homemaker

Here are a couple of things you may not have thought about: 

1. When you travel, DO NOT use the pillows supplied by the hotel.  Bring your own or if you can’t do that, bring something clean and cover the pillow with it. 
2. Every time you use your toothbrush, rinse it with alcohol and let it air dry.  Or, place it in a sunny place and let the UV rays kill the germs.
3. Many grocery stores now have wipes for the carriage handles by the entry doors.  These are particularly useful because most often children contaminate the handles.       
4. Use Zicam Nasal Swabs and/or zinc (but not too much of it).  It keeps viruses from reproducing, thus cutting down on the strength of the infection.

I know these seem like small things but they have helped me stay healthy for a long time.  Do you have any stay-healthy tips?

1. Color matching seam tape

2. Matching or invisible thread (invisible is harder to work with but works best)

3. Small ruler

4. Tailors’ chalk

5. Sharp scissors

6. Sharp pins–don’t use pins that will snag fabric

7. Sewing needle or sewing machine with baste and blind hem stitch

8. Seam ripper 

I suggest practicing on a piece of scrap cloth first.

Then:  Wash and dry pants according to manufacturer’s instructions so they will shrink up before being hemmed.  Turn on some soothing music, then try on the pants with shoes you will be wearing with them.  Turn up pant legs to outside and pin at a comfortable length.  I like them just meeting the top of my shoe heel.  Check in a mirror to make sure you are happy with the length.  Remember–you can always make them shorter but never longer.  Measure the turned up length and write it down.  Calculate how much you have to take up minus how much of a hem you want to have.  For instance:  If the pants are 3 inches too long and you want a one inch hem, you only need to remove 2 inches. 

Lay a pant leg flat and using your seam ripper, gently tear out the old seam and remove threads. 

Press lightly with low to medium setting on your iron, preferably with steam.  Using tailors’ chalk, measure and draw a line all around using the equaled number like the 2 inches in the above example.  Do the same with the other pant leg.  Do not skip this step or you risk cutting one leg twice.

Next, carefully cut along the chalk line on each pant leg.  Stitch seam tape around edge of each pant leg with 3.5 stitch length on machine or by hand.  Turn up each leg the desired width of hem and pin.  Gently press or steam the new hem avoiding pins.  If you have a blind stitch on a machine, baste the hem 1/4 inch in from top edge, then blind stitch.  Remove basting and you’re done!  If you hand sew the hem, fold back the seam tape and pick up a stitch or two, then pick up one on the pant leg at an angle, back and forth until you have a neat, finished seam!

Questions?  Please leave in comment box. If you have a better way of doing this, please let me know!  I love new ideas. 

Does the Easter Bunny still leave candy-filled baskets behind the sofa?  Do kids still eat marshmallow-filled chocolate for breakfast on Sunday morning before church?  Does mommy take the kids out and buy suits, shirts, ties and new shoes for her sons and dresses, hats, gloves and patent leather shoes for the girls?  I’ll bet women don’t run out and buy Easter hats like they used to.  I remember when a woman didn’t dare go to church without a hat on.  Isn’t it odd that men have to take their hats off, while women had to wear one?  Who made that rule up? 

We used to color eggs but never hid them outside for a hunt.  My thrifty mother (we think she was part Scottish) made us egg and olive sandwiches for lunch.  We did use those waxy pens to write our names on the egg, even though you couldn’t read them very well.

Mom always made Sunday dinner even if it wasn’t Easter.  We usually had roast chicken on special days.  I never understood why we didn’t have turkey.  My mother grew up on a farm.  Maybe she had a problem with someone killing turkeys.  It bothers me alot, too.  In a day or two, Easter of ‘09 will be a thing of the past.  It ushers in spring in the nicest way.

Hope you and your loved ones have a lovely, blessed day no matter how you celebrate it. 

A good friend gave me this recipe many years ago and I think it’s the best bread I’ve ever had.  Maybe that’s because I love any citrus flavoring.  It also looks wonderful with your Easter table spread.  Add a couple of little bunnies, a bowl of colored eggs, some spring flowers and people won’t even notice the rest of the food!  Just kidding but that’s what will be on my buffet table for our Easter brunch.  That along with eggs, turkey sausage, bacon, french toast, orange juice and lots of coffee should be filling, as well as relatively healthful.  My folks will go home satisfied but not overly full.  Hope you have great luck with this recipe and a wonderful, blessed Easter.  What a great time of the year!

1 (2.5) Envelope active, dry yeast

1/2 Cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

1 Cup warm milk

1/4 Cup butter, softened

1 (3.4 oz.) Package instant lemon pudding mix

3 Eggs slightly beaten

5 Cups all-purpose flour

4  or 5 hard-cooked, plain or colored eggs

Dissove yeast in 1/2 cup warm water in large mixing bowl.  Add milk, butter, pudding mix, eggs and 3 cups flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Turn onto a floured surface.  This stuff gets very sticky, so I use a stick of Crisco shortening and disposable gloves.  Knead until smooth and elastic–about 6-8 minutes (I use my Kitchen Aid dough beater).  Place in a greased bowl.  Turn in bowl to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one and half hours.

Punch dough down.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface, divide into three balls.  Shape each into three long ropes.  Braid ropes into a ring on a greased cookie sheet.  Tuck hard-cooked eggs in the ring.  (Colored eggs will stain the bread while baking.)  Cover and let rise until ring is doubled in size, about 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack.

Hey guys and gals, we all know what that means–spring cleaning!  It sounds old fashioned but our homes have been closed up for several months collecting dust, smoke, mites, stains, pet hair and general crud of every kind.  It’s time to open the windows and let the air out because research says the dirtiest air is inside our houses.

Next, throw your bedspreads, comforters, mattress pads and blankets into the washer (some will only fit in the larger washers at the laundrymat) sprinkle in some Oxi-Clean, run them through the cycles, then hang them outside to dry.  Not only will they smell better but you’ll save money on those expensive dryers.

While you’re waiting for your fresh linens to dry, go through your closets, donate the stuff you haven’t worn in a year, buy nice hangers and organize your summer things into categories.  Use cedar blocks to store woolens.  Moth balls are better used to keep critters away from the foundation of your house because they smell sooo bad. 

Last fall, my husband and I went to Lowes, bought a shoe cubby and two waist-high cabinets.  Those along with matching wooden hangers purchased at Linens and Things when they were going out of business, helped arrange our closet almost as nicely as any professional could.  Our closet looks as good as the day we finished last fall because there’s a quick place to hang and store all our clothes.

My grandmother was outside on a ladder washing her windows when she was 80 years old.  Now that’s a hard housekeeping act to follow!  But I don’t recommend climbing ladders to do anything.  I haven’t tried those new long-handled, window washers but I will soon.  If you’ve had good luck with one, please let me know.  Last year, I hooked my hose up to a plastic bottle with the washer fluid in it and sprayed two stories of windows around my house.  They seemed to work well, although I think that should be done once a month.  I’ve read that coffee filters work best on cleaning windows.  I’m going to try those on the inside this year.

Once you’ve done these things, you’re house will start to sparkle.  Next will come the garage and cellar.  Plan a tag sale and sell the stuff you don’t need.  Donate the rest to charity and not only will you be ready to enjoy your nice clean home, you’ll be so proud, you’ll want to throw a party. 

So, what are your spring cleaning tips?

I read that Madonna wants to adopt another child.  This started me wondering how things would proceed if she went through the American adoption process, say in New York State.

Would she answer the door wearing her bra and corset replete with garters outside her cashmere sweater and skirt set?  Would the case worker flip through the coffee table copy of “Truth or Dare” while waiting for the potential father figure to meet them in a pink and black livingroom?

Would “Like a Virgin” be playing on a 50 inch flat screen T.V. when the case worker shows up for an unscheduled visit?  Who will the male influence be during that visit?  A famous sports figure?  A movie mogul?  I bet it would be a famous politician artfully dodging the press–daring to be caught.

What would Madonna list as her present religion on the application form?  Where would the family home be located?  I’m thinking it wouldn’t be on some peaceful farm country out west.  What would Madonna list as her hobbies, next to industrial shopping?  I heard her once confess that’s her daughter’s favorite activity.

Honestly, I write all of this in fun and wish all of them the very best–especially the children.

Biologist Steve Mendive, who was working with the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center got hurled into a snow-covered fence recently by a 2400 pound bison.  I am very happy that Steve was unhurt by this scary experience but I must confess that I truly understand what that animal was thinking.

I have the exact same issues when I am being examined by doctors.  Actually, I assume everyone else does, too.  Imagine being herded into a shoot (or waiting room) along with dozens of others, forced onto a scale, have a thermometer stuck somewhere, needles jabbed into you, strangers dressed in medical gear staring into your eyes whispering “uh, huh” and your wanting to scream, “What is it, doc.!  What’s wrong with me!”

There have been numerous times I, myself, wanted to rush past some medical type and escape to the place of “no illnesses.”  Thank heavens I don’t weigh 2400 pounds but I think it was a lucky accident that Steve ended up in the snow bank, although he probably saved himself by remembering, as he said, “To avoid the horns.”

Democrats, Republicans, Financiers, Bankers, Senators, House Members–you name it.  the American people have been had by all of them.

Trying to explain away all the communal ineptitude doesn’t change things one whit.  If these people cared more about doing their JOBS than polishing their public images, maybe this country wouldn’t be in the scary, embarrassing position it is today.

Now it has been proven that giving the government money with the understanding that they know what to do with it, is sheer folly.

At least govenmental incompetence at all levels has achieved one positive result.  It shows up Washington types and their lobbying friends for who they really are and who they really represent.  It sure as hell isn’t the American people.

Maybe we’ve been had but never have we been more aware of it.

On March 17th a senator from Iowa suggested to some employees of AIG that perhaps they should “commit suicide.”  This revelation leads me to wonder what university the senator went to and how the classes in political, socio-economic studies were taught.

Did some professor go over the standard legal accounting practices, income tax laws, corporate pay structures and various machinations of American commerce the days the senator absent ? Or, did he raise his hand and ask, “So, what should a person do if they get elected to Congress and forget all this stuff you’re teaching us?”

Did the teacher shrug his shoulders and answer, “Ah, just tell anyone you want to go kill themselves?”  In fact, the senator seems obviously frustrated at he and his colleagues’ failure to understand contract stipulations before they take over huge corporations.  It appears that most members of Congress are unable to understand the legalities, intricacies and nuances of any financial undertaking.

Herein lies the problem–Washington bureaucrats really don’t know what the hell they are doing.  That alone propels one of them to step up to a microphone with the cameras running and state that someone should consider killing themselves.  This statement implies that the members of Congress themselves are the ones who should be the targets of such an outrageous suggestion.

Or, as Neil Cavuto would say, “Is this a Trojan Horse or a Trojan’s Horse’s ass?

You all saw the riot in front of the Tyra Banks’ Studio when she advertised for new model contestants.  Wow!  Imagine, thousands of wannabees throwing mascara wands, hair weaves, push-up bra pads and binkini wax strips at each other.

Six people got hurt.  Did they get extra-long, artificial nail stab wounds?  Did some slip on several tubes of hair gel?  Were they burned with a battery powered curling iron?  I hope no one was blinded by a punch of lip gloss.

Three participants were arrested maybe for stealing combination, dual-sided blush and concealer sticks.  Did someone stab another with an eyeliner pencil?  Did a prisoner snap a skinny hopeful with a new body shaper?

This was a scene out of an old 1940’s movie, where hundreds of crazed females were grabbing bargain basement house coats in Filene’s Basement.

After watching the debacle, I’m so glad that I didn’t decide to be a model.  Oh, wait a minute; I’m only 5 feet 4 inches tall!  I don’t meet the height requirement anyway!  And, I weigh over ninety pounds.  Goody!  Now I can eat that box of Yodels without worrying about losing my job, my boyfriend or that coveted spot on national, talk T.V.