Gloves, chintz, hose and shirt collars are hot topics in a vintage little paper book that’s crumbling apart as I read it. First National Bank of Port Arthur, Texas, offered this book for customers. I read “1003 Household Hints and Work Savers” with joy in an era where many of these tips are unnecessary because the needs have become history.

Don’t toss hats in the waste basket. Consider what little changes would give them a new life next season, reads one hint while another tells how to fasten stockings to garters to preserve girdle life. In a don’t-try-this-at-home tip, the book suggests gasoline as a cleaner for your rhinestone pins and buckles. For real?

Add oomph to oysters by adding celery salt to your cracker crumbs.
This one’s still nice: Conserve butter by using bacon drippings over casseroles and potatoes.

Another throwback: In this little book the Grammier-Oberle Funeral Home ad has the phone number listed as 3-6631.

Butter Swap

Betterine is butter’s vegan twin.

Give whoever wrote that line a raise. I love working with this new product that’s sort of wrapped in brown paper packaging. That is to say — it’s got a wholesome look even before you unwrap this Natural Baking and Cooking Stick with “neutral taste.” Amarlane Foods offers this solution for non-dairy baking that’s made from coconut oil with no added chemical ingredients. Bake naturally, without compromise in taste or texture. It’s non-dairy lactose free and certified OU Kosher. Notice the words neutral and natural are both used, so consider it for “transforming buttery desserts into healthier, dairy-free, vegan-friendly masterpieces (more fancy wording I can support). It’s neutral enough that you don’t need to lather it on your breakfast toast. Betterine is a tool for moving forward in a more healthy lifestyle.

Infuzed Thirst

Think you’ve heard it all?

Cosmetics and everything else is getting CBD treatment. Makers of Infuzed Thirst offer “ordinary” consumers what celebrities received in their Oscars swag bags: what they call “non-psychoactive, zero-calorie, zero-sugar CBD infused sparkling water,” with all-natural flavors and full spectrum hemp complex – the non-psychoactive component of the hemp plant. I do love a good lime sparking water and this one even has a good feel of the can in your hand, which is adorned with a lotus flower. Drink to your well-being is what the can says. I enjoyed my sample, so, just saying…. It’s out there.

Darragh Castillo loves experimenting and is pledging to eat very natural foods during Lent. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com