Pancakes are fun. Cleaning up after them is not. Lo and behold, the progression of ketchup and other plastic squeeze bottles into EZ-pour, high-volume dispensers makes them perfect for conversion into pancake batter dispensers The price is right (free, if you buy ketchup), and the cleanup is as simple as shaking a bottle full of soapy water, or recycling the bottle if you don’t plan on future precise pancake pour projects.
Month: May 2011
Stop Sneezing
- Using your thumb and forefinger, pinch your upper lip lightly and press it upward toward your nostrils. Your thumb should head toward one nostril and your forefinger toward the other, bunching up your upper lip slightly.
- Find a small table anywhere in your home, hover your face about 1 inch from the top of the table and stick your tongue out and just wait for the sneeze to subside. It takes about 5 to 7 seconds. It seems silly, but it really works.
- Press the top of your upper lip with a finger.
- Spread the thumb of one hand away from the fingers. Using the sharp edges of the nails on the thumb and index finger of your other hand, pinch the flap of skin between the spread thumb and the fingers.
- Think very intensely about the spot right between your eyebrows. Keep imagining that something is touching it until the sneezing feeling subsides.
- It is often possible to stop a sneeze late in the build up by sucking the tip of your finger. This works right up until the point when you actually initiate the sneeze.
- If you see someone about to sneeze or if they state that they feel a sneeze coming on, say “Pineapple.” The absurdity and timing of the word sometimes forces the brain to “forget” about the sneeze.
- Try using your finger to push up on the bottom of your nose as soon as you feel the tingling.
- Using all of your concentration, visualize a grapefruit. Imagine having one in front of you and observing the color, texture, shape, and any irregularities. Think about what happens when you cut it, and the color and amount of juice inside. This should distract your brain from the imminent sneeze.
- Clench your teeth together, but try to stick out your tongue (use the muscle to push against the backs of your front teeth).
- Push fingernail between teeth at gum line, bottom-row teeth are most effective. Repeat as necessary.
- Tap on your forehead between your eyes when you feel a sneeze coming on.
- For this one you will need a friend. Have him/her stand directly behind you, and then try and imagine yourself eating a very spicy taco. While you are doing this, have your friend flick your ear as hard as they can several times. This will overload the neural sensation preceeding the sneeze.
- Try placing an ice cube in your mouth and pressing it with you tongue against the roof of your mouth. It seems to stop repeated uncontrolled sneezing.
- Chewing a sugar free slightly menthol or spearmint gum helps to stop sneezing fits.
- Let all your breath out. The sneeze will either go away entirely, or it’ll come out weak.
more sneeze stoppers here
Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 egg whites, beaten
Directions
- In a bowl, sift together confectioners’ sugar and cream of tartar. Using electric mixer, beat in 2 beaten egg whites for about 5 minutes or until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape.
T-shirt Quilt
If you collect T-shirts like I do, then you’ll need to make room in your closet for more… What do you do with the old ones?? Turn them into a quilt, of course!
Supplies:
– 24 cotton t-shirts (this was for a 4 x 6 square quilt for a twin-size bed). You may want extras so that you can decide to leave some out at the end if they don’t fit your color scheme.
– fabric scraps galore (these should be strips of fabric, up to 14″ in length, in widths from 1-4″)
– large piece of fabric for backing (2 yards (72″) by 3 yards (108″) gave me enough extra to make a border for the front as well)
– rotary cutter, cutting mat, long plexi-glass ruler, and scissors
– sewing machine, pins, and thread
– iron and fusible interfacing
– heavy-weight batting
– 3 skeins of embroidery thread in a neutral tone and an embroidery needle
complete instructions here
Duct Tape Rose
What’s more beautiful than a rose? A rose made of Duck Tape. There’s no dirt and no thorns to deal with. Plus, you don’t ever have to water it.
Give a hand-made Duck Tape rose to someone special and he or she will be stuck to you like…let’s just say it’ll be appreciated.
Supplies and Tools
•Duck® brand Duct Tape
•Straw
Optional Supplies and Tools:
•Scissors
Skill Level
Beginner
Approximate Crafting Time
20 minutes
Step 1
Take your straw and cover it in tape (lengthwise works the best). This step is completed best if you roll the straw across the tape, sticky-side up.
Step 2
Cut several strips of duct tape – about 2 inches each.
Step 3
Sticky side up, fold one edge over itself, leaving some stickiness on the side and bottom.
Step 4
Take the parallel edge and fold it over, leaving only stickiness on the bottom of the strip.
Step 5
Roll this across tightly; this is your center.
Step 6
Insert the center piece from Step 5 into the top of your straw.
Step 7
Repeating Steps 2-4 with strips of duct tape, loosely bind the strips around the center (these are your petals). Make sure to adhere the petals to the both straw and the center piece from Step 4. Continue until you’ve reached the desired size.
Step 8
For the leaves under the rose, repeat Steps 2 – 4 with the same color that you used for the stem. Wrap these pieces around the stem at the base of the flower to cover up the tape edge.
Do It And How 