Just returned home from a glorious week at Bethany Beach with the Roda side of the family. Fabulous weather, even better food, and priceless time spent with people we love and are grateful to have in our lives. I returned home with a tan, more sand in the floor of my car than I'd like, and enough new stories and recipes and household tips to get me through the next year.

The week's best advice was about noneother than dryer sheets. Silly me, I thought they were just for, well, the dryer. But think again we all did. When mosquitoes and other insects were bugging people the first night, victims were advised to slip a dryer sheet between the sheets. You guessed it: no more nighttime bug bites. Then the sheets found their way onto the sand the next day in beach bags and shirt pockets. Again, no bugs. So the dryer sheets were taken on walks and fishing trips.

Then we got to talking about the mircaculous sheets' myriad uses. As a deodorizer in gym bags and sneakers. Used sheets as a dustcloth for computer and TV screens -- all of this prompting me to look up other ways I've underused them.

Consider the following, as reported on curbly.com: Pat yourself with a dryer sheet to reduce static cling; wipe the shower stall with a damp used dryer sheet to remove soap and mineral deposits; soak used paintbrushes in warm water with a dryer sheet and the latex paint will come off in under a minute; soak baked-on cookware in warm water with a dryer sheet or two and cleanup will be easier; and then there is the sheets' deodorizing effect on everything from the car to the dog to the room where you house the garbage. (Curbly.com reminds people that dryer sheets are chemical products. Consumers should read the safety labels and use "ecologically alert'' products for safer use.)

Bottom line: Who knew?