Happy National Yo-Yo Day!

There's something about the Yo-Yo that makes me smile. Perhaps it brings back memories of my childhood when the Duncan Yo-Yo was the rage. I played with my pink sparkling light-up Yo-Yo until I mastered the baby in the cradle, the sleeper, and pop-the-clutch moves. When my own children came along, it had lost some of its appeal, and they didn't get what I thought was so cool about it.

Photo courtesy of Mzacha/Morguefile.com

Maybe if I'd added a power button and some sounds it would have been more interesting. Or if it had a keyboard or camera, they might have seen some value in it. The basic Yo-Yo - a couple of round plastic pieces that went up and down on a string - could be seen as something silly and boring. Or perhaps it's a piece of Americana that will forever live in the hearts and minds of people who remember a simpler time. Am I starting to sound like my grandmother? Eek!

A Few Random Helpful Household Hints

I'm always trying to find ways to make life easier. I hate wasting anything, and I don't always have tools and products specific to each need, so I'm always looking up alternatives on the Internet.

Here are a few helpful hints I've found:

Tomatoes - If you need to use fresh peeled tomatoes in a recipe, you may have discovered that they're difficult to peel. Boil some water and remove the pot from the stove. Dip the tomatoes in the water and leave them for about 30 seconds. When you remove them from the hot water, they should be every easy to peel. In fact, the peeling will probably come right off in your hand when you touch them.

Animal hair removal - I love animals, but I don't like wearing their fur on the seat of my black pants. Back when we had a dog and 2 long-haired cats, we were always trying to de-fur the furniture. If your lint roller has run out of stickiness, put on a rubber glove and swipe it across the furniture. You should be able to get quite a bit of the hair with that. For more stubborn, hard-to-remove fur, you can wet the glove and take another swipe.

Fabric softener sheets - When you get bugs stuck on your car, it's best to remove them as quickly as possible, but sometimes they're stubborn. Don't use heavy-duty abrasives, or you'll ruin your paint. Instead, dampen a dryer sheet and place it on the bug. Leave it for about 5 minutes and then just wipe it away. You can do the same thing to remove tree sap.

Cat Litter - If you see an oil stain on the pavement after you move your car, sprinkle the spot liberally with cat litter. Leave it for a couple of days before sweeping it up. The litter is absorbent and makes the stain disappear without too much work.

Dryer lint - You can use dryer lint for a variety of things:

1. Refresh old stuffed animals that have gone flat by splitting one of the seams and filling it with dryer lint. Hand stitch the seam closed.
2. Wad up the lint and put it in the bottom of flowerpots before adding dirt. The water will drain without taking the soil with it.
3. Glue it on your kids' posters to make clouds in varying shades of gray. 

Pretty Is as Pretty Does - Released!

This is the official release month of the first book in my Class Reunion series, and I am beside myself with excitement! I actually have butterflies in my tummy because these are stories that begged to be told, and I really want readers to enjoy them as much as I loved writing them. As I lived with each character in the story, I found the lines between reality and fiction often blurred.

Here are a few tidbits about each person in my story:

• Priscilla - voted "Most Likely to Succeed" in high school but dropped out of college to pursue a career in beauty. An only child of two college professors, she grew up constantly trying to please her mother but was unwilling to compromise on her future. 
• Tim - madly in love with Priscilla. This beauty supply salesman will do anything to win over his favorite hairdresser, including do all the go-fer work for the reunion committee even though he didn't attend Piney Point High School.
• Trudy - former class beauty queen and Miss Everything in Piney Point. Now that she's divorced, she is forced into a life she never wanted but discovers some joy in being self-sufficient. However, she still backslides to keep up the image she had in high school.
• Celeste - class wallflower and sourpuss. Who knew there was a beautiful woman beneath the dour expression and dowdy clothes? Priscilla brought out the best...and the worst in this woman.
• Laura - most put-upon woman who ever graduated from Piney Point High School. She married the class drunk, had four kids fairly quickly, and volunteered to chair the reunion committee. And now she can't figure out why life is so difficult, and she's always a mess.

I hope you enjoy each person's journey in these books, starting with Pretty Is as Pretty Does. You may order these books from the following places:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

CBD

Cokesbury

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