How to Clean a Ceiling Fan

Today's post is a by one of our Friends team members, JewelsbyTrish.  It's a repost from her own blog, but she's generously shared it with us.


I have devised a great way to clean a ceiling fan WITHOUT all the dusty mess! You see I am highly allergic to dust. So you think I would clean the fans often, but alas I fall into the trap we all fall into...can't see it up there so pretend it isn't there! Right!? ;-) Then when I finally do clean them, there is dust falling everywhere & I am sneezing up a storm. No more folks! Here we go:

{ITEMS NEEDED}
• ceiling fan (hehe...I couldn't resist)
• old pillow case
• umbrella
• bandana (optional)

1. Put hair in ponytail & wrap head with bandana. This keeps any stray dust from landing in your hair & causing an allergy attack later. (optional)

2. Open umbrella underneath your fan. This will catch any falling dust! Now your bed won't have dust bunnies for you to clean nor will there be any to vacuum off the carpet! Simply take the umbrella outside & shake.

3. Take your old pillow case & slip it over the fan blade. Grip it tightly so no dust falls & pull to end of fan blade. Dust will be trapped inside the pillow case & none should be falling or billowing out into the room.

4. Clean 1 fan at a time being sure to take pillow case outside after to shake dust from pillow case before proceeding to the next fan.

5. If your fans are not extremely dusty, skip step 4. Clean all fans in your house, then shake out the dust when job is complete.

6. Shake out umbrella of dust. (You should not have much, if any, due to the pillow case catching it all.)

7. Wash pillow case with your load of cleaning rags for the week & save for next time!


I hope you found this how-to helpful!!!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Today we have a guest blogger from our Friends team, affectionately known to us as Topaz.  She and her sister have two Etsy shops: TopazTurtle and TwoCrackedJars.






This beast of a stove and oven in my new house had me pulling out baking tins packed away for the move .


With limited pantry options (until I do my next grocery shopping trip), I settled on this easy pineapple upside cake to put this oven through its paces. I never have been a fan of this cake, being more pudding in consistency rather than cake in my previous attempts to make it. However, this time it turned out as a soft and fluffy cake delicately balancing moist pieces of pineapple. I am definitely making this cake again.



Brown Sugar Pineapple Upside Down Cake

20g (4 tsp) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
440g (15 oz) pineapple rings in natural juice
90 g (6 tbsp) butter
125g (1/2 c.)soft brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
125g (1/2 c.) self raising flour


Preheat oven to 180C (350F/Gas Mark4)
Grease a 20cm (8 in) round ring tin
Pour the melted butter into the tin and tip to coat evenly
Sprinkle with brown sugar
Drain the pineapple rings and reserve the juice
Cut the pineapple rings in half and arrange in the tin

Beat the extra butter and sugar until light and creamy
Gradually add each egg, beating well after each addition
Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
Fold in the flour alternately with 1/3 cup of the reserved juice

Spoon the mixture evenly over the pineapple and smooth the surface
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into cake
Leave in tin for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Thank you Connecticut Construction!

This week we welcome a guest blogger, a member of the Friends of HHU team, etsy shop KPTography.


Last week my mom and I came back from our annual mother/daughter trip. Instead of going south we went north so I could see the Vanderbilt mansions in Newport. Our drive was an uneventful one until we got into Connecticut. I do believe the entire state is under construction but because of that I got to make one fabulous stop. I stopped at a rest area because I needed to stretch my legs a bit and they had the most intriguing little shop within the area. I bought some postcards and a little Yankee’s man and happily went to the check out counter. It was there that I spotted it. It was lying on the counter, all colorful and glossy. It was an advertisement for the Pez Visitor Center or as I affectionately call it Pez World. I picked up the advertisement and couldn’t believe my eyes. 3,000 sq feet of Pez! Mom looked at it and said that it was right down the road from a planned stop and asked if I wanted to go. Since I was driving that was pretty much a given. I could barely contain my excitement as we pulled into the parking lot. I opened my car door and took a deep breath and there it was. The wonderful smell of Pez (the same kind you get when you open the package). When you walk into the entrance you notice several things, the bright, colors, the wall of 750 Pez dispensers and overhead the Orange County Chopper Pez bike. My experience got even better. I had coupons (oh yes, I had coupons for admission) and with the price of admission you get two things, another coupon for money off your purchase and a lanyard with a huge piece of cardboard Pez that you get to keep. I will be sporting that next year at school!

When you walk in it is Pez overload. There is Pez trivia, thousands of Pez dispensers from all different years. Mom was astonished to see that one Pez dispenser sold for $3,000. They have several of the old Pez making machines on display along with a view of the workroom. They were packaging Halloween dispensers that day. I also learned that it takes 3,000 lbs of pressure to produce one piece of Pez. It’s the diamond of the candy world! It’s hard to say what my favorite part was. Was it the different dispensers, was it the wall of Star Wars dispensers, or was it the bucket you could buy for $4.99 and fill it with your favorite flavors. I was proud of myself for not buying the Lord of the Rings set but I did buy my mom’s godson a Boston Red Socks one (being a Yankee’s fan that took a lot out of me).

One either likes Pez or doesn’t but for me it’s the memories. I used to get a Pez dispenser every year in my Christmas stocking and this was like Christmas in June. What was made it even more special was I got to spend the time with my mom. My wonderful mother who had to put up with the massive sugar high I had from enjoying some of my bucket of Pez that very evening. Thanks Mom! I think we should go back next year!