***And the Winner chosen by random.org after removing any duplicate comments by the same person (Which I then added back in) is Heather Lafter. More great giveaways are coming this month. so keep trying!***
Have you ever wanted to know how to make your own chain-mail bikini, grow rock candy, properly open a pomegranate, carve a radish rose, tie a bowtie, remove various stains from clothing, peel and devein a shrimp, get your kid to eat vegetables, serve a banana as an octopus, or understand vitamins and their proper doses?.
Are you the coach of your kid’s soccer team but you don’t have a clue about the rules and techniques of the game?
Do you wonder how long various foods stay good in the refrigerator?
Do you want to try to heal yourself with home remedies or perform first aid?
Are you horrible at Dave Letterman’s “Know Your Cuts of Meat” game and want to brush up on which cut of meat comes from which part of any animal’s body?
Do you want to know how to pick the best airline seat, tie basic sailing knots, mount a camel, compose a memorable photo, pick a lock, or mold a false fingerprint?
Have I got a book for you. It was sent to me by Harper Collins and it’s called Show Me How — 500 Things You Should Know — Instructions for Life from the Everyday to the Exotic. The book covers fashion dos and don’ts, beauty how-tos, cooking, crafting, survival skills, romantic instruction and a ton more. From the incredibly useful to the hilarious, it’s fun just to “read” all the way through. But it doesn’t involve a lot of reading because it’s almost completely picture based. The illustrations are fun and although I plan to use it as a conversation-piece on an end-table in my living room, I’ll also likely refer to it for basic instructions on how to do just about everything.
Reading through, I kept thinking, “OH MAN! I wish I’d had this last month or last year when I needed to…” Because I didn’t have this book or apparently a brain or internet connection, I gave a perfectly fine cast-iron skillet away to Goodwill because it had become rusty. Never again thanks to the page on derusting a cast-iron pan.
With Thanksgiving on the way, I’m grateful for the straightforward instructions for weaving a lattice-top pie, roasting and carving a turkey and making perfect gravy from drippings.
Thanks to this book I now know that a Vesper is an actual alcoholic beverage, not invented by James Bond, and how to make it should I ever eschew my teetotaling ways.
This is one of the best coffee table books I’ve come across and it would make a great gift. Although if you win it, you’ll probably have a hard time giving it away so you’ll need to buy another.
To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment listing one thing you’ve always wanted to know how to do. I’ll draw a random winner Saturday at 10pm PST.
And I’ve got more great giveaways and gift guides coming up! Squeee!!! I’m so excited for Christmas.
Dude…Kathryn…this just may be the most perfect book ever written…there are so many things that I want to know how to do…pick a lock, make fake fingerprints, crack a safe, scale walls…except I now sound like a potential criminal.
I also want to know how to serve a banana like a octopus, or make gravy.
I want to learn so many things that I cannot fathom all the things that I do not know how to do!
I’ve always wanted to know how to make the perfect (easily peeled) hard boiled eggs. Despite much internet research and countless dozens of eggs practiced (hubby likes to eat a hb egg with breakfast) I still haven’t perfected the technique.
🙂 Becky
Hi Becky, I hope you read this! Place your egg(s) with just enough cold water to cover it in a pot and bring to a boil. Then put a lid on the pot and turn OFF the burner. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Crack it open and consume – they are perfect every time – no purple colored yolks either =)
Ooh – thanks Cheri, I’ll have to try that. rIght now my system is: not too fresh eggs (apparently it works best with eggs about 2 weeks old), bring to a boil in salted water, let sit for 12 minutes, then give an ice bath (with baking soda added to the water).
Can you tell I’m trying everything! lol. I’ll have to give the 20 minutes a try though – thanks!
🙂
I want to know how to get those pesky, greasy, sometimes tomato-based stains out of clothes. That and make perfectly textured gravy from drippings. Those seem to be just beyond my reach.
I want to know the best way to keep produce in my fridge fresh. I’m tired of throwing out goopy/rotting greens.
Beck, it helps to wrap your greens in a scottowel before storing in a plastic bag. The scottowel will absorb moisture, extending the life of your produce. Also, wait to wash your greens until right before you use it (to avoid even more excess moisture.)
OH! OH! There are so MANY things I’ve always wanted to learn to do. Um, let’s see…Well, make a kite of course, and really, really good paper airplanes. Make my own pasta, and homemade bread and pretzels. Get grease stains out of my clothes (I really, really need to learn this one. Cars are DIRTY dude.) Oh. And dance. I’m utterly hopeless and I’ve my wedding coming up and everyone is going to be LOOKING AT ME trying and failing to dance respectably. A flailing bride is not a pretty bride.
I want to know how to fold fitted sheets like my grandma!
I’d love to know how to cook make the perfect pancake…I always seem to screw them up…I also would love to know how to get baby poop stains out of clothes safely when they’ve already set in.
I so totally want to know how to do the moonwalk. It’s always fascinated me.
Oh, I love the sound of this book. I wish I knew how get bumped to first class on a plane.
Ummm. I just want to know how to win one of these blog give-aways. Seriously. Any hints?
i just read another review for this book, and wanted to read it! alas, my library doesn’t have it yet. but maybe i could win it?
I want to know how to get my kid to flush.
Hmmmm. I would like to know how to remove oil stains from sheets and clothes without using toxic chemicals. (I’m a massage therapist….)
Right now all I want to know in the whole world is how to get my toddler to eat something other than crackers.
I’ve always wanted to know what to give my brother-in-law for Christmas… 😉
I’ve also always wanted to know how to successfully ice a cake and/or cookies.
I bet theres tons of things in there i need to know, maybe how to get stains out of laundry not put them in….things like that. Useful.
I’d like to know how to get my jetted tub reeealllly clean.
I’ve always wanted to know how to knit. It seems therapeutic, and there are so many cute projects that require knitting.
Ooh, Janel! Check out this website. It’s how I learned!
http://www.knittinghelp.com/
What an awesome book! I might just have to get it even if I don’t win!! I have always wanted to know how to do the worm though, for sure!
I have wanted to know how to have a lovely flowerbed and to plan the bulbs so that it continuously has blooms.
Looks like a great book! Would love to win!
I have always wanted to know how to make a ganache – if only so I could say “here, try my ganache.” It’s such a cool word.
Oooo… Good one. You would sound incredibly fancy 🙂
i coulda used that lattice top info a few weeks ago….!
I want to know how to temper chocolate.
I want to find out all the things I didn’t know that I didn’t know. 😉
I would love to know how to start a business without being rich already!
I have always wanted to know how to sing and dance wonderfully, at the same time. I really think I was made for musical theater, except for the absolute lack of dancing ability, and only decent singing ability. Hrm. Something tells me even a book couldn’t help me, but it sounds like an awesome book anyways!
I want to know how to pick out the perfect color paint…before spending money for 50 different ones.
I’ve always wanted to learn how to make gnocchi and to knit. I would like to know how to get gas in to my Suburban without spilling a drop on my shoes!
I want to know how to eat chocolate all day without getting sick or gaining weight. Oh yeah, and how to potty train a four year old would also be some good information 🙂
I would like to know how to make my own soap.
I wish I knew how to get my daughter to eat anything other than pizza without a fight.
I actually opened a pomegranate today and was wondering how I was really supposed to do that. And it made me think about mangos too. How are you supposed to cut those?
We eat a lot of mangos and the best way I’ve found is to cut straight down the fruit a little off center, so your cut just misses the large flat pit in the center. Then, with your knife, you can score the fruit through to the peel, in cubes or slices, whatever you want. Flip the fruit kind of inside-out and you can cut the fruit off the peel. It’s lots easier that way than trying to peel the thing. You do the same thing to the other half of the mango. And then with the edges remaining around the pit, I usually cut off the peel and cut any pieces I need — or if there’s not a lot there, I just stick that part in my mouth and eat it off the pit. Yum!
I’ve always wanted to know how to paint a perfect, straight line between the ceiling and the wall. I’ve tried all kinds of tools and techniques, but still haven’t been able to do it.
I have always wanted to know how to get the smell of dog pee out of the carpet!
I want to find an all natural stain remover- ie…homemade, that actually works, i hate laundry, and i hate the smell of chemicals, i spray on the stain remover and the smell and even the stain is still in at times….soooo frustrating
I would love to know how to create a wormhole in the time-space continuum so that I could pop into it for what *seems* like 15 seconds while my kids are watching PBS, but really take a 2 and 1/2 hour nap and pop back.
Sorry, you asked! 🙂
I just need to figure out how to keep my plants alive- is that in there?
I would love to know some home remedies for chronic coughing.
I just got an e-mail on this today! It said to put Vicks Vapo-Rub all over your feet and put socks on. Sounds weird, but it is supposed to help?
I want to know how to get the camera to take the picture when I push the button and not five seconds later… and what is “aperture” and ISO and all that stuff? Is working a camera in there?
Oh! I can help with that!
Two Peas in a Bucket had a “class” (in .pdf form) last year. Here’s a link to the course outline: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/cg_display.asp?cmd=display&seed_id=26022
Also, I really love Ree’s (The Pioneer Woman) photograry blog — http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/. She (and guest bloggers) explain (and illustrate) these concepts really well.
Hope that these help you!
I had a different book picked out to give to my siblings for Christmas, but this is TOTALLY what they are getting now! $16.47 on Amazon baby!
I want to learn how to get my 4 year old to eat something besides cold cereal!
I’ve always wanted to know how to fold the fitted portion of sheets!
Hmm…I want to know how to keep my house clean. I know it’s possible, but it just seems to allude me. I’d also like to know how to make a fabulous lattice top pie…and how to knit….and fall asleep like a normal person…and how to landscape for our climate….and make soap…and the list just keeps going…..but I’ll stop now! ;o)
How to keep marriage alive in the presence of a toddler and jobs and life.
If that’s too tough, I’ve also recently become obsessed with tuna melts and just can’t get them right. Advice please!
I was educated at Google U and so I need very little knowledge…but I can always try to fit more in the jam packed brain of mine!!
I have always wanted to know how the phone system actually works. My husband has that particular knowledge but every time he tries to tell me my brain just hears “blah blah blah”. I think that pictures would really help.
Oh where do I start with my list of things I have always wanted to know? Do I have to narrow it down to just one??? Well, if you insist. I have always wanted to know how my voice actually sounds to other people. I know that you can videotape yourself and listen to it, listen to your voicemail message, and all that jazz, seriously, I don’t think those truly work. I really want to know if I have a man-sounding voice. In my own ears I sound like a girl, but whenever I hear a recording of my voice I am amazed my husband married me. Who wants to be married to a chick with a deep voice???? Anyone?
A lot of questions on this page sound like they could be answered by the book “Home Comforts” by Cheryl Mendelson — an all-around reference for everything to do with running a house. I read it for the “what-for”s as well as the “how-to”s–to get up the motivation to clean when I know I need to, but really don’t want to :-). But please don’t feel obligated to do everything mentioned in there–the book is WAY too comprehensive for anybody to do it all!
As for my “how-to” wish…
how NOT to kill a goldfish. I ought to be a professional. Seriously.
I’ve always wanted to learn how to sew. It’d be so nice just to know how to do a basic stitch.
How on earth do you get to be as cool as Kathryn? That’s what I really want to know! 🙂
Seeing how I just ate part of a pomegranate, I would love to know how to properly open and eat one so that in the future I can do so without splattering pink juice that never comes out all over my white pajama top.
I want to know how to get a 19mo to go to sleep on her own. No nursing her to sleep and then trying to sneak away, no holding her while she sleeps because she has never stayed asleep when we lay her down. Her brother did it on his own so I didn’t have to learn how to teach it.
I would like to add that I am not only entering the contest I *am* soliciting advice so anyone may feel free to reply to that comment. I reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllly want to know the answer to this one.
I want to know about barbeques. I come from a coutry where we don’t have barbeque and am living in one where the climate is same all through the year making it fit to have barbeque during winter 😉
Oops! I do not even know how to use the word ‘barbeque’!
I want to know how to make GOOD southern style baking powder biscuits…(think Cracker Barrel) and speak Japanese…odd combo of things that top my list
I want to know how to match colors!! Seriously, every time I look in my closet I am overwhelmed by what colors go with other colors and how to match shades and patterns…. I wear a lot of blacks as a result. 🙂
I would like to know the proper way to tie a tie.
Is there a section in there that tells you how to be yourself even in uncomfortable social situations? Or maybe how to be the perfect mom that raises perfect children? That would be nice 🙂
I have always wanted to know how to moonwalk. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’ll channel my younger-self. When I was 6, on Thanksgiving, at the dinner table, we were all giving thanks for something. I thanked God for Michael Jackson.
I loved his music so much.
My parents thought it was hilarious. I was being completely sincere.
To learn to moonwalk would be a childhood dream come true.
Good luck to everyone! I hope whoever wins this book, loves it!
I’ve always wanted to know how to take beautiful photos of my kids. It’s so hit and miss with us…
I would really like to learn how to tat.
I have alway wanted to know how to ice a cake nice.
I’ve always wanted to know how to cut up a chicken.
I would like to know how to get my kids to smile beautifully at the same time and for as long as I want in order to take photos.
Uh, and how to dress in order to appear 30 pounds lighter. Or better yet, a way to lose 30 pounds that involves copious amounts of dark chocolate.
Okay, really, one thing I want to know is how to wash socks so they stay white and don’t pill or get holes in them after three wearings.
That books looks awesome.
I’d love to know how to wake up in the morning with an instant witty, sparkling personality. I am SO not a morning person.
(Please don’t include my earlier repiies in the drawing. I’m sharing my wealth–heh!–of knowledge, not trying to stack the deck in my favor.)
Hmmm… the one thing I have always wanted to know how to do would be to swim. Thirty-nine years old and don’t know how to swim… pitiful…
I would love to know more about what I don’t!
Thanks for such a great blog!
I’ve always wanted to know how to sew my own cute summer skirts.
(sending you love…all the way from downtown Seattle!)
I’d like a beginner’s course on ice sculpting. I think it would be a fun hobby!
I’d like to learn how to make a sound using a digeridoo. I’ve tried it and just didn’t get it. Is that in the book? It does look like a really neat book! Another great Christmas gift idea!
I’ve always wanted to know how to whistle really loud with two fingers in my mouth. Never have learned that trick.
I would like to learn how to get kid pee smell out of a mattress. Yuck. And I would like to learn how to win one of Kathryn’s uber-awesome contests.x
What do I NOT want to know how to do? Make and decorate beautiful cakes. Speak another language. Play an instrument well. Dance. Do rock-climbing. Knit. Paint. Write a novel. Be a really good photographer.
Looks like I have a whole lifetime of pursuits ahead of me! Maybe winning this book would get me off to a good start.
I’ve always wanted to know how to make a cool kite.
I keep wanting to learn how to nicely fold a fitted sheet. My linen closet would thank you if I win!
I always wonder how long to keep food in the fridge. Pick me!
Wow! What an amazing idea for a book! Put me on the list, definitely! Oh, and I am so glad to hear that you are on your way to feeling like your best self. Wonderful news indeed! =)
I didn’t want to replicate someone else’s, but I agree with Paul P about learning how to whistle. Neither my dad nor my brothers have been able to teach me, so maybe a book would help! I’m putting this book on my wish list even if I don’t get it through this give-away. Thanks for the chance, Kathryn!
I want to know how to play the piano….and not just any song, I want to play Great Balls of Fire like Jerry Lee Lewis and rock out sometime. You know like in the movies, where everyone is haning out and then someone jams with a rockin tune…..ah if life were like the movies!
I’d love to know how to teach a kid to ride a bike. With no screaming. Or how to teach a kid to put away their own clothes. Or how to teach a kid to put on his own socks…
I would love to know how to blow glass! Although the picture that shows how to moon walk has me intrigued. I’ve never been able to do that very well.
I want to know everything!! Okay, so maybe that doesn’t really answer your question. I would like to know how to keep my floor clean. Why don’t wood floor stay clean for more than a nanosecond after being swept?
Also, I would like to say that I’ve just discovered your blog and am really enjoying it.
I’ve always wanted to know how to track a cat. Or how to make Eggs Benedict. Or the difference between Koi and goldfish.
And this just sounds like a really cool book to add to my already-gigungous book collection.
I want to learn to dance without looking like a buffoon!