Upside Down or Right Side Up

When it comes to homemaking and organization, everyone has their own ways of doing things.  What makes sense or works for some does not make sense or work for others.  There are even debates over which way the roll of toilet paper should be placed on the roller.  What I never really considered an issue was whether to put glasses, mugs and other drinking vessels upside down or right side up in the cupboards.  I used to think it was just a personal preference.

Our first three purchased homes were relatively problem free as far as home invaders.  The worst we dealt with was ants (rarely), house flies, fruit flies and in our third house, earwigs.  Even then, all of these pests were very minor outbreaks that were quickly controlled.  They were not ongoing.  Glassware and mugs were placed right side up in the cupboards.  Then we bought our fourth house that backed onto farmland.  When the crops came off, the mice came in.  Our fifth house was a beautiful house in a beautiful location but it had issues.  It was across the main road with a small road in between from farmland on water front property.  The house was surrounded by English ivy, a rodent mecca.  The mice would scurry across the patio, get into the outdoor grill and loved visiting us indoors.  Not only were mice a problem, the house was a magnet for centipedes (4 or more a week!), millipedes, pill bugs and carpenter ants.  We bought this house in 2011.  There is farmland directly behind it so even though it is a newer house, mice found their way indoors.  After catching four mice, we called in the professionals who quickly took care of the problem.

As part of our pest control, glassware and mugs have been placed upside down in the cupboards ever since our fourth house.  It's a way to ensure that rodents or other pests don't get into them, and it keeps any dust out.  Well, this does make perfect sense.  However, shortly after we discovered mice in this house I was getting platters from the shelf unit in the pantry, I was not pleased to discover the tell tale signs of mice on the top platter.  So, even if the glassware and mugs are turned upside down in the cupboards, other dinnerware or pots and pans in the cupboard can still be contaminated by rodents, other household pests or dust.

Essentially, upside down or right side up ends up being a personal choice.  While it will give peace of mind that nothing contaminated your clean glassware or mugs, it does nothing to eliminate the possible contamination of other items in your cupboard that come into contact with food.  Up or down, 'tis up to you :)

Energy Conservation Incentive Programs

Yesterday, I wrote about our so far nasty experience with our municipal hydro provider setting up the PeakSaver program.  The premise is, the municipal hydro provider wants you to give up a bit of control over your hydro usage if needed and in return they give you an incentive for signing up.  So far, the municipal hydro provider is winning and we are left with a pile of electronic junk thanks to BlueLine.  Seriously, with out experience using the BlueLine Monitor and the BlueLine WiFi Bridge, I wouldn't wish either on my worst enemy!  Talk about crap and I do mean crap!  Now, at the moment I am not naming our municipal hydro provider (although they claim to be all about integrity but so far I've seen none of that) but I will and I have every intention of going through my MP (already contacted) and the BBB as well as reporting BlueLine to the BBB.  Seriously, pissing off consumers is not the way to go about getting them interesting in energy conservation.

Energy conservation programs rightly executed are awesome as it was done through Ontario Hydro.  Everyone was a winner.  We got a new programmable thermostat and they got a customer who didn't mind them cycling our hydro during the summer if needed.  So incentive programs do work. We knew what the incentive was through Ontario Hydro but not through our municipal hydro.  That was our mistake or my mistake because I am the primary with respect to energy conservation especially grants and that type of thing.  I should have came right out at asked the municipality hydro provider what the incentive was and then did the research before saying we wanted it.  This serves as a reminder BEFORE you sign up to any energy conservation program, do your research first.  It will save you a lot of headaches in the end.

The New PeakSaver Goodies - A MAJOR FAIL!

When we moved into our fifth purchased home in 2007 our goal as with all of the houses we have owned was to make it as energy efficient as possible.  At that time we were dealing with Ontario Hydro, who supplies municipal hydro companies and is by far a lot nicer to deal with than the municipal ones.  We signed up for their PeakSaver program which gave us a $25 rebate off our hydro bill and a new Honeywell Programmable Thermostat.  We bought our sixth (actually seventh if you count our vacation home) in 2011 so I immediately called the municipal hydro company to sign up for the PeakSaver program.  What this program does is allow the hydro company to remotely adjust your thermostat by 3 degrees during the heavy air conditioning usage during the summer months if there are brown out conditions.  Honestly, I think they only did it three times in the four years we owned that house.

My husband was very excited that he was going to get a new thermostat.  NO!  What they gave us as an incentive was a BlueLine WiFi Bridge, a PowerCost Monitor and a Coby tablet so we can monitor and control our hydro use online.  Now the real problem is, the technician installed the remote on the AC unit and the sensor on the meter but then just handed me the boxes and the rest has turned into a bloody nightmare!

The WiFi Bridge if working properly would allow us to remotely control our furnace and AC from the cloud (online program accessible anywhere).  Since we are away a lot, this would be a nice cost saving and energy conservation feature BUT after several failed attempts at installing it, several reboots, disabling my firewall and two and a half days on the phone with BlueLine customer support I have nothing but a piece of junk!  The BlueLine PowerCost Monitor is rather nice as you can see the power usage and cost as you are using it BUT it doesn't work properly.  The numbers are off as it right now it is telling me it is 60°F outside when in fact it is 29°F and the dang thing keeps going into sleep mode.  It would be a very nice visual if it worked properly.  I have to tell you I am really not impressed with BlueLine products.  It has been two weeks trying to get this figured out and settled so Monday morning I will be calling my hydro company and ask them to remove the PeakSaver and give them back all their pieces of crap.

You know this really does tick me off.  They want you to conserve energy and set up programs to help you conserve energy then give you a crappy incentive that doesn't even work!  It would be bad enough if one of the pieces of equipment they gave us didn't work, but none of them do.  Oh wait a minute, the Colby table works but it isn't anything I couldn't do on my iPad to begin with.  At least the thermostat they gave us as an incentive last time worked!  In terms of customer loyalty and energy conservation this particular program through the municipality hydro company is a huge FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beanies for Bravery

We were in Florida at our vacation home when the word of the horrid events at Sandy Hook Elementary School unfolded.  Like many I was glued to the television hoping it was just a bad dream.  I've been in a knitting and crocheting funk ever since we moved here in September of 2011.  Aside of making a few dishcloths for here and our vacation home, starting a couple of projects, my knitting needles and crochet hooks have fallen silent.  Inspiration comes in strange forms sometimes.

My daughter who only crochets emailed me asking if I would want to make a couple of beanies to be sent to the survivors of Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I told her I would.  Between Christmas and New Years, she brought me a skein a Red Heart Team Spirit yarn and the pattern designed by Michele Miller to be used for the beanies.  It is not to be used for commercial purposes but is free to use for non-commercial purposes.

Really, this is a simple round with increases evenly spaced to keep the project round then when you reach the desired diameter, discontinue the increases and continue until the desired length.  Basically, what you want to do is start the ring then increase evenly each succeeding row.  The first row after the ring is an increase stitch in every stitch, followed by work one stitch, increase,  in the next and work one stitch continuing around the round, then join, work two stitches and increase, work two stitches, continue around the round.  Each round you make increases the number of the first worked stitches by 1 and increases the number of stitches between increases by 1.  Once you understand how to increase to keep the project round, you could easily create your own pattern, custom tailored to what you are designing.

The beanie starts by making a magic ring.  The magic ring is a slick way to start a round project without leaving that little hole in the centre if using the traditional method of starting a round.  I am very experienced in crocheting but I did have problems starting the magic ring.  There are YouTube videos and it make take a couple of attempts but once you get it, you get it.

I made two of the beanies as pictured.  Now I am a huge fan of variegated yarns but this is the first time I have used a self-striping yarn.  It does stripe nicely but I was not impressed with the texture.  The yarn was harsher and prone to splitting which I found a bit surprising as Red Heart is one of my favourite yarns to work with.

Together we sent 4 beanies in support of the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I hope a little 'anything' helps give a bit of comfort if only in support.  I am truly saddened at those events so really What was nice is this project actually inspired me to do a bit more so the knitting needles and crochet hooks are in high gear.  What these children gave back to me even though they don't know it is a renewed spirit to get creating with knitting and crocheting.  From the bottom of my heart I wish them the best, the strength they need to get through this ordeal, the courage to face the future knowing the world is not that bad of a place...

Knock Down the Dust Mite Population with Cold Air

Many folk suffer from dust mite allergies more specifically from dust mite droppings. Dust mites are microscopic insects that live in our home feeding off of dead skin. The problem is dead skin accumulates in dust as a normal part of our daily activity because we are always shedding skin. In homes with carpeting and upholstered furniture or in rooms with a lot of textiles (eg. stuffed animals), the dust mite population can explode into large numbers causing those allergic to dust mites to have an increase in allergy symptoms ranging from minor (eg. sniffles, runny eyes) to life threatening (eg. severe asthma attack). My allergists and respiratory therapist have drilled it into me over and over that the best control is to reduce the dust mite habitat by removing all carpeting and upholstered furniture. We've been working towards that goal and in September 2011, we finally bought a house with no carpeting. All floors are hard so the dust mite population here is quite low. Not everyone can rip out their carpeting or buy a house with no carpeting. If you live in a cold climate as we do, you can use the reduced humidity and cold air treatment to knock down the dust mite population in your home. If you have a humidifier, do not set the humidity level higher than 25%. This will still help keep your mucosal membranes from becoming too dry. The cold air treatment ideally needs 24 to 48 hours so is best done during the winter when you can be away for one or two nights. The ideal magic temperature you want to get your house to is 50°F, no lower as you don't want pipes freezing. Turn the furnace off and replace the filter about 3 hours before leaving the house. Gather all textiles (eg. stuffed animals, pillows, afghans) and place in plastic garbage bags. Put them in the freezer or if you have an unheated garage or shed in there while you are gone. Strip the beds leaving them bare. Thoroughly vacuum all floors both hard and carpeted. Empty the vacuum bag or cup, clean if necessary and replace as you will need to use the vacuum cleaner as soon as you arrive home. Now, leave the house with furnace off for at least 24 hours. The inside air temperature will dip and continue to dip, killing off dust mites. The closer the temperature gets to 50°F the more effective the kill off is. At the same time, the dust mites in your textiles in the plastic bags are being killed off. When you return home, it will be chilly but houses don't take long to warm up. Turn the furnace on. Carefully open the garbage bags with your textiles and place the textiles in the dryer on air fluff for at least 15 minutes. This will remove dust mite carcasses and feces. Next, vacuum thoroughly all floor surfaces to also remove dust mite carcasses and feces. The dust mite population has been basically knocked down to an ultra low level so will take a couple of months or more to get to the level to cause allergic symptoms providing you do regular vacuuming. While you are doing dust mite control, this is a good time to put allergy covers on all pillows and mattresses. The cover forms a barrier between you and the dust mite droppings. Use the cold treatment on pillows then cover. Vacuum mattresses well then place a zippered allergy cover on the mattress. If your house has a lot of carpeting (eg. all rooms except bathrooms and kitchen), this treatment can be used monthly or three times during the cold weather depending on your lifestyle. When we are at our vacation home in Florida during December, our house is left at 50°F for the entire duration of three to five weeks. This was particularly helpful for dust mite control in our last home where there was a lot of carpeting and while it is more of an eco-friendly solution here to avoid using a lot of energy to heat our house when we aren't here, it still kills off the dust mites. Oh, and while the treatment sounds like a lot of work, it really isn't! It usually takes me about a half hour on each end of the treatment. The results are definitely worth it in increased comfort, reduced allergy symptoms and reduced medications.

A Cold Snap

There has been a lot of sickness going around especially cold and flu or flu-like illnesses. My husband came down with a cold just after the holidays and I've been down with a horrid cold with complications for two weeks now. When I was growing up, the winters were colder and believe me our house was poorly insulated at best. There would be frost inside on the windows, huge icicles hanging from the eaves troughs and quickly getting dressed before freezing was a challenge. Our bedrooms were downright cold at night as the only heat to them was via the two radiant heat gas heaters downstairs. We had a floor vent in the middle of the hall to help get heat upstairs. While heat does rise, little of it came upstairs. The basement was unfinished with a mud floor so the first level floors were beyond cold in the winter. I can remember my Mom opening windows on a sunny but bitterly cold day, enough to get a good cross-breeze. She would leave the house like that for a couple of hours! She hang clothes on the line on those days as well even though we had a gas dryer. Her reasons were simple. The fresh air got rid of stagnant winter air and killed germs. She was old school, born in 1903, raised on a farm and lived through two World Wars as well as the Great Depression. Let me tell you, she knew a thing or two about living frugally! We bought our first home in the early 80's and compared to my Mom's house it was quite energy efficient. We are now in our sixth purchased home, seventh if you count our vacation home. This house is a far cry from our first house in that it is so energy efficient and sealed so tightly we need an air exchanger. Heating costs are considerably higher than what my Mom paid but in reality a lot of the heating she paid for went out all the cracks and crevices of the house. Although it sounds like an expensive practice to do in modern, air tight homes her method of using cold air is just as effective now as it was then. Our winters have become warmer so what you need is a cold snap where the temperature is below freezing for a few days. Wait for a sunny day during the cold snap then shut off your furnace. Go through the house and spray all touchable surfaces (eg. phone handsets, door knobs, remotes, light switches, keyboards, etc) with rubbing alcohol. This greatly reduces any germs on those surfaces making the cold air treatment more effective. Change the filter as it may harbour germs. Open at least two windows to create a cross breeze. A kitchen or bathroom exhaust fan can be turned on to help remove the stagnant air. Leave your house like this for at least a half hour then shut the windows and start the furnace. This is long enough period to remove stagnant air in the house without lowering the indoor temperature too much. Germs go out the window along with the stagnant air.

'Tis Cold and Flu Season

You are most susceptible to coming down with the cold or flu when your immune system is over taxed.  We arrived home from our winter vacation in the sunny south on December 20, immediately jumped into holiday mode and quite frankly we were exhausted so it is no wonder that my husband easily caught youngest grandkids cold.  He spent the first week of January dealing with his cold while I managed to avoid it.  The following week, against my better judgement I stopped at the gym for a membership.  Later that day she wrote on Facebook that she was dealing with three sick people at home - her husband and two kids.  I had talked to him that morning.  Two days later, I woke with a sore neck but didn't think much of it as my neck is often sore due to an old injury.  By mid-afternoon, the soreness had been replaced with a scratchy throat.  I started with my normal routine of gargling with salt water and sipping on warm water with honey and apple cider vinegar.  The weekend passed but my throat was still sore on Monday.  That afternoon, the coughing started and let me tell you it was beyond horrid.  The first cough felt like my lungs were going to explode followed by my whole body in searing pins and needles.  The next coughing spell quickly turned to vomiting as did each coughing spell after that for the next two days along with that horrid searing pins and needles sensation.  I called my doctor and in the meantime increased my Symbicort and started taking a DM Expectorant which barely took the edge off the cough.  Aside of the searing pins and needles sensation which was very painful, I actually felt fairly good.  There was no fever just the coughing, the sensation, no appetite and feeling tired so I really wasn't concerned.  I figured it was a cold that hit hard and I was right because about 8 days after the coughing started I was fine.

According to some sources, there is a lot of sickness going around and I'm sure there will be a lot more.  Here, in our little corner of beautiful Ontario, Canada the biggest problem has been lack of a hard frost to kill off the germs. There is a rather aggressive strain of flu going around as well.  Despite being high risk, I do not get the flu shot nor does my husband.  The flu vaccine is a whole issue in itself!  However, even though colds and flu are going through the area, we seldom get sick.  I suspect we only came down with the colds this year because we were exhausted.  Here are some of the things we do to avoid contracting colds and flu.

• hand washing - Hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of germs.   We are constantly washing our hands throughout the day and we use the waterless hand sanitizer.  We have hand sanitizer in both vehicles, in coat pockets, in my purse and throughout the house.  It is used several times throughout the day.
• don't touch the face rule - It is surprising how many times you touch your face in a day but this is one of the best ways to get germs into your body.  Becoming aware of how many times you touch your face can help you reduce that.
• avoid people -  Avoiding people is a rather effective way not pick up germs and it is a lot easier than you would think.  During the cold and flu season we stay out of hospitals (germ cesspools), doctor's offices, malls, grocery stores and in short unless we really need to go out, we don't.  We don't have public transit here so that's easy to avoid but if we did, we would not use it during cold and flu season.  We continue to entertain but at a reduced level and while this could expose us to both cold and flu, the risk is considerably lower as our friends and family tend to stay home when they are sick.
• healthy eating -  In general, my husband and I eat healthy on a regular basis not just during cold and flu season.  We tend to eat home cooked from scratch, home canned, hormone-free grass-fed beef, AND we avoid food additives, preservatives, HFCS and excess salt.  We eat salad daily as well so in general, I really don't need to modify this for the cold and flu season although I may add extra onion and garlic (anti-bacterial).  
• avoid sugar - During cold and flu season we avoid sugar especially white sugar.  Sugar supports the growth of harmful bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.  We aren't big sugar users to begin with but avoiding it helps prevent secondary infection (usually bacterial) should we have a viral infection (cold, flu).  If we need a sweetener, we use raw honey, agave nectar, molasses or stevia.
• natural remedies - Wherever possible we avoid using pharmaceuticals in favour of natural remedies.  I am supposed to take Symbicort daily but I don't unless I have respiratory problems.  My top natural antibiotics are oil of oregano, raw honey, tea tree oil and garlic..
• dietary supplementation - My husband does not use much in the way of dietary supplementation but I do to support and boost my immune function.  This allows me to avoid using Symbicort.  Dietary supplementation should always be geared towards the needs of the individual.  Along with immune supporters, it is necessary (or suggested) that dietary supplementation to support liver and urinary tract function be included to help rid the body of toxins.
• hydration - Proper hydration is necessary any time but during cold and flu season it becomes more important.  The reason being, dry mucosal membranes are more prone to infection.  If you have a cold, hydration is very important in helping you clear mucous.  The problem is, homes heating during the winter are dry so you are losing moisture to the dry air and if you have a fever you are losing even more moisture.  This is the time to boost water consumption and avoid dehydrating drinks like coffee and alcohol.  
• sanitizing - I keep a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol on hand.  Once a day, I go through the house and spray surfaces where hand might have touched (eg. tv remotes, telephones, door knobs, light switches, keyboards, etc).  This really helps to knock down the germs in the house as the alcohol kills 99% of germs on contact preventing the spread of germs.