BACK TO BASICS | by SHERRY STRIPLING

LATELY I’VE BEGUN TO IMAGINE MYSELF as that unfortunate character in a sci-fi TV episode with such an insatiable appetite for learning that his head expanded into its own alien being.

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My topics aren’t as weighty as his. They tend toward guitar, mandolin, Photoshop, InDesign, home repair, pruning, storytelling, driving a horse trailer, technology, technology, technology, and compost.

But they are nonstop, or were until my charge card told me: Stop taking classes.

Luckily, I have a secret weapon: Friends. Instead of Friends with Benefits, I have Friends with Knowledge. Just like me, and probably just like you, these friends live in the new world largely as independent contractors. Not only are their work and hobby skills ever evolving, but they are their own technology, billing and advertising departments. They have to learn!

So we teach each other. We offer to exchange money but usually we share for free.  I’m trading beginning guitar tips with one friend for Photoshop tricks. It’s all very informal, plus we throw in a walk.

Here are some benefits:

• You learn at your own speed and learn only those parts you want to improve.
• You see how you and your friend’s skills fit together, which can lead to work collaboration.
• You get to visit and be productive.

To do it graciously:

• Remember to pay close attention to sighs. That’s a sign you’ve come too often or, worse, you’re not listening.
• Be flexible about time if the “teacher” needs to cancel.
• Take something with you: coffee, food, movie passes, an offer to pet- or child-sit or run an errand.

It’s clear we’ll never know enough to keep up with the world. At least this way, we can all grow into alien beings together.

STORYTELLING | by VALERIE GRIFFITH

MY MOTHER IS 88 YEARS OLD. She lives a thousand miles from me. Though my father died 10 years ago, my mom still lives in the house where I grew up, still drives short distances. I feel enormously blessed by her independence and good health.

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Although she’s far away, I’ve discovered that I can help her maintain her health by preparing delicious, wholesome meals, which she can freeze and heat later. So with each change of season, I hop a plane for a long weekend of cooking.

The first thing I make is a fresh batch of vegetable-rich chicken soup, which I believe cures all ills. The soup is substantial enough to enjoy for supper, and always on hand if my mom feels under the weather. A curried squash gratin makes for a warming meal in the fall. Beef bourguignon does nicely on a cold winter’s night. Spring inspires a stew with lamb, fresh peas and potatoes.

Best of all, we have fun. We shop together and chat while working in the kitchen. She likes to be my sous chef. I show her a few easy culinary techniques. We reminisce and talk about the kids. I learn things I didn’t know about her childhood and the early years of her marriage over pots of simmering stock and pans with caramelizing onions. It’s the kind of women’s work that nourishes us both.

By the time I catch my plane back home, my mom has enough homemade meals to last until the season turns again, and I am full of stories, sustained by an abiding belief that cooking is an act of love.

PASSIONS | by KAVITA VARMA-WHITE

NEXT TIME YOU WANT TO TEACH YOUR CHILD SOME LIFE SKILLS, just step into the kitchen.  Cooking with kids is a great way to do a little family bonding, teach math and language skills, and encourage creativity. And you might even get that night’s dinner made in the process!

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One of the greatest benefits of cooking with your kids is that they learn about nutrition and healthy eating. Whenever possible, talk about how fruits, vegetables and the other products we eat are grown.  By doing so you are giving them tools to become health-conscious eaters.

Nearly every aspect of cooking has a learning element. Have them read a recipe. Let them use measuring cups and spoons to count out the right amount of ingredients. Let them chop, whisk, knead or pour — all of these use motor skills.

Cooking also encourages creativity and teamwork. While they’ll simply love spending time with you, they’ll also love knowing they are contributing to the family and will feel the importance of helping.

By far the biggest challenge to cooking with kids is having patience. It will always take longer to make a meal or snack when kids are involved. And no matter if they are 3 or 13, there’s bound to be a mess. As the saying goes, “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” Just expect it and, while cleaning up, think of all the memories you are making with your child.

DESIGN | by KAT SPELLMAN

First impressions: A freshened front door, tidy stoop and neatened yard attract potential buyers. Start by sweeping, painting and tidying. Polish the door knocker and knob. Lay a new mat. Pick simple accessories such as large pots with foliage-based plants that require less upkeep than flowering ones.

Clean closets: After purging your belongings, clear those closets and drawers. Rent a storage locker, borrow the corner of a friend’s basement ― do whatever it takes to make your home appear to have an abundance of storage space. Living at home while it’s on the market? Whittle your wardrobe to what you’d take on a week-long business trip with a weekend of leisure. Rotate through your clothes and keep only what you need for the week at home. Organize what you have by color and display with space between hangers and piles to convey an abundance of room.

Pull furnishings away from walls: The rigidness of furniture hugging the walls instantly dates decor. Peruse magazines and note how furniture’s arranged. Set that bed at an angle. Pull chairs away from walls and cluster in a conversational grouping. Consider the soldierly grouping of a dining room set and leave one chair slightly eschew.  These little moves update a home in an effortless way.

Sparkling windows: Forgo the window cleaner with paper towel or the newsprint with vinegar and opt for a grease-cutting liquid dishwashing soap with a microfiber cloth. Even doggy drool on French doors is eradicated with a simple swipe: No lint or haze remains. Sparkling windows convey you care about your home.

New toilet seats: Quite frankly, nobody wants to sit where you have, so splurge on a new throne for your powder room. For under $20 your bathroom can look fresh and new, as sparkly and sanitized as a showroom.

PASSIONS | by DEBRA PRINZING

OF ALL THE GARDEN FLOWERS, THE FAIREST ONE IS the rose, or so the saying goes. For some reason, though, roses are often labeled as “difficult” to grow. In my experience, successful rose-growing is achieved when I create healthy conditions for my plants.

Roses are adaptable to a wide range of environments (other than full shade). You can find out which cultivars are best-suited to your area by asking local garden center or nursery staff or contacting Master Gardeners in your region. There’s nothing better than a personal recommendation from someone who says: This plant produces prolifically and smells heavenly!

Early spring is a perfect time to prepare your roses for a bountiful bloom cycle. For more than a decade I’ve followed a spring rose-care program prescribed by a Seattle area nurseryman I once interviewed. I like the approach because it uses natural minerals and amendments:

• In February, March or April (after the last frost), apply 1 cup of superphosphate to each rose in the garden, spreading the granules around the plant’s root zone and working them into the soil with a cultivator. Superphosphate builds strong root systems and improves roses’ ability to flower repeatedly all summer.
• In March or April, apply 1 cup of alfalfa meal or 2 cups of alfalfa pellets to each rose. Alfalfa slowly releases nitrogen, as well as an enzyme that increases the plant’s feeder-root system. It acts as a catalyst that enhances the entire fertilizing effort.
• Starting in April or May (as soil begins to warm), apply a granular fertilizer. Use ½ cup per rose and reapply every four to six weeks through August. I prefer to use organic rose food, such as Whitney Farms’ Rose & Flower Food.
• In May or June, apply up to ½ cup Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) at the base of each plant. This stimulates new, larger canes and enhances flower color. This is a good treatment to revitalize older, tired roses, when coupled with a feeding program.

If you feed your roses well, they’ll be healthier and less likely to succumb to diseases or pests. Enjoy every bloom.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING | by CELESTE TELL

FORMALDAHYDE. TOLUENE. DIBUTYL PHTHALATE (DBP). Huh? Ever walk into a day spa and feel overwhelmed by the smells? Turns out those chemical smells are not just unpleasant but downright toxic, known to cause several forms of cancer, infertility and birth defects. So what’s a gal to do? Give up mani-pedis?

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Not so fast. Necessity is, of course, the mother of invention. Enter eco-cosmetics, eco-day-spas and full-service eco-spas:

DIY: While there is no such thing as an “all-natural” nail polish, Butter London and Priti are among several new formulas that are free of formaldahyde, toluene and DBP. To do your own mani-pedi at home, order online or find local Butter London sources at BrandHabit.

Eco-express: Looking for a quick manicure, pedicure or a mini-spa pick-me-up? Check online for local day spas advertising a non-toxic experience. If you haven’t been there before, stop in to check it out. Trust your senses, nose first. Look for:

• Nontoxic nail polish and organic skin products
• Adequate ventilation
• Safe and hygienic disposal of waste materials (some spas send you home with files and buffers used during your manicure to continue to use at home)
• Anti-bacterial sterilization of reusable materials and tools
• Space designed with natural materials (no offgassing of toxic chemicals from carpet or plastic furniture)
• Good quality, yet energy efficient lighting

Full-eco-pampering: For the ultimate global green pampering experience, plan your next vacation around one of Concierge.com’s 10 best eco-spas in the world. Closer to home (at least for me) and more down to earth, the new Hyatt at Olive 8’s Elaia Spa offers a full spa menu with “natural and organic products sourced directly from an ever-expanding group of regional growers.” Check online listings to find full service eco-spas in your neck of the woods.

BACK TO BASICS | by JANNA LUFKIN

HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN A LITTLE EXTRA TIME TO PERUSE THE AISLES of your local hardware store? Be it the “Big Box” variety or the corner True Value, if you spend a little time and put on your thinking cap, you will find some inspiring ideas.

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Here are a few favorites:

• Baling twine. At one time a necessity on the farm, this twine is strong and has a zillion uses. Buy a big spool of it and use it in the garden, wrap it around a bunch of flowers for a hostess gift, tie it around a package, use it as garland on your Christmas tree …
• Painter’s paper. It comes on a roll in a few different sizes and muted colors. The olive green makes a great gift wrap. Inexpensive, yet lovely tied up with twine and a sprig of something fresh from your yard.
• Drop cloths. You can’t go wrong with this nubby, neutral-colored fabric. It’s a no-nonsense basic. With a little imagination it can turn an ugly sofa into a work of art.
• Galvanized garbage cans. Use them to store hoses for the winter. Keep pet food dry and fresh. Store packing peanuts in one and potting soil in another. They last forever.
• Canning jars. Often the corner hardware store will have a variety of canning supplies, including jars in different sizes and shapes. Use them for canning as well as for organizing bits and pieces in your bathroom, kitchen or office.

So, the next time you head to the hardware store, walk up and down the aisles. You never know, a section of heating pipe might just be the answer to your next organizing project.

PASSIONS | by JEAN GALTON

ALTHOUGH THE STORE IS STOCKED high with jars and containers of red salsa, my absolute favorite is salsa verde or green salsa, made with fresh, plump tomatillos. They look like a large green cherry tomato enclosed by a papery husk; once you’ve peeled off the husk and rinsed off a bit of stickiness, tomatillos are good to go. Make them into this easy salsa and throw it on fish tacos, huevos rancheros or bean and cheese taquitos. Yum!

© ANGIE NORWOOD BROWNE

Salsa Verde
Makes about 1 cup

1/2 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeno
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup chopped white onion

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

WELLNESS | by POSY GERING

DO YOU HAVE A MEDITATION PRACTICE? Do you envision sitting still on a cushion with a ramrod straight back for an hour every day?

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In reality, that is only one model of meditation. Try stepping away from the orthodoxy of how it’s supposed to be done. Instead, focus on the intended outcomes of meditation — many more possibilities emerge.

What I want from meditation is to quiet my mind, get in touch with my deeper self and open my awareness to something beyond the list of things I must do or ways I must be. I believe we can at least taste those qualities in far less time than an hour.

Try a 30-second meditation. I’ll share a number of techniques with you over the coming months. Here is one:

1. Sigh deeply four times.
2. Close your eyes. Take a very deep breath. Now, sigh the air out. Really empty your lungs, which takes a second exhalation. Feel empty.
3. As you allow the air to come back into your lungs, notice how it feels, all along the way.
4. Then, when, you’re completely full, sigh the air out again, noticing how it feels to let all the air out of your lungs.
5. Four deep breaths usually takes about thirty seconds. Notice the effect on your mind and body.

I’ve done this when on “hold,” while waiting in line and when I don’t know how to solve a problem. I’ve even locked myself in the bathroom during a dinner party. It’s as long as a commercial — and think how much of your life you’ve given up to watch them. Try spending an equivalent amount on your Self.

DESIGN | by KAT SPELLMAN

ONCE KIDS AND TEENS DID BATTLE WITH MOM when decorating their rooms. Scotch-tape shadows lingered long after old posters and cards were put up, and pinholes peppered walls with every passing hobby and schoolgirl crush. Now all our budding Nate Berkuses and Bunny Williamses can choose from an array of graphics to dress their walls as personally as they style themselves. Blame it on the French.

SOURCE: WALLTAT.COM

Credited with igniting this hot trend in 2005, “Les Ephémères” (The Temporaries) were a huge hit when the Parisian designers launched their collection of Baroque-influenced wall decals, depicting everything from charming fireplaces and butterflies to Eiffel Towers or bellflowers. Now Pottery Barn, with its PB Teen wall stickers ranging from hipster snowboarders to U.S. maps, and Birthday Express with its Mod Monkey motif or a fleet of decidedly cool fighter jets, has lined up a library of removable ― and often reusable ― wall stickers.

Make baby’s nest sweeter with a meadow of fresh spring grass in the nursery. Let Tinkerbell lull your sweet one to sleep. Or let the kiddos switch ‘em out as the fad fades, moving from Cath Kidston sweetness to the “WallTats” cool of pop culture.