Waste of time?

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. - Auguste Rodin

Now how that quote could be related to my day remains to be seen as work was very unfun. However, the IT manager was down and when I whined about a computer monitor as mine had died, offered to give me one (they're not worth anything he said) for my old computer. So I guess that's a wise experience.

We did have a nice visit with our friends from the city, fed them supper and they headed back late. We must be getting old when we comment that their granddaughter looks just like their daughter did at that age when we used to go camping together in Labrador.

Now for those of you who have been left hanging with the suspense of - what happened to the racoon I am providing the following update as forwarded by the Racoon First Responder:

The raccoon spent the afternoon wheezing & whining in the sun, flies gathering around despite the fact that I had shampooed him to get rid of the coffee grounds & eggshells. I told him firmly that he best get moving. Guess he heeded my warning, because when I went to check before scrapbooking, he was gone. Now to find something really heavy to put on the cone top - something heavy enough to break a toe if I drop it. I'm too old for that kind of excitement & I know the neighbour won't help me again

After the shore captain retired I've taken advantage of the quiet to tweak the presentations as I've got to get the speaking notes printed off within the next two days. Think I will have to treat it like a term paper in a distance ed course and just finally say 'done' and put it away. What I should be doing is...packing - or rather unpacking and repacking. The mantra is - only so many hours in the day.

A FEW HANDY LITTLE HINTS TO MAKE LIFE EASIER

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 omelettes rich add a couple ofSpoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt chocolate mint patties 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 tasteOf 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!

Heat up leftover pizza in a non stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.

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.

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.

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.

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 forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

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 narrow openings.

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.

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.

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

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.

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.

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!

There, that's enough of that Martha Stewart stuff for one day. If you're in need of a smile (as I most certainly am today) I offer this forwarded by a friend:

Housework was a woman's job, but one evening, Jenny arrived home from work to find the children bathed, one load of laundry in the washer and another in the dryer. Dinner was on the stove, and the table set. She was astonished!It turns out that Ralph had read an article that said, 'Wives who work full-time and had to do their own housework were too tired to have sex'. The night went very well. The next day, she told her office friends all about it. 'We had a great dinner. Ralph even cleaned up the kitchen. He helped the kids do their homework, folded all the laundry and put it away. I really enjoyed the evening.''But what about afterward?' asked her friends.'Oh, that ...., Ralph was too tired..'