Hello everyone:
When Do You Need to Buy More?
When the bottle of ketchup or the container of strawberries gets low, you probably know it. Would you rather run completely out of something, need it desperately, and then have to make an emergency run to the store to buy it? Nope, I didn’t think so.
When you see that the bottle that you have is less than half full, start looking for specials for that product. If something is on sale, don’t buy ten bottles if you live alone, but do stock up.
[Note: Things rot and products have expiration dates. Be sure to check the dates on the side of the container. If you think you won’t use it up by then, only buy one, not fifteen. Even if it is a really good deal, if you aren’t going to use it before it expires, then it really is not wise to buy too many of whatever it is.]
What is your favorite story of when you bought too many and the expiration date arrived too soon?
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Garage doors are an awesome thing, especially if you have an electric garage door opener. Pulling them up and down under your own power can be a wet activity if it is raining and a snowy activity if it is snowing, so it’s just plain nice to have an electric one do the job for you.
If you lose the power to your house, you will find it difficult to get your car out of the garage, so you will have to pull the emergency cord that hangs down from the opener in order to release the lock it has on the door. If you pull this rope, it will disengage from the opener. This will allow you to manually open the door and get your car out. Once you are outside, pull the garage door down by hand and turn the handle so that the door locks.
Your garage door opener will not work when you come back home after the power is on. You will have to go into the house, come through the garage, get on a ladder, and reattach the opener. Release the door lock on the door so that your garage door opener can function properly.
[Note: If you do not do this correctly, you could really mess up the garage door, which would collapse under the strain of being opened when it is locked. You do not want that to happen, so make sure that everything is hooked back up correctly and that the door is unlocked.]
If you have done it right, you will then be able to push the garage door opener button and pull your car back inside. If you have not done it properly, you will destroy your garage door.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Vesta Stoudt from Johnson & Johnson invented duct tape; she deserves our life-long praise. This marvelous tool can be used to secure screens on windows (perhaps not the best of uses but it kept bugs out of my condo when I was a single gal with no clue how to tighten the screw things that held my screens in place).
It is used to stick things together and it works very well. It is available in a variety of colors in your local craft and hobby store; however, I have found that it will not hold a heavy air vent air re-director in place over time. [While visiting my condo in Florida, I was freezing because the air conditioning was blowing right on my desk. I bought an air vent re-director thingy and tried to attach it to the vent. My purchase had magnets on it, but the vent was made of plastic, so they wouldn’t stick to one another. I bought some of my beloved duct tape (in white, so it would match the vent) and used some of the tape to attach the vent cover to the vent. It did not last long; I should have used screws.]
Duct tape can also be used to keep water from your shower from getting into that circular thingy that seems to serve no purpose in your shower. You know the thingy- it is under the faucet, taking up space for no apparent reason. You have to keep the thing clean and shiny or you look like a slob- you know what I am talking about, right? Well, if you have a water leakage problem, I have seen duct tape used to block water from getting underneath it and spoiling the ceiling in the room underneath your bathroom. This should not be a long-term fix, but it can help out in the short term.
What creative uses do you have for duct tape?
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Do you know what day the trash is collected in your area? How about knowing when the recycle folks show up? What time do you need to have the trashcans out at the curb? Where should you place them? How much time do you have to bring them back to the house? (This could be an issue with your homeowners’ association.) Are there any special restrictions on what you can place at the curb?
If you haven’t been paying attention to these details, talk to your neighbors or observe what they are doing. Your local county is also a good source of information on trash. Visit their website or give them a call to find out what is or is not acceptable.
Garbage cans can be extremely heavy when they are full, so either do not fill them completely, use more than one garbage can so that the weight is more evenly distributed, or get a dolly to roll the can to the curb.
I do not recommend putting the garbage can in the back of your car; even if you could lift it (this sounds like a hernia operation waiting to happen); if the trash spills out you could end up with a very smelly trunk.
Make every effort to get rid of your trash on a weekly basis. The longer it hangs around, the more likely you will attract bugs, rodents, or other small animals. Trash does not get better with time. It also does not go away on its own. (Think Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie, here!)
You can also purchase garbage cans that have wheels. They come in very handy if you need to pull your garbage can to the curb for pickup. You may wish to put your house number on the side of the can so that you can identify it from those of your neighbors; a magic marker usually works well on providing the cans with permanent identification. Again, be sure to follow the homeowners’ association rules for when you’re your garbage can be placed at the curb and the deadline by which it must be removed.
What tips do you have for garbage removal? I would love to hear from you!
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Garage doors are an awesome thing, especially if you have an electric garage door opener. Pulling them up and down under your own power can be a wet activity if it is raining and a snowy activity if it is snowing, so it’s just plain nice to have an electric one do the job for you.
If you lose the power to your house, you will find it difficult to get your car out of the garage, so you will have to pull the emergency cord that hangs down from the opener in order to release the lock it has on the door. If you pull this rope, it will disengage from the opener. This will allow you to manually open the door and get your car out. Once you are outside, pull the garage door down by hand and turn the handle so that the door locks.
Your garage door opener will not work when you come back home after the power is on. You will have to go into the house, come through the garage, get on a ladder, and reattach the opener. Release the door lock on the door so that your garage door opener can function properly.
[Note: If you do not do this correctly, you could really mess up the garage door, which would collapse under the strain of being opened when it is locked. You do not want that to happen, so make sure that everything is hooked back up correctly and that the door is unlocked.]
If you have done it right, you will then be able to push the garage door opener button and pull your car back inside. If you have not done it properly, you will destroy your garage door.
What tales of woe can you share about your garage door?
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
How do you know When Do You Need to Buy More?
When the bottle of ketchup or the container of strawberries gets low, you probably know it. Would you rather run completely out of something, need it desperately, and then have to make an emergency run to the store to buy it?
Nope, I didn’t think so. When you see that the bottle that you have is less than half full, start looking for specials for that product. If something is on sale, don’t buy ten bottles if you live alone, but do stock up.
[Note: Things rot and products have expiration dates. Be sure to check the dates on the side of the container. If you think you won’t use it up by then, only buy one, not fifteen. Even if it is a really good deal, if you aren’t going to use it before it expires, then it really is not wise to buy too many of whatever it is.]
One exception to the above rule deals with paper towels. You can never, in my opinion, have enough of them….well, actually, you could have too many, if you can’t move in your kitchen because of the pile of unused rolls. Don’t ask……okay, I will confess. When I was a single mom, I used to buy paper towels every time I went to the store because I was always using them to wipe up spills. Apparently, my son and I weren’t as messy as I expected because, when I went to move, I found that paper towels and bottles of ketchup dominated the space in my boxes. These days, I buy them about once a month. That works much better and doesn’t take up as much space.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Women should keep in mind the need to have a marketable skill, even if their plan is to get married and live happily ever after with their husband supporting them.
My sister-in-law had a ministry to recent widows and she tells the story of many older women who, after they get over the shock of losing their husband, suddenly realize that he had little or no life insurance and that they do not have any income.
One of the women she ministered to was so unfamiliar with the ways of the business world that she started to work for someone, only to learn later that the person was paying her poverty-level wages. She was unable to maintain even a small house on her income and had to turn to her church for help.
She is in better financial shape these days, yet she has no money for anything except the bare necessities of life. If she had not been involved with a widows’ group, who knows where she would be today, since no one would have been aware of her extreme situation.
Have you known a widow or divorcee in a situation similar to the one I have just told you about? It would be great if you could share it with us (no names, please).
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
You know those weird sounds that you have been hearing, the ones that sound like scratching? Do you sometimes find strange brown turds on your countertops? Have you ever found Christmas ornament boxes full of destroyed, formerly stringed ornaments? Have you ever reached into a cardboard box that you had in the shed and saw something move out of the corner of your eye? My dear, you have mice (or, at the very least, mouse).
Keep in mind that these critters are very fertile and letting one live with you can lead to your having a whole colony of mice. You need to get rid of them ASAP. There are various ways of doing this; we have effectively used baited traps in our garage and basement. The upside is that the traps can be baited with peanut butter; the bad news is that you have to get rid of the mouse after you catch it and it may still be alive, just stuck.
When a mouse threatened the sanity of my time working in our garage a few years back, we put out a snare, only to find that the mouse survived the entrapment. When the little critter showed up for the peanut butter feast, my hubby was out of town, so I managed to get the mouse and trap into the middle of the garage, covered it with a layer of cardboard (to protect my tires), and drove back and forth over the covered mouse until there were no more signs of life underneath. I then swept the entire contraption outside and moved the car back into the now-mouse-free space. The deceased rodent thoughtfully remained under the cardboard until my husband returned home, though it might have looked a bit odd to the neighbors.
A good friend of mine has a cat that periodically demonstrates its love by depositing half-dead mice at her feet. After she got somewhat used to this method of devotion, she said that her favorite means of removal was to pick the rodent up with a large pair of kitchen tongs and place the unfortunate animal in the toilet, for rapid flushing. She must have a really high-quality toilet, since there is no problem with the toilet accepting the mouse for disposal.
If you have a toilet that might not take such deposits, you might be better off using the tongs to toss the creature outside in order to rid your home of it. However, if the animal does not die, you could have a problem with a mad, injured mouse returning to torment your life via the courtesy of your cat, since the mouse would be considerably easier to catch in its current condition.
Do you have a rodent-catching scheme that works for you? Please do share it with us!
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
One thing that faces newly-single people is figuring out when to shop for supplies. This is especially true with widowers whose wives always made the grocery run. Here are some tips for making that trip a bit more productive.
When the bottle of catsup or the container of strawberries gets low, you probably know it. Would you rather run completely out of something, need it desperately, and then have to make an emergency run to the store to buy it? Nope, I didn’t think so.
When you see that the bottle that you have is less than half full, start looking for specials for that product. If something is on sale, don’t buy ten bottles if you live alone, but do stock up.
Note: Things rot and products have expiration dates. Be sure to check the dates on the side of the container. If you think you won’t use it up by then, only buy one, not fifteen. Even if it is a really good deal, if you aren’t going to use it before it expires, then it really is not wise to buy too many of whatever it is.
Today’s blog is end-of-the-semester short but I hope you found it helpful. What ideas do you have that you’d like to share on going to restock your pantry?
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Some widows have a problem in that their husbands drove everywhere so they did not know how to get anywhere. Ladies, if that applies to you, you absolutely must develop a sense of direction. Google maps, while not infallible, are a good start in getting directions so sit down at your computer, pull up the website google maps, and input a couple of addresses so you can learn how to get from Point A to Point B.
Take a trusted friend who has a good sense of direction with you and practice driving! If you don’t want to be stuck in the house all the time, you must get started and there is no time like right now (unless it’s the middle of the night, and then your friend might look at you a bit askance if you suggest a driving lesson). Unless you have a medical condition that prevents you from driving, do not rely on the kindness of your friends and family to drive you around forever. Show some independence and backbone!
Sometimes when you are driving somewhere in an area that you are unfamiliar with, you might find yourself forced to take a different road. I was driving home from work recently; I live some distance from where I am employed and do not know that area very well. As I was headed north on Route 4, the traffic became very backed up, to the point where we were completely stopped on the road which normally has a speed limit of 55.
There was a very bad accident that closed the road, so the police were directing traffic to turn around and head south. That road was the only way I knew to get home and there was no one available to tell me where to go or how to get there. I had a new cellphone and did not know how to use it to find a map of the area. There were no maps in my car, since I had recently traded in my old car and had not returned the maps to my glove compartment. I do not have a GPS with my new vehicle.
What could be done? It was then that I noticed the truck in front of me, which had also been traveling north, had bumper stickers that were from the nearby high school. The man was local, even though I wasn’t. It seemed reasonable to think that a local person would know more than one route to get where he wanted to go, so I followed him. All the time, I kept an eye on the compass on my rear view mirror to make certain we were going in the right direction. I also kept a mental picture of where I was in relationship to the road I had been on. Sure enough, in a few minutes, my unknown local friend had led me successfully back to the road I had been on, albeit past the accident.
I hope this helps get you “on the road again!” What tales of woe do you have to share on this topic? I would love to hear from you!
Best,
Dr. Sheri