February 1979

HOW GOOD IS YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL COUNSELOR?

Once a student's course through the educational system was charted solely by loving parents and concerned teachers. It's not that simple in today's complex society.

ARTFUL ALCOVES

Consider yourself fortunate if you live in an older house with recessed window areas. Set off from the rest of a room, these niches make perfect showcases for plants, accessories and collectibles, or favorite furniture pieces.

The Friendship Quilt

A beautiful collection of shared memories

CLASSIC WHITE DINNERWARE... THE BEAUTIFUL BASIC

You might call classic white dinnerware a tabletop magician. Not only does it provide the basis for a potpourri of settings, it solves a number of problems. Broken patterns in your cupboard? Instead of tossing them out, mix them with white. You can afford only a few pieces of your fine china pattern? Combine them with white, and suddenly your four soup bowls seem as precious as rubies.

It's Springtime in February

GROW FLOWERING PLANTS FROM SEED

Interior vapor barrier

Egg cooking aid

Safety gas can

Stick-on sandpaper

Frozen entrée dish

Water saver for kitchens

How to order material from the magazine

SHOULD YOU BUY A USED RENTAL CAR?

If the new cars are priced over your head, and the shady history and lack of warranty on a used car scares you, there may be a way out of your bind. That's a used car sold by a national car rental company.

Brass bed buymanship

The shiny brass bed, once a status symbol in American homes, is currently making a big comeback. Ten years ago, it was difficult to find one in a store. Now brass beds are available in a wide range of styles and prices. Here's information to help you shop.

MICROWAVE COOKING: Tips for converting recipes

You can save lots of time in the long run by adapting your longtime favorite recipes to microwave cooking, but it takes a bit of experimenting. Here are some tips:

TURNING AN ATTIC INTO A TEEN SUTE

Michael Sullivan is a lucky 15-year-old. He has the entire third floor of the house to call his own. His teen-ager's suite was carved from previously unused attic space and contains several features that should appeal to your youngsters.

Help for chapped lips

There's nothing more annoying than chapped lips in the middle of the winter. The more you try to soften cracked and scaling lips by licking them, the worse they become.

How to clean upholstered furniture

Cleaning upholstered furniture is fairly simple, provided it isn't suffering from excessive soil, unusual stains, shrinkage, or color bleeding. In any of these cases, you would be wise to have the furniture cleaned by a reliable professional cleaning service.

HIGH-RISK LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE

Though fewer people are turned down outright for life insurance today than in the past, a health problem or a risky occupation can still make it difficult or impossible to get coverage. Even when insurance is available, the cost may be prohibitive-- three or four times the normal premium, if not more.

41 ways to discourage a burglar

Burglars generally are unskilled and tend to choose empty houses that are easy to enter. If a burglar can't break in within four minutes, he'll usually give up and move on.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PET REGISTRATION

Registering a dog or cat can be simple enough, provided you understand the process and the privileges and guarantees that go along with the registration fees. Here's a rundown of the basics.

Introducing Our E.T. MEREDITH ROSE

Edwin Thomas Meredith (1876-1928), an Iowa farm boy, founded Successful Farming magazine in 1902. In July 1922, he started a monthly magazine called Fruit, Garden and Home.

No-Delay Decorating

With today's adaptable, affordable, easy-assemble furnishings, you can decorate a room in a day. This unassembled furniture comes prepacked in conve nient carry-home cartons. You simply pick out the pieces you need, tote them home, unpack them, and put them together with minimum time and effort.

Put wasted corners to work!

If the corners of your house do nothing more than collect dust it's time to put them to work for your family.

The New Breed of Eastern Wines

The Eastern states constitute America's second largest wine-growing area. While they have always enjoyed a reputation for good sparkling wines, their table wines made from native grapes such as Concord, Catawba, and Niagara have been something of an embarrassment. They have been called coarse, undrinkable, and worst of all "foxy," a term that has nothing to do with foxes but describes a wine that smells like grape jelly.

Car-theft deterrent

Personality papers

Handy person's bible

Tops in tables

Fund raising how-to

Plant biographies

Dishwasher Buymanship

When the dishwasher first became popular, the most important question was, "Will it really get the dishes clean?"

HOW TO SHOP FOR QUICK-ASSEMBLY FURNITURE

Call it what you will, quick-assembly, knock-down (KD), or life-style furniture is creating excitement and rapidly gaining acceptance on the home furnishings scene. This breed of furniture differs in a number of ways from the more familiar factory-assembled pieces.

A GUIDE TO America's favorite cruises

Even if you've never considered a vacation at sea, it's time to take stock of the possibilities. No longer are cruise ships loaded to the gunwales with elderly passengers who spend days bundled up in deck chairs and evenings huddled around bridge tables.

TIPS TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

A REGULAR FEATURE DESIGNED TO MAKE AROUND-THE-HOUSE JOBS EASIER FOR YOU

Shopping editor's choice

Discover the ease and pleasure of shopping by mail. Order from the convenience of your own home with complete confidence. If not delighted, each company will happily refund your money.

The Man Next Door

Although I can't see where, Chris claims that she put on a few unwanted pounds because of all the holiday feasting. Looking at her profile in a full-length mirror, she sighed, "You know, you really lose something when you gain something."