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Saturday, November 16, 2013

Terracotta Flower Pot Space Heater?

While goofing off on facebook the other day, I saw a video clip of a guy who heated his room with terracotta flower pots sat on top of a bread pan. Inside the bread pan was three or four tealight candles

I was very intrigued and hunted down two terracotta flower pots, one small and one larger... then promptly couldn't find the video again. Also, my pots wouldn't fit over the pan because the small one was too small.

Instead of giving up, I searched Google for ideas on how to make a Terracotta flower pot space heater. I found this helpful site that explains how it works! In the end, I created my own with what I have because I can't afford to run out and buy things.

UPDATE: A commenter called "Current Thoughts" posted a comment below on how to make this terra cotta flower pot space heater even more efficient! When you are done with reading the post, scroll down to read the comments. I'll update when I make a candle out of shortening. When I have the money to buy orchard terra cotta flower pots, I'll add a new post with the new design. Thank you for commenting with the brilliant design changes! 

Here is what I did...

Creating my own terracotta flower pot candle heater!



I placed a regular dinner plate on my centerpiece plate on the table. Then I arranged three shot glasses on that and placed a trivet on top of those, lit three tea light candles and put them underneath the trivet.

Then I placed a smaller terracotta flower pot upside down on the trivet, right over the candles and put a small piece of aluminum foil over the hole (since I don't have nuts and washers)


After that, I put the larger pot over the smaller pot and sat back and waited to see what happens. In this picture you can see the shot glasses better and see the candles underneath.


This is what my finished product looks like. Isn't it cute!? But... does the terracotta flower pot candle heater really work?

Does it work?

At first we were making jokes about how it would make a nice hand warmer, not an actual space heater. A few hours later, it was really putting off a bit of heat, enough that I ended up moving away from it and working elsewhere. 

After stepping outside and then coming back in, I can honestly say it warmed up the room some. The area in the dining room is down right TOASTY! 

If I had to use it in a power outage, I would probably have four or five of the things throughout the living room area. I would also start them before they say a storm is coming to give them time to warm up. 

But, yes! This really worked. I could see using this to warm up a smaller room. You'd probably need more than one if your room is bigger or if you live in the north.

And now for a disclaimer, AKA please don't sue me when you try this and it goes horribly wrong.

Please be careful when using the terracotta flower pot as it does get HOT! By the time I went to take pictures, the top pot was quite warm, while the small pot was entirely too hot to even touch! 

These should be used with caution around children, pets, drunk friends, rednecks, or friends who tend to set themselves on fire (you know who you are!)

Don't go to sleep with your terracotta flower pot candle heater running as it may lead to bad things, like your room getting too hot, or your house burning to the ground.

Please make sure to check your smoke alarm batteries to make sure they aren't dead.

Wash your hands before you eat, after you sneeze or cough, after using the bathroom, and after shaking hands with weird strangers. 



Tuesday, November 12, 2013

San Diego Sailing Trip

My son's are back from a visit with their dad. While in San Diego, they got to do something I wish I could do! They sailed from San Diego Bay to the Catalina Islands off the coast of Los Angeles. I thought I would share some of the pictures they brought back with them.

The first picture I got of them together. Don't smile or anything, kids!
One of my favorite pictures! And they are all smiling!
Great picture of Captain Miles

I think I feel my seasickness kicking in!

Beautiful sunset.

Mmmmm, now that looks good!

Both boys on Avalon.

Enjoying the beautiful architecture. 

I forget what this is called but I really love this photo!

Is that a smile? Mmmmm, maybe?

The artwork there is beautiful 

Just chilling at the helm!

Nice picture of the flag next to the main sail.

It's not a sailing trip without a proper injury.

My boys being kids at heart... oh, wait, they are kids.

Mendel 1.0 with the Coronado Bridge in the background. I think that's a smile...

Pepsi and sailing... Go hand in hand.
I'll try to get more pictures up this week. There are a lot of them so I don't think all of them will go up. But I love a lot of them. They are awesome.

Monday, November 04, 2013

I am on a search! For gluten free cinnamon rolls...

I probably deserve it. Actually, I know I do. I am always teasing my friends about the snow that is coming. I love the snow more than they do! We all hurt like crazy when it gets cold but I do it in love! 

Wendy got me though! she posts pictures of food a lot. And I am allergic to... everything just about. Most days I just look and think "That looks tasty" and keep scrolling. This week she really got me! She posted this:



Oh, how I miss cinnamon rolls. I haven't stopped thinking about them since I saw this ooey gooey goodness. And Now I am on a mission! To find a recipe for cinnamon rolls that I can eat! Something that tastes good to me!

I have been searching and so far I am not finding anything I won't have to tweak (not surprised there). But I did find one I MIGHT be able to play with. It's here. I was looking at the ingredients and there are too many to substitute, and a few I wouldn't know how to substitute... but this week, I will trying to make this recipe my own. And I'll post it when I figure it out!

Anyone want to be my taste testers? Wendy? Bill? Nikky? Kids? Anyone?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

New Search Box to Try

Got a minute? I added a new search box to my blog for users to use. Try it out and let me know how you like it.


  1. Did it help you?
  2. Could you find what you were searching?
  3. Did it have any problems?
As more people try it out, I will decide whether or not to keep it. Let know your opinions on it in the comments.

Thanks!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

GET READY! NaNoWriMo Starts this Friday!

I am very excited about this week! Great things are happening over here. Tomorrow my kids come home and their dad is coming to visit for a week. I am getting my house organized and decluttered. AND

NaNoWriMo starts FRIDAY!

Each year I plan on doing NaNoWriMo. Some years I manage to actually do it. I won two years in the five that I attempted it. This year I plan to make my win/loss equal at 3 won, 3 lost. 

What is Nanowrimo?

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Where you write 50,000 words in 30 days. This isn't the time to worry about punctuation, grammar, and spelling though. This is the time to just pound out your ideas and get them out on paper... er, computer. 

Want to sign up?

If you want to try out the craziness, you can check out their website here.

They also have an awesome facebook page that you can interact with other hermits... I mean, Nanowrimo-ers before, during, and in between Nanowrimos.

I'll post another post this week with some tools I use, some tips, and other helpful tips I find.

Get ready!