I have seen a lot of reusable sancwich bags and I really like the idea, but I just realized that not all plastic is safe to touch food.
I have seen some people fusing plastic from grocery bags & newspaper bags then using that as the waterproof lining for their sandwich bags. Those plastics were not made to directly touch food. Garbage bags were not made to directly touch food that will be consumed, so why would a newspaper bag. They come with warnings telling you not to use it to hold food that will be eaten.Plastic grocery bags aren't meant to directly touch food either... maybe the produce bags are safe to touch food.
I have seen shops that have reusable sandwich bags with PULL lining, wich is safe for diapers and can be sanitized (they use it in hospitles I think), but it wasn't made to touch food.
I guess if you are considering making something like this, you should do some research like finding out...
* what exactly makes garbage bags unsafe for food? (chemicals)
* do plastic grocery bags/newspaper bags contain dangerous chemicals (or whatever else you might want to use)
My biology professor warned us about the dangers of plastics.
(you shouldn't heat/freeze a plastic unless it was designed for that and even if it was designed for heating/freezing, doing so will make more dangerous chemicals leak out)
_____side note.........extra information....bonus mini rant ;)____
Use plastic for the use it was designed/intended for:
**do not store leftovers in plastic containers that came with food (a plastic cool whip container for example)the chemical composition of your leftovers are different from what was originally came in that container.
*acidic foods can cause certain chemicals to leach out of containers (I'm pretty sure your leftover chili will be more acidic than that cool whip that originally came in the container)
--(by the way.. heating anything with tomatoe sauce or that is oily in a plastic container will leave it stained and pitted = permanently damaged. so think about that before you microwave your spaghetti in your brand new tuppeware... opt for a ceramic or glass dish)--
______end of side note ______________________
You could instead consider using plastics that were made to directly touch food that will be consumed.
*bread bags
*produce bags
*plastic wrap (cellophane? saran wrap?)
*heavy duty freezer bags (like ziplock)
most of those things are one use items, if you fuse them together it would make them sturdier which would make them last longer. It may not seem all that environmentally friendly, but if you get 20 uses out of two fused ziplock bags that would be a good thing!
If you have any additional information, I would love to hear it... It you have url to for reference that would be great!
ps. I'll stay with my tuppeware for my sandwich needs until I get these questions asnwered... though the plastic in tuppeware should be questioned as well :/
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6592957
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Gardening and Plant Care
here are some websites that I found helpful and I hope to remember them for future use
I will add to this as I come across problems
plants we have at my house: Oyster plant, Spider plant, Prayer plant, Lucky Bamboo, Christmas Cactus, Heart-leaf Philodendron, Swiss Cheese Philodendron, Orchid, miniature palm, umbrella, Aloe Vera, Violet, few different small cacti
Oyster Plant - my oyster plant started acting weird a few weeks after I bought it. The bottom leaves started dying and it grew really tall. I found the problem and solution on this site...
http://en.allexperts.com/q/House-Plants-721/leaning-oyster-plant-2.htm
I will add to this as I come across problems
plants we have at my house: Oyster plant, Spider plant, Prayer plant, Lucky Bamboo, Christmas Cactus, Heart-leaf Philodendron, Swiss Cheese Philodendron, Orchid, miniature palm, umbrella, Aloe Vera, Violet, few different small cacti
Oyster Plant - my oyster plant started acting weird a few weeks after I bought it. The bottom leaves started dying and it grew really tall. I found the problem and solution on this site...
http://en.allexperts.com/q/House-Plants-721/leaning-oyster-plant-2.htm
computer speed problem solver
the following was an email sent to me by a friend/computer wiz after I complained about having a really slow computer. If you just want to download one, pick the advanced system care, it does all sorts of things including defragmenting. This helped my computer... but my real problem seems to be that I just have too many things on it (tons of crochet patterns and pictures for fashion design inspiration from the internet). I am working on deleting things that I don't actually need, but it is a slow process :(
----------------------------------------------------
Try these programs to help with your speed. They should help a lot. Replace whatever you use for security with the security program I've linked, it is the fastest on the market. The advanced system care is really good at basic pc tuneup work all at once. The smart defrag works better than the windows one, because you can tell it to optomize the defrag for fastest performance. The game booster also helps with speed, because you can turn it on and shut off anything unnecessary on your pc.
After you've installed them all, and run what you want to, hit the windows key and r at the same time. This will pull up the dialog for "Windows Run" type "msconfig" into the box and hit enter. What comes up are the basic configurations for windows startup. Select "programs" and turn off everything. Select "processes" and check the box that says "hide windows services" then turn off everything that is left. Restart your pc, and then run gamebooster. This should dramatically improve your performance.
http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-SystemCare-Free/3000-2086_4-10407614.html
http://download.cnet.com/IObit-Security-360/3000-8022_4-10967594.html
http://download.cnet.com/Smart-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10759533.html
http://download.cnet.com/Game-Booster/3000-18541_4-10913645.html?tag=mncol
----------------------------------------------------
Try these programs to help with your speed. They should help a lot. Replace whatever you use for security with the security program I've linked, it is the fastest on the market. The advanced system care is really good at basic pc tuneup work all at once. The smart defrag works better than the windows one, because you can tell it to optomize the defrag for fastest performance. The game booster also helps with speed, because you can turn it on and shut off anything unnecessary on your pc.
After you've installed them all, and run what you want to, hit the windows key and r at the same time. This will pull up the dialog for "Windows Run" type "msconfig" into the box and hit enter. What comes up are the basic configurations for windows startup. Select "programs" and turn off everything. Select "processes" and check the box that says "hide windows services" then turn off everything that is left. Restart your pc, and then run gamebooster. This should dramatically improve your performance.
http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-SystemCare-Free/3000-2086_4-10407614.html
http://download.cnet.com/IObit-Security-360/3000-8022_4-10967594.html
http://download.cnet.com/Smart-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10759533.html
http://download.cnet.com/Game-Booster/3000-18541_4-10913645.html?tag=mncol
Thursday, July 8, 2010
dealing with grandma (alzheimers and uses a walker)
This is a place for me to vent about my frustrations and hopefully get advice.
Here are the facts:
My grandmother will be staying with my family for a few months. She is usually in the care of my aunt, but we are giving my aunt a much needed break.
My grandmother suffers from alzheimers (stage 5 I think)
She also has bad knees, wich makes her have to use a walker.
She is incontinent for some reason (just urine). She can't be trusted to remember to put those incontinence pads in her panties so it was decided to take all of her panties and replace them with adult disposable diapers (this happened over a year ago).
Just so you know, I have learned to hold in my emotions (for the most part) and I don't yell at her or anything like that.
-----now for the rants---
I wonder if her incontenence is partly due to her lazyness. I understand her leaking a little or just not making it to the bathroom in time (she gave birth to 6 children and she is slow moving due to her bad knees), but she sits there for hours without even trying to get up and make it to the bathroom. When she does go, her diaper is full (sometimes full enough to leak).
My mother and I are trying to get her to get up and go to the bathroom about every 2 hours. I understand her not being able to remember to try to urinate every two hours, it's hard for my mother and I to remember to remind her. ...but when you feel like you have to pee, why not get up and make your way to the bathroom. Even if you don't quite make it, at least you tried.
I would rather crawl to get to a bathroom than have to use a diaper. If I had a broken leg, I would hop or crawl or even drag myself to a bathroom instead of using a diaper. I'd rather crawl up a flight of stairs to make it to a bathroom just to avoid the $$COST$$ of disposable diapers.
I think she just doesn't care.
Here are the facts:
My grandmother will be staying with my family for a few months. She is usually in the care of my aunt, but we are giving my aunt a much needed break.
My grandmother suffers from alzheimers (stage 5 I think)
She also has bad knees, wich makes her have to use a walker.
She is incontinent for some reason (just urine). She can't be trusted to remember to put those incontinence pads in her panties so it was decided to take all of her panties and replace them with adult disposable diapers (this happened over a year ago).
Just so you know, I have learned to hold in my emotions (for the most part) and I don't yell at her or anything like that.
-----now for the rants---
I wonder if her incontenence is partly due to her lazyness. I understand her leaking a little or just not making it to the bathroom in time (she gave birth to 6 children and she is slow moving due to her bad knees), but she sits there for hours without even trying to get up and make it to the bathroom. When she does go, her diaper is full (sometimes full enough to leak).
My mother and I are trying to get her to get up and go to the bathroom about every 2 hours. I understand her not being able to remember to try to urinate every two hours, it's hard for my mother and I to remember to remind her. ...but when you feel like you have to pee, why not get up and make your way to the bathroom. Even if you don't quite make it, at least you tried.
I would rather crawl to get to a bathroom than have to use a diaper. If I had a broken leg, I would hop or crawl or even drag myself to a bathroom instead of using a diaper. I'd rather crawl up a flight of stairs to make it to a bathroom just to avoid the $$COST$$ of disposable diapers.
I think she just doesn't care.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
craft fairs are a waist of time
How should I advertise the craft shows that I do?
The people in charge never seem to advertise like they promise. It really sucks when we put the effort to show up & set up our booth and nobody knows to come.
We loose a bunch of money when this happens. We pay for: gas to get there, food while we're there, a place to stay if it is far away. There is even a booth fee. The booth fee is suppost to pay for things like advertising.
If we sell a few things, part of that money goes to materials. We spend time to make the items and we also spend time to sit around and try to sell them. There is wear and tear on the items we sell, our vehicle, tent, tables, & us!
The people that do show up, don't seem to be expecting it... even if it is one that was highly advertised. They come to something like a craft fair or county fair and don't bring any cash. Do you really expect us to take credit cards? Do you go to a farmers' market and expect Billy Bob to accept credit cards?.. would you even want Billy Bob to have your credit card info? Crafters and Artists are usually very honest people, but you should be careful anyways.
Why would someone even leave the house without a little bit of money? Why would you leave your purse in the car? Why would you even get out of the car without your valuables? Why should we trust that your check is any good?
Accepting credit cards is a hassle. It includes transaction fees that the vendor will have to pay.
Maybe we should just sell on the internet and quit going to craft fairs.
The people in charge never seem to advertise like they promise. It really sucks when we put the effort to show up & set up our booth and nobody knows to come.
We loose a bunch of money when this happens. We pay for: gas to get there, food while we're there, a place to stay if it is far away. There is even a booth fee. The booth fee is suppost to pay for things like advertising.
If we sell a few things, part of that money goes to materials. We spend time to make the items and we also spend time to sit around and try to sell them. There is wear and tear on the items we sell, our vehicle, tent, tables, & us!
The people that do show up, don't seem to be expecting it... even if it is one that was highly advertised. They come to something like a craft fair or county fair and don't bring any cash. Do you really expect us to take credit cards? Do you go to a farmers' market and expect Billy Bob to accept credit cards?.. would you even want Billy Bob to have your credit card info? Crafters and Artists are usually very honest people, but you should be careful anyways.
Why would someone even leave the house without a little bit of money? Why would you leave your purse in the car? Why would you even get out of the car without your valuables? Why should we trust that your check is any good?
Accepting credit cards is a hassle. It includes transaction fees that the vendor will have to pay.
Maybe we should just sell on the internet and quit going to craft fairs.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Choo Choo Craft Show
Tomorrow, Dec 13, is the last day of Choo Choo Christmas. It is a market that only has handmade items. It is a great place to come for christmas shopping, for that person who has everything or yourself.
* There is a face painting booth. They are really talented, the style reminds me of the musical "Cats".
* A guy that does hammered recycled aluminum, I bought a really pretty plate from him. Plates, platters, wrist cuffs, and ornaments
* Stained glass awesomeness! ornaments, wall hangings, pendants, necklaces, plant pokes, & fan pulls
* Wood that has been cut out with a scroll saw... very pretty designs. She also has wood puzzles. She can do a custom picture for you.
* A guy that has some really cool celestial art done with spray paint
* wood puzzles
* Wood Nativitys and other carved wood ornaments... really cool/durable 3D nativity
* Hand made brooms
* Pottery... really cool rough style that is painted in wild colors and designs... functional = food & dishwasher safe
* Pottery... classy looking vases that are done with horse hair to make squiggly lines or copper to give you all the beautiful colors that copper can be (blue, gold, purple, & orange colors)
* wire wrapped pendants and semi precious stones
* Melted record art
* Blown glass humming bird feeders (drip-free) and ornaments
The Usual things you would find at the Choo Choo
* Choo Choo rides: $1 for children, $2 for adults
* Arcade
* Old time photographs
* Sweet Shop - ice cream and chocolates
* Scrap book store
* They have their usual souvenir shops
more info here
http://www.choochoo.com/localevents.php?dest=15
December 13, from 10am - 6pm
My mom and I will be there, selling our handmade fashion accessories.
Please come and support local crafters/artists/small business/handmade items
Most of the venders really need the money (including us). We have been there since Friday and no one has really made very many sales. It costs us gas money to get there and back, a booth fee, and our time... so we start out with less than nothing and then need to make that money back before we can actually make a profit. We all need more people to show up.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!
* There is a face painting booth. They are really talented, the style reminds me of the musical "Cats".
* A guy that does hammered recycled aluminum, I bought a really pretty plate from him. Plates, platters, wrist cuffs, and ornaments
* Stained glass awesomeness! ornaments, wall hangings, pendants, necklaces, plant pokes, & fan pulls
* Wood that has been cut out with a scroll saw... very pretty designs. She also has wood puzzles. She can do a custom picture for you.
* A guy that has some really cool celestial art done with spray paint
* wood puzzles
* Wood Nativitys and other carved wood ornaments... really cool/durable 3D nativity
* Hand made brooms
* Pottery... really cool rough style that is painted in wild colors and designs... functional = food & dishwasher safe
* Pottery... classy looking vases that are done with horse hair to make squiggly lines or copper to give you all the beautiful colors that copper can be (blue, gold, purple, & orange colors)
* wire wrapped pendants and semi precious stones
* Melted record art
* Blown glass humming bird feeders (drip-free) and ornaments
The Usual things you would find at the Choo Choo
* Choo Choo rides: $1 for children, $2 for adults
* Arcade
* Old time photographs
* Sweet Shop - ice cream and chocolates
* Scrap book store
* They have their usual souvenir shops
more info here
http://www.choochoo.com/localevents.php?dest=15
December 13, from 10am - 6pm
My mom and I will be there, selling our handmade fashion accessories.
Please come and support local crafters/artists/small business/handmade items
Most of the venders really need the money (including us). We have been there since Friday and no one has really made very many sales. It costs us gas money to get there and back, a booth fee, and our time... so we start out with less than nothing and then need to make that money back before we can actually make a profit. We all need more people to show up.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!
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