Blog - Home-Ec 101

Frozen Fingers

Dear Home Ec 101, We scored a great deal on a 7 cubic ft freezer. Since our family gardens and we have a teenager, it’s great to have the extra storage space, but the storage part of that is a problem. It only has one lone basket on the top where I keep bread. Otherwise, …

Knifty Knitter Long Loom Tutorial

Ivy says:

You must congratulate us, this is our thousandth post here on Home Ec 101! So, y’all will get something special, a fab tutorial! Sorry it’s late, I was showing my mom how to “delete all” on my camera (she and I both have the same model) and I deleted everything instead of cancelling the delete. Whoops. Well, these pictures are better than the first ones I did anyway.

So, anyone that has ever bought a Knifty Knitter long loom set knows the instructions appear to have been written by a drunk sock monkey. They just don’t make that much sense. When I went online looking for help with it, I found one tutorial and a few youtube videos, but I had to go looking for all I needed. I figured I’d do a tutorial here so both starting and casting off can be found all in one place.

To see the full tutorial, just click the jump.

Keep Evaporated Milk on Hand: Quick tip

Heather says: Always keep several cans of evaporated milk in the pantry. It has an incredibly long shelf life and can prevent an “Oh crap, we’re out of milk” trip to the store. To use a substitute for fresh milk, dilute the evaporated milk with an equal amount of water. Evaporated milk can also be …

Retro Saturday: Free Bulk Food Storage

Retro Saturdays give Ivy and I a chance to hang out with our families and gives our newer readers a peek at what’s in our archives. Please thank Ivy for holding down the fort while I took a much needed vacation with the kiddos. Heather says: My family goes through oatmeal at an amazing rate. …

Peanut Butter Recall Info

Ivy says: From our good friend Rachel at Women’s Health News, here’s a comprehensive list of the recalls from the FDA. Note how many pet products are on there. Scary! In other news, there’s a tutorial coming either tonight, tomorrow, or Sunday (nothing like being specific, ha) on how to use knitting looms. Keep an …

Lowering The Electric Bill

Ivy says: Oh, Home Eccers, I nearly forgot you! I was having a massive freakout over my electric bill this month. With the 20% TVA increase and a possible 5% fuel surcharge that we may or may not be paying, plus a surprisingly cold winter, my electric bill is the highest it’s ever been. We’re …

Ask The Audience: Advice For The Mom-To-Be

Ivy says: Last week, we advised the newlywed. This week, let’s advise a pal of mine who’s going to have a baby who I know reads this site. The very best advice I can give is this: everyone will advise you about your baby, from your mom to the little old lady at the library …

Remembering The Pleasantries

Ivy says: I watched Becoming Jane* this past weekend and was struck with one thing. People sure used to be a lot more polite than they are now. They went around bowing at each other all the time and I’m pretty sure if someone forgot a “please” or a “thank you”, they would have been …

Ceiling Fan Cleaning 101

Dear Home Ec 101, How do you clean ceiling fans? I’m especially wanting to know how you manage to clean them without dust bunnies falling down onto the furniture. Signed, A fan of fans Ivy says: I suppose, theoretically, if you cleaned your ceiling fans constantly that there’d never be any little bits of dust …

Sunday Confessional: The jacked up stuff edition

Ivy says: One might call me frugal; one might even call me cheap, especially when it comes to certain things. For example, I’ve needed new underwear for the longest time. It took Mr. Ivy begging me to spend some money and buy some underwear to get me to buy any. And even then, I bought …