PUT A CORK IN IT!

Sometimes a little wine goes a long, long way, especially for those with low tolerance to booze and a penchant for drama. A friend of mine, who has a high tolerance for nonsense, hosted a party recently where one of the guests whined a bit too much after he'd wine-d a lot! Too much wine often leads to too much information, so this gracious hostess started swapping the glasses of vino for grape juice, announcing she'd cracked open a new bottle of something special from a Tuscan vineyard. When the unruly guest asked to smell the cork (he'd enjoyed several glasses and insisted he knew the bouquet) the hostess, without skipping a beat, said she'd just learned how to turn an old cork into something neat. She silenced him with something I'd told her...don't toss your corks, make them into a pot holder!

WHINE LESS AND WINE MORE!

A simple, fun, inexpensive way to protect your dining room table, counter tops and other solid surfaces, is to create a fun trivet out of recycled corks. After you've collected enough to hold a pot, wrap them with pipe ties (found in any home improvement store for under a dollar), wrap them tight and clip the excess. It's fun, easy and gives your guests something to talk about!

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Depends on how fast you drink! If you've got corks, 5 minutes!

COST: Under $1

STRESS LEVEL: Enjoying the cork out of it: LOW