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CONTEST
Contest continues this week also! Dot Com Women Anniversary Event!
Special Contest for Ezine Subscribers!
What is the name of the
columnist of DCW's latest column - Women Speak?
Send me both the names along with
your own name to lata@dotcomwomen.com
with 'Contest Entry' written in the subject line.
First 5 correct entries will
receive a copy of my eBook 'A Better You'!!
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For finding the answer, visit http://www.dotcomwomen.com
For more info on the prize, visit, http://www.dotcomwomen.com/betteryou.shtml
GARDENING
Spring Clean Your
Garden
The time to welcome
spring in your garden is here! Time spent working on your garden
now will reap great benefits in the blooming season coming up. Get
started spring cleaning your garden.
Walk around your garden. The dry, grey stalks and stems of last year's perennials like sedum, purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, and phlox probably look a little sad. With a pair of clean, sharp garden shears, cut them to the ground to make way for the new growth appearing from the crown of the roots.
This is also a good time to tidy up shrubs and vines that blossom from this year's growth. Clematis such as the sweet autumn clematis Clematis terniflora, the Jackmanii types, and the viticella varieties benefit from a judicious pruning as does the vigorous trumpet vine Campsis radicans. Shrubs like buddleia Buddleia davidii, smoke bush Cotinus, spirea Spiraea douglasii and S. japonica, hydrangea, and rose of Sharon Hibiscus syriacus need a light pruning each spring to remove dead or crossing stems and branches.
If you protected your garden beds with a winter mulch of leaves, carefully rake them off to allow the soil to warm up more quickly. Toss the leaves onto a compost heap where they'll turn into rich, dark compost that can be applied to the garden in the fall or next spring.
RECIPES
SUGAR FREE DATE CAKE
1/3 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups water 3 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups chopped dates Topping: 1/3 cup chopped dates
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup flaked coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Beat together mashed
bananas and butter until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla extract and
water; beat. Add flour, baking soda and baking powder; beat well.
Stir in chopped dates. Spoon batter into prepared baking pan.
Combine Topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter. Bake for 20
to 25 minutes.
CRAFTS
CRAFT TIPS
To sprinkle glitter neatly on a project, place the glitter in an
old salt shaker. This way, the glitter will not be applied in
clumps.
Dab a bit of colourless nail polish on the thread loop at the
neck of a blouse or dress to make the loop sturdier and easier
to hook.
To thread a needle with heavy thread or yarn, pull a loop of
regular thread through the eye. Slip the heavier thread through
this loop and then pull the heavier thread back through the eye.
Opened rolls of wrapping paper are hard to keep neat. Solve the
problem by slipping empty waxed paper rolls (cut in half) over
the ends. Or simply tie a length of yarn around the ends.
For an unusual touch, wrap a wedding shower gift in a tea towel;
a baby shower gift in a diaper, secured with diaper pins.
Use stretch hair band, wrapped around end of sewing machine,
as a handy pincushion while sewing.
Powder your hands with talcum powder before working
with foam chips.
Use a discarded window shade as a drop cloth for painting
projects or for working with clay. When not in use, just roll
it up and store it for the next time.
Sew buttons on with dental floss for added strength.
Poke a screw into a bar of soap before putting it into wood.
It will go in much easier.
Patty Lee
FR*E online CRAFT newsletter!
Craft Tips, Contests, Links to Craft Sites
craftideas-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/craftideas
HOME DECOR
2004 Home Trends
Streamlined rooms. Put away
the excess clutter and displays; rooms are being edited down to just
a few key accessories and furnishings, for a simplified, elegant
look.
Functional living rooms,
designed for actually living in. Large wall TVs or TVs within
armoires or cabinetry, and comfortable seating make this a room for
the family, not just company.
Bedrooms fitted with hotel-style
luxury. Expensive, super comfortable beds and bed linens,
perhaps a second TV and good lighting for reading. But put the home
office and gym in another room; this room is for escaping.
The return of colour. A
more adventurous, extroverted approach to colour, especially with a
???60s or ???70s influence: colour blocks, graphic stripes, or, for
the less flamboyant, vibrant accents ??“ brightly coloured small
chairs or pillows in a neutral-colour room.
Fitted kitchens. Even
traditional kitchens are pared down, simpler and cleaner in details
this year; lines and materials fit together neatly, with sleek
hardware and simpler cabinetry.
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