The invaluable coffee filter

Sometimes you take the simple things for granted.  My friend Brenda sent this to me. 

Coffee filters ..who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave.

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 out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. T hey make great “razor nick fixers.”

 OH YEAH THEY ARE GREAT TO USE IN YOUR COFFEE MAKERS

Of course I have to make my own additions to what you can do.

Make roses: http://focusoninteriors.blogspot.com/2009/07/metamorphosis-monday-coffee-filter.html

I did a search in google images for coffee filters and there are many dresses dresses and many, many flowers made with coffee filters.  If you want a little mindless entertainment check it out.

Neighbors?

Ok, I know this is a catty remark but I can’t resist.  

You know Tiger Woods has been spending time designing his new golf course just across the border into North Carolina.   I think perhaps Mr. Woods and our SC govenor Mr. Sanford spent some time together and compared notes on their transgressions.   I’m waiting for Mr. Woods to say that someone is his soul mate.   I might forgive Tiger for his “transgression”   if he can say “my wife is my soul mate. ”  I’m wondering if the word he should have used is indiscretion.

Tamboti Wood and Poinsett Club

I found out the name of the wood Bob and I used for our pens. It is Tamboti Wood and it is pretty interesting wood.   Go to http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_tamboti.html to find out more.   I didn’t realize it was so rare.  It is from South African Lowveld and Swaziland.

I took my 74 pieces of wood into Woodcrafter to get it all identified.   Lots of oak, black walnut, cedar as well as various kinds of mahogany, cherry and about a dozen exotic woods I never heard of.  Bob should finish setting up the drill press today and then I think we are ready play.  After today we have not much going on for a week so can concentrate on making pens.   Also have another hobby under investigation – using wine bottles to make glasses and etch them with designs.   Stay tuned.   We have about 6 weeks to play with these ideas before we start stained glass class in mid January.

Today we have a Newcomers luncheon at the Poinsett Club, one of only 35 five star private clubs in the country.  We have heard it is fabulous.  Bob has to wear a suit and tie.   We picked crab cakes for lunch.   It is a very rainy, cloudy day (but no snow) so this lunch should be a great way to jazz up the day.

Since it is December I will change my color theme to holiday green!

Fay and Bob Pen Turning

I’m so excited I can barely stand it.  Can’t remember anything in recent memory that has both of us so pumped.   We went to our pen turning class on Sunday.  It was so much fun.   I used for the first time a drill press, band saw and lathe.  Still have all my fingers.   We bought all the equipment necessary so we can make more pens at home.   I don’t need my Tarot Card deck to see lots of pens and pencils as gifts to family and friends and maybe give to non profits for fund raising events.  Maybe I can even sell a few.  There were 5 of us in the class, all very new to lathes,  and we produced 5 beautiful pens. 

The photos show it all. The first one is me at the lathe, a midi size one vs mini size or the full size one we have at home.

This shows the size of wood we start with and how small it gets.  It does make a bit of a mess.

Here are our finished pens.  The wood is from Africa, have to go find my notes on the name of it.   It was VERY hard.  The color of the wood in the photo is pretty true.   The fittings were shiny gold. 

Pretty nice for a first try.  Different size pens and pencils require different drill bits.  For now we will just start out with the same size we used in class.   There are also some fittings that are harder to put in so that will be when we are also more experienced.  There are also fountain pens.   Those fittings seem to be the most expensive.   At Woodcrafter store the fittings are $4 to $14 and the wood is under a dollar.   Seems inexpensive  but you need a band saw, drill press, lathe and about $300 of other specific wood turning equipment to make it all work easily.

Here is what we can aspire to:

Here is the artist.  She has been doing pens for a couple years.

Fay and the instructor.

In addition to everything else we bought, we got 5# of wood pen blanks.  That is 73 pieces and about 8 kinds of wood plus many exotic pieces.

Bob already knows I will pester the heck out of him to finish getting his band saw and drill press set up.   He just picked up the last of the big equipment on Saturday and is putting it together as I type this so soon you will see photos of his (our?) workshop.

Although I have always liked wood and refinished things 30 years ago, I never thought I would get so excited about wood turning.  Just goes to show if you have an open mind you can start some very fun new adventures.  I image by  Wed. or Thursday I can be making pens at home.

A yummy Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a wondrful Thanksgiving with our friends Lyn and Bob in Charleston.   We were joined by Lyn’s grandson Zach, who is 18 and a new friend Charley, a woman, and other friends Lola and Glen. Charley was a chef and owner at her own restaurant for 15 years in Charleston, Lola runs a cigar and hookah store and Glen is now a tour guide in Charleston but has had several other very interesting  jobs.  He is a big Civil War history expert so I love picking his brain about the history of the area.  Zach came from MN about a month ago and is looking for a part time job (supposed to be starting next weekend at a real estate office) and trying to find a school program that he likes.

Bob had an apple theme to the meal with hard apple cider we brought back from N. Carolina to start things out, cider basted on the turkey done in a roaster and a delicious stuffing with sausge and apples.  Two suprising recipes were the brussel sprout coleslaw and cranberries with a significant amount of djon mustard.  Both very good.  Sides included mandarin orange lettuce salad, sweet potatoes with pecan topping , mashed potatoes, wild rice and of course gravy. 

Bob showing off the brussel sprout slaw.

For dessert in addition to pumpkin pie we had pear crisp with candied ginger.   Out of this world.   I think it was one of the best Thanksgiving menus ever.  They sent home enough leftovers for four more meals for us.

Add in a the bottle of hard cider, bottle of white wine, several bottles of  Beaujolais nouveau that we brought down and a bottle of port and you have the makings of a special holiday.  After dinner there were also cigars for a few people out on the screened in porch.  I just kept the smokers company.  No cigar for me.

Happy Thanksgiving

Like many of you I am thankful for my family and friends, good health, being able to pay the bills and do the things I want to do. Getting a closer relationship with our god daughter Amanda has been something I am thankful for every time we talk.  She is a wonderful young woman in so many ways and brings great joy to my life.

This year all the new friends I have made here in SC and all the new things Bob and I have been able to do deserve a special thank you at the Thanksgiving table.

I try not to take for granted the life I have been able to enjoy.  I know I am really fortunate and that also makes me remember all those who are now struggling with health or financial problems.   Although Bob and I haven’t worked at the soup kitchen I think that there are a number of things we did last year to help family and friends when they were in need.   Of course we could do more and we will continue to look for those opportunities.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

 

Wood turning examples

These are examples of wood turning that we saw on Saturday at the American Wood Turning Association.  Click on the little picture to see a bigger picture.

Upcountry History Museum, wood turning, Biltmore

A week ago last Monday we went on our last walking tour at the
Upcountry History Museum in downtown Greenville.  What a great new style of museum.   Instead of a bunch of artifacts that you learn about they have about 50 interactive displays (with some artifacts) that tell the history of the SC Upcountry from the Cherokee settlements to the textile mills.  They also just opened a World War II exhibit.   We were there 2 hours on our tour and barely scratched the surface.  Can’t wait to go back.

On Saturday we went to the Southern Highland Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC (about 30 minutes from our home).   We had been there before twice to look at all the items for sale and on display as folk art but this time we went to join the American Wood Turning Guild and listen to a presentation on more advanced wood turning.  The items on display were breathtaking.  Pictures to come later.  This Sunday Bob and I take a pen turning class and in January I take the same class Bob took for 5 weeks.

On Sunday we spent most of the afternoon with the instructor Bob had for his wood turning class and he showed Bob how to sharpen his tools and then showed us his work and sent up home with a trunk full of sycamore wood to turn.

This last Monday we went back to the Biltmore to see all the Christmas trees and the house decorated for the holidays.  They had something like 45 decorated trees.   One live cut tree was 38 feet.  They replace it once through the holiday season.  Unfortunately no photos indoors.   We had a delicious lunch at the Winery Bistro and then attended a little Red Wine and Chocolate activity.

Weather has been rainy and overcast, typical fall day with temperatures about 45 and night and 55 during the day.

What is the theme in your life?

Fall for me is the time of year when I reflect on my life.   My cousin Larry sent me this thought provoking item that he received from a friend of his and I wanted to share it with you.

In thinking over the weekend, it occurred to me (light bulb turns on) that everyone has a THEME that, in some ways, dominates and directs their lives. That theme is the driving force, the core of a lifetime’s desire, that runs through every person’s life. After pondering over the idea for hours, it occurred to me that my own theme is “staying alive.” I was born struggling to stay alive. That theme colored my life. My fascination with Cacti fits into my theme. Cacti are the ultimate survival plants. The stock market — learning to read the stock market gives one the advantage of possibly knowing what lies ahead. The theme of staying alive has entered into everything I do. It’s the reason why, in investing, I’m so careful to avoid taking the big loss. “He who sells and runs away, lives to invest another day.” If you invest intelligently and systematically over the years and avoid the big loss, you’ll probably end up at least prosperous.

You might think about a theme in your own life. Is your theme success, domination, making money, leadership, happiness, conquest, curiosity, helping others, adventure? Ask the average person what the theme of their life is, and they’ll look puzzled. They never thought about their life having a theme. Every person has a theme.

Fay says about her theme

As I thought about this question the theme that came to my mind about me is my quest for harmony, tranquility and peace.  I don’t like to hurry. I don’t like conflict or crowds. I am an observer.  I like quite music and fragrant surroundings.   I want to be in harmony with plants, animals, the landscape and people.   My interests are in crystals and tarot cards and flowers,  getting to know a few people well rather then many people just a little bit, helping people,  and making an environment for myself and others that is calm and healing.

I look forward to reading your observation of the theme in your life.

Music and the holidays

I’m so excited!    I just reloaded our 100 disk CD player with a  new batch of music.   That only happens a couple times a year.   Most of my listening tastes (75%) is instramental jazz and new age but I also have mixed in 70’s music, blues, old jazz, movie tunes, classical, vocals, island music and thanks to CD’s from my friend Kris’s collection – country.  That should expand my listening taste.   Don’t think we had a single country CD except for Nora Jones. 

The last 20 CD’s are Christmas/holiday  music.   Won’t start those for quite a while.  I ease into it with new age tunes that don’t sound so holiday like.   I still continue in my years long crabby mood on the materialistic nature of the holiday.  Don’t like that spirit at all.  I will probably break down and have a tree this year.  Some years that doesn’t even happen.

Holiday plans – On Monday we head up to the Biltmore Estate to see their Christmas season decorations with lunch at the Biltmore Bistro Winery and if we are lucky wine and chocolate tasting at the winery.  Getting there before Thanksgiving should help us avoid the crouds.  For Thanksgiving and Christmas we head to see friends in Charleston (4 hours) away and I hope get to see the Charleston incredible festival of lights that we saw last year.   Greenville has two light tours – one at Hollywild Zoo and one at Roper Mountain Park.   We are going with friends to see both of those.  Have two holiday parties with Greenville Newcomers – one a luncheon at a 5 star private club and one Cocktails R Us at a country club house.  Live music at the second one and a third holiday dinner with Greenville Woodworders.  For my birthday we will go to Asheville to look at the Gingerbread House exhibit and contest and have lunch at a really nice historic hotel/spa.  There are three holiday plays/performances (like Christmas Carol) in the area so I will pick one of them for us to see and last but not least there is the Festival of the Trees in downtown Greenville.   Guess I’m not as big a grinch as I thought I was!

Have to go.  There is a really good tune playing.