Apartment Therapy Loves My Refrigerator!

Much happiness in The Condo today! Look at who’s featured on Apartment Therapy – me! Again!!

Apartment Therapy’s cooking and kitchen blog The Kitchn (don’t look at me that’s how they spell it) raved about how I use six pack holders to organize the condiments in my refrigerator. Oh, and a couple of the commenter’s liked my taste in beer too :).

I’m so happy, I could ‘ku!

I’m in The Kitchn
No suck flakes today my friends!*
Sally Field moment

* Well, unless you count the announcement that Domino is ceasing publication . I liked the mag but wasn’t a subscriber.

**On a brighter note. If you Google “suck flakes” I’m number one in the search results. Whooooopee!

***Nothing more to say here, other than I like asterisks.

SwissBike: Finally a Full Size Folding Bike!

Husband and I rarely use the bike trail near The Condo. Last summer, we tried use it regularly and I quickly realized why we kept our bikes – both are Toys R Us specials - buried in the garage. Those suckers are heavy! There’s no way I can heft my bike onto our car’s bike rack by myself. We’d like to hang our bikes in our tiny garage but we’re concerned that they are too heavy to wall mount.

We’ve discussed getting new and lighter bikes. To deal with the storage issue, I looked at some folding bikes made for apartment dwellers. Those folding bikes disappointed me. They weren’t full sized bikes, didn't have speeds/gears (a problem because we have hills here), and looked like the clown car equivalent of a bicycle. Nice idea but no thanks.

When Montague Bikes contacted me about their folding SwissBike, I was intrigued, but cautious because I’ve been disappointed before. Fortunately, a local bike shop carries SwissBikes so I went over there to look.

I wasn’t disappointed.

The SwissBike doesn’t look like a weird folding bicycle. Unfolded the SwissBike is a normal full size bicycle that rides like a regular bike. It offers a smooth ride with its 21-speeds, front suspension, and disc brakes. It easily folds down without any special tools and they tell me that, when folded, the SwissBike is small enough to fit under a bed or in the trunk of a car. My small space storage issues would be moot with this bike.

The frame of the SwissBike is made from aircraft grade aluminum tubing that’s sturdy enough for city riding but light enough that even short wimpy out of shape me can actually pick this bike up and carry it around by myself.

The SwissBike even folds up and fits into a special shoulder bag if you want to ride it to a bus or train stop, fold up the bike, and finish your commute using public transportation. Genius!

I think that the SwissBike is a bike that best suited for serious commuters or as an upgrade from your current heavy bike because it starts at $699.99. However, I think the durable and lightweight design makes this bike worth it.

If you want to buy a Swiss Bike, you can check their Website for a local dealer or you can buy one directly from their Web site. Montague Bikes are also kind enough to offer a discount to Condo Blues readers and will give you a free soft-sided bicycle carrying case (a $99.95 value) when you purchase a SwissBike! All you have to do is enter the code "cblues" at checkout.

I’m seriously considering a bicycle upgrade this year. Are you?

How to Make a T Shirt Quilt

My mom decided she wanted to declutter her house. Unfortunately, that meant that she was going to clutter up my house with a bunch of boxes of my childhood stuff.

Try as I might I could not convince her that it was a far better use of storage space if she kept those boxes rather than me. No dice.

I eventually went through the boxes and found a ton of old t-shirts. I was in a boatload of clubs, plays, service days, etc. in high school, college, and adulthood. If I wanted to commit a fashion faux pax and wear nothing but those t-shirts every day, I wouldn’t have to do laundry for about, oh, 3 months.

I really needed to thin the t shirt herd. I donated some of the shirts to a thrift store. But, I’m a softie. There were some shirts that I didn’t want to give up even though I wasn’t going to wear them again.

What to do? I decided when life gives you T shirts – make a quilt!

So I did.

I’m not a quilter. In fact, this t-shirt quilt is my first real quilting project.

Note: Please don’t feel intimidated by this project! Some of the quilting sites I checked while researching this project made me feel like there were tons of rules and “you musts” when making a simple t-shirt quilt. Some of those Quiltzillas made me feel like this project was way too hard and I’ve been sewing since I was 5 years old! A t shirt quilt is a good beginning sewing project because it can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it.

A t-shirt quilt also makes a great graduation gift or a gift for someone who participates in local sports, clubs, or just has lots of t shirts.

Make a T-Shirt Quilt the Easy Way!

You will need:

A 12 x 12 inch piece of paper/plastic/cardboard to use as a template
Scissors or a rotary cutting wheel & mat
Pins
Sewing machine
Thread
T-shirts
Backing material (I used an old flat jersey top sheet)
Batting or a thin blanket (optional)

Make it:

1. Center the template on the t shirt design and cut a 12 x 12 inch square from each t-shirt using the scissors or rotary cutter and mat.

• Depending upon the size and design of the shirts you are using you may be able to get two squares from each shirt if you cut a square from both the front and the back of the t shirt.
• If you have some large t shirt scraps leftover you may be able to cut them into squares and use them as dust clothes or hem the edges and make handkerchiefs from them, or cut them into long strips and braid them into dog or cat toys.
• For each size quilt you will need approximately the following number of squares for the following size t shirt quilts.
  - Twin = approximately 45 squares
  - Full = approximately 63 squares
  - Queen = approximately 72 squares
  - King = approximately 81 squares

2. Lay out squares out on the floor and arrange them into columns and row.

• For each size quilt you will need approximately the following number of squares for the following size t shirt quilts.
  - Twin = 5 rows wide x 9 rows long
  - Full = 7 rows wide x 9 rows long
  - Queen = 8 rows wide x 9 rows long
  - King = 9 rows wide x 9 rows long
• To keep the quilt from being too busy I tried to alternate a printed shirt front square with a blank shirt back square.
• Now is the time to get creative! For example, I used red and white t-shirts to make a St. George’s Cross on my quilt.

3. Once you have the t-shirts laid out in the pattern you like. Pin the t-shirt squares together into columns that are nine blocks long.

4. Sew blocks together to form columns.

5. Pin the columns together.

• It’s a good idea to put the pinned together quilt together on a bed to check that it will be the desired size. If not add or subtract rows/blocks as needed.
  
  
  

6. Sew the columns together.

• Press the seams between the squares opened if desired. My mom taught me to always press my seams open when I sewed. So that’s what I do. I think it looks neater and helps me avoid the,”Oh my God Lisa - I taught you better than that!" speech.
• If you don't press your seams open you probably won't get this speech from your mother.

7. Make a quilt sandwich. Pin the top of the quilt to the backing fabric right sides together. If you are using batting, layer the optional batting/thin blanket on top of the backing fabric.

8. Sew all of the layers together along three and a half sides of the quilt.

9. Remove the pins, turn the quilt right side out, and press the seams. Again, because that’s how Mom taught me. And again, it’s a good way to avoid The Speech.

10. Sew the opening closed by either by hand or by machine.

11. Finish the quilt so that the layers will not shift while you’re using it or when you wash it.

• Hand Quilt Method - The easiest way to finish the quilt is to you can tie the layers together at each square with yarn, ribbon, or crochet thread.
  

  

• Machine Quilt Method - I sewed down each column and then sewed a crossed each row. I like this look better but it was difficult because I have an older sewing machine that doesn’t have a lot of room around the sewing arm when I was trying to finish the inside of such a big quilt.
• http://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.net/FinishingYourQuilt.htm has more detailed information on how to finish a quilt. This site has great information although I think they make it sound a little more complicated than it was.

Tips/Variations:

• It helps if you wash and iron the t-shirts before you cut them into squares.
• If you find that your sewing machine doesn’t sew t-shirt material easily, you can back each square with interfacing to prevent it from stretching.
• Instead of using interfacing, do what I did and back each square with a second square of t-shirt material with the grain of the material in the opposite direction.
• For a fancier look you can use a contrasting material around each square/the quilt as sashing/border/binding.

If you don’t think you’ll have the time or gumption to finish this project, don’t sew, or just don’t want to make it yourself consider contacting stitch’T. They are a cool company that makes t-shirt quilts using your own t shirts!

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This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

Would You Use a Toilet Lid Sink?

Here’s an interesting way to save water in the bathroom. Replace your traditional bathroom sink with a toilet lid sink for washing your hands after doing, uh… you know bathroom activity.

The toilet lid sink connects to the same water pipe that feeds a regular bathroom sink with clean water. After hand washing the faucet shuts off automatically and the dirty water drains from the sink into the toilet tank reservoir for later flushing. That’s where the water saving part comes in because you are using greywater to flush your toilet.

The toilet lid sink is about the same price as a basic no frills conventional bathroom sink.

There are a few drawbacks. Some report that the toilet link sink may not fit on nonstandard toilet tanks. Others say that the water can be cold in winter because the sink only has one spigot and it is not temperature controlled.

In addition to its water saving features, I can see how a toilet link sink can be a space saver for ½ baths or small powder rooms. However, the thing I wonder is what about the Ick Factor? It looks like you are washing your hands with water that is coming from the toilet tank instead of the used water going down the sink drain and into the toilet tank. Would this bother you? What about your guests? Do you care what other people think?

I wonder if installing a toilet lid sink like using reusable cloth toilet paper (something I can’t get my head around and don’t plan to try anytime soon. However, as always, your mileage may vary) and once you’ve tried it and gotten over the Ick Factor you swear that it’s preferable and won’t go back?

Would you consider installing a toilet tank sink in your home? Why or why not?

Just Like That – Poof! – and the Blog was Gone

Capessa Blogger

Sustainable Style I write wrote

my new bye-bye blogging gig

If you’re looking for another crazy, insane post like last week’s Haiku Friday sorry, it ain’t happening.

Although do feel like a grammer rebel because I used the word “ain’t” in a post.

Anyway, on with the show.

Last night I drafted an article for my Capessa green blog Sustainable Style. Afterward, I checked my email and, irony of ironies, read this message from my editor.

“After two years of laughs, tears and virtual hugs, Capessa.com is taking an early retirement. It’s another side effect of this thing we call the economy, a thing that has probably been encroaching on most of your lives lately too.”

Bye-bye Capessa. Bye-bye Sustainable Style.

Well, isn’t that a bowl of suck flakes?

What to do? Habitual list maker that I am (blame my mother) I made a list of pros and cons about this little bump in my road:

Cons

• I won’t be working with an established brand/big blog anymore
• I won’t have a chance to meet the Capessa folks at BlogHer this year
• No chance asking Capessa to sponsor my trip to BlogHer this year either

Pros

• I have an opening to edit/write/blog for someone else. – Hey, anyone need a freelance editor/writer/blogger?
• I could consult as a blogger/dog mom/woman for a big name company without any conflict of interest – Hey, Corporate America I buy stuff for my home and family too! Do you need a woman to give you her honest, environmentally friendly opinion? Call me.
• I could write a book because, as a blogger, I think I’m supposed to want a book deal.
• I have time to craft more and could open an Etsy shop.
• I could dust off my plans to take over the world - although I think Blitzkrieg is closer to meeting that goal than me and I really don’t want to squash his dream because that would be rude. In addition, if I met that goal, what would I do with the world once I conquered it? Dress it in paisley and teach it to dance the tarantella? Doubtful. I hate paisley.

However, to put my little bump in perspective, things could be worse. I could be one of the 5000 people now not working at Microsoft .

That’s a much bigger bowl of suck flakes. My little bump is nothing compared to that.

Eco Friendly Plantable Seed Calendar for 2009

Today I'm shaking things up a bit. I'm happy to present a guest post by Dan Harrison who writes the blogs Daily Eco Tips and EnviorGadget. Thanks Dan!


Olive Barn is selling this cool plantable calendar for 2009. The calendar is roughly 5 inches by 5 inches in size and is made from recycled bond paper, cotton remnants and a renewable leaf fibre called abaca. Once you've reached a new month, all you do is sow the paper in the soil, and flowers will sprout from it!

The paper is embedded with a number of wild flower seeds including Bird's Eye, Clarkia, Coreopsis, Poppy, Catchfly and Snap Dragon. The seeds are mixed in the paper, meaning that you'll get an array of flowers growing within a few weeks. The calendar is neatly packaged within a reusable tin and is designed for sitting on your desk at home or at work.

If you get into 2009 and want to send someone a similar gift, the calendar will already be out of date. As an alternative, you can also get greetings cards impregnated with herb seeds and wild flower seeds. The cards make perfect birthday or anniversary cards, adding an element of uniqueness to an ordinary card!

This guest article was written by Dan Harrison. Dan loves green gadgets and tries to help everyone be a little more eco-friendly with his daily home eco tips.

Using Passive Solar Heat in the MidWest

My bedroom has a pitched ceiling. It was a selling point and I thought it was a very nice feature when I bought The Condo. That is until I tried to heat the bedroom because, well, heat rises. Now of course I could replace the bedroom chandelier with a ceiling fan and run the blades in reverse during the winter to pull the warm heated air from the pitched ceiling to the lower part of the room where the people live. That’s a very good idea if it weren’t for one thing.

I find almost all ceiling fans with lights horrific and UUUUUUUUUUGLY!

I wanted to heat the bedroom up in winter but I was hesitant to use a space heater to do it. Since I was trying to reduce The Condo’s use of electricity, I really didn’t want to use an electric space heater. I didn’t want to use a propane or kerosene space heater either. I didn’t want an accidental case of hot burning Pekingese on my hands if you know what I mean.

Instead, I tried using the free passive solar space heater that I already had – opening the curtains on the bedroom windows. According to Build It Solar:

“Windows are very good solar collectors -- they are just as efficient as a commercial solar collector you might add on your roof, and can be less expensive and less complex to install. No ducting or plumbing required.”

In addition to opening the curtains, Building it Solar also suggests adding some shading to the Passive Solar Heating System, I mean, Open Curtains on My South Facing Windows. They say:

• “Adding some form of insulating thermal shade to the window will greatly reduce night heat loss. While windows are very good collectors, they do lose a lot of heat at night, so some form of insulating shade is very important to reduce night losses.
• You should include some means to shade the window during the summer. Unwanted solar gain through an unprotected south facing window during the summer can aggravate cooling problems. There are many ways to provide shading.”

I didn't install any of the complicated (and ugly) outdoor awnings or shade screens that Making It Solar suggests on my windows. Instead, I made two insulated roman shades and put them up on tension rods in my bedroom windows. They work just fine.

Why do the solar energy advocates have to make using passive solar heat so complicated? Yeesh.

I was very skeptical that opening the curtains on the south facing windows of The Condo would help heat up the bedroom. Sure, I sealed the air leaks on my double paned windows. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem, I thought, is that we don’t get that much sunlight in Central Ohio, especially during the winter. In Columbus, 51% of the days of the year are overcast – the same amount of sunlight that they get in Inverness, Scotland. And they aren’t exactly known for their balmy weather or big solar farms.

But, hey, the price was right – free – so I tried it. My bedroom is on the second floor of The Condo, so I didn’t have to worry about peeping neighbors or burglers. I opened the curtains on the south facing bedroom windows in the morning before Husband left for work. I let the sun shine in during the day and kept the bedroom door open to let the air circulate around the room (and I’m kinda lazy about closing that door anyway.) I closed the curtains in the evening around 6:00 or so – when I finished work.

So did it work? You tell me. Blitzkrieg by his very nature, seeks out the warmest places in The Condo during the winter, usually on the first floor or in the second floor computer room. Guess where he’s hanging out now?

That’s right. In the now much warmer solar heated master bedroom.

Yes, opening my curtains and shades and using this freebie passive solar space heater did heat up the bedroom, despite the pitched ceiling. So much so that I didn’t have to even think about buying a space heater to use in the bedroom as long as I remembered to close the curtains and lowered the insulated shade at night to keep in the heat.

During the summer, I keep the roman shades down and the curtains closed on the bedroom windows to keep the hot summer sun from heating up the bedroom too much.

It worked. In Ohio. Who knew?!

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This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

Pet ‘n Shape Natural Catch Dog Treat Review

My dog Blitzkrieg has food allergies. Give him any food or treat has corn or wheat in it and I will guarantee that my dog will be so itchy that he will scratch bald spots in his fur. Poor guy!

That makes finding allergy free dog treats difficult. Fortunately, the folks at my local Pet People pet store know this and gave Blitzkrieg several sample packages of Pet ‘n Shape Natural Catch Dog Treats to try.

We tried the Pet ‘n Shape Natural Catch Salmon Large Bits, the White Fish Mini Bites, Shrimp Medium Bites, and Lobster Small Bites. These treats are great and Blitzkrieg wolfed them down in a heartbeat. Blitzkrieg gives them two paws up and a tail wag!

I appreciate that the Pet ‘n Shape Natural Catch Dog Treats do no contain wheat, corn, or soy (all three can be allergens in some dogs), sugar (Blitzkrieg’s sweet enough thank you), additives, preservatives, artificial colors, or flavors. I also like to give Blitzkrieg food and treats that contain fish oils because they make his coat shiny. In addition, fish is part of the Pekingese ancestral Asian diet.

According to their website, the Pet ‘n Shape chicken treats are made with human grade ingredients. I haven’t found many dog treats made with human grade ingredients, so you can bet that I’ll try those next.

You can the treats directly from Pet ‘n Shapes website or use the Web site to search for a local retailer.

The only downside to the Pet ’n Shape Natural Catch Dog Treats is that they are a little high in calories especially for a 12 pound dog. However, that’s easily remedied by breaking the treats into smaller portions. Oh, and one other small issue: they give Blitzkrieg fish breath. Phew!

Overall, I recommend Pet ‘n Shape Natural Catch Dog Treats. I like that the ingredients are healthier, even if the treats cost a little more. I think that the health benefits and piece of mind that comes from Pet ‘n Shape rigorously testing their ingredients to make sure that they are bacteria and disease prior to the treat manufacturing process is worth paying extra. So much so that I don’t mind that they give Blitzkrieg fish breath.

How to Keep Water Pipes from Freezing that Ends with My Dog Wanting a Pirate Tattoo

real post gone way wrong
because of fake talking dog
it’s Haiku Friday!

Like most of the country, we are experiencing some cold weather. Make that very cold weather. Like it’s going to be 5 degrees below zero with a wind chill factor of twelve degrees below zero at night kind of cold weather. Brrr.

With weather like that we don’t want the water pipes in The Condo to freeze. We’re following the advice we got from the evening news. We are letting a small steady drip of water run from the faucets with plumbing that’s on the outside walls of The Condo. They also suggested that you open the cabinet doors under those sinks so the room heat can reach the pipes and keep them from freezing. So far, it’s working.

One caution that goes with keeping the cabinet doors open all day is that you might have to worry about small children or pets getting into the harmful cleaners that you may have stored underneath your sink. Well, here’s another unexpected surprise I got when I switched to using environmentally friendly baking soda and vinegar to clean The Condo (yeah, I know. I thought it was weird but it worked, who knew?) is that I don’t have to worry if Blitzkrieg gets into the cleaning supplies I store under the sinks. The worse thing that could happen to Blitzkrieg is that he might get a foamy baking soda and vinegar beard on his chin.

Little voice coming from under my desk: That looks completely stupid. Why would you do such a thing to me? And an even bigger question is why did you do such an amateur job of it too?! No wonder you’re on the blogging D List!”

My brain, numbed by the cold, imagines that this voice from under my desk is coming from Blitzkrieg.

Husband (Wearing a headset microphone and playing Everquest at the computer desk next to mine): Sweetie. Who are you talking to? I said I’m taking the right flank! Right flank! Not my gnome wants to be the Tank! You realize you sound like a nutter, right?

Me: I set out to do a normal post about keeping your water pipes from freezing and Blitzkrieg is being all, “I’m Mr. Picky” about the photo of him that I slightly embellished for my blog post and he wants to do me one better because HE doesn’t think it’s an accurate representation of him in a fake baking soda and vinegar and bubble beard and I said that I’m trying to be cartoony and kitschy and HE said, “That it’s not professional enough” and I said, “Well of course not. I banged it out in like, a couple of minutes” and then HE said, “Well I could do it better” and then I said, “I’d like to see you try” and then HE said, “Well may be I will” and then I said,”Well maybe you should” and then HE said, “Fine I will and I will do it so much better than you” and then I said, "I doubt that because you don’t have any thumbs” and then HE called me a “Speciesist” and I said, “No I’m not. I’m stating a fact. You don’t have thumbs. I saw it on The Dog Whisperer.” And then we both agreed that Caesar Millan is cool.

Husband: I really shouldn’t leave you alone during the day, should I?

Blitzkrieg: OK first, if you’re going to augment my picture and again, I have no idea why you’d want to do such a thing anyway, then you should give me some street cred and give me an eye patch, so everyone instantly knows that I’m tougher than your average purse dog.

Me: Isn’t an eye patch going to blow your cover and tip off the bad guys that they shouldn’t underestimate you? That’s why you are the best watchdog in the neighborhood? Nobody expects a fluffy one eyed Pekingese to be Super Spy Dog.

Blitzkrieg: Well if that’s the case, I should be armed, you know, with a weapon - like a gun!

Me: You’ll never get a permit and I’m not co-signing for you.

Blitzkrieg: You can co-sign for a gun permit?

Me: I don’t know. I figure if Congress can co-sign for industry bailout loans I figure you can co-sign for pretty much anything these days.

Blitzkrieg: Well, if I can’t have a gun then I want a knife. A big o’ Psycho knife !

Huband (furiously typing on computer): WebMD, WebMD, WebMD….

Me: A knife? How cliché. Go with something unexpected like a cricket bat.

Blitzkrieg (annoyed): You know we’re in America, right? Not cricket! Baseball!

Me: Yea-ah! That’s. The. Point. No robber would expect you to defend yourself with a cricket bat! Besides, you can get a lot more leverage whack someone’s head off with a cricket bat than with a baseball bat.

Blitzkrieg: And you know this - how?

Husband (calling from the bathroom in a sing songy voice): Who wants Haldol?!

Me: Hello? Shaun of the Dead? Shaun + cricket bat + zombie head = no more zombie.

Blitzkrieg: Ooooh I should have a helmet! Something fierce and warrior like. Something that will scare my enemies so I won’t have to mutilate them because I really love people.

Me: It’s true. You are a kindhearted Pekingese when you’re not trying to gnaw someone’s face off.

Husband: Hey honey, look what I made just for you – my special chocolate chip Thorazine cookies! Don’t they look yummy? Don’t you want to try one, or um, ten?

Blitzkrieg: Oh yeah, and a tattoo! I need a tattoo! Yeah - something that says, "Don’t mess with me ‘cuz I’m always ready to put the hurt on you if you mess with my humans.”

Blitzkrieg: Done! Check it.

In conclusion, a small steady drip of water running from the faucets with plumbing on outside walls of your home and opening the cabinet doors under those sinks will help keep your water pipes from freezing in cold weather.

The End.

Dairy Free Dark Pumpernickel Bread

For us, 15 bean soup is a quick, easy, and cheap dinner even though we cook it slow. “Slow cook a quick meal? What are you talking about? Have you been sniffing low VOC glue again?” You say.

No, I’m not crazy or damaged (much.) I say that 15 bean soup is quick because it’s a low effort meal – perfect for those nights when you can’t cook a huge dinner due to prior commitments but don’t want to feed the family junky fast food.

I say that 15 bean soup is slow because we use the crock pot to cook the 15 bean soup mix. 15 bean soup is one of the few meals that we buy in premix form. It’s one of the few things we eat that it’s cheaper to go with the mix than with buying bags of all the different types of beans that are typically in this soup and most of the dried bean soup mixes sold in our area are pretty healthy.

Husband tosses the beans, water, spice mix, and whatever meat we have on hand in the slow cooker) in the morning and by the time he comes home from work, we have a very tasty soup ready for dinner. If you’re a vegetarian, I’m told that beets make a tasty substitute for using meat to flavor this soup although we haven’t tried it because Husband doesn’t like beets.

15 bean soup is a very filling meal especially when I make dark pumpernickel bread in the bread maker to go with it.

If you’re concerned about avoiding dairy then my dark pumpernickel bread recipe is for you. Although I’m not vegan, I think this recipe might be depending upon what you use for the cocoa/carob powder. I use 100% dark baking cocoa powder to make it.

¾ cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon cocoa or carob powder
1 teaspoon of strong brewed coffee
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
¾ cup rye flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of regular white flour or white bread flour
2 teaspoons yeast

Select the 1 pound loaf size on your bread machine (if applicable.) Add the ingredients in the order listed and according to the manufacturer’s directions. Start the bread machine and wait until done.

Tip: Use the same measuring cup to measure the oil and then the molasses. Measure and pour the oil into the breadmaking pan first. Do not rinse or wash out the measuring cup. Next, measure the molasses in the now lubricated cup for easier pouring.

Extra Tip: If you are at home while cooking both the soup in the Crockpot and the pumpernickel bread in the bread maker, around 3:00 in the afternoon you are going to start smelling some very good things coming out of your kitchen! This might make you very hungry. This might be a bad time to be working or hanging out at home.

Extra Extra Tip: Cooking dried beans in the crockpot all day makes them - oh how should I put this? - gasless.

If you don’t have a bread maker, you could pair your 15 bean soup with The Good Human’s no knead no bread maker wheat bread.


This post is part of Thrifty Green Thursday.

An Easy Way to Save Energy: How to Insulate Your Hot Water Heater and Pipes

While on the hunt for ways to reduce The Condo’s energy use, I did some poking around in my utility room. I found a big energy hog – my hot water heater.

Sure, I keep my hot water heater set at 120 degrees (F.) Set any higher and a hot water heater uses a lot more energy to heat water than I care to pay for and is a scalding risk. Set any lower and harmful bacteria can grow inside the hot water tank. That’s something you do not want.

As like everything else that came with The Condo, the hot water heater was new but it is not Energy Star rated. I did some research and found that if I replaced my current practically new and working hot water heater with a comparable Energy Star model, I would only reduce its natural gas consumption by about $5-10 a year.

However, according to Popular Mechanics, I can save approximately 10% in yearly water heating costs if I insulated the hot water heater with a fiberglass blanket/jacket and insulated the water pipes leading from and to the hot water heater with insulated foam pipe sleeves.

Hmmm. Let’s see here. Spend $500 on a new Energy Star rated or tankless hot water heater (although I’ll admit they are kinda sexy) to save $5-10 a year in operating costs and generate a lot of extra energy and waste in delivering the new and removing the old but perfectly working model. OR, spend $30 and save 10% in hot water heating costs and generate little to no waste in the process.

Insulating the hot water heater and pipes wins hands down.

Insulated hot water heater or giant baked potato? You be the judge.

Renters, this energy and money saving project will work for you too because you can easily remove the insulation from the hot water heater and water pipes when you move.

How to Wrap a Hot Water Heater in an Insulating Blanket

This project is very easy. If you can put on a coat, you can do this project. Although I do recommend that two people do this project because most hot water heater blankets are big and a little unwieldy for only one person to handle

This project is also very inexpensive. I spent approximately $25 on materials and the project took me about a half an hour to complete.

The US Department of Energy recommends installing an insulated hot water heater blanket that has a minimum insulating value of at least R-8. The blanket I wrapped on my hot water heater has an insulating value of R-24 because that’s the only type the store had, so that’s what I bought. That’s OK, because in this case, the higher the R values on the insulated hot water heater jacket you use the better.

You will need:
Fiberglass hot water heater insulation blanket/jacket
Writing instrument
Tape (may come with your insulated blanket)
Scissors
A friend

Do It!

1. Ask your friend to help you hold up the insulating blanket to the hot water heater.
2. Use the writing instrument to mark where the heating elements, thermostat, vents (if applicable), and burner (if your hot water heater is powered by gas) would be blocked by the insulating blanket.

You do not want to restrict airflow to these elements because in extreme cases, your hot water heater could explode like something out of Mythbusters.

(It’s unlikely that this will happen to you and your hot water heater. I just put the video in this article to liven up an otherwise informative, but rather dull, subject.)

3. Cut out the areas you marked on the blanket with the scissors.
4. Wrap the insulated blanket around the sides of the hot water heater and secure it in place with the tape. Do not insulate the top of the hot water heater itself.

Caution: The insulation in the blanket is combustible. Be careful to keep the insulated jacket or blanket away from the drain at the bottom of the hot water heater, the flue at the top of the water heater, and near the burner.

5. Sit back and let the energy savings begin!

How to Wrap Hot Water Heater Pipes in Foam Insulted Sleeves

This project is also very inexpensive. I spent approximately $25 on materials and the project took me about 15 minutes to complete.

You will need:
Pre-slit insulated pipe sleeves
Writing instrument
Tape (if your pre-slit insulated pipe sleeves are not already pretaped)
Scissors

Do It!

1. Hold the insulted pipe sleeve up to the pipes leading to and from the hot water heater.
2. Use the writing instrument to mark where to cut the insulated pipe sleeve so it covers the length of the pipes leading to and from the hot water heater. Caution: be careful to keep the pipe insulation away from the flue at the top of the hot water heater or the pipe insulation may burn.

3. Use the scissors to cut the insulated pipe sleeve to fit the length of the pipes you are insulating.
4. Slip each water pipe into the slit in each length of insulated pipe sleeve and tape closed.

5. Celebrate with a cheap hot shower!

The beauty of this cheap and easy project is that I saw an almost immediate reduction of my natural gas bill after I insulated the hot water heater and its pipes, who knew?!

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This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

How to Make a Braided Fleece Pet Toy

I had some scrap fleece leftover from a sewing project. I also had a friend whose Boston Terrier puppy was still going through that Chew And Disembowel Every Toy I Have phase – did I mention his name is Chopper? Yeah, the little guy is living up to his name.

I put that scrap fleece to good use and made Chopper and Blitzkrieg some braided dog toys. These homemade braided chew toys will work well for a dog or a cat. Cats like to play with the longer braided toys, though.

You Will Need:
Three strips of fleece* at least 1 inch wide, or wider. Length may vary.

Make It

1. Starting at one end of the fleece, knot the three strands of fleece together with a slipknot.
2. Braid the three strands of fleece together until you reach the end the of the strands.
3. Knot the ends of the fleece together with another slipknot.
4. Give it to your furry friend and let the games begin!

*If you don’t have spare fleece you can use outgrown jeans/denim, old dishtowels or any other sturdy fabric that will hold up to chewing.

The interesting thing about these braided fleece toys is how long they last in the presence of destructo dog Chopper. Chopper will masterfully destroy a commercial stuffed dog toy in a few hours.

I’ve seen it in person. It’s quite a remarkable sight to see such a master at work.

My braided fleece toys tend to last around 2 to 3 days. In the world of a teething puppy, that’s a lifetime.

This is an excellent stash or scrap buster for you crafters out there. It’s also an excellent project for the kiddies to make something for their furry best friend.

Make Your Resolutions on Your Time, Not Necessarily New Years

New Year is here time
To make my resolutions
when needed not before

I’ve been hesitant and dragging my feet about writing, a post about my New Year’s Resolutions. It’s not that I don’t’ make them. I do . I don’t usually make my New Years Resolutions on or around New Years Eve because I end up making and ultimately breaking those hastily made resolutions.

I find that I’m better at keeping my New Years Resolutions if I make them when I need them. Usually several months before or after January first. Sometimes I even make them in the middle of the year. For example, my 2008 New Year’s Resolution was to reduce The Condo’s natural gas and electricity usage by 20% because of a big utility bill that we received in the fall of 2007. Well things really didn’t get rolling with the savings until March of 2007 8 because I had to examine and change some habits and do some small upgrades to The Condo but for the most part, I ended up meeting my goal and thereby keeping my 2008 New Years Resolution that I made in November of 2007.

For the past few months, I have been mulling over some goals, though. You might want to call them New Year’s Resolutions. Here they are.

• I want to take Condo Blues to the next level of blogging with a better site design, marketing, and stronger advertising and sponsor participation. In other words, I’d like to stop being the Kathy Griffin of blogging (even though I think she’s fab!) and get off the D List! Making extra money from this little blog venture of mine and adding it to our Household Emergency Fund would be a bonus because Husband’s company is closing his office this year and moving it out of state. Husband will be job hunting at the end of 2009.
• Do some outside green living consulting work including paid writing or speaking gigs. I’m an excellent public speaker and with my different take on things, I’m sure that I can teach folks that living a more sustainable and environmentally friendly life is not as onerous or expensive as some of the popular media lead us to believe. And I can make it fun - just like Crunchy Chicken, I can also put the “mental” in environmental!
• I will not try to let Greenzillas make me feel that I am less of an enviro just because I did not do or follow their personal green living practice. What’s green/sustainable/doable for you and yours may not be for me and mine because of regional, cultural, or legal differences. Sadly, I’m noticing that it’s become quite the fashion to publicity flail oneself when someone isn’t in 100% green compliance all day every day.
• I’m going to continue to focus on creatively reusing the items I have and turning them into the stuff I need or want. I hope that that that will make up for any transgressions that may happen in the above bullet point.
• I want to attend BlissDom, or BlogHer, or both.
• I want to be better about reporting my natural gas meter readings on the months that Columbus Gas estimates The Condo’s usage. Because it always bites me in the wallet when I don’t .

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions throughout the year? What are your New Year’s Resolutions for 2009?

20% Home Utility Reduction Challenge – December Update & Tips

It’s the last month of my 2007 20% Home Utility Reduction Challenge! Let’s see how I did at reducing my home's electric and natural gas consumption by 20% in December.

December Electricity Usage

Even with putting up electric holiday lights and decorations, I significantly reduced how much electricity we used in December. I’m sure that I could have reduced that number by not putting up any holiday lights but I really didn’t want to do that. One of my goals of the 20% Home Utility Reduction Challenge was to prove that I could reduce my electricity and natural gas consumption and not have to endure major hardships or put in huge sacrifices. I like Christmas with all it’s trimmings including holiday lights. To me ignoring the whole thing, as some Greenzillas would prefer the world to do, is a major hardship and huge sacrifice for me. I think that life is a balancing act and yes, you can still have some holiday decorations if it makes you happy just try not to overdo it so that you have so many incandescent lights up that you can see your house from space. Of course, your mileage may vary on this issue.

However, my personal balancing act is paying off. Last December I used 641 Kwh of electricity, approximately 21 Kwh a day. This December I reduced that load to 449 Kwh of electricity, approximately 15 Kwh a day. That’s a 70% reduction in electricity for the month of December! Whoo-hoo!

How I Lowered My Electric Bill in December

• Let there be sunlight! I noticed if I raised the solar shades to let more sunlight in my office during the day, the room got a little cooler despite my double pane windows and home sealing efforts. Therefore, I keep the shades down on the North side of the house. Fortunately, even when the solar shades are down, they still let in enough sunlight that I don’t have to turn on the overhead office light.



• Turn off the extra lights at bedtime. I wrestled with whether I should put up Christmas lights or not. It’s not that I’m anti-Christmas light. I’m anti-high electrical usage. Well, long story short I ended up putting up a couple of strings of incandescent Christmas lights instead of lighting the boughs of greenery on the porch rails with two halogen spotlights. I might add that the strings of incandescent lights use more electricity than the halogen spotlights. The difference is that instead of setting the timer on my lights to light the lights from dusk to dawn, I changed it to turn the lights on at dusk and keep them lit for 6 hours. In other words, the outside lights turned off after the Condo Residents were tucked snugly in their beds. Next year, I’m using the LED Christmas lights I won thanks to a contest at Rob’s World. I can’t wait to try them out!



• Santa lights the Christmas tree! In the past, I turned on the Christmas tree lights every evening up until Christmas day. This year as well as last year, I changed that. I decided to follow the Danish tradition of lighting the tree on only Christmas day although I still stuck with my incandescent tree lights instead of the traditional real candles. I’m all for saving energy but not at the risk of accidently burning down The Condo!

December Natural Gas Usage

December was an estimate month and Columbia Gas estimated the bill high – very high. It’s my fault really, because my gas company allows it’s customers to call in their own gas meter readings on estimate months. I didn’t do that because a nasty case of stomach flu sidelined me the week that the readings were due. I didn’t ask Husband to do it for me, which he would have if I had asked.

Here are the numbers. Columbia Gas says that I used 79 CCF of natural gas in December 2007 which is up 5 CCF from the 74 CCF of natural gas we used in December of 2006. I don’t believe these numbers to be an accurate indication of how much natural gas The Condo consumed in December. I’m still using the same program on the programmable thermostat as November as well as all of my winter energy saving habits. These combined efforts lowered The Condo’s natural gas consumption by 70% in November 2007. Also after checking my spreadsheet, I found that The Condo’s monthly natural gas usage is consistently lower on the months when the gas company took actual gas meter readings.

I’m not sure if I can dispute the gas company’s estimate of my December natural gas bill. Has anyone tred to do this? Did it work for you?


How I Tried to Lower My Natural Gas Bill in December

• Drink it hot. My daytime and evening drink of choice is a nice tall glass of water. In cold weather I noticed that I’m colder on the afternoons I drank cold water while working than on the afternoons when I drank a hot beverage – usually hot chocolate or hot tea. Interesting. So after I’ve chugged my RDA of coffee in the morning (roughly a gallon) I switch to a hot decaf drink, usually tea made from the mint I dried from my garden last summer.


• I follow the dog’s lead and try to spend as much time in the warmer areas of The Condo. I like to call it The Blitzkrieg Heat Index because Blitzkrieg is very good at finding the warmer spots in the house during cold weather and the cooler spots in the house during warm weather. The Condo’s built on a concrete slab, which makes the floor on the first floor colder to stocking feet and bare paws than the second floor even though we have carpeting in the first floor living room. I’m not sure if there’s a way to add insulation between the carpeting or vinyl tile in the kitchen (gaaah!) and the foundation slab, other than installing something like radiant floor heat. Given that the flooring is still newish and that radiant floor heat is a major expense plus the new floor covering we’d have to purchase and install over the radient floor heat pad, it’s much easier and cheaper to wear fuzzy slippers while downstairs and sit on the sofa while watching TV or reading than sprawling out on the floor.


• Layer up. Despite my Danish heritage, I’m one of those people who are perpetually cold, possibly a result of the smidge of UK heritage that’s also in my family tree. On the other hand, it might be a result of me having a cold, cold heart - you pick. Anyway, in winter, I dress in layers and if I’m still cold, I’ll wear long underwear under my layered clothes. Yes, even under dress clothes when I work in a cold office building.


• Go with the throw. Even when the setback thermostat raises the temperature in the evenings, I still tend to get cold while watching TV downstairs. Husband doesn’t. Instead of lighting the gas fireplace (which sucks huge amounts of natural gas), I grab a throw from the closet and toss it over my legs. Blitzkrieg has an affinity for lying on blankets so he usually asks to join me on the sofa and likes to snuggle up by my side or on my lap. Fuzzy dog sharing body heat? Bonus.

How do you stay warm during the cold months without cranking up the heat?



This post is part of Thrifty Green Thursday.

Organize Your Life with Six Pack Containers!

In The Condo, we like our condiments, lots of condiments. Husband is one of those people who always have a full compliment of hot sauces on hand at home and even at work to fulfill all of his lava-eating needs. In fact, Husband’s appreciation of the hottest of hot sauces once resulted in the gift of an exclusive gift pack of Dave’s Insanity Sauces for our wedding.

Me? Well, I’m a wuss when it comes to ultra spicy hot food. However, I do have an affinity for mustard. Spicy brown, Dijon, and wasabi have at one time or another joined the bottles of hot sauce stored on the shelves of our refrigerator door.

Unfortunately, all of those small bottles on the refrigerator door shelves liked to tip over after I opened or closed the door. They often looked like a load of passed out people at some shipboard party gone horribly wrong. Especially the brands of hot sauce whose bottles look little people. Clearly, an intervention was in order.

Fortunately, the answer to tidying those wayward bottles was a recycling bin away. I used an empty paper six pack holder to hold and organize the condiments on my refrigerator door.

If you don’t like the look of the paper six pack carton as is, you can certainly pretty it up by decorating your six pack organizer using paint, paper, or fabric.

To corral and organize those little sample bottles of hot sauce and jelly that we also seem to accumulate, I reused an empty margarine tub to keep them from falling through the open space on my refrigerator door shelves.

An empty margarine tub also works well at keeping those few condiments packets we have from time to time from taking over the lunch meat/cheese drawer in the refrigerator.

Other Uses for Paper Six Pack Containers

I also use a paper six pack caddy to organize bottles of craft paint in my craft room. Some people use six pack carriers as picnic caddies. Others use paper six pack boxes to corral TV remote control clutter in their living rooms.

Do you have a new reuse for paper six pack containers?

How to Get Three Meals from Leftover and Seemingly Stripped Turkey Bones

When planning a get together with Family (both my side and Husband’s), I usually get the “bring some extra containers for leftovers” reminder. This Christmas it paid off – we got the leftover Christmas turkey carcass!

We knew that if we rendered the turkey we could easily cook a lot of the remaining meat off those bones for a second meal as well as make a huge heaping helping of homemade turkey stock for future meals.

So yes, as we drove the 150+ miles home, we changed the words to the song, “I’m Getting Nothing’ for Christmas” to “I Got A Carcass for Christmas!” because we were anticipating a couple of meals to come out of those smoked turkey bones.

My apologies to my vegetarian readers because this post is going to be all about cooking meat. While Husband and I do eat many vegetarian meals, we like to satisfy our carnivore instincts too. Chances are I will use the word carcass quite a bit because you never really get to use that word in polite society anymore. OK, well, ever. In the meantime, you vegetarians can kick back and make Husband’s vegetarian friendly Homemade Orangina instead – it’s yummy!

How to Render Bones into Soup Stock/Broth

The first step is to simmer the turkey (or chicken) meat and bones in a large pot of water to remove any large portions of meat from the bone (called rendering), along with vegetables (such as carrots, onions, and garlic) and herbs, (oregano/basil and a pinch of salt to bring out the flavor.) The bones are an important part of this equation because the marrow in the bones will add flavor and body to your stock as well as whatever fat is in the meat. If you are making stock from poultry, do not add the giblets (the gizzard, liver, and heart) to your pot because they will make your stock bitter. Bleach!

Since our turkey meat was already flavored by smoking, Husband just stuck the entire turkey carcass into the Crockpot (you may have to cut the carcass so it fits into your slow cooker or if you don’t have a slow cooker/Crockpot you can use a stock pot on the stove.) He covered it in water, added a bit of salt to bring out the flavor and oregano to compliment the turkey’s original smoked flavoring and let the whole thing simmer on low heat for the day (6-8 hours) while Husband and I were working. Easy turkey broth people.

Of course, if you’re using a stockpot method, I don’t recommend that you leave anything to cook on a stove unattended. That’s an excellent way to burn down your humble abode, and no amount of turkey stock is worth that!

By the time both of us finished work, the large chunks of turkey meat that were difficult to cut from the bone had cooked off the bird for easy eating access and the turkey bones were rendered into a soup stock that we could either use to make the following night’s meal or put in the freezer for future food prep.

Rendering was complete and Meal #1 was ready to serve.

Meal #1: Turkey hunks with a side of holiday meal leftovers.

Rendering the turkey carcass into broth in the slow cooker made the meat fall off the bone. It was easy to scoop the now big chunks of turkey meat out of the Crockpot with a slotted spoon and easily feed two people for that night’s dinner. Since both of us were still recovering from Holiday Travel Overload (600 miles in three days) we took the easy way out and paired the turkey with cooked green beans and warmed up the leftover thrice baked potatoes our hostess also sent home with us.

After dinner, we disposed of the turkey bones, put the lid on the Crockpot, and stuck the whole thing as in the refrigerator for the next day’s adventure: Making soup from the homemade turkey stock.

How to Make Soup from Homemade Turkey Stock

After cooling, chances are a layer of fat will have floated to the top of your rendered stock/broth. Depending up how fatty your meat is, you may want to remove some of it from your liquid although I don’t recommend removing all of the fat because it holds the majority of the stock’s flavor (which is why our ancestors were so keen on cooking with whole meat fats in the first place. You know, in the days before science and The American Heart Association told us that meals of all fats all the time isn’t such a good idea for heart heath.) Our turkey was lean, so we left what little fat that that congealed on top of the stock as is.

Meal #2: Somewhat Italian Wedding Soup

After Meal #1, we had flavored turkey stock, minus the big hunks of turkey meat. To make the turkey stock into a real soup for that night’s dinner it needed some help. Husband defrosted some frozen spinach, added it and the last of the barley in the pantry, and a couple of handfuls of diced turkey ham (in lieu of meatballs, which is why we call it Somewhat Italian Wedding Soup) to the turkey stock. Again, we let the whole thing simmer on low heat in the slow cooker for the day while Husband and I were working.

Crockpot cooking = quick and easy meal but a bad day to work from home. As with the previous day’s rendering, by three o’clock in the afternoon the smell of soup cooking in the Crockpot had me diving into the four tins of leftover Christmas cookies - a combined sugar overload effort on both of our mothers.

When Husband finished his 9 mile run after work, our dinner of Somewhat Italian Wedding Soup was ready to serve.

After dinner, we put the lid on the Crockpot and put the whole thing as in the refrigerator for the next day’s adventure: Making turkey and noodles from the leftover soup.


Meal #3: Turkey and Noodles

We let our food stores run low because we didn’t want them to spoil while we were visiting family for the holidays. Enduring New Year’s Eve Grocery Store Madness had zero appeal. The same goes for restaurant food. The leftover Somewhat Italian Wedding Soup could have certainly fed either Husband or I for lunch, but wasn’t a large enough portion to feed both of us for the following night’s dinner. However, Husband, the brilliant man that he is, was able to squeak one more dinner out of those already stretched turkey leftovers: turkey and noodles.

Turkey/chicken and noodles is an extremely simple dish to make and one of my cold weather favorites. Since the turkey and broth were ready to go, Husband cooked, drained, and rinsed a bag of egg noodles. Then he heated the noodles up with the leftover Somewhat Italian Wedding Soup in a stockpot on the stove. Once he heated the ingredients through, dinner was ready to serve.

After dinner, we didn’t have anything left of the turkey. We did the dishes instead.


Number of times I used the word carcass in this post: seven.