Learn Or Do

I’m a little late posting today – but I stripped my bed and am in the process of washing everything down to the mattress pad.  I do this 4 or 5 times a year and I’m religious about washing my sheets every Thursday.  That’s a habit ingrained in me from childhood.  I read an article from a mattress manufacturer that said most people only wash their sheets once a month.  To that I say EWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m not going to get into another raging bed controversy – you know the one about how to fold a fitted sheet?  Suffice it to say, that’s another thing my mom taught me young so I don’t have an issue there.  But I would like to address the issue of hospital corners.

The last time I went home, I stayed with a cousin and helped him make up the bed in his guest room for my stay.  I started doing hospital corners and he seemed to be amazed.  I thought everyone did them!  Is it a throwback that I didn’t know about????

Since I’m apparently quite old fashioned, my throwback today is this how-to for doing hospital corners when you make your bed.  Enjoy!

I just read that there is already a flu breakout in Texas – and flu season is still months away!  Generally, the flu season runs from October to May so many doctors and clinics begin offering flu shots in September.  I had the flu a few years ago – and it is not an experience I want to repeat so I’ve been pretty good about getting the flu shot since then.

Yes, it’s true that the flu shot will not absolutely guarantee that you won’t get the flu but most years it will substantially reduce your risk of getting the flu.  And no, getting the flu shot will not give you the flu.  Check out this link to a Q&A from the CDC for flu shot facts: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/flushot.htm

Last year was a particularly nasty flu season with nearly 400 deaths attributed to it.  And last year’s flu didn’t hit the elderly as hard as it hit people aged 18-49 – an age group that has the lowest rate of receiving the flu shot.

This year the nasal flu vaccine will be back as well after a 2 year absence so if needles aren’t your thing, you can still get protection from the flu.  Ask your health care provider about the best way for you to receive protection from the flu – it’s coming!

For more info about flu, check out these resources:

• WebMD
• CDC – About Flu
• Weekly flu tracker

I’m officially declaring today Try it Tuesday instead of To Do Tuesday – although really they aren’t that different are they?  It’s a rainy, cool day so it might be a good day to bake.  I’m thinking about trying one of these – what do you think?

Snickerdoodle bread.  How can you go wrong with bread that’s based on a cookie?  I’m not sure about the chocolate chips though….  Link to recipe from The Cookin’ Chicks.

Or how about Amish Friendship bread?  I love this cinnamon flavored bread – but hate having the week to get the batter ready with the standard recipe.  And the standard recipe makes SOOOOO much bread!  Unless you are Amish and have a huge family to feed, nobody needs that much bread!  So I found this recipe for a single loaf – Eat Cake For Dinner Recipe.

Either way, I’m going to have to make a quick trip to the grocery – tell me about your favorite bread recipe in the comments!

 

 

107 years ago today, the first telegram sent commercially around the world was sent.  Seems quaint in the age of the internet to think of telegrams doesn’t it?

A New York Times operator wanted to see if it was possible and to see how long it would take for a telegram to go around the world – you have to applaud that kind of curiosity!  So at 7PM New York time, the operator sent “This message sent around the world” from his dispatch center.  Traveling more than 28,000 miles and relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon and the Azores–among other locations–the reply was received by the same operator 16.5 minutes later.  Not bad!  Not as fast as email, but telegrams helped lay the foundation for communication as we know it today.

Want to know more about telegrams?  Check out these resources:

• Wikipedia – Telegraphy
• History.com

I love this guy.  If you haven’t seen his special on Netflix, it’s worth checking out.  Happy Weekend!

Last weekend I got a message from one of my cousins that a tragedy had struck – he had water damage that ruined many of his family photos.  So if you want to keep throwing back on Thursdays, it may be a good idea to do something to protect your family photos.

For those of us too old to have always had a digital camera at their disposal, chances are you have boxes of photos and negatives somewhere around your house.  If they aren’t organized, put it on your to-do list to go through them and decide what you wouldn’t want to lose and what you don’t care about.  I’m always shocked when I get the boxes out – I don’t even remember some of the people in the old pictures any more!

Once you sort out the pictures you don’t want to lose – digitize.  Most home printers are also scanners so if you don’t know how to use it, get someone to show you.  There are also services that can scan your old photos for you like ScanCafe or GoPhoto – but brace yourself for the cost.  Having a service scan your photos runs about 3 scans for $24 – and can take up to 3 weeks!  You can also take pictures of your old paper photos using the camera on your phone or tablet – but the quality of your copies will suffer.

Next, label the pictures you’re saving with date, names and places if you can.  Makes it much easier for you when the old memory gets hazy!

Then save your digital photos to the cloud.  If you’re an Apple user, check your settings – you can default anything you save in photos to go to your iCloud account.  And if you’re not an Apple user, I can recommend Google Photos.  If you have a Gmail account you can also upload photos, create albums and share photos from Google Photos.

Want to know how to use iCloud or Google to store your photos?  Check out these resources:

• Apple iCloud
• Google Photos

Now here’s my throwback photo from digging in my pictures – that’s me on the left circa 1987 with the world’s worst perm!

I recently read an article in Real Simple Magazine about the 7 habits of people who age well.  I thought they made some excellent points.  Want to know the 7 habits?

1. Maintain a positive attitude.  I think this one is important no matter what your age is – if you’re negative all the time, you’re not going to feel well and people won’t want to be around you!  When things get bad for me, my mantra is always “it could be worse!”
2. Watch what you eat.  Could NOT agree more – see my post a few weeks ago about my weight gain!
3. Watch how much you eat.  In a world of super-sized food choices, be smart about what you consume.  This article will give you some great info about serving sizes and portioning.
4. Exercise regularly.  Even if it’s just a nightly walk, MOVE!  Yes you might have sore muscles in the beginning of any exercise regime, but it doesn’t take long before the benefits outweigh (pun intended) the soreness.  I kickbox twice a week and walk 2-3 miles 2 or 3 times a week.  I hate it when I miss the gym now!  Exercise not only helps with the weight that seems to come with aging – it also helps stave off dementia, diabetes and a whole host of other conditions that can come in old age.
5. Stay social.  It’s important to have a network of friends and relatives to rely on.  They’ll help you keep the issues in your own life in perspective!
6. Protect your skin from the sun.  I’m so fair skinned, I live for shade and sun screen in the summer or I burst into flame!  But the incidence of skin cancer is on the rise – so make sure you’re taking care of your skin too.
7. Get plenty of sleep.  The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours of sleep a night.  And their studies have shown a correlation between lack of sleep and heart disease, obesity, diabetes and memory loss.  So take a nap and try not to be such a night owl.

I’m already in the habit of most of these points – sleep is always my challenge….  But I think I’m aging well so far and I want that to continue.  How about you?

My gym has sent out notices several times this summer that the childcare center will be closed for a certain period of time to allow disinfecting for Hand Foot and Mouth disease.  I don’t use the childcare center so I mostly disregard the notices, but since I have no clue what this is about, today let’s find out.

According to MayoClinic.org, it is defined as:

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease — a mild, contagious viral infection common in young children — is characterized by sores in the mouth and a rash on the hands and feet. Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is most commonly caused by a coxsackievirus.

Symptoms include fever, sore throat, blisters in the mouth and a red rash on the palms of the hands/soles of the feet which is generally not itchy.  In infants, it can also include a rash on the buttocks that mimics diaper rash.  And along with all these unpleasant items you generally feel unwell and may not have an appetite.  Doesn’t sound delightful does it?

The infection is very common in childcare settings because the root virus is associated with not washing hands well after using the bathroom.  Given the amount of diaper changes and the number of small kids in daycare settings once the infection gets going it’s hard to stop.  A child can be infected and not show symptoms for several days – and it takes several days for it to get out of a child’s system.  It can also be spread via a sneeze, saliva or contact with the fluid from the blisters of an infected child.  So the potential for passing the infection is certainly high.

The good news is that the infection is fairly mild and can easily be treated with about a week of rest at home and OTC medications like Tylenol or Advil.  And as a child’s immune system matures, it recognizes the virus and generally keeps subsequent infections more mild or non-existent.

Want to know more?  Check out these articles:

• Info from the CDC
• Mayo Clinic
• Yahoo

Hand Foot and Mouth is on the rise so make sure your kids are practicing good hygiene to help avoid it!

 

 

 

I just got an alert that today is a ComEd Peak Time Savings day – that means that since it’s supposed to be in the upper 90s and VERY humid today, ComEd would like us to conserve on electric today to prevent strain on the grid during peak hours.

The first peak alert day this summer, I didn’t really do anything and got a notice that because my electric usage was lower than my neighbors, I’d get a $1.30 back on my next bill for my “savings” during the peak time.  So the next time I got a peak alert, I thought I’d experiment and turn off everything in the house that was’t really necessary and see how much more I could save.  That day I earned a $6.30 credit.  I really didn’t do too much to earn that either – I just pulled all the wall wart plugs and turned the temp on the AC up to 78.  Which has me thinking about what I can do today to save electric again – and how easy it is to trim electric usage and be more environmentally friendly in my own habits.   The $6.30 was a pretty substantial savings for a 1 day change in behavior given that my electric bill was a just little over $60 last month!

So I’m going to pull the plug on on the wall warts again – you know them.  They’re the chargers for our phones, tablets and TVs.  They’re drawing power even if you don’t have something plugged into them.  I’ve made it easy for myself since most of mine are plugged into power strips so with the flick of a couple switches I can turn most of them off.  And the last time we had the alert, I reprogrammed my thermostat to stay at 78 during the day – so that’s taken care of.

Can you help me think of any other ways to conserve power?  Let me know in the comments!

Want to know more about the ComEd program?  Click this link  – and if you don’t have ComEd as your electric provider, check to see if there’s a similar program in your area.

NO!  It’s supposed to be almost 90 degrees today so can I really be seeing signs of fall?  I’m not ready!  But I’ve been hearing that Pumpkin Spice Lattes are coming early this year and then there’s the situation in my driveway:

That’s right.  The leaves are already falling.  And the birch trees in my back yard are dropping their leaves too.   I’m not ready yet!  So what does oracle of seasons (The Weather Channel) have to say?

Well, they say you generally do start to see the first signs of fall in late August.  Check out these not so optimistic fall indicators:

• It was 33 degrees this morning in Gunnison, Colorado.
• We’re now losing about 2 1/2 minutes of daylight every day.
• The cicadas are buzzing all day now – not just in the evening.
• The stores are starting to put out Halloween costumes and candy – although I have not seen a pop-up Halloween store yet so that’s something!
• Pre-season football is in full swing.  And the pee-wee team in my neighborhood is looking good!

The falling leaves are pretty and I love warm days and cool nights – but I never look forward to watching everything die off in preparation for winter.  I’m definitely a fan of spring when everything bursts back into life – but the change of seasons is inevitable and each season has its strong points.  Tell me about your favorite season in the comments!