Monday, April 13, 2020

Pandemic Ingenuity


DEBORAH CROMBIE: In these stay-at-home weeks, we're all learning ways to compensate for the things we can't buy or do. Here are a couple of my pandemic hacks--silly they may be, but I'm quite proud of them.

With no trips to the nursery and no fresh herbs available in the supermarket deliveries (at least in my area) I was really missing planting my spring/summer pots of tender herbs. (Why is there a shortage of fresh basil, I ask??) So a few weeks ago I ordered a kit with little seed-starting pods for nine fresh herbs, including basil.  What I didn't realize until the kit arrived was that it was meant for a fancy $150 grow-light set-up. Well, I wasn't about to throw out my little pods, and I sure wasn't ordering the grow-light apparatus, but what to do with them? 

Here's my solution. An egg carton, an orchid stake, a plastic plant saucer, and the light from my kitchen window. And voila! All the little seeds have sprouted! In a day or two they will go into plastic cups, then hopefully, in a couple of weeks, into the outside bucket garden.


Hack number two was a solution for my splitting thumbnail. About fifteen years ago my right thumbnail developed a perpetual crack. This seems to come from  a fault in the nail bed and can't be fixed with glue or regular nail polish, and it doesn't heal itself when the nail grows out. 

The only workable remedy I've found is either a gel or an acrylic powder coating. With no salon manicures in the foreseeable future, I ordered a UV salon light and some base and top coat gels, then rooted around in my dresser for the bottle of gel color I'd bought to use at the salon before I went to London last fall. I've never even managed to do a decent manicure with regular nail polish, so I approached this with some trepidation and a good deal of trial and error. But what do you know, it worked, and it looks much more professional than I ever imagined! 



Dark purple wouldn't have been my spring color of choice, but it sure beats keeping a band-aid over my thumbnail!

Reds, what are some of your ingenious solutions?

JENN McKINLAY: Nice hacks, Debs! Much like you, I’m really missing my nursery! I’ve been using the scraps that used to go into the compost pile to plant. So far, I’ve had luck with repurposed green onion stubs, bell peppers cores, and sunflower seeds. Here’s a pic of one of my baby sunflowers.



Because I haven’t been able to visit the local “smelly store” (that’s what we call Bath and Body Works) and am missing my scented candles, I dug out all of the old plain tea lights I had, melted them down added some essential oil (lavender for calming) and a cotton wick and now have mini (colorful) candles burning while trying to maintain my Zen. 

HALLIE EPHRON: My favorite hack is in this week’s New Yorker - a NYC chef (Emma Bengtsson of Aquavit)  improvised, propping her phone on a head of broccoli to film a cooking demo when the tripod she’d ordered hadn’t come.

Not exactly a hack, but it's been an adjustment, not shopping for groceries every 3-4 days and walking down to the Seven-Eleven when we run out of milk. Instead I’ve been trying to order online for delivery. Anyone who’s trying to do this knows it’s a challenge to get a delivery slot. The first time I scored a slot, it was for 3 weeks ahead. My list grew longer and longer as the date approached, and the total ended up being nearly $400. Yikes. 

Then the delivery came! And immediately I began fishing for a new slot. It was an obsession. For days I tried at all different hours, only to find every time slot booked, And then last night I set my clock for 2 AM, got up and trundled down to my office, logged onto the market’s web site, and managed to book a slot. It’s two weeks from now but that’s perfect! Instead of adding to a shopping list, I go online and add to what’s in my ‘cart.'

I’m also understanding what we always called our parents’ Depression mentality. I simply don’t throw bits of leftovers away. They go into soups and stews. Overripe bananas can be frozen and used for banana bread or smoothies. Also we’re using the telephone a lot more. Actually *talking* to relatives and friends instead of texting or emailing. It’s really quite lovely.

And my hair… it hasn’t been this long since I was a hippie. I actually dug a curling iron out from under the bathroom sink and used it.

DEBS: Hallie, I cut my own bangs! Didn't turn out as badly as I feared (maybe I should get a second opinion on that...) and at least I can see now.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m not going to be able to worry about planting for another month and a half, so I’m going to order seeds from Johnny’s Seeds here in Maine as soon as they open for residential customers (they’re only filling commercial farm orders right now. However, Jenn, I’m intrigued by sprouting from scraps, and would like to find out how!

We’re still setting fires in the kitchen and family room wood stove to help keep the house warm (we had snow last Thursday that stuck to the ground for over 24 hours!) We’re fine on wood, but we normally use newspaper twists as the base layer for kindling - from newspapers we get at the Transfer Station, since we only have the Maine Sunday Telegram delivered. Of course, the Transfer Station is closed right now… but we’re still getting a steady diet of junk mail, medical bills with three extra pages for privacy, etc. So instead of many pieces of newspaper, I’m crumpling the burnable parts of our mail (just paper, no plastic, no coated stock) and adding just a few twists of newspaper to start a fire. It’s actually working better than newspaper alone, because the print-quality paper goes up more slowly and lasts longer, creating a longer period of time for the twigs and small splits to catch. 

Hack for those of you who suddenly have a lot more people eating at home than you did in the before times: I’m completely doubling all dinner recipes. Like, I’m making so much, I do it in two separate pots. With a 19 yo, a 22 yo and a 27 yo at home, it at least makes sure everyone has all they want in the evening AND ensures leftovers for lunch the next day. Truly, I had forgotten how much a household of young people eats when there’s no high school cafeteria and take out pizza to fill the gap.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I am spending so much time not only cooking--but planning. What I have to use first, monitoring sell-by dates with supreme focus,  learning how to freeze things, being so frugal and careful. Don’t use all those paper towels to wipe the floor! I call out to Jonathan. We can use rags, then wash them. I use half a disinfectant wipe instead of a whole one.

Anyway. We had a bunch of hot dog buns in the freezer, (I think from last July 4, frankly), taking up too much valuable freezer space. So--I made rosemary infused olive oil croutons! Cut up the frozen buns into crouton size, coated them with the oil in a bowl, CAREFULLY toasted in the oven. SO delicious. I mean--fabulous. 

And I found out you could grow spring onions from the tips of the used ones. I mean, of course things grow, but it never mattered before, because there were always onions.  But now it seems so terrible to throw anything away. I am so happy that they seem to be sprouting! (How much water are you supposed to put in, anyway?)




Plus, I made masks out of tea towels and hair holders, essentially the origami version. SO pleased with myself. 

Getting ready to cut my bangs. AHHHH. I have a Facetime appointment with the hair guy, and he is going to tell me how. Or try to, at least. Debs, your success gives me hope.

LUCY BURDETTE: We are very fortunate to have planted tomatoes, peppers, and basil on our deck well before all this hit. If only I could share!

I had the funniest experience on Saturday. Our church in CT sent out an email inviting us all to be part of a Zoom Easter choir. I love to sing (though I’m lacking in real talent) and I hated missing Easter, so I signed on. Our choir director/organist Nathan is an incredible musician, who cares deeply about how a group of singers sounds and works hard to get the very best out of the material he’s given. Anyway, about 17 of us plus the minister aka tech guy showed up on Zoom, along with Nathan stationed at the organ. We were to sing two familiar hymns “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” and “Thine is the Glory” that would be used in the Sunday service. We had a practice run. We were so AWFUL!! It wasn’t only the basic droning, it was the waxing and waning of Internet in 17 homes that caused us to be completely off the beat most of the way through the song. Poor Nathan! There was a lot of discussion about how to fix it--I suggested lip-synching or solos. Others thought we should all sing separately and some IT wizard would run that together, or maybe watch Nathan’s head bobs. (We were really trying though!) Finally, I said: “I think we have to focus on the joy and not worry so much about the sound.” So we tried again. At the end, someone asked the minister how we sounded. 



“There were glorious moments!” he said, then added, “Even the most broken things can be glorious.” 

I’m telling you the laughs were so worth the price of admission!

RHYS BOWEN: I am frustrated because I’m trapped in our winter home in Arizona,which is a lovely place to be but... it was only equipped with the basics and we moved house last spring, tossing out any bits and pieces. So no baking items, no sewing items, not even a jigsaw puzzle!
 
We just have a patio and shrubs so no garden. My daughter gave me a couple of pots and seeds but so far none has come up. Am I the only person in the universe who can’t grow zucchini?
 
I will try Hank’s growing onion tops ! Any other suggestions?

Also hardly any bath products etc. all those lovely bath bombs in California! And craft supplies plus a huge library to read! Thank heavens for Kindle.
 
My one hack has been making a face mask from a bra!  But it’s not very breathable.
 
I am trying a little painting with my granddaughters in California.

DEBS: So we are all working on our Little House on the Prairie selves, with a little WWII victory garden thrown in. 

What about you, dear readers? What solutions have you come up with for the little nags of our new reality?
 

108 comments:

  1. I’m baking bread . . . [and cake] . . . lots of cooking and baking.

    We’re growing vegetables from the scraps, too. I’m happy to see my leeks doing so well. We don’t throw much away, either; the scraps go into the compost bin.

    The girls and I chat on the phone [which is nice] . . . and I write letters to the grandbabies . . . .

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  2. I have no TV dinners crammed in my freezer. And I'm actually working my way through some of my DVD's and Blu-Rays that I've bought but haven't rewatched recently. Not much is the way of hacks here.

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  3. I'm not sure I have any hacks to offer, but, like many, I've been doing a lot more cooking and baking. Again, it's not a hack, but I've learned that it's okay to not have everything a recipe calls for (of course, there are some items that are essential), and since I've been trying some new recipes, that's a good step forward for me. For Easter, I made a cheesy chicken recipe (video I followed is on my FB page), but I didn't have the mustard the sauce called for. I went ahead with the sauce anyway, as I reasoned that we weren't big on mustard tasting dishes, and it turned out delicious. I was glad because I was fixing a dinner to take to my MIL, too. So, not just running to the grocery for every little item has taught me to be more creative and less a stickler or perfectionist. And, of course, there's more of an effort not to waste food, too.

    Debs, I can't believe I've actually found someone else who has the split thumbnail problem like I do, and I've had it for years. Can you tell me what the gel is you use? Your nails look beautiful, and I love the purple color. Lucy, your online choir made me think of Psalm 100 that states "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing." I've always loved those particular verses, and you were so on target about focusing on the joy. Hank, I want to try the spring onion growing. Jenn, can you tell us how to grow the bell peppers from the core? Julia, I'm cooking large portions with just the two of us here, so I can have plenty of leftovers, and we do take MIL some, too. Hallie, I'm glad I don't have to do the grocery delivery, as your and other people's tales of wait times are long. My husband is still going to grocery for us and his mother. Oh, and we're talking on the phone a lot more, too. I'm especially thrilled with the video chatting I'm doing with my ten-year-old granddaughter.

    One of the interesting things I've been observing is the adjustment in my ten-year-old granddaughter's learning and my daughter's stress level. My granddaughter loves school, but she loves learning in any setting, and besides the required schoolwork, she is reading up a storm, making jewelry (and I mean nice pieces, with bending metal and hammering and what-all), sewing the dogs some outfits (hilarious), working jigsaw puzzles with her mom, my daughter, spending time exploring outside, and writing. She's read almost all of the Warrior Cats series, and she has now made up her own tribe with 40 cats, named the cats and described them, and written stories about them, and made a map of their dwellings. She's keeping this all in a notebook. Then, she continued her newly made up cat tribe outdoors by creating their dwellings and dens outside. They live in the country, which gives her plenty of resources for this. She and her parents are playing games and going to their cabin (it's very isolated), and I see a more relaxed atmosphere in all of this change. She had so many activities going on, which she wanted and enjoyed, that there was something every day after school and on weekends, too. My daughter, who is a Pre-K teacher was busy running her everywhere and taking care of the house and dealing with the stress of getting everything done. Luckily, her husband likes to cook, so she did have that help. But, what I'm saying is that my granddaughter is still learning and even expanding it, and everyone seems a little less stressed. My granddaughter does miss her friends, but she talks to them on the phone, and she knows that she'll see them again in the not too distant future. It's like a pause on all the busy, which I think has been good for many people.

    Oh, and one more thing. I want to thank Rhys again for bringing her wonderful son Dominic and his wife Meredith to our attention. I watched the video on alone and lonely today, and this videos soothe my soul.



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    1. Kathy, your granddaughter is enjoying the kind of childhood we would have had, and exercising her own, vivid and creative imagination. What a wonderful story about her cats!

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    2. I love what your granddaughter is doing! Not only building her writing skills, but think of the science she could absorb from working with different materials outdoors! That's so great.

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    3. I love what your granddaughter is doing with her time. It's probably the best kind of experience that a child can have right now. Her creativity shines.

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    4. Kathy - your grand daughter has intuitively adopted the "Summerhill School" philosophy of education that taught life skills based on the individual's interests rather than forcing all to follow a group lesson plan.

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    5. Kathy, you have to have the UV nail light. But they are not expensive and are (at least they were) available online. The really good gel color nail products are made by OPI, and I found a place online that has a great selection. It's called Beyond Polish, so check it out!

      And Kathy, I LOVE what your granddaughter is doing!! It sounds like my childhood! She's learning so much, and even more importantly, exercising her creativity.

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    6. Kathy, love, love, love reading about your creative granddaughter! Wonderful story on this rainy, stormy, dark day

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    7. You all have warmed my heart so much today by your comments on my granddaughter. She is such a light to me in these crazy times, and I greatly appreciate your sweet comments. I do think this no-school or outside activities has ended up being quite an enrichment period for her.

      Debs, thanks for the info. I'll go look up the UV nail lights now.

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    8. Kathy, Dominic will be so glad to know he is helping. Stay safe

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  4. Great hacks! Julia, I didn't know Johnny's isn't shipping to residences. I've had Order Seeds on my to-do list for a couple of weeks. I used to be the queen of seed starting, but the lettuce seeds (my last ones, and from 2017) all sprouted and now have all died, ugh. We have a lovely small farm up the road and I hope they'll be selling seedlings as they always do.

    I've been baking a lot, like others, and trimmed the front of my hair. Soon I'll have a layer-free bob. But mostly I've been keeping up with my writing and blogging deadlines, and reading more.

    Lucy, somehow I missed yesterday's blog, and I want to thank you for reminding us of the beauty of this season and of having each other. We all have a lot to grieve, and even more to rejoice about.

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    1. We have both, as Hank called it yesterday--a stew of feelings! thanks Edith.

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  5. Hallie, my delivery wait times for groceries (Instacart) is nowhere as bad as yours (4-5 days), but like you, I wake up a bit earlier than normal (4:30 instead of 5:00) to put in my order and get one of those rare delivery time slots.

    The sourdough (and other) baking continues since my beloved artisan bakeries are still not open.
    I agree that leftover stale bread makes yummy croutons for salad. Also I have made some "clean out the veggie crisper" quarantine soup.

    And I have been cutting my own hair for 14 years, and dyeing it for 8 years, so I did a spring refresh this weekend. I grew out my bangs many years ago, and it is easy to trim a shoulder-length bob compared to when I had a boyish short hairdo.



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    1. Grace, I agree on the boyish short hairdo being a lot more difficult to cut on one's own. My stylist was horrified when I said I might have to trim my hair! So far I've only trimmed edges right around my ears. No disaster to speak of...

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  6. I don't think I've discovered any creative new hacks beyond those already mentioned. Amen to it being amazing how much people actually eat when it's not spread out between home, work, and social stops.

    Lucy, I can't wait to share your virtual choir story with our director. He told me he had a lot of folks pushing him to do that, but being only 25 and therefore innately knowledgeable about technology, he had assessed that without a sound board at the other end to tweak the inputs, it was never going to generate an output that singers would feel good about. (That's the trick to those many wonderful compiled singers pieces that are getting posted -- someone captured them all, ran them through a soundboard and then put it back out.)

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    1. When I listened to the service yesterday, I saw that they had concentrated on the sounds of the organ and the singer who was in the church (minister's wife, who has a gorgeous voice.) And the rest of us were background--it was as good as it could be!

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  7. I hope you all are OK in the weather, can you believe it? There are warnings of power outages in Massachusetts today. I think I might just get under the covers, as I have no clever hacks for that :-) plugging everything in, and getting out the candles. Yikes.

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    1. We have the same storm here in Ontario, Hank. Just light rain now, but the damaging winds are supposed to come late this afternoon/evening. I hope my Internet/power will be on for tonight's virtual Noir at the Bar-Boston edition. I will be cheering and clapping for you and the others.

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    2. Hank and Grace, I hope you don't lose power!

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    3. SO great to "see" you tonight, Grace! Hope you had fun!

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  8. Good luck to everyone with kitchen farming going on! I love how creative we are all being at planning ahead right now. My long-range plan to create a "food forest" at our new house is well timed, it seems. It's been a growing trend, anyway, in the last few years, and it's great to see more and more people talking about growing their own food, even in little pocket gardens, or Debs' bucket one.

    Julia, in the absence of newspaper, there are several things we use as fire starters: a quarter of a cardboard egg carton. Handsfuls of dryer lint (especially if you wear mostly cotton clothing). Wine corks--only the real cork ones. Champagne corks work even better. Toilet paper rolls. Pinecones. All of these things burn cleanly, and last longer aflame than paper, except the dryer lint. It's very flammable, so it helps the other kindling catch, but does not last as long. I will often stuff a toilet paper roll with a handful of lint, and a cork or a pinecone. It works great, plus no waste. At Christmas we received a gift by mail that included a ton of shredded paper excelsior. Also excellent for starting fires.

    Having raised three daughters, I'm pretty good at cutting hair, and have always cut my own bangs in between appointments with my stylist. She and I are friends, too, and we try to get together with other women I've known for a couple decades, and who all get their hair cut by Alicja. One GNO someone said we should cut her hair, and she looked around the table to see who she'd trust for such a thing, then pointed to me. That's only because Deb wasn't there that night, who also used to be a stylist, but still.

    I've been cooking a little more than normal, but making extra and freezing it a lot more. As long as we still have power, we're good for a while.

    I've always been pretty good at "making do", but have not had to flex those mental muscles for awhile. I'm kind of enjoying the challenge at the moment, to be honest.

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    1. Karen, thanks for the tips! I was saying to the Smithie, "We should make firestarters this fall when the pine cones drop." I love the TP roll/lint/pine cone idea (no corks here because we're keeping a sober house.) Maybe if I pit each one in a twist of festive tissue paper, I can hand them out as homemade Christmas gifts!

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    2. And yes, I'm already thinking about a homemade Christmas...

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    3. Karen, two friends (one is Gigi Norwood) and I go to the same hairdresser, who is also a friend, so we set our appointments together, rotate who takes wine and snacks, and call it "hair party." We are all really missing that regular get together.

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    4. Julia, a long time ago when our nephew was selling things for a school fundraiser (he's now 45), he sold firestarters they made by dipping pinecones into melted wax. Instead of a traditional fireplace we had a woodburner put in, and have to be super careful about what goes up the chimney, so I'm not sure how the burning paraffin works. But if you have some candle ends that could also be a good project for all those young 'uns eating you out of house and home. Make 'em work for it! :-)

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  9. Here is a pandemic innovation from small food businesses. Farmers Market vendors and small food shops here in Ottawa are starting to develop and run their own online ordering systems. I found most of them listed on Facebook. Right now, they have limited capacity and are only open a few days/week (Thursday-Saturday) for either contactless pickup/free delivery. But I like to support my local butcher/bakery/deli/fruit & veg shop and the order is usually filled in 24-48 hours. I try to only buy bulk items or non-perishable foods from the Instacart/supermarkets.

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    1. I hope she finds these options useful, Edith.

      Many of these online ordering services were just set up in the last week. The Farmers Market and small food stores now realize that Ontario will likely have them closed not just until April but until May/June, and they are finding new ways to get their local products to us eager consumers.

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    2. Grace, that is going on here, too. A lot of the farms who provide produce for local restaurants have grouped together and are making home deliveries. Also, our local butcher is offering a weekly veggie box, which I haven't tried yet. But this is great as it helps the farmers as well as the local people who need food.

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  10. Love hearing how everyone is making do, or going without! A few years ago I went to very short hair - as I told the stylist "it can't be too short." She finally took me at my word and I love it! But now? Getting a bit shaggy but I did trim my bangs the other day and they aren't too bad. Luckily I stopped coloring my hair at the same time I went short so I don't have to worry about that.

    I've got plenty of puzzles I haven't done yet and a lot of others I enjoy doing more than once. Good thing I have some because I understand there is such a demand now the companies who make them can't keep up.

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    1. Judi, we're going to talk about that later in the week!

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  11. Not many hacks going here, but I love the ingenuity of all the Reds. We had no trouble with finding instacart time slots, but our dog/house sitter has a N95 mask, retired RN, and she volunteered to get groceries for us. We have tried and tried to pay her what we would pay instacart or more, but she refuses, says to pay it forward. I think it's our reward for taking care of our neighbor those five months before he finally died. So we say thank you and give her a loaf of freshly baked bread.

    By the way, I found yeast, one pound, on line. Should be here this week. I do plan to share, my daughter already having put dibs on a baggie of it. She can't find any in the stores in Lewisville. Debs? How are you doing?

    Our local wholesale produce company is selling veggie boxes for $25, contents varying day to day. Today we are getting two kinds of lettuce, three pounds of carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, butternut squash, bell peppers, mushrooms, lemons and apples, butter and free range eggs. It's a good buy and helps keep them in business when the restaurants are closed for all by takeout.

    We are eating everything and wasting nothing, but that's been the way for years. I never make the same soup twice! We are also trying to conserve all paper goods, not knowing when the supply will be gone, trying to get out for walks when weather permits, still snowing once in a while and today wind gusts to 70 mph. The tulips and iris are up but not blooming, but the rhodies are beginning to pop out and the lilacs have buds. Sleeping is erratic and dreams are odd. Last night I dreamed I was stabbing the viruses with a sharp pencil. Don't judge. It might work.




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    1. I am, however, in close contact with Catriona McPherson, talking about what we do when the roots start showing all that rat gray brown. I'm remembering being in highschool and drizzling ammonia, drop by drop, into peroxide until it sizzled, and then bleaching my hair to straw.

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    2. Ann, I've been having SO many virus dreams. Last night's was The Thing, except the Thing had (or was??) the virus. It doesn't take, well, Roberta, to unlock that one for me - the whole point of the movie was that it could be anybody - and you can't tell.

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    3. I dreamed I had to drive to Florida alone (from the New Hampshire border). People at the beach in New Jersey weren't far enough apart. I had forgotten to bring the hard boiled eggs. The intercom at the motel wasn't working. I was SO glad to wake up.

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    4. Ann, please don't fry your hair! I'll bet you can get home color on your grocery order.

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    5. Ann, Kayti got yeast from Amazon, amazingly. And I was able to get thee packets on one grocery order. But so far I have not made bread, either yeast or sourdough, although I did activate my sourdough starters that live in the fridge. Our local butcher shop also carries breads from really good local bakeries, and as they're doing curbside pickup, I've just been buying all sorts of yummy sourdoughs. I'm ready, though. I scored two bags of King Arthur flour on one delivery, one whole wheat and one bread flour.

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    6. In high school girls did the lemon juice and sunlight method for hair. I don't know how well it worked. Never tried it.

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    7. Never fear, I’m not going to fuss with my color, either with homemade preps of stuff from the drugstore. This too shall pass. Getting a true platinum color is not for an amateur. Oddly enough, there are no dark root showing in the front and I don’t have to look at the back of my head!

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    8. Here's what I think--having roots means you survived. I will be happy! (Remind me of this is about a month...)

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    9. And Debs, there is no recourse for us "blonde" people. Or is is blond? I can NEVER keep those straight.

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  12. So far I haven’t needed too many hacks. We’re also getting the high winds here in Michigan today along with warnings of power outages. If that happens I may have to come up with some hacks for how to teach online! Like Hallie, I am having to work hard to get on a grocery delivery schedule. In fact, I had to switch to pickup since I couldn’t get delivery, and even the pickup was two weeks out. But that’s actually fine, and I am trying to cook and eat healthy. Not entirely successful, but I am trying!

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  13. You are all so marvellously creatives in writing and many other ways. Always ready to share. Very impressive.
    Imagination is not my strength but I learn a lot while reading and like to experiment new things.

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    1. I think we're all going to get into experimenting with new things, Danielle! I'm going to try baking bread later this week, for the first time in 20+ years!

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    2. Let us know how it turns out, Julia!

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  14. My only quarantine hack: tortillas! For some reason I can never get bread in my grocery orders, but I can almost always get tortillas, and you can wrap those suckers around anything. Leftover meatloaf? Instead of a meatloaf sandwich, try a meatloaf quesadilla. Need breakfast toast with your eggs? Bacon, egg, and cheese taquitos. Just hungry for a little nosh before bedtime? Heat 'em with butter and salt, roll 'em up, and there you are. I use the soft flour kind, but corn tortillas are great, too.

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    1. Gigi, same here. Can't find bread for love or money, but you can get tortillas. The first time I made a swiss-and-smoked-turkey-with-mayo torilla, my daughter looked at me like I was crazy. But I had my "sandwich"!

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    2. I keep ordering pita bread and it keeps not coming. tortillas seems like a good substitute.

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    3. When I was a "nanny" I used to make tuna quesadilla for the kids with more cheese than I put in my normal tuna sandwich. (We would stretch canned tuna with shredded cheese growning up.) Who knew I was ahead of my time....Tina melts, though on bread, is on lots of lunch menus today. Anyway, give me a flour tortilla and stand back. Simple dessert: non-stop skillet, on low melt butter, add a little sugar and even less cinnamon, add a tortilla, turn once, remove, fold, consume. It's a little messy but cinnamon toast, under the broiler, has always been a breakfast treat from my childhood.

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    4. Deb - that's exactly what I thought! LOL. Being in AZ, it's tortillas for the win.

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    5. Deana, I just put tortillas on my grocery order, going to try tortilla tuna melts and cinnamon tortillas!

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    6. You can freeze tortillas, too.

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    7. Gigi, the tortillas sound great. I'm going to give them a try. My husband was able to score a loaf of pumpernickel bread this morning, the first in weeks. We've consistently been able to get white bread.

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  15. Debs, my sister has that split nail problem and she can't get her usual manicures--I'll pass on your hack. My hack for a hair trim is my older nephew--quite a steady hand and an eye for detail. I tell him it's time for another Monsieur Doug appointment. His brother thinks it's hilarious. Making my own liquid hand soap is the best hack I've come across; we've used up most of the reserve, so I'll be making more one day this week. And luckily, the chives are thriving, so we at least have those! But like others here, I'm praying the winds pass us by today and we don't lose power. A local business delivers meats to your door and we have a freezer full and no generator.

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    1. Flora, fingers crossed on the power!

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    2. And Flora, how do you make the hand soap?

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    3. I found a simple recipe here: https://clark.com/family-lifestyle/make-liquid-hand-soap-bar-scraps/

      I like verbena/lemon-scented bar soap and saved all the bar ends (why? no idea!). You grate 4-oz bar soap (smaller the end-product the better). Heat 8 cups water to hot-not boiling-and stir in your soap flakes until melted. You can add glycerin, coconut oil, essential oils, etc., to customize your end product. Let sit for 12-24 hours, then stir vigorously. If it's too thick, add more water to get the consistency you want. Use a funnel to pour into your pump jars. I found it too thick, so added more water. The final product may be a bit slimy in texture, but it lathered fine and hey, it was free! And there are a bazillion other recipes available online.

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  16. Rhys - there are web pages for jigsaw puzzles online (https://www.jigsawplanet.com/) for example.
    Not many more hacks to offer y'all but I must share a moment of joy. Some of you may remember that my daughter who lives with me has autism. An autistic brain processes sensory data differently than a typical brain. For example, my daughter is very sensitive to the texture of food along with the taste. Now comes the miracle. After 40 + years of trying, I finally found a method of cooking pork that she enjoyed. Now she will accept a bit of red meat into her diet. As Martha says.. "It's a good thing."

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    1. Oh Rhys, I was going to mention that there are iPad apps for jigsaw puzzles as well. That's what I use. Tons of puzzles and no lost pieces!

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    2. Coralee, I'm so happy for you and your daughter that this addition to her diet is working. You could teach us all much about perseverance.

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    3. Thank you! I did try one and found it frustrating as they didn’t show the picture and the puzzle at the sam time

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    4. YAY, Coralee! That must be so wonderful ..you are incredible. xoxo

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  17. OMG! I feel like such a drip. There really isn't a thing I've had to hack. Nothing. There are three grocery stores within 5 minutes of my house and we have been going when we need stuff. I'd purchased a huge tp package in late February, well before we thought there's be a shortage. Then, one morning in late March, we scored another enormous package. I'd say we are good until late May.

    We only buy kosher food for our house and the Kosher Market had run very low on meat in the beginning, but I had a freezer full, so no problem. The only hack I almost had to do was using all-purpose flour instead of bread flour. I always bake bread at least twice a week and could see the end of my supply, so I contacted King Arthur Flour and one of the expert bakers told me how to substitute all purpose for bread. But, one morning early at my store, there were about 10 bags of bread flour out. I grabbed one and that got me to Passover. No bread this week, just matzoh. (And honestly, I barely did anything for the holiday at all. Not like the usual energy that I expend cleaning and making all the special food. Nope, not this year.)

    So, no real suffering here and no need to be particularly clever. I admire all of you and love hearing about your hacks and how you are coping.

    Reds, please keep writing. You need to know how much it means to escape into these worlds that you have created. Last week I read the entire Hat Shop series, finishing the last one this morning (let there be more!) and of course, Julia's new book, too.

    Stay safe and well, everyone!

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    1. Judy, are you doing pick ups from your grocery stores?

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    2. No Deb, we just put on our gloves (and now masks) and go in, buy wheat we need, then wipe everything down when we get home. We are careful about touching our faces but we've been shopping. Sometimes I'll hit all 3 stores to find what I'm looking for and also go to the bank or pharmacy. It's been cold most days so up until now I've worn my winter jacket most of the time for my shopping trips.

      Yeah, strange to think that one wrong move could land you in the hospital. Really, who ever thought of that before?

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    3. We are the same, trying to minimize but grocery shopping as needed. We have ten grocery stores within two miles including, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

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  18. Lucy, the National Cathedral Easter service assembled an "ensemble" from all over the country, church choirs and instrumentalists, for several hymns. Hilarious! In an empty church, the female soloist sang Mozart's "Alleluia", the last camera shot of the nave and moon rock embedded in a modern stained glass window. Wow! And the male soloist with trumpet accompaniment sang Handel's "Trumpet Shall Sound". Half an hour later, we watched Andrea Bocelli's Milan concert. Music joins us together around the world.

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    1. Wow, Margaret, that must have been fabulous. I'm going to check to see if it's still online.

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  19. I'm not sure I have any "hacks."

    The wife of a friend of ours (a former nurse, I think) made us several masks, complete with pleats. I gave up on the grocery pickup service. Our stores don't use Instacart, they have their own service. Great, except they were only posting one day's worth of slots at a time. I'd get up at 6:00am and they'd be sold out. So I stayed up one night and refreshed the page every couple of minutes. Between 10:58pm and 11:00pm, the day was posted and already sold out. So the hubby and I donned our masks (not too terribly uncomfortable, surprisingly) and went to the store that offers the Scan and Go (I can scan from my phone, then scan a screen before I leave, and then pay - practically touchless). They weren't really crowded and I got almost everything I needed (they were out of whole wheat flour and yeast - really?).

    I have one of those hair cuts that I can just let it grow. It's kind of annoying, but it doesn't look terrible. And the grays don't matter since I'm not coloring it any longer.

    I will miss my Bath & Body shea lotion when it runs out, but I have a full tube and one in reserve, so...

    I just wish it would stop raining!

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  20. Several years ago I found myself without a hairdresser, and after auditioning a few new possibilities, who were absolutely dreadful, I took matters into my own hands (fingers) and bought two pair of haircutting scissors at the drug store. Straight sharp ones and the ones with the little intersecting teeth (you know the ones I mean, right?) I became fairly adept over the next year doing my own, while making a serious search for someone reliable. People actually complimented me on my hair, and one friend even asked if I'd do hers (not in a million years!)

    I finally found a gem of a hairdresser and retired my scissors with relief.

    But now... it's all good. I've resurrected the scissors and I fearlessly trim the bangs and the edges, secure in the knowledge that a) my hair grows fast and b) who's gonna see it anyway?

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    1. Susan, we have good scissors--from the dog grooming kit! I haven't been tempted to touch anything but the bangs, however, but I'm making good use of hair clips. The "who's going to see it anyway" is kind of restful, isn't it?

      I was cleaning our bathroom dresser last week and thought, wow, cologne? Jewelry? What is this stuff for???

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  21. I have to confess that my nail gel is not staying on like it does from the salon, and I don't know what the secret is. If anyone is a nail guru, let us know! But it's held on my thumb and that's all I really care about.

    My little seedling are going great guns, however, and now I'm going to try starting some peppers and cherry tomatoes from seed. I'm hoping that next week it will be warm enough to set things out. A good local nursery is doing curbside pickup, but whether they will have any veggie or herb starters remains to be seen...

    Jenn, I used to make candles and I still have all the different essential oils. You can make your own bath salts, too, if you can get epsom salts on your grocery or drugstore order. Just mix in a few drops of your lavender oil.

    I think we are all very creative!

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    1. It is probably the gel polish you are using. You mentioned OPI, which is only ok, it does not last as well. Try Gelish, there are nail salon companies online where you can purchase it. Also make sure you are curing the polish at least three minutes.

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  22. So everyone's gardening and baking... and good heavens, making candles an bath salts! We're turning into a nation of pioneers.

    We're hunkering down for the wind - talking about 60 mph gusts. And just when our bushes are starting to bloom. Hoping all the electrical workers that will be out and about stay safe.

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  23. I enjoyed reading all the ideas. Myself? Not too creative, but I did make my own sanitizing wipes, using instructions found online. I has failed to plan for that shortage, but had supplies of alcohol and vinegar and rags and thought there must be a way. It wasn't even hard. Then had to go to pharmacy(justifying being out) so also stopped at the local hardware store for some needs- and there was a great big shipment of wipes and spray! Yay! ( But I"m saving the home made ones too)

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  24. I'm feeling guilty hunkering down in Paradise (aka Palm Springs, CA) but I can relate to waiting for a food delivery which is supposed to arrive today. I placed the order six days ago. Up until March, I was cooking only for Mom and me but my daughter and SIL came for Mom's 90th birthday party. They are still here and I'm trying to remember to cook for 4, not two. It's all good. For therapy, I'm working on the gaudiest quilt I've every produced because I'm using scraps that I brought last year from Massachusetts. Next trip I'll have to coordinate fabric better! I want to express my gratitude for all of the delivery people. Our Post Office posted a home video showing that the Post Office delivered 10,000 packages on Easter! (Their norm for Christmas is 5,000.)

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  25. Most hair coloring kits sold out two weeks ago, and with no new production, you aren’t going to be able to buy it. Amazingly the frost and highlighting kits are still available on Amazon. However, amazon considers it a non- essential item, so no two day shipping,
    I’m surprised none of you are using meal delivery programs like Green Chef, we get three meals a week from them, less shopping needed and a great variety of meals. We are still shopping weekly and the farmers markets are open, Weather here is already in summer mode, tomatoes and herbs are growing well!

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    1. My daughter uses Hello Fresh and gets four meals a week. I have tried it, but my problem is that my husband is a very picky eater, and by the time I substitute for all the things he won't eat, I'm better off just cooking from scratch!

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    2. I did try two meal delivery services when I had my broken ankle 2 years ago (GoodFood and Chefs Plate) but stopped using them after one month. Pros and cons with using them for sure. I am trying Hello Fresh from this week since they offered a $65 discount for new users but I doubt that I will continue the weekly delivery after getting clearance to end my self-isolation/quarantine.

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  26. I can't think of any great ideas or hacks for you. My husband does the grocery shopping in person, utilizing senior hours. When I needed some more makeup, etc, things I can't entrust my husband to get the correct one, I went online to buy and have shipped to me. That worked fine. I'm not baking anything! My baker granddaughter is home in Ohio for the duration. I am avoiding flour and sugar for now to dump some weight. Frank goes to a little bakery in the neighborhood to buy muffins, bread, etc for himself and to help them out. He quit buying goodies for me when I told him I was doing the diet. Nurseries are essential business so I'm thinking about swing by for some tomato plants, basil, and spearmint. My rosemary and chives are still going since we didn't have a hard freeze this year. I'm trying to sprout some lemon seeds from my little brother's tree. I don't know yet if I'll be successful.
    I'm not in more contact with friends and family than usual. My sister and I text a lot. Little brother calls twice a day to talk; he's mildly autistic and that has always been his habit. I have been letter writing again. My son is still in "isolation" at boot camp, meaning no phone calls in or out. So we're corresponding and I'm saving his letters. I have letters from Frank when he was in the Army, Adrian's from when he was in before, and now the new batch.
    I thought I was going to work our dog Jack over with the grooming clippers but he had a reprieve. The local groomer reopened with strict instructions as to how they would accept animals, payment, and how the pickup would occur. So, tomorrow Frank will run him over and our "sheep" will return shorn. We'll see how much bulk was hair and how much is him.

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    1. You are lucky that nurseries are considered essential businesses. That is not the case here in Ontario, so nurseries and garden centres and farmers markets are all closed. I have my perennial herbs in planters waiting to be put out on the balcony (in another 4-5 weeks) but I would love to go buy more soil as well as get some seeds or annual herbs such as basil but cannot do so.

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  27. I also ordered my own UV gel nail polish curing light. They are readily available online, but amazon won’t deliver them so you need to source another vendor, there are many! The gel nail process requires a special base and top coat and gel nail color. You can buy it the same place you purchase the UV light. If you can get polish you can soak off. Some literally have to be sanded off if with a nail sander, which isn’t an easy process. My daughter and I are doing gel nails successfully,

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    1. Susan, I got the base and top coats for the gel and am following all the instructions. Maybe I need a better brand on those!

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    2. Yes, that could be the problem. I posted this in another of your comments, but I’ll repeat, try Gelish products, They soak off and are professional quality. They are available online from several vendors. As a bonus, they soak off well, My daughter and I have been doing this since all the nail places closed, five weeks ago. Also, make sure you cure the polish long enough under the uv light, at least two minutes per coat. Good luck!😎

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  28. Deborah, I think it's Revlon that makes a nifty nail repair,with patches and clear polish to hold them in place while the nail grows. If not Revlon, there are several brands.

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    1. Thanks, Victoria. Unfortunately, this split does not heal when the nail grows out, so it's not like repairing a normally split nail. I will check out the Revlon, though!

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    2. Ah, I understand. As a kid, I was ice skating, fell, and someone skated over my finger. That nail splits. In your case, however, one of those silky paper patches might create protection.

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  29. I cut the Hub's hair today. It was almost down to his behind. Thankfully he's not fussy, because it is in no way even. Natural waves hide the jagged edges :) And, yes, I used child scissors because that's all we could find. LOL.

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    1. Down to his behind?! You could have used hedge clippers! LOL

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  30. Since we do not shop for groceries as often as we used to since the shelter in place:

    Our hacks:

    Saving peels from grapefruit, lemon, lime and orange for scrubbing pans

    Mixing fresh produce with frozen produce

    Eating more potatoes, onions, carrots and cabbage because these produce last longer

    Using more spices to preserve food

    Eating smaller portions

    Putting leftover veggies in soups

    Making salsa from old tomatoes

    Using bouillon to make soup

    Diana

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    1. Brilliant / orang peel to clean pans. We saw them polishing huge copper doors in Morocco with orange peels

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  31. I cook and I cook well, but cooking for one has never been my forte and not having a microwave makes leftovers a burden for me. I'd rather zap something fast than cook on a weeknight, regardless of what is going on in the world, always have. I've thrown too much "dead" food because I was too tired, too depressed or just plain lazy to cook it a second time. And to continue that practice is just plain wasteful. I have started making sandwiches for lunch again. I normally leave the office for lunch but since I can't eat out, I drive the ten minutes home and eat lunch there instead. I can still get to the store, but after work is not an ideal for many items. I'm thinking I need to make a run on Tuesday or Wednesday this week during senior hours since I'm on vacation.

    Hacks - leftover bread makes great bread pudding and it doesn't need to always be sweet. I usually have bread ends in the freezer, add some soften onion, garlic, other aromatics, some browned off ground meat (or not) add to the dried out bread cubes, add egg/milk mixture, pour in a casserole and bake, though I probably use a water bath to keep it moist. I've made oyster dressing for Thanksgiving and Christmas for year, this isn't much different. I put a couple tortilla ideas out there, attached to Gigi's comments. I really love flour tortillas because they are so much more versatile for me. I have discovered I need to relearn to how to fry an egg. My mother is shaking her head, laughing, in her urn right now. Julia, I remember making sawdust fire starters in Girl Scouts with paraffin and egg cartons.

    With the exception of yesterday afternoon our weather has been fairly decent. Why, I ask you, why yesterday was that a deluge in my area only? My friend Barbara across town in Bennett Valley didn't have rain. My friend Candace said she saw the black threatening clouds to her east but didn't have rain in Sebastopol. So what did I do to do lucky to have 30 minutes of a massive downpour and tremendous thunder roll? Roll, not clap. Oh well, it didn't last and there sunshine causing the wet, soft green Spring leaves to glisten at the end of the day.

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    1. Note to self - be less wordy.....geez...

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    2. Deana, be as wordy as you like! We all enjoy it!

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  32. The only hack I can think of is I found a dried out container of Clorox wipes in the back of a cupboard; just as I was about to throw them out I realized that I can put the dried out sheets in the cleaning liquid at the bottom of another container when it's empty. It has always bugged me that there is so much liquid left after the sheets are used up so now necessity is the mother of invention!

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  33. Rhys - I, too, had trouble growing zucchini until I discovered Burpee's Sure Thing variety. It sprouts, it grows, we now have lots of zucchini every year! You have to order it from Burpee.com

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    1. Thank you. I’ll try. But since I only have two pots and no garden here I’m not overly keen

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    2. Emily, I haven't had any luck with zucchini, either, so may give that a try, if we can get seeds.

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  34. I'm going to try some masks . . . the one cutting socks is easy, but odd. A friend made one from a t-shirt sleeve. I also have some patterns, and advice that t-shirt strips can be used for the ties (no elastic for this latex-allergic person).
    I don't have to wear one often because my favorite produce stand and meat market will do parking lot delivery of called-in orders. Library is closed, except for ebooks, but they've extended due dates of "tree books" until June. Plenty to read, but I ordered The Beat of Black Wings, A Woman's Eye, and Under the Radar, because I couldn't wait. Also, I'm hoping that puts me back on Amazon's list of people who've bought enough to be eligible to review. Meanwhile, I've started putting reviews on my storytellermary.com site -- adaptation is the name of the game. I do miss people, though, and the storytelling workshop I do every year for the pre-school teachers. RESISTANCE WOMEN put it in perspective, though; these are small problems comparatively. Hugs <3

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  35. A long time ago, my parents and I watched a PBS cooking show, maybe Martin Yan. He said "If you don't have it, you don't need it", which became words to cook by in our house. May not work as well with baking. Living alone, I often doctor up my leftovers. I tend to throw spinach in everything as well as using it like lettuce in sandwiches and salads.

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  36. We're regrowing produce as well. I knew about green onions before, but my dad recently alerted me to growing celery, and I'm already seeing a little sprout emerge!

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  37. I'm teaching Fitbit pup how to weed his garden.

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