Ivy says:

Hey Home Eccers! Let’s talk about setting a pretty table. One of the things I like best in this world is to sit down to a table with a crisp tablecloth. Now, my mom always puts placemats on top of her tablecloth to keep it clean, but I find that to be overkill. I have another friend who hates anything on her table at all, so she doesn’t use either. What do you use?

Also, while we’re at it, let’s talk about what kind of tablecloths we like. Me, I vastly prefer a cloth tablecloth, although I’ve been known to buy a plastic tablecloth if it’s really cute or pretty. Finding plastic in 70 inch round, however, is an exercise in frustration. Come on, tablecloth manufacturers, 70 inch round is where it’s at! All the cool kids have a table that needs a 70 inch round tablecloth! Okay, maybe not, but oy.

So what kind of tablecloths are you digging for your tables?

Also: go enter the giveaway I’m hosting over at Love Shak, Baby for a gift pack of green cleaning products! Who doesn’t love more cleaning products?

Ivy says:

This is only marginally on topic, and for that, I apologize. But I think this is really important, so here goes. The internet was boring, so I went a-stumbling. I ran into this post, a tribute to Mr. Rogers. I nearly broke down into tears, because lately I’ve been feeling pretty hateful toward humanity, in general. People are so cruel and harsh and unkind. This post was a reminder that people exist who are kind and gentle and loving.

Now, I’m not exactly known for being kind and gentle and loving. I’ve been described most of my life as being harsh, critical, and outspoken. I’ve even been called a bully in my not-so-distant past. That part is pure hogwash, as I’m not the type to bully. But I get where people are coming from when they criticize me. I’m not the nicest person who ever lived. I’m snarky. I say what’s on my mind.

My heroes have always been cowboys Willie Nelson and Oprah Winfrey. I like them for their outspokenness and their “here’s who I am, like me or not” attitudes. And I’m still going to love them to bits, but my new hero is Fred Rogers.

What if we all aspired to be more like Mr. Rogers? What if we all tried to be the kindest, most gentle people we could possibly be? What would the world be like?

If we woke up every day and told ourselves, “Today I will be a kind and gentle person”, what could we all accomplish? Could we end the wars? Could we make sure everyone’s fed? Could we educate everyone?

Maybe not. I don’t have delusions that I can change the world. But maybe, just maybe I could change one person’s life. Maybe I could make a difference for a few people. I don’t know. But from here on out, I am going to strive to be that kind, gentle person. I ask you to join me. Perhaps if many of us strive to be kind and gentle people, we can go from making a small difference to making a big difference.

Ivy says:

My cousin is coming to town sometime in the next 2 months and wanted to know what she should see and do in Nashville. She especially wantd to know if the Country Music Hall of Fame was worth the $18 admission fee. When I told her I had never been to the Country Music Hall of Fame, she was completely and utterly shocked.

“What do you mean you have never been to the Country Music Hall of Fame?! I mean, you live there. How can you live there and not go?”

Ah, well, I don’t really care one whit about country music. I’d probably only go if admission was free, and even then, I’m not sure I’m that interested. Sorry, country fans. I’m a rock n’ roll kinda girl living in a country town. What can I say?

But it did get the rocks in my brain rolling about doing touristy things in town to have vacation-like experiences without the cost of driving all over creation. A couple of weeks ago, we hit Cumberland Caverns and the kids are still talking about it. We like to go to the local museums (except, of course, the Country Music Hall of Fame) and battlefields.

So, if you can’t afford a full blown vacation this year, what about hitting some of your local touristy spots? You can easily stretch your vacation-y goodness to last the whole summer. That’s our plan.

Home Eccers, tell me- what are some of your favorite touristy things to do in your town?

Dear Home Ec 101,

Where I live we have to pay for trash disposal. The trash disposal company we use gives us great big trash cans that most of us around here call dumpsters. Today, I was so embarassed when I got this note from the trash disposal guys:

“Could you please clean out your dumpster? The stuff sticking to the bottom makes all the trash fall out onto the ground.”

I looked inside and it looks like bags with cat litter have broken, because the bottom of the dumpster has cat litter and paper trash stuck to it. How can I clean this with a minimum of actually touching this mess?

Signed,

Dirty Dumpster

Ivy says:

The inside of my dumpster gets really nasty, too. I totally feel your pain. I try to clean mine out quarterly- generally whenever I get the trash bill I clean it out. The key to not having to touch much trash is to soak it.

I use my hose to fill my dumpster about a quarter full, then I add either some laundry detergent or dish detergent. I think that helps with the smell. Then I let it sit for at least half a day, but sometimes 24 hours if it’s really nasty down there.

Once it’s had time to soak, I dump it out on the driveway or other hard surface. Take it from me, who learned the hard way- don’t dump it out on your grass. Usually there will be bunches of nasty bits on the bottom which are really hard to pick up but aren’t that hard to just sweep up.

Then, all you have to do is use the hose on its highest sprayer setting to spray out any leftover bits. Don’t forget to spray the outside and the lid so the whole thing will be sparkly clean. And yes- the soaking method does work with clumping cat litter, as I had a cat litter explosion myself in my dumpster fairly recently.

Now your “dumpster men” as my youngest son calls them will be happy!

Heather says:

Mr. Heather and I are going to be taking a short trip in the near future.  Rather than pester our neighbors, I thought I would see how difficult it was to place a hold on the mail.  I remember my mother having to head down to the post office, stand in line, and fill out a form.

A quick Google search revealed the form is online and can be used to stop mail as soon as the next business day. Mail can be held for 3 - 30 days.  How nifty is that?  This service may not be available in all areas.  I was pretty excited to complete this chore in under a minute.