Tip of the week...

http://whatscookinwithfaithy.blogspot.com/2016/05/faithys-favorite-layered-dessert_11.html

This may be something you have known forever, and feel free to roll your eyes at me for being proud of myself for learning it within the past year.  LOL

I am forever searching online for something, and then accidentally closing the tab before I am through reading, ordering, or (as in the case of the recipe shown above) making whatever it was I had searched for.  If that happens to you too, rather than retracing your many steps to find the page again, just try this tip.  

With your search engine open (I know this works in Windows, not sure about Mac) press CTRL, SHIFT, T all at the same time.  The page you were last looking at will reopen.  And if you had several different tabs open, just press CTRL, SHIFT, T repeatedly until they each open one at a time.  

I have found this keyboard shortcut to be invaluable since learning it.  Hope it can help somebody else out.  It even works if you close the entire browser; just open the browser and press CTRL, SHIFT, T until all your tabs are open again.  I don't think it works if you have shut off your computer, unless it shutdown accidentally (say you lose battery power, or your electricity goes off; then it will work when your computer restarts.

PS:  The recipe shown in the photo of the website screenshot above is for my friend LB's recipe blog What's Cookin with Faithy.  The link to the recipe shown is under the photo if you are interested.

Tip of the week...

I'm a little bit of a germophobe.  I mean not in a crazy way.  Not as much as my previous boss.  :)  But especially in cold and flu season, I want to wash my hands as soon as I get out of a store or get done pumping gasoline.  And hand sanitizers just don't cut it for me....it may kill germs, but it doesn't remove any schmutz, etc.  

 I always have Wet Ones in my purse and in my car's console.  As soon as I get back in my car after shopping or pumping gas, I grab a towelette and give my hands a good scrub, front, back, and between fingers.  A good hardy wipe down.

Then I take the still-moist towelette (or a fresh one) and wipe down my steering wheel, my gear shift, my door handle, and my key...anything I may have touched in the process of entering the car.  I have always worried just a bit about this being a little obsessive.  Until today.  Today I heard on the radio that your own steering wheel is probably the dirtiest thing you come in contact with on a regular basis.   "The average steering wheel was found to have four times the amount of colony forming bacteria per square centimeter than a public toilet seat."  A PUBLIC TOILET SEAT, people!

It's dirtier than your cell phone.  Dirtier than a hotel remote control!  (I also wipe those down with towelettes from my purse.  HA!)

Okay.  I am climbing down from my soap (and water) box now.  

Tip of the week...

I purchased these Shout brand Color Catchers to use when washing new quilts to help keep dark colors from bleeding onto light colors.  They have been in a drawer for a long time.

I recently ordered some long-sleeved tops for fall/winter in darker colors...reds, greens, navy.  A couple of them were navy and white.  I was afraid they might be ruined in their first wash, so I pulled the Color Catchers out of the drawer and put two in washer with a full load of dark clothing (the new tops along with older dark clothing).  

A new color catcher is in the photo above on the left.  The two I washed with this load are on the right.  Quite a difference.  I'm not sure how these work, but they do seem to work.  The fabric of all the clothing came out perfectly with no tinting or bleeding.  Quite happy with this product.

Just drop one in the washer (2 for a large load with quite a few new, unwashed colors), add the laundry and detergent, and wash.  Discard after using.

Tip of the week...

I'm not really a single-purpose gadget person, so since I rarely make a recipe where it is vital to sift flour, I don't own a sifter.  

I keep my all-purpose flour in a two gallon glass jar on my counter top.  When I need to sift flour for a recipe, I take my whisk, and whisk the flour in the canister really well all the way to the bottom.  Then I have nicely 'sifted' flour ready to measure out for whatever is on the menu.  

What I'm reading Wednesday AND tip of the week...

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I've been on the reserve list for this e-book at the library for a long time.  When I received notification that it was finally available, I had just started another book, was about to leave for my quilting retreat, and I had a ton of things to get done around the house, so I was almost entirely through my two week check-out period before I started reading it.  I'm about a third of the way through, and my library loan is about to expire.  Luckily I know a little work around for keeping library e-books past the due date with nary a smidgen of guilt.  

I think I've posted this tip before, but it bears repeating.

I keep my old Kindle e-reader solely to read books on.  I like to read on it because it is much lighter weight than my Kindle Fire, but also because when I have a library e-book on it, and it is close to the due date, I just turn the wifi connection to my e-reader off.  That way the library recalls their e-book from my Kindle account so it's not overdue, and the next person on the wait list can have it to read.  But since my device is not communicating with Amazon via wifi, the book stays available to read on  my e-reader until I turn wifi back on to the device (which hopefully I remember not to do until I finish reading the book).   No guilt, no fines, no muss, no fuss.  So awesome.

Tip of the week...

My job involves working a few days in one place, and a couple days at another place, sometimes multiple places in the same week, and never any kind of repeat schedule.  Work days involve things like making sure I have clean work clothes, and gasoline in the tank, so I need to be able to see what I have coming up.    

Call me old fashioned, but I cannot organize my life on any kind of digital calendar.  I need an old-school paper calendar with the whole thing visible without clicking or swiping or pinching.  And I need it staring me in the face every single day without me having to remember to open it.

I hang my calendar in a very small room that is visited several times a day.  And the calendar is the only thing hanging on the wall opposite the only seat in the room (ahem). 

This is the best and longest practiced tip that I picked up from Flylady.net: "Hang your calendar in the bathroom."

Tip of the week...

This tip is another one that saves fingernails/manicures.  I have terribly weak nails, so anything that can save me a tear or break is welcome information.

Step 1:  Staple puller

Step 2: Insert teeth in the split of your key ring. 

 Step 3: Insert or remove key.

Best.  Tip.  Ever.

Tip of the week...

I love pistachios.  When I was in high school, we used to walk across the street during lunch to a Gibson's store that had a nut counter to buy pistachios.  

In a bag of pistachios, most are easily opened, but then there is always the occasional tough one that you have to pry apart.  By the end of a pistachio snack, my thumb nails are usually a ragged mess.

Recently I picked up these Salt and Pepper Pistachios from Trader Joe's.  Mmmmm...really good.  

 And I caught myself using a tip that I read somewhere recently.  It worked like a charm, so of course I thought I should share it.

Start by eating some easily opened nuts.  Then when you get to one that is hard to open, grab a discarded empty half shell...work it's edge into the crack...and twist.

My thumbnails thanked me...especially that one that was already bruised from an unrelated injury.  :)

An apple a day...

I haven't been writing much, because I have been tired...exhausted...fatigued...pooped!  All week last week, I came home from work, went directly into the bath tub, and then straight to bed.  My previous weekend of non-stop cleaning and bargain hunting just about did me in.  (I've said it before, and I'll say it again..."Housework [not to mention tax season] is hazardous to your health!")  Anyway, I was feeling so awful, that I made an appointment to see my doctor.  She will, of course, tell me that I need to lose weight.  Duh.

So Sunday, when I finally started feeling better, I decided to spend some of my energy stocking up on healthy foods.  

What better way to start the week than with an apple a day.  Yes, I hear you.  "Why do you have a rubber band around your apple, Kathleen?"  Well, it's an awesome little tip I came across...probably on Pinterest...and thought worthy of sharing.

I'm always looking for ways to eliminate morning tasks.  If I try to add one little thing to my morning routine, it WILL be skipped in favor of one more slap to the snooze button.  Therefore, I am ALWAYS looking for ways to do things the night before.

Take breakfast for example.  I'm not really a breakfast person, but I like an apple with almond butter once I get to work.  Kind of hard to eat a whole apple at my desk...and REALLY messy to try to dip it in almond butter.

Enter my trusty apple slicer...

Sunday night, I sliced my apple, but instead of taking it apart, just kept it together and slid a rubber band around it.  I popped the whole thing into a ziplock baggie, and then into my lunchbox in the refrigerator.

Ta-da!  This is how it looked when I got to work this morning...hardly any browning at all.  Crisp and perfect slices for dipping.

The salad in a jar I posted about a couple of weeks ago worked great.  Sunday, I also made up enough to last me through another week.  This week's salad didn't look as pretty in the jar...not colorful enough.  The tomatoes are hiding in the bottom, and all the other ingredients...baby corn cobs, celery, mushrooms, roasted chicken, lettuce mix...all kind of blend into one another colorwise.  (Good move, Kath, forgot to put in the shredded carrot and radish...sheesh.)

As for the doctor, I will keep my Friday appointment.  I will take my lecture.  I will ask about a sleep study.  I will discuss rescheduling some tests.  I will act on her advice.