Comparing Off Brand Blades To The Cricut Original Blade

 
Comparing the Hardwoer Replacement Blade to the Cricut Brand Blade

Note - Occassionally he Hardwoer brand is not available - but Caregy has identical ones.

The blade on the left is cricut, on the right is Hardwoer.  They are exactly the same size.  

Be sure to remove the red cap before trying to insert it into the holder.  There's a video showing you how to change the blade, below.

How To (quickly & easily) Fix The Keurig Brew Interrupted Error

The needle in the keurig, that punctures the bottom of the k-sups, is hollow, and sometimes coffee grounds get in there.  That causes an error message, because it has disturbed the pressure of the brew.

Apparently keurigs used to come with a handy little tool that you popped in just like a k-cup, and it cleaned the needle and fixed this problem.  My machine did not come with one.  It's only $4.90 on Amazon, and I'm happy to order one to have on hand..  but I am not waiting two days for my morning coffee...

Thankfully, it's really simple to fix with a paperclip or needle.  Just take the bottom piece out of the machine, remove the rubber gasket covering the needle, and poke a sewing needle or a paperclip into the hollow back of the kerig needle. 

Then run plain hot water through the machine once, just to clean out any extras you might have missed or loosened..  and then brew as normal.  I couldn't believe that was all it took - but sure enough, I had coffee in hand in minutes.

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The tool on amazon, just in case you want to keep it on hand for next time...

https://amzn.to/2JTubYW

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How To Quickly Scan Old Negatives Into Digital Photos

I used a light box and an app on my phone to quickly - very quickly - make digital photos from old negatives.

Quick Links:

• Light box
• Kodak Film Scanner App Android   Apple
• OR Pattern for a reflector to use with your flatbed scanner

Recently I was given an amazing box of memorabilia, including an envelope of old photo negatives from 1936.  The envelope told me they were flood photos, but holding them up to the light did not give me much detail.  I'm way too impatient to take them somewhere to have them printed, I just wanted to see what was on the negatives!  So I asked for suggestions, and did some googling, and found that I could quickly capture photos from these negatives with a simple light box and an app on my cell phone.  I'm VERY happy with the results, and it was quick and easy!  

The negatives I started with - 1936 photos from the flood in Milton/Watsontown Pa

The negative on the light pad

Simply place the photo on a light pad, or a light box.  There are ways to make your own with bright lights and clear rubbermaid style boxes... but I happened to have this light pad already, and it works really well!  

This is how the photo looked when I took a photo of it, on the light pad, with just my regular camera.  It at least gave me a better idea of what the photo was - but it's not the results I was hoping for.   So I downloaded this free app from Kodak:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pictoscanner.android.kodak&hl=en_US

(There is a version for Apple devices as well)

This is how the photo looked when I used the Kodak Film Scanner app to take a photo of the negative on the light pad. 

I did find another method, using a flat bed scanner and a piece of shiny silver paper folded to reflect the scanner light, but for me, the light pad and camera app were much faster.  (I already had the light pad on hand)  There is a tutorial, and a pattern to download and print to make this reflector, here: https://makezine.com/2011/07/13/how-to_turn_slides_and_negativ/

Another Photo from a 1936 negative, using a light pad and the kodak app.

You can see all the photos from these negatives here:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/HeathersGenealogy/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2408288252516623

I do have a bunch of other, not quite as old, negatives that I would like to scan - and I think for those I am going to want this handy little machine.

https://amzn.to/2XNtmUA

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https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2019/05/tech-tips.html

Are The Eggs Fresh? Graphic.

I saw this in a facebook post, I have no idea where it came from..  but it's a cute graphic to show you how to tell how fresh the eggs in your fridge (or nesting box!) are:

Curtains from Shower Curtains

When redoing our daughters bedroom, we were having trouble finding reasonably priced curtains.  Even material to make curtains was pricey - so we started looking at sheets.  And while in the aisle at Dollar General looking at Sheets (nothing in a good pattern there) we turned and spotted a cloth shower curtain that was perfect.  

It's super quick and easy to cut the curtain in half and add a pocket rod and some hems...  Fast and easy and reasonably priced!

We took the closet doors down to have the carpet installed, and then our daughter decided she liked the closet better without the doors.  We went back to Dollar General and got yet another fabric shower curtain, and hung it on a shower curtain rod across the door. 

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/diary-of-housewife.html

Quick, SImple, Cheap - Homemade Ice Packs

1 cup rubbing alcohol

2 cups water

zip lock bags

blue food coloring (optional)

Mix, freeze.  

That's it!  SO simple, and these are awesome.  Do some in gallon bags for more flexibility around knees, etc - use the same amounts given here.  When frozen, these feel exactly like the expensive ice pack I paid a lot for, for Matt's knee.  

Next I want to sew some covers for these..  we can wrap them in dish towels for now, but covers are nice.

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/diary-of-housewife.html

Where is my gas tank?

I rarely put fuel in our vehicles, that is a job my husband takes care of for me.  Most of the time. Sometimes we drive a lot extra, and if he hasn't been in my car and doesn't notice, I may, occasionally, need to stop at a gas station if I want to make it home.  :-)  That happened this week, as we were headed home from our run at the lake, I realized my car was pretty much on empty, and i was driving right past the gas station to get home...

As I pulled into the station, I mumbled out loud "Which side is the gas tank on in this thing" and my daughter said "look for a little arrow on the display" pointing to my gas gauge.  Huh.  She was right - right beside the gas tank icon was a little tiny arrow pointing to the passenger side of the car, where the gas tank is located.  She said she saw the tip on Pinterest!  

(side note - why is it that I don't notice how dusty/dirty things are until I snap a photo of them with my cell phone?  I missed ONE week cleaning out the car, and this is how bad it is already...)

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/diary-of-housewife.html

Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

Making Pasta

Home Made Pasta 

Recipe, Ideas for Adding Colors & Other Veggies, & Tips for Freezing

How to Center A Blog Banner

Blogger has added an option to make centering blog banners much easier.

Go to Template
Choose Customize (under "Live On Blog")
Choose Advanced.

Scroll to the bottom, the last choice should be "Add Css"

Choose that.

Paste this:

#header-inner img {margin: 0 auto !important;}
#header-inner {text-align:center !important;} 

Save.

That's it!

I found my banner at http://www.shabbyblogs.com.  There are more at 

http://thecutestblogontheblock.com/category/banners.  

Choose copy, paste into your graphics program.  Now copy the image in your graphics program, and choose "paste as transparent image".  Now you can add your photos and text.

Covers UP ceiling paint

This stuff is awesome! Dan still wont let me take the dropped ceiling out of the kitchen, and a magic eraser wasn't enough to clean up the metal tracks the tiles sit on. They had yellowed. This stuff made the ceiling look almost new, and SO much cleaner! It covered the water spots in the hall ceiling too. $7 a can, its not cheap, but it was worth it. It sprays straight up, it is meant for ceilings.

(my FB post last week)

A week later, I can see it is a bit splotchy around my stove, where the ceiling was a bit blackened from a cooking error awhile back..  I think a second coat might fix the splotchiness, but even if not, it looks SO much better as is!

Sidewalk / Grass Edger

I LOVE this thing.  It's easy to use, and cleans the sidewalks up so nicely! 

This post keeps showing up as one of the most popular on my blog - and it's one of the least informative posts here.  I feel bad about that.  But I don't know what to tell you..  I think it came from QVC more than 20 years ago.

My mother in law gave this to us years before we moved to the farm.

We moved to the farm nearly 20 years ago.  

The edger still does a great job.

Amazon has a sidewalk edging tool - but it does not look like mine, and I have no idea how well it works.  It's pricey!  If I were going to spend more than $30 for this one, I think I'd be tempted to spend the extra and pay the $60 (it's on sale right now)  for the electric one..  but again, I have no idea how well  they work.

https://amzn.to/3wxx073

https://amzn.to/3vezxl3

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Ironing out a water mark

This would be what happens when you put a box with a hot stromboli in it, directly on my kitchen table.  Fortunately, this time I knew what to do about it.  In the past, for water rings on this table, I tried mayo.  It never worked.  I had resigned myself to sanding down, and refinishing the table, once the kids were a bit older.  (This belonged to my husbands great aunt - one of my favorite relatives)

This table has been waxed.  A lot.  Not by me - I got it this way.  It actually has thick foam protectors to cover the entire surface, so that it is protected all the time..  but I never quite understood why I would want a wood table top, just to cover it in foam and vinyl?

Anyway, I saw an episode of the Revolution, and learned that on waxed finishes, mayo does't work.  That you need to use heat!

A soft cloth, and an iron.  Do not let the iron set, keep it moving.  And this isn't instant..  it will take just a few minutes. 

But it's so worth the results!

Clarifying Shampoo for bathing suits?

 

Today's Tip - from the women at the Y - wash bathing suits out in clarifying shampoo (be sure to use it on your hair too!) after swimming in chlorine. It will keep the suit from fading.


Apparently there are different kinds of clarifying shampoos, but the women there recommend the 99 cent bottle of Suave!  Which we already keep on hand here..  even with a culligan water system, we have problems with hard water.  Our hairdresser recommended at clarifying shampoo at least once a week - and it really helps keep my hair from turning orange.

More on clariflying shampoo use:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/clarifying-shampoo-to-remove-hair-dye.html

More tips for avoiding green hair if you spend a lot of time swimming in chlorine:
http://www.mamapedia.com/article/help-my-daughter-tick-s-hair-is-green-from-chlorine

Getting Started With Genealogy -

step one - write down everything you know.  

• This is a good form to get you started - http://www.hamersleyfamily.com/5generationpedigreechart.pdf
• Create a folder for each of your grandparents - you should have 4, and if you are working on your husbands line too, you now have 8 folders, and 8 surnames, right off the bat.  Create a 9th folder and place the above chart in it for now. I use all "center" folders for these, it helps with my organization later.  All direct line ancestors go in "center" tab files.
• Print at least 4 copies of this form.  Fill one out for each set of grandparents, as much or as little as you know.  Once they are filled in, make a copy of each, each form has two surnames, the wife's and the husbands...  so place the form in both folders, the original in Surname1, the Copy in Surname2.  

 Step two - contact every one you know - this is a good time, type up a small note to stick in your Christmas cards (I must have originally typed this up before Christmas time...) , letting them know you are working on the genealogy and would appreciate any information they have.  Let them know what you know already, and list a few specific questions like "do you know who our grandmother's parents are, or where they grew up?"  "Do you have any photos/birth certificates/military records you could scan and share with me, or allow me to borrow to copy? "      etc.  There are several family  surname geanealogy groups on facebook too.

Step three - go to www.google.com and type in "(your surname) genealogy"  You'd be amazed at the family trees you'll find online - someone may have a lot of the work done for you!  Narrow your search by using your ancestors name and birthdate. Keep in mind that unless they have it documented with tax records, census reports, scans from family bibles..  it's not reliable. But it's a place to start.  Once you get information, you can look for documentation yourself.

Step four - go to http://genforum.genealogy.com/ and see if there is a forum for your surnames.  Use the search feature to search for names you know - like your grandparents.  Then try by location - if you know where your grandparents grew up, or where your family is from, type that in. 

Step five - http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp this is a great place to find census records, and the ss death index

There is a lot more, but that gives you a place to start without leaving the house. 


I have a blog devoted just to genealogy - http://heathersgen.blogspot.com/

http://couponomicstimuluspackage.blogspot.com/