CLICK HERE FOR FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES, LINK BUTTONS AND MORE! »

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

i believe


I’m a firm believer that the biggest difference we can make in the world is not one that requires a lot of time, money, skill, education, or even talent.
I may not be able to go overseas and drill wells for a village but I can turn off my cell phone when the cashier checks me out at the grocery store, look her in the eyes, and thank her for her kindness in ringing up my groceries.
I can look people in the eye when they speak to me, I can smile in return and with all of my heart wish them a good day. Who knows, they just might have one as a direct result of my wishing. Stranger things have happened.
I truly believe that the biggest difference you can make in the world requires the ability to see people with your heart rather than your eyes or your preconceived notions, and to then take your heart and lift it up into your smile.
We all make a difference every day. The tiniest drop of water can lead to a wave and just because I don’t get to see my drop roll into that crashing tide doesn’t mean that I’m not contributing.


I didn't know that...

i know this list is long but trust me.
some pretty interesting shit on here.   

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 beat them up.

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

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!

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 will frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount of frosting. Also eating 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. [so smart!!!!!! j.d.]

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...tada!...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!

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. [use it as a body moisturizer too, works perfect j.d.]

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
Dryer sheets cause a film over the mesh on your lint screen and
that is what burns out the heating unit. It's what is in the dryer sheets
to make your clothes soft and static free.. You know how they 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 have the potential to burn your house down (So to keep your electric bill lower) ---take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. (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.}

Coughs that keep you awake
when you go to bed, coat the bottom of your feet with vicks vapor rub, or generic brand, and put on socks. Your coughing will immediatly stop. Something very healing about feet.

Flower beds
When making a new flower bed, you don't need to remove the grass, just treat it with a grass killer then cover with a couple inches of black dirt. Wait about a week before planting. Not only will this save you hours of labor and back ache, but you will have a slightly raised flower bed for less money.

When marinating meats, use and 1 egg white instead of olive oil to save calories. (for 1 pounds of meat)

For all cakes and brownies, and 1/4 cup of applesauce for moisture. Vanilla and chocolate pudding work well too, depending on your tastes and what you have in the house.

When dying your hair, first color it with a temporary kit. One of those 2-4 weeks ones. Then color it with the permenant color kit. Your color wont fade at all.

For warts on hands and feet.
Put duct tape on warts until they are gone, even when your sleeping, only takes a couple days.
Put vanilla yogurt on a bee sting to reduce swelling.

For a headache
Soak your feet in water with a little cinnimon in it. AND / OR Make your favorite tea adding a little marjoram, rosemary, tarragon, cinnimon and thyme to it.


29 semi-productive things I do online when my mind is set on avoiding ‘real work.’

1.              Check delicious popular tags like ‘useful,’ ‘tutorials,’ ‘tips,’ ‘howto,’ ‘advice,’ ‘entrepreneurship,’ etc. for interesting, educational articles to read.

2.             Watch one of the thousands of educational videos streaming at TED.com,Academic Earth and Teacher Tube.

3.             Read an online book list and find a new book to grab next time I’m at the library.  Here’s another list.  And another.  And another.

4.             Read a classic book online for free at Project Gutenberg, Planet eBook, or the E-books Directory.

5.             Research a new Do It Yourself project at DIY Network, Instructables,eHow, or WikiHow.

6.             Add to, delete from, or just generally sort my ongoing to-do list atRemember The Milk.

7.             Create a cool graphical mind map of some of my recent ideas at bubbl.us.

8.             Email a close friend or family member I haven’t spoken to in awhile.

9.             Backup my recent photos, documents, and other important files online using Microsoft’s free 25 gig SkyDrive.

10.           Use Wikipedia’s random article function to pick a random article to read.

11.            Touch up on my math and science skills over a the Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, or LearningScience.org.

12.           Send a paper greeting card directly to a friend or relative at enGreet.

13.           Start learning a new language online for free at BBC Languages orLivemocha.

14.           Watch one of the insightful 6 minute and 40 second presentations atIgnite Show.

15.           Use Memorize Now to memorize a cool joke, or poem, or whatever.

16.           Use Media Convert to convert video files I have on my computer into a format I can view on my iPhone or iPod later on.

17.           Listen to an educational podcast over at Odeo or via iTunes on iTunes U.

18.           Read one of the academic journals at the Directory of Open Access Journals.

19.           Share my favorite mp3s, photos, videos, etc. with friends and family usingdrop.io.

20.          Get a free college education online using this guide from Lifehacker (or read one of the other useful articles on Lifehacker).

21.           Inspire and spark my creative mind by looking at a rolling slideshow of the highest rated photos on Flickr for the last 7 days.

22.          Catch up on a short history lesson at HyperHistory or The Internet History Sourcebooks Project.  Or find out what happened today in history.

23.          Take a fun, educational online quiz at Quizlet.

24.          Play an educational online game at Lumosity, Sporcle, Games for the Brain, or Math Run.

25.           Add a little gentle rain to my environment using RainyMood.com and then simply meditate and relax in   my computer chair for 10 minutes.

26.          Sell old stuff I no longer need on eBay and make a little extra cash.

27.           Find a new musical artist to listen to based on music I like at Grooveshark,Pandora, last.fm, or Deezer.

28.          Find out what’s happening in our world from quality international news sources like BBC News and Reuters.

29.          Write a blog post like this one.

Oh, and ever since I bought my new (super sexy) Apple iPad, I’ve been enjoying all of these sites on the go and catching looks from almost everyone who passes me while I browse.


so what kind of semi-productive things do you do online in your off-time?  do share them with me in the comments section below.

i confess.  i haven't done ALL of these.

beauty tips from Real Simple magazine

now this sounds like a good idea and for only $9.  it's a new product for defined brows.
Revlon Colorstay Brow Enhancer's lightly tinted wax fills in sparse spots and keeps unruly hairs in place.  sweep the attached highlighter under arches to play up their shape.  available in four shades.


and when applying under eye concealer, the natural tendency is to look up to the light but then you can't see what you're covering.  well, duh.  why didn't i think of that


and 

when applying blush, suck in your cheeks and starting at your temple, follow the lines of your bones

when setting your makeup with powder, puff out your cheeks to smooth out wrinkles so makeup doesn't accumulate in them and exaggerate lines.  then relax your face, blend any excess product away

I will test these ideas tomorrow.  I'm meeting Stephanie at 5pm.  YEAAAA!!!!!!

bubbly toes

it's been nine months since my last pedicure
i know, yuck!
so i treated myself to a pedi today and a full set of nails.
yes, i have daggers again


i just poked a new hole in my ear and i'm worried i'll go for my nose before i remember the daggers are back.
i'll keep you posted.



and another thing......

why don't English speaking people own nail salons?