When wrapping gifts rather than trying to wrestle the paper around the gift to see which way you need to wrap it (length wise or width wise) cut a strip off the roll and see which way it wraps the best. If anyone has a way of stopping the cat from investigating gift wrapping I'd like to hear it...
This is brilliant! There are (at least in my collection) only 3 basic sizes. I'd only need 3 strips, and I could use them over and over again!
A long time ago I demonstrated my budding scientific ability by creating cardboard templates for the amount of gift wrap needed for a typical video tape, CD, and later DVD.

Then I would just cut out a pile of paper in the right size and push the rolls away. It's not so useful now because I don't tend to give as many standard-size gifts any more.
On another note, sometimes I read things about dishwashers and clothes washers and I think, gosh, someday I will be in a situation where I need to know that, and I just don't, and someone will think I'm an idiot and wonder how I got to this age without knowing that.

<--at self. I don't pre-wash my dishes, for example. Okay, if it had oatmeal I will let the bowl soak with water, because I know from experience that if it dries, it's hard for my dishwasher to remove. Other things will get, at best, a less-than-10-second rinse with water before I put them down in the sink to wait for my next dishwasher loading. 99% of things come out visibly clean in my dishwasher using this method, so I figure, why add additional steps? My friend Amy (briefly) scrubs all her freshly-used dishes with a scrubbie, water, and sometimes detergent before putting them in the dishwasher. I assume this is what works for her, but IMO I have an automatic dishwasher so I don't HAVE to touch dirty dishes extensively. I also don't put anything special in the dishwasher as detergent--just one little pod of Cascade or whatever. And I wash EVERYTHING in the dishwasher--pots and pans, good glasses, mixing bowls. If it won't go in the dishwasher I won't use it. Not bragging or invalidating what others do, I'm just saying this works for me right now, thus leading me to believe it will always work for me, which is not necessarily the right conclusion.
