EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS/ HURRICANES/ STORMS

JEANETTE’S HURRICANE TIPS FOR ANYONE WHO USES CPAP OR HAS PERHAPS THE NEED TO CHARGE SOMETHING IF THERE’S NO ELECTRIC, THERE IS A PRODUCT CALLED ZERO ONE. IT STORES ELECTRICITY IN ITS BATTERY. YOU CAN CHARGE IT WITH SOLAR OR ELECTRIC. Of course electric is fastest way. My son bought me one.its great.

1.  CHARGE ZERO ONE AND ALL ELECTRIC LANTERNS CELL PHONES LAPTOPS IPADS AND COMPUTERS ( The computer devices are a great source of light when electric goes out. If you need a brighter light go to email. That page is white n provides brighter light. If you lose landline you’ll be happy your cell was fully charged. Need it to call for medical or other help. High winds and so much rain cause car accidents that sometimes disturb telephone poles and electric poles causing interruption of service sometimes for long hours.

2.  PLACE POTTED PLANTS IN A LOW, SAFE LOCATION ( Like under a lanai table thats against a corner or wall) TO PREVENT THEM FROM BECOMING MISSILES  IN HIGH WIND THAT CAN BREAK YOUR WINDOWS. Can put in garage but that’s too much work. This works well.

3. SCRUB TUB WITH BLEACH AND FILL WITH WATER.  If a sinkhole occurs from ground saturation that disrupts water supply or tornadoes which are many times spawned, or stop the water supply, you will  have water to flush toilets and that can be used to bathe in your sink or even boil for coffee and do laundry if lights are still on. When water mains break oftentimes the initial next day after the repair water is contaminated too. DO ALL LAUNDRY before the lights have potential to go out.

4. WATER ALL YOUR PLANTS  that are indoor plants so you don’t need to waste emergency water.

  5. GET TWO OLD GALLON MILK JUGS AND FILL WITH WATER. Keep them all year in the freezer. When the lights go out take one gallon jug and stick it in the center of the refrigerator. It will keep your food cold for many days. I have used this successfully many, many times.

6. MAKE SURE ALL FLASHLIGHTS AND SMOKE ALARMS HAVE GOOD BATTERIES. have replacement batteries of all sizes on hand in case you need them.

7. UNPLUG ALL LAMPS, COFFEE POTS, ANSWERING MACHINES anything you don’t use to prevent them from getting zapped and ruined by lightning. Chances are you will not be driving in hurricane winds and rain so you’ll be home and won’t need the answering machine anyhow. BEATS buying new things. I’ve lost two answering machines from lightning. Surge protector bars for computers do work. There are many kinds that are for different things. Be sure to check before you buy. It’s a great investment n usually a one time purchase.

8. RENEW YOUR MEDICATIONS BEFORE THE STORM IS GOING TO MAKE LANDFALL. once the Governor issues a state of emergency it is the law that you can renew your medications early. Be sure to have aspirin and Tylenol and bandaids, whatever you might need if you’re stuck indoors due to the storm or flooding and get sick or injured from say for example tripping in the dark, spraining an ankle etc.

9.  HAVE CANDLES . good to burn in a glass in a sink with a little water in it to reduce risk of fire.  During the day you can open your blinds and utilize the light from outside.

10. HAVE ENOUGH FOOD AND WATER FOR YOU AND YOUR PETS Manual can openers are necessary. If the lights go out your electric can openers will be useless.

11. FINE CHINA ( paper plates, utensils and cups) so you don’t have to use emergency water. Plus, lol no dishes to do! LESS WORK IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING. 

12. CHARGE BATTERY POWERED TOOLS  to ensure they have full charge so that if after the storm there is no electricity you can still do clean up or repairs.

13.STERNO CANS AND ALUMINUM PANS. these come in handy to cook if you have no electric.

14. HAVE CHARCOAL OR FULL PROPANE TANK FOR BARBECUE If when the rain stops electric hasn’t been restored you can cook. Because of flooding, sinkholes trees down, you may not be able to get to the store.

15. POWDERED MILK ( there is a brand called NIDO ) you can get it in supermarkets. It’s the very best tasting and vitamin enriched powdered milk I’ve ever tasted in my life. It’s the only one I’ll buy since I discovered it.

16. PROTEIN SHAKES like Atkins, ENSURE, GLUCERNA ( for diabetics) These do not have to be refrigerated and can be used in place of a meal.

17. SECURING YOUR GARAGE DOOR . I have a wide aluminum door. If it starts rattling, I take tall pieces of plywood n place it against the door from top to bottom in the center area of the door and gently roll my car backwards to press against the wood. I believe the sturdiness of the wood and the weight of the car against it, will stop it from blowing in.

18. NOAA RADIO or other emergency radio. They are inexpensive and could save your life. I keep mine plugged in all year. I went on line and found the codes for each county n programmed it to only alert me for tornados etc in My county and the nearby counties. The first night  It was going off all night because it was telling you things in oklahoma etc. it has a backup battery too like answering machines do, and you’ll wake up to some beeps and people voices telling you what’s coming and where it is. Once you program the codes into it, it will only sound for the counties you asked it to warn you about.

I actually forgot about it and last month in the middle of the night it went off. In crystal river there was a funnel cloud spotted by the water. You just turn it off when you want it off like a snooze button on your alarm clock n next time it has an announcement it’ll come on again but it doesnt repeat the same alert.you can listen to NOAA officials talking for as long as you want. I love it. Home depot and Walmart sell them. 19. GAS UP YOUR VEHICLES  AND HAVE CASH BEFORE THE STORM. If you have to get out of Dodge and flee to safer ground and electric is off the gas pumps won’t work nor will the ATMS . Stay safe. Jeanette

DECLUTTER YOUR LIFE

Hi everyone! I came across these videos that I truly love! The simplest ways I have ever seen to make a big job easier or just to maintain a sense of well being. Some of us may already know that having a lot of clutter around not only makes our day to day cleaning harder but also affects our ability to concentrate. 

In this “oh so busy, fast paced world” we find ourselves living in, I don’t know about you, but I find comfort in getting home at the end of the day and relaxing. Enjoying the peace of mind that comes with being able to shut out everything and just being able to be free of the worlds demands on us is so soothing to my spirit.

I came across this woman, Kathy Roberts who truly has a FANTASTIC system that not only helps you in your day to day organization, but in your ability  to have more time for yourself. Let’s face it, who doesn’t love that!? She has many helpful videos on YouTube and she’s also on Facebook . In the video I’ve included Kathy says one hour however that’s her room by room plan. She also has other videos ( over 300) that tell you to do the system the same way except you spend 15 minutes in this room, 15 minutes in that room. It is AMAZING what a difference 15 minutes can make. I think you would be very happy to hear what she has to say. Shes amazing! And so are the results! So, I have included a video for you to check out. It will change your world! 🙂

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SLaa_Gw-Wwk

REPURPOSING GLASS CONTAINERS

Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge

We throw away more things each year without giving a thought to what else they might be useful for. Below I would like to share with you some things that I have done. Things that allowed me to free up drawer and closet space as well as be able to display them decoratively, incorporating them into my homes decor.And I don’t know about you, but I can never  have enough closet space.

My marbles I keep in an old Maple Syrup jug displayed on the bookcase instead of tucked into a drawer.  The jars that I , personally, have found to be most useful are:

Maple syrup jugs

Glass orange juice or grapefruit juice jars

Used Yankee or other type Candle Jars,

Honey jars

Any glass jar can be used really. I prefer jars that have either clear, silver, black or gold lids without any graphics on them. They are useful storage containers that can easily display things like cotton balls, Q-tips, makeup sponges, marbles,  seashells, nailpolish bottles, bobbypins or other hair ties, even teabags, whatever you like. Because they are taller than they are wide, they can help you consolidate space.  Or, can be displayed on your bathroom counter or anywhere else you choose to display them. And the lids are snug  as well, so no danger of things falling out. Old glass juice bottles are great for storing cereals and macaroni and take up less space in your cupboard.  Hope you’ll give this a try.

YOU WILL NEED:

Hot soapy water

A sink or other container to soak them

Scrubber sponge

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Fill your jars with hot water, put lid on and submerge into a sink filled with hot soapy water.
  2. After about 15 minutes you should be able to peel off jar labels quite easily. For the more stubborn ones you can use a scrubber sponge. They typically get scrubbed off with little effort.
  3. Rinse your jars and lids with cold water and set aside to dry.
  4. Fill your jars.

THE “I don’t want to” COOKBOOK

Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge

I have very good friends who often invite me to come over for dinner. Sometimes they order out and have the food delivered. They had a lot of menus from their favorite places all in a manila envelope in their china closet drawer. Often, they rustled through them trying to find the one they were looking for. That’s when this idea came to mind. And I created this! They got it as one of their Christmas gifts. It made us all laugh when they opened it . Whenever I see mine I think of that day and how everyone liked it and what a great time we had that day. I’m sure many of you will give this a try.

YOU WILL NEED:

A three ring 1- 1/2 inch binder that has the clear plastic insert on the front cover.

A box of clear plastic sheet protectors.

Menus from your favorite take-out places?

NOTE : IF YOUR MENUS HAVE TRI-FOLDS, YOU WILL NEED TWO OF THEM.

A computer photo that you can edit and put words on it.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Separate menu pages. Get new menus if you can.

2. Put each page in a separate page protector so that you can view both sides of the menu.

3. Place all page protectors in binder.

4. Place your computer made image and title into the insert on front of binder.

5. Place on bookshelf and you will free up drawer space and always have your favorite menus handy and ready to view .