09.08.2008

Goodness, thank you for all the positive feedback after I sent out the first issue! I am very happy that everyone seemed to enjoy it. And I'm happy to say that several people sent in things to share with the group (thank you so much!), so this issue will be full and informative. We even have a new columnist that will be sharing her web site picks! ~Toni
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sep. 15, 5:13 a.m. EDT — Full Harvest Moon. Traditionally, this designation goes to the full moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal (fall) Equinox. The Harvest Moon usually comes in September, but (on average) about every three or four years it will fall in early October. At the peak of the harvest, farmers can work into the night by the light of this moon. Usually the full Moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice are now ready for gathering.
******************************************************

I would like to introduce you to my great friend Phyllis H. After receiving the first issue of this newsletter she offered an idea to me that she thought it would be a good idea to share a cool web site and, so I gave her the job! ha ha I hope you'll enjoy her column.

~Cool Picks From Phyllis~

Toni and I thought that a good regular (or semi-regular) feature would be to share a cool website with the other newsletter readers. Although the name of this column is ~Cool Picks From Phyllis~, its really open to everyone. So if you have a cool website that you'd like to let us in on, feel free to share. To get us started, I'm going to share a website that is serious, and important. The site I'm sharing this issue is:

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/self_exam/bse_steps.jsp

Yes, its a serious subject, and the reason I'm sharing this website with you is because recently I found a breast lump. It was painful, and I thought it couldn't be cancer because I'd always heard that breast cancer lumps are never painful. Maybe you've heard this too. Guess what? Its not completely true! MOST times, a lump that is painful is not breast cancer, but there is a form of breast cancer that WILL leave a painful lump. Regardless, any lump in your breast should be checked out by your doctor. I got checked, and thank God it was not cancer... It was an abscess which is still under treatment.

I admit that in the past I have been a bit lax about doing self breast exams, but there is no excuse for it. I hope you all will take time once a month to do a self exam. The cool website I picked this time will show you how to do it. I hope this issue's Cool Pick website will be useful to you all!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following fun information comes from Phyllis T:

Have you ever heard, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater"? That comes from back in the days before indoor plumbing. People would fill a tub with water and the men would all bathe first. Then the women. Then the children. The last one would be the baby. By the time the baby got to bathe, the water would be so muddy looking, you couldn't see anything but his poor head! Thus the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater"!

The saying, "Sit around and chew the fat", came from when people were so poor - the only people with meat were rich. The rich people would hang the meat up in the kitchen so people could tell they were affluent - and when there were guests, they would cut off a bit of the fat and pass it around, thus the saying, "Sit around and chew the fat"!

Did you know that a good way to check in spaghetti is done is to throw it against the refrigerator! If it sticks, it's ready to eat! Messy but true!!!
**********************************************************

Here is a delicious-sounding recipe from Regina:

This recipe has become a favorite at our house, and fixed along with macaroni and cheese and green peas makes a meal that is not very costly.

Tuna Cakes

2 cans of light tuna in water; drained.
1 pkg. 6 oz of stuffing mix for chicken (when I don't have any on hand I subsitute a sleeve of saltine crackers, crumbled)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I use mild or colby) and shred my own as it tastes better and is less expensive
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. sweet or dill pickle relish according to your taste
1/2 cup water

Mix ingredients together. Refrigerate mixture for 10-15 minutes. This prevents it being too sticky to form, but if it is you can dust it lightly with a little flour to prevent that. Heat large skillet with cooking spray. Shape mixture into 12 cakes. Cook in batches, in skillet for about 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. You can serve with dollops of tartar sauce, but even without it they have a good taste and flavor. Reminds me of the ones my mom made when I was younger.
_______________________________________

Also from Regina:

Use your local library. If you read a lot, it's much cheaper than buying books that you then have to decide what to do with after you've read them. It's a FREE service as long as you get them back in on time. Also, our library has DVDs you can check out as you do books - good entertainment and Blockbuster certainly is not free. Also in the summer there are summer reading programs that are free and are good, fun and educational for your children and often they can earn prizes for the books they read. Many libraries even offer free programming for adults and most have computers you can use. Ours only charges for each page you print. So, if you have not checked out your local library lately, do so!

(Note from Toni: Something else to check out at your library is to see if they have their catalog online. At my local library I can go to their web site and browse books by title, author, subject, etc just like I was at the library. You can "shop" from home, put books on hold and then go in and they will have your books pulled and ready to go.)
----------------------------------------------------------------

It has become quite popular, and lately a bit more affordable, to use compact fluorescent bulbs. Personally I still prefer the lighting mood of incandescent bulbs and using only CFL bulbs would make me feel like I was living in Wal-Mart. But I will admit CFL bulbs last much longer, so they seem to be very handy in fixtures where changing bulbs is a challenge, and all reports indicate that they use less power, so I am now using about half and half between incandescents and fluorescents. That being said, I have been doing some reading because I became concerned about the mercury content of fluorescents. I found this link to the instructions of how to clean up in the event of a broken bulb and wanted to share it with you: http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#flourescent
______________________________________

I'd like to tell you about one of my favorite kitchen cleaning products. It is not new, but in case you've never tried it I want to mention what a good job I think it does. It's called Dawn Power Dissolver. It's a spray product and locally I find it in with the dishwashing liquids. I have used it for ages for stuck-on foods on pots and pans. I spray directly on the problem and let the pot or pan set off to the side while I do up the other dishes. The stuck on food will come of so easily it almost makes you feel guilty for not having to scrub. Now up until last month I had used this only for pots and pans...that was until I had something I was baking spill over and make a terrible baked-on mess in my oven. I looked in my cleaning products and I didn't have any oven cleaner. On one hand I was upset because I didn't want to have to make a trip to the store and I really needed to get the mess cleaned up, but on the other hand I was relieved because I hate the chemical smell of oven cleaners. I started reading the backs of different cleaners I had and there on the back of the Dawn Power Dissolver it said it worked in ovens! Well I sprayed that mess and let it set about 30 minutes and all that baked-on yuck cleaned off slick as a whistle! And no choking odor. And I knew from experience it isn't harsh on my hands so I didn't even have to dig out the rubber gloves. I hope you don't have any stuck-on or baked-on messes, but if you do I think you'd be pleased with the performance of this product.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Make Stale Bread Fresh
To refresh stale bread, sprinkle it with water, wrap it in a foil and heat it in the oven on 200ºC for about five to ten minutes.