Celery - It's Not Just For the Wonder Pets

I was sick for the entire month of May and didn't feel up to doing anything extra, like blogging! But I'm back with a dynamic new blog post about...CELERY!!!! Are you excited yet????

Probably not because celery is a very boring vegetable. It doesn't taste like much and it's stringy and annoying. Celery is usually only good in soups or if you top it with cream cheese. But what you didn't know is that celery has a magical power: the ability to relieve heartburn. This came in handy when I was pregnant, Tumsless, and had heartburn after eating at a pizzaria one night. Boy was I glad that they served celery with their hot wings!!!

****** This blog post is inspired by my new niece or nephew who will be making an appearance on or around December 15th, 2010. May my beautiful little sister keep celery handy in her fridge for the duration of her pregnancy ******

Break In Those Flip-Flps

I love when the weather is warm enough to be free of tight, restricting, closed-toed shoes and icky sneakers. Once I get my feet into flip-flops, there's no going back. The only thing about flip-flops that I don't look forward to is breaking them in, especially the thong part between your toes. Here is a tip to help break them in.

WARNING!!! WARNING!! WARNING!! Before you read this tip, you have to promise me that you will NOT do this in public! If you promise, you may read the below tip :)

Put on a thin pair of socks, making sure they are a little loose in the toe, then put on your flip flops. It makes a little barrier while you are getting used to the thong part of the flip flop, and eases the breaking in process. Do this for a couple of days (around the house of course), then try it without the sock to finish breaking them in. You might just save yourself a few blisters.

Your Favorite Lunchmeat

I love Black Bear Turkey Breast lunchmeat. The reason I love it so much is because it does not get wet and slimy like many other brand's turkey breast lunchmeat. Sometimes I will find the Black Bear Turkey (from Shop Rite) on sale for a great price and I want to buy several pounds of it, but know that my family will never eat it all before it goes bad. My next choice is to feeze it. The problem with freezing it is that while thawing, it tends to get wet. I have learned to buy the turkey (or any kind of lunchmeat) in half pound increments, then wrap the bare turkey in paper towels and re-bag it before putting it in the freezer. While thawing, the paper towels will soak up any extra moisture, and leaves you with cheap turkey lunchmeat until it goes on sale again!

Get Your (Cup)Cake On!

I recently bought a lot of cake mix that I got for really cheap, which is great because I LOVE cupcakes. Some people dislike making cupcakes because of the mess it often makes when the batter is being spooned into the cupcake liners. Instead of a spoon, I use an ice cream scoop with a thumb lever (or trigger as some brands call it). This greatly minimizes the mess, and also allows you to measure out the batter in each liner uniformly. Go ahead and get your cake on!

Deodorant Zebra Stripes

Every morning I put on my deodorant before I put on my shirt. I would rather take the risk of getting deodorant (zebra) stripes on the outside of my shirt than stretch out or wrinkle my shirt by stuffing my hand up to my armpit to put on the deodorant after I put on my shirt.

This morning I put on a form fitting black shirt and was pretty sure that no matter how careful I was, I would have some zebra stripes on my shirt. It didn't bother me too much because I know how to get them off. It reminded of a girl in college that I shared a class with. She was sitting close enough for me to hear another classmate discreetly point out to her that she had deodorant stripes on her shirt. The girl turned red and muttered, "How embarrassing," as she quickly tucked in her shirt. I remembered thinking that tucking in the shirt looked worse, and that I should go over and tell her how to get the stripes off. However, I didn't want to embarrass her further by pointing it out, so I didn't tell her. I've always felt bad that I didn't tell her the trick, so I am going to pass the information along to you and hopefully clear my conscience.

When you spot the stripes, you want to rub them out with a DRY (dry, dry, dry, make sure it's dry) towel. If you spot it later in the day and don't have a towel around, you can use another DRY article of clothing to rub it away (cotton will work the best, silk not so much). You can even pull up the bottom hem of the shirt you are wearing and use that to rub it away. It kind of "dilutes" it, or rubs it in so that you can't see it anymore.

Did I mention that you need the material to be DRY? Because you know that deodorant blocks out the wetness, right? So it will hold firm if you try to rub it out with a wet towel. Just checking.

Dole Squirt Cups

I was a Freshman in college when I was introduced to the Dole Fruit Cup. I loved them because it was an easy way to eat some extra fruit every day, and helped to justify my other lunch snack choice: a TastyKake or Little Debbie. I did NOT love them because when I opened them up, they would squirt juice on my shirt or all over my hand. The juice is clear so it didn't stain my shirt, but it made me feel like such a dufus around all my lunch buddies. In order to keep The Dole Company on my good side, I had to figure out how to cleanly open the fruit cups. One option I have found is to ALWAYS open the cup away from me. With this option, I always make sure I am not sitting across from someone I like, otherwise they might de-friend me if I get the juice on them instead. The other option is to pierce the top plastic seal with a knife or fork to let the air out (which causes the squirt in the first place).

Have you come up with any other tricks for opening fruit cups?

How to Carry Two Plates on One Arm

It is lunchtime and you fill 3 plates with food for you and the two hungry little girls who are in the living room with their trays on their laps, waiting to get their bellies full. You are faced with the dilemma of how to carry the three plates to the living room in the most efficient way. You can either make two trips, or try to balance the three plates in your two arms. The latter most likely results in a dropped plate, an hour trip to the living room gingerly walking while balancing the teetering third plate, or you get a food line on your shirt where you leaned the third plate’s rim on your belly in an effort to stop it from teetering.
There is a way to carry two of the three plates on your one arm. I promise that once you master this, you can do twirls on your way to the living room and the plates will stay in place. I have even done this maneuver with hot soups and filled coffee cups on saucers and have never scalded myself (please say a prayer that I did not just jinx myself). The trick is to get your palm very flat so that the plate is not leaning to one side. Spread your hand out as wide as it will go with your palm side up. Take the lightest or smallest of the three plates and stick it on top of your pointer, middle, and ring fingers. You then hold it in place with your thumb and pinky fingers still spread out as far as they will go on the plate, so that your palm is flat and not leaning to one side. Then, take one of the other plates and plant it on your palm so that it stays secure. Please see the following pictures and PRACTICE!

A Part-Time Job for Coffee Filters

I don’t drink coffee. Neither does Danny. However, we still registered for a coffee maker when we got married. I believe the reason was, “for when we have guests over who drink coffee.” That reason is very valid, except that to make coffee for guests who come over, you actually have to buy coffee, and creamer, and coffee filters, and probably some sort of artificial sweetener (which I only did once when my parents came to visit me for my college graduation in Virginia in 2003). The other two times my now 8.5 year old coffee maker was used was when I had birthday parties at my house and my Mother-in-Law brought a little baggie of coffee so that she and the other coffee drinkers could have their fix with their cake. I have to admit that I don’t actually know how my coffee maker works. My coffee filters are also probably as old as the coffee maker. I don’t know if that makes for bad coffee, but they are still good for the only use I have for them: cleaning windows, mirrors, and silverware for streak-free shine. There may be a great micro fiber cloth to keep streaks away from mirrors and windows, but I know regular towels leave streaks, and paper towels often leave fuzz. Next time you clean your windows or mirrors (with glass cleaner, of course) try it with a coffee filter and you will be pleased with the lack of streaks. They are also great for polishing not-completely-dried-yet silverware.

How to Keep Your Cookies in One Piece

Have you ever baked the perfect cookie? The ones that look and smell amazing as you pull them out of the oven? You allow them time to cool on the cookie sheet then grab the spatula and try to free them. Only as you put the spatula to the edge of the cookie and lift it up, it breaks in half (or worse, PIECES!). Perfect cookies ruined :(

What could you have done differently to save these your poor little masterpieces? You could have turned the spatula upside-down, which would have pushed them free instead of lifted them free. Perfect cookies once again :)

How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

My dear friend, Carrie, needed help. She had a closet full of fitted sheets and was very frustrated that she could not fold them nicely and neatly. Carrie asked if someone out there could send her a video on how to fold the stinking fitted sheets. Still a little sick with a touch of pneumonia, unshowered, and with my hair undone, I had my husband tape me folding a fitted sheet to spare Carrie her frustration. Little did I know, many of my Facebook friends would not only watch this video, but post it to their Facebook page so all of their friends could see it. This video was the inspiration for my blog. I hope it helps straighten up the linen closets of America. I only wish I had at least brushed my hair.

How to Fold a Fitted Sheet from Denise Castagna on Vimeo.