Children make big promises in effort to get toys they want
Kids are willing to do almost anything to get the toys they want for the holidays, from cleaning their room to giving up playtime.
According to Walmart’s Talking Holiday Toys Survey, 68 percent of kids said they would clean their rooms daily for a year, while 84 percent would work hard and give up playtime in order to get everything on their wish lists.
What’s not on the list? Eating spinach for a year — only 23 percent of kids said they would.
Walmart surveyed more than 1,000 children ages 3-11 and their parents in September of this year.
While the majority of kids think their behavior determines the amount of holiday toys they get, 78 percent of parents plan to buy the same amount of toys for their children regardless of how naughty or nice they’ve been throughout the year.
Dolls and action figures top kids’ wish lists, but educational toys are what parents want to give their kids.
Wondering if your kids find their gifts ahead of Christmas? Walmart’s survey found nearly twice as many kids as their parents say they found their gifts before the big morning (23 percent vs. 14 percent).
A closet is the top hiding place.
— Newsday
Automated telephone message offers reminder to take medicine
A simple automated telephone call might be enough to convince people to take their medicine, a study by Kaiser Permanente has found.
As part of the study, an automated telephone call was made to patients on cholesterol-reducing drugs who hadn’t picked up their medicine two weeks after it was prescribed. A letter was sent a week later if patients still hadn’t filled their prescriptions. The calls and letters informed people about the importance of taking the medication and encouraged them to have their prescription filled or to call their doctor.
The outreach resulted in a 16 percent decrease in people who did not get their prescriptions filled after 25 days, the study found.
The researchers said more needs to be done to get people to refill their prescriptions.
When people take their medication it helps control health problems and saves money on hospitalizations and complications from disease, the researchers said.
— Baltimore Sun
Hints from Heloise: How to make bath salts at home
Dear Readers: With the holidays right around the corner, here is a great gift idea that you can make at home, is low-cost and the recipient will just love: Heloise’s bath salts! It’s easy to make, and here is what you need:
• 3 cups Epsom salts
• 1 tablespoon glycerin
• Food coloring
• Perfume/cologne or an essential oil
To make, pour the Epsom salts into a glass or metal bowl (do not use plastic — this recipe could stain it). Add the glycerin, a couple of drops of food coloring and a little perfume, cologne or essential oil. Mix well until the food coloring and glycerin are thoroughly blended.
If the bath salts are not fragrant enough, you can add a bit more perfume, cologne or essential oil.
Put the bath salts into a decorative jar with a tight-sealing lid so the fragrance does not evaporate. To use, add ½ cup to your bath, sit back and enjoy!
— King Features
