Nailing It the First Time

I had noticed recently that my nails have become quite dry.  I also noticed that I've developed lots of vertical ridges.  Ugh!  I'd heard once that ridges on your fingernails can indicate certain health problems.  Of course, being the hypochondriac that I am, I had to do a little research to check it out and discovered that, generally speaking, vertical ridges are pretty common and quite a typical development as we age.  Don't you just LOVE all the benefits of aging?  It's when you start noticing horizontal ridges on your fingernails that you might want to point them out to your doctor.

I also did a little poking around to see what products might be out there to help with nail conditioning.  I settled on two different products.  The first was from Bert's Bees, a long-time favorite brand of mine.  It's Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.  I rub it into and around my nails each morning.  It's quite light and absorbs quickly into the area.  The second product is Solar Oil from Creative Nail Design.  That's a little heavier duty so I apply that to the base of each nail at bedtime and then rub it on each nail and around the nail area and then work any excess down on my hands.  It's part of my nighttime routine at the sink, after brushing my teeth and cleaning my face.  By the time I go upstairs to crawl into bed, it's pretty much absorbed into the skin.

Boy, have these products made a difference.  My nails no longer are dry-looking at all.  Any hangnails I used to develop are no longer in evidence, either.  Too bad it can't take care of misshapen, arthritic fingers but, hey....you can't have everything, eh?

On a fun note, several years ago Avon used to sell peel-off fingernail polish.  I loved the stuff.  I'm hopeless when it comes to applying fingernail polish out of a bottle.  Sadly, Avon discontinued selling it so I was back to muddling along with bottled polish.  But lately I discovered that peel-off polish is making a comeback.

These are some nails from Sally Hansen.  You get a variety of sizes for each hand and you also get an instruction sheet, fingernail file and little wooden stick to use on your cuticles and to use when applying the nail polish.  It's basically peel and stick on.  You remove them with simple nail polish remover.  When I was at the drugstore the other day, I saw all kinds of fun designs.  I have another set with flowers and little rhinestones just waiting for another week.  Whee!

Enjoy!

Smells Like Good News

Every so often I'll blog about something I've purchased that I really like.  I'm one of those people who just loves to share the news when I find something that's neat.  Well, today I just have to tell you about this little gem.  You might never ever have need of this and if that's the case, count your household blessed.  On the other hand, you might be more like OUR household.  Someone (who shall remain nameless) has the ability to use the bathroom and then have the ability to cause grown people to cry (or want to flee the house and find the nearest Army-Navy Surplus Store to purchase a gas mask).

Now I've been accused of having an over-developed sense of smell.  Maybe that's true.....who knows?  Either way, what I'm about to tell you is based on my sniffer so if I'M telling you this product works and I DO have a sensitive sniffer, than you can know it stood up to my demanding standards.

I happened upon this product one day when I was surfing TV channels and caught part of the Dr. Oz show.  He was addressing embarrassing questions from the audience and one was the problem of an odoriferous "p--per."  He pulled out a little bottle of Just a Drop and said it would solve the problem.  I don't remember all the technical mumbo-jumbo as to how it works.  I DO remember that I went up on Amazon's website and ordered it that same day.

All you have to do is squeeze ONE drop of this into your toilet bowl before you do a ....hmmm, how to say this politely......oh, heck, before you poo, and do your business and flush.  That's all there is to it.  There won't be a smell.  Honest!  I, of course, can't tell you that with 100% certainty for everyone's "situation" but I CAN tell you that it worked in our household.  I even gave the bathroom the old sniff test right after the fact and (gasp) I couldn't smell anything.  There was nothing to smell.

Yippee Skippee!  I'm a believer!  I bought more and have one by each toilet plus I gave one to my daughter for her home.  You don't have to thank me for spreading the word but I'll bet there are folks in your house who might want to give you hugs if your home has a similar offender.  Toodle-oo!  I'm off to enjoy a Spring-like day here in PA.

Sticking Power

If you're a man, you can probably skip today's blog post unless you want to score some serious brownie points with your lady.  If you're a woman, read on, Sister!  I don't know about you, but I have had a terrible time finding lipstick that would last more than an hour or so.  I CERTAINLY couldn't find anything that would last through a meal.  But all that has changed since I discovered "Super Stay 24 Color" by Maybelline.

Let me just say upfront that I have no affiliation with them nor do any of my family or relatives that I'm aware of.  I'm just a VERY happy customer.  I wouldn't even be writing about this product if it weren't for the prodding of a friend of mine.  You see, several weekends ago I was at a function and my friend came up to me and said, "What lipstick are you wearing?  It's really lovely."

I told her what it was and mentioned how I really liked the fact that this particular line of lipstick lasted a LONG time.  As I was giving her a glowing review of its virtues, she said, "You really need to blog about this because I'll bet not many people have heard of it and women are always looking for lipstick that will last."

This lipstick comes in quite a few shades.  It's in a little two-ended tube.  One end has an applicator stick that applies the color.  The trick is that you must then wait a minute or two for it to dry.  It really only takes several minutes....about as long as it takes me to let the dog out to do her business before I am ready to head out the door.  THEN you pop off the cover on the other end of the tube and twist up the "chapstick-like" substance that you apply to your lips.  This gives them a lovely gloss.

It's probably important to note that before you apply this final "gloss", your lips will most likely feel tacky or sticky or dry to you.  Not to panic!  This completely goes away as soon as you complete Step #2.  Then go ahead and head out to enjoy your day, secure in the knowledge that you will have lovely-looking lips with color that you aren't going to chew off or wipe off during dinner.  In fact, I've been using this lipstick for almost a year now and I still find myself startled at times when I glance in the mirror (no wisecracks, now) near the end of the day and notice that my lips still have a nice color to them.

When I'm ready to head to bed and taking my makeup off, I just wipe my lips with the makeup remover/skin cleanser wipe that I use on my face.  You could probably just get the same results with a wet washcloth or rub cold cream on them and wipe with a tissue.    Or heck, you could just go to bed looking like a siren.

I ran into my friend at church the other day.

"Did you get any of the lipstick," I asked.

"I sure did," she replied, "And so did my daughter.  We LOVE it.  We STILL can't believe how long it lasts."

Go forth and enjoy!

Wacky Christmas Gifts

The "Not-Keeping-Up-With-Technology Gift"

Oh, boy!  My Brookstone catalog came yesterday and I finally had time to look through it this morning.  I love going through their catalog because they always have unique gifts.  Sometimes they have some pretty wacky ones, too.  I had to highlight a few that caught my eye.  Are you ready?

1.  The "Not Keeping Up With Technology Gift" - This is the iDesign Tower Stereo System.  I have to chuckle at it, though. Here is a speaker that stands 40 inches high with a TINY iPhone or iPod on top.  Hello?  Isn't the whole genius of our marvelous iPads, iPhones and small music storage devices the fact that we can cram so much into such tiny devices?  And yet we have to stick it on a monolith like this?  I'm holding out for a tiny version, thank you.

"The Annoying-As-Heck Gift"

2.  The "Annoying As Heck Gift" - Are you someone who just can't get up in the morning?  Maybe this alarm clock is for you.  It's Tocky - The Rolling Alarm Clock.  Tocky will wake you up with an alarm and then roll off your nightstand and jump and roll all over your room until you get out of bed to shut the darn thing off.  I don't know about you but I'm thinking that someone who has a very hard time getting up probably isn't too chipper once they wake up.  I suspect "long life" and "Tocky" aren't mutually compatible terms.  Duck!

"The My Kid is Brilliant Gift"

3.  The "My Kid is Brilliant Gift" - We all know them....those parents that can't stop bragging about their kids.  If you have one of those on your shopping list, how about the Go Vinci "Look What I Made" Backpack?  Now parents can not only drone on and on about their kids but they can also put their masterpieces right out there for all the world to see.  Just don't be too effusive in your praise.  Those tykes might offer to autograph it and sell it to you, for a profit.

"The Got-You-Where-I-Want-You Gift"

4.  The "Got You Where I Want You Gift" - This is the OSIM uAstro Zero-Gravity Massage Chair.  Now some folks might think it looks really relaxing.  I don't know.  I'm thinking that wife looks pretty smug walking past her hubby, who is immobilized in the chair.  She's probably thinking, "Yeah, now I can head out  to the stores and he'll be in that thing until I get home."

It is supposed to be quite a luxury item.  However, when I look at it, it looks like an instrument of torture, like the Iron Maiden.  You'd have to drug me to get me in that thing.  It can be yours for a mere $3,293.

"The Taking-Out-Aggression Gift"

5.  The "Taking Out Aggression Gift" - I have to tell you, I LIKE this gift.  I saw it the other day at our local Staples and I almost got it for my son-in-law.  I would have, too, if I hadn't already finished my Christmas shopping for him.  This little baby is the USB Desktop Missile Launcher.  You basically plug it into your computer's USB port and then you can shoot foam missiles at targets up to 25 feet away.  Not only that, you can also do this remotely via Skype and MSN messaging.  You don't even have to be in the same room.   If you really want to have some fun, add the optional sound effects and WHEE!  You've got your own miniature Gatling Gun, primed and ready to terrorize the cats and family.  I want one!

Small Business Saturday

This is the first Thanksgiving holiday season that I can remember in years when I did NOT go shopping on Black Friday.  You know what?  It actually felt good to be able to sleep in on Friday and to leave the madness to everyone else.

Instead we had a pleasant day with family, eating leftovers, taking a LOT of family pictures, and playing games.  Some of us watched the seemingly endless football games that were broadcast .  It was very relaxing.

On Saturday we tried a new tradition.  I don't know if this has been going on for awhile now or if it is something new that retailers have dreamed up but local advertisers and newspapers have been touting "Small Business Saturday."  The push is for shoppers to go out and visit locally-owned businesses to do some shopping, thus giving them support and sending business their way.

We headed out to Gettysburg Saturday to drive around the National Park, doing a self-guided auto tour.  It was a lovely morning, with few tourists around and fairly balmy weather.

As the day progressed, the sky turned gray but still the rain held off and so did the wind so we were content to wander along the ridges of Little Round Top.....

To take pictures of the many monuments scattered around the park, which are amazing in their variations and meanings.....

To imagine the horror and carnage of those days in July so many years ago and the many families that suffered loss, realizing that this was not just a battlefield but also the final resting place of so many young men...

And to stop to appreciate the stark beauty of farmhouses straight out of a Wyeth painting.  I couldn't help but also think about the townspeople and the farm folk who suddenly found themselves in the middle of this horrible conflict during the Civil War.

But back to our "Small Business Saturday," after our time spent at the Gettysburg Battlefield, we headed off through the winding back roads to the Adams County Winery to do a little wine tasting.  The roads back to that little winery are so twisty that we laughed and joked among ourselves that surely this was a deterrent for those who might be tempted to imbibe too much once they arrived at their destination.  Anyone slightly tipsy would be likely to find themselves having a close encounter with an apple tree if they weren't careful.

We had a lovely time there and, by the way, I highly recommend these folks and their wine.  The wine is lovely, the vintners are very friendly and there's even a golden retriever who greets guests and has a wine named after him.  We did our part supporting a local small business and headed on home to have yet another go at our Thanksgiving leftovers.  I believe we have now set the record for getting the most meals out of one Thanksgiving meal in our household.  I don't want to see turkey or green bean casserole again for a LONG time.

A Positive Bias

As a sewer and a quilter, there is nothing that I like more than finding a gadget that saves me time and makes things easier.  Right now I'm working on a baby quilt for my newest grandchild, little Luke.  Yesterday, I was ready to make some bias tape for the edging.  I like to make my own from whatever fabric I've chosen to complement the quilt top.  It can be a tedious process.  But this little gadget has simplified life immensely.

It's a Clover Bias Tape Maker.  Clover makes these in a variety of sizes, depending on what width of bias tape you wish to make.  They are really simple little gadgets, too and inexpensive, ranging from $3 to $5 each.   You should be able to find them in any fabric/sewing store.  So how do they work?

Well, first you need to cut out your fabric strips and sew them together, end to end until you have as many connected as you wish.  I usually sew them all since I figure I can always find a use for the leftover binding I've made up.  Now to create the bias tape.  The hardest part is just getting the fabric strip started into the gadget.  To do that, I take one end of my fabric and fold it into thirds or fourths to make a firm section.  Then I push it through the widest part of this opening.  Once it pokes through on the other smaller end, I grab it and start pulling it through until I can open it up and straighten the fabric out to look like the picture.  I realize that I'll lose a few inches at the beginning before things get adjusted but I usually have yards of bias tape made before I'm done so I'm not worried.

Now just grab that little silver handle in your left hand (if you are right-handed) and start pulling it slowly to your left as you steam-iron the resulting bias tape that comes out the other end.  Try to keep the center of the colored plastic insert on the device lined up with the center of the folded edges.  You might occasionally have to straighten out your fabric on the other end to keep things moving smoothly.

It really will seem like magic and before you know it, you'll have a pile of lovely bias tape all ready to bind the edges of your quilt.  It's easy as can be.  Don't you just love it when that happens?
I'm providing a link to a review of another bias tape maker out there.  It looks interesting.  Don't know how much it costs but nice to know you have options.

Related articles

• Product Review: Simplicity Bias Tape Maker (nouveaustitch.wordpress.com)

Now THAT'S a Cup of Coffee!

Coffee Extract

When I last posted, I was in the midst of the great cold brewing coffee experiment.  Well, I finished cold brewing a batch of coffee and ended up with a carafe of pure coffee extract.  That's it in the carafe in the picture. Once you get the extract, you store that in your refrigerator and it will stay fresh for several weeks as long as it is refrigerated. 

Then it was time for the taste test.  The formula is 1 part extract to 3 parts water.  You mathematicians will have to do the figuring yourselves.  I basically used my Keurig to brew my standard travel-mug of hot water into a measuring cup.  It came out to a little over 1 cup.  So I poured 1/3 cup of extract into my mug and then put the mug in place on my Keurig and brewed straight hot water into it.  I "think" that is a 1 to 3 ratio but math has never been one of my strong suits.  Over the past few days I've tinkered a bit with it and use just a tad over 1/3 cup extract but nothing else has changed.  I don't use sugar or cream in my coffee (harkens back to my Navy days - we like our coffee strong and black).

I'm here to tell you that this is some of the best coffee I've ever had.  To sum it up in one word, I'd have to say "smooth."  There is no aftertaste at all.  It just goes down the old gullet like I would imagine cream would to a non-lactose intolerant person.  Yummy!

I'm not sure how many cups I'll get out of 12 ounces of cold-brewed coffee but since I can nurse one travel mug all morning, I suspect this carafe of extract will last me most of the two weeks.  So far I haven't shared it with the Commander but I'll let him in on my little secret over the holiday weekend.

If you'd like some idea of the various coffee beverages you can enjoy with cold-brewed coffee extract, visit ToddyCafe.com then hie thee over to your online order company of choice, order, and start doing your own cold coffee brewing.

Trying My Hand at Cold-Brewing Coffee

Ready to Weigh Out 12 Ounces

My son was recently telling me how he has started cold-brewing his coffee.  I had never heard of that so I did a little research and it sounded quite intriguing.  Apparently the process takes away the acidity and leaves you with wonderful flavor and less caffeine.  So I ordered a cold brewing system - the Toddy Cold Brewer and today I started the brewing process.  The first thing I had to do was take my pound of coffee beans and weigh out 12 ounces, since that is what the instructions recommended.

Coffee Grinder Set to Coarse

The next thing I had to do was set my coffee grinder to a coarse setting.  They recommend grinding it at the same setting that you would grind for expresso.  Since I don't drink expresso, I just put it in the middle of the coarse settings and hoped for the best.

1st Round of Grounds

Then I took the plastic container that comes with the system, made sure that I put the cork in the bottom on the outside and the filter in the recessed area in the bottom inside and then added a cup of water and 6 ounces of my ground coffee.  I poured 3 more cups of water into the container carefully and then the rest of my ground coffee.  I let that sit for 5 minutes.

Pour in 3 more cups of water.

After it rests for 5 minutes, I poured in the final 3 cups of water very slowly.  The instructions caution you not to stir because it could then clog your filter and you will not be able to get the coffee essence to flow out after the brewing process.

Tamping Down with a Spoon

The final step was to gently tamp down on the top of the grounds with a spoon to make sure that all the grounds had been dampened.

Now we wait.  I'm going to let it steep for 12 hours and then I'll be draining off the coffee concentrate this evening.  Tomorrow I'll taste my first cup and give you a report.  In the meantime, after grinding a pound of "Nut and Honey" coffee beans, the house smells divine.

The Queen of Gadgets

I LOVE gadgets.  Can't get enough of them, in fact.  So when I find gadgets that are really handy and useful, besides being all cute and clever, that makes it a win-win situation.  Let me tell you about two of my favorite sewing gadgets.

This morning I sat down to sew up the hem of a knit jacket I own.  Is it just me, or are you also finding that many garments these days have hems that seem to come loose after just a few wearings and/or washings?  That's just an aside, but it's twice in a week now that I've discovered a drooping hem on a fairly new outfit.  Anyway, back to my gadgets.....

Clover makes a little needle threader that is just the neatest little thing.  It's the brown gizmo on the left.  I've included a link as this is still available.  On the right is a holder for two spools of thread that is made by June Tailor.
  

It has a little dowel on top of one end for a thimble, a slot on the other end to put a seam ripper, a magnet attached to the other end for needles, and then two dowels that can hold spools of your most frequently used thread.  I always keep a black and a white spool on there for quick mending jobs.  I picked up both of these items at a local sewing shop several years ago.  I'm not sure if the mini-spool holder is still available anywhere but if you happen across one, I'd highly recommend it.

The needle threader has a slot where you put your needle in (eye first).  Then you lay your thread across a little groove area to the left of the needle slot.  Once you've put the thread into this groove, you press down on a little lever.

It never fails to amaze me how easily the needle is threaded when you do this.  The gadget doesn't exactly thread the needle completely at this point, however. 

It pops part of the thread through the eye of the needle....just enough for you to grab and pull the thread through.  Then, once you have enough thread on your needle, you just put the thread through the cutter groove on the threader and give it a little tug and the thread is cut.  You don't even need scissors.  How handy is that?



Keep your eyes open for one of these threaders, if you are like me and hate struggling with threading needles, especially as our eyes get older more demanding.  Happy sewing/mending!

You Don't Have to Be An Einstein to Knit This Coat

Quite a few years ago - well, four years ago, to be exact - I started knitting a coat.  It was the "Einstein Coat" found in "The Knitting Experience: Book 1: The Knit Stitch" by Sally Melville.

It wasn't a particularly hard coat to knit.  In fact, it was pretty easy.  It just involved knitting row upon row of garter stitch and then picking up stitches along a section and knitting more rows of garter stitch.  
 

 The hardest part was figuring out what yarn I was going to use and what my color scheme would be.  I decided on a rustic wool from Beaverslide Dry Goods.   They are a family-owned business located in Montana.  They raise their own sheep and have a mill where they produce their fabulous mule-spun yarn.  This is a type of yarn that is produced using equipment and techniques from the 1800's.  The yarn still has that lanolin feel to it, something that you don't experience very much with modern yarns today.  Boy, does it produce a warm fabric, too.

When my yarn arrived, I spent hours laying the skeins out in different color sequences until I was happy with the way the colors would progress across my coat.  Once I was at that point, I wrote up a very rudimentary chart on a piece of paper reminding me in what sequence to knit up my stripes in each section of my coat.  Unfortunately, I lost that paper right about the time that I finished the bottom half of the coat so I had to wing it for awhile until I happened to run across my chart when I was about three-fourths of the way through knitting the coat.  If you try this, I would advise you NOT to lose your chart.

I started off making great progress on my coat.  It required mindless knitting and so it was perfect for those times that I spent sitting in front of the TV.  However, at some point I put it aside to work on more challenging projects and there it sat, in a drawer under our sofa for several years.

When I returned from Indonesia in January, I was so darn cold that I remembered my Einstein Coat just languishing away in that drawer.  "Man," I thought, "that would be a really warm coat if only it were finished."  That was all the impetus I needed and so I pulled it out and then spent about one whole evening just trying to figure out where I had left off.  Word of advice - if you ever set aside a project like that, be sure to also set aside VERY clear instructions detailing just where you were when you stopped and where you need to pick up when you begin knitting on it again.

Once I got myself squared away, the rest of the coat flew.  I did find that my fingers were getting pretty sore from pushing the needle through (I use the Continental-style of knitting) to form my stitches.  I ended up solving that dilemma by rooting through my sewing supplies and finding a soft, suede quilter's thimble.  I stuck that on my "pushing" finger and the problem was solved.  Who knew?

I just had to make two modifications to the pattern.  The sleeves needed to be longer so I added more rows and then just turned up the ends of the sleeves to make some cuffs.  I also didn't like how the buttonholes were turning out.  The pattern called for you to knit through the back loop when you came to the yarn over on the next row but that tended to close up the hole.  So I just knitted through the front of the yarn over.

A quick trip to my local yarn store and then I had buttons to sew on the front and I was ready to wear my Einstein Coat.  Thank goodness, too because the weather is supposed to get even colder this weekend.  Brrrr!  Thank goodness that I'll be nice and toasty in my new knit coat.  It doesn't take an Einstein to figure that out.

On Bug Patrol

Photo from Baltimore Sun (Jerry Jackson)

They're coming soon, if they haven't already made it to your place.  I'm talking about the Asian Stink Bugs.  Ugh!  A recent newspaper article reported that we could expect to see them in record numbers invading our homes.  So far, there is no known predator to take them out.  The best they could suggest we do was to vacuum them up and release them outdoors.  Some help, huh?

I've run across these little "cuties" before.  Let me just go on the record to say that I hate them.  They are ugly, they fly, and they tend to land on you indiscriminately no matter how loudly you shriek.  They also release a pungent odor if you crush them.  I'm not really sure how to describe the smell.  It's not really a horrible smell.....more like a cross between pine needles and disinfectant but once you've smelled it, you know to start looking for a carcass when you smell that smell.

I have NO intention of vacuuming them up.  I plan to zap them!  Yes sir, I have my handy dandy bug zapper racket in hand and I'm ready to do battle with those things, should I come across one.  It's "swat" and "stir fry" for them.  Now my hubby is much more lenient.  He tries to gather them up in a tissue and flush them down the toilet.  Personally, I'd rather not take a chance on them crawling back out of the loo as I'm sitting on the throne doing my Yahtzee game.

So we'll see how the old zapper does with these critters this fall.  My daughter reports that these bugs are all over her house down in Maryland.  So far (knock on wood) we've been pretty lucky and I've not seen more than a few in the area.  However the article did say that the peak times of infestation would be in October-December.  Double Ugh!  So, until then, it's racket at the ready, Freddie!

And Off They Go

Today Jason and his family, including my beloved little Mika, headed off to Asia, to what could be a three-year adventure.  I've been dreading this day for a long time.  But now that it is here, well, we make the best of it, don't we?  Sometimes we just have to place our children in God's hands and stand back out of the way.

To keep my mind occupied, I unpacked my new Schacht Cricket loom.  It came unassembled but ready to put together.  However, I had decided to stain it before assembling the parts.  So I put newspaper down, put on an old shirt, and started my staining.

Here is what it looked like last night when I had all the pieces stained with an English Chestnut stain.  I thought it was looking pretty good.  Tonight I started applying the first coat of polyurethane on the pieces.  Oh my!  I carefully laid each piece back down on the newspaper and worked methodically away at it.  When I went back to my first piece to check on it, I discovered to my horror that each piece was stuck to the newspaper.  Ugh!  We had to pull each piece off and then I had to sand the pieces of newsprint off that were stuck to the wood.  So out came the wax paper and I tried again.  Looks like this is going to be a longer process than I originally anticipated.

When it's finished and put together, the loom will look like this, but stained.  I don't guarantee that my weaving will initially look like this.  In fact, I think I CAN guarantee that it will NOT look like this.   But there will be plenty of room for improvement.

Speaking of improvement, my day greatly improved this morning when I met two dear friends for breakfast and we laughed and talked and laughed some more.  They really cheered me up.  Friends are really a blessing, aren't they?  My "Project 365" picture today was taken at breakfast but only one friend would agree to be in the picture (although the other one's hand can be seen).

Project 365 - June 8 (Day 12)