Rachel Royce

Speaking of getting perfume stench out, how many here have had the unpleasant experience of greeting a friend or relative with a hug where your faces touch one another and then you get that damn nauseating perfume smell from them and you have to scrub your face and ear to get it out?!

My husband brought home a used car for me but I couldn’t stand the perfume that permeated the drivers side seatbelt. I found a solution, (or should I say solvent?) that worked perfectly. I bought a gallon of the cheapest vodka in the store and used that to extract the odor. Here’s how I did it. I made a soaking tank out of a cut off quart milk bottle.  Filled it with vodka. Pulled out the seatbelt and secured the top with a clothespin To prevent it from retracting. Soaked the seatbelt in the vodka overnight. It took 3 repeats of this procedure to get the perfume out. The first 24 hr soak transferred quite a bit of perfume stench to the vodka.

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

Rachel Royce wrote:Was on a dehydrated veggie kick a while back. One of the surprise family favorites was okra!!

Interesting! I can buy dehydrated okra at the Asian or African import stores nearby.  They rehydrate nicely, but I haven’t tried nibbling on them.

I forgot to say that I lightly coated them with a spice mix in oil before drying.

Was on a dehydrated veggie kick a while back. One of the surprise family favorites was okra!!

Made a sling to carry firewood inside. Used the handles from an old IKEA bag.

Growing up I can’t remember any rhyme or reason to the meals we had. Raising two children we have fallen into meal patterns. We have taco Tuesday every week but we have it on Wednesday! Most Mondays my husband and I have composed salads and I cook some kind of animal protein for our teenage son.  On Fridays we always have seafood and challah for shabbat. My husband cooks that meal. Every Saturday morning we have pancakes or waffles. Every Sunday night we have some kind of pasta for dinner.  The rest of the days of the week what I cook depends on what vegetables look good and whether the hens are laying. I do have a set of vegetarian recipes in high rotation. I usually make a legume main dish each week - lentils, dal, etc.  I try to make a chicken dish once a week for my son. My husband will not eat any creatures except for ocean dwellers or freshwater fish.

During the pandemic’s early days we planned the shopping weekly around a set weekly meal. That made a huge difference in ease of planning and less wasted food. Now we are back to chaos and much more frequent trips to the store. Luckily, it’s an easy and pleasant walk to the store.

Refurbish is my middle name! Or is it repurpose?  Anyhoo, there have been a couple of times when I’ve led children’s tie dye projects.  That dye, once mixed up, is only good for 24 hrs. Can’t waste that! I had a big stash of yellow napkins with lots of stains. They got transformed into amazing explosions of color. Very much improved.  Boring beige silk top and linen blouse turned one of a kind mauve and gifted to my niece who treasures them. I’ve repaired moth holes in my wool long undies by felting polka dots in each hole. My kids laugh at me when I wear that shirt so that’s fun too. I’ve repaired tears in silk blouses with simple embroidery.
Lastly, I had a pair of worm out terry cloth potholders that were just right in size and flexibility. I couldn’t find a replacement even though I looked high and low. I refurbished them by cutting up a pretty dish towel and using it to re-cover the potholders. Sewed right over them with an x in the middle and top stitching all around. They’ve lasted another 12 years!

George, I’m curious. Why did you make the leak of your building so high?

I use 100% cotton tobacco baling rope. It has lasted through two seasons and is on its third. I can’t remember where I got it locally. I have seen it for sale online but the postage seemed high. https://www.agcareproducts.com/products/11608-cotton-twine-2-lb-tobacco-balin