Emergency Crayon Candles

We love getting nerdy and going all "Science Fair Project" with some of our Pinstrosity investigations. It's just fun and it kinda makes you feel like a kid again. Who doesn't love a day when they get to feel like a kid? I always get excited when we have an email from one of you with a full out investigation into a Pinterest pin. When that happens it's like I found a kindred nerd spirit. I love that being a nerd is cool these days. The world needs more nerds. And I say nerd with all the love in my heart...I'm a nerd and I'm proud of it. But moving on. Bri decided to test out a pin that has flown around Pinterest to see if it was all it was cracked up to be. It involves fire and crayons...a project can't get better than that! Bri said we didn't have to include all her pictures...but I thought they helped illustrate her point perfectly, so this post is full of awesome crayon & fire photos. 

The Original Pin:

This particular picture I got at http://memecollection.net/emergency-crayon-fact/, but it has been posted on countless sites all over the internet. 

Bri didn't have Crayola's on hand, but she did have a variety of other brands and decided to give those a try and see how they worked. 

The Pinvestigation:

"So I started with a pink crayon, a lighter, and a paper plate."

"Getting the stupid thing to light was a joke and a half. It just kept melting the wax. Then I melted the point off enough that the paper started to burn." 

"It would tease me though and burn about 30 seconds then create this ashy gray stuff that I would have to scrape off. Then I would get it going again thinking 'this is going to work this time!' Just to have the crayon taunt me back by saying 'no way, you stupid! I can't believe this is what my life is!' Totally heard it in my head the whole time! 

  

"So I moved it aside to the crayon graveyard so I could try again!"

 "Attempt two came with a blue crayon. My husband started getting interested at this point and had the idea to shave off the top down to the paper and cut a slit in the paper to vent it out." 

"We had a flame that started to last a long time! By that I mean longer than 30 seconds. I did have some gross crayon juice bursting out but that's what the plate was for right?"

 "The gross crayon juice made a pretty fountain down the whole crayon the flame seemed to remain there until it got bigger and bigger."

"It got a little scary."

 "Then the burning blue flame of death fell over. It was still going strong though."

"Now we have only lapsed about 3 minutes of time here. All in all it lasted about 5 minutes and made a big scary mess more than anything." 

"We poured water on it so that it wouldn't burn through the plate. I was going to get this stupid thing to work."

"So we tried a third time with a purple crayon. This time no paper at all." 

"As we were lighting it the wax just kept melting. So with our melting wax we decided to put it to good use. We used the paper we ripped off the crayon and dipped it in the wax and the attached it the crayon. I know weird idea but we were at a loss!!" 

"Needless to say it didn't really work."

"So we went to the fourth try. We took a black crayon and put the point down on the plate in the melted purple wax."

"We also put a slit in the paper because that seemed to work before. Still would not work right." 

"SO then we decided that instead of lighting it from the top directly what about lighting it from the side. Guess what!? It WORKED!! It lit the top up and burned!!! It did lean on the other crayon but we had fire!" 

"I felt like I should have been a cave man hitting my chest jumping up and down! It was a great fire! We even roasted some gummy bears on it! (They weren't very good.)" 

"Now it burned for about 15 minute until it died. The purple crayon went with it. I have no idea where 30 minutes came in. It was pretty bright when we turned off the lights. Was it enough to do chores or cook with probably not. But it was a light of some sorts right? "

"So we decided to try it a fifth time with all we learned. So we went back with a pink crayon, with a slit, right side up this time, and lit it from the side."

"We had fire for about 30 seconds and then it died with a pink pool of wax..."

"So what did I learn from this mess? That crayons aren't really good for emergency lighting because it take A LOT of effort to do so. I would rate a 5 on the GCT scale. It did not go up in flames but should have!"

So, if the power goes out and you need light...don't reach for your kids' box of crayons (or your own, I have a few boxes of crayons myself). It's not worth the hassle. Unless you just want to kill time...and crayons. 

So what have we learned here on Pinstrosity about emergency lighting?  Crayons aren't the best option. Neither are oranges. But...bacon covered burgers might do the trick for you...only you'd have to prepare them in the dark. I think I feel a theme week coming on. Testing out all those "emergency fire" and "emergency lighting" pins that I've seen out there would be this redneck nerd's best week ever. Oh, now I'm super excited. Bri...you don't know what you started, bwahahahaha. 


Update; 1:48 pm, August 27, 2013: 
We've had some comments that the Pinvestigation isn't complete without testing Crayolas, as all crayons are not created equal. Bri didn't have Crayolas on hand to test, so she couldn't. I went and dug through my crayons and found I had two brands: Crayola and Crazy Art. So I tested those two. Here's how my test went:

1:32 pm: After 2 minutes of working with it, I finally got my first crayon (the purple Crayola) lit. I used an almost new crayon and had to get the point melted down to the paper before it would light. 
1:34 pm: I got the yellow Crazy Art crayon lit. I broke off the tip as close to the paper as I could so it didn't take as long to get lit as the first crayon. 
With both crayons I melted the bottom slightly so that it would stick to the plate and stand up better in case the table got bumped. It took me 5 matches (burning both ends on each stick) to get the two crayons lit. 

1:39 pm: The progress of the crayon candles. The yellow isn't doing so hot.

1:41 pm: The yellow crayon goes out and doesn't want to relight. It's done. Crayola purple crayon looks to be about 1/2 way burned.

1:49 pm: The purple Crayola is still burning, but it STINKS!

1:50 pm: The Crayola falls over, but is still burning.

1:51 pm: The Crayola goes out.

The purple crayon burned pretty completely. It has some crayon juice, as Bri called it, that pooled at the bottom, but most of that was from melting the point off in the beginning. Nearly all the wax burned out of the paper, as you can see in the photo below.

So, the Crazy Art burned for 7 minutes and the Crayola burned for 19 minutes. It had a good & steady flame. So one box of 16 Crayola crayons would give you about 5 hours of tedious "candle light". So, it does work...but it didn't burn for 30 minutes. And it was troublesome to get started. And it's stinky. And what a waste of a crayon. But in an emergency, with nothing else...it does work and you can get a small amount of light time out of them. 

Inspiration for the "Non-Crafters"

We get so many emails from people with this line: "Let me start off by saying I'm not crafty" which is often followed by this line, "I don't know what else I was expecting." On one hand it makes me chuckle...we've all felt like that about something in our life. On the other hand it makes me want to hug them and tell them to keep trying and not to give up and other sappy cliche lines. I've been trying to think of a way to do a "motivational" post, but I just wasn't motivated too yet. Today I read an email that was perfect. It made me want to get my act together, pull on my big girl panties, and finish these projects I've kicked and thrown into a box so I could ignore their less-than-perfectness (there are 2 or 3 quilts in there, paintings, Christmas projects, etc.). I just wish I could jump on these projects now while I'm feeling enthused...but responsibility takes over and I really should show up to my doctor's appointment and work today (who said growing up was a good idea?). So I'll just have to re-read her email on Saturday when I'm home again. But in the meantime I'll share Mohria's story with you and maybe it'll hit a few of you like it hit me. Take it away Mohria:

Hi Pinstrosisters!

I'm a long-time follower of your blog, but just haven't worked up the courage to submit anything, until I saw your "calling all pinners" post.  I'm not what one would call, "crafty."  Most of the things I pin are just stared at wistfully, hoping the creative-fairy will have mercy on me and wave her magic wand to give me even half of the craftiness I see in these pins . . . Sigh . . . 

But I digress.  

My first Pinterest project that wasn't a recipe turned out surprisingly well.

We recently gave our bathroom a MUCH needed update.  We bought our house when I was 7 months pregnant with my son and it needed a LOT of work.  Needless to say, the bathrooms were functional and so they took were low priority.  6 years and another baby later, we had finally scraped together enough fundage to remodel our horribly out-of-date bathroom. How out of date you ask?  Well, so much so, that I have no "before" pictures to share with you.  Only one pic early on in the destruction process (check out the flooring, can you blame me?)

So when the remodel became a reality, I naturally spent WAY too much time on Pinterest searching for inspiration.  I finally found it in the two pins below:

http://www.remodelaholic.com/2012/03/bathroom-renovation-adding-character/

The idea of this pin is to put decorative tile above the shower - cool idea, right?? It turned out FABULOUS.  My only regret was letting the grout sit too long before wiping the tile down.  

My other inspiring pin is the clever built-in storage unit for bathroom cleaning items.  Those always GROSS me out!

http://www.remodelista.com/products/hy-dit-toilet-plunger-storage-cabinet

It was a last minute find and since my parents were only here temporarily to help me with this project, time was of the essence.  After some investigation, we learned that the specific unit in this pin had to be ordered online.  "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

So we built our own.  

I'm a mom of two, so my time in the bathroom is sometimes as close to a vacation as I can get.  So my design was inspired by the most relaxing vacation getaway our family of four has experienced.  Tybee Island, Georgia.  The pictures above the toilet are from when we wrote our kids' names in the sand next to their tiny footprints, and the lighthouse on the Tybee lighthouse.  (What do you think, do the tiles above the shower look like pixelated ocean waves?  Well, if you squint . . . and tilt your head ...a little)

Enjoy.  I know pin-wins aren't used as often as the Pinstrosities, but it's fun to share, anyway.  Hopefully I can help inspire other "non-crafters" that beautiful things are indeed possible.  The hardest step is the first one:  actually trying.  :)

                                                                            -Mohria

I love it. That took a lot of guts to jump into a project that big and it turned out beautifully. Don't let your fears or self-perceived limitations hold you back from trying. You may be surprised at how good things actually turn out! Thank you Mohria for the wonderful story. Your bathroom looks beautiful! Looks like somewhere you could just sit a while and relax. Well done!

Salted Lawns

For those of you who live where it rains (which isn't here, as we've mentioned before)...you may be tenderly caring for your garden, struggling with your lawn, and trimming up your flower bushes. Here in NM, or at least parts of it, you can get a huge fine for watering your lawn...so if you're the only one in the neighborhood with a green lawn, you know something's up. So while all our plants are dying (whether by lack of water or because all the wildlife are starving and they come eat what little green shows), in other areas of the country and world there is the opposite problem. I think there are a few places getting normalish rain...somewhere. So for those of you who can water a lawn, you probably have grand visions of lush, soft, green turf...maybe with kids or grandkids somersaulting down the yard, or garden parties oohing and ahhing at your master work. Whatever your vision...I imagine some shade of green is what you're going for. 

Lori wanted a green lawn and found this pin that she decided to try out:

The Original Pin

I'll get to the source in a minute...hold on

The caption on the pin said, "Epsom salt is particularly useful for preventing a yellowing lawn and creating lusher, softer, deeply green grass. It can be applied using a tank sprayer (which can also be used on your flower and vegetable gardens), a lawn spreader, and by using a hose and spray attachment. Use three pounds per 1250 square feet If using a tank sprayer or a hose and spray attachment, make sure to dilute the salt in plenty of water (enough to make it dissolve), so that it is a concentrated solution."

Lori said, "With the warmer weather coming I was all excited to get my lawn looking good.  I was intrigued by the pin about using Epsom salt as a fertilizer.  I had to try it.  The magnesium should make my lawn lush and green." So she gave it a go and here's what her lawn looks like now:

The Pinstrosity

Definitely not what she was going for. At all. 

Not being a lawn specialist myself (my front yard consists of dirt and cactus), I knew I had to do some reading on this (you guys make us learn all sorts of cool things!). I started first with the actual Pinterest pin. 

When I clicked on the pin, it took me to Google image search for "lawn"...not an actual site with any information about Epsom salts, lawns, or even pink furry unicorns with horn amputations. So the next step, I copied the entire caption and pasted it into Google and found this:

http://www.saltworks.us/gardening-with-epsom-salt.asp

LAWN CARE & EPSOM SALT

Just as Ultra Epsom Salt can revitalize your garden, so does it improve the greenery and sustainability of your lawn. Epsom salt is particularly useful for preventing a yellowing lawn and creating lusher, softer, deeply green grass. It can be applied using a tank sprayer (which can also be used on your flower and vegetable gardens), a lawn spreader, and by using a hose and spray attachment. Use three pounds per 1250 square feet (25’ x 50’), six pounds per 2500 square feet (50’ x 50’), and twelve pounds per 5000 square feet (50’ x 100’). If using a tank sprayer or a hose and spray attachment, make sure to dilute the salt in plenty of water (enough to make it dissolve), so that it is a concentrated solution.

Hey! Same picture. Perfect. So the caption wasn't someone just yanking our chains, it came from a real website. Good deal. So this sounded legit. But I decided I should read a little bit more. I Googled "Epsom salts and lawn care" and found a number of sites lauding the virtues of epsom salts for your lawn, garden, and house plants. Oddly...many of them were epsom salt companies or sites...so of course they are going to tell you how awesome they are. One Home Guide article of an online San Francisco periodical did say that epsom salts will "help yards better absorb nitrogen and phosphorus and aid in the production of chlorophyll, ensuring vibrant green grass." So everything sounded good to me. 

But then I have play the devil's advocate too...so I looked up "epsom salts harm lawns". According to gardenguides.com, "The Epsom Salt Council, a trade group, promotes Epsom salts as a gardening supplement that will produce more flowers, increase chlorophyll, make plants grow bushier, and increase the likelihood that seeds will germinate. Some gardeners also believe that Epsom salts will deter slugs, voles and other pests. The University of Washington's Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott cautions that scientific tests on Epsom salts only show that it increases magnesium levels and therefore, she concludes, all other effects that people attribute to Epsom salts are possible misconceptions."  When people quote a University study, I tend to believe it. But just in case...I looked up Dr. Chalker's study (I'm feeling nerdy and research happy this morning). 

You can read her article (the one I linked to above is only 5 pages and it's not too dense of a read to get through), but I'll summarize for you. Basically she says that the only real thing we know for sure is that Epsom Salts temporarily add extra magnesium to the soil, but since it dissolves so fast, it doesn't stay in the soil. Her final paragraph says, "The science behind the use of Epsom salts is only applicable to intensive crop production in situations where magnesium is known to be deficient in the soil or in the plants. It is irresponsible to advise gardeners and other plant enthusiasts to apply Epsom salts, or any chemical, without regard to soil conditions, plant needs, and environmental health." Another article I read says that some think that the excess magnesium "accumulates in the top soil and create toxicity problems for the plant."

So pretty much...there's a much bigger science behind adding Epsom salts. Your soil may not need it. In fact, if you don't have grazing animals or you aren't on a irrigating farm, your soil is most likely pretty okay. How do you know? Take a sample of your soil and send it off for testing (but unless you're a lawn enthusiast, that's a little overkill for most of us). 

So what is your best bet? Save the epsom salts for baths and soaks and just buy lawn fertilizer that is specifically designed for turf. Ask at your local nursery (try to find an actual nursery and not just the Walmart Garden center...nursery owners usually know great plant tips for the local climate and soil conditions) about what helps lawns/plants in your area. 

Happy To Help Husband Hazards-Halloween Edition

If you looked at Pinterest for more than three seconds you would instantly know, it's a woman's world. Pinterest conversations go something like this, Women: "Pinterest?! Oh my word I LOVE Pinterest!!! I just saw this one pin where..." ,you know the rest. Whereas on the other end of the spectrum it looks something like this, Men: "Pinterest? What is that? Can I eat it?" (for some men that statement is an embellishment  for others a total truth). 

Well women, be inspired, there are a few men out there who are more than willing to jump in and help out with our Pinterest projects, and Mandy sent us her Pinstrosity, where her husband was a little too gungho. 

The Original                                     The Pinstrosity 

 http://www.marthastewart.com/907946/celestial-pumpkins#slide_0

Here's what happened: "Hey Adam, I saw on Pinterest where you drill holes into a pumpkin, and put a candle in it and it looks cool, we should try that."

Saturday afternoon she walks out the door and sees what appears to be a pumpkin chunkin'! Pumpkin flying everywhere!! What a sweet hubby to try to help, little did he know that that wasn't quite what she was talking about...

Moral of the story, make sure you explain to your man the details of the project, or you may end up with an awesome story to tell and Pinstrosity to show for it (which isn't all that bad, and keeps us blogging!!).

P.S. This would be one of those awesome opportunities to turn a project gone south into a Pin Win, any ideas readers?! 

I'm off to decorate for fall, it has come and there isn't a second to lose!

 Happy Wednesday Pinstrosipeeps!

Creaky Floors

Marquette finally signing in. Sorry for the delay; my run (well...my walk/jog/rolling-over-dead-because-I'm-out-of-shape) took longer than I thought. I'm alive though (I find that a good thing) and here's this morning's Pinstrosity.

A submitter sent us an a pin they followed to try and stop the creaking in their hard wood floors. Here's how it went down. 

The Original Pin

We actually don't have a picture for this one as there is not a photo for this tip on the original site. Just picture a hard wood floor in your imagination. Here's what the original site said though:

"To silence your squeaky hardwood floors sprinkle some baby powder on the squeaky area and sweep it into the cracks. Then wipe the floor. The baby powder between the boards will act as a lubricant and will stop the annoying noise."

Tip from: http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/2012/07/tips-tips-and-more-tips.html

The Pinstrosity

We were told by our submitter that the "floor still creaks and it made a mess!  I tracked powder all through the house and it was hard to clean up.  Would NOT recommend! But I now know that I don't have ghosts because there were no additional footprints in the morning =)"

Growing up as the daughter of an excellent General Contractor and spending quite a bit of time with him in the homes he was building, this idea immediately seemed a little too narrow to work every time. While this trick may work for some creaks there are just too many places for and causes of creaky floors for the baby powder trick to work every time with ever floor. Now I'm not saying this won't ever work, but it isn't not going to work with every case. 

So we'll take a look at what can cause creaky squeaky floors but first we probably need a quick anatomy of a wood frame floor lesson. 

Photo source: http://www.february-11.com/2a_floors_o.html (I erased a few terms because there was more than we needed for this lesson, for all the original labels please follow the link). 

The skeleton of the floor is made up basically of the joists (I know that's a little oversimplified, but for our purposes it works just fine). The joists are the parallel boards you see in the pictures above and below. After the joists and placed, the sub-flooring is laid (which is precisely what the men in the picture below are doing). 

photo source: http://www.dobsonorgan.com/html/shop/construction/construction.html

After the subflooring a layer of building paper or matting is laid, and then the finish floor, or the top layer. With concrete bases there are no joists, rather a matting layer and then the finish floor. 

So now that we've got that covered, let's look at what can cause the pesky creaks. 

Familyhandman.com says that "floor squeaks are caused by wood rubbing against a nail, other wood, or even ductwork and piping." Naturalhandyman.com expands on that and gets a little more technical, saying that "squeaks are caused by movement in wood seams between sheets of subflooring, friction noise in tongue and groove or shiplap flooring [the finish floor], and fingernails-on-blackboard rubbing against loosened nails." 

Since the root of the problem can lie anywhere in the structure of the floor, stopping the creak may take more than just baby powder in the cracks. When does baby powder work best? When the creaks are located in the finish flooring (which creaks are usually caused by the finish flooring pieces rubbing against each other). If the creak lies further in the floor (in the sub-flooring or joists), baby powder probably just won't work it's way far enough in to do the job. 

If the creak does not lie in the finish flooring you will have more work to do than just sprinkling powder on the floor and sweeping it in the cracks. So what to do then? You have to reinforce the structure. How? I'm actually going to leave this one to the experts. There are two great references  for you (well, there are tons of great references, but these are the two I found most helpful in preparing for this post). Check out The Family Handy Man and The Natural Handyman. Both have great  tips and instructions and steps you can take to try and stop the creaks in your floor.