What’s new: Taming that static charge
This season’s fashions may shock you.
Not because they’re revealing or weird or anything like that. It’s just that clothes can become charged with static electricity in winter, causing clinging, crackling and that occasional zap.
To tame the static charge, Bounce has come out with a new dryer sheet, Bounce Winter Solution. It’s formulated to reduce static more than regular Bounce, while still softening clothes. The product will be available in stores only through March.
•Bounce Winter Solution sheets have suggested retail prices of $2.49 for 35 sheets, $3.99 for 70 sheets and $7.99 for a special bundle pack made for club stores.
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Wrapping up Gift Wrap
Carolyne Roehm is a wrap artist.
Roehm, a former fashion designer, left that career to concentrate on teaching others about flowers, decorating and entertaining. Now she’s putting her tasteful touch on gift wrapping in her latest book, “Presentations: A Passion for Gift Wrapping.”
The book offers scores of ideas for embellishing packages, as well as basic how-to information on choosing and using paper, ribbon and other materials. Roehm encourages her readers to look at gift-wrapping as a form of self-expression.
•”Presentations” is published by Broadway Books and is priced at $29.95 in hardcover.
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Q & A: Gorilla Won’t Budge
Q: Do you know how to get Gorilla Glue out of fabric?
— K.A., Fairlawn, Ohio
A: According to the company, no solvent will remove it. You have to try to crack the glue by bending the fabric, and then pick if off. It may leave a yellowish stain.
Pet Web: Prevent Poisoning Pet
Site: ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
Address: www.apcc.aspca.org
We know a concerned mom who snatched a ferret from the jaws of death — one drunken soiree after another in her son’s fraternity house.
Mind alcohol around pets, warns the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. Alcohol is poison to them.
Taking a few precautions will help the festive season float by disaster-free. Here are a few other tips:
•Ask your party guests to park beverages where animals can’t reach. Alcohol can make animals sick, weak and cause a coma.
•Keep chocolates in a safe place. Bakers, semi-sweet, milk and dark chocolates are potentially poisonous to many animals. Unsweetened baking chocolate is extra lethal.
• Keep your pets on their regular diet through the end of the year. Changes promote nausea and diarrhea, particularly in older animals.
•Don’t give your pets holiday leftovers and make sure you keep them out of the garbage. Poultry bones splinter and cause blockages. Greasy, spicy foods can cause stomach upsets; spoiled and moldy foods can cause food poisoning, tremors and seizures.
•Candy and cellophane wrappers can cause intestinal blockages. Beware of ribbons and strings. Tinsel can become a knot in the intestines.
•Floral arrangements can also pose hazards. Many lilies can cause kidney failure in cats. Safe alternatives include silk flowers.
•Mistletoe and holly berries may cause gastrointestinal upset and cardiovascular problems.
•Poinsettias are low in toxicity, but can give animals a bad day.
•Keep your pets away from Christmas tree water, which may contain fertilizers and bacteria.
•The number for the poison center is 888-426-4435. It is open 24 hours, year-round.