Own a piece of Canadian Parliament!

Over Spring Break, stemming from discussions on giant Canadian flags seen about, a friend tipped me off to an interesting little diddy!

You can actually put your name on a list to receive the flags that are flown on Parliament Hill! I copy and pasted the info below (check out the wait list time: 19 years for the small flag and 27 for the big flag!!!!!!!!!)

Anyways really neat, check it out and perhaps write in if you know what your address will be in 19-27 years :)

Canadian Flag
Add your name to the waiting list for a Canadian flag that has flown on Parliament Hill
To request a flag that has flown on Parliament Hill, you must send a written request with your name, complete home address, telephone number as well as your choice of flag.

The approximate waiting period is currently:

Flag Size Pole requirements Waiting period
Peace Tower flag 230 cm x 460 cm 10.7 m pole 27 years
East Block flag 137.2 cm x 274.3 cm 9.1 m pole 19 years
West Block flag 137.2 cm x 274.3 cm 7.9 m pole 19 years

Our policy is to give only one flag per household. As these flags are paid for by Canadian taxpayers, they are given to residents and are not sent outside of Canada. Should you move before having received your flag, it is your responsibility to notify our office of your change of address so that we may update your file.

To request a flag or to report a change of address, please contact PWGSC by letter, facsimile or e-mail:

Public Works and Government Services Canada
Office of the Minister
18A1, Portage III
11 Laurier Street
Gatineau, QC
K1A 0S5

Fax: 819-953-1908
E-mail: Minister@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca

Re-purposing: Coffee filters!

This is an email that I came across- interesting uses for coffee filters!

Coffee filters .... Who knew!

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
10 Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters..
13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.
14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."
15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliquéing soft fabrics.
16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.
17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.
18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.
19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.
20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies Saves on having extra bowls to wash.
21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.
22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.
23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.
24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book.
25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc --- ESPECIALLY WHEN TRAVELING!!

Save time off your life!

As some of you might already know, I rarely wear matching socks. I don't remember when I started this, it's been quite some time since I've actually matched them. Conditions under which I do wear matching socks:

1) When I go somewhere important that there is a possibility that my socks will be seen.
2) I open my drawer and they just happen to be beside each other (even then, sometimes then they are passed over).

When I take off my shoes people often point out that my socks are miss-matched (well aware :) lol) which then leads to: why?....lol.

Well, when you do laundry, during the dryer process there somehow opens a portal to an unknown dimension where socks sometimes disappear. Other items of clothing don;t go there, just socks, and not too often that you notice it every time. So that is reason number one: mystery dryer sock portal to nowhere. (This is legit & you know it, google it, many people have hypotheses, theories and random explanations).

Reason 2: It wastes my time. Let's say that you take an average of 12 seconds to match your socks (whether is be post-dryer run, or in your sock drawer). I'm 26 years old, lets say that I've been matching my socks up to age 13 (just a guess). So, let's say for 13 years I have not been wasting my time matching my socks. So, 365 days per year (plus 4 leap years, so 4 days, now 369), 12 seconds per day so that's 4380 seconds per year, times 13 years, that's 56,940 seconds plus the leap year extra days, 48 seconds so in total that would be approximately: 56,988 seconds.

Translation: 949,8 minutes, or 15.83 hours. That my friends is a lot of time-just merely dedicated to matching socks. So instead if I took this 15.83 hours, I could actually drive to Bangor, Maine (according to google maps) and back, and still have time for lunch and a few pit stops.

People in my life have tried to introduce some techniques to help me: my grandmother purchased me "Duo Socks" which are little feet-shaped plastic pieces with two pronged-holes in which you place your socks before washing them. Perfect for avoiding the black hole of socks, but not for what I now consider good personal taste, a personal preference and clearly as shown, a huge time saver. To you Duo sock: you can lead a horse to water but you can't force it to drink.

My mother, supporter of this quirky habit showed me this website: Little Miss Matched. Their slogan: Think outside the socks. This site sells packages of three socks, not matching but sometimes a similar family of designs. They have also have a section for you to design your own socks- really neat!

Anyways, really long blog post but hope you enjoy and consider the amount of time that you (and I already have) saved on miss-matching socks!

Who rolls first to see who rolls first?

Here is one for ya: You're playing a bored game, doesn't matter who it is with or how many people. You're setting up the game, picking your pieces (who else loves being the thimble in Monopoly?). It's a game that involves dice- uh oh- who goes first. Simple kid rule: let's roll to see who goes first.

Funny how we fight over who rolls first in a game, but never who rolls first to see who gets to go first? Someone usually causally rolls, but rarely is there an argument over who does this first- even with kids there is rarely a fight.

That leads me to: kid rules. Kid rule are awesome. I'm talking about "calling" things, or "lick it, stick it, stamp it". How often is the argument "Well, she did call it" used and accepted? Quite a bit. It's amazing how kid rules are basically legally binding, verbal contracts that all parties involved accept if someone "calls it". I wish "calling it" worked in big kid and adult world.

Man I miss kid world......