Safety hints for children
Dear readers: In the world we live in today, it’s important to sit down with your children and teach them how to stay safe in an emergency. Give them specific details about what they should do if they get lost and to whom they should go or call. Enter names and contact information into their cellphones.
If you’re getting ready to go on a vacation or another family outing, like going to a theme park or a sporting event, take a picture of your children with your smartphone. If they do get lost, you will have a photo handy to show to authorities. One easy way to spot a family member is if everyone is wearing the same color shirts. — Heloise
How to clean sports caps
Dear Readers: Baseball and sports caps get lots of use during the summer. They get sweaty, dirty and stinky and need to be cleaned. Wool or vintage caps should be taken to the dry cleaner, but here’s how to clean cotton baseball caps.
Place the caps on the top rack of the dishwasher (wash alone, no dishes). Attach with clothespins or use special cap form that can be put in the dishwasher. Run through the cycle. If you don’t have a dishwasher, clean the bill and cap by hand-washing with a mild liquid detergent and scrubbing a bit and rinsing well. After cleaning, let the caps air-dry. — Heloise
Olive dispute
Dear Heloise: My husband and I love olives; he likes the green ones and I like the black ones. Is there a difference between green olives and black olives? — Jenny from New Jersey
Dear Jenny: No, in fact, green and black olives are the same fruit. The only difference is that green olives are immature when they are picked and black olives stay on the tree longer until they turn purple-black. Both taste awful when picked. They have to be pickled to be edible. Green olives are cured in lye and pickled in a brine solution. Black olives are cooked in a brine solution. — Heloise
Candle wax on carpet
Dear Heloise: We had candles on a coffee table and somehow the wax dripped onto my carpet.
How can I get it off the carpet without damaging it? — Terry from California
Dear Terry: Always try to deal with an accident like this as soon as you can. First, fill a metal pan with ice. Place it directly over the candle wax and allow to remain on top of it until the wax is frozen solid.
Use a small hammer to tap on the frozen wax to break it up. Then pick up the wax pieces. If you notice residue on the carpet, use a dry-cleaning solvent or a carpet stain remover to eliminate it. — Heloise
Making better coffee
Dear Readers: We all love a good cup of freshbrewed coffee, but if the coffee doesn’t taste right, your drip coffee maker may be the cause. Give it a good cleaning. (Read the instructions for your appliance before you start.) Take white vinegar and run the largest amount the coffee maker will hold through a brewing cycle. Follow this up by running one or two cycles of fresh water through it. This will improve the taste of the coffee.
If you feel there’s a bitter taste in your coffee, you can get rid of it by adding a pinch of salt to the coffee grounds before brewing. — Heloise
Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to 1-210-HELOISE or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com. I can’t answer your letter personally but will use the best hints received in my column.