Homemaking Tip -- Not Big Enough to Post on Their Own, But Useful Nonetheless

One.  A month or two ago I showed you this baby gift idea in blue.  All be darn . . . it's just as cute in pink.   And since I run every good idea I ever get into the ground, I think I'm going to make me one with big-people tabs in my favorite colors.

Two.  One way to make iceberg lettuce stay fresh for several weeks is to core it, wrap it in paper towels, and store in an airtight bag.  Core lettuce by firmly hitting the bottom of the head on the counter, and pulling the core from the center.  Do not wash lettuce until you are ready to eat it.  Lettuce can make it at least three weeks with very little rust and no gooey leaves this way.

Three.  Have you ever scoured the cupboards looking for something . . . anything . . . sweet?  Of course you have.  You're a homo-sapien.  My old solution used to be to melt chocolate, stir in nuts, and drop by a teaspoon onto waxed paper.  No more.  It's much easier just to eat two large milk chocolate chips with every three almonds.    I dare say it even feels wholesome, whereas chocolate-covered nuts feel indulgent.

Four.  Are you a row gardener?  This tip may be a bit premature as our seeds haven't had time to germinate yet, but I'll share it with the confidence that they will.  Carrot seeds and lettuce seeds are especially tiny and a nuisance to plant.  No matter how hard I try to space them correctly, I plant them too thick and we have to thin them (and still end up with intertwined carrots that look like robust ladies dancing with their legs crossed).  It's almost always breezy when we plant the garden, too, so those little seeds scatter to the wind and we find some carrots in with the beans and others with the broccoli.  Seed companies make strips of carrots, lettuce, beets, radishes, and other itty-bitty seeds so that all you have to do is dig a furrow and lay down the little toilet-paper-looking strip of seeds and lightly cover with soil.  Those strips are slick.  I've always thought they were too expensive and a luxury, until I figured in that I have to buy extra packets of lettuce, spinach, and carrots to compensate for wind-loss and too-thick planting.  Suddenly they're almost cost effective.  Another little tip: my sister-in-law plants carrots as a border in her flower beds.  They're ferny, and beautiful when they go to seed.

Have you got a little tip?  If you wouldn't mind, I'd love to hear it.  I love tips.  (Guess what book I took to the hospital to read while I was in labor preparing to deliver Abe?  A Mrs. Something's Household Hints.  I kid you not.   . . . I told you I love tips.