Instant Oatmeal?

Something I don’t understand is why people buy boxes containing eight or ten packages of flavored oatmeal.  Oatmeal is a great breakfast and even better when fruit, brown sugar, and/or maple syrup is added but it can be made just as quickly and for a lot less money if you do it yourself.

A ten pack box of instant oatmeal contains about 11 oz. of oatmeal, flavoring, sugar, and dried fruit while a box, usually a cylinder, of oatmeal contains 18 oz of pure oatmeal and costs less.  You have to add water or milk to both, both can be zapped in about the same amount of time, and you can flavor the oatmeal with whatever you want and have on hand including coffee creamer, mixed fruit, brown sugar, maple syrup, fresh fruit, etc.

Besides, you can make cookies from the oatmeal and that is a major plus.

Household Tips – Bathroom Sink Drains

Bathroom drains tend to clog from hair and should be cleaned periodically.  What period?  That depends on your use.  If you have four people with long hair using one sink then you should look at doing this often. 

If the drain plug is in the drain pipe, as they usually are (there is a stick shaped handle that you press or pull) look under the sink and see how it connects.  Normally the stick pushes down on a lever that enters the drain.  I normally

1.            pull everything out from under the sink

2.            put a small pan under the drain

3.            disconnect the lever from where it enters the drain (usually this is easy to unscrew)

4.            pull out the lever

5.            go to the basin and pull out the drain plug

6.            clean the plug (don’t run water in that sink for this, you now have a hole in your drain)

7.            replace the plug.  It is probably circular at the bottom.  Make sure the hole in the circle is facing the same direction as where the lever enters the drain.  Normally this means the hole should face front and back, not side to side

8.            insert the lever into the drain and into the drain plug and screw it in

9.            reattach the stick

10.        run water down the drain to make sure it doesn’t leak

Want some more information?  Why not look at http://www.mrrooteronline.com/plumber/sinks-faucets.html

Watch What You Say

There was a time when people listened to public officials, took their bearings from what was said, and trusted the person.  That was then, this is now.  Today public officials, especially when they are campaigning, make their speeches based on polls.  What they said yesterday is not a basis for what they will say today and may well be diametrically opposite.  A case in point is Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee is the former Governor of Arkansas, leading Republican speaker, and candidate for President in 2012.  I believe he is also a minister.  Anyway, back in early March 2011 he blasted Oscar winner Natalie Portman for publicizing unwed pregnancies.  That would be fine if it was his opinion but apparently it wasn’t.  You see Bristol Palin was pregnant and unwed while her Mother was running for Vice President in Huckabee’s own Party.  He had nothing against that.  This is a little inconsistent that tells a lot about him.  Couple this with the fact that Huckabee is a Christian Minister who we must think has a strong belief in the Blessed Mother.  The New Testament has been publicizing her unwed pregnancy for two thousand years.

Think what you want about unwed pregnancies, that isn’t my point, my point is “be consistent with what you say and write.”  You are entitled to change your mind but have the courage to say so.  If the example you are using is not consistent with what you have advocated before, demonstrate why they are different.

Please don’t respond to my words with the worn out “the Democrats do it also” because that is worse.  The fact that someone does something wrong does not give you license to also do it wrong.  But that is a subject for another day.

No Pain Gasoline Savings – Part 1

Gasoline prices are up again and there are some real easy things you can do to save some money.  Let me share them with you:

1.                   Empty the car.  The more weight an engine must move the more gasoline it must consume.  Do you still have that luggage rack on the roof from vacation last year?  Do you need all those tools all the time?

2.                   Check your air pressure.  Over and under inflated tires will cost you money.  Don’t know how much air pressure is needed, look at the drivers door jam, it is probably right there.  Check it once a month, it isn’t difficult to do and will probably add life to the tires themselves.

3.                   Plan your trips.  If you have to go to the grocery store and the post office, do both on the same trip.  And figure out your rout before you leave so you can use the shortest rout without double backs.

4.                   Change your oil and filter per the owners manual.  Probably every 3,000 miles if you do city driving or 6,000 miles for country driving.  You may need a new filter at every change or every other change.  Check your other fluids also, this will not only save you money on gasoline but on repairs and maintenance as well as resale.

5.         Check your mileage once a month to see how you are doing.  This can also act as a means of early detection so problems can be addressed before they become major.  When you fill the tank take the receipt and note the miles on your odometer.  Next time you fill up not the miles again as well as the number of gallons.  Subtract the beginning miles from the ending miles and divide that figure by the number of gallons.  124,500 miles at the first fill-up and 124,700 at the last one equals 200 miles traveled.  Divide this by the 10 gallons you purchased and you have 20 MPG (miles per gallon).  Of course you can’t be putting small amounts into the tank between fill-ups.

Quotes to remember

While we may need spiritual “fruits” we don’t’ need Religious “nuts”. 

Don’t read this as an assault on Muslims because it isn’t.  People who claim the U. S. to be a “Christian” nation, Jews who are friendly at arms length with people of other religions, and those who interpret the meaning of God only through their own eyes are all at fault.  If you are religious don’t give up your beliefs, just don’t force them down the throats of others.  While I haven’t done a complete enough study of the subject I doubt there is a religion on earth that preaches getting to heaven is a competitive sport.  We don’t get a better seat by dragging others with us through the Pearly Gates.  We may though, if others follow us on their own.

I’m also fine with it if you don’t believe in God.  Just don’t hold it against me that I do.  That would kind of make you a Religious Nut.

Think Things Out

Did you catch the story about the UK immigration officer who put his wife on the list of terrorist suspects after she flew to Pakistan to visit her family?  He came up with the ingenious idea but failed to think it out to its’ logical conclusion.  Three years later (yes, she was stuck there for three years) he came up for a promotion which requires a background check.  When Immigration found that his wife was a suspected terrorist they began to worry about him and increased their investigation.  Of course this uncovered what had happened and they freed the woman and fired the man.  Wouldn’t you like to be her divorce attorney?

You can read the CNBC story by John Carney at http://www.cnbc.com/id/41372870?par=aol

 Or http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351937/Immigration-officer-fired-putting-wife-list-terrorists-stop-flying-home.html#ixzz1CjWaQUMr

Cooking Tip #1

After a while honey gets hard and almost impossible to pour.  I heard on some cooking show that if you submerse the bottle in hot water the honey will begin to run again.  Thinking about this I figured that the hot water was no more than the application of heat and decided that placing the honey jar in a microwave would have the same result. 

I guess not.

It could be just that the honey was in a plastic container, I don't know but I do know that I wont be trying this again.