A Housewife’s Diary

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20670, 8 March 1937, Page 14

A Housewife’s Diary

Hints About The Home For Cough. Beat to a froth the white of an egg and some fine sugar. Take one teaspoonful three or four times at hourly intervals. Lip Stains. Rub on a little diluted lemon juice or cold cream to remove fruit or nut stains from lips. Non-Slip Polish. A non-slip polish for floors can be made by mixing together equal parts of turpentine, linseed oil, vinegar and coach varnish. Rub the mixture on the floor but do not polish. Storing Cakes. A cake will be kept from becoming stale if an apple is put in the box or tin in which it is being stored. Colours. When washing green material add a small piece of alum to the rinsing-water; this will preserve the colour. A tablespoon of vinegar should bp put in the water in which grey or beige coloured material is being rinsed. Better Starch. A teaspoonful of salt added to boiled starch gives a nice gloss and makes ironing easier. Window Ledges. Keep them a good colour by using strongly salted warm water for the scrubbing. Instead of Eggs. One tablespoon of golden syrup dissolved in half a pint of warm milk is said to be a mixture equal to four eggs. Jumpers. Start knitting children’s jumpers from the sleeve end so that, at any time, the cuff can be unpicked and a new one substituted. Dish Marks. Dish marks on polished tables can be removed by a mixture made from half-a-pint of linseed oil and half-a-gill of turpentine. Apply to table marks at frequent intervals and rub off each time with a soft cloth. Tempting “Candles.” Make “banana candlesticks” from half a banana stuck into a pineapple ring with a strip of angelica for a wick. For “Kiddies.” Keep them quiet and amused with coloured pictures from magazines, a bottle of gum and a brush, and a discarded catalogue into which to stick the pictures. Presents. Wrap them up in pretty coloured papers and put attractive tapes and seals on them. Cut-outs of flowers, ships, etc., can be easily made from a crepe paper. Making “Frost.” Leaves and berries can be “frosted” by dipping them in a warm solution made with half a pound of Epsom salts mixed in a pint of hot water. Cotton Wool. Cotton w r ool can be made fire-proof by allowing it to soak, after purchase, for 12 hours in a bath to which 11b. of alum has been added to every two gallons of water. Hang up to drip and dry. Play Sheet. A square of bed-ticking with brass rings sewn at intervals to a broad hem makes a useful “play-sheet” for little children. Thread a stout cord through the rings so that the sheet can be quickly lifted from the floor, like a bag, with any toys inside it. New Year Flower. The New Year flower is the narcissus. In China, where this flower is named the “Water Fairy,” it has been the custom for hundreds of centuries to grow it in pots filled with water and pebbles and forced, the idea being to time the opening of the flowers on New Year’s Day. L the blooms do open on the first day of the year, it is said to ensure good luek and happiness for the next twelve months.

Flower Arrangements, Shelves, about the width of a small fireplace shelf, slung on the wall somewhere near the usual picture level, is one of the latest ideas for flower arrangement. They are just the thing for holding bowls or pots of bulb blooms. Bowl Gardens. Bowl gardens are charming gifts. Most novel of these indoor gardens is the fungus plot, arranged in a wide shallow bowl. The yellow and creamy topped members of the toadstool family grow here and there in a grassy ground, and some tiny elves and gnomes are sometimes added. Needlecraft Novelty. A quilted satin cushion with a pocket in one side of it for the accommodation of a hot water, bottle was shown in a recent exhibition of needlecraft. One of these cushions won the approval of Queen Mary. The poeket, of course, would be useful for needlework or a book that one wished to keep handy but out of sight, when the hot water bottle was not wanted. Emergency Cosmetics. Have you seen the little handbag balls made to contain an emergency supply of face eream or powder? They are about the size of a large marble and unscrew so that they come in halves, the top half being coloured in red, or some other bright colour, and the lower half in cream. Wallpapers in Fashion. If you are planning new homes for the New Year, remember in your decorating that wallpapers are in vogue again and have a much “warmer” effect than the plain distempered or painted walls. Papers with a silk finish and a mottled surface or one that suggests quilting or pleats are modern.