DEAR READERS: Today's Sound Off is from me. I love the new plastic bags for veggies, fruit, cat and dog food, but the "zip" close sometimes is hard to open. You are thinking, "What do you mean?" When it states: "Cut here, then open," well, I don't know about you, but after cutting where it says to, there is about one-eighth of an inch to try and pry open the bag.
Yes, it's nice to be able to reseal, but then again, to open it is like prying open the jaws of a shark. Needle-nose pliers to the rescue. But hey, should I have to have a pair in the kitchen to open food products? Me thinks not.
P.S.: Readers, am I alone on this? Please send your thoughts.
DEAR READERS: Other uses for crochet hooks:
To pull torn threads of garments to the inside for mending.
To clean inside the tread of shoes.
To pull gunk out of bathroom sink drains.
To zip up zippers on the back of a garment.
To secure hair up in a bun.
DEAR HELOISE: My husband and I were always forgetting where we last saw or put the TV remote. Much time was spent just trying to locate it.
To solve this problem, we purchased another one so that we each have our own. I keep mine right where I sit, and he does the same with his.
We've not had to look for the remote now that we have two of them.
-- Kim, via email
DEAR READER: Kim, I'm with you. I have two remotes for each of two TVs -- two for the TV in the den, and two for the bedroom. I marked them "D" for den and "B" for bedroom with bright-red nail polish. They don't walk off to another room. If one goes "missing" or I can't find it (they should make them red), I have the other.
DEAR HELOISE: I discovered that a plastic bag had melted onto my angel-food cake pan, and I was going to use it that day. What to do before I heat it to bake the cake?
I checked online and couldn't find anything, so I went to your website, and it said to use laundry pre-wash spray to get off sticky labels, and all of it came off!
Thank you!
-- Brenda O., Omaha, Neb.
DEAR READER: Brenda, thank you for writing to say "thank you"!
DEAR HELOISE: Using chocolate-covered candies to teach math is a great idea. I also taught my kids that these candies are like people: different on the outside, all the same on the inside.
-- Debbie in Waterloo, N.Y.
DEAR READER: Debbie, wise words and a wonderful way to teach children. Thanks for sharing.
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
ActiveStyle on 02/08/2016