Happy Pumpkin Wednesday! Celebrate Sleeping!

Happy Pumpkin Wednesday friends!  You are officially half way through the week and closer to the weekend.

But are you finding yourself longing to get to the weekend only so you can take a nap/get more sleep?  Tonight, Pumpkin, who is one of the foremost experts at sleeping shares a few tips with us so that you can spend more time awake this weekend, especially on Caturday...

Yes, that's right, I am an expert.

• Revert to your childhood and set a bed time.  Keeping yourself on a schedule will help your body get into a routine to get some shut eye.

I like to nap on the hour, every hour. 

• Drink less caffeine!  Especially at night.  The effects of caffeine can take hours to wear off, so even having a cup of coffee at 6:00 PM may cause you problems when you go to get in bed at 10 P.M. 

I had too much cat nip (which equals kitty caffeine!)

• If you want your bed to be more cozy, you can always add a mattress topper to your bed.  There are a variety of different types mattress toppers ranging in price and benefits.  I would recommend the feather topper as an inexpensive alternative for making your mattress feel more luxurious.

Sleeping on the human's blankets is also an option.

• 
  Allergy sufferers should take the time to wash your bed linens at the least once every two weeks.  Wash your linens in hot hot water to minimize the amount of dust and other particles that disrupt your breathing.  

Wash with water...don't wash the cat though.

How do you ensure you get some solid shut eye?

Looking forward to a lovely Thursday, and wishing yo all a good night's sleep!

Miscellaneous Monday: Quick Dinner and Dirty Cell Phones

Hello friends and Happy Monday!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend and were able to enjoy the delightful warm weather, sunshine and changing leaves.

In true Miscellaneous Monday form, I present two completely unrelated topics: a vegetarian recipe and methods for cleaning your cell phone.


With the weather being so pleasant, I decided to fire up the grill on Sunday, and cook some vegetarian cuisine.  Don't all you meat-eaters navigate away from this page.  This healthy and hearty dish is satisfying even to a regular carnivore ( i.e. Timmy even liked it).

Polenta Stack with Navy Bean Salad

Ingredients

1 can navy beans (sometimes called great northern beans) rinsed and drained

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup basil, chopped

5 ounces crumbled feta

1 medium sized zucchini or yellow squash

1 fresh red pepper

1 tube prepared polenta

olive oil

salt

pepper

Start by heating up your grill.  If you want to make this inside, no problem, just preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Grab four 18 inch pieces of foil and coat the middle with cooking spray.  Set them aside until you are ready to make the foil packets.

Rinse and drain the can of beans.  In a large bowl mix the beans, tomatoes, chopped basil, feta and some salt and pepper to taste.

Beans and Tomatoes.  Feel free to add seasonings you see fit!

Grab another bowl, and cut you your zucchini into thin round slices, and cut the red pepper into similar size slices.  Toss the veggies in 1 tsp of olive oil and add salt and pepper for flavoring.

Next, get a cutting board and slice your pre-cooked polenta into 16 equal sized rounds.

The polenta really helps this meal feel filling

Take the foils and place 1/4 of the bean/tomato mixture in the center of each piece of foil.  Place 4 slice of polenta in each packet on top of each bean mixture.  Then add the veggies.

Wrap up each foil packet and crimp edges to seal the little packets.  Place on the grill over the hot hot heat for 10-15 minutes.  Do the same if you are cooking in the oven and enjoy!

Cleaning your Dirty Cellphone

I am not a germ freak, trust me.  I personally abide by the five second rule for food on the floor (only for me, not for people I cook for) and I have no problem walking around outside without shoes on.  However, when I read that your cellphone likely contains 18 times more bacteria than a toilet handle, I start to get a little nervous. 

If you have a cell phone without a touch screen, use a mixture of 40/60 alcohol to water to clean your keypad and the solid parts of your phone.  Use a cotton swab, dry cloth or even a q-tip to get into the hard to reach cracks between the keypad.

If you have a phone with a touch screen, you will want to avoid using a harsh cleaning agent on the screen like alcohol.  Head to your nearest electronics store and buy a wipe specially formulated to clean the screen and kill bacteria.  Some brands to try include iKlear/KlearScreen, Dust-Off, and ViewGuard.  These brands all have germ killing properties. 

Some keys for cleaning all types of cell phones:

• turn your phone off before doing any kind of cleaning/maintenance
• keep any liquids out of areas that have access to the internal part of the phone like a USB port, or anywhere you would plug something into, and use an air duster instead
• allow your device to completely dry before turning it back on.

Happy Cooking and Cleaning!

Looking forward an excellent Tuesday!

Miscellaneous Monday: Spring Cleaning-Start Slow its a Marathon not a Sprint

Hello all!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and if you were in the Midwest, I hope you had a chance to get outside on Sunday and enjoy the sunshine.  The warm weather definitely boosts my spirits but it also signals a time to start the annual spring clean out!  I have too little attention and time to tackle more than one room/project at once, so I like to start with something easy that has instant results:  cleaning your bed!

• Now is a good time to clean your bed linens, and not just your sheets!  Wash everything, including your comforter, and all duvet covers (for those of you who have one) and bed skirts.  If your washer is a normal size, don't try to jam your comforter in.  Head on up to your local laundry mat where they have oversized washers just for the purpose of cleaning large items.  If you don't have the time to sit at the laundry mat, some laundry mats have drop off service and may charge you by the pound for your items.

• Another easy way to freshen your bed is to flip your mattress.  Make sure all the sheets and mattress covers are removed and then flip your mattress, so the top is on the bottom.  Its suggested you flip your mattress every six months in order to provide even wear and keep your back feeling better as your mattress ages.  A quick note, don't use the handles on the sides of the mattress to lift it.  The side handles aren't that strong and were designed for positioning the mattress once it is in place on the box spring.

Image Courtesy of Photostock

• Before you flip your mattress and it is free of sheets and covers, give the mattress a quick vacuum. There is a lot of dust you may never notice, and the last place you want dust is in your bed.

• Are your pillows getting stinky?  If you spent more than the average price on your pillows and don't want to part with them, read the care labels on the pillows before washing.  Depending on what the fabric is will dictate how to wash them, and how to dry them.  If you have pillows stuffed with polyester or down, you can throw them in the washing machine.  Just make sure you balance the load by putting in two pillows and run them on the gentle cycle.  You can place the pillows in the dryer and use a few tennis balls to keep them poofed up.

• Once you have washed your sheets and your extra sheet set you have to fold everything.  One of the most annoying tasks is figuring out how to fold a fitted sheet (the sheet with the elastic corners).  I could attempt to explain how to accomplish a square fold on a fitted sheet, but suggest you follow the advice of Martha Stewart, complete with photos.

Photo Courtesy of Suat Eman

Have you started cleaning your apartment/house yet?  What task do you do to make your place feel spring clean?

Looking forward to a lovely Tuesday!