DIY Life

I am all about recycling or using a product for more than one task. I figure the more one thing can do the less we have to buy and the fewer pounds of waste will end up in landfills. In our house Pam cooking spray goes a long way. With three kids who are constantly hungry there is much baking of brownies and breads to fill their tummies. We make loads of Rice Krispie treats that must easily come off the pans lest a little hand get stuck to the pan surface. But the baking aside, it has recently come to light that the spray is getting used in much more creative ways.

My oldest son, Loren, is 14 and an avid snowskater. This is all well and good during the winter months when we have ample amounts of snow to support his passion. But he also likes to do it in the summer. When he realized ice melts to darn fast he did some research in the kitchen cabinets and discovered that Pam spray works like a dream when sprayed on the wooden deck. It creates a smooth surface over which his snowskate can easily glide and enable him to perform his tricks. After he admitted this to me, the buttery smell out by the hot tub made perfect sense.

It turns out my son has not been the only one hitting the can. My brother has been spending the summer with us and lending a hand with my three children while I try to work. Most often he is the taxi man while I am tied to my laptop, but occasionally he pulls double duty and looks after my almost three year-old, Devon.

One day when I returned home from a yoga class I asked him why the Pam spray was in the bathroom. He sort of stammered and then admitted that he has an issue with Devon's potty seat. It turns out that after a few stomach churning tries, he resorted to spraying the small potty bowl with a layer of Pam before Devon did his big job. The lubricated surface enabled a smooth transition of content transfer into the big, flush toilet and made clean-up a non-issue. I shrugged my shoulders, congratulated him on his ingenuity and thanked him for making sure the bathroom stayed clean.

I think I'll stick with just the baking area when it comes to cooking spray, but if you have any creative uses for it I would love to hear them.