22 MARCH 2014

LIVING WELL
FRUGAL FOODIE

Baking Soda Has Many Uses

materials right in our kitchens. For me, this discovery started with the back of a box of baking soda, and now most of my household cleaning is done with just these two products: n Distilled white vinegar ($2.50 per gallon) n Baking soda (60 cents per box) Heres how it happened: I noticed a message on my box of baking soda. Hundreds of uses, it read. I began innocently with laundry. A load that had made it through a wash cycle, only to be forgotten for a day, was frumpily frowning at me from the machine. Musty! I placed the damp pile in the dryer, sprinkled a little baking soda directly on top, and started her up. It worked! It worked! The must was gone; no trace of baking soda on the clothes. When I posted about this on Facebook, other skeptics expressed joy at a possible solution to a common laundry annoyance and all reported back, It works! It works! Not only does this baking-soda solution save water and energy by eliminat-

STEPHANIE CASEY

ello again. I hope you are ready for this column, because I am about to drop some revelatory Dear Heloise Steph stuff on you. Its no secret Im all about clean food. But food isnt the only thing we are constantly exposed to that contains not-so-great ingredients. Have a look at the back of your household cleaners even the greenest, most natural ones have chemical ingredients. What is all that stuff? Mind inhaling those vapors, or your kids and pets crawling all over it on household surfaces? I do. We are marketed so many unnecessary products when we have very affordable, extremely effective cleaning

White vinegar and baking soda are safe, inexpensive cleaners. J E A N - PA U L ing a second wash, the amount of baking soda used costs about .04 cents. Sold! But I didnt stop there. I now use baking soda for lots of things: scrubbing dishes (a ne, gentle scrub), scouring the bathtub, sprinkling on rugs before vacuuming or on top of pet stains to eliminate odor and stain. I even use it as a shampoo and face wash sometimes. Around the same time, when googling ideas to freshen up a trash can, white vinegar entered my scene. I had a gallon under the sink and an almost-empty spray cleaner. I dumped the cleaner and lled the spray bottle with a one-to-one mix of vinegar to ltered water. That trash can was freshened! Then I took my new, two-ingredient

CHASSENET

pure pleasure. pure luxury. purely affordable.

cleaner to all my surfaces porcelain, mirrors, oors, kitchen, bathroom, tough cooking stains on bakeware. And what an amazing cleaner it is. No streaking. Vinegar smell dissipates quickly. Its basically a very mild, natural acid. Gentle, effective, and DIRT CHEAP. Why had I been buying chemicals to spread throughout my living spaces my whole life? After this change, the couple of natural cleaners I had in the house didnt smell so fresh, and my thinking had changed if I wipe something down with a chemical, is it really clean? Give these alternatives a try! Read more of Stephanies helpful hints at frugalfoodiedallas.com.

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MARCH 2014 23

L I V I N G W E LL

As His Toes Keep Tapping, Buster Cooper Will Keep Teaching

By Todd Jorgenson
People Newspapers
Although his 90-year-old legs dont have the rhythm or the dexterity they once did, Buster Cooper cant help himself. He still teaches adult tap dance classes twice a week at Preston Center Dance, and Cooper isnt content to sit back and watch. He would rather lead by example. Lets try it with music, Cooper says before motioning toward one of his students in charge of the CD player. Change it to No. 14 this time. He has heard No. 14 countless times before, yet once the upbeat piano number starts, Coopers feet start moving, and he works up a sweat alongside his pupils. Lets see if I can stay in time, he says to about a dozen students, some of which are less than half his age. The soft-spoken Cooper commands the room with a voice that is raspy yet authoritative, barely pausing for rest between one routine and the next. The lesson teaches not only the ner points of tap dance, but also conveys a continuing passion for the art form that has led to Cooper teaching dance in some capacity for 75 years. He has taught so many people over the years. He just keeps going, said Carol Pearson, who has been taking Coopers classes for 15 years. He does an excellent job. Cooper is an Arkansas native who was introduced to dance as a small child. A nursemaid taught him the Charleston and the Black Bottom, then took him to the market or the town square for an impromptu public performance, where she would pass the hat for donations. Then my mother would find out about it, and she put a stop to it, Cooper said. Still, Cooper was hooked. He began taking dance classes and even began teaching others as a teenager. He wound up performing as a tumbler and an acrobat, and as part of various nightclub acts.

Buster Cooper, 90, still teaches adult tap dance classes twice each week at Preston Center Dance.

C H R I S M C G AT H E Y

I T K EEP S H IS M IN D S H AR P.
L E S LIE C OOPE R
But his skills as a performer often took a backseat to his abilities as an instructor and choreographer with every major dance organization in the country. His roster of famous students in-

cludes Tommy Tune, Sandy Duncan, and Nanette Fabray. At one point during the 1970s, six of his students were performing on Broadway. Cooper moved to Dallas in 1952, when he was hired to choreograph an opera at Hockaday. He taught there for many years and has been based in the area ever since. Then there are his shoes, which Cooper has worn for decades. They have authentic wooden heels which arent made anymore and are customized to t his wide feet. Whenever he has a

problem with them, Cooper sends the shoes to Chicago for repairs. Theyre still tapping along with Cooper, whose 90th birthday festivities last summer included a gala celebration at Fair Park Music Hall. He has no plans to give up dancing as long as his body allows it. Its his creative outlet. It keeps his mind sharp, said his daughter, Leslie Cooper. He just lives and breathes dance. He makes it fun. Email todd.jorgenson@ peoplenewspapers.com

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