Carol of Faribault: "A contributor to Mary Hunt's 'Everyday Cheapskate' column writes about filling a tube sock with white rice, securing the end, zapping it in the microwave for three or four minutes, and taking it to bed to keep her feet warm.

"We Older Than Dirt people remember heating flatirons in the oven of wood cook stoves, wrapping the hot irons in newspaper and taking those to bed to warm our feet. I don't know if young people now know what a flatiron is."

We had the pleasure of visiting friends in England a few years ago and later in the evening our hostess disappeared for a period saying nothing. We thought nothing more of it until we went to bed and found a nice warm hot water bottle under the sheet at the foot of the bed. It was sooo nice.