Cleaning tip, taking control and an appetizer recipe

 

                          

A cleaning tip, or two, that you may find useful.  As I say on my Web page, these are tips that have been emailed to me, or that I have found on the Internet.  I have not tried all of them and do NOT guarantee their effectiveness.  If you do try one and it works, or if you have another one that works for you, please let me know.

Oven and Microwave Cleaning

Microwaves can be cleaned easily by putting a sponge soaked in white vinegar in the microwave and cooking it for 2 minutes. Don’t open the microwave for about 5 minutes. The stuck on food should slide right off.

The same procedure can work with ovens except use a shallow pan with a couple of cups of white vinegar and no sponge. Cook for 5-10 minutes and leave in the oven to cool for about 30 minutes. Food will slide right off.

Any left over lemon juice can be squeezed onto the sponge to keep it fresh but to control germs you should bleach it or run it through the dishwasher on a regular basis.

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This is another inspiration email from Spark People.  You know how these things can get me rambling, lol.

"The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." - George Bernard Shaw, playwright

Are you creating your own life?

Take a moment to look at the circumstances of your world. Is it what you want to see? What could you do differently to take one step closer to your ideal vision? We're all dealt different hands in life. That's how things are. To change things, you have to first accept that fact, then figure out where to go from here. We should all be able to count on each other for help, but in the end, we can't expect anyone to change our lives except ourselves. Nor should we want it that way. It's natural to feel powerless and give up in the face of hardships. But complaining and blaming do nothing except prevent action. Without positive action, you're giving up your power and asking for more of the same- a world you did not create. Where you start may not be your fault, but the course you run is still your choosing.

I guess I have always waited for the pendulum to begin it's swing in the other direction.  Or for the yo-yo to come back up.  But you know that yo-yo won't come back to you if you don't give it a little jerk.

On occasion I have felt the power and strength to make the changes I needed to.  My divorce, for example, was a point where I felt completely powerless and yet still found the strength within myself to do what I needed to maintain my sanity.

I won't deny that there have been many obstacles or negatives in my life to overcome.  But I think for a long time I felt like things eventually had to swing the other way if I could just wait for it.  I spent too much time waiting for it!  I should have been effecting the change.  It is my life and I should have been more in control of it.

Sometimes it's hard to know how to make "it" happen.  Lists!  LOL, my life always comes down to a list of some kind or another.  But I think its a good way to get an honest look at the situation (whatever the situation may be).  Write down the problem, or whatever, on a sheet of paper.  There it is, staring right back at ya.  Now how important is it?  Start listing the possible solutions.  Is there anyone that could help?  Write their names down too.

Talk to others about "it" too.  Maybe someone outside the situation, or distanced from the problem will have a clearer view of it.  Maybe they will think of something that you haven't.  If nothing else, it gives you a chance to get it off your chest, to have a sounding board, and feel like you're not all alone.

LMAO!  I really need to start taking some of my own advice more often.  Now, I am going to go make a list of possible ways to get the Explorer up and running. 

Oops, but I also need to finish cleaning the carpets today and making some more homemade candy and appetizers.  It's going to be a busy day.

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This is one of the many appetizers I have been working on.  I hope ya like it.

Easy Appetizers

A few pkgs. of crescent rolls
Flavored cream cheese (I like the garden veggies flavor) 1 small tub does 2 pkgs of rolls
Some sliced ham, turkey or whatever

Unroll the crescents so you have 2 strips of dough.  Pinch the perforations together.  Spread the softened cream cheese over the dough.  Put 1 layer of meat over the top, you can add another thin layer of cream cheese, if you like.  (If you do add another layer of cream cheese you'll most likely need 1 container for each roll.)

Now at the short end of the strip of dough begin rolling it up.  Pinch the end together.  I use a serrated knife and slice it in the middle, and so on, until I have 8 small pinwheels.  You'll get 16 appetizers from each package of rolls.  (Although, after I "sample" theres usually only 14) Bake in a 350 degree oven until golden. 

*I do these ahead of time, let them cool, and then freeze them.  Put in the fridge the night before you need them to defrost.  Then just heat them up as you need them.

*If you like, you can buy plain cream cheese and whip it up until creamy and then add some onion soup mix to flavor it, or whatever you'd like.

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Have a great day!
Hugs!