MY PLANTS ARE GOING TO LIVE......

With the heat wave, and a not so great sprinkler system, it was touch and go there for a while for my vegetables and flowers. But I think I actually heard them giggling with joy and singing " we are going to live" this morning in the rain storm we had.

Some helpful hints......

This is an e-mail that was sent to me. I love things like this....

These are really great Ideas...didn't know about a lot of them..!!!!!

1.Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off it. That's how the primates do it.

2.Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

3.Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

4.Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

5.Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

6.To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream; then beat them.

7.For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

8.Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

9.Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

10.Reheat Pizza Heat leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove; set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the food channel and it really works.

11.Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal; mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy; squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done -- easy clean up.

12.Expanding Frosting When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size and get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

13.Reheating refrigerated bread To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave next to a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

14.Newspaper weeds away Start putting torn newspaper in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants, overlapping as you go; cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.

15.Broken Glass Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

16.No More Mosquitoes Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

17.Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

18.Flexible vacuum To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

19.Reducing Static Cling Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing pantyhose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! .. static is gone.

20.Measuring Cups Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient (peanut butter, honey, etc.) and watch how easily it comes right out.

21.Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

22.Reopening envelope If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

23.Conditioner Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

24.Goodbye Fruit Flies To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2 with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

25.Get Rid of Ants Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

26.INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes.) He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material ... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh -- that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush at least every six months. He said that increases the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it ... the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Some shots from the past few weeks....

So, I couldn't get my camera to upload any pictures for awhile, but Frank helped me today and got it to work. Here are some random pictures from July 7th and on .

This was in front of a store in Albany, I think it was funny.

We went to see a movie in the town of Catskill. They have these painted cats all along the Main Street.

Daniella Bella Rina on a pony.

A frog we saw in the woods.

Lindsay's graduation/18th birthday party.

What great company these guys were on the way to upstate!

Mario's 12th birthday, 7/7/08

As you can see, he got an air rifle.

Hey Mario... He's been upstate for a couple of weeks already!! Franky and Angelo are there also. They love it up there... I miss them.

The wedding..... John and Sarah

I was looking forward to this wedding for so long, and it was well worth the wait!!! It reminded me of those "rich" weddings you see on TV or in magazines. Everything was so beautiful from the ceremony to the reception, from the dresses to the tuxedos. It was just perfect. I'll remember this one for many, many years. I can't be any happier for John and Sarah, they looked so happy and so in love, it was the best 4th of July ever!!!

I took over 100 pictures, but, here are just few. The first one is my favorite.

Just beautiful.

What a great looking wedding party!

I love this shot!

Anthony's Graduation # 2...High School

Anthony's all done with school! Well, only until he starts college in September! He had his High School graduation, on Monday 6/16/08, and it was so nice. It was a small class just 36 graduates. I think that made it even better. There was such a warmth about it, that you just don't get when there are 1,000 others graduating also. We had the ceremony at 10am, then off to a luncheon at the Town Of Oyster Bay Country Club from 12-3pm, then home to a small but great family party from 5pm til about midnight!! We had a long but very nice day. Now Anthony will be continuing his Automotive schooling at Farmingdale State University for a 2 year, which he could decide to be a 4 year degree. I think he will do just fine....

So handsome in his cap and gown!

Anthony and Grandma at the luncheon.

The men folk in little Italy!

Congratulations Anthony, We love you!!!

Anthony's Graduation # 1......Vocational School

Tonight Anthony graduated from his vocational school Barry Tech!! It was really such a nice evening. Anthony looked SO handsome. There were so many kids, it took about 3 hours all together. We are so proud of Anthony. He always wanted to be a mechanic, and he got to learn what he loves. The first year there, he was student of the quarter, and he also made the honor roll each marking period both years!! He got to work at Bentley and BMW too! He was also in 3 competitions, one of which was up in Syracuse NY for 3 days! Another highlight of tonight was that they had a video of some activities that took place throughout the year from all the different classes and what made it even more special was that Dominic videoed and photographed a lot of the pictures they showed!! Dominic was one of only two picked to video tonight as well. It was a very exciting night!! Congratulations Anthony!!!

P.S. More to come Monday......

Hey Mary, Can I borrow your fox?

We have an unwelcome guest living in our shed. We know he's been there awhile but now he thinks the shed is his and doesn't want us to go in. Earlier today, Norma went in to get something and not realizing he was there, got a little too close, he was on the floor, and when she came near him he lunged out and arched his back and stood up with his paws up in the air. She screamed and ran out. She says she's still shaking!! When we got home today after church, Frank went right in and got what she needed and found him on the shelve hiding. I asked him to take a picture. He thinks I'm crazy... But HE'S the crazy one, he did it!!!