EPISODE #118 - SATURDAY JULY 7, 2012

Are you sealed up? The heat has returned and that means we are trying to stay cooler in the house. Make sure your ‘winter’ weather stripping is ready for summer. If you did everything last fall for keeping your home warm during the winter, those little things will let you stay cooler in the summer too! It is not too late. Tackle those weather stripping chores today for a more comfortable summer.

We would like to congratulate Kathy S. as our winner of the Milo’s City Café gift card. Her name was drawn out of all our Facebook friends. Stay tuned for our next giveaway!

Budget Kitchen Makeover - Style

We recently visited with Linda Gemal from Rejuvenate Your Home (503-803-8000) to learn the first steps on how you can remodel your kitchen on a budget. This week she walked us through some of the areas where you can add your own special touch to the decorating to make it stand out. Linda started with the counter tops. She was able to keep her old tile countertops and add new tiles, that didn’t exactly match, by using a border of a lighter tile to tie them all together. She also brought the same colors in to the kitchen as a backsplash with some simple tile sheets from Home Depot. Another place where you can change things up is with drawer pulls and hinges. Just something as simple as changing the hardware can really make a difference. Linda also showed us how she was able to shop the discount cabinet stores for some surplus cabinets. She was able to tie them together by connecting countertops and a coat of paint. And that was the final tip from Linda. If you only had one thing you could do in your kitchen, it would be to paint. Painting is easy and cheap and it can make a splash in a hurry!

New Knobs

Looking to make a quick style change in your kitchen? It can be easily done by simply changing the knobs and hardware on your cabinets. A couple of minutes, and a screwdriver and you can brighten your mood and your kitchen!
 

 


Fire on the Mountain Oreos

Fire on the Mountain (503-230-9464) is a great local restaurant with 2 locations in the Portland area. It is basically a 'wing joint', but has a full menu of delicious dishes. Co-owner Jordan Busch is known for the 'heat' and variety of sauces that they make in the stores. You can come in and try out a sauce or you can buy a bottle to take home. They also have sauces available at some of the specialty grocery stores in the area. Robin learned the hard way to do a small taste first!

Jordan decided to share a recipe with us, but it was not one of his sauce recipes (we'll work on him to do that in the future). Instead, he decided to show us how they make their deep fried Oreos. All you need are some Oreos, pancake batter and an deep oil fryer. Simply coat the Oreos in the pancake batter, and drop them into the hot oil. Cook them for 2 minutes on each side and pull them out. Coat them with powdered sugar, serve them with ice cream or eat them plain. Just don't think about the calories! This is a recipe for guilty enjoyment. If you don't want to try it at home you can get some tasty ones at Fire on the Mountain! Fire on the Mountain was recommended to us by Sysco Portland, suppliers of quality products to the restaurant industry.

Sanderson Fire Extinguishers

We all know that fire extinguishers are important for the safety of our families and property, but there the important differences in the types of fire extinguishers that are available to the homeowner so we stopped by Sanderson Safety Supply (503-238-5700) to talk with Geoff about the different types and how to use them. First of all you may have noticed a letter designation on the front of your extinguisher, an A-B-C or a combination of those letters. Those letters refer to the type of fire that the extinguisher can treat. 'A' means a paper or wood combustible. 'B' refers to liquids and 'C' deals with electrical fires. So an ABC extinguisher can handle all of those different fires in your home.

The most important areas for placing an extinguisher is a kitchen, a garage (near your furnace or hot water heater), and your sleeping areas. The first areas are where you are most likely to encounter a fire and the last area is for your safety if a fire happens during the night. Make sure the equipment is accessible for use too. Don't bury it in a closet.

To use the extinguisher you would use the PASS technique. That means 'Pull, Aim, Squeeze and Sweep'. Pull the pin, aim at the base of the fire, squeeze the handle and sweep at the base of the flames. Remember to keep the fire extinguisher up-right while using it too. When you use a fire extinguisher you are trying to remove the heat and the oxygen from the fire which are 2 of the 3 items from the fire triangle that maintain the fire (the 3rd is to remove the combustible material). If you have a fire extinguisher make sure you maintain it and if you don't then consider getting one (or two) for your home.

Organizing your Bathroom

Counter space is at a premium in the home and that is especially true in the bathroom. We asked Linda Gemal from Rejuvenate your Home (503-803-8000) to give us some tips on how to organize your bathroom cabinets. Most people have quite a mess under their cabinets. In the bathroom the clutter is really bad. Organizing this space is tough; there are water pipes and drains to consider. First, clean out the area you are trying to organize and then measure the space under the sink and find out what type of room you have to work with. Take these measurements to the local home improvement or container store. Look for someone that can point you in the right direction and help you make an efficient space. Linda went to the Container Store and found a lot of fun and functional drawers and bins. Linda picked out some trays that had rollers and were stackable. She also picked out ones that were clear so she can see what are in the drawers without opening them. Once she had them installed you can really see how much better the space is organized. There is much more room for storage and it is much cleaner too. What a great way to take control of your bathroom again.

Travel Packing

Soooo, you are getting ready for the annual family vacation, or maybe you are trying to get too much into your suitcase for that quick business trip and you can’t fit everything in that you need. Well, Dan Lerma from The Container Store (503-620-5700) joined us to give us some tips on travel packing. The first tip is to be organized. Contact the destination to find out what they have already there and then make a list of things you need to take to fill in the gaps. This could be stuff like toiletries, or even maps and brochures of tourist destinations. Second, if you are flying, remember 3-1-1. This means your liquids are limited to 3 ounces or less per item, in a 1 quart bag and 1 carry-on bag. Of course if you check your luggage you can pack bigger bottles of liquids (check with your airline). Next consider weight. Lightweight bags and suitcases will help you stay under the weight limits that airlines have these days. Now if all this seems confusing you can check out the Container Store for Packing Demonstrations at their stores or just ask an associate for tips.

 
 

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This page last modified July 13, 2012.