Duelin’ Deals Blog by Marlaine

I have just been writing writing writing lately. Mostly for eHow and Marlaine’s Musings blog. I’ve accomplished one of my goals – 75 articles written and posted on eHow! My next goal is to write and post 100! I see some people putting up 100 articles in their first month on eHow but their content is short and sometimes pointless. I have been trying to go the extra 10 miles to find out all I can about something – even if it is something I already know a lot about – and give extra tips and hints whenever I can. I do the same thing for Marlaine’s Musings quest guides and general guides for Runescape.

Someone on eHow said that they wished someone would write guides for WoW like the guides I have up for Runescape, making me tempted to go try World Of Warcraft out – but I’ve been told that it’s mostly a war game so not quite what I am looking for. I will probably look into it soon though.

I am working at putting together some kind of blog or site that I can start “managing” my eHow articles in a more logical and organized way. On eHow, they show what catagories you have articles in but……. you can’t go to that author’s articles on those subjects specifically. eHow sent a notice that they will be redesigning their tools and setup but it won’t be implemented until November. There is a lot of time between now and November. Even I am having a problem remembering all the articles. I need to store my eHow articles somehow…. So we’ve decided on a domain name of StoreHows.com. We haven’t got anything online yet but we did buy the domain name already. I’ll be working on the design for a couple of days and then we’ll start with a blog.

A friend on eHow recently lost her main account, losing over 500 articles! She has no idea how that happened but I can almost guess. If any of you have tried to earn money with AdSense – you might have experienced the “You have been banned for suspect clicks” syndrome with no other explanations or communication from AdSense once they “kicked” you. Brad and I experienced that and could never get an answer from them about why. We changed to AdBrite and they work with their clients a whole lot nicer! You can have suspect IP addresses blocked or even your own so you don’t accidentally click your own ads. I always put adblock on when I go to my articles on eHow, or when I work here or on Musings. I wish I didn’t have to use ads at all though…….

The days of submitting an article or story to a publication and selling all copyrights are over now though with the way the net works! Even when I was submitting hard copy to magazines, I never submitted to places that bought All Rights….. Selling First Rights is fine – I’ve sold to Woman’s World, Star and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, among other places, and was paid fairly well but reprints rights are still mine! (I am trying to find the best ways to use my work and eHow so far has been the best for me.)

All that aside, I suggested to my friend that she should always make copies of her work for just-in-case. I do routine backup as I work through pieces I am working on but after giving her that tidbit of advise – I checked my “database” of articles. Raised eyebrow! I shall cut to the punchline here and save the sarcasm for later – I only had 24 of my 75 articles saved as posted on eHow! Tisk! Sure, I had lots and lots of saved drafts. I gather info, write up a brief draft and then tweak and fiddle with it, adding more research and whatever. Then I start working on the final draft on the eHow site, using their extended wizard. Rarely is the last draft I wrote in my word processing program the same as the one that ends up online! I spent most of yesterday copying and pasting the articles as they appear into a special file. I set up a document file much like the My Documents that is just for my writing! Now I am backing that up on a memory stick that my wonderful In-Laws in Australia sent to me! Mum and Dad – my writing files are over 900 MB now – Thanks again! (Lordy I would be so sick if I lost all that writing!) Eventually all that content (and more) will end up online somewhere – snickering! Geeeeeeeeeee – just finished the backup and it’s 1.01 GB now – see, I have been writing like a maniac!

I am starting to plan a cookbook, too….. Easy, Quick, Inexpensive, but don’t invite the Food Police to dinner!

One of the articles I have a draft of for this blog is how to make your computer run faster. You can find it on eHow but I will put it up in here soon. For now, I have more articles to write and designs to work on……

Have a great rest of the day!

I will have to take more time tomorrow to discuss the new page to the left. It’s all the Mixes and Makin’s Recipes I’ve been putting up on eHow lately. All of the recipes use common ingredients around the house or ingredients that can be purchase inexpensively at Aldi’s or even Pick ‘N Save on sales. I will be adding to the page as I add more of my mixes to eHow. To see all of my articles, that deal with a wideeeeeeeeee range of subjects, visit MarlaineMarie at eHow.

Try to stay cool, Midwesterners – dang this humidity is horrible!
To all – stay happy!
Smiling!

I did another article for eHow about How to Get Better Gas Millage. Have a look at my other articles while you are there – the subject base is getting bigger.

I was going to work on the Make-Your-Own-Mixes page before I got caught up working on the other article. I want to add the MYOM page to this blog because it really helps save a LOT of money if you can make mixes from ingredients you have on hand. I just need to get a few more recipes written up! You can see a couple of them up at eHow now – an easy biscuit mix and chicken spice mix. I have the usual habit of all pinch and glop cooks – writing things on a piece of paper without labeling it in any way until it proves itself worthy of a name. As I try something, I’ll write what I threw in there and later, stick it in an old wooden box my Grandma gave me – if it tasted good. The problem with that is……….. what was it? Shrugs – if I can’t tell from the notes, I try making it again. After all, if it didn’t turn out the first time, I would have tossed the note out. Probably….. Because of eHow, I try to be more precise …… most of the time. Clearing throat and continuing…….

Here is the article I put up on eHow:

How to Get Better Gas Millage

Everyday steps can help you save time and money without being a fanatic about it. Gas prices are getting incredibly high but there are easy ways to save gas and get better millage!

* If you don’t have a vehicle that’s good on gas, consider getting one!
* Check prices at different gas stations – it’s amazing how the price can fluctuate within a 10 mile radius! But don’t go out of your way to check, just pay attention.

Step1
• Replacing a dirty air filter (about every 3,000 miles) can improve your gas mileage by as much as 10%
• Adjusting your tires to the proper inflation every week can improve your gas mileage by around 3%
• When starting up and slowing down, do so in a slow, gradual manner. You could save up to 35% in gas economy! Coast down hills. (Your brakes will bless you with a longer life as well!)
• Use cruise control when you can on freeway driving.
• I don’t know about you, but I fill up when it late and cool. It doesn’t seem as though as much gas vapor comes out while you’re filling up.
• Get a tune up or do your own tune up. Check you owner’s manual for specific guidelines.
• If you don’t need a premium grade of fuel – don’t fill up with it! Today’s cars are most fuel efficient with the grade of gas recommended by the manufacturer and might even be damaged by higher grade gas!
• Turn off the vehicle when you park and wait. Anything over 5 seconds is wasting gas! Or is it 3? You get the point, don’t you?
• Don’t drive as much – plan trips ahead of time and make the most of wherever it is you are going, starting with the farthest destination. Consolidate errands as much as possible and cut down the times you cold start your car – saving gas and time!
• Don’t speed! Fuel efficiency drops once you go over 60 mph. The EPA estimates that each 5 mph driven above 60 costs you an extra 20 cents a gallon.
• Extra weight in the trunk or passenger compartment makes the engine work harder and uses more gas so lighten up as much as possible.

Step2
Dirty Oil! Don’t change your oil so fast! The myth is that engine oil should be changed every 3000 miles. Maybe older cars needed a change that often but today’s cars run cleaner and the oil has improved a lot, especially the synthetic oils. Most auto manufacturers recommend oil changes at a minimum of 5,000 miles – some even say up to 10,000 mile intervals under normal driving conditions! Even you can see when the oil is dirty but if you aren’t sure, take a good look at it on the dip stick right after having your oil and oil filter changed. It will be a bit golden and clear. The darker and cloudier it gets, the more likely it needs to be changed.

Step3
If you can’t change the oil yourself, go to a place like Valvoline. We bought a used car two years ago and wanted to get the oil changed – ASAP! The person who checked our car over said the oil was great and we didn’t need a change yet! That’s right! We were told we didn’t need a change yet. The next time we went in – about 3 months later – we were again told we didn’t need it changed by a different person. They also check all fluid levels every time we stopped, filling up whatever was necessary (radiator, windshield wipers – they would have added oil if we needed it), and adjusted the tires. We had it checked two more times before they actually said it was a good time to change it! The coupon I received in the mail brought the oil and oil filter change down to a little over $30 with tax! The last time we stopped, our Valvoline specialist was named Curtis. Just as every person I’ve ever talked to there, he was friendly and smiling, helpful and really earned our nickname for him – Courteous Curtis! Great place and great guy! (Wish we had stock in this company!)

As an added note, I have never gone to Valvoline with a question and been shuffled off. They always try to help. When a windshield wiper was ripping, the technician told me about it and when I asked how much they would charge to fix it for me, he said that we could get a replacement blade a whole lot cheaper from one of the car parts stores. Yes – that’s right! He said it would be easy to replace it ourselves, but if, by some chance, we couldn’t, just come on back and he would see what he could do. Smiling! This was not just a come on to a woman driver or something of that nature because my husband was sitting right next to me in the car and talking with the technician as well! Our Valvoline dealer must make sure he hires genuinely nice people and I feel completely at ease when we pull up to the garage!

When I went out to take the pic of the gas gauge of our car, I let Gypsy have a little run outside, too. I took the pic of the gauge, locked up the Taurus and wondered where Gypsy was. I turned toward the back yard, hoping to see her and – GASP! I saw a big, harry creature sneaking up on me! Yup – it was sneaky Gypsy pretending to be a wolf again! Notice the technique she’s perfected? She also held still for another 10 pictures, each nearly the same! The very first time she did it when she was under a year old, she hid behind the grill, which really didn’t hide her very well. Now she’s getting really good at hiding her 85 pounds – sort of reminding me of Wiley Coyote actually!

She might be more convincing if she wasn’t always holding some toy or another! Oh well, she’s getting better – that’s what counts!

Recycle and Reuse can be interchangeable adjectives. As more and more garbage gets dumped more and more places, it’s time to step back and think things over before tossing stuff into the bin! Maybe even step back and think things over before you buy whatever it is you may end up throwing out!

First of all – look at the packaging your purchases come in. If you have – say – a jug of fabric softener for your wash, buy the refill carton of fabric softener instead of a new bottle of it. It’s usually less expensive than the bottle anyway! Use a damp, matchless sock and pour about a tablespoon of fabric softener on the sock, rub it in, and then into the dryer – cheaper, easier, and no gunk to clog your dryer filter like those dryer sheets! I almost always miss the rinse cycle anyway and we all have a matchless sock or ten lying around! Mine is a goofy color that I can’t miss in the load – but you can always mark it somehow if you know you’ll never find the match. I will be adding more “Make Your Own Mixes” soon, but making your own reduces a whole lot of packaging and you can be sure of it’s freshness. Save containers with good tops and strong, durable bodies – like peanut butter jars and cottage cheese containers. Or cruise the thrift stores for glass jars with good lids!

I will be adding more “Make Your Own Mixes” soon but making your own reduces a whole lot of packaging and you can be sure of it’s freshness. The recipe for making your own biscuit mix that I put up on MarlaineMarie at eHow is so easy and handy that I keep some in the fridge all the time. You can also add a quarter cup of the mix into the chicken coating to lighten up the Oven Fried Chicken.

This may be drastic but we have pretty much stopped drinking sodas that come in bottles or cans. We make sun tea with a packet of drink mix powder for a flavored type tea. Cyclecyco, my brother, has a great recipe for sun tea on eHow. We also make glasses of lemon aid with concentrated lemon juice and sugar in a glass of ice water, as desired and “to order”. Since I can’t make root beer, my fav, we pick up a bottle once a month – maybe or Mountain Dew for Primefalcon. We also save those individual sized bottles from bottled water that we got for free as a reward for a $50 purchase – or some such – and fill them half way with water and freeze. Later, fill up the bottle with water and you have long lasting ice water.

Put things out on the curb a day or two before the garbage pickup that are no longer wanted but usable – like replaced furniture or appliances. Even if someone picks those things up to resell, fix & keep, or take to a salvage yard, it’s better than ending up in a land fill!

Donate old eyeglasses to The Gift Of Sight to help out someone who can’t afford a pair.

Take old computers to Staples, Office Depot or Best Buy – they offer in-store e-waste recycling. Best Buy also recycles used appliances. Dell, Toshiba and Sony recycle computer products.

Recycled motor oil can be made into a lubricant or fuel. Save used oil in a clean container with a secure, leak proof lid. (A funnel and rinsed out gallon milk bottles work great for this and recycles those jugs as well!) Recycle the used oil filter, too. Check out Earth 911 for places to recycle your oil and filter by zip code, along with other great tips about how to recycle.

Mulch or compost your grass cuttings instead of bagging them. Mulching is by far the easiest and most beneficial to your lawn by putting nutrients back into the ground. You will save on fertilizer as well! Cut often and not as short, mulch and use less fertilizer. By NOT cutting your lawn within an inch of its life roots, you give your lawn a better chance to resist the heat without turning brown, too. Also, gently hose down animal droppings if you have a dog instead of bagging. Talk about great nutrients for your lawn! Cut when necessary and not as short, mulch and use less fertilizer – can’t get much easier than that!

Gently used or like new toys can be donated to The Salvation Army, Vietnam Veterans of America, or a local shelter for homeless families or battered women with children.

Keep a bag of bags. Instead of buying new garbage bags, we use plastic grocery bags whenever possible. (Sorry – the paper bags disintegrate the moment water or condensation hits so are not very useful for recycling with most things!) Also – double wrap your frozen items with the grocery bag you brought it home in by simply twisting the top and tucking under. Most of us don’t double wrap stuff in the freezer the way we “should” – this is a quick easy way to do it as you put your groceries away! In addition, we often shop at Aldi’s – and we keep a supply of used grocery bags in the trunk of our car since Aldi’s does not supply bags for free. An added note: I’ve purchased a few of the bags Aldi’s sells for $.10 each and they are worth it – you just don’t need many. I also bought a library canvas bag and have been using it for years now – well worth the money!

I have actually purchased items for their packaging and potential continued use. The brand of cat treats I buy comes in a simple bag but usually doesn’t open and close easily. I bought another brand for it’s container about 7 years ago and keep refilling it with the treats my cats loves. BTW – my cats were not crazy about the treats that came in the container originally but I “made” them eat them before I bought a new bag.

Don’t buy things in single serving packages! What a horrid waste! Single serving hot dogs – are you guys kidding? How about an 8 pack and throw it in the freezer until needed, then a nice zip sandwich bag for the ones left over? No one is so bad at cooking that they can’t do a hot dog in the mike – are they? Just downright lazy and wasteful!

Gypsy agrees – single serving hots dogs are really dopey! She want’s the whole pack!

My brother called a few days ago asking for my oatmeal recipe. I remember him scrunching up his nose at oatmeal when we were kids. I said as much to him. Evidently, I had made some oatmeal for myself and made extra for him, and he’d loved it! I devised this method because I like it this way – and it is probably not healthy – shrugging. We’ve had family members who lived to 90 who smoked. One overweight relative made it to 100! I am not a could-care-less type but I am not a health nut either.

I wrote this for MarlaineMarie’s Articles on eHow….

How to Make Incredible Oatmeal!

Oatmeal – Blahhhh – you say? Try this and try not to want it again and again!

Things You’ll Need:

* Regular Oatmeal – not instant
* Milk of your choice – whole makes it creamiest!
* Sugar – 2 tablespoons per serving
* Butter – 1 tablespoon per serving
* Vanilla – 1/2 teaspoon per serving
* Salt – optional

Step 1:
Use the directions on the oatmeal box to decide on the amount of regular oatmeal you are going to make. If you make extra, it can be reheated in the microwave, tasting even more mellow the next day. Each brand may have slightly different proportions. Sugar can be replaced with Splenda (it really does taste good for a substitute!) or other artificial sweeteners for those with diabetes. Salt IS optional – in fact, I don’t use it in oatmeal.

Step 2:
Use milk instead of water, adding about 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra. Put the milk and oatmeal together in a pot and mix together. Let it sit a while – 10 minutes or so.

Step 3:
Add the sugar and salt, stirring gently. Add the butter. Turn on the heat underneath.

Step 4:
Bring the mixture to a gentle bubble, stirring constantly. Let it bubble for about two minutes. Add vanilla and stir in. Put a cover on the pot. Turn off heat. Move the pot off the burner. Leave covered and alone for about 10 minutes.

Step 5:
This oatmeal is made to be enjoyed without putting more milk, butter, or sugar into it. Add a bit of butter if you really have to but this is soooooooooooooo good as it is right out of the pot, and so creamy!
Tips & Warnings

* If you are a sugar craver, try pouring some maple syrup or any of the flavored syrups out there over the finished oatmeal.
* If you like it sweeter, just add more sugar before cooking.
* This oatmeal is all about enjoying it so if you want more milk and sugar or butter on the finished oatmeal, add it. Do try it plain first. You might be amazed!
* Add a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter per serving with the mixture in the pot before boiling for another really different taste!
* If you are a chocolate maniac, try adding about a quarter cup of chocolate chips before the cooking process. You can skip butter completely when you use chocolate. (or add peanut butter – yummmmmmm – smiling!)
* Combine everything, except for the vanilla, and let sit in the fridge overnight to be ready to make for breakfast!
* If you add vanilla after any cooking process in any recipe, it retains more flavor and aroma!
* As always, when making my recipes, do not invite the food police to breakfast when you make this! This recipe is to make you love oatmeal – not necessarily to be healthy!
* If you think margarine is better than butter – Tisk! Use good, wholesome butter, or peanut butter, or skip it completely! It will taste a whole lot better!

There are also other great uses for oatmeal.
Try this facial:
* 1/4 cup of dry oatmeal
* 1/8 real mayonnaise
* The juice and pulp of a real aloe plant leaf, mashed.
Mix all together, heat to just warm in the microwave, and let stand about 10 minutes.
Prewash your face with the hottest water you can stand to open all the pours.
Use the oatmeal paste all over your face and leave on for 10 minutes.

This is really great just before a shower. If you use a washcloth and wipe it off your face, use it on your body as a quick scrub. Oatmeal is great as a body scrub, too. Then use your normal bath soap as usual and rinse.

NEVER use regular soap on your face! Using the plain wet wash cloth as a scrub and the shower to rinse your face is far better for your facial skin than using a regular bar of bath soap!

While I have worked in restaurants, supper clubs and breakfast dinners as either cook or chef’s assistant, I never really thought I could write up recipes that I’ve come up with. My success rate has soared so, now, when I say – “Dinner is an experiment tonight” – Brad says Yeehaw! I grew up not knowing that mashed potatoes could be made without using a box of flakes so I had a big disadvantage when I started my first job in a buffet style restaurant…. but I was wide open to learning the basics. If you know the basics, the variations are endless and sometimes unbelievably good!

Ok here’s a recipe I submitted to Woman’s World and they turned it down……….sigh …………. but it is worth a try because it is so good! Granted, I’ve re-written it and took out most of the “Healthy” parts……….smiling! The different textures of the toppings and the Sloppy Joe style sandwich make this a unique sandwich dinner that’s filling & often requested! I’ll be adding the recipes Woman’s World DID publish (and paid nicely for) soon. The ones published by Woman’s World are healthy but don’t groan – they are really yummy too!

Sloppy Joes Mexican Style

Sucio Jose’s!
Here’s a fast and easy, healthy alternative to hamburgers and a change from tired old sloppy Joes. It’s a taco on a bun! And so tasty, too!

2 pounds hamburger, well browned and drained, completely.
Add:
Packet of taco spice mix.
1 cup chopped red and/or green peppers
16oz can of tomato sauce, plus a half cup of water
Simmer until thick, about an hour.
While the meat mixture is simmering, chop up the toppings of your choice listed below.
If you are going to use a taco shell or two, just hand break a bit and then crush it in a bowl with a glass – mortar and pestle style.

Fill buns of your choice (Onion buns recommended) with the meat mixture and top with your choice of the following:
Chopped onions
Chopped tomatoes
Sliced black olives
Sour cream
Shredded cheddar cheese
Crushed taco shells

If you are going to use a taco shell or two, just hand break a bit and then crush it in a bowl with a glass bottom – mortar and pestle style.

* You can use Italian sausage in addition to the hamburger to spice it up nicely.
* I get the big 3 pound pack of Italian sausage when it’s on sale and put 3 or 4 (flat – not tangled) in a zipper bag to keep in the freezer until needed. Easier to grab 1 or 2 when I need them when they are in little packs.
* You can slice the sausages thin or take the skin off and brown like hamburger.
* It is easier to cut the sausages while they are frozen but easier to brown skinless if thawed.
* If you are going to buy the hot peppers, do not touch sensitive areas like the eyes when you are cutting them up. Yowich! You can buy little cans of hot peppers but be sure you can handle the heat before you dump a whole can in!

I will be posting this recipe on MarlaineMarie eHow articles. Go ahead and have a read or three on various subjects.

We are seriously busy today……. we have been walloped by a giant snow storm here in Milwaukee. My brother alerted us a couple days ago and let us know we were going to get a big storm but even he didn’t know how big this was going to be. I’ll have to blame my hub for singing the Let It Snow song over and over but since he is an Aussie, he did not know what he was doing. On the other hand, I’ve been urging him to sing the song with alternate lyrics – Let Us Become Millionaires. After all, this is a record breaking snowfall that will not be letting up until tomorrow. The pictures in this post were taken at 5pm. We are in for a very long snow!

We made a grocery store run yesterday but even then it was getting seriously slippery in spite of the fact that it had been raining a half hour before we left the house! The one thing I fear the most is driving in slippery snow and – it is one blast to face fears! The car slid into Pick ‘N Save and it’s just a good thing that I drive very defensively!

We were stocked up on potatoes, onions, milk and eggs but the sale on ground chuck was over today and I suspected we would not be able to get out today to buy a few packages and – WOW – was I right! Sigh, feels good when you are prepared! When we lived out in the country, winter was always a time to stay stocked up on essentials! Here in the city, the store is less than 5 minutes away so it would be easy to get slack on this. Our Taurus is great on gas so that isn’t much to worry about but……… where is it now?

Even Gypsy stepped out our side door and then turned right around to come back in. I guess she decided to hold it a while – snicker. Brad tried to get her to go out to the back but she only whimpered near the door. The pic below is our front door and there are two steps in there somewhere! Noodles used her noodle and stayed inside!

Well, we have the thermostat low – 60 degrees – and our computers are supplying some of the heat in the room we spend the most time in. We turn on the little space heater once an hour, or so, to up the heat a bit but that little thing draws a lot of electric. We keep the door open a bit but the two cats and Gypsy are in here too, adding their warmth. This is a well insulated house so this room is nice and warm now!

To everyone in our area – Stay warm and cozy! To those in the south being hammered by tornadoes – stay safe! This is one blasting weather pattern we’re going through! Stay in touch with those you love to make sure they are ok!

I have always resisted buying mushrooms in quantity because I wasn’t sure what to do with them to keep them fresh. Whenever I buy a package, I poke holes in the wrap to let air in and put them in the fridge, or take the wrap off completely. Our local Pick ‘N Save had such a great deal on fresh mushrooms that I just couldn’t resist getting a bunch. I bought 6 – 8oz for $5! That is a lot of mushrooms at a really low price. We usually don’t use fresh mushrooms because they are usually over $2 for an 8oz package. Sigh……. but we love them so much!

I decided to try it this time because a spaghetti sauce we often buy from Aldi’s has pretty decent sized mushrooms in the sauce. I have seen that anything that can be canned can also be frozen somehow – usually!

Cut off dirt and any soft pieces. If they seem extra dirty, rinse them off or use a soft brush to clean them. Put wet mushrooms on paper towels and cover with paper towels. Do not rinse unless you are going to use them right away or the dampness will promote withering. Don’t use water unless you have to!

This time I sautéed onions first in a little butter and then added mushrooms, letting the mushrooms gently soften down. We used some on our hamburgers for dinner (Aldi’s had a great deal on onions!)………Wowow that was incredible! I put some of the mixture in freezer containers and into our big freezer.

I’ll use some of the onion/mushroom mix with fresh green and yellow peppers (green peppers that turned yellow – smiling), sliced browned Italian sausage, browned hamburger and an Alfredo sauce to pour over fettuccine noodles. It will quicken the cooking time and saves me a lot of fiddly work later!

You can also freeze them alone but never freeze fresh ones…. I tried that a while ago and those mushrooms turned to yucky mush! Sauté in butter or olive oil. OR simmer (do not boil) the cleaned and washed mushrooms in lightly salted water for about 15 minutes, cool, put into a plastic container or bag, add some of the cooking liquid, label, date (they will keep for a few months), and freeze.

You can also store the mushrooms for a few days or a week in your refrigerator by taking them out of any plastic wraps or containers and putting them into a paper bag. If you get them into paper bags and into the fridge once you get them home, they could dry out enough to be able to store them dried. They have to be completely dried though.

I’ve dried a lot of parsley, lemon balm, chives, and many other herbs using the paper bag in the fridge trick. Remove leaves from the stems to save yourself a lot of work later. Just remember to reach in and hand toss the herbs around a bit every few days – that way you can test the dryness. If you have cats, gather catnip and leave branches whole or in bigger pieces – they especially love catnip out of the fridge in the middle of winter!

A lot of us idle our cars when we first get in. My Dad used to tell me that it was good to let it warm up at least ten seconds before you move. “Wait for that engine rev to die down, Doll” – he’d say. Well – it is no longer necessary with today’s fuel-injected engines that just don’t need that warm-up period any more. Idling for long periods can cause engine wear to boot! By the way, Australians call the trunk of a car – the boot. Smiling.

In fact, idling for more than 10 seconds uses more gas and creates more global warming pollution than restarting the engine.

Diesel engines can use more fuel while idling than moving – up to four times more (many studies have had similar results) and emissions can cause a host of health problems: asthma attacks, contributes to global warming, impaired lung function and heart problems.

Idling is a big problem in large cities that get gridlocked often like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, emitting up to three times the pollution than moving traffic. Buses that idle to catch up to schedule times and truckers who idle while they sleep may need to change their ways soon!

We all know in Wisconsin and any other colder climates that we let the car warm up for a few minutes before driving off. It isn’t because of idling for the engine’s sake either. We usually start up the car and scrape snow and ice off the car, often followed by going back into the house for a cup of coffee or a last minute bathroom visit. My brother often does both. Believe me, there are times when saving money is not that important to me. When I drive while my teeth chatter and my gloved fingers are shaking from the cold sneaking up my hands, it is well worth it to start the car up and let it idle a while. Much better than having an accident because you’re frozen stiff!

But the truth is, for most of the year, just start up the car and drive to give your car a longer, happier life with less troubles. Besides, you also save gas and money by not idling.

Note: Don’t run the air conditioner unless you must. Contrary to common talk, it does use more gas while running it.

Originally posted September 25th, 2007

Stress and emotion shows in your face and I don’t mean just the expression that momentarily shows to the world. Stress has an adverse effect on the body – from your heart, to your face, to your well being, your weight, and it even effects your skin!

When you’re going through stress, your level of the stress hormone, cortisol, goes up in proportion. With more cortisol in your system, the higher your levels of blood sugar rise, too. Higher blood sugar levels have been found to increase the rate of skin aging because sugar molecules attack your skin’s collagen and elastin. So when you pull “that face” while stressed out over and over again, your skin will not be able to return to it’s original shape as well – therefore creating those deep frown lines and that pout mouth. We’ve all seen those people who walk around with a perpetual frown……. yuck!

Pimples, decreased blood flow to the skin – which can make your complexion appear dull and give you dark circles under the eyes, and wrinkles are all aggravated by stress.

Stress hormones break down your skin barrier by reducing the layer of fatty acids that protect your skin from outside irritants and help hold onto moisture. The results – dry skin, redness, and inflammation, and more likely to develop into rashes and allergic reactions.

Here are some tips to combat the damage that stress inflicts on us:
* Sleep! So simple but sometimes so hard to get enough of. Eliminate caffeine at least three hours before bedtime. Seven to eight hours is optimal for regulating cortisol levels. Beauty sleep – it isn’t a complete myth after all!
* Eat a balanced diet, especially by reducing sugar. America has become so obsessed with low fat that the products with low fat are often overloaded with sugar to make it tasty. Sugar isn’t only in candy and bakery. Reduce carbohydrate intake found in things like potatoes, rice and pasta – it’s quickly converted to sugar after you eat them.
* Take supplements like chamomile, feverfew, sulfur, and salicylic acid. Omega-3 fatty acids can also help bolster your skin barrier and prevent irritation. Increase good fats in your diets.
* Exercise, meditation, and deep breathing have all been shown to reduce stress. The scent of lavender can also slow brain waves and calm the mind. Take a long soak in the bath tub and use moisturizing lotions! Calm yourself. Try this tape, Your Present: A Half Hour Of Peace… Susie Mantell’s voice is incredibly soothing! I love it!!! Or try this 10 minute time out that can be found free at ….. Brain Sync….. ahhhhhhh…….
* Make a lotion for yourself out of real aloe plant leaves. Keep a plant growing in your house at all times if possible! Peel the skin off a nice plump leaf and scrape the pulp into a bowl. Mash the pulp with a fork. Add some pure oil olive in equal measure. Put into a container or jar with a lid and store in the fridge. This would not last long if mixed in hand lotion but can be added to the amount you would use in a couple days. Keep refrigerated – there are no preservatives in natural aloe pulp like the stuff in pre-made lotions (In fact, you should notice the extra strength of this mixture because it hasn’t be processed). For an incredible facial, use a very comfortably hot, damp wash cloth held to your face to open the pours first and gently massage with the cloth. Apply the aloe oil to your face and let it soak in for 15 minutes – perhaps while soaking in a tub or taking a shower.

Over and above all else, remember that you are a being of value in the universe! Forgive yourself for any mistakes you may have made or might make in the future. Be patient with yourself and others……………