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Hello,
We have 13 new requests today, be sure to check them out and see if you have any advice to offer.
We received our new server today! We hope to set it up and install it by the end of the week. It should help the website performance a great deal.
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Susan
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Today's Tips:
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Today's Photo Contest Entries
Children's Necklaces for Cheap
For a wonderful, cheap project that children will love all you need is some string (any kind will do, I used twine because it was all I had on hand) and straws.
Cut the straws into 1/2 inch pieces and have them string them into a necklace. We used the colored straws but you can use any kind and even paint the straw first or use glitter.
My five children wore these necklaces all summer and gave them to grandma for gifts. They were very proud!
By Rebecca Powell
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My dog's name is Snowball. He is a Maltese. We got him when he was just a baby. He loves cheezies and plastic bottles to chase around. He is a very good dog.
By Wan
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Submit a tip with a photo or a pet description with a photo and you could win a Digital Camera! You can enter the photo contest here:
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Today's Tips
The latest craze is painting paving bricks to look like bees, and chicks , and bunnies. Rather than buy patio paint in 2 oz bottles - buy pints of masonry paint at your local DIY business. You can store it in a syrup or cleaned dish liquid bottle for e-z pouring on your palette. Buy the patio paints for detail painting.
By gigi
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What are some inexpensive meal ideas that your family enjoys?
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Save the little plastic containers with attached lids that some fruits come in and you sometimes get for take out food and use them to start your garden plants. They work like mini greenhouses.
By demmi
Editor's Note: Safeway has muffins in plastic containers that have a space for each muffin. They work well for mini greenhouses, too.
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Yard Sales in Expensive Neighborhoods
Check out the yard sales in the ritzy towns near by, they let stuff go for cheap, but it is good name brand stuff!
By Amy Farwell
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It's not fun but has to be done. Tips for cleaning the bathroom. Post your ideas.
Cleaning Hair Spray Areas
When cleaning the bathroom, be sure to wipe down the door or wall behind where you stand to use hairspray because, although invisible, the spray actually builds up on the surface!
By droberts48
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I've learned to be flexible when traveling by air. Flights are often overbooked and airlines will request volunteers who will give up their seat and take a later flight. By leaving some time in my schedule, my husband and I were able to score 2 free round trip tickets to anywhere in the continental US by waiting one hour for the next flight!
By Patricia Kovba
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When grandkids are visiting for the summer I have already bought up lots of things from garage sales and then they help with different tasks at the house - earn Monopoly money to "buy" one of these treats. (No help, no treat!)
By Carole Simon
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Post your money saving shampoo tips.
Buying Inexpensive Shampoo and Conditioner
I use Sauve shampoo and conditioner. It's works as well for me as the salon stuff, but a fraction of the cost!
By Amy Farwell
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Tips and advice for managing your 401k. Post your ideas.
When You Get a Raise
When you get a raise, have your 401K increased and taken directly out of your paycheck every time you get a raise, then you never notice the difference but be saving more money!
By Amy Farwell
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Auto Withdrawal For Your Child's 529
Have your children's 529 taken automatically out of your checking so you don't 'forget' to do it! Before you know it you'll have a nice chunk put away for them! :)
By Amy Farwell
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Sweet and Sour Sauce - Tips and Recipes
Tips and recipes for making sweet and sour sauce. Post your ideas.
Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce
The best and cheapest sweet and sour sauce is homemade. Combine a jar of apricot preserves, some vinegar and cut up maraschino cherries and juice - mix in a jar and keep in the fridge. Lasts for weeks and so delicious on Chinese food, etc.
By S Edwards
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Check online auctions for bargains before you make a purchase.
By Carol LuBien
Editor's Note: Just be sure to check the seller's feedback rating and factor in shipping costs. If a seller doesn't have the shipping charge listed, be sure to ask before you bid.
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Pen Around Your Neck for Shopping
I purchased a special pen which attaches to a lanyard around my neck. I bring it with me when I go shopping to make sure I (a.) cross everything off my list and therefore do not miss anything, and (b.) never lose my pen. It was worth the $20.00!
By nik_har
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Write down which items are in which aisle numbers in your grocery store. (Some stores have a map - just ask at the desk!). Then order your shopping list accordingly and you won't find yourself re-tracing your steps a million times. Saves money, but mostly, TIME. Which, for me, equals money anyway.
By nik_har
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I love some canned soups, and I am sensitive to sodium. I have found that many soups, particularly Progresso Chicken/Rice for example, can be drained of the canned liquid, and fresh water added. Sometimes I use a strainer and actually rinse the ingredients with water. This removes quite a bit of sodium, and the soup is still tasty!
Lisa
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Tips for washing walls. Post your ideas.
Use your swifter mop to wash down your walls! Simply moisten the pad with your washing solution and got to town!
By cybrlee
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I gave my father in law a Surprise 60th birthday party. I used a poker theme. I had a poster that read Welcome to Tommy's 60th bithday poker party.
We rented a function hall and I made centerpieces using fake coins set inside a jar reading Casino funds. We purchased casino chips, red, black, and white balloons. Large size playing cards, chocolate coins, candy cigars that were labeled Tommy's poker party.
On each table were playing cards, dice and Uno cards for those who don't care to gamble for fun. The menu was finger foods such as small sandwhiches, chips, chicken wings. etc (you get the picture).
There was also a DJ for the the folks who wanted to dance. We also had a bar available just like at a really casino.
Everyone left pleased and he was happy! I hope someone can use my ideas and expand on them.
By Lizzie
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Olive Garden Style Pasta with Broccoli
Ingredients:
Bechamel Sauce
Instructions for Bechamel Sauce
Melt butter in a 2-qt saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add milk and bouillon and stir vigorously with a wire whip until mixture barely comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, whipping frequently. Keep warm.
Directions:
Drain broccoli and divide in half. Chop 1/2 of florets into 1/4" pieces. Reserve. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Add all the broccoli, garlic, green onions and mushrooms to the saute pan. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes or until mushrooms begin to turn golden. Add the sauteed veggies and parsley to the warm sauce and stir well. Serve over hot pasta with Parmesan.
Serves 4.
Source: The Olive Garden Style.
By chell
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Ingredients:
Directions:
Line a 12 inch pizza pan with heavy duty aluminum foil; grease foil, and set aside. Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating well at medium speed of an electric mixer. Add egg, and beat well. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Add vanilla, and mix well. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate pieces and 1/4 cup chopped pecans. Spoon batter onto prepared pan, spreading to within 1 inch of edge. Sprinkle with coconut and remaining 1/4 cup pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle marshmallows and remaining 1/4 cup chocolate pieces on top; bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. To serve, cut into wedges. Makes one 12 inch cookie
By Robin
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Ingredients:
Directions:
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead lightly 4 or 5 times. Roll dough into a 12 inch square on a lightly floured surface. Spread dough with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Roll up jelly roll fashion; pinch seam to seal. Cut into 1 inch slices, and place cut side up in greased muffin pans. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 1 dozen.
By Robin
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Ingredients:
Directions:
Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl, stirring well. Spread mixture in an ungrease 9x13 pan. Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 2 Tbsp. butter in a small mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until blended. Stir in coconut, if desired. Separate biscuit dough into 20 pieces.. Roll each biscuit on a lightly floured surface to a 4 inch circle. Spread about 1 Tbsp. cream cheese mixture evenly on biscuit, and roll up jelly roll style. Place in prepared pan, seam side down, in two rows. Bake at 350 degrees on lowest rack in oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan 3 minutes. Turn biscuits out onto a serving platter.
By Robin
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Deep Dish Cheesecake Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
Directions:
Combine biscuit mix, 1/2 cup sugar, milk, and butter; stir vigorously 30 seconds. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 4 or 5 times. Pat evenly in the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9 inch round cake pan. Set aside.
Combine cream cheese, eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla; beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until smooth. Pour over dough; bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.. Spread preserves over top. Serve warm.
By Robin
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Ingredients:
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring gently, until sugar dissolves. Cover and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes to wash down sugar crystals from sides of pan. Uncover and cook to soft ball stage, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat, and beat mixture with a wooden spoon just until mixture begins to thicken. Working rapidly, drop candy mixture by tablespoonfuls onto greased wax paper; let stand until candy is firm.
By Robin
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This is an easy, measurement free dish that everyone loves! Ingredients:
Directions:
This is an easy, measurement free dish that everyone loves!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Pound chicken breasts between plastic wrap with the flat side of a meat tenderizer until smooth.
Place egg whites into a shallow bowl with salt and pepper thrown in. Put about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs into another shallow dish. Dip the chicken breasts into the egg whites and then roll them in bread crumbs. Add more crumbs if the dish gets too low.
Place the breaded chicken breasts in a skillet with the tablespoon of olive oil. Saute in oil for 3-4 minutes on each side (Or for a more healthy option, bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes).
Pour a thin layer of pasta sauce (homemade or store bought) into a 9x13in dish.
Add breaded breasts and another layer of sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
Bake in 375 degree oven for 5-10 minutes. While baking, prepare pasta (angel hair, spaghetti, etc) and set aside.
Serve immediately with pasta. Enjoy!
By MissBunny
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Tip Contest
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New Contest Prize! Now a 2 $25.00 Gift Cards
In our contest we are giving away two $25.00 Gift Cards (we will
select to winners at random) at one of the following stores: Home
Depot, Jo-Ann's Crafts or Amazon.com. If you are the winner, you
get to choose which gift card! This contest ends on May 15th,
2005.
Syndication Spotlight:
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Dear Webby's Humor Letter
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New Requests:
Birthday Location Ideas for Teens and Adults
My birthday is in June and i want to have a big party, but my parents said that if I had a lot of people come they would have to get more adults to chaperone the party. I don't want alot of adults because it is my party and I just want to be with my friends. Where is a place I can go and be able to have all my friends and the adults without it looking bad for me?
Tina
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I got White Out on my Navy Blue Lined Skirt, How do I save the skirt?
Lani
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Red Clay Stains on Alencon Lace
My Sister in Law has found her dream wedding dress on ebay but it has stains on the alencon lace train from red clay. Can this be fixed? What would be the best way to clean them off? Thanks a bunch!
Casie
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Removing Spray Paint from Truck Window
We bought a truck and the back window is spray painted black from the inside. HELP!
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Yellow Stains On Green Clothing
Lately, all of my green shirts have been coming out of the washing machine with yellow stains, especially around the collar. I recently bought a new green shirt and it wound up with yellow streaks on the front even before it went into the machine (I had NOT been using bleach). Please help with any ideas as to why this is happening and what might help.
Thanks,
Samantha
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Black Stain On Polyester Khakis
I love shopping at Goodwill for clothes, but a couple of weeks ago, I was in a hurry and grabbed up a pair of polyester/spandex blend (I think, label gone) khaki colored slacks. I just liked the style of them, needed casual dress pants, just my size, long length.
Well apparently whoever owned the slacks last was short because they were safety pinned in instead of hemming. When I unpinned them, to get the extra length, there was a BLACK line around bottom of each leg! I guess it's from the pants still being too long, therefore dragging on ground, pavement, who knows?
I've tried amonia, washed and dried. I've tried dish detergent, washed and dried. I've also tried vinegar to no avail. Stain has gotten lighter in color, but still there! Please tell me find an inexpensive solution to removing this ring! Thx!
CarolinaGirlOnBudget
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Mould On Silicone Around the Bath
How can i keep mould from reoccuring on silicone around a bath?
Phillip
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My son is 7 and his birthday party is this weekend (he will be 8) and there will be about 30 guests. I don't want to fork out a lot of money for the cone-type birthday hats for everyone. I just want to make one for him (not too embarrassing in front of his friends).
He will be having 2 cakes with 2 different themes; Baseball and Star Wars.
The hat does not have to relate to any of those themes. Thanks!
jo
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I'll be having a yard sale the 1st weekend in June and it will be my first one. I've got several neighbors who will have one too. I guess we'll be having a neighborhood sale which I know will attract more people, and also being the 1st weekend of the month people will have their paychecks ready to spend!
Anyway, I'm looking for any advice out there from everyone who has any suggestions for making noticable signs.
Thanks!
~jo~
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Invitations for a Lingerie Party
I'm interested in creating my own paper invitations by using one sheet of paper and folding it for lingerie parties.
Any ideas? Please Help!
Victoria from Pamper-A-Diva
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I am looking for wallpaper by Thomas Strahan and the pattern number is 235511--it is white and sliver stripes. pconner9 @ cox.net (remove spaces)
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Non-Toxic Paint Remover Recipe
Does anyone have the recipe for non toxic paint remover. My mother in law used to have it, it contained epsom salts, baking soda washing soda (or something else). It really worked, layers of paint came off in strips. It was also thick. Can anyone help?
Trina from CA
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Cleaning Up After a Shedding Dog
My chocolate lab, Wrigley, is now 6 months old and he sleeps inside our bathroom at night. When morning comes, we open the bathroom door and there is TONS of dog hair covering our tile floor! This is EVERY morning. He jumps on the bed shortly afterwards and even though he's there for only a few minutes, he leaves behind massive piles of brown hair on our bed.
Luckily, we have one of those robotic vacuums (Roomba, a mother's day gift and I HIGHLY recommend them to everyone. They are MUCH better than a standard vacuum!) and I can just turn that on in the bathroom and it will be a hairless floor in 15 minutes.
But, if there is any way possible that I can find an easier way to clean all this hair off my bed OR to keep him from shedding so much, please let me know. Thanks in advance!
jojo
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Today's Sponsors
11 Craft Designs By House of Greathouse
Just $5.00 (including shipping) for instructions on how to make 11 unique craft designs on CD. For more information and pictures of the crafts visit:
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More Reading:
How to control Ants Without Poison
By Marilyn Pokorney
Ants are pests in the house. In the home common ants aren't harmful but they are a nuisance.
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Pushers and Pullers
By Steve Goodier
One woman tells of a time her dog disappeared. After searching diligently, she placed a "lost dog" ad in the local newspaper.
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Introducing a New Puppy into a Home with an Existing Pet
By Cass Hope
It was November and I had spent 3 months searching for just the right puppy. Finally we had found what we considered to be the perfect one. Luckily she was already 7 weeks old so she could already be separated from her mother. I was so excited when we brought her home, our new addition to the family. I made sure I had all the required supplies; food and water dishes, food, a bed and a crate. We were ready. The fact that we already had a cat never really caused me much concern. I figured they would give each other a good sniff and surely it would not take long for them to become the best of friends and live happily ever after. I had visions of our little puppy all curled up with our cat in front of the fireplace.
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Image Transfer For Card Making And Scrapbooking Made Easy
By Flora Tan
There are many different ways to transfer images onto paper. Many of these methods would require you to purchase some supplies from the craft stores. For example, you can easily buy Inkjet Transfer Paper from most stationery shops. These come in a pack of 10 sheets and cost about a dollar a sheet. You will need a computer with a printer to print your images onto them. Another image transfer method would require certain transfer liquid or solvent.
View Article: Click Here
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