Use nine: Try softening brushes that are hardened with old, dried-in paint by boiling them in vinegar and let them stand for one hour. Then heat the vinegar and brushes come to a gentle boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Rinse well, working the softened paint out of the bristles. For extremely heavy paint encrustations, you may need to repeat the process...or head to the hardware store.

Use ten: A little vinegar and salt added to the water you wash leafy green vegetables will float out bugs and kill germs.

Use eleven: Soak or simmer stuck-on food in 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of vinegar. The food will soften and lift off in a few minutes.

Use twelve: Clean and freshen the garbage disposal by running a tray of ice cubes, with 1/2 cup of vinegar poured over them, through it once a week.

Use thirteen: In a pinch, you can use equal parts of lemon juice and vinegar to clean brass and copper. On difficult areas add a little salt to the mix for some abrasive action.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

12. Under the Covers...of Books, That Is.

It is absolutely pouring down here, the second day straight.  Four deer are foraging down in the meadow and even they are under the large oak tree near the road.  I never tire of watching them and we've come to terms with them when it comes to our yard.  I don't plant what they like to eat.  I bought a lot of expensive "Deer Chow" when we first moved out here.  Sometimes I'm a slow learner, but I'm all grown up now and have learned to save myself the heartache and buy the things that don't suit their palate.  All Lavenders, Daisies, Gazanias, Rosemary, Sage: mostly things that have a strong odor.  Gazanias seem to be my favorite, although Lavender comes in so many varieties, as well.  I had no idea that Lavender has so many therapeutic and medicinal properties.  Don't you just love Wikipedia?  If you haven't checked it out, please do!  http://en.wikipedia.org




Note:
Gazanias come is so many colors and are
drought resistant.  Warning! The drought
resistant part only comes into play when
the plant is ESTABLISHED!  Silly me!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gazania



When I was in the 7th grade, my home economics teacher sold encyclopedias during the summer.  My parents bought me a set of Collier's Encyclopedias.  OMG!  That was one of the best gifts they ever bought me!  I spent hours just reading them.  The sheer pleasure of grabbing a volume and letting it open where it may was absolutely my magic carpet.  Remember when we checked out "Canterbury Tales" from the school library and let it open to the "Miller's Tale?"  You had only to stand it on the spine and let go!  It opened, as if by magic, to the right page!  OOOOH, how racy!  I doubt if any one at Fremont Junior High School ever read any other pages in that book!  I know I didn't.

Bob says I was a "Goodie Two Shoes" in school. (1) I suppose perhaps I was, but I loved school and everything about school.  I could, however, read well, so school was easy for me.  Bob loved school, too, but reading, not so much.  When we married, I discovered that his reading ability left a lot to be desired.  Why, he hadn't even read the classics.  I couldn't imagine not reading Huckleberry Finn or Uncle Tom's Cabin.! The list goes on and on.  So we started in determined to conquer the deficit.  Now, don't for one minute think that just because someone is a slow reader that they aren't smart.  Bob can recall minute details on almost any subject, pulling the information from the computer in his brain at any given moment.  If I ask him a question and he doesn't know the answer, I'm stunned.  His memory is unbelievable.  He says that it's because he knew if he heard something he had to remember it because he knew he couldn't look it up again.

So began the "hour of the bath."  We made a starting list and began systematically reading them, usually while we soaked in the bath tub in the evenings and in bed just before lights out.  It is a wonderful relationship builder and has developed a bond between us that will last forever.  He one time told me "Thank you for opening doors for me that I would never have been able to open for myself."  What more could one ask for?  It has extended to me reading while we drive, even just the seventeen miles to town.  It doesn't make me car sick and time just flies.  My brother-in-law now reads to my sister, not because she can't read well, but because it is truly one of life's greatest pleasures.

So think about it, do yourself a favor and learn the pure joy of reading to someone you love.  Imagine  finding out together why Huck and Tom took the dead cat to the cemetery at midnight, if Jamie goes to the future with Claire in Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series or if there really was a "Dry Bean Saloon" in Texas. (Lonesome Dove)  Who knew we had so much in common. So take a pal and go on a treasure hunt, find out what's beneath  the next book cover.  Give someone the gift of time and story, I guarantee it is time well spent.

(1)"Goody Two-Shoes" redirects here.
The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes is a children's story by an anonymous author, published in London in 1765. The story popularized the phrase "goody two-shoes", often used to describe an excessively or annoyingly virtuous person. In more recent years, the phrase has developed a more negative connotation, implying that the virtuousness of a "goody two-shoes" is insincere.[1]








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