Almanac for Homemakers

May Potpourri for Homemakers   As is tradition around here, the last day of the month is dedicated to a mix of tips for the homemaker. Let's see what our Almanac has for us on this last day of May. "Git rid of leftovers or other refrigerated foods promptly if you have the slightest suspicion about spoilage. It's better to lose the price of the food than to pay doctor bills." You might have to move around some items in your fridge just to make sure that you don't miss a tub of chili from January. Brush up on your Food Safety tips from this March Post. "Keep model numbers and direction booklets for appliances where you can find them in a hurry. The needed information will be at your fingertips when you call the repairman." I actually do this. One reason is that if I ever want to sale it in a garage sale I can include it. The other reason is just in case it decides to become possessed and I need the troubleshoot guide.

Consider Container Sizes When You Shop  "When you shop for canned or frozen vegetables, you may want to know the container size in order to relate the contents to the number of servings of cooked vegetables you will get." This is pretty self explanatory. BUT In the age of Grocery Delivery or Pick Up, you might want to know these tips so you don't accidentally order something bigger or smaller than what you need.   There are 8oz cans Picnic - 10.5 to 12 oz No. 303 - 16 to 17 oz   No. 2 - 20 oz No. 2.5 - 29oz No. 3 - 46 oz  For you Math Whizzes out there, skip these next couple of lines. 8oz is equal to 1 cup in the U.S. So you can go from there to determine the size you need based on the amount canned. Right? There are way more sizes and terms out there for canned foods. But for Homemaking, it makes sense to only list what you would find in a regular grocery store. Unless you are shopping at Costco. Then I would STRO

Shop to Avoid Leftover Fruits "When estimating the number of servings from fresh fruits, allow for waste - the inedible parts, such as parings, trimmings, cores, and pits." Our Homemaker Heroine is having a rough time with her grocery shopping. Yesterday she had some vegetable issues. Today she is contemplating her life decisions. "Why didn't I just go for that math degree? I went and got an Art degree and now I'm unemployed staring at fruit for 30 minutes while the produce monger wonders when he should call 911 on the weird lady that won't put the raspberries down." I have no problems saving money on my fruit shopping. Here is a tip. Buy what you and your family likes. One day I went to the store and bought some grapes. They were gone within two days and that was with me hiding them. I just got some pineapple and I can guarantee you that will last me all week as I will be the only one eating it. The kids expr

Shop to Avoid Leftover Vegetables "Wouldn't it be great to avoid those containers of leftover food that tend to build up in a refrigerator? Here is the scoop. Leftovers are inevitable! I actually like to make extra just to torment my family with "Leftover Night". Their cries tell me that they love it. Another way to save money on this is to j ust go out to your garden and pick some flowers when you get a little hungry. But Really If you want to save some money on veggies here are some tips: 1/2 cup is the standard size of vegetable serving for an adult. 1/4 cup for kids. You can typically judge this amount from looking at your produce, but certain veggies change when you cook them. Take for instance spinach. This leafy green reduces a lot when cooked. You also only want to cook the leaves and not the stems (stems get chewy) So you will have some waste associated with your prep. Other veggies like legumes w

It's Rachel Carson's Birthday. Use Pesticides Sparingly "A the end of May, with the air full of bird song, it's fitting to remember that today is the birth date of the late Rachel Carson, born May 27, 1907." Rachel Louise Carson was a marine biologist, author, and conservationist. Her most popular book, Silent Spring , detailed the harmful effects of pesticides on our environment. She accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation to the public and public officials of accepting their claims without question. She really sounds like an awesome person. I'd like to think we could have been friends. It was her poetic style of writing and well researched facts that made her books so attractive to wider audiences. “We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in  Robert Frost 's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on

How to Eat a Lobster  "If you are a native of the eastern coast of the U.S., the above heading may cause you to remark: 'But everyone knows how!' Not so. It's a fact that in the middle and western parts of the country you still can find many persons who do not know the delights of this most delicious seafood." I love this topic! It's a question as old as time, or For as long as we have been eating these sea cockroaches. I call them that because they are arthropods which means that they are more closely related to insects than they are any fish in the sea. In fact, in the 19th century, eating lobster was a sign of poverty. Prisons fed lobsters to their prisoners. Native Americans would use lobster as fertilizer or bait for more attractive fish to eat. They would even steam them to eat sometimes. Why was lobster so vilified? My guess is because they were plentiful! Lobsters would was ashore in piles sometimes 2 feet high.

Carry Finger-Washing Supplies in the Car "Before you set out on an extended car trip or vacation this summer, stock the car with supplies for washing sticky fingers." Is it just a little comforting that we have been dealing with kids being sticky since the dawn of man? I find it reassuring that my experience raising children are similar world wide and across the timelines. If you are one of those who say "I never let my kid eat in the car" , this post isn't for you. In fact, you can just close out this blog and go enjoy your Instagram filtered life. For the rest of us real people let's sit and talk about how to survive our gross sticky kids. Our Almanac suggests some old school tactics for tackling dirty hands. 1. Put a little grease-cutting lemon juice with some tap water in a squeeze bottle. Y'all This is great if you want to find out if your kid has a small paper cut. This just hurts thinking about it. 2. C

Tips on Making Potato Salad "The season for picnics and outdoor dining has arrived in most of the country. These meals won't be complete without potato salad." Whenever we need potato salad we usually just call my mother in law. Because she makes some killer potato salad. It's not a loaf like this awesome ad above but it certainly completes any meal. Here are the tips that our Almanac suggests: 1. Use potatoes that have thin skins. Boil them in their "jackets" and then skin the potatoes. Slice or dice into a bowl. 2. Prepare a marinade. Equal parts olive oil and cooking oil. 1 part vinegar. 3. Include chopped parsley, dill, chives, and/or onion. Mix everything together an pour over the potatoes then gently mix in. ... I'm really not sure why mayonnaise isn't anywhere here. Mayo is the glue that holds your potato salad together! What I want to know is how to make this potato salad loaf! Luck

When to Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth  "The old saying 'Never look a gift horse in the mouth' is unwise advice. If the gift horse (or pony) is to be a mount for your child, someone should look in the animal's mouth to determine its age." The saying "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" actually refers to don't question the value of a gift or be ungrateful for a gift. Which refers to evaluating the age of a horse by looking at its teeth. I never actually got that saying until today. The reason you would look at a horses teeth is because (according to our almanac) few ponies under the age of 5 are suitable mounts for a child. I really don't know anything about riding horses. So if any of the information going forward in this post is incorrect, please don't blame me. Younger ponies usually don't have the experience for handling and riding. You need time to teach and train horses. Older ponies will

Can You Improve Your Home Security? "A house can never be made entirely safe from intruders intent on stealing household goods or doing harm, but a householder can discourage them." This topic gives me anxiety. I have the worst trust issues. I think the worst of people until they can convince me otherwise. I have a large dog who, at night, thumps her body loudly on the floor at night to go to sleep. Chica has huge dog bed but no, she has to loudly lay down on the floor outside my door. Every time she does this I think that someone is breaking into the house! It's 2018. We have some issues people. Theft is a symptom of our overall community issues. People talk about the 'good ole days' when you could sleep with your doors unlocked at night. Spoilers: Sometimes people do still when they forget to check the doors at night. I like to put myself in the shoes of a thief. What would push me to steal? I have three kids.

Language Enrichment from the Kitchen "Ever think of how many familiar sayings, questions, and song titles contain foods and cooking terms used in the kitchen?" Everything I ever needed to know, I learned in the kitchen. Let's review the terms our Almanac has for us today! Appearance Fat as a pig Calf eyes Peanut or Shrimp Red as a beet or lobster Peachy Terms of Endearment Honey Dumpling Muffin "Your the apple of my eye" "The cream in my coffee" Temperament or Behavior Crabby In a pickle Salt of the earth Spicy Sweet as sugar Boiling mad Money Bringing home the bacon Bread Don't put all your eggs in one basket Don't count your chickens before they hatch Lettuce Other Sayings An apple a day keeps the doctor away Life is a bowl of cherries Cold turkey Out of the frying pan and into the fryer There are a few modern ones such as: Or my personal favori

Keeping Child Safe While Traveling by Car "You know that the use of seat belts is specified at certain times when you travel by plane, and constantly in a car. But have you heard that ordinary seat belts in a car are often bad for children?" It's 2018. Let me just preface this blog post with this: We have come a long way in child safety seating. In the 1930's, child booster seats were being made but not for safety reasons. They were made so that the adult could see the child easier while driving. It looked a little horrifyingly like this. And also if you ever needed to fly with your baby, they made some great ways for you to store your baby with your overhead luggage. It wasn't until 1962 that child seats were being made with the purpose of protecting children in a car. Models like those were not mandatory though. So you could still find boosters similar to those in the 30's for you kiddos to sit in. Seat belts

The Wonderful World of Wall Coverings "Thinking about wallpaper for one or more of your rooms this spring? It's a job you can do yourself. Many women do." Wall coverings, wallpaper, or decorative paneling can help spruce up the old living room or what have you. I talked about wood paneling in this post from March. If you ever Google 1970's wallpaper, be prepared for a sensory overload. OMG. Our Homemaker Heroine is showing off her faux brick wallpaper. Her husband is saying "Honey! What did you do? Seriously." Exposed brick can look rustic and give some old charm to a home. Today, we can thank Joanna Gaines and Fixer Upper for the SHIPLAP craze! Shiplap is commonly used as exterior siding for homes, barns, and sheds. If you don't want to get the shiplap boards to add that millennial feel to your home, you can always buy some faux shiplap wallpaper. That's right! Just like some fake 1970's brick

Housekeeping without Power: Water Supply? "Homemakers whose plumbing hooks up to the city mains should seldom have any question about an adequate water supply unless a main breaks." Typically if your electricity goes out your water will still run. Water issues usually come from broken water mains or contaminated water. With a broken main you might not have a choice. You will just have to do without.  So you do you have some back up water for cooking and washing? Will you be able to make a store run for a couple of 5 gallon bottles of water? It's easy to prepare if you know something will happen to your water before you lose it. We would stock up on water and emergency supplies during tornado and hurricane season. This post isn't just about "housekeeping" without water. This is about emergency preparedness. This is when all my hours of watching Doomsday Preppers will begin to payoff! You can start today on your wat

Hints About Colors When You Redecorate "Use colors thoughtfully when you redecorate any room in the house. Color selection of paints and wall coverings is mostly a matter of personal preference." 1970's What were you thinking? Everyone knows a home from the 70's includes brown wood paneling, avocado greens, and burnt orange. A lot of the iconic designs of the 1970's were a bit of an overflow from the 1960's. People began to tone down their colors for more neutral pallets. Maybe our couple here in this picture has decided to get rid of their beaded curtains and geometric wallpaper.  If you want to change up your wall color, it is recommended that you test the paint before making a final decision. The color you see in the store could look different in your room and with your own lighting.  Sometimes you might even think a color would look great in your room but then change your mind when you see that color spread across a

It's Time to Revive a Poinsettia "Danger of frost is now past in most of the cooler parts of the country. If it is where you live, it's time to get out a poinsettia if you have one in storage." We had briefly talked about poinsettias before in February when you were instructed to store your flower away from the freezing temperatures. Now that the threat of freezing weather has mostly passed, you can take your plant and move it to your garden. Poinsettias need to be in temperatures above 65 degrees fahrenheit. These guys also like to be watered daily. This is why they are indigenous to Mexico. They love humid, warm temperatures. So if you don't want yours to end up in compost, you need to take care of them. These flowers are like the extroverts of the garden. They like attention. They want your attention. They are so red to stand out for that attention. This is why me and gardening do not mix. I'm an introvert. I ne

A Dictionary of Hosiery Terms "If you are one of the many homemakers who also also has a part or full time job, chances are that the cost of hosiery makes up a good part of your clothing budget." Can we just take one second to look at this picture? Gross. Now back to our post. ... There are surprisingly a lot of different types of hosiery. You would not have guessed. The idea of this post is to save some money by wearing the correct type of hosiery for your day. I decided to pick my favorites from the list! Let's explore these hoes! Full Fashioned Stockings Stockings with seams. Vertical seam at the back makes the leg appear slimmer. ooo lala Fishnets Oh Snap! In the 70's the fishnet design was a little less obvious. It was a smaller net design. Panty Hose Growing up I called all stockings and types of hosiery 'panty hose'. These are the one piece sheer or opaque stockings that are topped with pa

Take Cuttings of Favorite Chrysanthemums "Taking cuttings about this time of year is an excellent way to have more of the chrysanthemums that you especially like." Alright Almanac. I'll bite. What is a chrysanthemum? 1. It is a mouth full.  It sounds like I am trying to chew gum and say something at the same time. 2. I'm guessing it is a plant. ding ding It's a plant. It's more commonly called a Mum. I love you almanac but I'm not going to do this. I have recently started taking care of a succulent! Those guys are easy. They like to be watered once a week and prefer that you leave them alone. I really don't know how these homemakers did it. I have three kids. That takes the option of a garden out of the equation. I have to feed and water these tiny humans. There is no way that I am also going to try to take care of all these other tiny things around the house. But you do you Homem

Your Guide to Spices and Herbs   "Spices and herbs include a great variety of vegetable products that are used to enhance the flavor of foods."   What is the difference between Herbs and Spices anyway? HERBS   These are the parts of the plant that come from the leaves. This includes basil, mint, rosemary, bay leaves, etc. SPICES Spices come from roots, stems, or seeds. This includes cinnamon, cumin, ginger, etc. So what do you need to know about herbs and spices when it comes to cooking? A good recipe will tell you if you need fresh or dry herbs.   Dry herbs from will need to be added earlier in the cooking process so the flavor will have time to steep out into your dish. Fresh herbs can be added towards the end of cooking. This is because the flavorful oils are released when prepping and cutting the herb. Fresh is always best but not always cost effective. Don't feel bad about keeping bottles of dry herbs around. Just keep th