Four Areas in Your Kitchen You're Forgetting to Clean | E-Neighborhood Advisor

 Happy Saturday! - Hope you have a great weekend! 👋

Even if you religiously clean your kitchen, you're human — and chances are, there are a couple of spots you've forgotten to clean. Or maybe you know you should clean them, but you just keep putting the chore off. Either way, now's the perfect time to address those oft-forgotten kitchen areas.  Not sure exactly where to begin? We tapped professional chefs to find out which kitchen spots are most forgotten, and how to clean them most efficiently, according to Apartment Therapy.  Your Stovetop Crevices You might be great about wiping away visible food splatters when you're cooking, but what about all the nooks and crannies in and around your stovetop? If you can't remember the last time you tackled those areas, Katina Mountanos, founder and CEO of Kosterina and author of Kosterina Kitchen, suggests you do so pronto — and she suggests you use olive oil to get it done.  "I dab olive oil on a microfiber cloth, and it works wonders on stainless steel," she says. While you can use pretty much any olive oil to shine up your stove, save the fancy stuff for cooking. "I use generic olive oil for this," says Mountanos. "I wouldn't disrespect high-antioxidant EVOO in this way!" Your Electric Kettle Tea and coffee-drinkers, this one's for you. Carla Contreras, a professional chef and food stylist, and photographer says electric kettles can quickly accumulate limescale. "I had no idea about this until I started to make tea and pour-over coffee regularly in my electric kettle," she says. "To my surprise, there was a build-up of white gunk." Luckily, it's simple to clean. Contreras adds a cup of white vinegar and a cup of water to the kettle, brings it to a boil, and then lets it sit for 30 minutes before rinsing. Then, fill up the tea kettle with clean water, bring it to a boil, and rinse it again. "I do this at least once a month to keep my kettle clean, and my tea fresh-tasting," she says. No electric kettle at home? This method also works for a stovetop one! Your Silverware Drawer Another commonly forgotten space: inside your silverware drawer. "I recently replaced my silverware organizer and was surprised by the amount of crumbs that had accumulated," Contreras says. "This area can get really dirty, especially if you are prepping food above and the drawer isn't closed 100%." To clean, take everything out, including the drawer liner and silverware. If the drawer has a ton of crumbs, Contreras suggests using a vacuum hose, then wiping down with hot soapy water and drying with a clean towel. Once everything is dry, put everything back in the drawer. "I now do this once per season to keep things neat and tidy," she says. Your Spice and Oil/Vinegar Area Timothy Hollingsworth, chef and owner of Otium in Los Angeles and OXO Chef In Residence, says people commonly forget to clean their spice and oil and vinegar areas. "A lot of the time when people are cooking, they tend to grab, use, and put back," he says. The easiest way to keep things tidy is to give your spices, oils, and vinegars, a quick wipe-down every time you use them. To go the extra mile, keep your spice jars organized and easily accessible to prevent them from falling over and spilling. (Hollingsworth likes OXO Not So Lazy Susan Turntable and spice organizers.) Another tip: Go through your spices, oils, and vinegar at least quarterly. "I pull everything out, make sure things are not expired, still in good condition, and the shelves or drawers are wiped down," Hollingsworth says. "This is also a great opportunity to take inventory of what you have and restock on anything you might be running low on." After going through this, I'm guilty of most of these, sounds like this Saturday, I might need to pull out my stove and fridge and brave the horror that I find behind them and give them a good cleaning. Good luck! Happy Early Spring Cleaning!

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend! Sincerely,

Matt Capell & Capell Team Capell Flooring and Interiors Office         208-288-0151  call or text us Web           www.capellflooring.com Email         sales@capellinteriors.com

P.S.  Here is joke for you.... I’m really not into spring cleaning. Come to think of it, I’m not into summer, fall, or winter cleaning either.

What Being a Dog or Cat Person Says About You | E-Neighborhood Advisor

 Happy Saturday! - Hope you have a great weekend!

Are you a cat person or a dog person? The answer to this age-old question could reveal a little bit about your personality, according to Popular Science.  For example, there are notable differences between dog and cat people as demographics. In 2014, Mikel Delgado, a postdoctoral researcher and applied animal behaviorist at the UC Davis veterinary school, authored a study that looked at something called the “Big 5” personality measurements in those who said they preferred one or the other species, as well as those who said they have no preference or don’t like cats and dogs.  The Big 5 are widely used metrics of personality, often referenced with the acronym OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. (That last one, neuroticism, is defined in this context as sensitivity or nervousness.) These traits, as defined in scientific literature, can be broadly applied across cultures and form a useful way to understand personalities.  Delgado found that respondents who said they preferred cats tended to be higher in openness and neuroticism, while self-identified dog people tended towards more extroversion and agreeableness.  These findings line up with previous studies on this issue. Such studies have also found that those who identify as dog people tend to be more dominant in social interactions and more narcissistic, and those who identify as cat people were, at least in one study, more likely to be female.  Still, research like this isn’t perfect. “Most of us are doing research on a limited budget, and we are doing survey research,” says Delgado. Ideally, research is conducted with balanced populations of people who are compensated for their participation. In this case, she says, “the people who are likely to fill out a survey, especially a long survey, about their pets are going to fit a certain demographic.” She says they also probably have a much higher level of attachment to their pet than the average owner.  She says the survey respondents in this area are overwhelmingly women, often representing 85-90 percent of respondents. They also tend to be white, which is consistent with the demographics of pet ownership in the United States. That means that survey responses probably say a lot more about how that specific population of pet owners feels about their pets than what all pet owners are likely to feel or think.  What’s more, Delgado says, the pet industry is a huge funder of this research, which naturally shapes the kind of work that gets done. Research that’s more likely to make pet ownership seem appealing—for instance, associating certain personality traits with certain kinds of pets—supports the sale of animals and animal products. Other research, such as how being owned benefits or detracts from the well-being of the animals themselves, is less likely to do that and thus harder to get funding for, Delgado says.  Asking how dog people and cat people differ is really just asking a simple question about a complicated issue. For one thing, in doing so, “we are treating cats and dogs as if somehow they’re equivalent,” says Delgado. “And they’re very different animals.”  Cats and dogs have different histories of domestication, different needs, different attachments to their owners, and different natural behaviors that are more or less compatible with human needs and behaviors. And, like humans, they’re different from one another: what works for one human and one cat might not work for another human or another cat.  All of these factors, along with past pet experiences and even the internet’s influence on companion animal culture, can affect whether someone says they prefer cats or dogs. The other big thing that hasn’t been studied, Delgado says, is what makes people who like pets at all different from those who don’t like or want pets. For all, we know, that difference could be much more fundamental and complex.  Another future research direction Delgado says is important is looking at how COVID-19 and working from home have affected people’s attachment to their companion animals. Researchers in her field started surveys early in the pandemic, and we expect to get more information on this over the next few years.  So, in the end, maybe the question isn’t whether you’re a dog- or cat-person at all—but whether your life has space in it for a pet, and you’re ready to bring your conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, or whatever other traits you have to your relationship with your fuzzy new friend. Personally, I like cats and dogs. I grew up on a small farm in South Meridian, and we had both cats and dogs, along with other animals. My children love cats, so I think, really, it boils down to the individual, their situation, and what they are looking for in a pet. Do you have a favorite? I would love to hear about it and see a picture or two.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend! Sincerely,

Matt Capell & Capell Team Capell Flooring and Interiors Office         208-288-0151  call or text us Web           www.capellflooring.com Email         sales@capellinteriors.com

P.S.  Here is joke for you.... Why did the cats ask for a drum set? They wanted to make some mewsic!

How State Capitals Got Their Names | E-Neighborhood Advisor

 Happy Saturday! - Hope you have a great weekend!

The history of our state capitals' names is as varied as it is storied: Some are named after presidents or notable figures, some are the stuff of legend, and some seem obvious (hello, Oklahoma City) but really have more to them than that. Here are several examples; you can check out the entire list in Reader's Digest. Juneau, Alaska Joseph Juneau discovered gold in Alaska in 1880 with his prospecting partner, Richard Harris. When other prospectors flocked to the area, Harris named the resulting town after himself: Harrisburg. It was briefly renamed Rockwell, ostensibly because there were too many towns in the U.S. named Harrisburg. But Joe Juneau felt something in the town should be named for him, and in 1881, he garnered enough support to change the name to Juneau. In 1906, the city became the territory capital; Alaska officially became a state, and Juneau became the state capital in 1956. Today, Juneau's natural beauty is offset with one of the strangest roadside attractions in America. Little Rock, Arkansas Bernard de la Harpe, a French explorer from New Orleans, noticed an outcropping of rock along the banks of the Arkansas River—the first he had seen since leaving New Orleans—which he called la petite roche (translation: "the little rock"). In 1803, the United States purchased this area, which was then part of the Louisiana Territory, from France (although Native Americans still occupied it). In 1818, boundary lines defining what's now Arkansas were drawn via a treaty that referred to this spot as "Little Rock," and the name stuck. The settlement was designated as the territorial capital in 1820, and in 1836 Arkansas became a state. Honolulu, Hawaii The word Honolulu means "protected bay" in the Hawaiian language, and it's thought that there has been a settlement in the spot since the 12th century. Despite English colonists wanting to call it Fair Heaven or Brown's Harbor (after Captain William Brown, who landed there in 1778), the Hawaiian name for the city stuck, and it was ultimately declared capital of the Hawaiian kingdom by King Kamehameha III in 1850, more than a hundred years before Hawaii became a state in 1959. Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort has nothing to do with the similar-sounding German city and everything to do with Stephen Frank, a local settler who was killed during a skirmish with Native Americans in 1780. Because of a ford along the river that ran through the area, a Buffalo trail that led the way for settlers, "Frank's Ford" seemed a good choice. In 1786, the name was shortened to Frankfort, and it beat out other cities to become the capital when Kentucky became a state in 1792. Helena, Montana Montana's state capital was originally named Crabtown after one of the four prospectors who found gold on what's now Helena's main street, which they called "Last Chance Gulch." As more people moved to the town, they decided to rename it, St. Helena, after a town in Minnesota where some of them were from. It was eventually shortened to Helena. (Reportedly, other names were floated, including Pumpkinville and Squashtown, as their meeting was close to Halloween.) Helena became the territory capital in 1875 and retained the honor when Montana became a state in 1889. Trenton, New Jersey Here's one of the not-so-surprising facts about George Washington: Trenton is the site of Washington's first victory in the Revolutionary War after the general crossed the Delaware River and arrived there for a surprise attack on Dec. 25, 1776. But surprisingly, Trenton was named for someone else: William Trent, one of the leading landowners in 1719. Initially, it was called Trent Town, which eventually became consolidated into its current form. Trenton became the capital of New Jersey in 1790. Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe, which means "Holy Faith" in Spanish, is the oldest state capital in U.S.: The city, the second oldest in the country, was founded in 1610. It was a Spanish capital, a Mexican capital, the American territorial capital and, finally, the U.S. state capital from 1912. Sante Fe is not exactly the name that was intended by the man who christened it, however: New Mexico's first governor under Spain, Don Pedro de Peralta, wanted it to be known as "La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís," which means "The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi." Boise, Idaho (Here's what they had to say about our capital) Boise (pronounced "boy-see" by locals, not "boy-zee") is a French word that means "wooded," which, legend has it, is what 19th-century French Canadian fur trappers exclaimed when they saw the tree-lined banks of the Boise River: "Les bois!" It appeared like an oasis after crossing the plains of the eastern part of the state. Some accounts say they called it "la rivière boisée," which means "the wooded river." Even today, Boise is known as the "City of Trees." In 1864, a year after Idaho Territory was established with Lewiston as the capital, that distinction moved to Boise, and Idaho became a state in 1890. Today, Boise's old Idaho State Penitentiary is one of the spookiest abandoned places.

I still remember back in 5th grade here in Meridian, Idaho; we learned all the state capitals for a test. I still have most, if not all, memorized, but it was fun to read about how some of them got their names and origins. Happy Saturday to you, and please don't hesitate to contact us if you need anything! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend! Sincerely,

Matt Capell & Capell Team Capell Flooring and Interiors Office         208-288-0151  call or text us Web           www.capellflooring.com Email         sales@capellinteriors.com

P.S.  Here is joke for you because what would you do without our jokes ;) What is the capital of Alaska? Come on, Juneau this one!