DEAR HELOISE: I'd like to add to the hint about including a picture of a plant or flower with a thank-you note.
I like using computer card-making and scrapbooking software. Using a digital camera, I take a picture of the bouquet I received. Then I use the image as the design on the face of the card (half-sheet size), leaving the inside blank to write a thank-you note. People love getting these custom cards and seeing their gift pictures on the front. I print out extras to send to others who are under the weather or need a pick-me-up note for the day.
– Ann Marie Brainard,
Lewiston, Idaho
What a blooming lovely idea! Here's a comment from Tracie Westbrooks of LaPorte, Texas. She says: “When my aunt died, there were many flowers at the funeral. I used my digital camera to take two pictures of each arrangement – the spray itself and the card at close range to read the sentiment and signature. Using the sign-in book and florist cards, it was possible to send thank-you cards and a lovely photo to the kind people who had remembered my aunt and family. Each person expressed gratitude for this small measure. There was only one picture we could not match with an address, and that is because no address was included and the name was not recognized.”
These are just two of the many, many comments we received. Thanks, folks, for sharing all of your hints.
– Heloise
DEAR HELOISE: Here are some more uses for those handy little applesauce cups:
Use for individual servings of gelatin. Pour right into the cup.
Start seeds in the spring.
Put detergent in them to clean dirty spots on clothes using a toothbrush.
Cut off the bottom and use for a biscuit or cookie cutter.
Draw around it for a perfect circle.
– Ilean Meador,
Richmond, Ky.
DEAR HELOISE: I just had a clay planter knocked off my patio. A solution that works (to prevent this – Heloise) is to hammer a long nail partway into the top railing around the patio and set the planter over the nail, using the drain hole for support.
– Bill Tannenbaum,
Las Vegas
DEAR HELOISE: I write on the upper right-hand corner of my recipes the temperature I am to set the oven to bake my recipe. That way, I don't have to hunt when I want to preheat the oven.
– Marsha Brady,
Wabash, Ind.
DEAR HELOISE: I read about customers putting stuff in the wrong places in grocery stores. As a manager of a supermarket, it still amazes me that someone would leave an $18 package of T-bone steaks on a grocery shelf! This causes huge losses to stores and consumers across the country.
– Also Frustrated
in New Jersey
Send a great hint to: Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or fax it to (210) HELOISE.
