Lip balm goes through wash with colored clothes

Dear Heloise: I love your column and all the great hints that I read daily. I accidentally washed and dried a small tube of lip balm in a load of my colored clothes. I have spots all over two T-shirts and a pair of knit pants. I need help getting the spots out. I've tried a couple of things without success. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Helen S.,in Greenwell Springs, Louisiana Helen, give this a try:• If there is any lip balm left on the fabric, try scraping it off with the edge of a spoon.• Next, mix together dishwashing soap, baking soda and laundry detergent, then treat the stain with this mixture and leave it on for about 1 hour. This is to help lift out the stain.• Finally, launder as you normally would.If your T-shirt is white, you might launder it with an oxygenated laundry detergent that can be found in any grocery store. Heloise Dear Heloise: I have a new blouse, and while the blouse is plain, the buttons are not. In fact, the buttons actually make the blouse look very expensive and beautiful. I'm worried about losing a button, so can you give me a hint on what to do to keep the buttons from coming off when it gets dry-cleaned? Sherry G.,in Charleston, West Virginia Sherry, use some dental floss and sew the buttons on, but don't remove the original thread. Dental floss is much stronger than thread, but you need to get unwaxed dental floss. If you need the thread to match the fabric, use a permanent marker on the floss, let it dry for about an hour, then start sewing. Heloise Dear Heloise: I keep hearing about microplastics in our food, and it has me worried. I thought a plastic cutting board would be safer than wood. Apparently neither is a good cutting surface because both harbor germs. So, now what do we do? Jody C.,in Hot Springs, Arkansas Jody, yes, microplastic is a major concern in our food sources and from plastic cutting boards. Plus, both will harbor some bacteria in any of the cuts or scratches on the cutting surface. However, people are now turning to metal cutting boards, which are made of steel or titanium generally. No scratches and no microplastics! They can be purchased online or in stores. Heloise Dear Heloise: We moved to a place in the countryside and love it. Last year, I planted a lot of carrots because my family loves them, but the few that came up were the saddest carrots I ever saw. Puny, weak and skinny! I fertilized the soil, so what went wrong? Anna V.,in Bend, Oregon Anna, you may have soil that crusts over, which will prevent the young seeds from breaking through the ground. Cover the seeds with vermiculite or peat mixed with a little sawdust.You can also plant some radishes with the carrots. The radishes will sprout through the soil and break it up. But make sure to pull the radishes out after they mature, or they'll crowd the carrots. Heloise Dear Heloise: For years, my husband and I have grown tomatoes. Sometimes we bring in the green ones and ripen them on a sunny windowsill in the kitchen, but I put an apple between every second tomato. Both apples and tomatoes give off ethylene gas, which helps the tomatoes ripen faster. This extra ethylene gas from the apples just gives the tomatoes a little kick. Veronica P.,in Michigan