Fixing the Clock on a Toyota Corolla

Our Toyota Corolla's clock had stop working. It worked intermittently for a while, but then stopped completely. I watched a YouTube video on how to fix it. The video was nice, but lacking details that a female would probably want to know. Also, the sound was really low, so here's my own tutorial.

1) Use a flat head screwdriver to pry up the plastic piece surrounding the shifting thing. (Wow. Thank God for pictures. Who knew my car part vocabulary was this atrocious?!)

You have to lift up firmly until it pops off.

2) Grab the center knob of the A/C controls and pull straight out. Then use a Phillips head screwdriver to take out the one screw underneath.



3) Pull out the face of the control piece. Once again, measured force is required.


4) Disconnect the wires that are going to the back of the clock.


5) Pull out the clock. I thought this was the hardest part. It's held in by four tabs, two on either side of the clock, and it's near impossible to hold all four down at once so that you can remove the clock. You, dear reader, will benefit from my pain and blood loss by observing the little trick I came up with. Pull out one side of the case so that you can insert a credit card. Then pull apart the other side.

6) Find the four, numbered chips nearest the white connector. The clock has likely stopped working because the soldered connection on one or more has failed. On my clock, you could not see anything wrong. I simply touched my (hot) soldering iron to each side of each chip to refresh the solder. You could also add more solder if you have some on hand.



7) Plug the clock back in and turn the car on. (No need to start it.) Your clock should work! If not, perhaps the soldering didn't take. Try again or perhaps there's another issue...

Easy Peasy Chore Sticks!

My 4-year-old is still too young for me to say "clean up the living room" or "take everything that goes in your room back there." So I end up sitting on the couch, telling him what to do line by line. Exhausting! Enter chore sticks!

I saw much fancier versions on Pinterest, but I lack fancy crafting tools. So I bought a pack of colored craft sticks at Lakeshore and wrote individual chores on the sticks. I used the colors for each room that the thing is in. (Red sticks indicate a living room chore, e.g.) This is not so much for him, but so I can more quickly find the chore I'm looking for to put in his "To Do" jar. Here's how it works:

1) There are two jars: "to do" and "all done." (Right now they're in glass jars, but I might sew a little two pocket system when I have time.)

2) Put chores you want to be done in the "to do" jar. Then you dictate when they must be "all done" (e.g. before lunch, before you play Wii).

3) They do one chore at a time and bring you the stick when they think they've completed the chore.

4) You confirm that the chore is done to your liking and if so, hand it back to them and say "All done!"

5) They get really excited and put their stick back in the "all done" jar.

Classical Conversations :: Cycle 3, Week 3

Printing a Large Map

I finally figured out how to print a large US map for us to work on at home. (You can also buy them at Lakeshore Learning for $4. I will probably buy a Lakeshore map anyway, so that we can practice tracing... Or save money and laminate the one I just printed!)

1) Find a large image to print (I used this one http://www.freeusandworldmaps.com/images/USPrintable/USA52BlankBWPrint.jpg)

2) Open that image in Microsoft Paint (not sure about the Apple equivalent; sorry!)

3) Page Setup > Scaling > Fit to: 2 by 1

4) Print

Science Experiment Sheets

There's a great prepared set on the CC forum: https://www.classicalconversations.com/component/ccfilesharing/index.php?option=com_ccfilesharing&task=downloadFile&fileid=3260e77de0f59de4f64c7ad9ab1ffa30

We're going to print these and fill them out each week as we discuss the science experiment we did in class.

CC Week 1

Here's what I may do this week in addition to working on reading, planning our presentation, and practicing memory work. I'll likely just pick 2-4.

Math - Skip counting paper toy

http://thetoymaker.com/Otter/Ottercarousel/1Browniemath/SKIPCOUNTER1.pdf

http://thetoymaker.com/Otter/Ottercarousel/1Browniemath/SKIPCOUNTER2.pdf

Drawing - Practice drawing and identifying angles, curves, lines, dots and circles

Geography - Do pages for New England states in $1 spot book from Target & color some maps:

http://www.infoplease.com/tv/printables/kt_maps/kt_map_usa.pdf

http://www.infoplease.com/tv/printables/kt_maps/kt_map_newengland.pdf

History - Columbus mini-book with room to illustrate

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/holiday/columbus-mini-book.pdf

Handwriting - [Look for pre-handwriting sheets online with traceable lines]

Also, I created a simple plan sheet for our weekly activities: Weekly Planner

Leaking Water Heater

Last night I noticed water sitting in our electric hot water heater drain pan. Wop wop. So this morning I have been researching water heater leaks and such. (By the way, have you ever noticed how redundant it is to say "hot water heater"? Yet so many people, myself included, say that...)

Apparently, if your tank only needs to be repaired, leaks usually come from one of three areas: 1) the two water pipes coming in/out of the tank, 2) the pressure valve drain pipe (it would be dripping out of the pipe on the outside of the tank), and 3) the gaskets on the heating elements. The first two of these can be checked by looking on the outside of the tank. To check the heating elements, you have to shut off power to the tank, and then unscrew the cover plates. Look for signs of leaks.

Image Source

Ours is not leaking from any of those places. The most likely scenario is that the inside of the tank has corroded. Water heater tanks are usually made of glass-coated steel. The water inside will eat away at the steel, causing the tank to deteriorate. To prevent this, the manufacturer inserts a metal rod through the top of the tank. This rod, called the anti-corrosion or sacrificial anode, is made from magnesium or aluminium and will corrode in lieu of the steel.

Top: new anode rod; Bottom: anode rod overdue for replacement! Image source

Periodically (depending on your water quality), the anode rod needs to be checked and replaced. If this is done regularly, the water heater could last 10 or 20 years. If not, it could die of corrosion in 6 or 7.

I found this outstanding video on how to replace your anode rod on the This Old House website.

Perhaps I can convince the husband to help me replace our tank this weekend. According to my dad, it would be difficult for a novice, but the Home Depot Home Improvement 1-2-3 book rates water heater installation only Medium on the Skill Scale. Hooray!

Getting the Smell Out of a Pickle Jar

I noticed last time I was at my parents' that they have a great collection of very large pickle jars. My dad says he just can't throw them away. Who can blame him?! I mean look at this thing! An 80-ounce glass jar? It's crying to be reused.



Problem is, it smells like pickles. And this will make anything I put in it smell like pickles too. I washed and washed and couldn't get the smell out. Finally after a bit of research, I have a method that works.

Pour in a little baking soda (I used about 1/4 cup) and add two squirts of liquid dish soap.



Boil some water and slowly pour into your jar. (If you pour too quickly, it will foam up and make a big mess.)

Close the lid and let it sit!



The idea is that during the canning process, the hot glass absorbs the vinegar. By pouring boiling water in, you allow the glass to expand. This releases the vinegar, which is neutralized by the soda. Then the soap lifts it away. And that is your pseudo-science lesson if the day!

Seriously though, I'm not sure if that's exactly what happens, but it works. Just make sure to set the jar upside down in the sink for a while so that you get the lid clean too.



Ta-da! Clean, and clean-smelling!

Mirin

I once saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen in which they tested different brands of mirin, which is a sweet rice wine used in Chinese cooking. Even though I don't use it very often, I frowned when I saw Chris Kimball stick out his tongue in disgust at the kind I had in my cabinet. "This tastes like straight glucose syrup," he said.

So this week, when I knew I'd be making scallion pancakes with mirin dipping sauce, I decided to take a special trip to HMart* to seek out a better mirin. There were about 7 different kinds. It seemed at first that all were made with either glucose or corn syrup. Also, they all seemed to be contain quite a lot of sugars. (7 grams per tablespoon.) Finally, after a full ten minutes staring at labels written mostly in Asian languages, I found one made with sugar. Hurrah!



On the left you see the apparently dreadful, yet common, Kikkoman mirin at which Chris Kimball turned up his nose. On the right is (what I hope is) the good kind. I can't even tell you what language that is, much less read it. (I suspect it's Japanese.)

Compare the labels:






Kikkoman ingredients and nutrition facts (above) versus:






Jozo Mirin-- made with sugar and only 2g/T!

*HMart is an international grocery store. There are several around DC, though none in the city. GranMart is comparable.

Deadheading Basil

Last year was one of the hottest summers on record in DC, so we didn't spend as much time on the garden as we should have. But I tried to maintain the basil so that we could have plenty of pesto for the winter.

Typically, when annual herbs start to flower, it signals the end of their life. This is true for basil, cilantro, dill and others. (Perennial herbs like sage, oregano and thyme will flower and grow bushy, but they'll repeat the process year after year. You should cut these back after the growing season.)

Anyway, the annual herbs perform better and longer when you pinch off the flower buds as they appear. In the case of basil, once the plants start to produce flowers, the leaves will get really small. They'll still be usable, but they're more annoying to pinch off to make your pesto. In order to get the nice, big leaves like you can buy at the supermarket, you need to keep your basil flower-free.

Basil plants run rampant:

Pinching off all of the flower and top 2-3 leaves:

Much better:

Homeopathy for Babies

Our six-month-old has been sick with the sniffles and teething. I've been trying to move away from giving my kids Tylenol and Ibuprofen, because I have read about bad effects from longterm use. Enter the Hyland's Kids Kit!

After a bit of research, I ordered this 7-piece kit off Amazon. It contains child-size dosages for common ailments (fever, bruises, inflammation, coughs, runny noses, etc.). I have long wanted to learn more about homeopathy but haven't had time yet. So far I've learned that homeopathy is based on the principle that "like cures like." That's to say that if something in nature causes symptoms like the ones you have, taking that something in a tiny dose will also cure those symptoms.

As that is about the extent of my knowledge, I rely heavily on the easy-to-use remedies made by Boiron and Hyland's. (Although my husband and I swear by a semi-obscure one to get rid of post-nasal drip. It's called Hydrastis Canadensis or Goldenseal.)

For the last two days, I've been giving the little one both Chamomilla (for teething and irritability) and Hepar Sulphuris (for runny nose and cough). It has really worked. Her runny nose dried up, and she seems more pleasant. Additionally, when I missed a dose or two, the symptoms returned.

There are plenty of nay-sayers when it comes to homeopathy. The primary criticisms are 1) the active ingredients are so diluted that any salubrious workings are due only to the placebo effect, and 2) the active ingredients in these "sugar pills" are often toxic in nature.

Perhaps I don't fully understand their argument, but it seems a bit contradictory to me. Here are my thoughts on the subject:

1) I like the idea that God created plants and other things that, when used medicinally, will help heal even our commonest ailments.

2) There is an ever-expanding list of drugs and medicines that have been concocted by scientists using animal poisons, so it makes sense to me that plant poisons could also be beneficial.

3) Don't vaccines work by giving someone a tiny/ineffectual bit of bad stuff? Why couldn't things in nature work the same way?

4) I have experienced these medicines work. And I don't mind paying ~ $3 per cold, even if it is only the placebo effect that's making me feel better.

Fixing the Trash Can

No guarantee that this blog will be useful to the average person, and this entry is a shining example. Or unshining, as it were: the trashcan! Our pedal has been broken for months. We haven't had a lot of breakthroughs lately and I was determined to accomplish something yesterday.



This a picture of the bottom of the can. That metal hook you see on the right is part of a long rod that runs the length of the can. When you step on the pedal, it gets pushed up and lifts the trashcan lid. As you see, the relevant plastic part snapped off and no longer affects the metal hook.



I removed the whole bottom pedal piece and trimmed a paint stir stick to fit so that when pressed, the stick would push up that metal hook piece and raise the lid.



I was able to trim it by scoring it on both sides with regular scissors and them snapping it in two.



Then I superglued it in place and wrapped it with duct tape for good measure.



Putting it back together was only slightly tricky. The metal rod that holds the pedal on must be inserted underneath that metal plate piece.



Here it is all finished! Open and shut!

Seeds of Change

Look what came in the mail today! We were so excited when we opened up the non-descript, anthrax-scare-inducing envelope to find no bio-chemical weapons, but rather 25 gorgeous seed packets from Seeds of Change!

All their seeds are organic with no genetically modified organisms. A few weeks ago we took part in their Sowing Millions Project in which they gave away 100 million seeds. We paid $4.99 for shipping and they sent us 25 packs of vegetable, herb and flower seeds for free! What a deal! All day I've been going back and forth thinking: 1) I should have requested one for all my family members to get the most out of this deal, and 2) it's probably a good thing I didn't, because I'm not sure it would have been the moral high ground. :)

Around the Garden

In the movie "It's Complicated," Meryl Streep's character has a gorgeous, awe-inspiring, and absolutely unrealistic culinary garden. I read an article a few months ago about just how fake the garden really was. So here are a few pictures of our real-life garden last summer and the produce that came from it.

My tomatoes get some sort of fungus every year. I think it's either fusarium or verticullum. I even bought Rutgers VFA seeds last year, which were supposed to be resistant. There is no good way to get rid of the fungus once it hits. It will slowly destroy the plant. You can slow its progress by pinching off and discarding infected branches.

Apparently, the best ways to prevent it are rotating crops, sunning/tilling soil during winter, and possibly bleaching the soil. I don't think I'm ready to get that serious about it, especially since we have to travel to get to our garden plot. Perhaps I'd be more aggressive if it were in my own backyard.

We've got six large cucumbers off this one plant. Most of them came after the verticullum wilt had already set in. (This is a disease carried by cucumber beetles.)

Lovely tomatoes, a cucumber and some Korean hot peppers. I believe the tomatoes split because we had a long dry period (during which I neglected to water) followed by a few big rains.