Coupons 101

It seems to me that most people are hesitant to use coupons.  They either think it takes too much time or give off the impression they are stingy or poor.   Let me first off clear the misconception that it is embarrassing to use coupons – look at it as a challenge and I love the thrill of seeing how much I saved at the end of the trip!  Open your mind to the possibilities and view it is shopping you can justify – I mean, we all have to eat, don’t we? 

Coupon shopping does require a little (or a lot) of organization, but it all depends on the level of coupon clipping you want to do – it has to fit YOUR lifestyle.    

A majority of grocery coupons come from the Sunday paper and the remaining from in-store coupon flyers.  I honestly don’t have hours to peruse through them right then and there, so I recommend keeping them in a pile placing the newest coupons on the bottom and oldest on the top so they are easier to reference.  Later when I have time, I will take no more than 15 minutes going through these to see if any of them apply to my needs and clip them.

I separate the supermarket coupon circular and always look at that that day as those coupons are only good for the week ahead.  I plan my meals for the week based on that coupon book and plan my grocery store trip.   Lastly, I group my list according to section of the supermarket so you can be more efficient and not get caught up into the distractions supermarkets want you to

Electronic coupons which are getting big, allow you to go to supermarket websites to scope out coupons. It’s a great idea to combine the different types of coupons available. With coupons, you should always ask if your store doubles up on coupons.

Be sure to sign up for any supermarket super save cards to receive additional discounts at the register without even clipping a coupon at all.  Some supermarkets also provide gas discounts which you can use in conjunction at participating gas stations

I believe the key in using coupons is to start small and work up to whatever comfort level works for you and your household.  And who knows, you can possibly get to so good you might even begin to brag about it to your friends

Cumin 101

Throughout the world, cumin is second in popularity to black pepper.  It's pungent flavor is a must in Asian, Indian, North African, Middle Eastern and Latin American cooking, most notably Brazil.  Cumin is a member of the parsley family.  Cumin seeds resemble caraway seeds in that they are oblong and ridged in shape as well as being yellow-brownish in color.    Cumin is however hotter in taste, lighter in color and larger than caraway.

Cumin has been in use since ancient times.  Originally cultivated in Iran and the Mediterranean, cumin is mentioned in both the New and Old Testament of the Bible.   Ancient Greeks kept cumin in a special container at the table, much like we do with pepper today.  Use it as is or roast at 350 degrees for 5 minutes to mellow cumin's flavor.

Luxury 101 - Bedding

I believe that since I spend 1/3 of my life in my bed, I may as well have an enjoyable experience in it. A while ago I found this great resource for fantastic duvets, pillows and down featherbeds. I use the Charter Club pieces via Macy's. I have the lightweight and heavyweight pillows and the lightweight and heavyweight duvets (depending on the weather). I have always liked the look of two comforters on a bed. Every morning when I make the bed I twist the featherbed 1/4 turn to keep it from getting worn in one place.

I also attached seam binding to the corners of my duvets as well as to the inside corners of the duvet covers - then tie them in a loose knot to keep them from shifting one way or another (bottom photo).

When purchasing down products, steer away from anything advertising hand-harvested goose down, this is inhumane (they pluck the feathers off the live animal). It may sound better, but in the end is not. Most down that you buy derives itself from the food industry in case you did not know where it all comes from.

I cannot say enough about how wonderful this bedding is. Plush, fluffy pillows - it really is an essential to me and the price point meets anyone's budge (even today). You can find the bedding via the following links:
Comforters
Pillows
Featherbeds

Ironing 101 - cloth napkins

Now I know some people say ironing is a chore, I would tend to disagree. I find ironing to be relaxing and my perspective is it is all in how you do the task that makes a difference in how you perceive it. I recently entertained for forty people and decided I would show you how to iron properly. For today, I am going to discuss with you how to iron your cloth napkins and keep them looking like they do in the store (or as close to it).Cloth napkins are a great way to dress up a table for any occasion. Whenever I launder them, I always first check them for any unnerving stains and spot treat those with shout or if the linens are white, I have bleach with water (50/50 blend) in a spray bottle that I only spray direct on the spot. I always wash linens on cold, except for linens that are completely white (which are done in hot) - but then use a cold rinse. If you think you have some difficult stains, you can try using warm, but then a cold rinse.

Once they are done in the washer, you can either begin the ironing process then or you can throw them into a plastic garbage bag to keep them damp (up to 48 hours). If I do not have any other laundry to do and know I will have time to iron them in the next 48 hours, I will keep the linens in my washer to keep damp. Do not do this for an extended period of time or your linens will then need to be laundered again. Otherwise you can pull them out - DO NOT PUT THEM IN THE DRYER... EVER! If you are not going to have time for a while, then pull them out and let them air dry until you are ready to iron them.

I placed these dry linens into a laundry basket and poured one small glass of cold water (one at a time) over them until they were damp. I then let them sit for 15 minutes before I started to iron them to make sure they were all wet. I also always have a spray bottle filled with water to use whenever the linens are dry. You want a damp linen when you are ironing so you achieve that crisp look to your linen.The workhorse, my Rowenta Pressure Steam Iron. I have to start this iron seven minutes before I can use it due to the large water holding tank that generates the steam. This thing doesn't quit, it can go for hours. You can see the damp linen to the right.

Now I begin to iron the damp napkin. You should have steam coming off the linen and you sometimes on darker linens will notice the color lighten as the water/steam evaporate from it.

Here I have done half the napkin, you can see the color change. Once you are done with the entire linen, you then fold it in half, and iron over the entire half. You will still most likely have some steam arising, that is good because it allows for good creases.

Then you fold the napkin over itself again so it resembles a long strip and you iron over that again.
Lastly, you fold that strip in half over itself so you can see the edges/corners and finally iron over that. By doing this, you will add years of life to your napkins and make many table settings and events more special.

Collecting 101 - Mercury Glass

I have a large mercury glass collection. I became fascinated by a butler's ball, which is a large mercury glass ball on a pedestal (all one piece) that was used on a mantel in earlier days so servants could view into an opposing room to see if their master needed anything without physically being present in the room. Since then, I have so much of this - it truly is an addiction.

Mercury glass is the common term for silvered glass, which describes glass that was originally blown double walled, then silvered between the layers with a liquid silvering solution, and sealed. Although mercury was originally used to provide the reflective coating for mirrors, elemental mercury was never used to create tableware. Silvered glass was free-blown, then silvered with a solution containing silver nitrate and grape sugar in solution, heated, then closed. Sealing methods include metal discs covered with a glass round (England) or a cork inserted into the unpolished pontil scar (American). I have some pieces that still have the original cork

"Mercury" silvered glass was produced originally from around 1840 until at least 1930 in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, Germany, and was also manufactured in England from 1849-55. Companies in the United States, including the Boston and Sandwich Glass Co., New England Glass Co. and the Boston Silver Glass Company, made silvered glass from about 1852-80. Vases, goblets and all form of tableware were decorated with a variety of techniques including painting, enameling, etching, and engraving. Silvered "mercury" glass is considered one of the first true "art glass" types, that is, glass that was made for display and for its inherent artistic value, rather than for utilitarian use. Collecting this type of glassware is fun, and can be inexpensive.

Majestic Pines 101

I live on Majestic Pines, and since I love botanicals I brought the two together. When I moved here, I thought it would be best to remove all the pine trees, but I have since come to love them after finding out so many fantastic things about them.

The Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris in latin terms) is among the most important commercial trees. Most of them have straight, unbranched, cylindrical trunks, which furnish large amounts of excellent saw timber. On account of the straight grain, strength, and other qualities of pine timber, it is used for nearly every sort of constructional work and the trade in it is enormous.

All pine trees yield resin in greater or smaller quantities, which is obtained by tapping the trees. The crude resin is almost entirely used for the distillation of Oil of Turpentine and Rosin (a form of resin), only small quantities being employed medicinally - for ointments, plasters, etc. When the Oil of Turpentine is entirely distilled off, the solid material remaining (residuum) is called Rosin or Colophony, but when only part of the oil is extracted, the viscous mass remaining is known commercially as common Crude Turpentine.

Oil of Turpentine is a good solvent for many resins, wax, fats, sulphur, and phosphorus, and is largely employed in making varnish, in oil-painting, etc. Medicinally, it is much employed in both general and veterinary practice for external applications to the skin, and is valuable as an antiseptic. It is used for horses and cattle internally as a means to rid their bodies of parasites, and externally as a stimulant for rheumatic swellings, and for sprains and bruises, and to kill parasites.

Rosin is used not only by violinists, for rubbing their bows, but also in making sealing wax, varnish, and resinous soaps for sizing paper and papier maché and dressing hemp cordage, but one of its special uses is for making brewer's pitch for coating the insides of beer casks and for distilling resinous oils, when the pitch used by shoemakers is left as residuum. Pitch is also used in veterinary practice.

Tar is an impure turpentine, viscid and brown-black in colour, procured by destructive distillation from the roots of various coniferous trees, particularly from the Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris). Tar is used medicinally, especially in veterinary practice, for its antiseptic, stimulant, diuretic and diaphoretic action. Tar-water is given to horses with chronic cough and used internally and externally as a cutaneous stimulant and antiseptic in eczema. Oil of Tar is used instead of Oil of Turpentine in the case of mange, etc.

A considerable industry has grown up in the United States in the distillation of Pine wood by means of steam under pressure. One of the products thus obtained, which has considerable commercial importance, is known as Pine Oil. It has a pleasant odor, resembling that of caraway or Juniper Oil, and has been largely used for making paints which dry without gloss and as a 'flatting' material. It flows well under the brush and is a powerful solvent, and is useful for emulsion paints such as are now employed for inside work.

Pine resins are largely employed by the soap-maker for the manufacture of brown soaps.
The trade in resins was for many years almost exclusively a French industry, and only in France were the Pine forests turned to account for the production of resin on a commercial scale. Now, however, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia and North America furnish quantities, though, from the point of view of quality, the Pines which flourish near Bordeaux in France furnish a resin still much in request, and the turpentine extracted therefrom is abundant and one of the best qualities produced.