Dear Home Ec 101, How often should you vacuum? I want to know to settle a debate, and I will have to vacuum my friend’s place if I’m wrong. And can you tell us WHY I’m right? Sincerely, I May Be OCD, but at Least my Carpet Tracks are Straight Heather says: Friendly wagers on …
Heather says: Do you remember when we talked about whether or not freezing jeans was a practical solution? I’ve actually come across this twice now in the last month. The first was a speaker at a conference, he mentioned this as an aside, talking about how he expects the jeans -when he washes them in …
Heather says: 2013 is rapidly winding down and to say it has been a difficult year for me personally would be a gross understatement. Some of these changes were for the better, but change is still hard. I joke that I’m overachieving on the life stressor test. Home-Ec 101 bore the brunt of this, for …
Trigger warnings: Death and Gun Violence. Heather says: Hi. I used to do the Sunday Confessional as a way to help remind everyone that no one’s life is television perfect. To remind you and myself that what we see on Facebook or wherever is just a snapshot and not the whole picture. To remind myself …
I’m not a fan of summer; it’s hot, sticky, and—for someone as pale as I—sunburny. I spend most of the summer indoors, hoping for a cloudy day. For reasons probably related to my aversion to summer, I long ago decided that August is, in fact, autumn. And what does autumn mean? Soup, of course! Every year, I spend my …
Heather says: So routines are about to happen. Not just routines but morning to bed, no room for error every minute packed until Thursday drop off, routine. I’ll make it, I’m just trying to figure out how. What I’d like from you, is ideas for food suitable for healthy picnic dinners. Why? I have to …
Michele says: Now that you have your shiny new sewing machine all picked out and ordered, it’s time to learn how to use that crazy looking thing. Unfortunately, learning is the least fun part of using a sewing machine. I’ll do my best to make it painless, but we need to take a second before …
Michele says: Have you ever tried to Google something, only to quickly realize that you don’t know which words to enter in the search box? Now, how many of you have taken it a step further and went ahead and searched for, say, “strawberry thing attached to a pincushion”? No judgment. I and many others, …
Dear Home Ec 101, My husband finally broke down and bought us a new stove and fridge last week. They delivered the stove and I’m so freaked out because he got a ceramic smooth top range. I told him I only wanted the coil burner type because the ceramic tops are such hard work to …
Michele says: If you had to summarize summer in three words, which words would you choose? Swimming, picnics, and ice cream? Vacations, thunderstorms, and fireflies? Bikinis, bonfires, and s’mores? How about red, white, and blue? To me, summer never fails to feel like one big patriotic party, and the colors of the season seem to …