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Wondering what method keeps your Valentine's flowers lasting longer? One guy tried them all.

Some definitely worked better than others.

Representative image from Canva

Because who doesn't want to preserve the natural beauty of a bouquet for as long as possible?

With Valentine’s having just passed, many of us might be looking at beautiful bouquets bestowed by our sweethearts and wondering how to keep them fresh for as long as possible (the flowers, that is, but maybe your beau as well).

If the thought of experimenting with a ton of home remedies found online sounds exhausting, you’re in luck! Someone decided to test a whole handful of them to see which worked best for perfectly preserved petals.

In a 7-minute clip posted to TikTok, life-hack enthusiast and former circus clown “The Gooch” made his own little science project using multiple roses placed in vases of water, each with a different variable: a blend of sugar and bleach, Red Bull, pennies, popcorn kernels, 7 Up, alkaline batteries, denture tablets, aspirin and, naturally, the florist-provided flower food packet, which itself contains some kind of sugar, citric acid and biocide, such as bleach.

Some of these ingredients, like the sugar bleach, came at the recommendation of The Gooch’s “florist friend.” Others, like the alkaline batteries, were simply pulled from the almighty internet.

The Gooch let the roses sit for 7 days, each flower covered by a cylinder made of colored construction paper, before he gave the big reveal.

The results of the first couple of roses—the ones given Aspirin and 7 Up—wasn’t anything to write home about. In fact, The Gooch remarked that the 7 Up rose looked “sad.”

From there, the experiment had both unexpected losers, like the expert recommended sugar-bleach solution, and some surprising winners, like the denture tab solution which actually proved to be “ pretty amazing.”

One of the biggest surprises of all came from the alkaline batteries, which did keep the rose remarkably fresh, even if it made the water look like it came from a sewer.

In the end, the best result came from tablets, popcorn kernels, batteries, flower food and pennies, with the latter two being the best solutions overall.

@the_gooch Tasting what keeps flowers fresh longer #flowers #experiment #valentines #valentinesday #valentine #roses #fyp #foryou #foryourpage #longervideos #longvideo #longvideos #tipsandtricks ♬ original sound - The Gooch

After The Gooch’s video went viral, amassing nearly 22 million views, others began offering their own flower preserving tips.

“I do flower food, copper pennies (b4 1983) and ice cubes in the water. Replace water weekly. Flowers will last for 3-4 weeks,” one person wrote.

Another added, “when I was in school we were taught to cut our roses under water so that an air bubble isn’t created in the stem.”

Still, one florist noted that the real key is far more simple.

“The most impactful thing is to change the water every day (I’m a florist) — flower food has food (sugar) and a little bleach too to try and minimize bacteria, but clean water is the most helpful!” they wrote.

Adding onto that, the website Green Fresh Florals recommends to continue trimming the bouquets’ stems every few days, removing any leaves that would sit below the water line and not only changing of the water every couple of days, but putting the stems in warm water than slowly transitioning to cool water to prolong vibrancy.

Or you could follow this viewer's advice, who joked, “[The] ultimate trick is to leave them on the rose bushes, it’s hands down the best method.”

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Pop Culture

Woman claims we should start normalizing practical gifts, and she makes some strong points

Remember—who are the gifts supposed to be for?

@jaii.bee/TikTok

Practical gifts are just as valuable as novelty ones.

Practical gifts for Christmas are underrated. There, I said it.

Sure, it’s great to receive fun clothes and knickknacks and whatnot, but have you ever felt the pure bliss of unwrapping something truly useful? Something that you might have even kept hovering in the amazon cart forever, but could never find a proper excuse to pull the trigger? That’s an emotional combination of excitement, relief and yes, joy, that simply can’t be beat.

And yet, many gift givers still feel the pressure to buy super sentimental or clever—not to mention expensive—items during the holidays, even when the recipient has asked otherwise.

While the intention is surely to show their loved one how much they mean to them, proceeding to choose indulgence over senseability could be a form of disrespect, and lose sight on what the meaning behind gift giving is in the first place.

This could especially be said of parents with adult or teenage children, argues a woman named Katie (@jaii.bee).

In a video posted to her TikTok, Katie offered a “reminder” that if parents ask their teen/adult kid what they’d like for Christmas (of their birthday) and their kids suggests they help pay for a bill, offer some gas or grocery money, or replenish some facial cleanser, and they reject the request by saying “that’s not a gift,” that they’re in the wrong.

Katie then doubled down on her point by saying that if parents feel this way, they’re actually buying a gift for themselves, not their children.

“And that is not how gifts are supposed to work,” she stated.

@jaii.bee agree or disagree? #adultchildren #psa ♬ original sound - JB | If You're Mid, Stay Mad

She also stressed that it’s almost impossible to enjoy “something nice” when the basic necessities can’t be taken care of. And that honestly, no adult would ask their parents for this stuff unless they absolutely needed to. If parents are able to do both, then great. But otherwise, just get them what they asked for.

Lastly, Katie asserted that “if you give someone cash as a gift and they don’t use it in the way you want them to, that has nothing to do with you.” Once that person has the cash in hand, it's theirs to do with as they see fit.

“Maybe it’s a little controversial,” she concluded, “but if someone is specifically asking you for something and you can get them that thing and you choose not to, you’re bad at giving gifts.”

Katie is apparently not alone in her stance. Several folks commented in support of practical gifts, including many whose favorite gifts ever received were everyday items. Others poked fun at the logic—or lack thereof—behind certain novelty gifts.

Here’s a small sampling:

“My mom bought me tires for my car and I literally sobbed. Best gift ever. Peace, safety, and a weight off my back. This is sooo true!”

“Parents be like, ‘cash isn’t a personal enough gift!’ And then get you some generic wall art.’

“My dad fills our freezer with meat every Christmas. My favorite gift.”

“I asked my 22-year-old what she wanted. She said food and cat litter and gas and shoes for work. She will get all of that for Christmas.”

“For 17 years I’ve been bought decor as gifts, not a single piece has ever been on display in my house because I don’t do decor.”

May this story serve as a gentle PSA to not succumb to the siren song of Christmas-time consumerism. Don’t buy kitschy things just to buy them, especially when something like a bill being paid for or groceries being taken care of can really, truly make someone light up for the holidays. Perhaps there is no gift more personal than exactly what a person asked for.

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Family

Mom shows why painters tape is her 'weird' thing she'll never travel without

For parents with young kids looking to have a little less travel stress this holiday season—this one's for you.

@nicholaknox/Instagram

A mom shows all the ways painters tape can be useful while traveling

Traveling can be stressful for anyone, but it’s particularly challenging for parents with really young kids. The sitting still for long periods of time, the changes in schedule, the abundance of stimuli, the unexpected stomach bugs, the suddenly running out of diaper wipes…all the things that make trips triggering for toddlers and therefore chaotic for mom and dad.

And while there might not be a way to completely avoid every travel-induced aggravation (it’s all part of the journey!) there are definitely tips and tricks and tools to make it a bit smoother of a process.

For one mom, a peaceful trip always begins with a roll of painter’s tape.

“I swear to you. It’s great on the plane but also on vacation,” Nichola Knox, a Canada-based mom wrote on Instagram last month.

“It’s great on the plane but also on vacation,” she continued. “Label the kid’s cups, a bandaid for when your toddler ‘really needs one,’ taping over locks and drawers you don’t want them getting into. The list goes on. It’s forever the ‘weird’ thing I bring on trips.”

In Knox’s video you can see the tape being used in myriad ways—both practical and creative. On the plane, it’s used as a snack holder and extra cup holder, a button block, plus as various ways to keep her kid entertained—window stickers, a “bridge” for his toy car, letters for a little arts and crafts time, etc.

Then at the hotel, she created little crawling roads mapped out on the floor. Nifty.

The video received a ton of positive feedback, with views calling the idea “expert-level parenting.”

Even the official Instagram account for airline WestJet left a comment saying “Inflight entertainment that we never thought of! Very creative. ✈️.”

Meanwhile, one person added, “If I was sitting with you I would totally be participating in all the fun tape-based shenanigans! This is brilliant.”

Knox isn’t the only one on the painter’s tape bandwagon. Another mom called it a “baby proofing workhorse” in a TikTok video saying it’s great for keeping anything dangling above out of reach, as well as covering up and outlets while at hotels.

Meanwhile, another mom shared that when flying, she would board earlier than her husband and son and put a little tape over the latch to the dining tray table, since he was “going through a phase where he liked to open and close everything.”

Honestly, it does make sense that this item could be such a travel friendly tool for parents. The beauty of painter’s tape is that it usually doesn't cause any mess or damage to the surfaces we stick it on. It’s super easy to simply peel off and go, especially when it’s only going to be used for a few hours.

And of course, parents can find plenty of ways to use painters tape at home, too. Mom blogger Kelsey Pomeroy has a few suggestions—makeshift chip clips, light blockers, lint rollers, reminders notes…just to name a few.

Sometimes the biggest parenting win is finding an easy solution that allows for more time to simply enjoy the moment. Seems like this hack is one of those wins. Happy traveling, moms and dads!

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Joy

After returning a $40K engagement ring, guy with metal detector finds another diamond at the beach

He did what was right and was rewarded.

via Pixabay

A metal detector hobbyist looking for treasure on the beach.

Joseph Cook, 37, is a popular metal detectorist on social media where he shares videos of the many treasures he finds on Florida beaches. But what’s even more engaging than his finds is the incredible excitement he brings to the hobby. It’s like watching Steve Irwin, but with a Florida accent.

Not only is his attitude infectious but he also makes a point of doing good when he finds lost items. He wears a necklace around his neck with multiple rings that he’s found to remind him of his mission to return lost treasures.

Recently, he told SWNS that he dug up "the biggest diamond I ever found” on the beach. "When I first found it I thought it would just be a nickel, but then I dug it up and it was just this big old diamond and platinum ring," he said.

Even though the diamond ring appeared to be valuable, he had no intentions of keeping or selling the sparkler. He got right to work posting about it on social media and contacted 100 jewelry stores in the area asking if anyone came in asking for a lost ring.

He kept the ring in his scooter until he had it appraised by a local jeweler and found it was worth about $40,000. "Honestly, I had no clue it was even worth that much. I literally put it in my scooter, I thought maybe a grand, two grand or something," Cook told Fox News Business. "It was in my scooter for a week until I took it to a jewelry store to get them to look at it."

Two weeks after finding the ring, Cook received some calls from an unknown number and thought it might be the ring’s owner. The calls were from a husband who claimed it was his wife’s lost engagement ring. His jeweler told him that someone had found a similar ring to the one they had lost.

The man sent Cook pictures to prove his claim was legitimate.

"They were pretty happy. The wife was on a FaceTime call, and she just said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it,’ and then she just started crying," Cook told The New York Post. Three weeks later, he met up with the couple to return the ring.

Based on a quote from the alleged owner of the ring, it went through a lot before it was found by Cook.

"I am still in shock that my engagement ring spent several months in the ocean, churned up by a hurricane and found by YOU!" the ring's alleged owner, Tiffany Howard, wrote on Instagram. "Even more shocking is your persistence in finding me to return it!"

"I really wasn't disappointed that I had to return it," Cook said. "Karma's always good, every time I return an item, I find something better, so I'm happy I could give it back."

Cook’s good deed was a tremendous act of generosity. He could have easily pocketed the ring, pawned it and made himself a nice chunk of change. But instead, he decided to use his treasure-hunting talents for good and he did all that he could to track down the ring’s owner.

When asked if he received a reward he said, "I got nothing."

However, Cook’s belief in metal detecting karma paid off right after he returned the treasure to its rightful owners when he found another diamond ring on the beach. "Karma is real," he wrote on Instagram.

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