Happy new year!

All volunteers of Action for Autism wish you an amazing, colourfull and enjoyable 2011!!

Aftershave in the winter

In the winter the skin gets dryer and more delicate.
One needs to ad moisturiser and prevent further drying.

I've heard quite some men complain about their aftershaves these past weeks and it makes me smile.
They shouldn't complain about their aftershaves, but about their lack of knowledge.

Aftershave contains alcohol and alsohol dries the skin.
So use something else when you want to shave yourself.

Greeting the troops

Last year a friend was serving abroad and we requested many songs on their radio to cheer him up.
We were even asked for an interview, because we were the most serious requesters and the most dedicated ones.

Then he came home.
He said nothing about it all, and not even said a small thank you.

When there was finally a chance to ask him how he experienced the greetings from us, it turned out he didn;'t hear a thing, not even the interview which was made especially for him.

So when you send greetings to the troops, also send them in such a way that they can't be missed: just in an envelope in the mail.

Animals at the change of years

It's almost december 31 with the turmoil on the streets and the fireworks.

Are you aware that many animals are terribly afraid those hours?

It helps to have a meeting with the people in the neighbourhood to see if there could be a central place to ignite the fireworks.
Those who live near that place and have animals in the house could consider bringing them elsewhere or leaving for that time.

What do you do with your animals?

When snow on the roof melts

After such an intense time of snow higher temperatures generate their own features of winter.
The snow on the roofs melts, but when the high temperatures are only for a very short while, the water freezes again.
A layer of ice is created that way. Ice under the snow.
It doesn't stick as well to the roof as ice and the result is that the whole lot comes down.

Be careful!

Christmascards

Don't forget to make a lot of pictures of christmasevents.
Next year they'll make the perfect material for christmascards.

Those who need money might even consider to sell them as formal cards.
Just print them on high quality paper.

A merry christmas 2010

I wish all my readers and visitors a very happy christmas.

Have a lovely time together.

decorations on mugs

When you prepare for christmas it's always nice to make something extra for the people who visit.

Why not buy some christmasmugs and decorate them with a cookie.

Just tie a nice ribbon through the cookies and attach the cookie with a ribbon to the mug.

Looks lovely!

Tablecloth

It looks so very mice: a table cloth.
Especially at a christmasdinner.

But with a large group accidents are about to happen, and spilled wine, fruitjuice or freasy food can make a wonderful tablecloth look like it's pulled from underneath a mountain of junk.

Take your plain tablecloth and put it on the table.

Then take either homemade or bought small pieces of tablecloth and put them at the places where you want the plates.
It should be wide enought to cover the border of the table to slightly above the top glass. Long enough the cover the whole lenth of the table.

Make or buy a second set and buy plastic tablecloth of the same size.

Put the pastic under the long small pieces.

And keep the second set as a reserve,

Insurance claims

This week I had some discussions with people about their insurance.

When you cause or find damage to your goods, don't think the insurance won't pay.

It's their decision, not yours.

When you send in a claim, describe the damage and make some photos of the damage, if that's possible.

Also give a clear description of what happened.

End the letter stating that you gave as clearly a desription as possible, but becauase it's the first time you send in a claim you might have forgotten something. So you can be mailed or phoned.... plus name, adress and insurance number.

That's all.

Secret santas needed

I was reading Laane's blog and was caught by the fact that she is not only dealing with her lungproblems, but that she also feels rotten because she didn't find enough secret santas for some autism families.

Read here and jump in, please.

A draft in the house?

Right now we're entering the coldest night of the year. Minus 15 celcius is announced.
You have to keep the warnth in the house as well as possible and ventilate at regular times, for those with lungproblems preferably with the heating on.

To prevent warmth from leaking out of your house, and even more to prevent a cold draft, make a round at a cold night like this and just feel the cold air coming into your house.

Keyopenings of locks, beside doors, but also woodwork around windows can be nasty.
Have you ever considered controlling the place where the antenna enters your room?

Ofcourse I would love to hear the most drafty places of your house.

Dry your shoes

We're dealing with snow and salt here and it's not good for shoes.
You can prepare them by spraying them waterproof, but it's not enough against the nasty salt.

When you come home, clean your shoes or boots with a damp cloth to prevent white circles of salt.

Don't put the shoes on the heating, as the leather dries to fast and gets too firm to be comfortable.
The glue used may start to leak or dissolve.

Place your shoes at a drafty place and when they're damp inside either have them dry by air or put a paper in them. Remove regularly for new. You can use toiletpaper, but it's rather expensive to do so.

When the shoes is dried you can old them to make the leather softer.

Snow and warts

I'm not sure if it's a fairytale or something true, but I've heard it so many times:
when you want to get rid of your warts, cover them in snow.

I think snow is not cold enough to get the result the doctor gets when he freezes the warts, but maybe... maybe it helps.

Have you ever had your warts removed by snow, please let us know.

Snow and by car?

Know the laws of the country you're in.
You can get high fines when you don't have winterties on your car in Germany. The Dutch dont mind.

When bad weather is expected it's announced on the radio. So know on which radiostation it's broadcasted.

Check if your car has got the legal stuff available and put in what might come in handy: like a battery lamp (check the batteries), an emergency sign, a first aid box. Don't forget food and clean water.

Throw a few sleepingbags in the back.

And luxuries, like a book.

Snow and train

We're dealing with lots of snow here, so it won't be bad to share some advice for those who travel by train.

Always take your phone with you, so you can call.
Take enough money to stay in a hotel. Why wait at drafty stations for hours when you can be warm and safe in a hotel nearby.
When the trains come to a stop you can claim your money back.

Take a warm cardigan with you, enough food, with for instance chocolate. Some drinks. And warm socks.

Bonnets

In the old days women and men had a sleep bonnet (or how do you call it?).
Not only were they used to keep the lice away.. or near the head. LOL!

They also provided warmth in the drafty houses and beds.

Now people get olders and the winters seem to be colder the night bonnet might start a new life.

People loose a lot of warmth through the head and it's wise to wear a bonnet not to get too cold.

Do you wear something on your head in winter when you go to sleep?
Or do you wear bedsocks?

Drying clothes outside in the winter

No, I don't use a dryer to dry the clothes of my large family. Not even in winter.

I use the clothes to get the right humidity in the house. You know that the heating causes low humidity, so drying clothes will act against it. Your clothes need to be rinsed well, and to do so I put them an extra time through the rinsing part of the laundry program.

When I dry the clothes outside I put half a cup of salt in the last rinsing water.
That prevents the clothes from freezing.
My gram taught this to me a long long time ago.

Plants with flowers for christmas

Right now is the time to be in contact wth your gardener if you want to have flowers in your home at christmas.

Some plants only need to be put into light a week to a fortnight and they'll flower during christmas. It takes an expert to know precisely what to do.

Ofcourse you can gamble and buy plants in the supermarket, But my experience is not do good.
Yours?

Christmas for overseas friends

One of the main things people who live far from their homecountry miss at christmastime is their own traditions.

So when you prepare a surprisde for them why not wrap up special sweets and cookies, using old fashioned wrapping paper.
And why not make a tape or CD with those old fashioned songs>

It'll be extra special when they're recorded from a gathering with friends and family who sing along.

Clean boots and shoes

The salt used to remove the snow and ice from the roads is not good for your shoes and boots.
When your footwear dries ugly white circles stay.

There's an easy way to get rid of them.

Pour a bit of vinegar in a cup and put water on it.

Take a cloth and use the solution to rub off the circles.

Don't put your shoes and boots near the heating, but put them at a place where the air goes by. Let them dry there.

Good luck!

Your attention is needed for:

Ofcourse you have to read yesterday's post and act on it. Please!!
You can make a young person so very happy.

She has created the blog, with help, to win a project at school.
For those who want to do something extra: she needs donations to pay for her schooltrip.
All children have to find ways to earn some extra money, but as she spends quite a lot of her time with her autistic brothers, she doesn't have as much time to go around and ask people if she can do chores for money.

So please...help her out!
Wouldn't it be a nice christmasgift?

safe internet for kids

This time no tip for housekeeping or such, but a link to a site where a post was written about safe internet. See here.

The site owner is one of our junior autism ambassadors and you can surprise her by becoming a follower.

Ingrown toenail

Ingrown toenails are a real killer.
So why not prevent them?

My gram had an old remedy...

Take a slice of lemon and put it on the nail under a bandaid.
To prevent the sheets of rubbing the lemon from it's place, also wear a sock.

When you wake up the nail is soft.
You can either cut it the way you want (straight, not rounded) or you can treat the ingrowing nail by putting a small ribbon of cottonwool or leather under the nail, so it has to grow over the cotton wool or ribbon.

Good luck!

Bronchitis

There are thousands of bronchitis remedies on internet, and at the moment I would use them all to get rid of the breathing problems.

My inhaler will help me get more air inside my lungs, but it won't take care of the coughing which tires me out.

An aunt wrote down an old fashioned remedy my gram used for her kids when they were coughing like me. It helps to cough out the mucous and diminishes the urge to cough.

My gram used to have a pot with a herb mixture.
She used to buy the herbs at the market and measure them with a small cup.
But you can use soupspoons, or any other measurement. And you can buy the ingredients at a shop for natural foods or a pharmacy which also provides herbs.

2 times licorice
3 times linden flowers
3 times Iceland moss
4 times fennel seed
4 times coldsfoot leaves
4 times marshmallow root

Mix this all very well and put it under a closed lid at a dark cool place.

When you need it take two teaspons of the mixture.
Put it in a mug and pour one cup of boiling water over it.
Place a lid on it and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

In case you need to sweeten it, use honey.

3 or 4 cups a day are all one needs to feel better.

I hope so.

Cleaning copper

It's almost christmastime, so you have to unwrap and clean items that have been hidden all year.

Copper ornaments and statues and such can be cleaned in an easy way by taking a lemon.
Slice it in half, dip it in salt and rub the lemon over the copper.
After that you have to rinse well with water and dry the item with a clean and soft cloth.

Good luck!

A little extra warmth

We got stuck with the train in the snow and when we finally were brought back to a large station all shops were closed and all we could get was coffee or tea.
And the coffee was bad.... It was terrible.

Those who wanted tea got hot water and at that moment I craved for soup.
If I only has one of those one cup bags for soup.

So my tip for today is: always have a few of those packages in your pocket.
They hardly take any place and with hot water they are perfect under all circumstances.

Addressbook and winter

Leave your addressbook always at a place where other people can find it.
Or maybe leave a copy at family or friends.

When you get stuck while travelling, due to heavy snow or ice, you might need a place to sleep at another town.

Instead of taking the booklet with you all the time, one simple phonecall might motivate your friend or family member to make a few calls with the help of your addressbook to help to organise a sleepingplace.

Ice roads

We've had lots of snow this week, and we're starting to get used to the slippery roads.
But mash of snow is different from roads made into mirrors by ice rain.

And ice rain is expected.

To be able to walk a bit safely on your shoes you need a trick or two.

My grandmother used to binds old socks around her shoes, but nowadays we have better things.

A clasp of a sodacan, taped under your shoe can make a huge difference. But it can also damage the sole of your shoe.

More convenient is the bag, the plastic maze, of the unions ans certain oranges.
Take a string and get it through the mazes that are not under your shoe, pull the string and fix it. Ready.

Animals and snow

Well, the tile should have been different.
Cats and dogs can deal with snow if they have to.
The problem lies in the salt on the roads and pavements to prevent humans from slipping and falling.

Many animals lack proper protection against the salt.
It hurts them and some animals even refuse to go any further and lie down to prevent their feet from touching the ground.

You can buy little boots, or make them yourself.
Or just don't leave the house beyond the snowarea.

As soon as the animal comes home rinse their feet with luke warm water to get rid of the salt.

The cold and the paper

It could have been a title of a short story: the cold and the paper.
But it's just a tip so you can keep warm on your motor or bicycle.

It's a very old tip, my grandfather used it, my dad, and even I.

When it's very cold and you need to go outside through that freezing winterstorm you should dress properly.

Good underwear, layers of clothes, like a T-shirt, sweater and cardigan and a coat.

But you can protect yourself even better with a paper.

Put it between cardigan and coat, all over the front area, and then close the coat.

It works perfect!