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.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

29. A Very Simple Pleasure

 This morning when our dear landlady, Pat, was painting our new dining room, I was teasing her and telling her the room was beautimous.  We laughed at how silly the made up word was.  It's kind of fun to make up words.  It reminded me of a word that I had heard on CNN when Bob was in surgery.  A newscaster referred to people and their "religiosity."  Now, I have to admit that rationally I was pretty sure it must be a word, but my skeptical side was saying that maybe she was like me and liked to sneak in a silly word now and then.  More to see if anyone is really paying attention.  I live with a television remote that pretends to be my husband and I have reason to wonder if he is paying attention.

Pat hadn't heard that word either, so I went to the office and grabbed our fabulous faux leather bound L-Z, 3 column per page, comprehensive World Book Dictionary that we purchased for a mere $7 at our fabulous library book store and set about looking up the word "religiosity."  I opened in the middle of the "r's" and out floated a beautiful dried red rose petal.  Lo and behold, on that page was the definition for the word "rose."
Some sentimental person had pressed the red rose petal in the dictionary on that very page.  I wonder who?  Of course, we will never know.  It is a little sad, really.  I'm sorry that they weren't here to enjoy hearing the small gasp that I uttered, know the pleasure I felt as it drifted to the floor.  There should have been a little note with the petal saying, "Are you surprised?"  But I guess they knew in advance that I would be.


That is the way life should be lived, never knowing when the next unexpected pleasure will come our way.  We have to pay attention though.  We can't let ourselves get so wrapped up in the hectic way that life can become that we miss tiny little things like a dried rose petal falling unexpectedly from between the pages  of a 25 year old dictionary.  It had laid there in wait for someone to open just the right page.  I'm so glad that someone was me.

P.S.  religiosity:1. the quality of being religious, especially of being extremely or excessively religious. 
                       2. an affectation of this.


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