It’s time to write about what matters and I don’t mean health, happiness and love.  I mean the stuff that really gets you through the day.

Take the Foley Jar Opener for example.  While President Obama tackles health care, high unemployment and continuing home foreclosures, he might have a greater impact on the world if he found a way to get the Foley manufactured again.

This clever device patented in the late 1950s and commonly found in stores through the 1960s is the only gadget that reliably opens every jar, every time.  It fits any lid, it never slips; its adaptable, durable and unlike any other jar opener it provides leverage against the vacuum sealed lid.  There isn’t a speck of plastic on the thing. The Foley is all metal.  It lasts forever, which I think was it’s undoing.  Everybody who needed one eventually got one and the company probably couldn’t wait for the population to increase.  I don’t know what happened to the Foley name, but people who visit my home often ask where I got my unique jar opener.  I tell them the place to find them is the 1960s.

All the years I was growing up, I watched Mom and Dad accumulate things which they packed from the attic to the basement and inside the barn on our property on Chandler Street in Worcester.  Then, after decades of acquisitions, they turned on a dime to start the process in reverse.  Suddenly all the stuff became a burden to them.  Every time I visited home from Syracuse they encouraged me to take things.  One day, I took the Foley and I’ve been grateful for my wise selection and my parent’s generosity ever since.

On a visit to my home in Syracuse a few years ago, my sisters noticed the gadget in my kitchen and said ‘oh you got the jar opener” as if I got the heirloom silver.  We proceeded to have a discussion about the complete tragedy these things aren’t manufactured anymore which is why I call on the President.  If anyone can get them going again, he can.

Here are some other indispensable items of my life.  Simple Green household cleanser.  Nothing cuts the grease better than this.  I buy gallon refills and fill up the same quart spray bottle.  Surprising too, because its eco-friendly.

Tilex is another product with more uses than you think.  It’s not just for removing mildew off bathroom tile.  It’s for removing mildew off anything.  Before I paint an exterior door I spray Tilex on the wood.  Mildew is a little organism that grows and eats paint.  If you don’t kill it your paint job won’t last long.

I spray Tilex into the humidifer reservoir to keep it from getting swampy in the winter.  I spray the bird bath and rinse it of slime, I spray the inside of the washing machine occasionally to freshen up the drum.  Be careful not to get any on your clothing.  Mildicide is not as caustic as bleach, but concentrated drops of it can do damage to your clothing.

Barkeeper’s Friend and a toothbrush.  This gentle abrasive makes pots and pans look like new, and the toothbrush clears out the gunk from the rivets, but the one-two punch does great work on polishing things too.  I love to clean things that give me a dramatic before and after.  This is at the top of my list for that.

A friend recently approached me in the grocery store and asked what skin care products I use.  I told her I use only one, on my face, my body, even on my lips. It’s 100 percent shea butter from Africa.  I order it online but there’s a little store on East Jefferson Street near South Salina that I’m told has it as well.  There are no fillers or preservatives, it’s just pure nutty shea butter and it’s great for the whole family.

Back to the Foley Jar Opener.   I turned to the best resource for stuff that’s impossible to find and bought up a few Foley’s on eBay.  I’d love to know if there’s an indipensable item I’ve yet to discover and I’ll provide incentive to the readers of this blog to share their ideas.

Win a Foley!

If I can get 25 people to leave a comment below, I’ll send one of my Foley’s to the first person who writes and to the 25th. It won’t cost you anything and I don’t have ten pages of rules for you to accept.  I just want 25 different people to post a comment.   Tell your family and friends, anywhere in the country.  I’ll wait one week to approve and publish them, and I promise to post them in the order they came in, so don’t worry if you don’t see yours or anyone else’s until Tuesday, November 3rd.  That’s Election Day.   Start typing….

UPDATE:  We’re off and running.  Comments are coming in.  Winners of the Foleys; the first and 25th readers who comment, as well as all the remarks will be posted the evening of November 3rd.

SON OF UPDATE:  One more day, not up to 25 comments yet.  Tell your friends and have them post.

It’s the dead of winter and there’s a vampire in your house.  It’s sucking the moisture out of your body as sure as Dracula got good blood out of young women in gauzey gowns.

If you think your house is as dry as the Sahara Desert, you’re wrong.  It’s drier.  The Sahara has an average relative humidity of 25 percent. If the temperature outside is 0, and your thermostat is set at 70 degrees, the relative humidity in your home is 4 percent.  That’s not even close to the ideal of 20 to 60 percent.

When the air inside is too dry, skin itches and cracks, hair flies from static electricity, and wood furniture contracts and deteriorates.    Too much humidity, and your home grows mold and mildew, metal corrodes and wood decays.  So it’s important to keep a balance.

You probably know when the air in your home is uncomfortably dry.   It just feels awful.  But if you live in or near the southern states, and you’re unsure of the humidity in your home, here’s a simple test.

Place three ice cubes in a glass, add water and stir.  Wait three minutes.  If moisture does not form on the outside of the glass, your home is too dry.  Since air seeks it’s own balance of moisture, humidity will be taken where it lies, and that includes house plants, wood furniture, and you.  Your body becomes a walking humidifier in the dry air. Ouch.

Keep the moisture vampire away with these free sources of humidity.

First, whenever you have the heat on in your home, don’t use a fan in the bathroom as you shower.  It will be a little foggy for a moment, but as soon as you are dressed, open the door and vent the humidity into the rest of your home.
Second, save money by line-drying some or all of your clothes.  Electric dryers are basically dehumidifiers.  We pay to send the humidity out of the house.  That’s a great idea in the summer, but why do it in the winter?  If you hang your wet clothing, you’ll save money on electricity, you’ll dry your clothes for free, and you’ll humidify your home as the moisture evaporates.

And lastly, if you have a dishwasher with an optional “heat dry” feature, make sure you run your load without activating that option.  When your dishes are clean, simply open the machine door, pull out the two racks of wet dishes, and see how quickly they dry by themselves.  Again, you’ll add moisture to your room, and you’ll save money on electricity by not drying dishes which will dry on their own anyway.

And after all that housework, give your hands a break.   After you wash them, don’t dry them with a towel.  Just shake them off and apply moisturizer to your damp skin.  Your house will be clean and your hands will say thank you.