Reverse Your Ceiling Fan

It's Winter!  And it's gotten cold here in the Midwest so we reversed the direction of our ceiling fans.  

This is totally not my fan because I was being lazy.  Thank you clipart.

Making the fan spin clockwise, creates an updraft.  This updraft will send all the warm air near the ceiling back down to where all our warm-bodies are.  Remember that elementary science rule about how hot air rises while cold air sinks?  Well, this just helps bring all that hot air back down to where we are.

You can join in the fun of saving energy by bringing the warm air where you need it too.  It's simple.  Climb up on a ladder (which is much safer than a rocking chair!) and flip that little switch on the side of your ceiling fan.  Turn on your fan and watch it spin clockwise. It's that easy.

Happy Winter to all in the Northern Hemisphere!

Peace,

Stacey

Repurposed Champagne Cork Cabinet Knobs

I have knobs on my kitchen cabinets!!!

I might not have toe/kick plates under the cabinets yet.  I might not have all the cabinet doors painted yet but I have knobs on the doors that I have finished so far.  And, aren't they awesome?!?  I reused something that's renewable!

Mr. Green Stuff saved all the corks from almost every bottle he'd had when we met.  We continued to do this together for years.  When I noticed we had so many of them they were taking over, I found a place to recycle them.  We kept the ones with sentimental value.  (He always wrote on the ones he saved.)  And now I know why!  We're using champagne corks in our "new" kitchen.

Here's how "we" did it with step-by-step directions so you can do the same.

1. Figure out where you want your knob.  (We wanted ours to line up with the corner of our recessed panel.)  Use a pencil to put a dot there.  We used a laser level to ensure they all lined up.

2. Drill the hole exactly where you put your dot.

3. Place cork over the hole and screw into it from the back.  (We used extra flooring screws, if it matters.)

4. Straighten any design on the top of the cork in order to step back and admire your green skills!

I've read a lot about the durability of our new cabinet knobs.  It appears that they should last a long time but if they don't, I guess we'll have to drink some more delicious champagne.  Darn.

I'm so happy.  Not only are we reusing something; we're reusing something that has meaning to us.  Let me know what you have reused lately in the comment section.  I'd love to hear about it!

Peace,

Stacey

Roasted Pecans - Super EASY!!

I referenced this in the comments of my Easy Granola recipe so I thought I'd just make a post out of it so here's my "recipe" for roasted pecans.  I say "recipe" because it's not much of a recipe and virtually no cooking skills are required!  Seriously.  Here goes.

First, find some local pecans.

Mine were still in the shell so my next step was to shell them.  Your fingers might be luckier.

Next, spread them on an unlined baking sheet.  Make sure none of the pecans are overlapping each other.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven, flip pecans, respread so none overlap, and bake for 2 more minutes.

Enjoy!

These are delicious warm so I just bought 10 more pounds to have enough to enjoy and enough to freeze.  I like to use these frozen pecans in baked goods until the next season.

What's your favorite pecan recipe?

Peace,

Stacey

ReStore Donations

We finally had a chance to take a bunch of our donations to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  There were three hanging lights (the word "chandelier" makes them sound too fancy), two exterior lights that used to be mounted around our back door (which is now a window), about 30 cabinet knobs, a pretty transom window, and this:

It looks so much nicer right there next to a toilet than it ever did in the middle of my dining room!

I always feel a sense of relief when I donate something.  Today I felt so much better... lighter, freer, and happier! Kind of like the music in this video...

Is it bad that I "love" the landfill in that video?!

What do you have just taking up space in your house (hopefully not in the center of your dining room) that someone else would love to have?

Peace,

Stacey

How To Clean A Paint Brush

Meet my best friend:

O.K., a paint brush is not my best friend, but I have seen more of it lately than any of my friends... maybe more than all my friends combined!  I've been busy... painting.

 And painting.

 

And painting.

Eventually almost everything in the new kitchen will be painted... white.  And most of the painting has fallen onto my shoulders, which in my opinion is waaaaay better than drywalling, installing the floor, or building countertops.  I think I'm getting the easy jobs.  Easy but tedious.

Anyway, back to the brush!  I've been using that paint brush for multiple hours almost every day for the last few weeks.  (I told you we were close!)  And I recently learned a great trick for keeping my brush in "like new" condition.  Seriously, I used to just run water on it and squish it against the side of the sink and think it was clean enough.  It would look like that picture at the top and I would think it was good. 

I bought cheap brushes because they wouldn't last long anyway.  Then I bought my new BFF-brush.  I spent a lot of money on it ($14!!!) because I want everything to look pretty on this project.  There's a huge difference between those value pack brushes and this one.  Huge!  

But after I'd primed with it, painted with it, primed with it, and then went back and painted with it again, it was not in good condition.  Bristles were sticking out sideways.  Globs of paint were balled up all down the middle of it.  It looked destined for the landfill.  As I was trying to get over my green guilt about having to throw it away and work up my courage to buy another "expensive" one, a friend told me that I'd be crazy to throw away that brush.  (Picture it in much, much worse condition than in that the picture above when he said that.)  Then he showed me the aforementioned trick to save my paint brush.

Here what I do now.
  
First I rinse my paint brush with warm water to remove most of the paint. This is the step where I squish it up against the side of the sink or my paint container, too.

Then I squirt a small amount of (biodegradable) soap directly onto the bristles. I usually use hand soap because I've been in my basement bathroom but dish soap works well too.

Next I rub in the soap.  I focus on the places were the paint is the thickest.  (For me this is usually that line where I wipe the brush against the side of my paint container to get off the excess paint.)

Here's the most important step. Rub the bristles between the palms of the hands.  Vigorously!

Even if you don't like to get your hands messy, it's worth it.  Believe me.  I don't either. Apparently, if you have hands that feel like sandpaper, this step goes faster.  Otherwise just rub a little longer. Rinse the paintbrush until clear water runs out of it and no more bubbles form when you rub your hands together on it.
And there it is:

A like new paint brush every time.  (I probably don't need to mention this but this trick is only for cleaning water-based paint/polyurethane.)

My friend said he's been using the same paint brush for almost 14 years. When he finishes a project and knows it will be months before he uses it again, he even puts hair conditioner on it to keep the bristles pliable.  (I hope to get to this step next month!  Right now I consider myself lucky if the bristles are dry before I use it again.)

What an easy way to extend the life of a paint brush so it can be reused and reused and reused and, well, you get the picture.

Do you have any easy clean up tips?  What about great painting tips?  I'm open to either!

Peace,

Stacey

Recycle Those Batteries... when you can

I have a friend who dreads this time of the year.  It's not the shopping.  It's not all the yummy desserts.  It's not even the caroling.  It's the batteries that make her fret!  Last year she told me that she was actually losing sleep because she couldn't stop thinking about all the batteries (from ALL those plastic toys) that would eventually get chucked into a landfill or, worse yet, incinerated! 

I had kind of forgotten about her worrying until I witnessed a coworker toss dozens of batteries into the trash!  She just couldn't figure out why everyone else would "save" all the old ones.  When I told her we had a collection site for recycling in town, she said she had no idea that batteries should be recycled.  She sincerely looked concerned and asked what we could do with them.  Now that's a great question!

Apparently, it's getting harder and harder to recycle alkaline batteries because mercury has been regulated out of use in single-use alkaline batteries in the U.S. (thankfully!) and because there is no cost effective method to remove and therefore reuse the heavy metals contained within them.  With that being said, there are still places that will take them.  Look for a Big Green Box at places like Whole Foods, take them to a big box store, or check with your local municipality.

I recycled these used batteries from work at my local library

Rechargeable and button types do not fall under this15 year old regulation and should definitely still be recycled!

I guess my friend and I can both rest a little better... but only a little.  There are still all those other metals in them that one day (when they start to become scarcer) are going to be valued and they'll be tons of them sitting in landfill's all around the world.  In the U.S. alone 2.9 billion batteries are thown away each year.  And what about that acid that leaks out over time?  That can't be good...

Reducing our consumption of batteries is probably the biggest thing we could do.  Think before you buy.  (I know you're tired of listening to that toy drone on and on anyway!)

So there you go.  A truely little thing.  Recycle alkaline batteries when you can but try not to lose sleep over it when you can't.  

Where can you use fewer batteries in your life?

Peace,

Stacey