Grosgrain ribbon saves putting a hole in door | Charlotte Observer

The winner: I have a fiberglass front door and don’t want to put a hole in it and the sticky hangers and similar items don’t hold my heavy Christmas wreath.

I used grosgrain ribbon – about 6 yards, 1.5 inches wide. Figured out where I wanted to have the Christmas wreath land on the door and tied the wreath to the middle of the grosgrain ribbon length. (You should be able to find the ribbon at hobby-related and stores that sell fabric.)

Then I brought the ends over and under the front door (it does fold down the weather stripping – but does not tear or crush it). Now the ends are on the inside of the house.

To counterbalance the outdoor Christmas wreath, on the inside I used a silver jingle bell wreath and tied the ends of the grosgrain ribbon into a knot and secured the silver jingle bell wreath. The weight of each wreath keeps them in place.

Pat Taranto, Shelby

Calendar tricks for 2016

As we get our calendars set up for 2016, here are two ideas to make life a little easier. Whether it’s digital or paper calendar when you enter a birthday, anniversary etc. also put the year they were born, married, etc. beside the name. It can be especially hard to remember how old children you only see occasionally are, now you will know. On a paper calendar I take a green marker and make a square around the dates that are recycle pick up days. I do the whole year in advance. That way when we come home from a trip we don't have to try and remember when the last recycle pick up was. Anne Hall, Charlotte