Tip of the Day

HOW TO GET RID OF THE DULL

Scissors and blades that is... I can't help you in your personal life if you fall into the hum-drums.

Here are some easy tricks to fixing dull scissors, cut into folded layers of aluminium foil--it really does work. This is a great thing for specialty scissors like pinking shears or scrapbooking . You can also feed some foil through your paper shredder to sharpen the cutting surfaces. I would also recommend following your foil cuts with a similar technique using wax paper which helps to lubricate the surface after sharpening.

Do you find your coffee grinder not doing the job? Put in uncooked rice (any kind will do, but long grain seems to be best) and give it a few seconds in the chopper. You can also use this trick for your blender and your food processor to hone those blades and clean them simultaneously!

So, get to it... CHOP CHOP!

Tip of the Day

Shower Leak Solved!

I have fought with my shower since moving in almost two years ago. I noticed the first week I lived here that there was always water on the floor after showering. I tried several "fixes":

• new shower head
• new shower curtain
• new shower liner
• installed one of those self-adhesive shower/tub edges

but nothing solved the problem. I'd still find my bath mat completely soaked when I got out of the shower!

My soultion came like so many, a complete accident. This weekend after cleaning out my tub I sat there thinking I could surely "build a better mousetrap" to fix the problem, but I couldn't really figure anything out. I left my sponge on the edge of the tub and went about my life.

Next shower, I noticed that the floor was dry. It was the sponge! DUH! So, that is my solution for leaking shower/tub combinations. Leave a dry sponge at the corners and make sure you wring them out and let them dry before your next shower.