Tag: handy

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Cool rain catchers

During the summer I went to visit a friend of mine. On her porch she had what she called rain chains. I had never seen them before, and she explained that they caught the rain and watered the plant below, that was in a pot with the chains attached to it. She had a lots of really cool ones all around her house. I knew right away that I wanted to get some for my gardens, yard, porch and gazebo next summer. I asked where she had gotten them and she told me she went online for them.

I of course got online and found the garden rain chains that I totally love and want for my gardens next year. So then that led me to start doing more garden planning for spring. I’ve listed all the seeds and plants I want and how I want to redo some of my gardens just for these chains. They will make really nice additions to my front gardens as well. I have a lot of little fairies and what I call peeky people situated in places that one would least expect them, but can be seen if a person looks closely.

While browsing, I found a gutter rain chain and thought that would be a great idea for dispersing more rain water than what my boarder flowers would normally get because of the overhang on the porch.

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Adapters are a good thing

I have to admit that I have a love-hate relationship with technology sometimes. I think technology is great, but there are so many different connection types for things that it can make my head spin! Would you believe that I have three drawers full of different types of adapters? These are an accumulation of at least twenty years! Some of them are a mystery to me at this point. I wish I had been smart enough to put them each in a zipper-type of plastic bag and labelled the bag with what type of adapter was in the bag! Doing that would come in really handy when I need to find a dmx 5 pin to 3 pin adapter! I am going to start doing that, starting with the next time I am putting an adapter in the drawer! And from now on, when I have to rummage through the drawer to find an adapter, when I find what I need, I will label it before it goes back in!

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Portable battery chargers

My son was taking photos with my camera and even though I had bought really good battery’s they kept dying on him. He told me that I should get a portable USB charger battery. It made sense to me. With all the new items we have in the house and in the vehicles, getting one of the chargers would help a lot and cut down on the cost of having to keep buying batteries. I can’t believe the price of good batteries now and I really can’t afford to keep buying them. My camera was a major big deal to me, and I could not understand why the batteries kept being literally sucked dry.

I think my son’s suggestion is a good one, so I’m going to check it out. Certainly it will be less expensive than having to shell out money for all kinds of batteries like I have been doing. These would even help with cell phones dying and my laptop computer running out of power also. They work with MP3 players, iPods and other electronic items that the kids have. It gets to be an expensive pain, every time I have to run out to the store or shell out money for new batteries. So, I’m going to look into my son’s suggestion.

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The dreaded grocery store

Having to make another trip to the grocery store is something I have to do today that I really dread. Everything has gotten so expensive, that I find myself looking in all my cookbooks for ideas of meals to make that are great, nutritious but the ingredients are inexpensive.

My mom did give me a big envelope of coupons that I’m going to go through. They may help. The problem with using the coupons, is that most of them are for things I don’t normally use. Or, I forget the ones I can, which is a major flaw of mine. I also tend to forget my lists unless someone in the family reminds me.

Today I’ve decided to go in armed though. I think when I went to the market on Sunday, I got flustered because the store was super crowded, a lot of the items that were on sale had not been restocked and I didn’t want to try and find a person to help me go in to where ever they go and get what I wanted. That is, IF I could have found someone to help. In that store it’s nearly impossible. I just wanted to get the heck out of there.

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A new Garden Trellis

Since I’ve been already planning my front yard gardening and also getting seeds, I decided I need new trellises. I’m really looking forward to getting them because I have been growing various climbing vines and they seem to be taking over the whole yard. I am going to get four, since I have four porch posts that actually look like they are holding up the roof of the porch, but are really for decoration.

I have tried a vinyl trellis in the front garden before, that my husband had gotten me for my birthday, but it didn’t last like the ad said it would. Within the season, it cracked and fell apart. I don’t think that he got it from a reputable place. I do though, give him an A for effort at getting me something that he thought I would like. I did too, but it just didn’t hold up in our weather here

I like a trellis that is strong enough to hold my runner beans, morning glories and my other types of plants that like to have something to climb on, other wise I end up with really pretty flowers laying in the lawn and they don’t look happy, plus they are really bothersome to mow around, if they aren’t picked up, then laid back down after the mowing is over. My husband used to try, but it was a loosing battle, since most of them were voluntary plants, and I had just let grow wild. I just didn’t have the heart to pull them up. This year, I’m going to do a lot of yard work and am looking forward to this new look also!

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Crazy weather

The telephone woke me up at 5:30 this morning. It was to tell me that the kid’s school had a two hour delay because of the fog. I didn’t expect fog, since it had just snowed the day before yesterday.

After I turned on the news, I let the dog outside to do his business, it literally felt like Spring out doors. It was raining and foggy, yes it was that, but the porch thermometer read 52 degrees. This is January! I couldn’t believe it.

I sat with my tea watching the news and weather report and indeed it was about 52 degrees. All of a sudden, I saw lightening, then heard the thunder. I jumped, since it startled me and spilled my tea all over the sofa. I had to get stain remover today when I went into town. The weather report said that the temps were supposed to drop drastically and we were going to have snow. I stocked up on some items we use a lot of, just in case. Also more lamp oil and candles. Things like that, which come in so handy if the power goes out. I spent way too much money today, but just in case items seem to cost more when not planned. It is snowing now and the temperature dropped steady every hour today.

 

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Address Plaques are a great solution

After my mail box got hit and demolished the other night, I’ve decided to look at cool address plaques. My old mail box had the house numbers that were reflective, right on the wooden mailbox post. It was free to have the first time, from the village I live in. Now, it will cost me a mint to get another one. Since the mail is delivered around 10:00 am, and everyone knows everyone here, my mail man does not need to know my the house number, so it doesn’t need to be a reflective address sign.

I rarely ever have company in the night time, and if I do, once again, I don’t need reflectors on the house number, but I would indeed like to check out house numbers for the front of my home. I like the look of them. I’ve seen many now after shopping around on the net, that are classy, but not too fancy or overstated for me.

I also have been trying to decide if I would like to buy something distinctive for the front lawn, since my herb and flower gardens are planted there. I’ve been looking at lawn plaques. There are some really very classy, but simple ones I wouldn’t mind having. I’m still undecided, but I am leaning to these, as they would give a great touch to my front lawn and gardens.