Home remedies, concoctions, comforts & cures ...

Hi msOlga--I've often used toothpaste as a silver cleaner. It is very effective and gets into those hard to reach places. Using a toothbrush is the best tool. Just be careful that you don't clean up the places that are supposed to be black--those places that provide the contrast to the design in the silver.

I really should be a more regular visitor to a2k--I miss too many good threads such as this.

Ah, that's good to know, Diane!

I've you've done it, I definitely will!

I know what you mean about "contrast" & not cleaning everything so's it looks too too shiny.

Aggghhhh! I shouldn't have borrowed this little book from the library!

The chemicals & dodgy & downright harmful ingredients that are in shampoos, moisturizers, body lotions, sun screens, etc, etc, etc .... Momma mia!

LOL, msolga. It is possible to become too paranoid about some of the ingredients in everyday items we use. Keep in mind that humans are living longer than ever before. Often, articles on the dangers of certain chemicals are just as dishonest in their own way as the companies claims of lily white innocence. There are poisons that can be life giving if used in proper amounts. What some writers do is to omit the amounts needed in order to be considered dangerous.

Remember Nader's Raiders? Some of those well-meaning people lied in order to get their point across. Too bad that the good guys are sometimes almost as bad as the bad guys.

Skepticism has worked for me for lots of years....

Well, Diane, it's just plain too late to undo any long-term damage caused by these highly suspect products! I will just have to live with it, I'm afraid!
One of the few good things about not being exactly mega wealthy, is as at least the harm was not done at huge financial cost! :wink:

So, nah, I'm not about do anything too drastic, but I must admit, I was quite shocked to find out what actually is in those cosmetic & other products! Pretty outrageous, given their promises, really!

It's all marketing, my friend, with scientific sounding ingredients and drop dead gorgeous models. Yeah, I might shell out the bucks to buy it if it would make me as beautiful as some of those gals--but probably not.

Just think, between Weight Watcher's, all the diet pills and somewhat obscene sounding operations, if they were truly effective, they would be out of business by now. Hah, they're still going strong.

I'm too lazy, so I'll ask if there has been any talk about using vinegar on your floors or real beeswax candles and real herbs to make scented candles? the store bought stuff is usually filled with artificial ingedients and, sometimes, harmful chemicals.

Diotomaceous earth for killing snails? It chews up their little guts, but if you have good worms, they will succumb as well.

I can't remember where I read recently a solution to an ant problem. Musta been a magazine at work....

cornmeal, piles of cornmeal where you see the ants. They eat it, they carry it home, they can't digest it. They die.

I'm having a hard time believing it but willing to give it a try the next time I see those little buggers dancing in my sink...

It might work if that was their only source of food ....


I dont know how one could assure that it was

Hey shewolf-good to see ya.

The cornmeal or diatomaceous earth works because ants will eat anything. I don't know if eating cornmeal kills them quickly because their digestive systems stop functioning after trying to digest cornmeal or for some other reason. Maybe it, like diatomaceous earth just rips up their tummies. Cornmeal might actually be better because it is probably too coarse for earth worms, so they wouldn't be put at risk.

I need to look it up to see how it functions.

Hey shewolf-good to see ya.

The cornmeal or diatomaceous earth works because ants will eat anything. I don't know if eating cornmeal kills them quickly because their digestive systems stop functioning after trying to digest cornmeal or for some other reason. Maybe it, like diatomaceous earth just rips up their tummies. Cornmeal might actually be better because it is probably too coarse for earth worms, so they wouldn't be put at risk.

I need to look it up to see how it functions.

Here are a few solutions:

http://www.hwforums.com/2024/messages/3916.html

i have found LOTS of ways to get rid of them, vinifar, cayenne, citric extracts, cinnamon, cream of tartar, salt, and belive it or not purfume! you can use cloves, peppermint oils, black pepper, chili powder and cornmeal. you can also make something that will kill them using 1 part active yeast, 2 part mollasses and 1 part sugar. or u can use grits and that will make them explode.... but use instant grits, they work better and yea thats all i found oh yea if u put half ivory soap and half windex in a spray bottle it will kill them good.

Here are a few of Jerry's tonics for critter control.
ANT CONTROL TONIC #1
4 to 5 tbsp. cornmeal
3 tbsp. bacon grease
3 tbsp. baking powder
3 packages of yeast (I would opt for the rapid rise)
Mix cornmeal & bacon grease into a paste, then add baking powder &
yeast. Dab the gooey mix on the insides of jar lids, and
set them near the ant hills.
When ants eat this mixture, they swell up and go to the big ant hill in
the sky.

Cut pieces of the herb tansy and put on windowsills and other places they enter.

My concern isn't about a product making me ravishing, Diane, (too late, too late! ) it's the quite utterly dangerous stuff that's actually in some of those products! Even some of the cheaper ones that don't make extravagant promises!

EeeeK!

Revisited this thread to read the prince's pronouncements on coconut oil & hair:



I'm going to give it another go!

Go it: Pure coconut oil, washed out the next with an organic shampoo!

Thanks again, G!

Earlier on in this thread (around 2005, I think!) we were discussing relief from itching & mosquito bites. Just want to tell you (speaking as a mosquito magnet! ) that I've discovered aloe vera to be as good as any bought ointment, spray, or whatever .... And it's really fast-acting, too. Just cut a little from the spike (or stem, or whatever you'd call it) and apply to the itchy or bitten area. It's terrific!

we are an aging community. ancient, in fact.

Right re the aloe vera. I like to keep a plant going, as I like them anyway.

But wise, dag ... very, very wise! Veterans & gurus!

Actually, I really enjoyed re-reading this thread ... even after I'd found G's coconut oil remedy. Just amazing, coming across all those lovely & funny folk one no longer sees here. A2K's loss, I think.

Ok, then! ... anyone have a few home remedies for old (A2K) codgers?

Like ... for wrinkles, receding hair-lines & memory loss?

Yes, I like them, too. (Very 1950s)