HELOISE: De-stress by soaking in spa bath

Dear Readers: Here are some soothing, low-cost hints for making your bath even more relaxing. Soaking in a long, hot bath with relaxing scents is a great way to de-stress. You can add products that you have around the house so no extra money is spent. Try these:

Toss some sea salt into warm water to provide a super skin-cleansing bath.

Add 2 cupfuls of apple-cider vinegar to warm water for relieving itchy skin.

Put a handful of herbs, like rosemary, chamomile or lavender, into a net bag and dip into the water for a relaxing herbal bath.

Place 2 cups of regular, plain oatmeal in the tub to provide a healing soak for itchy skin.

Don’t throw out perfume samples or leftover perfume — add them to the bath.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: To cure the hiccups, cover a glass of cold water with a paper towel. Drink the water slowly through the paper towel. While you are focusing on drinking that water, your brain will “forget” to hiccup.

A Reader, via e-mail

Not medically proven, but it certainly can’t hurt to give it a try. What’s your favorite cure for hiccups? Do you have one you swear by? Send it in, and we will share some of them in a future column. Send to: Heloise/Hiccup, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: In our ceramics classes, we use a potato masher to put texture on rolled sheets of clay, which are then used to make vases. Sometimes we use the masher in a regularly repeated pattern to give a checkerboard design. At other times, we randomly overlay the masher at different angles to give a design.

Dave in Oregon

Dear Heloise: Summers are hot all across the nation. When a car is parked outside for a period of time, the inside becomes boiling-hot, especially the steering wheel. Buy a lamb’s-wool cover for the steering wheel, the kind used for cold winter driving. No more scorched hands or waiting for the air conditioner to cool the inside.

Claire in California

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