Get rid of those soap slivers

After reading in the Orange County Register about many people who wrote in about their soap slivers, I thought I would give my two cents. I take a new bar, put the cavity side down into a saucer and add just enough water to cover the cavity. After 15-20 minutes, I drain the water, turn the bar over and put it in a soap dish or paper towel. Then I take the soap sliver, smoosh it into the new bar and set it aside to dry. I never have a bunch soap slivers.

— Dale K., Orange

County

DEAR READERS >> I have had requests for my tasty beets recipe. You can use this recipe for beets as a side dish, in salads or over white rice. It can be rather tangy, but you can adjust it to your taste. Here it is: 6 cups cooked sliced beets or 3 (16-ounce) cans of sliced beets

1 cup sugar

1 cup vinegar

2 tablespoons cornstarch 24 whole cloves (if this is too strong, start with 12) 3 tablespoons ketchup 3 tablespoons cooking oil (optional) 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Dash of salt

Drain the beets, reserving 1 1/2 cups of the beet liquid. Place the beets in a medium saucepan with the reserved liquid and the remainder of the ingredients.

Mix well and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, or until the mixture thickens. Let cool; then store in the refrigerator.

DEAR HELOISE >> My eyebrows tend to grow downward. I finally found a way to push them up and make them stay up. At night, I use petroleum jelly to push and keep them up, but during the day, I take a clean toothbrush and wet the bristles, then run it across a bar of soap. I brush my eyebrows upward, and because of the soap, they stay up all day. This gives my eyebrows a soft, feathery look at a very inexpensive price.

— N.S., Deltona, Florida

DEAR READERS >> Here's how to clean votives when candles have melted. To remove the wax, put them into a container in the sink and soak them in very hot water.

To prevent this mess from happening again, before you put votives into the holders, add a bit of water to the bottom of each one, then put the votives in. The wax will not stick.

DEAR READERS >> To prevent a big weekend laundry day, try to do one or more loads of clothing during the week. To organize everyone's laundry, assign a different color basket to each family member. They can fill it with their clothing and bring it to the laundry room.

To make sorting easier, use a number of other baskets and label each one -- jeans, darks, lights, sheets, towels, etc. This will pare down sorting time.