Doing It Yourself

Starting Seedlings - Cut strips of paper towel, wet the strips and put them down on a sheet of plastic wrap. Carefully put the seeds on the paper towel in the spacing the manufacturer directs. Wet more paper towel strips, put them down over your seeds and roll the whole thing up and put it in a plastic bag. Store the plastic bag in a warm spot until they begin to sprout. Discard the plastic wrap, put your paper towel strips in the assigned garden spot, cover lightly with fine soil, water and walk away. The paper towel acts as mulch and disappears.

Spring painting?
Can't stand the smell of paint? Put two teaspoons of vanilla extract in each one gallon of paint.
Worried about smearing paint on fixtures, door hardware? Take a Q-Tip, swab it in vaseline and cover the area you're worried about. Wipe it off after the paint has dried.

This really works. Richie does it periodically. Get a plastic bag that will fit over your shower head. Fill the bag half-way with white vinegar and attach the bag to the showerhead neck (rubber band or twist-tie) and leave overnight. You want the showerhead partially submerged in the vinegar.

To keep ants out of the house, take a can of talcum powder or a piece of chalk and draw a line across doorsills, windowsills and the pet door. They won't cross it.

Fruit flies in the kitchen drive me mad. To kill them, take an old fairly-shallow bowl and put in 1 T sugar, 1 T dishwashing liquid and fill the bowl halfway up with water. You'll enjoy counting the dead ones daily.

Finally -- Your horse had to have his/her hair shaved for surgery? To prevent the hair from growing back white (due to the trauma) coat the area daily with Preparation H! (Unless, of course, it's a white horse.)