Lazy Woman's Silver Polish

Our everyday silver is a set Bob's family used when he was a child at home, but I never had time to polish it and most of the time, it was tarnished and dirty looking. A few years ago I undertook a major initiative to polish all of it, but the tarnish gradually came back and I had never succeeded in removing the black in the smallest sections of the pattern.

Two weeks ago I polished the silver again and applied a new treatment whenever I have a load of silver to wash:

Line plastic rectangular container (like a dishpan) with foil (the thin, cheap kind)

Fill the container with silver or silverplate

Sprinkle liberally with baking soda

Pour boiling water over the silver and let cool

Wash silver with a liquid detergent

Dry

Silver will be shiny and tarnish free -- especially after a couple of applications

Cosmetology as a Sideline?

I've been coloring my own hair for many years, with varying degrees of success. In the last few years, less successful experiences have included a head that was red on the top half and light brown on the bottom and a color so dark that I washed my hair a dozen times to lighten the shade. The last shampoo included about a cup of peroxide, which finally did the trick.

Before Christmas last year, I decided that from now on I would go to a professional for my coloring in the future. However, my natural frugality kicked in when I worked my last paid day and I've gone back to the home salon. This morning I decided that I'd try some auburn highlights. I split a dose of Nice'n Easy lightest auburn into two applications and used my gloved fingers to mix the color through my hair. The result looked a little "chunky" so I switched to a comb and ended up with a fully moistened head, though I could see that some sections were a little light.

Final result: pretty good. It looks more like auburn with blondish highlights, but it's reasonably attractive. And I still have one more application for next time.

Next Career: Not Nursing

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be nurse but any hope of a medical career was dashed when I fainted as I watched a doctor stitch up a kid's cut. As I lay under the lights in the procedure room, the physician suggested I pursue another line of work.

My retirement date was determined by my husband's knee replacement surgery scheduled for the end of April. Having gone through the surgery twice myself, I knew that support at home is critical to a successful recovery. Bob's surgery was performed yesterday, and this is my second day at the hospital, where activities seem to be centered around various bodily functions, all of them disgusting to someone as squeamish as I.

My stomach has already lurched so much that I'm already doing the countdown to Monday, when the patient is released from the hospital. I've already warned Bob that level of service will diminish when he gets home, and nurse's aide duties will not be included in the overall package. My future is full of opportunities but home nursing is not one of them.