. This keeps the crust crispy; no soggy micro pizza. I saw this on a cooking channel and it really works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag and seal. Mash until they are broken. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, and keep mashing, mixing thoroughly. Cut the tip of the bag, squeeze mixture into egg white. Just throw bag away when finished.

3. Expanding Frosting

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

4. Reheating refrigerated bread

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

5. Newspaper weeds away

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

6. Broken Glass

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

7. No More Mosquitoes

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

8. Squirrel Away

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

9. Flexible vacuum

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

10. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. The same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and the static is gone.

11. Measuring Cups

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

12. Foggy Windshield

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

13. Reopening envelope

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

14. Conditioner

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

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies

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

16. Get Rid of Ants

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

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

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

Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush; I had it done in 30 seconds. When I rinsed it the water ran right through the screen. There wasn't any puddling at all. That repairman knew what he was talking about.

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