I’m baaack

It would nice to say that I’m raring to dive headlong into the first month of this new decade, but the truth is that I feel I could do with another week off. Perhaps I'm just torpid from too much Christmas fare (see gingerbread entry below). Since an extra seven days on a sunny beach is not an option, it’s time to look ahead to a year of Hot Home Products columns, which appear every Saturday in the print edition of the Toronto Star – to which you surely subscribe, no??? Some of the topics I had planned to look at during the first quarter include new water filtration devices, counter-top materials, bedding trends, solar energy in the home and kitchen knives. I added condo-sized furniture and appliances to the list after getting a query from a faithful reader on that topic. I love getting correspondence from readers ­and while I can‘t always respond to every specific question, I do my best to refer them to another expert when I can't supply advice or consider doing a column on the general category of product they ask about. So if there’s a home-related product you’d like to know more about, let me know – it might become the inspiration for a future Hot Home Product column. And while you’re at it, tell me if you’ve made a home-related New Year’s Resolution. The two that top my list – put the finishing touches on the bedroom reno we started last summer and banish clutter from my house. Stay tuned on both counts.