Spring Cleaning
($100) To mop up a spill on a rug, take a cloth and do this.
Answer: What is blot the spill? Blotting the spill absorbs the
liquid. Then use cold water, soda water, or a mixture of baking
soda and vinegar to remove any remaining stains. By blotting
the spill before scrubbing the remnants, you prevent the stain
from being scrubbed into the rug.
($100) This color is associated with Ireland.
Answer: What is green? The color represents the lush greenery that is
characteristic of Ireland.
($100) You don’t want to miss this museum founded by Pope Julius II.
Answer: What is the Vatican Museum? If you visit every room in the museum, you will walk
nine miles, and you will see an extraordinary variety of art. The Bramante Staircase is one of
the most photographed features of the museum, and its spiral is dizzying.
($100) In 2010, a handmade set of this popular real estate game
sold for $146,500 to the Strong National Museum of Play in
Rochester, New York.
Answer: What is Monopoly? The set was made in 1933 by
Charles Darrow, the game’s creator.
($100) This is the term for using long stitches to hold material together temporarily.
Answer: What is baste? You want to use the fewest number of stitches to hold the material
in place, minimizing needle holes in the fabric.
($200) Test these mandatory lifesaving home features to see if you need to replace the battery.
Answer: What are smoke alarms? Smoke alarms with sealed lithium batteries have a 10-year
lifespan, so there’s no need to change batteries. If your smoke alarm uses regular batteries, it is
recommended that you test them monthly. All smoke alarms need to be replaced every 10 years.
($200) On March 17, we all have a touch of this nationality in our blood.
Answer: What is Irish? March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. An old tradition is
to pinch people who are not wearing green on this day.
($200) This is Italy’s largest island.
Answer: What is Sicily? The island’s capital city is Palermo.
Sicily has its own language, not a dialect of Italian. Sicily is
home to the best-preserved Greek ruins outside of Greece and
to Syracuse, the second-most important ancient Greek city.
($200) This machine, with its peculiar odor, was found in every
school office.
Answer: What is a mimeograph? You could smell the transfer solution for days after
receiving handouts in class. You probably remember the purple print as well as the scent.
($200) In the store, it’s a length of fabric wound around a cardboard tube; in nature, it’s a unit
of lightning.
Answer: What is a bolt? Lengths of bolts vary widely based on manufacturer and fabric
type, but many bolts contain between 30 and 100 yards of fabric.
($400) When the warmer weather of spring arrives, you want your ceiling fans to move air in
this direction.
Answer: What is down/counterclockwise? When warmer weather comes, the fan blades should
move counterclockwise to push the air down toward the floor to make the room feel cooler.
($400) A shamrock has this number of leaves.
Answer: What is three? To the Irish, the three-leaf clover is associated with
Saint Patrick and the Holy Trinity. A four-leaf clover symbolizes good luck.
($400) This Italian city is the city of canals.
Answer: What is Venice? The city is comprised of 118 islands, all linked by the canals.
When the high tide, known as acqua alta, comes in, the streets flood. Venice is built on
approximately 120,000 wooden piles. Don’t miss out on a gondola ride while you’re there.
($400) The 1943 penny was not made of copper; it was made of this alternate metal.
Answer: What is steel? The wartime penny was coated with zinc.
($400) When you purchase a mercerized sewing necessity, you are
buying this.
Answer: What is a thread? Mercerized thread is a chemically
treated cotton thread with enhanced strength and color durability.
($600) If you’re drowning in bric-a-brac, this is the very first thing on your spring cleaning
task list.
Answer: What is decluttering? If you have clutter throughout the house, it makes deep
cleaning a difficult task. This also provides an opportunity to clear out items and either
donate them or dispose of them.
($600) Keep a close eye on this mischievous little man dressed in green, and he might
reveal where he keeps his treasure.
Answer: What is a leprechaun? The lucky leprechauns are part of Irish folklore. They are
also referred to as “wee folk” or “little people,” and stand between two and three feet tall.
You’ll often see them standing beside a pot of gold.
($600) This city is the birthplace of the Renaissance.
Answer: What is Florence? In addition to its many museums,
the city itself serves as an outdoor art gallery. You can see
paintings, sculptures, and magnificent architecture. It was the
home of da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Botticelli.
($600) These large stores served as anchors in malls.
Answer: What are department stores? Most of the old department stores have either
consolidated or gone out of business. Malls of the past are rare today, and many of them
have been reconfigured into office space, residential buildings, and medical centers.
Answer: What is a thread? Mercerized thread is a chemically
treated cotton thread with enhanced strength and color durability.
Answer: What is the right side? The wrong side does not include
the features of the right side and faces inward.
$800) Martha Stewart’s trick for cleaning coffee grinders is to run this food item through them.
Answer: What is bread? Just add a few pieces of bread to the grinder and grind as you
would coffee. It will soak up the coffee grinds and the oil.
($800) St. Patrick was born here.
Answer: What is (Roman) Britain? Though he is the patron saint
of Ireland, Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain, in what is now
Scotland, around the year 385. March 17 is the day of his death as
well as his Catholic feast day.
($800) This lake area is a celebrity magnet, with George Clooney owning a vacation home
there, and it has 100 miles (160 kilometers) of coastline.
Answer: What is Lake Como? The Romans built the first villas (what we call mansions) on
the lake. You can travel between the lakeside cities by ferry to see the splendid architecture.
You’ll spot artists along the streets, as the coastline has drawn writers, painters, musicians,
and filmmakers for centuries. Ocean’s Twelve was filmed there.
($800) These stand-up collars were popular in the 1970s.
Answer: What are Nehru collars? They were named after India’s Prime Minister Nehru.
Today they are making an updated comeback in men’s shirts.
($800) These structured folds are named after a box-shaped German musical instrument.
Answer: What are accordion pleats? This is an advanced technique, not suitable for those without
patience. Some fabrics, such as polyester and satin, enable you to create permanent pleats.