Time to love your ceiling fan! During your spring cleaning remember to sponge off the tops, bottoms and edges of your fan blades as well as the housing and any light fixture attached.
Enjoy Spring!
Staying Ahead of the Weather
“Spring is the most active season for thunderstorms and tornadoes across North Carolina, but we know severe weather can strike at any time,” Governor Cooper said. “Residents across North Carolina can help protect themselves and their families by being prepared for severe weather by updating their emergency kits, having a preparedness plan, and ensuring they have a way to stay informed about the weather conditions and emergency announcements.”
Tornadoes form during severe thunderstorms when winds change direction and increase in speed. These storms can produce large hail and damaging winds that can reach 300 miles per hour. A tornado can develop rapidly with little warning, so having a plan in place will allow you to respond quickly.
Blue Crab Festival 2023
May 20 & 21, 2023
Located at the Historic Little River Waterfront in Little River, SC, the 41st Annual World Famous Blue Crab Festival is one of the largest festivals in the Southeast.
Bring your family & friends to enjoy fresh, local seafood from a waterfront restaurant or get your favorite festival food fix. Enjoy scenic views, live beach music, and shop for a unique souvenir or gift from a crafter.
The World Famous Blue Crab Festival has consistently been awarded the Best Annual Event/Festival on the Grand Strand by readers of the Sun News newspaper for 8+ consecutive years. We encourage you to be a part of this tradition, and join us the weekend after Mother’s Day. Satellite parking and shuttle available.
NO DOGS OR PETS (Working Service Animals Excepted) | NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS
General Information: (843) 249-6604 | Info@LittleRiverChamber.org
Chefs Reveal the 17 Items They Always Buy Frozen
~ According to Food & Wine Magazine writer
Clarissa Buch Zilberman
This may come as a shock, but chefs don’t always buy their ingredients fresh or make
everything from scratch
. Take New York chef Josh Gripper, who snacks on Jamaican
beef patties late at night. He can’t be bothered with making them from scratch,
especially after a 12-hour shift. That’s why his home freezer
is always stocked with a
few boxes of the pre-made kind. Georgia chef Chris Dickerson agrees. “If something’s
almost as good [frozen
] but much simpler, it’s a no-brainer. Practicality should be a
consideration when cooking,” he says. So, read on for more items chefs don’t always
buy fresh or make themselves.
1.Dough for pies
2.French Fries
3.Blueberries
4.Tator Tots
5.Peruvian Peppers
6.King Crab Legs
7.Shrimp
8.Dumplings
9.Jamaican Beef Patties
10. Octopus Meat
11.Chicken Nuggets
12.Puff Pastry
13.Ice Cream
14.Peas
15. Edamame Beans
16. Pearl Onions
17. Gluten-Free Bread
The Best Decluttering Tips Ever!
by Shifrah Combiths
1. Don’t treat your home like a storage unit.
Keeping something because you might need it someday is like paying mortgage
to a storage company—and it comes at the expense of living in an empty,
breathable space.
2. Realize that what you keep costs you a lot.
Many times, you’re tempted to hang on to things because you feel like it’s a waste
of money if you should ever have to buy them again. But there’s a cost to keeping
something. You need to think about where to store it, give up the actual storage
space, or take up precious empty space. Then you’ll need to spend time
organizing it and then remembering where you put when you need it, and then
putting it away, organizing it again when it gets messy, and well…. you get the
picture. Is that item really worth the time and effort it’s going to take to keep it?
3. Give yourself permission to buy again.
Since the thought of having to part with money down the road is painful, you may
choose to keep many things that you may not otherwise. But the simple but
powerful conscious act of giving yourself permission to buy again down the road
(with the knowledge that you’re gaining so much now by letting go) will help you
get so many more things out of your home.
4. Touch it once.
So much clutter comes from holding on to things that need action. Keeping the
“touch it once” principle at the forefront of your mind will help you build smart
practices. For example, standing by the recycling bin with your handful of mail as
you sort it and signing those permission slips as soon as they come. This cuts
down drastically on paper clutter, take-it-upstairs clutter, and more.
5. Ask yourself if it’s “the best, the favorite, or necessary.”
This decluttering mantra
coined by Emily Ley helps you narrow down your
possessions to the cream of the crop. If you’re looking at an overly large
collection of mixing bowls, for instance, narrow it down to the best ones. A
kitchen towel collection can similarly be whittled down by choosing to keep only
the favorites.
6. Ask yourself if it’s useful or beautiful.
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be
beautiful.” Adhering to this famous saying attributed to William Morris
is a good
way to avoid accumulating excess.
7. Ask yourself if it sparks joy.
Marie Kondo has become a cultural standard-bearer of a movement to declutter
and minimize. Her famous shtick is having people ask themselves if each and
every single belonging in their possession sparks joy
. It works for some
(including me), and if it works for you, it’s a galvanizing way to let go of so many
things.
8. Recognize that the important part of a gift is the act of giving and receiving.
It’s so hard to get rid of gifts. You appreciate the thoughtfulness shown in getting
and giving you something and you wouldn’t want to dishonor that in any way. But
if the gift itself is something you don’t need or enjoy, it’s okay to let it go, guilt–
free. The transaction of love and care—what makes the gift meaningful—has been
taken to heart.
9. Keep a box in your closet.
This super simple trick is disproportionately powerful. The idea is that every time
you put something on and don’t feel good in it, you toss it in the box
. It’s an in–
the-moment, painless way to declutter your wardrobe.
10. Practice one-in-one-out.
Promise yourself that with each new thing that comes into your house to stay,
you’ll get rid of one other thing. It helps keeps your storage-math straight: You
shouldn’t accumulate one single “extra” thing if you truly stick to this rule.
Having a designated “outbox” for the items you’ll donate or give away (as
opposed to just toss), helps you keep the habit.
11. Use the 90/90 rule.
The Minimalists’ 90/90 rule
has you ask yourself if you’ve used the item in the last
90 days and if you will use it in the 90 days to come. If the answer is to both is no,
out it goes. The actual time of 90 days is flexible, and you can adjust it to
whatever suits your lifestyle, but the framework helps you decide whether an item
is as necessary as you might think.
12. Use washi tape to declutter your kitchen.
To decide what’s worth keeping in the kitchen, set a designated length of time,
such as six months or a year, to give you a chance to see what tools you actually
use. You’ll know which items pass the test by sticking a piece of washi tape or
masking tape to each thing at the start of your experiment. When you use the
tool, peel the tape off. At the end of the time, get rid of any unused thing that still
has tape on it.
13. Declutter by area.
Looking at one freshly cleaned-out space might inspire you to declutter the rest
of your home, too. So, keep the momentum going by decluttering deeply in small
areas, instead of decluttering a little at a time all across your home—because at
the end of the latter, you have a full bag of donations, but no specific peacefully–
decluttered space to point to. For instance, you could decide to declutter—all the
way—the junk drawer or a particular cabinet in the kitchen.
14. Go on a decluttering binge.
On the other hand, an empty garbage bag or donation box might be just the thing
to spring you into action. If the idea of filling it with things you no longer need
inspires you, get to work. Don’t forget to put it in your car to get it completely out
of your house.
15. Employ the “Ex Test.”
This mind trick helps you evaluate how important something really is to you and
it goes like this: Would you contact a detested ex (romantic or otherwise) to get
the item back? If not, then it can’t be that important. Say goodbye.
16. Ask yourself if you’d buy it now.
Asking yourself, “If I were shopping now, would I buy this?” is so useful. It will
help you cull your collection of things down to only what’s serving you in your
present life. The question will help you shed clothing that’s no longer “you,” no
longer fits you, “useful” items that are not part of your current life, and broken
things that—be honest—you are never going to fix.
17. Try the hanger trick.
This decluttering hack is similar to the washi tape one, only this time you’re
turning hangers around in your closet. Commit to a specific period of time, say
three months, and get rid of anything you haven’t reached for and worn within
that time span. You won’t have to think and remember, because you have the
hanger trick: If all your hangers hook over the bar right now, flip the hanger so it
hooks from behind when you hang every worn-it-already garment back up. At the
end of your time period, donate what hasn’t been turned around.
18. Shop for others.
Rather than approaching decluttering with the mindset of finding things to get rid
of, consider instead what you could part with—books, clothes, craft supplies—so
that others can have it. This takes the sting out of parting with items and the fresh
tactic could renew your efforts to lighten your own load.
19. Pretend you’re moving.
This one’s a mental exercise: Pretend you’re moving from one apartment to
another, and you need to pack everything up, pay to have it moved, and then
unpack it. Use this mental framework to scan your closets and storage spaces—if
you see an item that you wouldn’t go to all that effort to keep, get rid of it right
now.
20. Paper stacks begone with a three-pronged approach.
To work through paper clutter, create three options for each paper you handle:
shred, file, recycle. By confining your options, you force yourself to actually deal
with the paper piles you’ve been avoiding. “File” includes storing digitally.
21. Try the 10 percent method.
The 10 percent method
works especially well for those who have a hard time
letting go of what they own. The key to the method is being able to see everything
that belongs to a certain group of items. For instance, your shoes. Pull them all
out and into one space and then make it a goal to reduce the total number by 10
percent.
22. Do a little bit at a time.
“Little bit” can vary, but the idea is that you put a parameter on your time and
energy. You can do this by designating a certain area you’ll work through start-to–
finish (as long as it’s not a huge one) or by pre-determining a set amount of time.
This way you won’t sabotage your big-picture decluttering efforts by burning
yourself out before you really even get going.
23. Remember what you gain by letting go.
Decluttering opens the door for some pretty great things. You gain space, time,
and energy, among other things
. Keep your eye on the prize and use the
motivation to redouble your decluttering verve.
24. Limit yourself.
One way to decide how much to keep and how much to set free is by setting a
limit on how much space you’ll take up with that one category of items. For
instance, if your collection of t-shirts is spilling out of the two drawer dividers you
designated for them, pare down.
25. Don’t buy containers or organizers until you purge.
Buying baskets and bins and dividers is my favorite part, too, but if you have
these around before you declutter, you risk organizing stuff you don’t need and
that’s risky. Purge before you splurge and then get exactly and only what you
need to organize what’s left.
26. You won’t start liking something you never liked.
You might have perfectly useful hand-me-down lamps stuffed in your closet
because it feels wasteful to get rid of them, but you don’t really want to use them
in your own home. The solution is simple: Out they go. You aren’t going to
suddenly start liking them. But someone somewhere out there will.
27. These two common pitfalls aren’t reasons to keep things.
Having something for a long time or something being valuable does not mean
that you must keep it. The same criteria (useful, beautiful, joy, etc.) apply just as
much to these types of items as to anything else.
Don’t Miss It!
Our Annual Wine, Women & Chocolate Event is back! An exclusive shopping experience with amazing raffles, delicious wine and food as well as decadent chocolate!
2023 Wine, Women & Chocolate Event!
Wednesday Mar 8, 2023
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM EST
Location
Silver Coast Winery
6680 Barbeque Road
Ocean Isle Beach, NC
6680 Barbeque Road Ocean Isle Beach NC 28469
Conversation Hearts – How did they come to be?
Conversation Hearts
It all started in the 1840s when a Boston pharmacist named Oliver Chase invented a machine that made it easier to create apothecary lozenges. Chase’s lozenge cutter is credited as the first American candy machine. He started off making medicinal lozenges for sore throats and bad breath, but later turned to creating candy.
These candy lozenges would go on to become the Necco Wafers that are still around today.
Soon after inventing the wafers, Chase teamed up with his brother, Silas Edwin, to create Chase and Company, which then became the New England Confectionary Company, or NECCO.
Necco Wafers’ popularity took off during the Civil War and continued to be a popular candy for decades. Because they were portable and wouldn’t melt, they were often shipped overseas.
So, what do Necco Wafers have to do with conversation hearts?
Legend has it the idea for conversation hearts came from people sending love letters to the troops during the Civil War. Since they were already carrying Necco Wafers, why not press the love messages directly into the candy?
The more plausible explanation, however, is that the idea for conversation hearts came from the candy’s predecessor, a scalloped candy that had a message written on colored paper tucked inside like a fortune cookie.
In the 1860s, another Chase brother, Daniel, developed a machine that stamped words directly on the candies with red vegetable dye. Back then, the candies came in all different shapes, like baseballs, horseshoes, and watches, and they featured much longer sayings. (Hearts weren’t added to the lineup until 1901.)
By the early 1900s, the candies had scaled down in size and began to feature one-liners, like the ones seen today. The original mottos of “Be Mine” and “Kiss Me” remain popular, but some of the other phrases on conversation hearts have not withstood the test of time, like “Fax Me” or “Dig Me.” NECCO even produced special Twilight hearts, with phrases like “Bite Me,” and Spanish-language Sweethearts, with phrases like “Te Amo.”
NECCO’s Sweethearts became the most popular non-chocolate candy sold for Valentine’s Day with over eight billion hearts sold in the six weeks leading up to the holiday, according to Smithsonian Magazine. To make that many candy hearts, production took NECCO 11 months to complete. Unfortunately, NECCO declared bankruptcy and shut its doors in 2018. Spangler Candy acquired the rights to the candy in 2019.
Because of this, Necco Wafers and Sweethearts were not produced for two years, but both were brought back in 2020 due to popular demand. Today, Sweethearts are officially back on the shelves and have re-staked their claim as the most popular non-chocolate candy for Valentine’s Day.
Coastal Consumer Showcase
Coastal Consumer Showcase will be held at St. James Community Center, 4136 Southport-Supply Road (Hwy 211) on Thursday, February 9, 2023 from 4 – 7pm. Our raffle prize is the two chairs, blanket and throw in the picture. We are so sorry but Daisy is not included. 🙂 Come see us and maybe win the chairs! Diana and Ginny will be ready to help you with all your moving needs.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Wine, Women & Chocolate
Wednesday March 8, 2023
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM EST
Silver Coast Winery
6680 Barbeque Road
Ocean Isle Beach, NC
Buy tickets HERE!
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