HINTS FROM HAZEL:
Household Tips
for Creative Types
Edited by Margaret H. McCann
Dear Hazel,
I have been collecting the small wooden
chips that break off furniture from time to time for about six years. I
finally have enough to create a scentless potpourri -- a twist from the
usual also because there remain bits of varnish and paint on parts of each
piece to form a colorful remembrance of how our natural world becomes artificial.
To contain them, use a spray-painted cottage cheese container or a net
covered candle holder. Love your column.
Phyllis Flabbermeister
Dear Hazel,
I keep worn-out potholders near the back
door instead of throwing them out. They can be used as Handi-wipes for
anything from a slushie that spills on your way in the door to cleaning
up the bottom of your shoes in case you step on something you shouldn't
have, even though Pooper Scooper laws around here are strictly enforced.
Then, just throw them out.
Harry Bentfuddle
Dear Hazel,
One way our family has spent a lot of
time together this year is: We have collected photos or Xeroxed photos
of every American president. We have arranged them in a pleasing design
on our card table, and have lain a piece of transparent Contac paper over
the entire surface. We now have an interesting tabletop card players can
look at when it's not their turn, plus no more need for coasters.
Sherri Lubbs
Dear Hazel,
A piece of cotton glued to a Popsicle
stick makes for a handy way to clean under the toilet rim in places the
brush can't reach.
Mary Blattkin
Dear Hazel,
I'm 230 pounds overweight and so have
difficulty moving about. My husband cuts old cardboard boxes into 12-inch
squares and staples thick bands of elastic across the top. I can use these
like snowshoes to slide around our carpeted house. So far, no falls, and
moving about is easier and more fun. My husband Randy worked as a Maytag
repairman for 35 years.
Donna Farmfudge
Dear Hazel,
My 14-year-old son Krazy-Glued bottle
caps to the underside of his skateboard.
Ralph Wort
Dear Hazel,
I have placed all the earrings I've lost
the mates to in a Tupperware container, and when my 10-year-old daughter
does something good, I let her select one. Since she loses them pretty
quickly, by the time she does another "goody" she's ready for a new earring.
Beth Flamm
P.S. Thanks for the hint about popcorn-stuffed
shoulderpads.
Dear Hazel,
The neighbor's three rambunctious boys
kept batting their wiffle ball into our yard until I stretched a 20-foot-high
by 40-foot-wide piece of nylon net between our yards. If hit by a baseball,
football, or basketball, it will need mending. It casts an unusual glow
over our neighbor's backyard and in the winter freezes solid in places.
Ted Tearnth
Story copyright
© 1994 Margaret McCann.
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