Pantyhose Tip #14 Chigger Free Gardening

I was thinking back to last summer. Our back yard was so nice... except for the chiggers. I thought the little red spiders I saw on the deck were chiggers (apparently, though, they are just mites. I was wrong. There, I said it.)

Anyway, on an unrelated site, I read that hunters sometimes wear pantyhose under their pants to keep chiggers and ticks off. Aside from the really great visual of hunters putting on pantyhose, I think this idea could be just the thing this summer during chigger weather. And I will definitely wear them if I go walking at Wilson's Creek... that place is full of ticks. I still have scars.

Pantyhose Tip#13 Non-stick Rolling Pin

The other day, I was on a cooking website, and I found this tip. In the spirit of full disclosure, I haven't yet used my rolling pin. I mean ever. So this means I have also not yet tested this tip. But here it is:

Take a section of pantyhose leg. Slide your rolling pin inside, and tie off the ends. This will prevent dough from sticking. Apparently.

Looks like I've got some baking to do.

Pantyhose tip #11 Bath Tea Bag

Once, I got a very fancy bath gift. It was a gallon of dried herbs and rose hips and orange peels. It came with a special bath tea ball, that looked just like a regular tea ball only MUCH bigger. It smelled sooo good, only I could never get the tea ball to seal completely. That meant little bits of herbs would float into the bath and stick to me when I got out. Yuck.

To get around that, I replaced the tea ball with a section of pantyhose. Make your own tea bag by using ingredients like oatmeal (soften skin) lavender (calming) peppermint (invigorating) or any number of other herbs for their scent or effect. Use old herbal teas (past their 'drink by' date) like chamomile and mint. Use it to corral your epsom salts, so you don't have to feel that grainyness as you bathe.

Put your tea bag in your bath as it fills, or just let it float around and steep. If you've attached a tie to the bag, you can attach it to the faucet and let the water filter through it, then let it float around with you in your bath.

Make Pet Toys

Topher, our cat, prefers the home made toys. At first, we felt bad not spending money on him. He is, after all, our little baby. I mean, just look at that face!

But as it turns out, his favorite toys are made from other things. Here is the list, as well as how they were made:

• Tin Foil Ball- Tin foil, made into a ping-pong sized ball. Compress it with a spoon for a shiny finish.
  
• Milk Ring Danger Mouth- The ring off a container of milk. It has plastic teeth, making MRDM a challenging opponent.
  
• Cat Fishin‘ Game- a cluster of strips for the “lure” (I made ours from a plastic bag, but I am going to change it to paper, since he sometimes catches it and I don't want him to eat plastic) fastened to a guitar string for the “line”, fastened to a stick for the “pole”. It's crazy good times.
  
• Catnip Dim Sum*- the toe of an old athletic sock, stuffed with homegrown, organic catnip and stitched up to look like a delicious dumpling.

Topher also really likes the glue stick, but I need that, so we don't count it as one of his toys. Make something for your pet, just be sure it's sturdy enough to take their rough play without falling apart, and that it has no small parts that might accidentally be swallowed. And don't use anything dangerous, of course. Click here are some ideas for homemade dog toys.

*to my dismay, Topher actually prefers a ratty, well-loved, store bought toy to Dim Sum. It's an eggplant filled with catnip that cannot possibly be as good as the catnip I grew, yet, he loves it so much it is often soggy with love spit.

Pantyhose Tip #9 Find Small Things

Lost something small, like an earring, a sewing needle, maybe a bead? Try this:

Stretch a section of wrecked panty hose over the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner, then vacuum around the area where you think you lost the thing... jewelry comes to mind, but it can be any small, hard to see thing. The vacuum will suck up the stuff around without sucking it into the bag.

Pantyhose Tip #4 Grass Head Project

(I am making a point of only posting stuff I actually do, or have tried. In this case, though, I am making an exception because I think if I had kids, this is something we'd make.)

Create a science project/chia pet type craft. (I would have added a starburst, but alas, I could not.) It’s Mr. Grass Head.
Cut the leg off a pair of ruined pantyhose. Up by the toe, add a face. Then, put in some grass seeds. (I am not sure if alfalfa spouts or chia would work. Maybe!) Then, add some soil. Tie this off, and place in a small container of water, like an old baby jar or a yogurt cup. Add face, details to the front, and trim the hair as necessary.