For many people, their cell phone

is simply a way of keeping in touch with

family and friends, snapping a few photos,

video recording a special event or playing a

few rounds of Trivia Crack or solitaire.

However, that phone also can be a useful

tool during a disaster or an emergency

situation, said Gina Peek, Oklahoma State

University Cooperative Extension housing

and consumer specialist.

“First and foremost, keep your phone

charged. If your home has lost power, use the

phone charger in your vehicle,” Peek said.

“There also are a number of battery powered

and solar charging devices available. Consider

purchasing one of them to keep in your

emergency kit.”

It is vital to have important contact

numbers stored in your phone. Be sure to

include the numbers for your physician, your

insurance agency and family members. It also

is a good idea to have a printed list of phone

numbers to keep in your emergency kit should

your phone get lost or destroyed in an

emergency situation or disaster. Having a

paper list of these numbers can save you a lot

of time when you need to reach someone

quickly.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard about storing

phone numbers in your phone under the name

of ICE. If not, this stands for ‘in case of

emergency,’ and can help first responders

contact your family in an emergency

situation,” she said. “You can program the

numbers as ICE Mom or ICE Husband so

emergency personnel will know with whom

they are speaking.”

As a safety precaution, some people have a

passcode on their phones so someone is not

able to pick it up and use it. Because of this,

your contact list is not accessible.

Fortunately there is a way around this. For

example, if you have an iPhone and are using

IOS 8.1.3, there is an app called Health

available. Consumers can input emergency

contact information there and when an

emergency responder or other person trying

to help “slides to unlock” your screen, they

can click on the word “emergency” on the

bottom left side, then click on *Medical ID.

Consumers can include information such as

drug allergies, emergency contact phone

numbers, blood type and even indicate if

they are an organ donor.

Other apps consumers should definitely

have on their phones are local news stations,

weather emergency apps and Oklahoma’s

Mesonet app.

“We all know living in Oklahoma how

quickly a tornado can form. These

emergency apps on your phone can help

keep you up to date if you’re not able to

watch breaking news on TV or hear it on the

radio,” Peek said. “If you don’t have any of

these weather or news station apps on your

phone, now is a great time to download them

since tornado season is just around the

corner. It also is a good time to check your

emergency kit, both at home and in your

vehicle, to see if anything needs to be

replaced or replenished. Make sure all

batteries in flashlights and radios are new.”

Inside this

Issue:

Page 2:

Quick Cleaning

Keep it Small

Page 3:

OHCE news

Page 4:

Recipe of the

Month

No Cook Blue-

berry-Almond

Oatmeal

Strengthening Oklahoma Families

Cell phones are handy tools in emergency situations

Oklahoma State University, U. S. Department of Agriculture, State and Local governments cooperating. Oklahoma State University in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, disa-bility, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures.

Murray County OSU Extension Service

Kay Lynn Johnson, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator

3490 Hwy 7 West, Sulphur, OK 73086

Email: kay_lynn.brown@okstate.edu Ph: 580-622-3016

March 2015

Page 2

Internet Cleaning Expert -FlyLady.net

understands a busy schedule. Her cleaning tip

for those who don’t have much time to

devote to cleaning: set your timer, and devote

10 minutes to work on each of these 7 ways

to bless your home:

Vacuum

Dust

Quick Mop

Polish Mirrors and Doors

Purge magazines/catalogs

Change Sheets

Empty all trash cans

This takes approximately one hour; some

tasks take less than 10 minutes.

No detailed cleaning required; vacuum the

middle of the floors only. Set your timers and

have fun—you are blessing your home and

family! Be sure to stop and move to the next

item on the list when the timer rings.

Do this when you have only an hour to work

on your home. Source: FlyLady.net

Quick Cleaning to Bless Your Home

People eat more when they are offered larger

servings. But is it more food or bigger plates

that makes the difference? To find out, Belgian

researchers offered 88 college students one of

three bowls of M&M’s to snack on as they

watched a 22 minute TV show: a small (one-

cup) bowl filled with 7 ounces of candy, a

large (three cup) bowl filled with 7 ounces of

candy, or a large (three cup) bowl with 21

ounces of candy. The students ate twice as

much candy from the two large bowls (about 2

ounces, or 300 calories worth) than they did

from the small bowl (about 1 ounce, or 150

calories worth).

What to do:

Take a look at your dishes. If they are

generously sized and you are trying to eat less,

maybe its worth investing in a new set. Or, use

the smaller version if your set has more than

one size of plate or bowl.

Repackage food generally eaten straight from

the container (like cookies, chips or crackers)

from large containers it comes in to smaller

(preferably reusable) containers.

When dining out, ask the server to wrap up

half of the dish before it comes to the table

rather than trying to eat all of it in one sitting.

Keep It Small

OHCE NEWS

Page 3

Focus on the

Fair: Open Class

107: Dish Towel Dish towels are

essential to every

kitchen. Make your

dish towels pretty and

useful using one of

these methods. Hard

copies of instructions

may be picked up at the

Extension Office.

Executive Council Meeting The Executive Council met on January 6th,

2015. Here are some highlights from that

meeting.

Council Meetings:

Summer: June 8th 6pm

Hosts: Sharecroppers & Progressive

Fall: October 5th 10 am

Host: Helping Hand

Christmas: December 8th 6pm

Host: Rainbow

Spring 2016: February 8th

Hosts: Oaklawn & Joy

Donations from tax money will be made to

support the following organizations:

Davis Oklahoma Animal Volunteers $500

Norma Brumbaugh Scholarship: $50

FCS Ambassadors: $75

Clubs will continue to collect Pennies for

Friendship at their club meetings.

District OHCE Meeting The delegation for the District OHCE meeting will be departing

the Extension Office at 8 am on March 17th to travel to the Dis-

trict Meeting. Please contact Kay Lynn at the office and let her

know if you will be driving or needing a ride. Don’t forget to

pack your checkbook to support the silent auction that will help

fund the 2016 meeting!

THANK YOU! Thank you for the great response with donations of glass jars for

the Davis 2nd grade financial education class! The kids had a

great time learning about money. Many of them bragged about

how much they had saved, which shows that we are making a

difference in their lifelong money habits.

Leader Lesson March’s Leader Lesson given by our District FCS Specialist

Lani Vasconcellos will cover the topic of “The Benefits of

Home and Community Education”. The lesson will be held on

March 23 at 10 am in the Rob Barrett Room.

Opportunities to Give

OU and OSU T-Shirts

The Quilt Show committee needs OU and

OSU T-shirts for the bedlam quilts they

will be raffling during the quilt show. If

you have any that you would like to

donate, drop them off with Kay Lynn at

the Extension Office or give them to any

member of the

Quilt Show

Committee.

Fabric

The counties in the Southeast District hold

an event each summer called Family and

Consumer Science Skills day to introduce

4-Hers from across the district to FCS

Skills. There are cooking, sewing, careers,

and housing sessions. The sewing session

needs donations of fabric to make this

year’s project affordable. If you would like

to donate cotton fabric (for pillowcases) in

1 yard increments, please bring them to the

OSU Extension office before March 16th

as we will be collecting them at the

District Meeting.

THANKS AGAIN!! A special thanks to everyone who donated baked items to the

stock show concession stand. The 4-H members made a nice

profit for our operating fund and we couldn’t have done it with-

out your wonderful homemade baked items. Everything was de-

licious and it flew out of the concession stand! Your support is

deeply appreciated!

Adding a colorful

binding to a plain

dishtowel or a piece of

an old table cloth can

add some pizazz to

your kitchen.

http://

www.bombshellbling.

com/vintage-dish-

towels/

If sewing is not your thing, try

customizing dish towels using

this print transfer method.

http://www.kammyskorner

.com/2014/04/yellow-retro-

bistro-chair.html

Page 4

Recipe of the Month!

Murray County Cooperative Extension Service

Oklahoma State University

3490 Hwy 7 W

Sulphur, OK 73086

Family & Consumer Science Newsline is

published by the Murray County Cooperative

Extension Service, and is one way to communicate

to the interested citizens of Murray County.

Phone: 580-622-3016

Fax: 580-622-6619

Email: kay_lynn.brown@okstate.edu

Editor:

Kay Lynn Johnson

Extension Educator,

Family and Consumer Sciences,

4-H Youth Development

No Cook Blueberry-Almond Oatmeal

Ingredients

3/4 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup blueberries

1 teaspoon packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 drops pure almond extract

Kosher salt

1 tablespoon toasted sliced almonds

2 teaspoons honey or agave nectar

Directions: The night before, combine the milk, oats, blueberries, brown sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, al-

mond extract and a pinch of salt in a glass pint jar or other container with a lid. Secure the lid and shake.

Refrigerate at least 6 hours up to overnight. In the morning, top with the almonds and drizzle with honey.

Nutritional : 350 Calories, fat 6 g, sodium 240 mg, carbohydrates 61g, fiber 6g, protein 15g

Copyright 2014 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved.