Tips For Homemakers

I noticed the water running into my washing machine was taking longer and longer to fill the tub.  We recently had a problem with  our well and the water had been off a few hours.  If that happens, you always run water thru your water lines to let the minerals and dirt or whatever run out before you drink the water.  Well, I didn’t think about that same residue building up in the filter of my washing machine.

I pulled the washing machine out, unhooked the rubber tubing to the back where the water runs into the machine and sure enough, there was a filter.  Oh my gosh at the gunk.  I used a q-tip to remove some of it.  I also squirted water in the hole and held a bowl under the area for the dirt to drip out.

My washing machine fills quickly now and my laundry time has been cut in half.  I should have done that years ago.  I kept thinking something was wrong but I assumed my machine was dying on me.  lol

I am not a doctor or nurse.  But I know my body and at 61, it has definitely slowed down.  I am not as active and I have never been a person who eats all the things on that food pyramid.

I have had pain in my lower abdomen for years on and off.  I have been to my doctors office many times with no solution.  I knew I was often constipated and figured that had to be part of the tummy problems.

My niece, Kathi, had given her son  probiotics (7 years old, with loose stools) for his stomach problems and kept telling me what a difference it has made for him.  Then I heard a doctor on PBS talking about probiotics and the benefits.

Well, I am one of those people that believes nothing is a coincidence.   So I listened carefully as she explained how our bodies stop producing as much “friendly bacteria” as we get past 50 years of age.  Also, antibiotics that kill off the bad bacteria also kill off the friendly bacteria (at any age).   She said a lot more but I don’t want to misquote her or try to explain things I am not qualified to explain.  I wish I could remember her name.

Anyway, this doctor said get a probiotic that has at least 10 strains of bacteria, the ones that start with B’s and L’s.  She also said it should have at least 15 billion cells and be enteric (means it won’t be destroyed in the stomach by the acids but will actually get to the gut to do it’s job).

I went online and bought a 16 strain, 32 billion cell, vegetarian enteric probiotic and started taking two a day.  It has been well over month, more like six weeks, and my stomach problems no longer exist and I have not been constipated one time.  In fact, my digestive tract is working so well that I seldom ever miss a day.

I know that is rather personal information but gosh, getting older is tough.  The aches and pains, the medical problems that creep up on you (I will be having a hip replacement in the near future), and just not feeling the strength to do all that you want to do.   I just wanted to share with anyone that wants to listen, probiotics has made my life better.  I actually think I have more energy.

This is my testimony and I am not a doctor.  I did not see anywhere any precautions or warnings about taking probiotics.  I saw no side effects written anywhere either.   I hate taking pills and I have never been good at making myself even take vitamins.  But, I NEVER forget to take the probiotics because it has made a dramatic change in my life.  One less pain in my life…it rocks.

I was throwing a sock away that had a small hole in it.  I put it on my hand and thought about sock puppets.  Always thinking of something to do with throwaways.  But my crafty days are long gone and my cleaning days will always exist.

I buy socks in packs of 6, I think.  So the second sock with no hole goes back into the sock drawer to match up with another sock that will someday also have a hole.   I could just sew up the hole but depending on where it is, it can be uncomfortable.  Not much of a seamstress anyway.

So I took the clean sock with a hole and put it on my hand and sprayed a little furniture polish and cleaned my living room furniture.  It worked great.   Now you have the option to toss it in the trash or rewash it and use it again.

I have a little bucket under the kitchen sink that I keep old stained t-shirts that I have cut into pieces for cleaning.   So now I throw my old socks in there, too.   Works for me.

I was talking with my sister yesterday and she and her fiancee are starting a new diet.  It is a calorie counting diet.  While we were talking, I realized how many tips I have for dieters.  Let me point out that I am still overweight myself but I have the knowledge how to lose weight.  Just not the desire or the initiative, I guess.

So a couple of tips that you might or might not know:

First, put a time line for your dieting.  Anyone can diet for two weeks but when you say I am going to diet until I lose 10 pounds, it is too indefinite.

Second, if I wanted to lose 20 pounds or more, I found dieting Monday thru Friday and then giving myself a break on the weekend encouraged me to be better during the week.  So on the weekend, I might decide to have a slice of toast with my breakfast.  Maybe I would have a baked potato with a small amount of butter at dinner.   Or maybe you crave chocolate.   Have a piece or two only.  Feeling deprived only makes you want to quit the diet sooner.

Thirdly, I have found if I am craving something, I will eat all kinds of other foods trying to get rid of the craving and end up eating way too much.  So if I am craving potato chips, I just eat a couple.  Or if it is chocolate, I eat two Hershey kisses.  That will take care of the craving and I will stop eating everything I see that I think will satisfy my craving.  I also heard on Dr. Oz that niacin helps with cravings.  I haven’t tried that though.   I bought some but haven’t tried it.  I have awful sugar cravings.  My husband says I am a sugar addict.  I am sure I am.

Fourth, I think the buddy system definitely helps.  If you don’t have someone to diet with, at least have someone who is willing to be your shoulder to cry on or someone to confide in.  Look for a cheerleader type personality, not a critical person.

Fifth, before starting your diet, jump start your diet by cutting out or reducing your bread or pastries or sodas or sugars.   If you are needing to lose a few pounds, you can do it with this step alone.  My nephew lost 10 lbs in a month by just cutting out sodas.

Sixth, if you don’t have the crap in your house, you won’t eat it.  So be a good shopper and don’t bring things into the house that will tempt you.

Seventh, take a walk when you feel like you are starving and need to eat something.  Take a bottle of water with you and just get your mind on something other than eating.   A lot of time, you are just thirsty instead of hungry.

Weight Watchers helped me lose twenty pounds in about 3 months.  I used the point system and I could eat anything I wanted as long as I didn’t go over the  points I was allowed each day.  The points are figured based on fiber and fat, if I remember correctly.  It is a math equation so you can figure it out at the grocery store or they have a hand held chart that is small and can be cared in your purse.

Of course, the problem with any diet is that you have to continue your diet in order to keep the weight off.  That’s why eating really healthy during the week and then giving yourself some leeway on the weekend could help you keep the weight off.

And of course, your age really makes a difference in trying to lose weight.  Your metabolism has slowed down but so has your activity level.  And for me, food tastes better than ever.  I would rather eat my cooking than eating out.

Well, I hope some of this helps you if you are starting the new year off with a weight loss resolution.

My son, Brian gave me a new blog for my birthday in November.   I kept saying I wanted to write about my experiences with my chickens.   I am so excited.   I have already started writing on the blog.  I still don’t have the format of the blog right yet.  My daughter, Bonnie is suppose to help me with that and now that Christmas is over, she can probably get on it. I want some chickens and barns on the background.  I will definitely have to get my digital camera skills working.   I will be staying with my daughter, Amber after the birth of her first child in January so she can help me with that between changing diapers.  lol

I wash and reuse my peanut butter jars and mayo jars that are plastic.  I put them in my husband’s work area in the shed.  They hold nails and screws and other loose small items.

Instead of just sitting the jar on a shelf in his work area, I cut some 2×4s that fit between the studs in the shed.  Before attaching the boards to the studs, I attached the lids to the bottom of the 2×4s.   I put a screw in the middle of the lid (on the inside of the lid).  Once I put two or three on the board, I then screwed/nailed the 2×4 between the studs.  So you are basically creating shelves but the jars hang from the bottom of the shelves.    Leave enough space between the shelves so you can screw and unscrew the bottom part of the jar.

Also, the mayo jars are great for storing food that you might want to refrigerate or even take to someone’s house or for packing in your lunch.   I save leftover soups and chili in the containers.

Picture this.  A large dog food bowl sitting inside a larger bowl–actually, the larger bowl is an aluminum turkey pan.  The water is put into the aluminum turkey pan about two inches deep.

I told you previously how I made a moat around my dog’s food dish and put dish detergent in the water of the outer bowl to keep the ants out of the food.  Well, the problem with that was the dish detergent was slippery and the dish kept moving to the side of the outer pan and then the ants could crawl into the dog food.  I tried adding glass cleaner to the water instead.  I have done this now for over a week and no ants and no sliding bowls.

I am forever getting ant bites.  On two acres, it would be difficult and costly to kill all the ants.  I have found Amdro works great for the ant piles.

I was lying in bed the other night and I had one ant bite on my thumb knuckle that was hurting/stinging.  I wasn’t even sure it was an ant bite but it was bothering me so much, I couldn’t fall asleep.

I went to the medicine cabinet and saw some pain relief, anesthetic gel and I figured if it can numb a tooth ache, it was worth a try.  I applied a small film on the knuckle and it only took a few minutes and it felt better.  I don’t know if it actually numbs it, but I did fall asleep right away.

Now I am not a doctor and I am not recommending doing this for everything but it did work for me.  There was no open wound.  And if you can put it in your mouth, it seemed safe enough.   I guess when you are desperate, you seek out unconventional ways to relieve your pain.  I just try to be resourceful of the things I have in my house.

Because I went to NC for two months, just as our two chicks were hatched by the momma hen, I missed out on watching them grow.   So, I was eager to start hatching chicks in the incubator.  The two chicks have grown into beautiful chickens with unique coloring.

My first experience with the incubator wasn’t very good.  I only got two chicks out of about 20 eggs.   I didn’t have a hygrometer to measure humidity so I think that was the problem.

Our second incubation was much better.  I am only hatching out the green/blue colored eggs.  So far, we have 8 chicks.  Also, our Silkie hen was sitting on eggs and she is the proud mother of six.  I certainly have learned how protective mother hens are with their chicks.  Fortunately, the pecks don’t really hurt but she is so fast and she surprises me.

We have the mother hen and her six chicks in a child’s play pen with a heat lamp on them in our shed.  We put down some newspaper and then covered it with straw.  We put a tile in the corner to sit the water on and then put the feeder in there for the chicks and a bowl of scratch for the mom.  The weather has been cold here in Florida and the babies and mom are safe from predators and the cold.

We also purchased four Silkies (hopefully, hens) at our local Swap Meet held at a feed store.  I saw a chicken hawk in the trees near our house yesterday and I quickly locked the Silkies in their secure 4 ft by 8 ft chain link cage.  It is also 4 ft high so they have lots of room.  They are so small and fluffy.  I can’t imagine one of them weighing more than two pounds.  Easy prey for a hawk.

We have also built some chicken houses which cost about 125 dollars each and we are very pleased with them.  They are 4×4x8.  We used the deck concrete blocks as the base so the houses could be moved.  Also, the concrete blocks allowed there to be room on the bottom so the chickens could quickly run into the house from any side if there was danger from hawks.  I will take pictures and also provide info on building on another post.  Our first house only took maybe three hours to build and the second house only two hours.  I  painted the outside of one yesterday in our 72 degree weather.

There are Swap Meets around here where you can buy and sell your animals and plants.  Kind of like a flea market but it is mostly about animals.  It is a good outlet for selling your excess animals but also meet some really nice people.

Selling/buying on Craigslist under Farm and Garden is also an option.   I have purchased chickens from Craigslist and have been very satisfied. The great thing about buying from Craigslist is you go to the home and you see the way the chickens were raised.  You can see if it looks like a healthy situation so you don’t bring sick chickens home to infect your flock.  One time, when I was looking to purchase chickens, we encountered a snake on the cage of the chickens.  It wasn’t a poisonous snake so I wasn’t afraid but the seller screamed for her husband to come help.

Also, you can get ideas from the sellers regarding housing needs for your chickens.  Every one has a different set up for their chicken yards.  Mine are free range but they are in a large fenced-in area to separate the types of chickens.  If I weren’t hatching eggs, it wouldn’t really matter if they were all together.

My newest trick I have learned is how to determine the sex of the chicks.  I have learned so much from the backyardchicken.com website.  The forum with everyone giving their suggestions/comments has been great.  People have asked the exact questions I wanted answered.   I love the pictures of the chicks and chickens, too.  Who knew there were so many breeds?

Well, it’s time to feed the baby chicks and chickens and dogs.   It is suppose to rain most of the day so no painting the chicken houses today.

I hope everyone has a hobby that keeps them as fulfilled as my chicken addiction does me.  I spend a lot of time designing chicken yards and the housing.   I will end up making some money from all of this but I doubt seriously if I make any profit but it will help pay the feed bill.  lol

Retirement is around the corner for my husband and we will be spending our days gardening, raising chickens and running the roads.  It is a good thing chickens don’t need a lot of care and we can be gone for a couple days at a time.  Good neighbors help, too.

My mom was recuperating from her hip surgery so I was washing and drying her clothes.  I brought the clothes to her to fold to give her something to do.  She noticed one of her “good” towels was in the laundry pile for her to fold.  Evidently, I wasn’t suppose to use that one.  Oops.

She looked kind of teary-eyed when she said how silly it was that she didn’t let even her now deceased husband use the new towels.   She said she was wondering what she was saving the towels for anyway.

It made me think how many times we “save” some things for special occasions.   Like only using the good dishes when there is company.   Or only sitting at the dining room table when you have company; if not you eat in the kitchen.

You are not promised a tomorrow.  Better to enjoy life now and not have those little regrets later.