Blogs

Change the Air Filters in your Home

I live in the desert.  The desert is dusty. So very dusty.  And all of that dust ends up in my house.  We have to change the air filters in the HVAC system quite often.  They can be changed every month or two, depending on how dusty it gets where you live.  Sadly, I’m not sure if I can remember when these were changed last.

Today was my turn to change them, because I called  “NOT IT” last.  I guess this is another chance to learn how to do some adulting.  

The first step to changing them is to vacuum all the dust from the cover grate.  You do this so you don’t get a face full of dust when you open the cover.  This should probably be done whenever the vacuum comes out to clean the floors, but to be honest, I only bring the vacuum out when we have people coming over to visit, and it’s been a quiet couple months.  Oh, and that whole “I’m really lazy” thing, too.

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Making Spaghetti Sauce

I think that a sign of a successful adult is the ability to make your own spaghetti sauce.  Okay, maybe not the biggest sign, but it’s on the list.  Anyone can open a jar of sauce, pour it into a dish and heat it up in the microwave.  Or if you’re feeling extra fancy, you can put it in a pot on the stove.  But you make your own spaghetti sauce and you are a superstar.

How do you make your own spaghetti sauce?  Not to worry, I got your back.  This recipe was invented by my dear Mother-in-law, Ann.  And then I tweaked it a tiny bit.  Just to make it my own.  But mostly because there were a few icky things in it.  Here are the ingredients, the directions will follow.

Here’s my attempt at my first video.

CAUTION: There are levels of awkwardness in this video that have never been seen before.  The Boy has PTSD from having to watch it repeatedly while editing it.  Watch at your own risk…..

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Etiquette

Here are a few things that I think you should do to be a good human.  If you’re happy with being a horrible person, move along, this isn’t for you. And while you’re at it, keep moving until you’re far away from the rest of us.

Etiquette, or Eh-tee-qwah-tay as The Boy likes to call it, is something that seems to have been thrown by the wayside by a good percentage of people. Not all of you, settle down.  Instead of trying to figure out why some people are not nice, let’s focus on things that nice people do so we can hopefully pass it on down.

Where do we start?  Empathy. What exactly is empathy?  I Googled it, and found that it’s putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.  Not just wearing their shoes, but really feeling what it’s like to have those shoes on.  Whether they feel good or they pinch your toes a little, or you need to get them off immediately because they’re suddenly two sizes too small (or basically, me wearing high heels).

As someone who is extremely empathetic, let me tell you, it is hard work. But so worth it.  Next time you have to deal with someone, give it a try, and see what happens.

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Be Healthy

My kids harass me constantly, about me harassing them, to eat right and be healthy.  So, as I’m sitting here eating a small dish of dark chocolate chips, I’m going to give you my take on all that is “being healthy”.

Water is an easy place to start.  Drink enough water. Every time we leave the house, we have our little rainbow cooler bag filled with two bottles of water for each person.  It started when we moved to Arizona and I became terrified of our car breaking down in this heat and dying from lack of water.  Yes, we use plastic water bottles.  I know this is frowned upon, but they’re just so much easier.  Does it help that we recycle them when they’re empty?   We really tried to drink water in a reusable bottle, but we just can’t get over the taste of the water here.  My kids will go back to Oregon and ask for “a delicious glass of Oregon water” wherever we go.

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BBQ Chicken in the Crock Pot

I usually start trying to decide what to make for dinner when The Man texts me at 4:00 pm asking what’s for dinner.  But grown-ups aren’t supposed to do that so I’m working on it.

The other day, we had two extra kids.  They’re old neighbors from Oregon and they were at our house for a week.  If you ask anyone, I am a Dino Nugget connoisseur, so the extra kids assumed we would be having those all week.  I’m a little stubborn, so I had to make sure we had other food.  Don’t get me wrong, we had chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs, but not every day.            I mean, look at them, they’re delicious.

 

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Insurance Basics

I’m going to start this session with something that’s important to me.  Keeping me and my family protected.  Keeping you and your family protected, that’s where you come in.

First day in our new home in Arizona.

Full disclosure, my husband owns an insurance agency.  You are not obligated to be a customer of my husbands, or his Company at all, this is purely for your information.  That being said, he’s really nice and won’t turn you away if you insist.

I want to educate, because about 6 months ago, even though we had insurance on our cars and home and life, I knew nothing about it.  Every time the subject was brought up, my eyes would glaze over and all those English words that I knew separately, made no sense to me in the order that they appeared.

Things have changed.  I now am beginning to understand the need for it and what it actually means.  Every state and province (Hi to my family in Canada) will have things that are different about some of their laws and rules.  These are just my basic understanding of insurance, please speak with a trusted professional for more information.

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Smoking Ribs on the Traeger

Clearly I gave our baby a bath before the picture, but I think a well-loved grill should be dirty!

We made plans to have some wonderful people over for dinner on a Friday night.  Their favorite meal; ribs.  Smoked ribs on the Traeger!  It’s one of my favorites, too.  I start making plans to buy ribs, prepare the rub and let The Man do his thing.  Only when I realized that Friday was a day that The Man actually works and that I would have to be doing it all myself, did I wonder why I hadn’t planned it for Saturday.    But I didn’t, so I guess I had to learn how to smoke ribs on the Traeger.  It’s a good thing I am in the mood to learn how to adult.

Step one- Ask The Man to write down exactly how to do it.  I mean, exactly.

Step two- Tell myself that I am a grown-ass human that will indeed be able to figure it out.  And if not, we can order pizza.

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Unplugging the Garbage Disposal

I see you’re hooked on becoming a legitimate grown-up.  Good for you.  Let’s continue.

Studies show that putting 30 egg shells down a garbage disposal all at once may plug your kitchen sink.  Carrot peels tend to do the same thing.  What now?  Here’s what I found…..

Hey, did you know that in Canada (at least Manitoba) they call it a “Garburator” instead of a garbage disposal.  Now you do.  You’re welcome.

First step to unplugging the garbage disposal in your kitchen sink, is to find that metal ‘S’ shaped thing.  You know, that thing you’ve seen around but never knew what it was for.  Now is its time to shine.  You open the cupboard door underneath the sink with the disposal and locate the thing (ours is black) that is right under that sink.

That’s the garbage disposal.  At the very bottom of it there is a hole.  Making sure the garbage disposal is OFF, you place one end of the metal thing into the hole and jiggle it back and forth.  Back and forth.  It may take a while.  You can alternate jiggling that, taking out the tool and turning on the water and the disposal.  Just DO NOT do those two things at the same time.  Keep trying, you’re doing great.

 

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Here’s Where our Journey Begins

Let’s start on this road to Adulthood with some basic things you need to know.  Things to keep you safe around your home.

**some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

How to Put Out a Small Fire

This is how to put out a SMALL fire.  If it is NOT a small fire, don’t do this.

Call 9-1-1 and let the pros handle it.

You should own a fire extinguisher.  Seriously!  What do I have to do to convince you of that?  After you buy one, you need to teach everyone in your home how to use it.  Also, keep it in a spot where everyone knows where it is and can get to it quickly.  Let’s learn how to put out a small fire.  Here’s what I found…..

 

  1. P- Pull out the pin on the handle of the extinguisher.
  2. A- Aim the hose nozzle low toward the base of the fire, NOT at the top of the flames.
  3. S- Squeeze the handle to spray out the stuff inside.
  4. S- Sweep the nozzle back and forth at the base of the flames until the fire is out.

 

Seems easy enough.  Say it with me; P-A-S-S.  Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep.  Say it again…..  Okay, fine, don’t.  But if you sing it, you’ll remember it easier.

Again, if it’s a big fire, just call 9-1-1.

 

We’re on a roll here.  Let’s keep it going with learning how to:

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