Bookworm Banter

I haven't been much of a bookworm lately, but thanks to Jeremy's 2.5 hour soccer practice, I was able to read Housekeeping Secrets My Mother Never Taught Me. You see, I would much rather read about housework than actually do it. But I get books like this from the library occasionally in hopes of motivating myself to get my house clean. It is actually pretty clean right now, so it must have worked! The book was almost a "Housework for Dummies" kind of a book, but here are a few hints that I liked and thought could be useful:

• To remove burned-on starch from an iron, iron salt on a sheet of wax paper. Put newspaper under the wax paper.
• To prevent runs in your pantyhose, dampen and freeze them when you first buy them. Thaw them in a sink or tub, and then let them dry. (Think it will work?)
• The right way to tuck in a shirt: there should be two pinch pleats in front, one above each hip bone and two in back, below the shoulder blades. Everywhere else should be smooth and unwrinkled. (Who knew?)
• To dust knick-knacks, use a blow dryer set on low. Aim the dryer down.
• The toilet paper should unroll from the top so the pattern shows and you can fold the end into a point that rests on the roll. (I've seen this at Tiffani's, the queen of homemaking)
• Use hairspray to immobilize a fly so that you can swat it. (This was my favorite--I hate flies that never land!)
• Use a mouse pad under a cutting board or bowl to keep it from slipping.

Happy Homemaking!