Travel Shampoo and Conditioner

I believe I read about this travel tip (or maybe my husband told me about it) but just hadn't gotten around to posting it here yet. I tried it this weekend and it works great.

I filled an old contact case with shampoo on one side and conditioner on the other. Then carried that with me on my trip. It's enough for one shower and doesn't take up much space in my toiletry bag. I actually had several old contact cases so I filled up two. It obviously wouldn't work on a long trip or if you had really long hair or like A LOT of shampoo, but for a short trip, it was great for me!

Creamed Eggs

I'm visiting my Dad and he made a breakfast recipe that he made when I was a kid. I've always wanted the recipe. I got it from him tonight, so I'm posting it here before I forget it. They may not sound good, but they are!!!

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups cold milk
2 cups shredded cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
6 boiled eggs

Melt butter in saucepan. Add in flour and stir slowly as it thickens. Add milk and cheese and stir until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slice boiled eggs and add to sauce. Serve over toast or biscuit. Yummy!

Plantwire

Plantwire is a fun, easy way to find and learn about plants. Information is provided on many of the world's most beautiful, interesting, and important plants.

You can search by plant name, flower color, or by tags. The database now includes over 300 plants and is growing quickly. More than 6000 images are included.

Greeting Card Organization

This was a tip that was sent to me...BUT I already do it! But I thought I'd share it here.

Quick Tip:
If you send out a bunch of birthday cards, consider doing them all at once. Write the date they need to be sent where the stamp goes and keep them in chronological order. When you mail them out the stamp will cover the date.

Google Health

(Well, it may take me a while to get all my "health" recorded, but it looks kinda cool.)

Google Health puts you in charge of your health information. It's safe, secure, and free.

  • Organize your health information all in one place
  • Gather your medical records from doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies
  • Keep your doctors up to date about your health
  • Be more informed about important health issues

SeatGuru and TripKick

I thought I had already posted about SeatGuru. You can look up any seat on any airplane with any airline and it will tell you which seats are best to book. Maybe not a huge deal for short flights, but priceless for long ones!

Now there is TripKick that will tell you the best rooms to book at a particular hotel. I looked up the Drake Hotel in Chicago

How to Pit an Avocado

I thought I knew how...but I didn't know the last trick!
Check out the handy video.

Mood Swings

Pick your mood, click the button and Wild Mood Swings will open an appropriate website in a new window.

I put in "moany" and was led to a website on how to complain.
I put in "on top of the world" and was led to the astronomy picture of the day.

Kinda cool.

Forkchops

I don't know when I'd ever need these, but I just have this feeling that one day I might!!

Fork, Knife, Chopsticks!
FORKCHOPS

TravelZoo's Top 20

I love this new email subscription! TravelZoo's Top 20. Every week you get an email with the top 20 travel deals for that week...hotels, flights, car rentals, etc. I haven't used any yet, but I hope that one day it will lead to my dream of a spontaneous trip to a fun place! You can sign up here.

DelayCast

DelayCast is a website that can tell travelers the chance of encountering delays on a particular trip. I'll have to try it out next time I travel!

Cookthink

Wouldn't it be cool to have a tool that could listen to what you were craving and then suggest something good to cook? Cookthink is that tool. To find a recipe based on what you're craving, tell Cookthink what you want, choose ingredients, what kind of cuisine you want and what mood you're in.

For ingredient, I chose cheese. For cuisine, I chose middle-eastern. For mood, I chose excited. Cookthink suggested Asparagus-Fontina Gratin, which sounded great to me!

ZIPSkinny

This is a cool website that gives stats, demographics, maps, and school information of any zip code.

Food Blog

My husband sent this food blog to me...some pretty tasty stuff.
BlakeMakes

Wikitravel

Wikitravel is a project to create a free, complete, up-to-date, and reliable worldwide travel guide. So far we have 18,478 destination guides and other articles written and edited by Wikitravellers from around the globe.

Dry Skin Remedy

This lotion was recommended to me by a friend. I haven't tried it yet, but will next winter!

Hand and Foot Smoother Retexturizing Seaweed Therapy

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Eclair Dessert

This is one I want to try...haven't yet.

1 3/4 cup milk
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip, thawed
24 graham crackers
6 square of semi-sweet baking chocolate
3 Tbs. butter

Pour milk into large bowl. Add pudding and mix until well blended. Add peanut butter and stir. Gently stir in Cool Whip. Layer 1/3 of the graham crackers and half the pudding mixture in a 9x13 dish, breaking crackers if needed. Repeat layers. Top with remaining grahams.

Microwave chocolate and butter on high for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Spread evenly over crackers.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

Russian Chicken

This recipe doesn't sound good, but it is!

1 large bottle of Russian salad dressing
10 oz. apricot preserves
1 packet of Lipton dry onion soup mix
1 cup mayonnaise
6-8 Boneless Chicken Breasts

Mix the first 4 ingredients together and pour over chicken breasts. Cover and cook at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Coma Cake

This is a new cake recipe I've made several times recently. My husband has begun to refer to it as "Coma Cake" because he claims it puts you into a coma shortly after eating it. It's easy and good!

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 large box of instant chocolate pudding
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
Cool Whip

Mix the first 6 ingredients until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into a bundt pan and cook at 350 degrees for one hour. (I've had to use different sized pans...but made sure to adjust my cooking time.)

You can drizzle some dark chocolate over the top and serve with Cool Whip.

How many bottles needed?

Equation:
# of guests x # of hours/12 = # of bottles needed

(Assuming that the average guest will consume one 1.5oz cocktail per hour and that each 750 mL bottle of liquor serves an estimated 12 cocktails.)