DIY Life

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with QVC and Tristar Products Inc., announced a voluntary recall of about 13,500 electric contact grills. Cooking oils or sprays applied to the grill's cooking plates can ignite or flare up at any time when used on the grill. QVC and Tristar have five reports of this happening, including two reports of minor burns.

The electric contact grills were manufactured in China and sold by QVC through its television station, web page, toll free number and its employee, retail and Studio stores. They were also sold by Tristar through their website at www.hulkhogangrill.com, and through a direct response television commercial from May 2007 through August 2007 for about $100.

This recall involves a dual surface electric contact grill sold under the "Hulk Hogan's Ultimate Grill" brand. The silver and gray grills have removable cooking plates and fold for easy storage. Please see the CPSC press release for model number and more information on the recalled grill.

Consumers will receive a revised instruction manual with a cooking spray/oil use warning. For more information, you may also contact QVC at (800) 367-9444 or visit their website at www.qvc.com. You may contact Tristar at (800) 718-5135 or visit their website at www.tristarproductsinc.com.

Oh, happy day! Winter has arrived! Now is the time for sledding and snow skiing and making snow men. Along with cold, frozen noses and fingers, we must give precedence to all the frozen locks that hungrily eat our keys. Seriously, try inserting that worn out key into a lock and see what happens, but don't say I didn't warn ya!

The next time you are unlucky enough to break off a key, don't panic. Doityourself.com tells us how to remove a broken key from a lock. With a little bit of patience and the right tools, you can remove the broken key with little fuss. It pays to carry a needle nose pliers, some WD-40 or cooking spray, and a small saw blade in your purse, carry-all or briefcase, just is case a key break could happen.

The article is explicit in detail, telling you how to remove the broken key and how to check your key to make sure it is in tiptop shape so you never have to experience the agony of a broken key. I don't know about you, but I am going to lubricate all my locks and check my keys right now. I can't imagine anything worse than trying to get a broken key out of a lock when it is only 10 degrees outside!

Heather brought us a great blog post on how she, her children and her brother use Pam cooking spray. As I was reading her post, I started thinking that there has to be more excellent uses besides cooking with the spray and the ingenious uses her loved ones have.

Gomestic writer Darlene McFarlane has 13 remarkable uses for cooking spray. Who knew cooking spray could keep debris from sticking to your car wheels or car grill, not to mention keeping your locks and mailbox free from sticking and freezing? Cooking spray is also great for keeping candle wax from sticking to the candle holders, cleans dirt and soap scum from your shower, quiets squeaky hinges, lubricates a bicycle chain, makes snow slide off the shovel easier if you spray your shovel first, and keeps wet grass from sticking to your lawnmower blades.

Please be careful with some of these suggestions. You will want to clean up the cooking spray very thoroughly before you take your next shower, so that you don't fall down and break your noggin. Also, be careful when using cooking spray on a putty knife. Using too much of a good thing, such as cooking spray, isn't always a good thing, if ya know what I mean. In other words, you could end up hurting yourself!