HELOISE Suggestions will help thwart pickpockets and thieves
Dear Heloise: Travelers tend to be easy marks for pickpockets and thieves; they're busy staring at the sights and usually have a lot of money on them. I suggest that women carry travel totes that fasten with self-gripping fabric tape. Zippered inner pockets are good, too, but pickpockets can frequently open those without detection. Fabric tape is noisy to open and should alert you to check your surroundings.
If you're going overseas, always make a photocopy of the first page of your passport and keep it in a separate place. If you lose your passport, this will help expedite its replacement.
Newspaper bags wrapped several times around toiletries and secured with a rubber band might prevent leaking in your luggage, and they are also a good size for covering shoes that might get your clothes dirty.
If you're going someplace where a different language is spoken, take the time to learn how to say "please," "thank you" and "where is the toilet" in their language. Nothing wins people over like a little politeness in their own tongue. Christine Howlett, Mount Rainier, Md.
Thieves and pickpockets are a threat anywhere, and your hints are good ones to keep in mind. Heloise
Dear Heloise: I have been using a mallet to close my paint cans and other buckets for years. I discovered this hint while in my kitchen one day, when my toolbox was not nearby. I took my meat mallet -- the small, flat kind -- and closed my paint cans. It worked great. Now I keep an extra one in my toolbox. It takes up less room than those large mallets and does a better job for women with small hands and not enough strength. Debby, Via E-mail
Dear Heloise: As I was preparing leftover mashed-potato-and-cheese balls, my husband, Bill, was watching me. When they were ready, I put them on a cookie sheet to be baked, saying, "These always spread out when I bake them, and they become potato pancakes." He said: "Why don't you put them in a muffin pan with paper liners? Then they won't spread out." So I did, and they turned out great. I thought it was a very inventive idea, and it worked so well. Jeanne Ruff, Billings, Mont.
Dear Heloise: When I moved into my new house 12 years ago, I placed aluminum-foil oven liners on the bottoms of the cabinets under both bathroom sinks, and two liners side by side under the kitchen sink. If a minor leak occurs, as often happens, the oven liners catch it, and the bottom of the cabinet remains like new. Joyce Keene, Fredericksburg, Va.
Dear Heloise: Recently, when sorting through old road maps, I realized they would make fine wrapping paper. And they do! Presents were nicely wrapped in colorful maps. Lucy S. Russell, Charlottesville, Va.
XSend a great hint to: Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000, Fax: (210) HELOISE or E-mail: Heloise@Heloise.com.
King Features Syndicate