Tips For Homemakers

My husband pulled the drawstring out of his pajama bottoms accidentally and was busy apologizing for ruining his pajamas. Little did he know, I can repair that problem. Once I fixed it, he immediately said I should list it in my blog.

I take a safety pin and hook it to the end of the string and push it through the opening on one side. Be careful to push at the bottom of the pin, not on the side. If you push on the side, you take the chance of making the pin open up while in the tract which presents a bigger problem.

Be sure and push it an inch or so and then pull the material back. You will see what I mean when you start doing it. The material is gathered so you are stretching the material while holding on to the pin. It is best not to let go of the pin.

Then once you get all the way through, pull the drawstring out and remove the pin. Then I tie a knot on each end of the drawstring so it is too fat to be pulled through again.

I used a $6.99 bottle of gel drain cleaner and still had a clogged sink. I went online and found a solution with items most people have in their home.

You take 1/4 cup of baking soda and pour down your drain. Mine didn’t want to go down since the edge of the drain was wet. I added a small amount of water to flush it down. Then I added a cup of vinegar. Boy, did it bubble!!!!! I used the plunger, too.

I did it a couple of times since it was really clogged up.

It worked better than the expensive drain cleaner.

Our dogs are outside dogs but I cannot help but feel sorry for them when they are in the driving rain. They have shelter but it seems two of them don’t want to get into the same shelter even though one shelter is 4×8 foot. Go figure.

A quick solution is to put up a (PUP, ha ha) tent. It was $17.96 for a 5×6 foot floor area. Two of the three dogs got into it immediately and took an afternoon nap. My third dog is older and just wants to be left alone so I am sure she will end up in the 4×8 ft shelter.

Even if you don’t want to use the tent as any type of permanent solution, it is great to have if you just need some shade when the trees lose their leaves.

Do you hate flipping through your coupons at the grocery store? I sure do.

I found if I use an envelope to make my grocery list on and then put all my coupons in the envelope, it works great. By looking through my coupons at home, it reminds me that I need some items, too.

It really helps to only clip coupons that you use on a regular basis or if you have been wanting to try an item.

I occasionally make pancakes from scratch and they are very good but not that much better than the “complete” pancake mixes you buy.

My mom makes really good pancakes and part of the reason is because she adds vanilla flavoring and melted butter to the “complete” mix. I make enough for two people and I usually add a teaspoon of vanilla and maybe two teaspoons of melted butter. Then I also add some wheat bran. You can buy that in the cereal aisle. Just add a couple tablespoons of it though.

You will find you won’t get hungry so fast when you add the wheat bran. The butter and vanilla flavoring really add to the flavor. yummy

I recently visited NC and my sister, Sandy had some pecan trees growing in her yard in unwanted areas. I think the squirrels are the culprits or just a strong wind blowing the pecans everywhere. Well, I hate to see a tree go to waste so I asked her if I could dig them up.

I borrowed my sister, Wanda’s red rectangular bucket without realizing it is her husband’s car washing bucket. Sorry, Mike. I will return it in August.

Make sure you dig the tree up carefully without damaging the roots. It is always best to try to get enough dirt around the tree’s roots that they are undisturbed but in my case, I decided to try something different since the dirt was unwanted in my two week old car.

I filled the bucket half way with water and then dropped the small trees into the bucket roots first, of course. My trip is 10 hours so I knew I wouldn’t be planting the trees until the following day.

One of the trees is producing new leaves so I know at least one will make it out of the six I brought. Three of them had damaged roots so I suspect they probably won’t make it but I planted them anyway.

I also noticed plenty more crepe myrtles growing along the ditch. Some of them are only a foot tall with blooms on them. My husband has taken a couple days off and he will be digging in the ditches, that’s for sure. With me, of course. lol

My husband told me he found another use for Windex. He has one of those watches with an elastic band that you just slip on your wrist. After awhile the band starts looking dull and I am sure there is some dead skin getting in there. He sprayed the Windex on the band and wiped it clean. It was so much easier than soaking it and then scrubbing it with a toothbrush.

I was at the grocery store the other day and I was delighted to see some beautiful peaches in the produce isle. But much to my dismay, they were hard. Needless to say, I was talking to a stranger, as usual, telling her how I wanted some soft peaches. She told me that if I put the peaches in a brown paper bag and let them sit for 24 hours, they would become soft. Now, I didn’t try this yet because I did manage to find four soft peaches that day so I haven’t tried it yet, but I wanted to pass this idea on to you guys.

August 10…I have tried this a couple times now.  It definitely works.

I remember when I decided to add chickens to our lives. I had been talking about it for years. I knew I had some things to do before I bought the chickens (food, equipment and fencing supplies). I actually bought the chicks on the spur of the moment one day while I was at the Tractor Supply store. I have now had chickens for 8 years.

I bought some food for the chicks, a feeder, a heat lamp and a waterer. I knew I had a couple weeks before I could put the chicks into a fenced-in area so I would have time to build something.

I put the baby chicks into a tall cardboard box with lots of newspaper in the bottom. As the chicks dirtied the newspaper, I could remove a layer at a time. In about a week, you will need some kind of fencing to cover the top of the box. The chicks will be getting out, if you don’t.

I found a spot in our storage building to put the box and hooked up the heat lamp. You need to be really careful with newspaper, a cardboard box and a heat lamp. I worried that it would catch on fire. I used a regular light bulb instead of one of those infrared lights. It was April so it was pretty warm already.

The chicks grew quickly and after a few weeks, I knew they needed more room. The odor was not pleasant even though I changed the paper every day. The chick’s feeder is a long metal feeder with holes. They would crap on it. Then the water had to be changed every day, too. It only took maybe five to ten minutes a day to clean the box and refill the feeder/water.

We went ahead and made a chicken yard big enough for the chicks as adults. I remember reading somewhere that each chicken needs a 4ft square area. Our goal was to keep somewhere between 6 to 12 hens. I wanted one rooster, too. Now that I have had chickens for a number of years, I can say I didn’t enjoy having a rooster. They make a lot of noise in the mornings. Also, they don’t lay eggs. I often felt sorry for the hens as the rooster jumped on them to mate. If you don’t plan on baby chicks, you don’t need the eggs fertilized.

You will need a shelter at night for them to perch. A place to keep the rain and wind off them, too. In other words, we weren’t worrying about cold weather in Florida. I also made sure I built the fenced-in area under some shade trees to keep the chickens cooler. When they are hot, they tend to open their beaks and also spread their wings.

Another thing, you may have to clip their wings some to keep them from flying over the fence. You just need to clip one wing about two inches or so. Just don’t clip too too much and hurt your chicken. Catching the chicken to clip their wings is fun…lol. You just need to corner it and then reach down and grab it. I must admit, the first time I did it, I thought the chicken would peck me but it didn’t.

Free range chicken eggs are much better for you than the ones you buy at the grocery store so I keep the hens in their yard during their laying time and let them out after I collect the eggs (around 4 or 5pm). They return to their house to perch when it starts to get dark outside. Any time you want them to go back into their yard, just lure them with food and throw it in their yard. Believe me, they come running.

For egg laying nests, we used plastic crates. You can research the size of the nest. I read specific “best” size for a nest and it seems like it was about 14 x 14 inches. Actually, my chickens often laid their eggs on the floor of the house, in a corner. Be sure to collect your eggs every day, especially in the summer. I try to collect the eggs before dinner. They seem to lay somewhere between 11am to 3pm.

If I go away for a couple days, I fill up their waterer and their hanging food container and then just go. Sometimes my neighbor or niece collects the eggs while I am gone. If not, I collect the eggs upon returning and throw them away. It is not safe to eat eggs that have been outside in the heat for days.

To help keep odor down, I kept hay on the floor of the chicken house. During the summer, I often spread a bale of hay in the entire chicken yard. The chickens love to scratch and you will see you have NO grass within a short period of time.

I feed them cracked corn or chicken scratch purchased from the feed store. I keep a small bag of oyster shells on hand, too and throw some out maybe once a week.

You might wonder how many chickens you should you get. Well, I now have just five and they lay at least 12 eggs a week. One day I may get four and another two and then occasionally none. Between baking, keeping hard boiled eggs on hand for salads and making egg salad sandwiches, and then cooking a full breakfast on weekends……that is plenty for us. In fact, I have three dozen eggs in the refrigerator right now.

Remember there is a period of time they will not lay any eggs at all (during the winter). The egg laying process has everything to do with sun light. You can put your chickens under lights and they will continue to lay. I think it is best to allow nature to take it’s course and let the poor chicken’s body rest. Plus, electricity costs money.

I could go on and on about chickens but I will stop now. If you have any questions, you can make a comment and I will try to answer it.

My daughter and I have both lost 20 lbs each. I think Weight Watchers is really great because you become so aware of what you are eating and can actually change your eating habits. We needed a “lifestyle” change not just a quick fix. Even when I have something I shouldn’t eat, like a donut, I can work my points around it. Eating small meals sure help, too. It seems like my metabolism is working better and I get full so much faster now. So, if you are looking for a way to lose weight and not spend a fortune, try Weight Watchers. You eat what you have in your house…and learn not to put some things in your house.