Short cuts

There's this thing J does when he's dpepperawing up a bath for me that I was going to call a "life hack" because that's the catch phrase, right? Then I heard TJ in my head saying, "not everything is a hack!" She's right. And most of the "hacks" are short cuts, but I don't know if this even qualifies as that because it actually takes longer. Whatever. It's a useful way of doing a thing I do a lot that gets better results than the way I usually do them. Anyway, he lets the tub fill from the shower head. This is neither novel nor revolutionary. However, it does keep our tiny bathroom warm & steamy much longer, creating a sort of sauna-like atmosphere. Only wetter. A hot tub in a sauna. It's fantastic.

Then! I was making dinner. A Philly cheese steak casserole. All apologies to residents of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the greater New England area as well as to lovers of the cheese steak everywhere. I've never had a cheese steak. I promise not to form am opinion on them based on this dish. Whatever. I'm making dinner, in a casserole dish, that has ground beef, onions, bell peppers and provolone topped with biscuit. Only vaguely in the neighborhood of a cheese steak. All of this is mostly irrelevant because what I'm trying to get around to is the part where the recipe have me a handy new way to cut bell peppers. Forgive me if you've been doing this for years. I'm new here. So, you cut a little of the bottom of the pepper so it stands up on its own. Then you cut from the stem down, leaving these long strips attached to the stem. HANDY!

I haven't used a dust pan to fill a bucket with water from the faucet, but I did buy a what'sit to organize my hair dodads, of which I have way too many considering the length of my hair is such that I don't do much with it. I'm sure you could DIY something like this in a jiffy. I have small children and a grand desire to sleep rather than craft.

There should be a clever unifying conclusion here, but I have to go check on my casserole.

Edit: 

1) If you fill the tub from the bottom using the shower, the water chills quicker, so either only use the hottest water, or fill tub halfway with the faucet and finish with the showerhead.

2) After slicing all around the bell pepper, you can cut around the stem or just snap off the strips. Its handy to be able to use the whole weight of the pepper while cutting it into strips so they aren't falling everywhere. 

3) The cassarole was delicious.