Conquering the Pesky Kitchen Garbage Bag

Roy, my darling husband of 43 years and still counting, HATES to deal with the kitchen garbage especially if the bag has slid down into the can.  The man is a genius - after all he married me - and has come up with a handy dandy way to prevent that particular problem.

Here you see the bag has again slid down into the can

He takes the bag, pulls it securely over the sides, grabs and twists the bag

Then he uses a kitchen twist tie to secure the twist

There you have it ... a bag that won't slip down into the can when being filled with garbage.
AND

Something he learned while browsing Pinterest ... if you will drill a couple of small holes about an inch or so up from the bottom of your can ... it will prevent the dreaded suction that makes it difficult to remove the full bag from the can.

Using God's gifts of creativity and intelligence isn't hard if we will only believe in ourselves.  DH's motto:

Peel Garlic in 10 Seconds? Not in this life time!

Well Friends today has proven to be a learning experience.  I posted yesterday about how to peel garlic in less than 10 seconds.  Don't you believe it!  It takes a lot longer than 10 seconds unless you are a BIG brute and can shake the bowls hard!  So what IS the story?
DH and I went to a new Mexican Market in the town next to ours - hey we live in Texas where everything is bigger and distances are further - we've gotten used to it.  Back to the Mexican Market - they had garlic on sale for $2.49 a pound.  We got 1 pound which consisted of 11 heads. When we finally got home it was time to peel the garlic.  Here is how it went.

Here we go ... a head of garlic

Little girl (me) trying to press the head of garlic....didn't work

Used a small wooden cutting board

to get more leverage

Nicely split garlic head 

After removing the excess garlic skin, place into two bowls as shown in the picture above

Shake away ... and shake and shake and shake ... a lot longer than 10 seconds

You can see some of the cloves are peeled while others aren't

 I peeled a total of 4 heads and it took about 10 minutes.  BUT ... I now have a jar filled with peeled garlic cloves and ready to be covered in vinegar and put into the fridge.  It wasn't hard work and the shaking process can help get some frustrations out.

Keep on coming back ... I'm getting on a roll here and love sharing with YOU and check out the DH's tip on how to prevent your kitchen garbage bag from sliding down into the can...it is easy and it is FREE.

Getting Started

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–

In keeping with the American Declaration of Independence this Blog is dedicated to the goals of Improving My Life, Ensuring My Liberty, and pursuing My Happiness.  How will I get there?  By exploring all of the gifts God provides through natural means ... gardening, raising chickens, making what we need from what we have at hand or can scrounge from our local area, creating useful utensils, fun projects, and delicious food.  It is going to be a noteworthy adventure.

Lately, I have discovered Pinterest and am making use of it.  My only problem is getting myself to use the ideas I find.   One idea I found that I want to share with you is how to peel garlic heads in less than 10 seconds.  REALLY - a whole head of garlic peeled in LESS than 10 seconds.  After the video scroll on down to see our broccoli plants and learn how we did it so fast.

What I discovered after truly trying the smash and shake method was ... it does NOT work in 10 seconds of shaking ... at least it does not work as quickly as stated.  Perhaps I'm just a weak girl and can't shake the bowls hard enough but ... I removed the video ...

Starting our Broccoli in January 

In Central Texas January is the normal time to start broccoli plants.  On January 24th Roy (the DH) planted broccoli seeds in seed starter discs placed in a re-purposed plastic bin/bowl.

First he put used coffee grounds in the bin then placed the discs on top of that.  He watered them with rain water and some of Bill's Perfect Fertilizer from Spray-and-Grow and covered them with the bowl top.

This is what a seed starter disc looks like dry...they expand when they get wet.  You can buy them at gardening centers or Wal-Mart or or or....

In three days we had sprouts coming up .... and today (day 5 since planting the seed) here is what we have ... plants that are over 2 inches tall.  Roy had to take the top off the container and put potting soil in between and around the plants today to fill in the gaps and give the stems some more support.  We will keep you updated on how things go with this.  I am hoping we will need to buy an additional freezer.