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” HOME REMEDIES “



BED-WETTING

For Sheets like the Sahara

 
Sally, age four, routinely wakes up in the mornings with a wet bed. Joe is five years older. But even at age nine, he tries to stay awake all night whenever he sleeps over at a friend’s house. He’s still terrified he will wet the bed in his sleep.
 
Sally and Joe share a common childhood problem: bed-wetting. About one in five 4 and 5-year olds wet the bed, and as many as one in ten boys still has a problem by age 12. ( For some reason, it’s more common in boys than girls.)
 
”It’s not unusual for children not to be dry at night at age four and five, and some of us really don’t consider it something that should be treated until a child is at least six,” says George Sterne, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics at Tulane University Medical School and a pediatrician in New Orleans.
 
There may be some kind of physical problem or health condition that’s causing your child to wet the bed. If you’re concerned about that, you should definitely discuss your child’s bed-wetting with a doctor. But usually bed-wetting can be cured without medical intervention, given enough time along with a healthy dose of patience. Here are the techniques the experts recommend.
 
Rid yourself–and Junior–of guilt. Realize that you’re not a bad parent because your child wets the bed, and make it clear to your child that he isn’t a bad child because he wets. ”Bed-wetting is a biological problem. It occurs in a child who, during sleep, has not learned bladder-control skills,” says Barton D. Schmitt, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, director of consultative services at the Ambulatory Care Center at Children’s Hospital of Denver and author of Your Child’s Health.
 
”I think it’s so important to tell parents of bed wetters that this is rarely a psychological problem,” says Dr. Schmitt. ”There’s a lot of unnecessary guilt imposed on some very good parents because they see themselves as being somehow to blame.”
 
MEDICAL ALERT

When to See the Doctor

Bed-wetting is usually a normal, harmless condition of childhood, but there could be a serious physical reason such as a urinary tract infection, diabetes or a physical abnormality.
These are rare, but it’s still worth a visit to the pediatrician to rule out such possibilities, says George Sterne, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics at Tulane University Medical School and a pediatrician in New Orleans. You should always see the pediatrician if your child:
* Complains of abdominal pain, backache or fever.
* Wakes up at night regularly with an intense thirst.
* Wets during the day as well as at night.
* Has pain during urination.
* Has urine with an unpleasant odor.
* Is suddenly wetting again after months of staying dry.
Also, if your child is over age two and shows no sign of bladder control, you should bring this to the attention of your doctor. Some children take longer than others to begin potty training, but your pediatrician should be aware of your child’s progress at this age.
 
Ban punishments. One study found that nearly three-fourths of parents punished their children for bed-wetting. Never punish or scold your child for a wet bed, says Thomas Bartholomew, M.D., a pediatric urologist and assistant professor of surgery and urology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. ”Parents should understand that this is not going to help their child,” says Dr. Bartholomew. ”I’ve never met a child who wants to wet the bed.”
 
Protect with plastic. A zip-up plastic mattress cover should be standard equipment on any bed wetter’s bed. It protects the mattress, of course. But also it means there’s less of a ”crisis” when the child wets the bed, Dr. Schmitt points out. Both parents and kids will stay calmer if they know there’s not much clean-up to worry about.
 
Encourage clean-up duties. You should, however, matter-of-factly tell the child he is expected to clean up the wet bed or at least help. ”Even at age four and five a child can take the sheets off the bed and put them in the laundry room,” says Lottie Mendelson, R.N., a pediatric nurse practitioner in Portland, Oregon, and coauthor of The Complete Book of Parenting. ”It should not be punitive, just an acknowledgment that this is the child’s responsibility. It also helps you. That way, you don’t feel the child is doing this to you.”
 
Check out your child’s motivation. Before taking active steps to cure bed-wetting, make sure your child wants to stop, says Jeffrey Fogel, M.D., a pediatrician in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and staff physician at Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia. ” When a parent asks me how to cure bed-wetting I ask, ‘Does your child want to be dry?’ If they say ‘no,’ I say, ‘ You can try all you want, but you probably won’t be successful.’ ” If a child wants to stop, she’ll not only cooperate, but her conscious mind will also work on her subconscious to help her awaken at night, explains Dr. Fogel.
 
Recognize the signs. A child often becomes motivated to stop wetting when it begins to interfere with his social options, says Dr. Bartholomew. When the child starts to refuse invitations to spend the night away from home, or doesn’t go to camp because of bed-wetting fears, you can point out the benefits of being able to do these things. Then suggest some ways your child can help himself get through the night with a dry bed.
 
Pick a good time. Before starting, choose a relatively peaceful period-not, for example, just before an exciting holiday or vacation, advises Cathleen Piazza, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and chief psychologist of the neurobehavioral unit at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. ” You should pick a time when you’re not having multiple stressors at work and in the household,” she says.
 
Keep bedtimes calm. Lots of rough-housing or even an exciting television program close to bedtime can increase the risk of bed-wetting, says Patrick Holden, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center. ” When kids are excited, they tend to produce more urine,” he explains. Instead of letting your child watch television before bedtime, give him a book to read, have a quiet conversation or read a story to him.
 
Put the child in charge. You want your child to understand from the outset that staying dry at night is his responsibility. That means don’t wake
your child at night to take him to the bathroom.
 
” Waking the child doesn’t teach him anything about bladder control, and it’s probably counterproductive, ” says Dr. Schmitt. ”If the child goes to bed thinking his parent is going to wake him up at night, that’s teaching the child that the parent is going to take care of his bladder and that he doesn’t have to worry about it. Your child has to go to bed just a little bit worried to stay dry.”
 

Is Your Child Sleeping Enough?

Setting an earlier bedtime for your child may help solve a bed-wetting problem, says Ronald Dahl, M.D., director of the Children’s Sleep Evaluation Center at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh and associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A sleep-deprived child may sleep so deeply that the need to urinate doesn’t awaken her.
”Increase the total amount of sleep for the child,” suggests Dr. Dahl. ”Get on a regular schedule with a set bedtime. Often this can have a big effect.”
 
 
Reward dry nights. Consistently reward or congratulate your child when she has made it through the night with a dry bed. ” You’ll get a lot further if you give positive psychological support such as hugs and warm congratulations, ” says Dr. Bartholomew. Some kids might like happy faces drawn on a calendar or special stickers, says Dr. Piazza. Whatever reinforcement you use, do it first thing in the morning.
 
Mum’s the word. But if your child wakes up with wet sheets, be careful not to grimace or say something like, ”Oh, no, your bed is wet this morning.” Instead, say nothing, says Dr. Piazza. ” You only want to focus on success,” she says. ”If we give as much attention to failure as success, we’re defeating the purpose.”
 
Make getting up easy. Some kids are reluctant to leave their beds, and others have been ordered by parents never to get up after they’ve been tucked in, says Dr. Schmitt. ”So you need to give your kids permission to get up to go to the bathroom. They need a flashlight or a nightlight, and they need to be asked if they want a potty chair next to their bed. Some kids who don’t want to go to the bathroom are perfectly willing to use the potty chair and go back to sleep.”
 
Give your child an alarm clock. If the child has a regular pattern of wetting the bed at the same time every night, furnish an alarm clock and explain how it works, says Barbara Howard, M.D., assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. ”The child can set the alarm clock to wake him up 20 minutes to half an hour before he usually wets the bed so he can get up and go to the bathroom,” she explains.
 
Encourage a dry run. This is a ”dress-rehearsal’ ‘ technique your schoolage child can do during the day. ”I have the child lie in bed, close his eyes, pretend it’s the middle of the night and give himself a little pep talk,” says Dr. Schmitt. ”It goes something like, ‘I’m in a deep, deep sleep, my bladder is full, my bladder is starting to feel pressure and is trying to wake me up. It’s saying get up before it’s too late.’ ”
 
The child should then practice getting up, walking to the bathroom and going to the toilet. ”I have them actually walk from bedroom to bathroom, so they know exactly how many paces it is,” says Dr. Schmitt.
 
Avoid caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic, a substance that encourages urination, explains Dr. Howard. It’s in many sodas and in chocolate as well as in coffee and tea. Avoiding these foods and drinks may help your child avoid wetting, she says.
 
Encourage bladder-control practice. Explain to your child that she can help ”train” her bladder by practicing during the day. Have your child drink a lot, and then wait as long as she can to go to the bathroom. ”Have her try to wait a little bit longer each time,” says Dr. Piazza. ” You want to train a child to associate the feeling of having a full bladder with having to go to the bathroom.”
 
Stream-interruption exercises can also help, says Dr. Schmitt. Have the child begin to urinate and then stop briefly before starting up again. She should try to do this several times each time she urinates. ”Those exercises build up the bladder sphincter,” says Dr. Schmitt.
 
Buy a bed alarm. Most experts agree that moisture-activated bed alarms are the most effective treatment for bed-wetting. ” When moisture hits the pad, an alarm goes off and wakes the child,” explains Dr. Sterne. ”It conditions the child to recognize the sensation and wake up before they have to urinate.” Alarms are battery-operated, cost around $40 and are available from several companies without a prescription. Ask your pediatrician to recommend a brand or type. Use the alarm until your child is dry every night for one month. In most alarms, wetting triggers a loud sound that awakens the child. A silent, vibrating alarm is also available for children who don’t respond to sound.
 
Dr. Schmitt recommends portable, transistorized alarms that are worn on the body rather than the bell and pad devices. And he says parents shouldn’t insist on using the alarm if the child is opposed to it.
 
Stick with it. Be understanding and patient with your child, and stick with
your efforts to stop the bed-wetting. ”Conditioning requires time,” says Dr. Bartholomew. He compares it to piano lessons: ”Children might not get any results in the first month or two, but if they continue to practice, they’ll be able to improve.”
 
 
Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.
The service is provided as general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor.

(Courtesy:Dilsedesimailinggroup)

 

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By Joseph Antony – June 29, 2009


” The DAY n History “

Events

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Hindu feast

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By Joseph Antony – June 27, 2009


” MEASLES “

What are Measles?

Measles, is a highly infectious disease characterized by a pink rash and a respiratory infection. People with measles are contagious several days before the rash appears and continue to be contagious until the rash and fever go away.

Infants are usually protected from measles for 6 to 8 months after birth. They are protected because of the immunity that was passed on from their mothers.

Measles is also called rubella.


What causes Measles?

Measles is caused by a virus.


Symptoms of Measles?

Symptoms usually appear about 10 days after exposure. The most common symptoms are: cough, fever, sore throat, red or irritated eyes, runny nose, flat pink or brown rash. Some people will also experience an ear infection or pneumonia.


How is Measles Transmitted?

Measles is extremely contagious. Measles is transmitted from person to person by inhaling infected droplets. Infected droplets may come from a sneeze or cough. Measles is usually spread when a person with it sneezes of coughs.


Treatment Options for Measles?

Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment for measles. Medication may be take to reduce the fever.


Complications of Measles?

Measles complications include: croup, bronchitis, pneumonia, conjunctivitis, myocarditis, hepatitis, and encephalitis.


Measles statistics

Measles is very rare in the United States . Due to widespread immunizations, the number of U.S. measles cases has steadily declined in the last 50 years. There were thousands of cases of the measles in 1950, but in 2002 there were just 44.


Measles Emergency:

It’s important to get medical care if your child:

  • is an infant and has been exposed to measles
  • is taking medicines that depress the immune system
  • has tuberculosis, cancer, or a disease that affects the immune system

Posted in Medi:Treatment.

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By Joseph Antony – May 26, 2009


” NURSES DAY “

” Happy World Nurses Day “

Florence Nightingale

The Lady with the Lamp.

Born 12th May 1820 - Died 13th Augest 1910.

Born12 May 1820(1820-05-12)
Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died13 August 1910 (aged 90)
Park Lane, London, United Kingdom
ProfessionNurse and Statistician
InstitutionsSelimiye Barracks, Scutari
SpecialismHospital hygiene and sanitation
Known forPioneering modern nursing
Notable prizesRoyal Red Cross (1883)
Order of Merit (1907)

Florence Nightingale was born into a rich, upper-class, well-connected British family at the Villa Colombaia, Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and was named after the city of her birth. Florence’s older sister Parthenope (pronounced ParTHENopee) had similarly been named after her place of birth, a Greek settlement now part of the city of Naples.

Inspired by what she took as a Christian divine calling, experienced first in 1837 at Embley Park and later throughout her life, Florence announced her decision to enter nursing in 1845, despite the intense anger and distress of her family, particularly her mother. In this, she rebelled against the expected role for a woman of her status, which was to become a wife and mother. Nightingale worked hard to educate herself in the art and science of nursing, in spite of opposition from her family and the restrictive societal code for affluent young English women.

She cared for people in poverty. In December 1844, she became the leading advocate for improved medical care in the infirmaries and immediately engaged the support of Charles Villiers, then president of the Poor Law Board. This led to her active role in the reform of the Poor Laws, extending far beyond the provision of medical care. She was later instrumental in mentoring and then sending Agnes Elizabeth Jones and other Nightingale Probationers to Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary.

On 22 August 1853, Nightingale took the post of superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Upper Harley Street, London, a position she held until October 1854. Her father had given her an annual income of £500 (roughly £25,000/US$50,000 in present terms), which allowed her to live comfortably and to pursue her career. James Joseph Sylvester is said to have been her mentor.

Florence Nightingale’s most famous contribution came during the Crimean War, which became her central focus when reports began to filter back to Britain about the horrific conditions for the wounded. On 21 October 1854, she and a staff of 38 women volunteer nurses, trained by Nightingale and including her aunt Mai Smith,[4] were sent (under the authorization of Sidney Herbert) to Turkey, about 545 km across the Black Sea from Balaklava in the Crimea, where the main British camp was based.

During the Crimean campaign, Florence Nightingale gained the nickname “The Lady with the Lamp”.

Nightingale arrived early in November 1854 at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari (modern-day Üsküdar in Istanbul). She and her nurses found wounded soldiers being badly cared for by overworked medical staff in the face of official indifference. Medicines were in short supply, hygiene was being neglected, and mass infections were common, many of them fatal. There was no equipment to process food for the patients.

Nightingale returned to Britain a heroine on 7 August 1856, and, according to the BBC, was arguably the most famous Victorian after Queen Victoria herself. Nightingale moved from her family home in Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire, to the Burlington Hotel in Piccadilly, where she was stricken by a fever, probably due to a chronic form of brucellosis (”Crimean fever”) that she contracted during the Crimean war.[9] She barred her mother and sister from her room and rarely left it.

While she was still in Turkey, on 29 November 1855, a public meeting to give recognition to Florence Nightingale for her work in the war led to the establishment of the Nightingale Fund for the training of nurses. There was an outpouring of generous donations. Sidney Herbert served as honorary secretary of the fund, and the Duke of Cambridge was chairman. Nightingale was considered a pioneer in the concept of medical tourism as well, based on her letters from 1856 in which she would write of spas in Turkey detailing the health conditions, physical descriptions, dietary information, and other vitally important details of patients whom she directed there (where treatment was significantly less expensive than in Switzerland). It may be assumed she was directing patients of meagre means to affordable treatment.

By 1859 Nightingale had £45,000 at her disposal from the Nightingale Fund to set up the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital on 9 July 1860. (It is now called the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery and is part of King’s College London.) The first trained Nightingale nurses began work on 16 May 1865 at the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary. She also campaigned and raised funds for the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital in Aylesbury, near her family home.

In 1869, Nightingale and Dr Elizabeth Blackwell opened the Women’s Medical College.

In the 1870s, Nightingale mentored Linda Richards, “America’s first trained nurse”, and enabled her to return to the USA with adequate training and knowledge to establish high-quality nursing schools. Linda Richards went on to become a great nursing pioneer in the USA and Japan.

By 1882, Nightingale nurses had a growing and influential presence in the embryonic nursing profession. Some had become matrons at several leading hospitals, including, in London, St Mary’s Hospital, Westminster Hospital, St Marylebone Workhouse Infirmary and the Hospital for Incurables at Putney; and throughout Britain, e.g., Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley; Edinburgh Royal Infirmary; Cumberland Infirmary and Liverpool Royal Infirmary, as well as at Sydney Hospital in New South Wales, Australia.

In 1883, Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria. In 1907, she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit. In 1908, she was given the Honourary Freedom of the City of London.

By 1896, Florence Nightingale was bedridden. She may have had what is now known as chronic fatigue syndrome.[citation needed] Her birthday is now celebrated as International CFS Awareness Day. A recent biography cites instead brucellosis and associated spondylitis. During her bedridden years, she also did pioneering work in the field of hospital planning, and her work propagated quickly across Britain and the world.

On 13 August 1910, at the age of 90, she died peacefully in her sleep in her room at 10 South Street, Park Lane. The offer of burial in Westminster Abbey was declined by her relatives, and she is buried in the graveyard at St. Margaret Church in East Wellow, Hampshire.

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By Joseph Antony – May 13, 2009


” MAY 10th Mother’s Day “

My most beautiful love in every way
No flower grown, or written word can convey
How much I love you and how
Forever in my heart you will stay.

 ss44.gif pink glitter swag divider image by dibbera

Your love for me is unconditional
Your ways forgiving and kind
And for a mother I"m so grateful
God made you mine.

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From timeless lullabies and nursery rhythms
On every quest and journey
Your heart and prayers
Have faithfully followed me.

ss44.gif pink glitter swag divider image by dibbera 

In all the stages of my life
You have been a certainty.
Holding on when necessary
Realizing when to set me free.

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You have tended to my every
Motherly need,
Of my morals,values,and beliefs.

 ss44.gif pink glitter swag divider image by dibbera
You have planted and nurtured every seed

The test of motherhood you have
Passed with flying colors.

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My most beautiful love in every way,
I proudly call you mother on this day and any other.

Happy Mothers Day!

Your Are A Special Mom!!!

I LOVE YOU SO!!

Image and video hosting by TinyPicHAPPY MOTHER’s  DAY!
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By Joseph Antony – May 6, 2009


” Do U KnoW “

Around the House

Clear dirt off PCs and peripherals
Your computer, printer, fax machine, and other home office gear will work better if you keep them clean and dust-free. Before you start cleaning, make sure that all your equipment is shut off. Now mix equal parts white vinegar and water in a bucket. Dampen a clean cloth in the solution — never use a spray bottle; you don’t want to get liquid on the circuits inside — then squeeze it out as hard as you can, and start wiping. Keep a few cotton swabs on hand for getting to the buildups in tight spaces (like around the keys of your PC keyboard).

Clean your computer mouse
If you have a mouse with a removable tracking ball, use a 50/50 vinegar-water solution to clean it. First, remove the ball from underneath the mouse by twisting off the cover over it. Use a cloth, dampened with the solution and wrung out, to wipe the ball clean and to remove fingerprints and dirt from the mouse itself. Then use a moistened cotton swab to clean out the gunk and debris from inside the ball chamber (let it dry a couple of hours before reinserting the ball).

Clean your window blinds
You can make the job of cleaning mini-blinds or venetians considerably less torturous by giving them “the white glove treatment.” Just put on a white cotton glove — the kind sold for gardening is perfect — and moisten the fingers in a solution made of equal parts white vinegar and hot tap water. Now simply slide your fingers across both sides of each slat and prepare to be amazed. Use a container of clean water to periodically wash off the glove.

Unclog and deodorize drains
The combination of vinegar and baking soda is one of the most effective ways to unclog and deodorize drains. It’s also far gentler on your pipes (and your wallet) than commercial drain cleaners.
  • To clear clogs in sink and tub drains, use a funnel to pour in 1/2 cup baking soda followed by 1 cup vinegar. When the foaming subsides, flush with hot tap water. Wait five minutes, and then flush again with cold water. Besides clearing blockages, this technique also washes away odor-causing bacteria.


  • To speed up a slow drain, pour in 1/2 cup salt followed by 2 cups boiling vinegar, then flush with hot and cold tap water.

Get rid of smoke odor
If you’ve recently burned a steak — or if your chain-smoking aunt recently paid you a surprise visit — remove the lingering smoky odor by placing a shallow bowl about three-quarters full of white or cider vinegar in the room where the scent is strongest. Use several bowls if the smell permeates your entire home. The odor should be gone in less than a day. You can also quickly dispense of the smell of fresh cigarette smoke inside a room by moistening a cloth with vinegar and waving it around a bit.

Wipe away mildew
When you want to remove mildew stains, reach for white vinegar first. It can be safely used without additional ventilation and can be applied to almost any surface –bathroom fixtures and tile, clothing, furniture, painted surfaces, plastic curtains, and more. To eliminate heavy mildew accumulations, use it full strength. For light stains, dilute it with an equal amount of water. You can also prevent mildew from forming on the bottoms of rugs and carpeting by misting the backs with full-strength white vinegar from a spray bottle.

Clean chrome and stainless steel
To clean chrome and stainless steel fixtures around your home, apply a light misting of undiluted white vinegar from a recycled spray bottle. Buff with a soft cloth to bring out the brightness.

Shine your silver
Make your silverware — as well as your pure silver bracelets, rings, and other jewelry — shine like new by soaking them in a mixture of 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 tablespoons baking soda for two to three hours. Rinse them under cold water and dry thoroughly with a soft cloth.

Polish brass and copper items
Put the shimmer back in your brass, bronze, and copper objects by making a paste of equal parts white vinegar and salt, or vinegar and baking soda (wait for the fizzing to stop before using). Use a clean, soft cloth or paper towel to rub the paste into the item until the tarnish is gone. Then rinse with cool water and polish with a soft towel until dry.

Erase ballpoint-pen marks
Has the budding young artist in your home just decorated a painted wall in your home with a ballpoint original? Don’t lose your cool. Rather, dab some full-strength white vinegar on the “masterpiece” using a cloth or a sponge. Repeat until the marks are gone. Then go out and buy your child a nice big sketch pad.

Unglue stickers, decals, and price tags
To remove a sticker or decal affixed to painted furniture or a painted wall, simply saturate the corners and sides of the sticker with full-strength white vinegar and carefully scrape it off (using an expired credit card or a plastic phone card). Remove any sticky remains by pouring on a bit more vinegar. Let it sit for a minute or two, and then wipe with a clean cloth. This approach is equally effective for removing price tags and other stickers from glass, plastic, and other glossy surfaces.

Burnish your scissors
When your scissor blades get sticky or grimy, don’t use water to wash them off; you’re far more likely to rust the fastener that holds the blades together — or the blades themselves — than get them clean. Instead, wipe down the blades with a cloth dipped in full-strength white vinegar, and then dry it off with a rag or dish towel.

Get the salt off your shoes
As if a winter’s worth of ice, slush, and snow wasn’t rough enough on your shoes and boots, the worst thing, by far, is all the rock salt that’s used to melt it. In addition to leaving unsightly white stains, salt can actually cause your footwear to crack and even disintegrate if it’s left on indefinitely. To remove it and prevent long-term damage, wipe fresh stains with a cloth dipped in undiluted white vinegar.

Clean your piano keys
Here’s an easy and efficient way to get those grimy fingerprints and stains off your piano keys. Dip a soft cloth into a solution of 1/2 cup white vinegar mixed in 2 cups water, squeeze it out until there are no drips, then gently wipe off each key. Use a second cloth to dry off the keys as you move along, then leave the keyboard uncovered for 24 hours.

Deodorize lunch boxes, footlockers, and car trunks
Does your old footlocker smell like, well, an old footlocker? Or perhaps your child’s lunch box has taken on the bouquet of week-old tuna? What about that musty old car trunk? Quit holding your breath every time you open it. Instead, soak a slice of white bread in white vinegar and leave it in the malodorous space overnight. The smell should be gone by morning.

Freshen a musty closet
Got a closet that doesn’t smell as fresh as you’d like? First, remove the contents, then wash down the walls, ceiling, and floor with a cloth dampened in a solution of 1 cup each of vinegar and ammonia and 1/4 cup baking soda in 1 gallon (3.7 liters) water. Keep the closet door open and let the interior dry before replacing your clothes and other stuff. If the smell persists, place a small pan of cat litter inside. Replenish every few days until the odor is gone.

Brighten up brickwork
How’s this for an effortless way to clean your brick floors without breaking out the polish? Just go over them with a damp mop dipped in 1 cup white vinegar mixed with 1 gallon (3.7 liters) warm water. Your floors will look so good you’ll never think about cleaning them with anything else. You can also use this same solution to brighten up the bricks around your fireplace.

Revitalize wood paneling
Does the wood paneling in your den look dull and dreary? Liven it up with this simple homemade remedy: Mix 1 pint warm water, 4 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a container, give it a couple of shakes, and apply with a clean cloth. Let the mixture soak into the wood for several minutes, then polish with a dry cloth.

Restore your rugs
If your rugs or carpets are looking worn and dingy from too much foot traffic or an excess of kids’ building blocks, toy trucks, and such, bring them back to life by brushing them with a clean push broom dipped in a solution of 1 cup white vinegar in 1 gallon (3.7 liters) water. Your faded threads will perk up, and you don’t even need to rinse off the solution.

Remove carpet stains
You can lift out many stains from your carpet with vinegar:
  • Rub light carpet stains with a mixture of 2 tablespoons salt dissolved in 1/2 cup white vinegar. Let the solution dry, then vacuum.


  • For larger or darker stains, add 2 tablespoons borax to the mixture and use in the same way.


  • For tough, ground-in dirt and other stains, make a paste of 1 tablespoon vinegar with 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and rub it into the stain using a dry cloth. Let it set for two days, then vacuum.


  • To make spray-on spot and stain remover, fill a spray bottle with 5 parts water and 1 part vinegar. Fill a second spray bottle with 1 part nonsudsy ammonia and 5 parts water. Saturate a stain with the vinegar solution. Let it settle for a few minutes, then blot thoroughly with a clean, dry cloth. Then spray and blot using the ammonia solution. Repeat until the stain is gone.

Remove candle wax
Candles are great for creating a romantic mood, but the mood can quickly sour if you wind up getting melted candle wax on your fine wood furniture. To remove it, first soften the wax using a blow-dryer on its hottest setting and blot up as much as you can with paper towels. Then remove what’s left by rubbing with a cloth soaked in a solution made of equal parts white vinegar and water. Wipe clean with a soft, absorbent cloth.

Give grease stains the slip
Eliminate grease stains from your kitchen table or counter by wiping them down with a cloth dampened in a solution of equal parts white vinegar and water. In addition to removing the grease, the vinegar will neutralize any odors on the surface (once its own aroma evaporates, that is).

Conceal scratches in wood furniture
Got a scratch on a wooden tabletop that grabs your attention every time you look at it? To make it much less noticeable, mix some distilled or cider vinegar and iodine in a small jar and paint over the scratch with a small artist’s brush. Use more iodine for darker woods; more vinegar for lighter shades.

Get rid of water rings on furniture
To remove white rings left by wet glasses on wood furniture, mix equal parts vinegar and olive oil and apply it with a soft cloth while moving with the wood grain. Use another clean, soft cloth to shine it up. To get white water rings off leather furniture, dab them with a sponge soaked in full-strength white vinegar.

Wipe off wax or polish buildup
When furniture polish or wax builds up on wood furniture or leather tabletops, get rid of it with diluted white vinegar. To get built-up polish off a piece of wood furniture, dip a cloth in equal parts vinegar and water and squeeze it out well. Then, moving with the grain, clean away the polish. Wipe dry with a soft towel or cloth. Most leather tabletops will come clean simply by wiping them down with a soft cloth dipped in 1/4 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Use a clean towel to dry off any remaining liquid.

Revitalize leather furniture
Has your leather sofa or easy chair lost its luster? To restore it to its former glory, mix equal parts white vinegar and boiled linseed oil in a recycled spray bottle, shake it up well, and spray it on. Spread it evenly over your furniture using a soft cloth, give it a couple of minutes to settle in, then rub it off with a clean cloth.
 

In the Garage

Remove bumper stickers
If those tattered old bumper stickers on your car make you feel more nauseated than nostalgic, it’s time to break out the vinegar. Saturate the top and sides of the sticker with undiluted distilled vinegar and wait 10-15 minutes for the vinegar to soak through. Then use an expired credit card (or one of those promotional plastic cards that come in the mail) to scrape it off. Use more full-strength vinegar to get rid of any remaining gluey residue. Use the same technique to detach those cute decals your youngster used to decorate the back windshield.

Clean windshield wiper blades
When your windshield actually gets blurrier after you turn on your wipers during a rainstorm, it usually means that your wiper blades are dirty. To make them as good as new, dampen a cloth or rag with some full-strength white vinegar and run it down the full length of each blade once or twice.

Keep car windows frost-free
If you park your car outdoors during the cold winter months, a smart and simple way to keep frost from forming on your windows is by wiping (or, better yet, spraying) the outsides of the windows with a solution of 3 parts white vinegar to 1 part water. Each coating may last up to several weeks — although, unfortunately, it won’t do much in the way of warding off a heavy snowfall.

Care for your car’s carpets
A good vacuuming will get up the sand and other loose debris from your car’s carpeting, but it won’t do diddly for stains or ground-in dirt. For that, mix up a solution of equal parts water and white vinegar and sponge it into the carpet. Give the mixture a couple of minutes to settle in; then blot it up with a cloth or paper towel. This technique will also eliminate salt residues left on car carpets during the winter months.
 

In the Kitchen and for the Cook

Refresh your refrigerator
Did you know that vinegar might be an even more effective safe cleanser for your refrigerator than baking soda? Use equal parts white vinegar and water to wash both the interior and exterior of your fridge, including the door gasket and the fronts of the vegetable and fruit bins. To prevent mildew growth, wash the inside walls and bin interiors with some full-strength vinegar on a cloth. Also use undiluted vinegar to wipe off accumulated dust and grime on top of your refrigerator. Of course, you’ll still want to put that box of baking soda inside your refrigerator to keep it smelling clean when you’re done.

Steam-clean your microwave
To clean your microwave, place a glass bowl filled with a solution of 1/4 cup vinegar in 1 cup water inside, and zap the mixture for five minutes on the highest setting. Once the bowl cools, dip a cloth or sponge into the liquid and use it to wipe away stains and splatters on the interior.

Disinfect cutting boards
To disinfect and clean your wood cutting boards or butcher block countertop, wipe them with full-strength white vinegar after each use. The acetic acid in the vinegar is a good disinfectant, effective against such harmful bugs as E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus. Never use water and dishwashing detergent, because it can weaken surface wood fibers. When your wooden cutting surface needs deodorizing as well as disinfecting, spread some baking soda over it and then spray on undiluted white vinegar. Let it foam and bubble for five to ten minutes, then rinse with a cloth dipped in clean cold water.

Deodorize your garbage disposal
Here’s an incredibly easy way to keep your garbage disposal unit sanitized and smelling clean: Mix equal parts water and vinegar in a bowl, pour the solution into an ice cube tray, and freeze it. Then simply drop a couple of “vinegar cubes” down your disposal every week or so, followed by a cold-water rinse.

Wash out your dishwasher
To keep your dishwasher operating at peak performance and remove built-up soap film, pour 1 cup undiluted white vinegar into the bottom of the unit — or in a bowl on the top rack. Then run the machine through a full cycle without any dishes or detergent. Do this once a month, especially if you have hard water. Note: If there’s no mention of vinegar in your dishwasher owner’s manual, check with the manufacturer first.

Clean china, crystal, and glassware
Put the sparkle back in your glassware by adding vinegar to your rinse water or dishwater.
  • To keep your everyday glassware gleaming, add 1/4 cup vinegar to your dishwasher’s rinse cycle.


  • To rid drinking glasses of cloudiness or spots caused by hard water, heat up a pot of equal parts white vinegar and water (use full-strength vinegar if your glasses are very cloudy), and let them soak in it for 15-30 minutes. Give them a good scrubbing with a bottle brush, then rinse clean.


  • Add 2 tablespoons vinegar to your dishwater when cleaning your good crystal glasses. Then rinse them in a solution of 3 parts warm water to 1 part vinegar and allow them to air-dry. You can also wash delicate crystal and fine china by adding 1 cup vinegar to a basin of warm water. Gently dunk the glasses in the solution and let dry.


  • To get coffee stains and other discolorations off china dishes and teacups, try scrubbing them with equal parts vinegar and salt, followed by rinsing them under warm water.

Clean a coffeemaker
If your coffee consistently comes out weak or bitter, odds are, your coffeemaker needs cleaning. Fill the decanter with 2 cups white vinegar and 1 cup water. Place a filter in the machine, and pour the solution into the coffeemaker’s water chamber. Turn on the coffeemaker and let it run through a full brew cycle. Remove the filter and replace it with a fresh one. Then run clean water through the machine for two full cycles, replacing the filter again for the second brew. If you have soft water, clean your coffeemaker after 80 brew cycles — after 40 cycles if you have hard water.

Clean a teakettle
To eliminate lime and mineral deposits in a teakettle, bring 3 cups full-strength white vinegar to a full boil for five minutes and leave the vinegar in the kettle overnight. Rinse out with cold water the next day.

Cut the grease
Every professional cook knows that distilled vinegar is one of the best grease cutters around. It even works on seriously greasy surfaces such as the fry vats used in many food outlets. But you don’t need to have a deep fryer to find plenty of ways to put vinegar to good use:
  • When you’re finished frying, clean up grease splatters from your stovetop, walls, range hood, and surrounding countertop by washing them with a sponge dipped in undiluted white vinegar. Use another sponge soaked in cold tap water to rinse, then wipe dry with a soft cloth.


  • Pour 3-4 tablespoons white vinegar into your favorite brand (especially bargain brands) of liquid dishwashing detergent and give it a few shakes. The added vinegar will not only increase the detergent’s grease-fighting capabilities, but also provide you with more dishwashing liquid for the money, because you’ll need less soap to clean your dishes.


  • Boiling 2 cups vinegar in your frying pan for 10 minutes will help keep food from sticking to it for several months at a time.


  • Remove burned-on grease and food stains from your stainless steel cookware by mixing 1 cup distilled vinegar in enough water to cover the stains (if they’re near the top of a large pot, you may need to increase the vinegar). Let it boil for five minutes. The stains should come off with some mild scrubbing when you wash the utensil.


  • Get that blackened, cooked-on grease off your broiler pan by softening it up with a solution of 1 cup apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons sugar. Apply the mixture while the pan is still hot, and let it sit for an hour or so. Then watch in amazement as the grime slides off with a light scrubbing.


  • Got a hot plate that looks more like a grease pan? Whip it back into shape by washing it with a sponge dipped in full-strength white vinegar.


  • Fight grease buildups in your oven by wiping down the inside with a rag or sponge soaked in full-strength white vinegar once a week. The same treatment gets grease off the grates on gas stoves.

Brush-clean can opener blades
Does that dirty wheel blade of your electric can opener look like it’s seen at least one can too many? To clean and sanitize it, dip an old toothbrush in white vinegar, and then position the bristles of the brush around the side and edge of the wheel. Turn on the appliance, and let the blade scrub itself clean.

Remove stains from pots, pans, and ovenware
Nothing will do a better job than vinegar when it comes to removing stubborn stains on your cookware. Here’s how to put the power of vinegar to use:
  • Give those dark stains on your aluminum cookware (caused by cooking acidic foods) the heave-ho by mixing in 1 teaspoon white vinegar for every cup of water needed to cover the stains. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, then rinse with cold water.


  • To remove stains from your stainless steel pots and pans, soak them in 2 cups white vinegar for 30 minutes, then rinse them with hot, soapy water followed by a cold-water rinse.


  • To get cooked-on food stains off your glass ovenware, fill them with 1 part vinegar and 4 parts water, heat the mixture to a slow boil, and let it boil at a low level for five minutes. The stains should come off with some mild scrubbing once the mixture cools.


  • They call it nonstick, but no cookware is stainproof. For mineral stains on your nonstick cookware, rub the utensil with a cloth dipped in undiluted distilled vinegar. To loosen up stubborn stains, mix 2 tablespoons baking soda, 1/2 cup vinegar, and 1 cup water and let it boil for 10 minutes.

Clear the air in your kitchen
If the smell of yesterday’s cooked cabbage or fish stew is hanging around your kitchen longer than you’d like, mix a pot of 1/2 cup white vinegar in 1 cup water. Let it boil until the liquid is almost gone. You’ll be breathing easier in no time.

Refresh your ice trays
If your plastic ice trays are covered with hard-water stains — or if it’s been a while since you’ve cleaned them — a few cups of white vinegar can help you in either case. To remove the spots or disinfect your trays, let them soak in undiluted vinegar for four to five hours, then rinse well under cold water and let dry.

Make all-purpose cleaners
For fast cleanups around the kitchen, keep two recycled spray bottles filled with these vinegar-based solutions:
  • For glass, stainless steel, and plastic laminate surfaces, fill your spray bottle with 2 parts water, 1 part distilled white vinegar, and a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid.


  • For cleaning walls and other painted surfaces, mix up 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1 cup ammonia, and 1/4 cup baking soda in 1 gallon (3.7 liters) water and pour some into a spray bottle. Spritz it on spots and stains whenever needed and wipe off with a clean towel.

Make an all-purpose scrub for pots and pans
How would you like an effective scouring mix that costs a few pennies, and can be safely used on all of your metal cookware — including expensive copper pots and pans? Want even better news? You probably already have this “miracle mix” in your kitchen. Simply combine equal parts salt and flour and add just enough vinegar to make a paste. Work the paste around the cooking surface and the outside of the utensil, then rinse off with warm water and dry thoroughly with a soft dish towel.

Sanitize jars, containers, and vases
Do you cringe at the thought of cleaning out a mayonnaise, peanut butter, or mustard jar to reuse it? Or worse, getting the residue out of a slimy vase, decanter, or container? There is an easy way to handle these jobs. Fill the item with equal parts vinegar and warm, soapy water and let it stand for 10-15 minutes. If you’re cleaning a bottle or jar, close it up and give it a few good shakes; otherwise use a bottle brush to scrape off the remains before thoroughly rinsing.

Clean a dirty thermos
To get a thermos bottle clean, fill it with warm water and 1/4 cup white vinegar. If you see any residue, add some uncooked rice, which will act as an abrasive to scrape it off. Close and shake well. Then rinse and let it air-dry.

Purge bugs from your pantry
Do you have moths or other insects in your cupboard or pantry? Fill a small bowl with 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar and add a couple of drops of liquid dish detergent. Leave it in there for a week; it will attract the bugs, which will fall into the bowl and drown. Then empty the shelves, and give the interior a thorough washing with dishwashing detergent or 2 cups baking soda in 1 quart (1 liter) water. Discard all wheat products (breads, pasta, flour, and such), and clean off canned goods before putting them back.

Trap fruit flies
Did you bring home fruit flies from the market? You can make traps for them that can be used anywhere around your house by filling an old jar about halfway with apple cider. Punch a few holes in the lid, screw it back on, and you’re good to go.

Tenderize and purify meats and seafood
Soaking a lean or inexpensive cut of red meat in a couple of cups of vinegar breaks down tough fibers to make it more tender-and in addition, kills off any potentially harmful bacteria. You can also use vinegar to tenderize seafood steaks. Let the meat or fish soak in full — strength vinegar overnight. Experiment with different vinegar varieties for added flavor, or simply use apple cider or distilled vinegar if you intend to rinse it off before cooking.

Keep corned beef from shrinking
Ever notice how the corned beef that comes out of the pot is always smaller than the one that went in? Stop your meat from shrinking by adding a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to the water when boiling your beef.

Make better boiled or poached eggs
Vinegar does marvelous things for eggs. Here are the two most useful “egg-samples”:
  • When you are making hard-boiled eggs, adding 2 tablespoons distilled vinegar for every quart (liter) of water will keep the eggs from cracking and make them easier to shell.


  • When you are poaching eggs, adding a couple of tablespoons of vinegar to the water will keep your eggs in tight shape by preventing the egg whites from spreading.

Wash store-bought produce
You can’t be too careful these days when it comes to handling the foods you eat. Before serving your fruits and vegetables, a great way to eliminate the hidden dirt, pesticides, and even insects, is to rinse them in 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar dissolved in 1 gallon (3.7 liters) cold water.

Remove odors from your hands
It’s often difficult to get strong onion, garlic, or fish odors off your hands after preparing a meal. But you’ll find these scents are a lot easier to wash off if you rub some distilled vinegar on your hands before and after you slice your vegetables or clean your fish.

Get rid of berry stains
You can use undiluted white vinegar on your hands to remove stains from berries and other fruits.
 

In the Medicine Cabinet

Control your dandruff
To give your dandruff the brush-off, follow up each shampoo with a rinse of 2 cups apple cider vinegar mixed with 2 cups cold water. You can also fight dandruff by applying 3 tablespoons vinegar onto your hair and massaging into your scalp before you shampoo. Wait a few minutes, then rinse it out and wash as usual.

Condition your hair
Want to put the life back into your limp or damaged hair? You can whip up a terrific hair conditioner by combining 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 3 egg whites. Rub the mixture into your hair, then keep it covered for 30 minutes using plastic wrap or a shower cap. When time’s up, shampoo and rinse as usual.

Protect blond hair from chlorine
Keep your golden locks from turning green in a chlorinated pool by rubbing 1/4 cup cider vinegar into your hair and letting it set for 15 minutes before diving in.

Apply as antiperspirant
Why not put the deodorizing power of vinegar to use where it matters most? That’s right, you don’t need a roll-on or spray to keep your underarms smelling fresh. Instead, splash a little white vinegar under each arm in the morning, and let it dry. In addition to combating perspiration odor, this method also does away with those deodorant stains on your garments.

Soak away aching muscles
Got a sore back, a strained tendon in your shoulder or calf, or maybe you’re just feeling generally rundown? Adding 2 cups apple cider vinegar to your bathwater is a great way to soothe away your aches and pains, or to simply to take the edge off a stressful day. Adding a few drops of peppermint oil to your bath can lend an able assist as well.

Freshen your breath
After you consume a fair portion of garlic or onions, a quick and easy way to sweeten your breath is to rinse your mouth with a solution made by dissolving 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt in a glass of warm water.

Ease sunburn and itching
You can cool a bad sunburn by gently dabbing the area with a cotton ball or soft cloth saturated with white or cider vinegar. (This treatment is especially effective if it’s applied before the burn starts to sting.) The same technique works to instantly stop the itch of mosquito and other insect bites, as well as the rashes caused by exposure to poison ivy or poison oak.

Banish bruises
If you or someone you care about has a nasty fall, you can speed healing and prevent black-and-blue marks by soaking a piece of cotton gauze in white or apple cider vinegar and leaving it on the injured area for one hour.

Soothe a sore throat
Here are three ways that you can make a sore throat feel better:
  • If your throat is left raw by a bad cough, or even a speaking or singing engagement, you’ll find fast relief by gargling with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt dissolved in a glass of warm water; use several times a day if needed.


  • For sore throats associated with a cold or flu, combine 1/4 cup cider vinegar and 1/4 cup honey and take 1 tablespoon every four hours.


  • To soothe both a cough and a sore throat, mix 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 4 teaspoons honey, and 1 teaspoon hot sauce. Swallow 1 tablespoon four or five times daily, including one before bedtime. Warning: Children under one year old should never be given honey.


Breathe easier
Adding 1/4 cup white vinegar to the water in your hot-steam vaporizer can help ease congestion caused by a chest cold or sinus infection. It can also be good for your vaporizer: The vinegar will clear away any mineral deposits in the water tubes resulting from the use of hard water. Note: Check with the manufacturer before adding vinegar to a cool-mist vaporizer.

Treat an active cold sore
The only thing worse than a bad cold is a bad cold sore. Fortunately, you can usually dry up a cold sore in short order by dabbing it with a cotton ball saturated in white vinegar three times a day. The vinegar will quickly soothe the pain and swelling.

Make a poultice for corns and calluses
Here’s an old-fashioned, time-proven method to treat corns and calluses: Saturate a piece of white or stale bread with 1/4 cup white vinegar. Let the bread soak in the vinegar for 30 minutes, then break off a piece big enough to completely cover the corn. Keep the poultice in place with gauze or adhesive tape, and leave it on overnight. The next morning, the hard, callused skin will be dissolved, and the corn should be easy to remove. Older, thicker calluses may require several treatments.

Get the jump on athlete’s foot
A bad case of athlete’s foot can drive you hopping mad. But you can often quell the infection, and quickly ease the itching, by rinsing your feet three or four times a day for a few days with undiluted apple cider vinegar. As an added precaution, soak your socks or stockings in a mixture of 1 part vinegar and 4 parts water for 30 minutes before laundering them.

Pamper your skin
Using vinegar as a skin toner dates back to the time of Helen of Troy. And it’s just as effective today. After you wash your face, mix 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar with 2 cups water as a finishing rinse to cleanse and tighten your skin. You can also make your own facial treatment by mixing 1/4 cup cider vinegar with 1/4 cup water. Gently apply the solution to your face and let it dry.

Say good-bye to age or sun spots
Before you take any drastic measures to remove or cover up those brown spots on your skin caused by overexposure to the sun or hormonal changes, give vinegar a try. Simply pour some full-strength apple cider vinegar onto a cotton ball and apply it to the spots for 10 minutes at least twice a day. The spots should fade or disappear within a few weeks.

Soften your cuticles
You can soften the cuticles on your fingers and toes before manicuring them by soaking your digits in a bowl of undiluted white vinegar for five minutes.

Make nail polish last longer
Your nail polish will have a longer life expectancy if you first dampen your nails with some vinegar on a cotton ball and let it dry before applying your favorite polish.

Clean your eyeglasses
When it’s more difficult to see with your glasses on than it is with them off, it’s a clear indication that they’re in need of a good cleaning. Applying a few drops of white vinegar to your glass lenses and wiping them with a soft cloth will easily remove dirt, sweat, and fingerprints, and leave them spotless. Don’t use vinegar on plastic lenses, however.

Treat a jellyfish or bee sting
A jellyfish can pack a nasty sting. If you have an encounter with one, pouring some undiluted vinegar on the sting will take away the pain in no time, and let you scrape out the stinger with a plastic credit card. The same treatment can also be used to treat bee stings. But using vinegar on stings inflicted by the jellyfish’s cousin the Portuguese man-of-war is now discouraged because vinegar may actually increase the amount of toxin released under the skin. Warning: If you have difficulty breathing or the sting area becomes inflamed and swollen, get medical attention at once; you could be having an allergic reaction.
 

In the Bathroom..

Wash mildew from shower curtains
Clean those ugly mildew stains off your plastic shower curtain by putting it and a couple of soiled towels in your washing machine. Add 1/2 cup laundry detergent and 1/2 cup baking soda to the load, and wash it in warm water on your machine’s regular cycle. Add 1 cup white vinegar to the first rinse. Before the machine goes into the spin cycle, remove the curtain and let it hang-dry.

Shine ceramic tiles
If soap scum or water spots have dulled the ceramic tiles around your sink or bath, bring back the brightness by scrubbing them with 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup ammonia, and 1/4 cup borax mixed in 1 gallon (3.7 liters) warm water. Rinse well with cool water and let air-dry.

Whiten your grout
Has the grout between the tiles of your shower or bathtub enclosure become stained or discolored? Restore it to its original shade of white by using a toothbrush dipped in undiluted white vinegar to scrub away the dinginess.

Clean sinks and bathtubs
Put the shine back in your porcelain sinks and bathtubs by giving them a good scrubbing with full-strength white vinegar, followed by a rinse of clean cold water. To remove hard-water stains from your tub, pour in 3 cups white vinegar under running hot tap water. Let the tub fill up over the stains and allow it to soak for four hours. When the water drains out, you should be able to easily scrub off the stains.

Shine up your shower doors
To leave your glass shower doors sparkling clean — and to remove all of those annoying water spots — wipe them down with a cloth dipped in a solution of 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1 cup ammonia, and 1/4 cup baking soda mixed in 1 gallon (3.7 liters) warm water.

Disinfect shower door tracks
Use vinegar to remove accumulated dirt and grime from the tracks of your shower doors. Fill the tracks with about 2 cups full-strength white vinegar and let it sit for three to five hours. (If the tracks are really dirty, heat the vinegar in a glass container for 30 seconds in your microwave first.) Then pour some hot water over the track to flush away the gunk. You may need to use a small scrub brush, or even a recycled toothbrush, to get up tough stains.

Remove mineral deposits from showerheads
Wash away blockages and mineral deposits from removable showerheads by placing them in 1 quart (1 liter) boiling water with 1/2 cup distilled vinegar for 10 minutes (use hot, not boiling, liquid for plastic showerheads). When you remove it from the solution, the obstructions should be gone. If you have a nonremovable showerhead, fill a small plastic bag half full with vinegar and tape it over the fixture. Let it sit for about 1 hour, then remove the bag and wipe off any remaining vinegar from the showerhead.

Wipe down bathroom fixtures
Don’t stop at the shower when you’re cleaning with vinegar! Pour a bit of undiluted white vinegar onto a soft cloth and use it to wipe your chrome faucets, towel racks, bathroom mirrors, doorknobs, and such. It’ll leave them gleaming.

Fight mold and mildew
To remove and inhibit bathroom mold and mildew, pour a solution of 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 1 teaspoon borax, and 2 cups hot water into a clean, recycled spray bottle and give it a few good shakes. Then spray the mixture on painted surfaces, tiles, windows, or wherever you see mold or mildew spots. Use a soft scrub brush to work the solution into the stains or just let it soak in.

Disinfect toilet bowls
Want an easy way to keep your toilet looking and smelling clean? Pour 2 cups white vinegar into the bowl and let the solution soak overnight before flushing. Including this vinegar soak in your weekly cleaning regimen will also help keep away those ugly water rings that typically appear just above the water level.

Clean your toothbrush holder
Get the grime, bacteria, and caked-on toothpaste drippings out of the grooves of your bathroom toothbrush holder by cleaning the openings with cotton swabs moistened with white vinegar.

Wash out your rinse cup
If several people in your home use the same rinse cup after brushing their teeth, give it a weekly cleaning by filling it with equal parts water and white vinegar, or just full-strength vinegar, and let it sit overnight. Rinse thoroughly with cold water before using.
 
(Wait for the 2nd Part.)

Posted in Collections.

3 comments

By Joseph Antony – April 27, 2009


‘ 4 UR ATTN: “

General Knowledge

1. A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.

2. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

3. A pig’s orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.

4. A snail can sleep for three years.

5. All Polar bears are left-handed.

6. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

7. Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

8. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

9. Babies are born without knee caps. They don’t appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

10. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

11. Butterflies taste with their feet.

12. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, dogs only have about ten.

13. Cat’s urine glows under a black light.

14. China has more English speakers than the United States.

15. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn’t wear pants.

16. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

17. Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump.

18. Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

19. February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

21. I am. is the shortest complete sentence in the English language

22. If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal human’s neck.

23. If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

24. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

25. If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white.

26. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

27. In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.

28. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

29. It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

30. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

31. Marilyn Monroe had six toes.

32. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

33. More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.

34. No word in the English language rhymes with month.

35. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

36. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

37. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the ’30s lobbied against hemp farmers, they saw it as competition.

38. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

40. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

41. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.

42. Shakespeare invented the word “assassination” and “bump.”

43. Some lions mate over 50 times a day.

44. Starfish haven’t got brains.

45. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

46. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

47. The average human eats eight spiders in their lifetime at night.

48. The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.

49. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

50. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

51. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

52. The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male’s head off.

53. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

54. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

55. The name Wendy was made up for the book “Peter Pan.”

56. The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

57. The sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the English language.

58. The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

59. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

60. The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

61. The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.

62. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

63. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.

64. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

65. You are more likely to be killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

66. You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath.

67. You share your birthday with at least nine million other people in the world .

Posted in G . K ..

2 comments

By Joseph Antony – April 23, 2009


‘ EASTER EGG ‘

“World’s Largest Easter Egg”

 

In 2005, a Belgian city entered the Guinness Book of Records creating the Largest Easter Egg ever. The Belgian chocolate producer Guylian made the chocolate egg with at least 50,000 bars. The egg measured 8.32 metres high, beating the previous record made in Kwazulu-Natal, South-Africa in 1996. Twenty-six craftsman worked altogether 525 hours to build the egg. They used 1950 kg (4300 lb) of chocolates.

Posted in Collections.

2 comments

By Joseph Antony – April 12, 2009


” THE HOLY WEEK “

‘ GOOD FRIDAY ‘

http://www.joyfulheart.com/easter/images-tissot/tissot-the-crowning-of-thorns-500x730.jpg
2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.
John 19:2-3

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4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
John 19:4-5
7 The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
John 19:7-11


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6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
John 19:6


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24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility! ” 25 All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
Matthew 27:24-25


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13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha).

14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
John 19:13-16


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After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Matthew 27:31


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Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
John 19:17


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A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.
Mark 15:21


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27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”‘ 31 For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Luke 23:27-31


http://www.joyfulheart.com/easter/images-tissot/tissot-the-procession-nearing-calvary-714x539.jpgThe Procession Nears Calvary

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Jesus Is Stripped of His Clothing


http://www.joyfulheart.com/easter/images-tissot/tissot-the-first-nail-737x455.jpgThe First Nail


http://www.joyfulheart.com/easter/images-tissot/tissot-the-raising-of-the-cross-727x495.jpgThe Raising of the Cross


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39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43

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And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.
Matthew 27:36

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What Our Savior Saw from the Cross……

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25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”

From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27


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45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.

46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? “–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” 48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49

The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
Matthew 27:45-49


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Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:46 


When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
Luke 23:48


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54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Matthew 27:54


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57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
Matthew 27:57-58


http://www.joyfulheart.com/easter/images-tissot/tissot-the-holy-virgin-receives-the-body-of-jesus-728x511.jpgThe Holy Virgin Receives the Body of Jesus


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59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
Matthew 27:59-60


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Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
Matthew 27:61

‘The Resurrection’

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‘He’ has risen!
Mark 16:6


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1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

Matthew 28:1-4


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Mary Magdalene came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

John 20:1-2

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

John 20:3-9


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10 Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11 but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”John 20:10-13


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14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

John 20:14-16

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 1

8 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20:16-18


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‘Christ Appears to Peter’


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19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
John 20:19-20


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Jesus Eats Breakfast with His Disciples

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15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

John 21:15-19
The Ascension

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50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
Luke 24:50-51

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For detailed art work and narration of the Holy Week check out the link below:

http://www.joyfulhe art.com/holy- week/Or  click here:


Watching Holy Week Unfold
with paintings by French painter James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902)

The Holy Week

Posted in Devotional.

1 comment

By Joseph Antony – April 9, 2009


” THE HOLY WEEK - 2 “

Good Friday

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12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus.

They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people….

John 18

55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any.

56 Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. 57 Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him:

Mark 14

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15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door.

The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in.

17 “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter.

He replied, “I am not.”
John 18:15-17

18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself….

25 As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?”

He denied it, saying, “I am not.”
John 18:18, 25

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61a Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

63 The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death.
Mark 14:61-64

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59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”
Luke 22:59-61.Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”

62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Luke 22:60-62

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63 The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. 64 They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” 65 And they said many other insulting things to him.
Luke 22:63-65

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66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them.

67 “If you are the Christ,” they said, “tell us.”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”

70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You are right in saying I am.”

71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”
Luke 22:66-71

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3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.

4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility. ”

5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left.

Then he went away and hanged himself.

6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”

7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

  “They took the thirty silver coins,
  the price set on him by the people of Israel,
  10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field,
  as the Lord commanded me.”

Matthew 27:3-10


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Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning….
John 18:28
1 Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.”

3 So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
Luke 23:1-4


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While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
Matthew 27:19


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6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. 9 He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him.

11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends — before this they had been enemies.
Luke 23:6-12

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Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
John 19:1

Paintings by by James Jacques Tissot (French painter and illustrator, 1836-1902). Biography. Nearly all of Tissot’s paintings of the Life of Christ (1884-1896) are rendered in opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper and are owned by the Brooklyn Museum, New York.

2 b continued - (Final part.)

Posted in Devotional.

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By Joseph Antony – April 9, 2009