by Debbie Walker

I do love these little tidbits of information (hacks) that show up online on the computer, things from my newsletters from The Farmer’s Almanac, advertisements for Joey Green’s latest books usually have a few tidbits. (If you check out Joey Green’s list of books you will find some easy to follow instructions and usually an entertaining read.)

Tonight, I got excited because I read the advertisement for Joey Green’s book The Wacky Uses for Elmer’s Glue. (I am on his emailing list). It listed 14 uses and my favorite was about sewing on Scout badges, but it has so many possibilities . So easy, you use a white glue-like Elmer’s, glue the patch or badge on the garment where you want it. Let it dry. Stitch it in place. When you wash it the glue will wash out. There must be other uses like this that we can come up with.

I was out with my daughter and granddaughter one night when they were looking for one of those exfoliating things for the face. I watched as they covered their face with it. They laughed and sent out funny pictures of themselves, but I got to see them as they were removing it from their face! I didn’t know at the time that they could have used a paintbrush to put the white glue in place of this special fancy stuff they bought. And I would have gotten even more laughs out of the experience. No, I didn’t feel like giving up any layers of my face at the time.

I read an article the other night about how to be a good guest in your adult child’s home. Some tips from experts being a gracious guest:

A. Before you visit have a discussion about what I refer to as “House Rules”. We laughed about it but we both knew it was a good idea.

B. Be a helper but respect how they want things done.

C. Bring a gift that reflects your host family’s interests, not yours.

I found a new years resolution I could probably live with. 1. Put on at least 30 pounds. 2. Stop exercising. 3. Procrastinate more!

I really only have one resolution: to discover the difference between wants and needs. May I have all I need and want all I have.

I have always had very thick hair. Guess what, to me it is feeling much thinner, and I am not happy. Tonight, I saw this idea and I may try it. When you cook pasta keep the water you cooked it in. Pour the cooled pasta water, from roots to ends of damp hair, let set for 10 minutes. Rinse. Wait till I tell my hairdresser I tried this one!

If you want to pack for a trip and you want to know an easy way to handle the jewelry: Use a thin carboard, lay jewelry on it and cover with Press and Seal. A thin gold chain you can just feed through a straw to keep from knotting.

I’m just curious which of these you will find interesting. Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org. with any of your questions or comments. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

by Debbie Walker

Merry Christmas! What does that have to do with all those birds in the song The 12 Days of Christmas? What’s the story behind that? Well, I just read about all this in, yes, The Farmer’s Almanac newsletter.

I learned it was first published in England in 1780, most likely as a lyrical poem much earlier. It became a song in 1909. But I was more interested in the birds.

The first gift was a “partridge in a pear tree”. This bird would have been around in the holiday season. The pear tree is a gift of food. They perch and roost in the trees, but they won’t eat the fruit as they eat grains and seeds. The fruit is harvested in the fall but stored, can last into the winter. Two bountiful gifts.

Two turtle doves are the second day. The doves in a pair would have been a good gift because may breed and be meals in the future.

Three French Hens could lay as many as 900 eggs per year! They could be eaten, sold, or allowed to hatch and young chickens to be used for meal or even more egg production. Food and possible income again.

Four Calling Birds are believed to be the Eurasian blackbird. A thrush with a wonderful sound. It would just be for singing, I guess.

Five Gold Rings you might consider bird banding, also called bird ringing. Not much else to say.

Six Geese A-Laying would be another form of animal, food gift. This gift probably was for the meat but could also be the feathers of resulting flock as goose down for winter wear and insulation. It would be ideal for a holiday gift for the coldest season.

Seven Swans A-Swimming aren’t specially noted as laying, they were most likely a gift of luxury. Swans are a symbol or romance and elegance.

Oh yeah then there were 8 Maids a Milking, 9 Lord’s a Leaping, 11 Piper’s Piping takes us back to birds, and you would probably find them on the beach. They are actually Piping Plovers.

Obviously the birds represented a richness and symbolism of the carol.

Done with birds and on to Poinsettia, the seasonal plant associated with Christmas.

Poinsettia are the number one potted plant sold in the USA today.

They are not toxic to children or humans but if a child ate 500 leaves that would be unsafe (!!). They are mildly poisonous to cats and dogs.

They come in many colors and are now available in marbled, striped or spotted tones.

I have two Poinsettia plants growing in my flower garden right now. It started blossoming about a month ago. Well, not so much of blossoming as the green leaves beginning to turn red. It is almost as tall as me now. I have seen them locally growing as high as the eaves on a single story house.

I am just curious if you have any curiosity about traditions. Share them, please. Remember in the next week to get your sleep, eat good meals and breath! The “busyness” won’t last much longer so find some way to relax and enjoy! Do what you can do and don’t worry about the rest.

Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org with any questions or comments. Thanks for reading and enjoy your week.

by Debbie Walker

Good afternoon. Any snow yet? I have to ask, you know. I am on a race tonight to get this done before Tabby (cat) comes in. When she comes in at night, or whenever she comes in, she expects to be the center of attention. Laying across my keyboard tends to assure her of the attention possibilities.

I have to ask. Have you ever heard of aluminum foil balls in the dryer? The instructions say to wad up some foil into two small balls and pop in the dryer instead of dryer sheets. I plan to try this one. I’ll let you know.

In the November FIRST magazine the question was asked, “What do you do if you can’t sleep?” The responses published were: 1. Turn your digital clock away from you to help stop the anxiety of calculating your wake-up time. 2. “Get out of bed and journal or doodle. Lying there creates negative association between bed and sleep, worsening insomnia.”

When I was in real estate I stumbled across this suggestion: As your days are busy start a list of things you want to remember for the next day. Cross off the items on your list as the day goes by. At the end of the day go over your list and make changes as appropriate. When you go to bed that night you don’t have to be worried about forgetting to do anything the next day. It’s all written down and you can relax. You won’t forget anything. This worked well for me, so much so I still do it.

Do you know how to tell if your mascara is old? It is important to know because of possible eye infections. Too much air in the chamber makes for breeding ground for bacteria. When you pull the wand out, listen for popping sound. If you don’t hear it, trash it.

Have you gotten out your winter coat yet? Any problem with the zipper? How well is it working? I found rubbing liquid soap back and forth over the zipper. Then work the zipper up and down. You should see a difference. It worked well for me.

What do you do about your cat and plants? Cats dislike citrus. Soak a cotton ball in lemon juice and rub around the rim of the planter. It should keep Kitty away.

Do you have trouble organizing your linens? Put the pieces together with a dryer sheet into a paper bag and label, then put in closet. You will know which ones they are, and all the pieces will be together. I put mine inside one of the pillowcases. It saves time and aggravation.

I have made wind chimes in the past and I use fishing line to hang the items. After reading a short hack today I will be using dental floss next. The wax will protect the cord and isn’t as stiff as fishing line. The dental floss isn’t as stiff as fishing line, but it is strong enough to hold the items I hang.

Ever have a leaky faucet and the noise is driving you crazy? Try this: Tie a long piece of dental floss around the end of the faucet and place the other end into the drain. The leaking water will travel down the cord and into the drain. Peace at last.

by Debbie Walker

Tonight, I am going to share some suggestions for the home mostly but there may just be some general information, too. Of course, I will have to tell you what my baby great-granddaughter has been up to recently as this morning.

At 18 months old, Addison Grace can now tell you, her name. She is building quite a vocabulary. Maybe it’s part of the aging process but I swear I think that child is growing faster and is very smart. Addi doesn’t have to go to daycare or a sitter and her mother and she do some amazing communicating. It is fascinating for me to watch the process.

Today I was thumbing through my First magazine, November issue, I found some things I found interesting. One page titled “life smarts” had some common sense help I decided to share with you. A lady suggested using vinegar for cleaning. Mix 2 tablespoons of vinegar into a gallon of water for wiping down bathroom surfaces. They even suggested using a drop or two of essential oil to the inside of the toilet paper tube, each time used it will throw out a little bit of scent. (You can also stuff the toilet paper tube with a dryer sheet for scent.)

There was a paragraph about dryer sheets. They can be used to clean wood furniture and floors. You can also attach a dryer sheet to a broom with a rubber band.

Some time ago I read about birds’ needs for the winter and water is one of them. You cover the bottom of your bird bath with a black plastic bag, pour in some water, and then add 2 or3 tennis balls. The wind will blow the balls around to keep ice from forming.

Butter uses:

Calm a cat with butter. You put it on his/her feet. Licking it off will keep Kitty distracted when upset or nervous. Also, the butter will help out with hair balls.

Ring stuck on? Rub the butter on your finger around the ring. It will slide off easily.

Crafting, using white glue. The bottle of glue falls over and it leaks on table without notice and hardens. To remove pour a bit of vinegar on a cloth. Rub over the spot. It will dissolve.

Itchy scalp: Mix 1/2 cup of mashed pumpkin and 2 tablespoon of brown sugar together and rub onto damp scalp for 2 minutes, then rinse. (I kind of wonder what happens if you have white hair or very blonde. Do you wind up with orange hair?)

To pot new plants, use 1/2 non-clumping kitty litter and half potting soil. The kitty litter will hold some of the moisture and releases when needed.

If you don’t have static guard, you can use hair spray. Spray your clothing on the inside. I have done this one and it does work. I would check some where it won’t be visible. Better safe than sorry.

Got a sticky spot where a sales ticket was, hairspray to the rescue! Just spray the ticket, leave for 10 minutes and lift.

I am just curious if you know any new tricks you’d like to share with me. Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.com. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week.

by Debbie Walker

Do you ever wonder? Tonight, I am wondering. I am wondering, is there ever going to be an end to these ridiculous phone calls or junk mail? I know I am not alone. So why are we bombarded with such junk?

The phone calls are so we can be entertained with their recorded chatter, must not be important enough to them to put a real person on the line. SO, its not important enough to me to listen to them. I also want to mention a tip that Eric gave us in one of his columns this year. Be wary, some of those calls that would make you think they are people are also recorded. Their responses are timed to make you think they are listening. You can pick those out by saying, ” Excuse me, are you a real person?” Guess what, they will keep talking over your question. I hang up.

It doesn’t stop the calls to just hang up and I am not a big believer in the “Do not call list”. I block numbers whenever possible. Since a lot of these calls are computer generated, they call from multiple numbers and I just keep on blocking. It’s all a big pain in the neck (or lower)!

There are so many companies doing this. On the list are health insurance companies, political surveys, extended warrantee companies, etc. Very often if it doesn’t show a name or name of company on my screen, I am not likely to answer the call.

My own insurance company calls me way too many times and I have now blocked them! Leave me alone. No, I don’t want to do your survey and you wouldn’t want me to at this point. No, I don’t need one of your nurses to come to my home for a checkup, check to see if my medications are right for me. It was my doctor who prescribed this medication and I feel like “too many cooks ….”. If I have any questions, I will contact my doctor or my pharmacist with my questions.

The extended warrantee companies have become a joke. I have even seen cartoons that included it. But they keep on keeping on. Give us a break! They are companies trying to sell you insurance. A lot of people are still not understanding. Some people would actually buy this if they didn’t understand. My theory is ‘when in doubt, don’t’, but for some having some woman on the line telling you ‘this is the last attempt to contact you before it will no longer be available to you’. I can see a few people intimidated enough to do as told.

Okay, enough of that mess. I am wondering what some of your family traditions are for the holidays. I would love it if you would let me know what some of them are.

In the mean time I am just curious what you do with those ridiculous calls. Contact me at DebbieWalker@townline.org. Have a wonderful week and thank you for reading. I’ll be waiting to hear from you!