Archive for the ‘Home & Family’ Category
How to Wish Happy Birthday in Different Languages
Whether it’s your birthday or the birthday of some one close to you, it’ll always be an occasion that remains the reservoir of happy memories, lots of laughter and wholesome family fun! Birthday is one of those occasions where the strong emotional bonds, warmth of heartfelt best wishes go beyond the barrier of language and sincere and cordial birthday wish always becomes successful in conveying with its true glory.
Other than the usual party, celebrations, good food and sparkling birthday gifts, it is a day when the spotlight shines on friends, relatives, parents and cheerful memories. It is the day when the birthday boy or girl is in his or her most emotionally vulnerable state. Feelings, thoughts previously unspoken, may be in fear of denunciation are expressed on this day as it is the perfect occasion to share feelings and emotions along with best wishes.
When it comes to wishing your loved ones on his or her birthday, originality and uniqueness is the key to make your dear one feel surprised and delighted. It’s hard to put in to words what you want to express to the birthday boy or girl on that special day, but once you tell them how wonderful you feel on their birthday, the expression on their face with bright smile and cheerful look makes the day all the more special. To brighten up the birthday of your loved onesyou may be finding the right word to express your heartfelt best wishes can be a difficult task, so why don’t you go beyond the barrier of language and wish happy birthday in different languages. It’s sure to make your friend, relative or whoever is the birthday boy or girl, feel fascinated and really excited at this unique birthday wish. Even if it is the birthday celebration of a little kid, wishing happy birthday in different languages can be a quite an educating way of wishing someone happy birthday. Kids can learn those languages a little and feel fascinated in exploring more, consequently stirring their learning faculty in an indirect way. Here is a list which will help you to wish “Happy Birthday” in different languages of the world. So next time you are at a birthday party you can share the joy and excitement in different languages. It can be an amusing at the same time a unique learning experience for both of you.
Brazil: Parabéns a você! nesta data querida muitas felicidades e muitos anos de vida.
Chinese-Cantonese: Sun Yat Fai Lok!
Chinese-Mandarin: qu ni sheng er kuai le
Croatian: Sretan Rodendan!
Czech: Vsechno nejlepsi k Tvym narozeninam!!
Danish: Tillykke med fodselsdagen!
Dutch: Hartelijk gefeliciteerd! or Van harte gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag!
Esperanto: Felichan Naskightagon!
Farsi: Tavalodet Mobarak!
Finnish: Hyvaa syntymapaivaa!
French (Canada): Bonne Fete!
French: Joyeux Anniversaire!
German: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
Greek: Eytyxismena Genethlia! or Chronia Pola!
Hawaiian: Hau`oli la hanau!
Hebrew: Yom Huledet Same’ach!
Hungarian: Boldog szuletesnapot! or Isten eltessen!
Italian: Buon Compleanno!
Japanese: Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!
Russian: S dniom razhdjenia! or Pazdravliayu s dniom razhdjenia!
Spanish: Feliz Cumpleaños!
Swedish: Grattis på födelsedagen
Taiwanese: San leaz quiet lo!
Thai: Suk San Wan Keut!
Ukrainian: Mnohiya lita! or Z dnem narodjennia!
Sean Carter writes on holidays, events and celebrations around the world. He also writes on family, relationships, birthdays
How to make your refrigerator more efficient
Most people don’t realize how much electricity a refrigerator uses. Unlike most household appliances, a refrigerator is working hard all the time. It is a heat pump, pumping heat out of the freezer, and using a fan to cool off the refrigerator unit. So, if you want to save money on your utility bill, you should make sure that your refrigerator is running at top efficiency.
The more efficient your refrigerator is, the less energy it will use. And that, of course, saves you money. Sometimes, the best way to make an old refrigerator more efficient is to simply get rid of it, and replace it with an Energy Star compliant new model. The savings on your electric bill can be substantial. Additionally, features such as automatic defrosting consume electricity as well. Modern designs are more energy efficient, and so replacing an old refrigerator almost always makes a great deal of sense.
Of course, whether your refrigerator is new or old, there are always other things that you can do to improve its efficiency. Is your freezer full? It should be. A full freezer is easier to keep cold. Filling milk jugs with tap water about two thirds the way up will eventually provide a nice block of ice that will help keep your freezer cold with minimal use of energy. And, in case of a black out, the jugs of frozen water will help keep other things in the freezer cold longer. Best of all, in case of a severe emergency – think hurricane season — the jugs of water can be thawed out and used. Remember, when you fill up those jugs to put in the freezer, don’t fill them all the way to the top. Water expands when it freezes. Two thirds full should be just fine.
Speaking of water, open water evaporates and condenses in a refrigerator. This makes the refrigerator work harder, and also tends to drip little annoying drops of water on your hands whenever you reach for something on the top shelf. So, if you put something wet into the fridge, make sure it is covered.
Another handy method of making your refrigerator more efficient is to use the “energy saver” setting on your refrigerator’s controls. The controls can be found on the inside of the refrigerator unit, often on the refrigerator’s “ceiling.” Try different settings, and be sure to use a refrigerator thermometer to make sure the settings keep your food cold, between 35 and 37 degrees fahrenheit, or around 2 degrees celsius. While you’re at it, get a freezer thermometer as well. The freezer should be around 0 degrees fahrenheit, -18 celsius. Check both thermometers regularly, particularly during the summer.
When opening the doors to your refrigerator and freezer, make sure you’ve already got a pretty good idea what you’re looking for. Keeping the door open while you “take inventory” is a bad habit that you should try to break. Know what’s in your refrigerator, and where it’s located. Refrigerator and freezer doors are kept closed with magnetic strips. The magnetic strips are embedded in a rubber seal around the door. Keep the seals clean. Debris on the seal can let air in and out, compromising the air tightness and making the refrigerator work harder.
You can test for good seals by slipping a dollar bill in between the door and the fridge. Close the door, and try to take the dollar bill out. If it’s easy to remove, your seals need cleaning. After cleaning, try using silicone spray to revitalize the old rubber on the seals. If this doesn’t improve things, you might want to see if you can get the seals replaced. You can order replacement refrigerator seals online, or by phone, from your refrigerator’s manufacturer.
Bob Vila recommends that you put replacement seals in the clothes dryer for a few minutes to warm them. Warming, he says, removes the crimps that come from being packed in the shipping box. And while your keeping the door clean, be sure to vacuum around the coils. The refrigerator coils are usually either on the back of the unit, or on the bottom of it. The coils are essential working parts of your refrigerator — they are how the refrigerator dissipates the heat that it is pumping out of the interior. Dirty coils don’t dissipate heat well, because the dirt acts like an insulator. Clean coils do what they’re supposed to do — dissipate heat at maximum efficiency.
These simple maintenance tips should make your refrigerator live a healthy, energy efficient life. And you’ll notice the difference on your utility bill.
Johnny Waymire has a great free resource site, kitchen-appliance-advisor.com , containing practical and helpful information on how to purchase Kitchen Appliances that fit YOUR needs. Visit to find all the helps, brands and reviews to make your next purchase very informative.
Prevent Hard Water Spots from Staining Your Shower and Exterior Glass


(ARA) – If someone were to ask you what the hardest room in the house to clean is, you’d likely say the bathroom. Sure a little bleach and cleanser will keep the mirror and countertops looking nice, and toilet cleaner works well in the bowl, but what about your glass shower doors?
You’ve likely noticed they are not as clear as they once were anymore. It’s a problem that’s more common than you may think.
Shower doors get cloudy when soap scum and dissolved minerals from the water supply cling to microscopic crevices in the surface of untreated glass. So what can you do about it? Some hard water stains will yield to scrubbing with white vinegar and a non-scratch pad. Before trying this solution, protect your hands with latex gloves and be prepared to use some elbow grease. The vinegar odor can be quite strong so you might want to test your reaction to breathing the fumes before using vinegar in an enclosed area.
If you find that vinegar is ineffective, then you may be dealing with stains that have actually bonded to the surface of the glass. Some people report success with using a paint-scraper or razor blade to remove bonded stains. Should you choose to try this method, be extremely careful not to scratch or etch the glass. Using a blade also carries the risk of injury and infection. Another possible solution would be to resort to using harsh chemicals like Lime-away or CLR.
Vinegar and scrapers didn’t work for Vicki Lewis of Cottonwood, Calif., and she didn’t want to use harsh chemicals. When it got to the point where it would have been easier but too expensive to replace the shower glass than to clean it, she finally concluded that the only way to obtain a safe and simple product that would easily remove hard water stains was to develop one herself.
Lewis consulted professional cleaners and chemists and found the explanation for why the stains were so difficult to remove. “To successfully remove the stain you must break the molecular binding between the mineral and the microscopic crevices in the glass,” says Lewis. “My initial research centered on how the minerals bonded to the pits in the glass and how to break the bonds. Even more research showed how to prevent the minerals from binding to the glass in the first place.”
Twelve years after she started her testing, Lewis introduced Bring-It-ON Cleaner for removing hard water stains on both interior and exterior glass surfaces, without caustic chemicals, harsh odors, or hard scrubbing. Environmentally-safe Bring-It-ON is a combination of powerful detergents, mild jewelers-grade abrasive and oxygen bleach, which has the added bonus of helping to eliminate most odor causing bacteria in the bathroom and kitchen. In testing, tough organic stains like coffee, berries, mold and mildew yielded to the formula, as did stains caused by alkali, rust, oil and grease.
Regardless of whether you use a home remedy or a commercial product to remove your hard water spots and stains, apply the solution to a damp sponge or non-abrasive pad and rub gently in a circular motion until the stain is gone, then rinse. Most products are safe for use on porcelain, ceramic tile, stainless steel, fiberglass and Formica, but you should always test it on an inconspicuous surface before use.
Once the glass is clean, you can prevent stains from coming back by treating the surface with a sealant. Lemon or orange oil will provide a temporary coating and a pleasant aroma. For a longer-term seal you can use an automotive or furniture paste wax, or try out Lewis’ homegrown solution — Pro-Tect Shield, a product designed to provide a long-lasting seal which prevents the minerals in hard water from attaching to glass and other surfaces in the first place.
Whichever solution you choose, spray it onto your glass or tile surface and buff it off with a soft terry-cloth towel. This coating fills the microscopic pits in the surface to which minerals cling and prevents the stains from setting in. This process requires just a few minutes of time. Repeat frequently to ensure that the coating remains intact. To extend the effectiveness of the sealant, squeegee the glass after each use. Installing a water softener to reduce mineral content in the water will also help.
Water spot problems are not limited to shower doors. These solutions should work for water and mineral stains on bathroom and kitchen ceramic tile, Formica, Corian, porcelain and fiberglass. Outside the home, they should also be effective on windows, automotive glass, pool tile and outside furniture. Do not use on automobile paint, marble, Plexiglas or soft plastic.
Bring-It-ON Cleaner and Pro-tect Shield are available for purchase at www.BringItOnCleaner.com, or you can call in an order toll-free to (800) 867-2643.
Courtesy of ARAcontent