Sharing is Caring, Especially When It Comes to Cleaning

Home Made Gifts For Father’s Day

Crayons | Flat Rate Carpet BlogIt’s obvious that your six year old didn’t go out and buy Dad the brand new watch he’s getting for Father’s Day, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t give him something just as valuable. Home made Father’s Day gifts aren’t just for little kids either, teenager and even broke college students can make some creative gifts that Dad will love for la reasonable price.

Leave the cards made with painted noodles to the little kids, and let’s move on to more advanced arts and crafts. If you know how to sew and your Father uses handkerchiefs, get him a new pack and embroider his initials in the corner.

Does your Father love to read? Make him a personalized book mark with photos of the whole family.

Father’s work extra hard to take care of the home and family. Thank your Father with a helping hand, by giving him coupons for chores that he hates doing. Coupons are easy to make, and for those of us that are less crafty, you can easily print out coupons off the internet. Even better, get up early, mow the lawn and wash the car before he even wakes up.

Home made Father’s Day gifts are inexpensive, and great for kids of all ages.

Decoding Your Laundry

Have you ever wondered what those tiny symbols listed under care instructions mean on the tags of clothing and textiles? For all of you who wonder, enjoy this little explanation on those rather important and super vague symbols. May you never go confused or ruining clothes, again.

Hand Wash Only: This symbol shows a hand reaching into a small basket with water inside.

Machine Wash: Small basket partially filled with water. Sometimes it will have a number written in the basket which indicates water temperature.

Machine Wash Delicate: This symbol also shows a small basket partially filled with water and two horizontal vertical lines under the basket.

Chlorine Bleach (Or any other kind of bleach): If you garment has a white triangle symbol, you may use chlorine bleach to treat and wash the item.

Do Not Use Chlorine Bleach (Or any other kind of bleach): A black triangle with an “X” running through it means that you should NOT use chlorine bleach on the item.

Tumble Dry: For an item that can go in the dryer, you will see a small square with a circle inside. The number of dots will indicate the proper dryer temperature: 1 dot = low heat, 2 dots = medium heat, 3 dots = high heat

Hang Dry: A small square with a half circle at the top (which kind of looks like a drooping clothes line) indicates that hang drying is highly recommended (especially outside in the sun and wind).

Ironing: If ironing is acceptable for the garment you will see a small iron on the tag. Again the number of dots (like with the tumble dry symbol) will indicate the proper heat.

Do Not Iron: If ironing is not acceptable or recommended for the garment, you will see an iron crossed out with an “X.”

The Health Benefits of Chocolate

Many health gurus and scientists talk about the health benefits of chocolate. However, eating a regular milk chocolate bar every day will likely only make you less healthy.

So what exactly do they mean when they talk about healthy chocolate?

First, it’s important that we differentiate between the health benefits of cocoa, the raw product of the cocoa bean, and chocolate. Chocolate is a processed byproduct of the cocoa bean, and often contains less than 20% cocoa. Any health benefits from cocoa will only be found in very high quality dark chocolate bars. Chocolate bars with 60% cocoa, and no added sugars are a far cry from the sweet milky chocolate that most of us adore. Real cocoa is slightly bitter, and closer to coffee than a chocolate bar.

Cocoa can be found in any health food store, or even in your local grocery store. Cocoa enhances your mood and is a great stress reliever. Cocoa also improves blood flow and lowers high blood pressure.

Next time you crave chocolate, reach for a high cocoa content variety and reap the benefits of this super yummy bean.

The History of Daylight Saving Time

Yesterday, the second Sunday of March, residents of the United States entered Daylight Saving Time (DST). As we Spring forward, we take one hour of our morning sunlight and add it on to the end of the day.

DST was originally adopted in the US and much of Europe during the first World War. In 1916 Germany and Austria changed time during the summer as a way of conserving fuel needed to produce lighting in the evening. During the next two years the energy saving move spread like wildfire throughout Europe, England and Australia until it came to the US in 1918.

In 1919 DST was repealed because people generally woke up and went to bed much earlier than they do today and hated the new law. Some States kept the new time table, and others chose to keep the same time year
round.

During WW II the law was once again put into action, and for three years DST was in effect all year long. Between 1945 and 1966 every state was free to choose whether or not they participated in DST, until it became too confusing and in 1966 The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was put into place.

Since then various changes to the law have been made. For the most part American’s enjoy the added hour of sunlight, and only a few regions refrain from changing time.

Is it Spring, Yet?

With nicer weather and longer days, it feels like Spring is already here. In the Northern Hemisphere Spring starts on March 20th, less than one month away. So what does it mean when we say that Spring is on its way?

The seasons are determined by the tilt of the Earth’s axis towards or away from the sun. Meteorological Spring is determined by the vernal equinox (around March 20th in North America). This refers to the day that the hours of sunlight and daylight are exactly equal; 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night.

In the southern hemisphere of Earth, the Spring comes during our Autumn, and in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia the first day of Spring in September 1st. According to the East Asian Solar term, the Spring starts on February 4th and ends on May 5th, similar to the Celtic Spring which starts in early February. In Sweden, a country with limited daylight, the first day of Spring is considered the day where the average temperature during the day is higher than zero degrees Celcius for one full week!

Even though it’s not technically Spring for almost another month, it’s time to open the windows and let the sunshine in!