IN THE HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

IN THE HOME.

{"OUR GOOD IDEAS. TIPS FOR "SMOOTH RUNNING." (By YOUGHRA JIAILLAED.) Isn't it remarkable how many house■wives put up with those petty annoyances in the home which, added up, produce all those strained nerves and splitting headaches ? AVho is there who ran open her front door on a normal New Zealand day and not immediately thereafter be frightened out of her skin by a shattering slam from the back door; Xo wonder housewives grow tired if they have to dash from one end °f the house to the other shutting doors whenever they want to shake a mat or '«& in the letter box. And yet few think of installing doorstops which cost but a few police each.

Likewise, monotonously rattling windows and loose cupboard doors can be silenced effectively by inserting mutes, *lilch may be cut to shape from any Melcss piece of rubber.

Almost as common as a source of annoyance must be leaking tups. Tlicir tegular little "drip, drip, drip," distracts attention just enough to make things unbearable when flurried. It seems incredible, but those few drips, which apparently don't matter, may cause a Kastase of IS'jUO "ullpue in one year, and so seiious.lv does the water works tymUinen: regard this loss that it offers to repair free any defective tap.

A tiling that causes exasperation to a" housewives is the effect of cold Weatlitr on butter. Even though we arc supposed to b<! having Slimmer the butJer_ is often so hard in thu morning that " is impossible to spread thin slices of bread. In order to overcome this the ™tter is usually pupped into the oven ■or a few moments, but what with the rush of lunches to be cut and breakfast

to be cooked it is sometimes forgotten, and, when rescued by an apprehensive hand, it is reduced to a small yellow ball floating in a lake of oil.

A more economical means of softening it is to have a bowl of hot water on the table and before cutting to dip the point of the knife in it. In Scandinavia it is customary to mash the butter up with a little milk to produce a. delicious cream, but possibly the best way is that followed in America. There, they fill .1 small bowl with boiling water and when it is thoroughly heated the water is poured off and the bowl inverted over tho butter. In a few minutes it has been softened right through and is quite free of any oily taste.