DEAR READERS: Now that school is underway in most parts of the country, consider practicing D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything and Read) with children at home. Reading, especially at home, is a vital component of students progressing in their learning skills. Try to establish a family reading time, even if it's only 10-20 minutes.
P.S.: Children who can't read well by third grade may have great difficulty later on in school, especially with history, English, spelling and other courses where reading is imperative to understanding the subject.
I did not read well as a child, and it hampered me. Now I love reading.
DEAR READERS: If you're thinking about taking a cruise and plan to take an electronic device, check into the pricing for internet use before you go.
On average, cruises charge 75 cents per minute, but the rate is better when you buy blocks of time. For instance, 100 minutes could cost $55, which equals 55 cents per minute. Once purchased, consider these hints for wise use of your purchased minutes:
• Use the internet early or late, when fewer people are using it.
• Don't dawdle surfing around. Know what you want before logging on.
• Internet on ships is pretty slow, which results in using up minutes fast.
• Save noncritical emails and use the Wi-Fi at the ports.
DEAR HELOISE: After a fall that caused injury to my arm, it was placed in a soft cast and wrapped with an elastic bandage. That night, in bed, the bandage unraveled, loosening the support for my arm.
My solution was to take a clean tube sock, cut off the toe part and place it over the cast and bandage. It secured the support and didn't come off in the middle of the night.
A bonus was that the tube sock kept the cast clean. When they put on a hard cast, I did the same, and it's amazing how clean the cast was when it was cut off.
-- J.W., via email
DEAR HELOISE: Here's a hint for seamstresses: I save plastic caps off hair-spray bottles. I use them as thimbles whenever I can't seem to locate my real one. I take them with me to quilt gatherings. There's always someone who forgets to bring a thimble.
-- Rachel V. in Kentucky
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email
MovieStyle on 08/19/2016