These tiles range from 36 cent to 99 cent per square at my Home Depot.  I particularly like the parquet-looking squares which were 75 cents per square.  There are real dark looking wood and then the lighter wood.  They are so quick and easy to install and if one gets damaged in the future, you just pull it up and put another one down.   Just be sure to fit them together snugly (like a puzzle fit)  so they don’t have room to slide yet not so tight that the flooring will buckle.

Cutting the squares is easy, too.  Just use a box cutter and cut across the top of the square.   All you need to do is score the top and then bend the square and it will break apart.  I have a large wooden cutting board that I lie the square on and then use a ruler to make the straight line.

I put the peel and stick squares in my bathroom this past weekend and it cost less than 20 dollars.  I was struggling to make the perfect cut around my toilet and bathroom cabinet so my husband volunteered to remove both.  I am so glad he did because the job looks perfect now.

Be sure and remove the baseboards.  The baseboards can cover a multitude of errors.  lol

Have fun…I love my new look in my bathroom.

I have been doing some interior painting and my husband was trying to help.  I realized there are some tips I gave him that I could share with others.

First, painting is rolling paint on the wall….not scrubbing or pressing real hard.  When he painted with a brush, the brush looked like he had been scrubbing with it.

Another thing, when you start to roll paint on the wall make sure you start in the center of the wall.  If you start at the top or bottom, it is harder to spread the extra paint.  Your roller is full of paint and you need to spread it evenly.

I put newspaper down around the bottom of the floor.  It worked well because if I dripped paint, I could just lift the newspaper up and throw it away so I didn’t step in it and then track it on the carpet.  Also, I found I could push down on the newspaper around the edge and get down further on the bottom of the wall where the baseboard was going to cover.

The black sponges (that look like fudgsicles except smaller) work great for the trim work.  They get into the small little corners and work really well for window frames, too.  There are at least three different sizes and one fit perfectly for the inside of the window.

Keep a wet paper towel or two handy, too.  If you do drip on the floor or carpet, immediately wipe it up.  The semi-gloss latex scrapes right up off the floor if it turns into a dried spot. But the carpet needs a lot of water to get it up and not leave some residue.

That’s about all for now…I love painting.  Everything looks so fresh and new.

Our Corolla gets about 35 miles to the gallon. He asked me if I would walk 35 miles for $4.00. I said, “No, of course not.” He said, “then its a pretty good deal to only pay $4.00 to travel 35 miles.”

My husband is the kind of guy who sees the cup half full.

I take a safety pin and hook it to the end of the string and push it through the opening on one side. Be careful to push at the bottom of the pin, not on the side. If you push on the side, you take the chance of making the pin open up while in the tract which presents a bigger problem.

Be sure and push it an inch or so and then pull the material back. You will see what I mean when you start doing it. The material is gathered so you are stretching the material while holding on to the pin. It is best not to let go of the pin.

Then once you get all the way through, pull the drawstring out and remove the pin. Then I tie a knot on each end of the drawstring so it is too fat to be pulled through again.

I appreciate companies making smaller portions of goodies. When I make a cake, I either end up throwing a lot of it away or I try to give half of it away right away. I find making these cookies means less waste and less chance that we will overeat.

I usually use baby shampoo to wash my dogs. Fleas haven’t been a problem in the past years but I have noticed my dogs scratching more this year. It didn’t get very cold here in Florida this year so maybe the fleas didn’t get killed off.

She also said that you can put the Palmolive dish detergent in the Miracle Grow container and use the water hose, and spray your yard to kill fleas.

I haven’t tried this yet but I intend to try it. Anyone out there tried it besides my neighbor?

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts (with skin)
• can of shoe-peg white corn
• 1/2 cup of onions (optional)
• three med sized Russet potatoes
• 5 or 6 ounces of evaporated milk
• small can of tomato paste
• salt and pepper to taste
• Nature’s Seasoning to taste
• Chicken Bouillon/chicken broth to taste

Rinse chicken breast to remove any blood/water. Put the breasts into a large pot (I use my spaghetti noodle-boiling pot). Cover the breasts with water and boil. I usually fill the pot half way. Cover for faster cooking.

Once the breasts are cooked and and start coming off the bones, you can lift the breasts out onto a plate to shred. Keep the broth. Sometimes I use a couple forks and pull it apart while in the pan. You will remove the skin and bones and pull the the chicken apart. If you like your chicken shredded instead of chunky, you can cook it more. Put the chicken back into the broth if you de-boned it on the plate.

Sometimes, I stop at this point and let the chicken and broth cool for about half an hour or I put the pan (with a lid) into a sink of cold water. I don’t like to put warm things into the refrigerator so I cool it down first. Once the outside of the pan feels cooler to the touch, I refrigerate it. Then the next day, it will only take another 30 minutes or less to finish up the stew.

Heat the stew back up if you refrigerated it.

Add the half cup of onions to the heated broth and chicken.

Add the small can of tomato paste and stir.

Add shoe peg corn after draining and rinsing.

Cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch squares and add to stew. I use russet potatoes. I don’t want the potatoes to dissolve away and I find russet potatoes stay firmer.
Add a tsp of salt. Add pepper to taste (I usually start with 1/2 tsp). I add three or four bouillon cubes or you can add chicken broth. I probably put about a tsp of Nature’s Seasoning in at this point. But basically, you will spice it to your taste. My husband likes a lot of broth so I add enough water so the stew comes up about 3/4 of the way up the side of the pan. Often that means adding more bouillon, salt, pepper and Nature’s Seasoning.

You will add the evaporated milk last. You can use one little can of evaporated milk or about 5 ounces. The broth should now be a light orangish color.

Cook about fifteen or twenty minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

I serve cornbread with the chicken stew. When eating the stew as leftovers, I have Ritz crackers and sometimes make a sandwich.

This recipe makes about 8 to 10 bowls of soup. I can have leftovers for another meal or pack stew in lunch. If I decide to eat the stew as a meal again….I usually skip a day before I serve it again. I think my husband would eat it every day…he loves it.

Fortunately, I live in the country and had all the necessary supplies to make this scratching post. So, it was basically free for me to make.

If you do not have the carpet, you can get a remnant piece of carpet at a local carpet store for just a few dollars.

These are the details of how I made the post. Of course, you can improvise.

You will need:

12 inch square 5/8 inch thick wood

12x 16 inch piece of carpet (thicker carpet is better)

2 ft long 4×4

2 ft plus 4 inches (28 inches) x 20 inch piece of carpet

20 nails.. (6 short nails going thru 5/8 inch wood)

hammer

carpet cutter or serrated knife

First, we will cover the base (12 inch board) with the 12 x 16 inch carpet. Lie the carpet upside down and center the 12 inch base board on it. Wrap the carpet around the board and leave the same amount of carpet on each side so the base will sit evenly. I nailed 3 shorts nails on each side of the carpet to attach it making sure the nail did not thru the other side.

Then I sat the 4×4 on its end. I centered the base board upside down (on top of the 4×4) so the wood side was facing me. I then nailed one long nail in the middle of the base board to attach the base to the 4×4. Once I verified that the base and 4×4 were centered, I nailed four more nails into the wooded base to secure the base to the 4×4.

Now flip the post over and you will have a carpeted base and a bare post. I guess you could carpet the two individual pieces and then nail them together but that’s not how I did it.

Next you are going to attach the carpet to the post. Stand the 20 x 28 inch carpet up next to the 24 inch post with the extra four inches extended at the top. Attach the carpet on one side by nailing one nail at the base and work your way up putting another nail in the center and then one up at the top of the board. It’s like wrapping a present. lol After I was sure I had it evenly wrapped, I added another two nails. Now pull the carpet around the 4×4 and overlap over the carpet. Again, start at the base and attach with a nail at the base. Pull the carpet tightly and attach a nail in the center.

Before I finished nailing the top nail, I cut the carpet that was extended at the top in order to make flaps to wrap across the top. I sliced each corner downward about 3 1/2 inches or so (until it will lie down on the top of the board). Now you can finish nailing the last nail on the side and fold the flaps over. I folded the four flaps over each other and then nailed two nails to keep it in place. Then I went back and secured the side with two  additional nails.

Make sure you hammer the nails in as deep as you can so your cat will not catch his nails on the nails. I nailed  the nails in so deep that you can barely see them. I used thick carpet.

Within two minutes my cat was scratching on the post. In fact, I have already taken the carpet off the post and replaced it.

I fill the kitchen sink full of hot soapy water and wash dishes as I dirty them. Most of the time I am organized enough to even wash some of the pots and pans before putting the dinner on the table. Plus, even if you don’t have time to wash them, you have soaked them and they are definitely easier to clean.

If you have a dishwasher, this still works for you. I don’t use a dishwasher… by choice. I hate dishwashers. But, my daughter does enjoy her dishwasher and it helps to wash off the pots and pans before putting them in the dishwasher. Also, if you do this when you have a big meal with lots of pots and pans, you can start the dishwasher with the pots and pans and then by the time you finish eating, you can unload the pots and pans and start the second load of dishes/glasses and silverware . A big meal almost always means two loads for the dishwasher.

You take 1/4 cup of baking soda and pour down your drain. Mine didn’t want to go down since the edge of the drain was wet. I added a small amount of water to flush it down. Then I added a cup of vinegar. Boy, did it bubble!!!!! I used the plunger, too.

I did it a couple of times since it was really clogged up.

It worked better than the expensive drain cleaner.