Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Another weekend...another bike.

I don't buy as much bike stuff as I used to, but while I was having my wife's kayak rack installed last Saturday, I test rode a couple of rail trail bikes.

I really liked this one in particular...so I thought about it for the weekend and ended up buying it yesterday.

It's not fast bike, I sit practically bolt upright and it's geared low enough so I can ride up really steep hills without ripping out my knees. They say the best bike is the bike you ride, so hopefully I'll get some decent miles in this winter.

I have plenty of fat to start out with for insulation....

Instead of going to the Ren Faire on Sunday...it woulda cost close to 250 bucks to get in and eat, we went here. It's a pretty nice set up they have, unfortunately it was over 80 degrees this past Sunday and it was just to damn hot to be standing out in the middle of a cornfield. They did have a bamboo forest which was extremely cool (literally and figuratively) that had a maze cut through it.

My wife wants to take her dad back some weekend, he loves that kind of stuff. I wouldn't mind going back either, as long as it's cooler outside.

My father-in-law sent me this........

DID YOU KNOW?

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy
things' off of it. That's how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart
when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem,
they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much
longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of
sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in
double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty
frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and
at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place
them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza.......Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top
of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust
crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it
really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs....Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash
till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep
mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze
mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting....When you buy a container of cake frosting from the
store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size.
You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less
sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread....To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that
were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The
increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away....Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in
your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you
go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some
gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass....Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards
of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes....Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the
mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!....To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle
your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant
and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum....To get something out of a heat register or under the
fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum.
It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling....Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and

you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that
cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da!
... static is gone.

Measuring Cups....Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring
cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next,
add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes
right out.

Foggy Windshield?....Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and
keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the
eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope....If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot
to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer
for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner....Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper
than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way

to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in
your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies....To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass,
fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid;
mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants....Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They
eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week
or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry
about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS....The heating unit went out on my dryer! The
gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted
to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint
filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the fil-ter after every
load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the
filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made
of a mesh material ... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter
looks like.
Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through
it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh
that's what burns out the heating unit.You can't SEE the film, but it's
there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and
static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel
waxy when you take them out of the box .. well this stuff builds up on
your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer
units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way
to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your
electric bill lower) is to take that filter out = and wash it with hot
soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six
months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as
long! How about that!?!
Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do
that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The
water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the
mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had
it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it ... the water ran right thru
the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he
was talking about!


If I haven't chased him away from this blog with my nutjob liberal politics....thanks dad.

This blog is totally badass.....Advanced Style. Wear what you want to....I know I do. I think both our kids do their own thing as far as clothes, lifestyle and the friends they hang with. I'm pretty proud of both of them for making good life decisions so far...

...our daughter is considering missionary work in Africa after she gets her degree and our son is thinking about a degree in child psychology ...how damn cool is that?

I always wanted kids that would get out in the world and make a difference....it sure will be fun watching them both spread their wings.

I dunno, but McCain is looking more and more like what he actually is-a rich old white guy with a bad combover and a lying VP candidate.

Today's science break.....I love this kind of stuff.

This might be fixed my the time you read this....if so-it's ain't gonna be funny.

Sure seems like the news is full of Wall St. stuff and election articles......did somebody forget our service men and women are still over in Iraq and Afghanistan getting shot at and killed on a daily basis?

I sure hope all those folks didn't die just so we could pump the country dry...

.....just sayin'.

till later

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