My husband often buys me red roses like the ones I had when we got married in 1966. They still are my favorite flowers, but they don’t last very long.

I saw the following info in a magazine and plan to use it the next time I get roses. Hopefully it will help the roses stay pretty for a longer time.

1. Wrap the flowers in brown wrapping paper to protect them.
2. With a knife, cut approximately 1/4 inch off the stems.
3. Place them in 1 inch of boiling water.
4. Leave the roses in the water until the water is lukewarm.
5. Cut about 1/4 inch off the stems.
6. Transfer the roses to a vase filled with cool water.

I got this as an email, and I thought I would share this with all of you. Lots of new uses for coffee filters. I plan to use many of them!

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect china. Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
11. Prevent a popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.
13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. Soaks up all the grease.
14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great “razor nick fixers.”
15. Put spices in a filter tie with a string for making sauces. Throw out when done.

I received the following email this week from a cousin of mine who lives in Minnesota. It has a lot of good information in it, so I will share it with all of you.

Before you read to the end, does anybody know what the main ingredient of WD-40 is?

I had a neighbor who had bought a new pickup. I got up very early one Sunday morning and saw that someone had spray painted red all around the sides of this beige truck (for some unknown reason).

I went over, woke him up, and told him the bad news. He was very upset and was trying to figure out what to do – probably nothing until Monday morning, since nothing was open.

Another neighbor came out and told him to get his WD-40 and clean it off. It removed the unwanted paint beautifully and did not harm his paint job that was on the truck.

I’m impressed! WD-40 who knew? ‘Water Displacement #40′.  The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and degreaser to protect missile parts. WD-40 was created in 1953 by three technicians at the San Diego Rocket Chemical Company. Its name comes from the project that was to find a ‘water displacement’ compound. They were successful with the fortieth formulation, thus WD-40.

The Convair Company bought it in bulk to protect their atlas missile parts. Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40 that would hurt you. When you read the ’shower door’ part, try it. It’s the first thing that has ever cleaned that spotty shower door. If yours is plastic, it works just as well as glass. It’s a miracle! Then try it on your stove top … Voila! It’s now shinier than it’s ever been. You’ll be amazed.

Here are some other uses. The items marked with an * are uses recommended by the company:

1. Protects silver from tarnishing*
2. Removes road tar and grime from cars.*
3. Cleans and lubricates guitar strings.
4. Gives floors that ‘just-waxed’ sheen without making them slippery.
5. Keeps flies off cows.
6. Restores and cleans chalkboards.
7. Removes lipstick stains.
8. Loosens stubborn zippers.*
9. Untangles jewelry chains.*
10. Removes stains from stainless steel sinks.
11. Removes dirt and grime from the barbecue grill.
12. Keeps ceramic/terra cotta garden pots from oxidizing.*
13. Removes tomato stains from clothing.
14. Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots.
15. Camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors.
16. Keeps scissors working smoothly.*
17. Lubricates noisy door hinges on vehicles and doors in homes.*
18. It removes black scuff marks from the kitchen floor! Use WD-40 for those nasty tar and scuff marks on flooring. It doesn’t seem to harm the finish and you won’t have to scrub nearly as hard to get them off. Just remember to open some windows if you have a lot of marks.
19. Bug guts will eat away the finish on your car if not removed quickly! Use WD-40!
20. Gives a children’s playground gym slide a shine for a super fast slide.
21. Lubricates gear shift and mower deck lever for ease of handling on riding mowers.*
22. Rids kids rocking chairs and swings of squeaky noises.*
23. Lubricates tracks in sticking home windows and makes them easier to open.*
24. Spraying an umbrella stem makes it easier to open and close.*
25. Restores and cleans padded leather dashboards in vehicles, as well as vinyl bumpers.
26. Restores and cleans roof racks on vehicles.*
27. Lubricates and stops squeaks in electric fans.*
28. Lubricates wheel sprockets on tricycles, wagons, and bicycles for easy handling.*
29. Lubricates fan belts on washers and dryers and keeps them running smoothly.
30. Keeps rust from forming on saws and saw blades, and other tools.*
31. Removes splattered grease on stove.
32. Keeps bathroom mirror from fogging.
33. Lubricates prosthetic limbs.*
34. Keeps pigeons off the balcony (they hate the smell).*
35. Removes all traces of duct tape.*
36. Folks even spray it on their arms, hands, and knees to relieve arthritis pain.
37. Florida ’s favorite use is: cleans and removes love bugs from grills and bumpers.*
38. The favorite use in the state of New York , WD-40 protects the Statue of Liberty from the elements.
39. WD-40 attracts fish. Spray a little on live bait or lures and you will be catching the big one in no time. Also, it’s a lot cheaper than the chemical attractants that are made for just that purpose. Keep in mind though, using some chemical laced baits or lures for fishing are not allowed in some states.
40. Use it for fire ant bites. It takes the sting away immediately and stops the itch.
41. WD-40 is great for removing crayon from walls. Spray on the mark and wipe with a clean rag.
42. Also, if you’ve discovered that your teenage daughter has washed and dried a tube of lipstick with a load of laundry, saturate the lipstick spots with WD-40 and rewash. Presto! The lipstick is gone!
43. If you sprayed WD-40 on the distributor cap, it would displace the moisture and allow the car to start.*
44. It removes black scuff marks from the kitchen floor! Use WD-40 for those nasty tar and scuff marks on flooring. It doesn’t seem to harm the finish, and you won’t have to scrub nearly as hard to get them off. Just remember to open some windows if you have a lot of marks.*
45. Bug guts will eat away the finish on your car if not removed quickly! Use WD-40.*

P.S. WD-40 is highly flammable, so please be careful where you use it!
P.S.S. WD-40 is primarily petroleum based, not made from fish oil as many believe.

I got this the other day in my email. It sounds like a perfect post at this time of the year. Let’s know if it works for you!

During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can ‘taste’ it.

Some of us have used Vicks VapoRub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I’ve never heard of this. And don’t laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren’t sure why. To stop night-time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks VapoRub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children
than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition, it is extremely soothing and comforting, and they will sleep soundly.

Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.

My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it.

If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed at how it works.

Don’t shun this one.. Try it the next time you get a bad cold.

I got this as an e-mail, and it has some good info in it about what to do for bee stings!

It might be wise to carry a penny in your pocket while working in the yard for BEE STINGS!

A couple of weeks ago I was unfortunate enough to get stung by both a bee and hornet while working in the garden.

My arm swelled up so off to the doctor I went. The clinic gave me cream and an antihistamine. The next day the swelling was getting progressively worse so off to my regular doctor I went. Infected arm needed an antibiotic. What was interesting is what the Dr. told me. The next time you get stung put a penny on the bite for 15 minutes. I thought, wow next time (if there ever is one) I will try it.

Well that night Shelley’s niece got stung by two bees. When she came over to swim I looked at the bite and it had already started to swell. So off I went to get my money. Taped a penny to her arm for 15 minute s. The next morning, there was no sign of a bite. Wow were we surprised. Her niece we decided, just wasn’t allergic to the sting.

Well guess what happened again on Saturday night. I was helping Shelley deadhead her flowers and guess what? You are right I got stung again two times by a hornet on my left hand. Was I ticked. I thought, here I go again having to go to the doctor for yet another antibiotic.

Well I promptly went into the house, again got my money out, and taped two pennies to my bites and then sat and sulked for 15 minutes. The penny took the string out of the bite immediately. I still wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

In the meantime the hornets were attacking Shelley and she got stung on the thumb. Again the penny. The next morning I could only see the spot where he had stung me. No redness, no swelling. Went over to see Shelley and hers was the same. Couldn’t even tell where she got stung. Then Shelley got stung again on Monday night on her back—cutting the grass. This penny thing is going to make us money at school. Again it worked.

Just wanted to share the marvelous information in case any of you are experiencing the same problem at home. We need to have a stock of pennies on hand at school and at home.

The Dr. said somehow the copper in the penny counteracts the bite. I would never had believed it. But it definitely does work.

So remember this little bit of wisdom and pass it on to your friends, children, grandchildren, etc.

I read about this the other day and haven’t had a chance to use this idea yet. It sounds like it would work great!

If an incandescent light bulb breaks off in the fixture, unplug the lamp and press half of a raw potato into the stump of the remaining glass. Unscrew the glass by turning the potato. Throw it all away! This should save getting your fingers cut!

Shoe polish is the perfect coverup for nicks and scratches in your furniture. It is opaque, comes in many colors, and is reasonable in price. If you don’t like the way it looks, just wipe it way with mineral spirits.

Here are the steps:

1. Look for a shoe polish paste that matches the finish of the furniture. If you can’t find a close match, mix two or more polishes together on a paper plate with a cuticle stick.
2. When you’ve found the best color, apply the polish to the scratch or nick with a cotton swab.
3. Let the polish dry for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Gently buff with a clean, soft cloth.