Thursday, March 6, 2025

two little things

The first falls under the heading "little things that make other things easier." I love everything under this heading. Here's a food/kitchen thing.

Every time I open a new bottle of ketchup, I immediately upend it in a wide-mouth jar. I let all the contents drain out of the narrow-mouth container that was someone's terrible idea many years ago but which caught on despite it's obviously dysfunctional design. So much frustration. So much waste. The only changes I've seen to that terrible design have been replacing glass with plastic (another bad idea) and inverted squeezable bottles which are every bit as frustrating as the predecessors. My simple, effortless solution takes nothing but a bit of time, and only once per bottle - not every time I want ketchup. Using a spoon or knife is elegant compared to whacking and shaking. And splattering. And swearing.

The second little thing is a bit of free distraction, interest, restfulness, and perhaps even inspiration. 

It's the Window Swap website

I just click the button at the bottom of the screen that says "open a window somewhere in the world" and enjoy a  video clip someone has posted from their window. And then I click the button again. The views are various in every way, and for a person like myself who looks out her own windows for much of every day, it's a tiny bit like being able to travel again.

Would anyone like to share a Little Thing in the comments? All categories are wide open!

~~~~~



14 comments:

  1. Now that ketchup thing makes perfect sense. I will begin doing the same. I hate putting bottles with labels on them on the table anyway. Silly, I know, but they are just not pretty to me.
    I do the same thing with syrup, but I put it in an antique syrup pitcher. So pretty and so sensible. I also put a saucer under the syrup when I put it on the table because I swear, syrup can ooze right through glass!

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    1. I'll bet your syrup pitcher is pretty, knowing how much you enjoy antique glass :)

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  2. That window idea has been around a while, a nice peaceful thing to follow.
    I cook enough at a time for three meals. Cook once, enjoy three times. This evening, tuna and chickpea salad, with naan made with yogurt as leavening. Two naans per meal, enough salad for three meals. Done!

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    1. Yes, I think it started - like so many good online things - during Covid lockdown. I started visiting back then but was only recently reminded of it and am enjoying it again.

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  3. The window swap is fun. Can't think of any little things right now, but I know I have a lot of little things in my life that work for me. :-)

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    1. Yes, I probably have a few Quinn-specific things that might not apply to most situations...but you never know ;)

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  4. A very little thing: when we tear of a piece of masking tape, we turn the end under just a smidge. So every piece we use has a little turned-under bit, which makes it easy-peasy to remove the tape when you're done, AND the next time you need a piece of tape from the roll, it's easy to find the end. (Easier done than described).

    I will remember the ketchup trick. We don't use ketchup but I can think of a couple of other condiments it would work for.

    Had never heard of WindowSwap. It could be addictive!

    Chris from Boise

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    1. The tape end is a perfect little thing! When I started turning under a little flap the whole width of the tape it was a game-changer. Of course now I need to use pliers to pull the end of Gorilla tape even with the flap, but that's just my arthritic grip.

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  5. WindowSwap is new to me. It's very dark outside my window right now. We've had rain the past two days. I make my own ketchup which is pretty darn good, and have plenty of saved glass jars that I need to use -- but my husband has a harder time giving up the taste of things he's used to. :/

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    1. Homemade ketchup sounds lovely! Maybe next time you make it you could blog about it? I'd love to see that. We've had a lot of rain also, so much so that I didn't need to top up goat buckets for 2 days! But now it's 22F. All the new snowmelt has been added to the ever-growing ice sheet.

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  6. Dysfunctional design. That's exactly what it is! And I'd say it describes the majority of products out there. Dan is always saying, "don't these people use the things they design?"

    Great idea about emptying the ketchup into a glass jar. I usually swish a little water in the container at the end, and pour the water into my soup jar.

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    1. I remember reading about your excellent method of saving bits of leftovers in jars that can be frozen for later soup-making, and thinking I should try that! Almost nothing makes it past my hens or goats, but this summer I'm going to at least try saving veg trimmings to freeze until there's enough to make veg broth.

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  7. Lots of food for thought Quinn, both from you and from the comments. Further on the fold-over-tape-ends, we use those plastic bread tags/tabs for the same purpose. Means you don't have to trim off the folded over bits (can you tell I'm lazy?!!).

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    1. I'm glad someone has found a use for those things!

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