Household Folklore and Tips

Subject: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Bert
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 04:42 PM

We've had several recipe threads but this is slightly different. Hints and tips from around the house or farm or factory or office. Old wives tales and folk medicine stuff will be most welcome as well.

Here's a start...

When making strawberry jam, it will set without pectin if you add lemon juice and make the jam one the SAME DAY that you pick the strawberries.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Kim C
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 04:44 PM

Peppermint oil will stop indigestion in its tracks. At least it does for me. Have Altoids, will travel. :)

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Catrin
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 04:46 PM

If your child suffers from travel sickness, get them to sit on a newspaper(?!) Apparently its got something to do with static.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Rollo
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 05:05 PM

toilet paper will last longer if you use both sides. *GGG*

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 05:35 PM

Oh Bert, I have a WHOLE BOOK of these!!!!! I'll have to bring it to work to post from it!! (Hey!! If I lend you the book, would I get it back?)

OK. The BEST one... there were two, but one is too cruel... OK. The one I can share is...

TO RID YOUR HOME OF RATS.

Trap a few of the rats. A dozen, we'll say. Cage them together. Provide plenty of water and NO FOOD. They will get hungry. The weakest one will be eaten. This process will continue until only a few are left. They will be quite accustomed by then to the delicious flavor of fresh meat, rat meat in particular.

When you are down to two rats, release them back into the house.

Oh! One more I can share. Ladies are advised, for their health, to spend at least an hour in their boudoir naked each day, taking the morning sun and fresh air. (Don't recall what the gents were advised. Hafta look it up.)

~S~

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: kendall
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 05:39 PM

You can preserve a used brillo pad by placing it on a sheet of aluminum foil. It will not rust there.

Adding a pinch of salt to the water will make peeling boiled aggs easier.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 06:29 PM

Boiled AGGS??

We were told to put a spoonful of vinegar in the water for the same reason.

Salted water takes longer to boil, so don't salt vegetables until the water is already boiling.

Tomatoes, halved and rubbed over sunburn will take the sting out. Or is that strawberries.....?

Chocolate will last longer if you don't bring it to my house..... *BG*!

LTS

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Rollo
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 06:34 PM

Perhaps someone out there has some good advice against cockroaches?!? When they brougt my neighbor to the sanatory and after that smoked out his flat all his little pets came over to live with me... And there is so much room for them in this old house... oh dear...

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: CarolC
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 06:51 PM

Rollo,

Paint all surfaces that the roaches have to walk over to get into your kitchen or whatever, with a liquid solution of boric acid. Good places are the backs of kitchen counters, around the edges of the floors, etc.

Carol

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Alice
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 06:59 PM

gee, all this time I thought salt water boiled faster than unsalted water....

To keep zippers working smoothly, apply a very small amount of vaseline to the zipper teeth.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: bflat
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 07:01 PM

You won't have to clean out the refrigerator if you keep a fresh box of Baking Soda opened inside. Absorbs the odors. Good idea for you guys who live alone and don't know about cleaning out the refrigerator.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: RWilhelm
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 07:11 PM

Nothing will eat a cockroach but a gecko. Nothing will eat a gecko.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: CarolC
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 07:22 PM

bflat,

Remind the bachelors that the rotting leftovers still have to be gotten rid of before they start evolving and creating new civilizations.

Carol

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Les B
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 09:18 PM

Put a rattlesnake tail inside your fiddle for a sweeter sound. Put the whole rattlesnake in your guitar to keep kids away !

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Sourdough
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 10:15 PM

I had a flying gecko, a female named Amelia Earhart and no cockroaches! Hardly ever say the gecko. She spent a lot of time behind a painting on the wall. Sometimes she would flick her tail. It was odd, seeing this movement out of the corner of my eye but then there'd be nothing there.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 10:21 PM

If you take cranberries and stew them like prunes, they taste much more like applesauce than rhubarb does.

Pulling your skin tightly to either side of a biting mosquito will cause its little sucker to become stuck and it will keep sucking blood til it explodes.

The best way to darn socks is to sit with the sock and sewing materials on your lap with a wastebasket at your feet. Closely observe the location and size of the hole, If its in a position where it bothers you, wad the sock up into a small ball and throw it in the wastebasket and shout, "Darn!" Works on 100% of all socks.

A mixture of honey, lemon juice, glycerin, and Jack Daniels Whiskey, will help alleviate clogged nasal passages and many other symptons of the common cold. Eliminating the other ingredients and tripling the Jack will work even better because you won't care if you have a cold.

Making Jello with Vodka improves the taste and makes an excellent bedtime snack for your kids as they will go to sleep very quickly. A large mallet is also handy for the more stubborn cases.

Taking mass quantities of Vitamin B-12 will improve your energy level and make your whizz smell as though you have pissed a pharmacy.

A mixture of ketchup, pickle juice, onios, and mustard, formed into a poltice and applied to the male organ twice a day for two weeks will eliminate the need for Viagra. You will also develop a tremendous hard-on as you pass McDonalds.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Art Thieme
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 10:23 PM

Where there's smoke, there's dinner.

To cure a limp, remove a carrot from your shoe.

For good luck, put a carrot in your shoe.

To cure a limp _______, take a Viagra.

(Art Thieme)

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: JamesJim
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 11:24 PM

To cure a severe cold: Drink a pint of Kentucky Bourbon (any brand); take 110 lbs. of honey; go to bed and work it out.

JJ

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: bflat
Date: 29 Aug 00 - 11:27 PM

CarolC,

Ha Ha! Let them figure it out!

bflat

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:13 AM

Apparently Viagra may work too well in some cases; in the fine print in a Reader's Digest ad for it, it actually says "in a rare event of an erection lasting more than four hours, seek immediate medical help."

Sorry for the thread creep, bert, but I just couldn't resist following on Spaw's and Art's postings!**BG**

I am resisting all of the images it conjures up, though!

Pouring baking soda down your drains, then vinegar, once a month, will keep them from clogging and they will smell fresh and clean. It also is an enviromentally friendly way to do it.

I finally gave up after trying every home remedy there was for roaches and called in the exterminator; it only took one visit. He and the county extension agent told me they had come in with the grocery bags, so we now never have plastic or paper grocery sacks NOR stacks of old newspapers in the house and it is roach-free!

kat

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Mbo
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:18 AM

My Grandfather said the best way to get rid of pimples is with human urine.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:24 AM

If you want information on the amount of methane produced by Siberian yaks, start a thread on Mudcat asking for the actual 3rd word in the 5th line of the 44th verse of "Diddle My Fiddle."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Alice
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:28 AM

eeeeewwwwwh (your own or someone elses? never mind I don't want to know)

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: CamiSu
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:34 AM

Cinnamon will stop most ants. Sprinkle it across their path and sweep it into the cracks. Cinnamon oil works even better.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:40 AM

Two apples a day keep the doctor away. You might miss him with the first one. All the best.
Seamus

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 12:46 AM

Well Chet, things seem to be moving along on the I-70 Sugarway and the ants are really moving fast today......Wait a minute.........What's that up ahead? Looks like...OH NO!!! Its CINNAMON OIL!!! ....Ohmygawd, the lead ants have hit it and are skidding out of control!! Now more are coming in behind them and......oh...oh....ohmygawd, THEY'RE PILING UP........GEEZIZ....One of the Fire Ants has exploded and flames are everywhere..........I can't look anymore......Oh the carnage.........the humanity.........

BTW, we now don't have to worry about whether its Mbo, Embo, Meebo, or whatever.....Now we can simply use "Pissface."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: campfire
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 01:49 AM

If you put a fresh apple slice in the brown sugar bag, the sugar won't get hard. I don't know what happens if you put Viagra in the sugar bag...

campfire

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 01:59 AM

On stuck zippers, us a pencil rather than vas... just rub the sharp end of the pencil over the teeth of the zip a few times and the graphite dust will have 'em runnin' slicker'n snot!

The best way to get rid of acne once and for all is castration... without the testosterone in your system, your skin will be fantastically clear... But I'm willing to put up with the occasional zit....

Call me crazy!

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: campfire
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 02:07 AM

But what about us women?

campfire

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: sledge
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 05:58 AM

I like to keep a lemon in the fridge, it keeps the other things (whatever they might have become) company.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Airto
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 06:32 AM

How do I stop snails getting into my letter box (mail box to some of you)and eating the contents?

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: kendall
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 07:14 AM

Airto..try throwing in a French chef.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Airto
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 07:34 AM

Sorry kendall,

It's already been tried by one of the neighbours. The chef deals with the snails alright, pops them in his pan and all, but he uses the mail as fuel to heat them up. To make matters worse, he reads the stuff before burning it. He is now blackmailing the neighbours and refuses to leave. Not having room to stand up, he has claimed squatter's rights.

He has become a chef dey keep.

Oh God, I should never have started on this...

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Grab
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 08:48 AM

One useful tip - don't read a post by spaw whilst eating a peanut butter sandwich and drinking a glass of water. Especially don't do it if you're at work and there's ppl ready to laugh at the results, as half goes down your lungs, a third goes up your nose, and the remainder comes out of your eyes, whilst you desperately try to keep your mouth closed to avoid coating the keyboard and monitor. Crunchy peanut butter too...

Airto, try nailing a strip of sandpaper around the flap. Slugs and snails don't like crawling over that.

A guy I met out walking once swore that the best insect repellent is to dab a drop of vinegar on your neck. Downside is that it keeps everyone else away too, cos you'll smell like a chip-shop.

Grab.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: sian, west wales
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:07 AM

Break off a leaf of aloe vera and rub it on a burn.

Clean windows with scrunched up newspaper.

A few gooseberries in with the strawberries is supposed to help the jam to set.

Bread doesn't rise right when it's thundery.

If you're blind-baking pie shells, 'paint' the crusts with beaten egg before you bake 'em. They won't get quite so soggy when you fill them. (And use *really* cold liquid when you're mixing the dough up, and don't use your hands any more than you have to - 'cause it's flakier when it's colder.) (I get a bit flakey when cold too.) (But don't mind if you use your hands ...)

A lump of charcoal in the fridge also absorbs smells.

And a broken piece of a terracotta flower pot in your brown sugar will also keep it soft. Don't know why ...

sian

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Ma-K
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:23 AM

For tight shoes. Put a zip lox bag full of water in the shoes and put them in the freezer. Really works.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:29 AM

I love the smell of chip shops.
My Nana kept an onion in a saucer of honey on the stove in the winter. It was used in small doses to sooth a sore throat.
Toothpaste rubbed into a waterstain lifts it out of wood furniture. Use a soft cloth to avoid scratching.
Vick's on a zit brings it to a head quickly so it looks twice as disgusting.
Oil lamps clean up with newspaper too. The ink absorbs the greasy stuff.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Jeri
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:32 AM

For most critters that chew on things you don't want them to chew on:
Steep a couple of tablesoons of cayenne, 2 cloves of garlic and a small onion in 2 quarts of water. Strain the stuff out and spray it on plants or whatever. Drawbacks: whatever you spray it on stinks, (your house stinks when you make it, and when you spray it, for Pete's sake - stand up-wind!) and you have to re-apply after it rains. Pluses: environmentally friendly, and bees don't notice it. Letting the same stuff sit in oil makes a solution that seems to work when you paint it on wood.

For stale cookies, put a slice of fresh bread in an airtight container with them.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:52 AM

As Sinsull mentioned, toothpaste on a rag is a great mild abrasive for cleaning water spots on wood surfaces or cleaning the grunge off guitar frets. Another tip - never use furniture polish with silicone in it, particularly on musical instruments. The silicone gets in the wood and keeps it from aging properly. Lemon oil polish is the best.

Special for all you bourbon fans: bourbon and apple juice is really tasty. Bourbon with cran/raspberry juice is also good. And "good whiskey never lets you lose your place". Michael Murphy said that in Cherokee Fiddle and it's pretty much true.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: MMario
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 09:55 AM

tomato juice with tabasco (hot peper sauce) and lots of black pepper and lemon juice is great for hoarseness. add vodka nad you don't care.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 10:03 AM

If your fecal excrement (read: turds) float, you are getting plenty of fiber.

If they sink, you are not getting enough fiber.

If it is a tiny little thing that smells extremely vile and putrid, its Conrad Bladey, #1 Super Pissant.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: bflat
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 10:05 AM

Spaw, what kinda' diet are you on? You are one crazy; funny guy. I'm glad I wasn't eatin' peanut butter too. I just spritzed my monitor.

So here's another tip for the women. Put your panty hose in the freezer. Makes them last longer when you go to use them.

bflat

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 10:14 AM

bflat,
The voice of experience?
Spaw,
Do you get a lot of invitations to visit your children's teachers whenever it's "Show and Tell" time?

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: sian, west wales
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 10:25 AM

Why does freezing help pantyhose?

And what does Jeri mean by stale cookies? Can cookies go stale?

sian

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Jeri
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 10:36 AM

Er, Sian, we may be talking "biscuits" here, but the soft variety like chocolate chip. (Well, I LIKE them chewy, not crunchy!) Can biscuits be chewy/soft or do you call them something else?

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: rabbitrunning
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 10:38 AM

If cookies get hard and dry then the moisture from the bread softens them, at least that's what my grandmother said.

She also recommended onion and honey for a sore throat, although the best cure for a vicious cough I've ever been given was one part honey, one part lemonjuice and one part everclear (about 6,000 proof, I think!).

Cockroaches need water. If you have something like tidybol in the toilet, and put a few drops of bleach down the other drains, making sure not to leave any other water sources out for them, you can go on vacation and come back to no roaches. Works best when you combine it with the egg killer sachets by Raid or similar, though.

You should use ammonia free glass cleaner on stained glass. Ammonia will eventually pit the glass otherwise.

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: kendall
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 11:09 AM

Hey Airto..are you studying under Spaw? or are YOU Spaw? fess up now! Another hint..old eggs will float, fresh ones will sink. (Spaw reminded me of this in his post on fibre)

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Kim C
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 11:09 AM

Woooeeee! Cold Panty Hose! That's just the ticket here in this 90+ degree weather. Of course, I generally put the panty hose away from April-October.

Sian mentioned that bread won't rise if it's thundery. I reckon that has to do with humidity and such - I know that affects bread, it's happened to me, back when I actually had time to bake bread. But Mister said something a couple weeks ago that I'd never heard before - he said stormy weather will sour your milk quicker. He said his daddy told him that.

Anybody else ever heard that?

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 11:19 AM

Pantyhose can also be used as a sexual trampoline if in your haste, you have forgoteen to remove them from ladyfriend. The first good thrust will catapult you backwards into the wall and leave you crumpled on the floor with a broken tool.

I don't even want to think about frozen ones........but it does give an expanded meaning to the word "frigid."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Household Folklore and Tips
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 30 Aug 00 - 11:34 AM

If your salt clogs in the saltpot, put a few grains of rice in with them, and the salt should run freely. Unless of course, you get a grain of rice caught in the hole.....

Maybe the salt in the water thing was about beans and peas - salt toughens the skins, so they take longer to boil, so it shouldn't be added until they are nearly done....

LTS