Try thrift stores - especially around the holidays - for scented candles. Some folks just aren't candle people and are always getting rid of these unwanted gifts, and most thrift stores sell them for cheap-cheap-cheap!
I used to test them out before buying them by lighting them right there in the store, but that was before I accidentally burned down the Goodwill and they banned me for eight weeks. Well, it wasn't so much that I was banned, but the store wasn't open while they rebuilt.
No, I'm joking, of course.
Seriously, though, especially up to the holidays and after them, you're going to find a lot of candles - and some really nice ones - in your local thrift stores! ... View related article.
You mentioned "lamp oil" per the instructions. But most of the tiki torches I have seen require "tiki torch fuel." Lamp oil, I think, is different, and is for indoor lamps. If what you bought is clear fluid, perhaps sold in a vaguely lava lamp-shaped bottle, it's almost definitely the wrong type of fuel.
I would suggest maybe going to a hardware store and getting a jug of tiki torch fuel. It usually comes in a clear gallon jug with a built-in handle and is translucent yellow in color. I think it's often scented with citronella.
Then maybe see about replacing the wicks. You should find them in the same area as the fuel. Let 'em suck up the fuel for a bit and then light 'em.
'Course, you posted your message in July, and the tiki torch season is likely well over by now. But maybe you can use this info for next season! ... View related article.
I remember making terrariums like that which Ellen described above when I was a kid! They're a lot of fun. The only problem might be that I think they stopped making two-liter bottles with those colored plastic bases a long time ago - all the soda bottles I've seen for years now have been all one piece. ... View related article.
I've never had any luck sprouting avocados using the toothpick method, but this way works well for me:
Wash the pit in warm water. Let it dry for a few days. Take a few sheets of paper towels and fold them down to about 4" square. Take a sandwich-sized or quart-sized Ziplock-type bag, put the paper towels and the avocado pit in there, and then put some water in there from the faucet so the paper towels are thoroughly wet. Gently squeeze the paper towels, loosely, around the seed (pointed up). The baggie should have enough water so there's, oh, about a quarter of an inch to a centimeter of water at the bottom. Seal it up - good and tight! - and put it in a dark cupboard for a few weeks.
You might want to put the sealed baggie in a bowl or coffee mug in case it should somehow start to leak.
In anywhere from a few weeks to almost two months, the seed should split and start to sprout. Now bring it out into the light and the sprout will start growing like mad, pushing its tip against the top of the bag.
I'd say about two out of three seeds sprout this way for me. The others just become moldy and then I throw them out.
Here's a photo of a recent avocado pit I sprouted. I was out of potting soil and so I had no choice but to let the thing grow just like that on my counter, for a week and a half before I could repot it!
By the way, I usually use paper towels, but I had some stuff called "rock wool" lying around and I used that for this pit, and it worked excellently. ... View related article.
