HELPFUL HINTS

DEAR HELOISE: I’ve been watching the news about our supply chain backup, and I’m worried about what this will mean for the delivery of goods to people across the country. I know everyone is doing the best they can to get things moving, but with the holidays just around the corner, I think it’ll be another rather bleak Christmas/ Hanukkah. Like so many people, I’ve placed orders for items that are back ordered and probably won’t be here for the holidays.

What I pray for most of all is a healthy, happy holiday season. The back-ordered items will eventually get here, but the health and well-being of family and friends is a gift in itself.

— Stacy H., Macon, Ga.

DEAR READERS: Need a soap dish on the spur of the moment? Here are a few ideas:

■ A small saucer.

■ A seashell.

■ A plastic lid.

■ A flat rock.

DEAR HELOISE: I found an alternative to those expensive mushroom brushes. I use a baby brush (the kind used on an infant’s hair) to brush my mushrooms. It does the job without damaging the mushroom. I received an extra one at a baby shower, so it came in handy in the kitchen.

— Taylor R., Denver DEAR HELOISE: Some of your readers have wondered what to call their in-laws after marriage when they only want to call their own parents mom and dad. My husband took Spanish and was already calling his parents madre and padre. His brother took Latin and called them mater and pater. — Marilyn B.,

Omaha, Neb. DEAR READER: If in doubt, ask them what they would like to be called.

DEAR HELOISE: I would like to respond to the man who complained about a 2 cent raise in postage.

Fifty-five cents will take a letter from here in Ohio to Florida in two to three days. You can’t drive to the local grocery store for 55 cents the way gas prices are right now.

The term “snail mail” is still quick for the cost and, in my opinion, safer.

— Sue in Ohio DEAR HELOISE: I love to take flowers from my garden and place them on my wife’s gravesite. Since I lack a vase, I always take a cordless drill and drill a few holes in the ground to place the flowers in those holes. Then I water them. They seem to do better this way and last a little longer.

— Frank W., Dell Rapids, S.D. Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email