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DID YOU KNOW???

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Lubbock Homes

DID YOU  KNOW?  



Peel  a banana from the bottom and you won't have  to
Pick the little 'stringy things'  off of it. That's how the primates do it. 

 
 
Take your bananas apart  when you get home from the store.
If you  leave them connected at the stem, they ripen  faster. 
 
 

Store  your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum  foil.
It will stay fresh much longer  and not mold! 
 
 
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom  are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers  with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for  cooking.
 
 
Add a teaspoon of water when frying  ground beef.
It will help pull the grease  away from the meat while cooking. 
 
 
To really make scrambled eggs or  omelets rich add a couple of
Spoonfuls of  sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then  beat them up. 
 
 
For a cool brownie treat,  make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints  
In double broiler and pour over warm brownies.  Let set for a wonderful minty frosting. 
 
 
Add garlic immediately to  a recipe if you want a light taste
Of  garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a  stronger taste of garlic. 
 
 
Leftover snickers bars  from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply  
Chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core  and slice a few apples. Place them
In a  baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over  the apples. Bake at 350
For 15  minutes!!!   Serve  alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!  
 
 
Reheat  Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a  nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to  med-low
And heat till warm. This keeps the  crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.   I  saw this on
The cooking channel and  it really works.
 
 
Easy Deviled  Eggs
Put cooked egg  yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all  broken up.
Add remainder of  ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing  thoroughly,
Cut the tip of the baggy,  squeeze mixture into egg.
Just throw bag  away when done easy clean up.
 
 
 
Expanding  Frosting
When you buy a container of  cake frosting from the store, whip it with your  mixer
For a few minutes. You can double it  in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes  
With the same amount. You also eat less sugar  and calories per serving.
 
 
Reheating  refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes,  or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in  
A microwave with a cup of water. The increased  moisture will keep the food
Moist and help  it reheat faster. 
 
 
Newspaper weeds  away
Start putting in your plants,  work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,  
Put layers around the plants overlapping as you  go cover with mulch and for-
Get  about  weeds.  Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they  will not
Get through wet  newspapers.
 
 
Broken  Glass
Use a wet cotton  ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you  can't see easily. 
 
 
No More  Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your  pocket.
It will keep the mosquitoes away.  
 
 
 
 
Flexible vacuum
To get  something out of a heat register or under the fridge  add an empty paper towel
Roll or empty gift wrap  roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to  get in nar-
Row openings.
 
 
Reducing Static  Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of  your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt
Or  dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when  wearing panty hose.
Place pin in seam of slacks  and... At DA!... Static is gone. 
 
 
 
Measuring  Cups
Before you pour sticky  substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.  
Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next,  add your ingredient, such
As peanut butter, and  watch how easily it comes right out.
  
Also I have  heard that spraying the inside of the cup with PAM  
Or the like  will let sticky stuff slide right out.  
 
Foggy  Windshield?
Hate foggy  windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in  the glove box of
Your car When the windows fog,  rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!  
 
 
Reopening  envelope
If you seal an envelope and  then realize you forgot to include something inside,  
just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for  an hour or two. Viola! It unseals
easily.  
 
 
Conditioner
Use your hair  conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than  shaving cream and
leaves your legs really smooth.  It's also a great way to use up the  conditioner
 you  
bought but didn't like when you tried it in your  hair. 
 
 
Goodbye Fruit Flies
To  get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill  it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar
and 2 drops of  dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those  flies drawn to the
cup and gone forever!  
 
 
Get Rid of  Ants
Put small piles of  cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it  'home,' can't
digest it so it kills them. It may  take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it  works
and you don't have the worry about pets or  small children being harmed! 
 
 
 
INFO ABOUT CLOTHES  DRYERS
The heating unit went out on  my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the  
house for us told us that he wanted to show us  something and he went over to the
dryer and pulled  out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the  lint from the fil-
ter after every load clothes.)  He told us that he wanted to show us something; he  
took the filter over to the sink and
 ran  hot water over it. The lint filter is made of  a
mesh material... I'm sure you know  what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ...  
the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It  didn't go through it at all! He told us
that dryer  sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns  out the heating unit.
You can't
 SEE  the film,  but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to  make your
clothes soft and static  free... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can  feel
waxy when you take them out of the  box...
 well  this stuff builds up on your clothes  
and on your lint screen. This is also what causes  dryer units to potentially burn your
house down  with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer  working for a very long
time (and to keep your  electric bill lower) is to take that filter  out
 and  wash it with
hot soapy  water
 and  an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six  months.
He said that makes the life  of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?!  
Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't  know dryer sheets would do that.
So, I thought I'd  share!
Note:   I  went to my dryer  and  tested my screen by running water on it. The water  ran
through a little bit but mostly  collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed  it
with warm soapy water
 and  a nylon brush  and  I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when  
I rinsed it... the water ran right thru the  screen! There wasn't any puddling at all!  
 That repairman knew what he was talking  about!

Heather the Realtor Orlando, Lake Mary
LemonTree Realty - Orlando, FL
First Time Home Buyers, Bank Owned Homes

I did not know the one about the bananas and hate those stringing things. Great advice. Most of that is true some of them are urban myths especially the mosiquto one. They are attracted to hormones, skin color, and body heat. But cute little blog.

Dec 01, 2008 11:39 PM
Charlene Hammontree
616 Realty LLC - Rockford, MI
Meeting the needs of Buyers and Sellers in MICH

Great blog!

Dec 01, 2008 11:44 PM
Kathy Kooyman
Home Realty - Pella, IA

Lot's of interesting information, I like the wet newspaper idea.  I copied and pasted it to May 1, I will give it a try before I put my mulch down.  Nothing worse than pulling weeds.

Dec 02, 2008 12:02 AM
Toula Rosebrock
Diane Turton, Realtors, Forked River, NJ - Lacey Township, NJ
Broker/Sales Associate, Realtor, Lacey Township,

Hi Ella:

Interesting!  These are some great tips!

Happy Holidays to you,

Dec 02, 2008 12:07 AM
Gene Mock
Associate Broker ~ Premier Team, KW Realty - Leesburg, VA
GRI, CRB, CRS, ABR, CIPS, TRC, SFR, SRES

What if you like banana strings, haha.   Great list - thanks for sharing.

Dec 02, 2008 12:21 AM
Steven Wright
Home Real Estate - Aurora, CO
CRS - Home Real Estate - 720-989-5283

Very useful information. Thank you for the post.

Dec 02, 2008 12:37 AM
Richard Shuman
The Only B.S. I Have is from the University of Massachusetts - Lake Mary, FL
Real Estate Broker - Orlando Area - Love Referrals

Some great tips here especially about the weeds and foggy windshield,

Thanks for sharing

Dec 02, 2008 12:38 AM
Bob & Carolin Benjamin
Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ
East Phoenix Arizona Homes

This is all very interesting and helpful information. All the best.

Dec 02, 2008 04:34 AM
Tami Vroma
West Michigan Real Estate Specialist-Five Star Real Estate - Grand Haven, MI
Realtor, Grand Rapids MI Real Estate

What a neat blog  . . . I have one to add.  Did you know a giraffe will not step down.  Look at how they keep them in the zoo--I was amazed.  Learned it at the San Diego Zoo!

Dec 03, 2008 08:11 AM
Tera Tyner
Lubbock Homes - Lubbock, TX

Where did you get this? I wonder how many points you got for this post

Dec 05, 2008 12:12 PM
Anonymous
Ella

I got it from my friend Jack Bains.  he sends me all kinds of crazy stuff!

Dec 05, 2008 01:52 PM
#11
Michelle Tucker ~ Pooler Real Estate
!Daley Real Estate - Pooler, GA
Rincon~Savannah~Richmond Hill

Ella:  Great post.  What happen to the pictures? 

Dec 09, 2008 01:27 PM