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player ready...With this being the Year of the Dog in the Chinese zodiac, it’s only right that Bodhi Toys in Venice, Calif., should unveil its latest offering aimed to spoil Spot: doggie fortune cookies.
Made of whole wheat and unbleached flours, cinnamon, honey, soybean oil and eggs, the cookies come 12 to a takeout carton ($24.50) or can be bought individually ($2.50). Of course, they contain such suitably Fido-esque fortunes as “Sniff any, kiss many” and “Your cookie prospects are excellent.”
To find stores selling Year of the Dog Fortune Cookies, visit www.bodhitoys.com.
— E.M.
PLANNING MAKES PERFECT: It is amazing no one thought of it until now. A new, patented life-size, light-weight template kit takes the guess work out of furniture buying and room planning.
Invented by two interior designers-turned-entrepreneurs, Kathy Wagner of Aventura, Fla., and Melody Davidson of Kansas City, there are four kits — living room, dining room, family room and bedroom — but many of the templates can be used in more than one room. Simply cut the templates made of heavy brown craft paper on dotted lines to replicate actual furniture size you are considering buying and lay them on the floor.
Till now, even designers used 1/4-inch scale paper on which to move around tiny templates representing furniture pieces.
“There should be an easier way to do this, as a lot of people can’t visualize from that scale,” Wagner says of her inspiration for this year-old product.
“It is a product that is needed, that is affordable and is simple,” Wagner says.
“When people go to the store to buy a sofa, they know where to put it and they know it can go through the door,” Wagner adds. “That can save a lot of headaches and money.”
The templates also can be useful in preconstruction, when a house is being roughed in, to mark electrical outlets, Wagner adds.
DYI template kits sell for $29.99 each or $110 for the set of four. To order, visit designyourselfinteriors.com or call 866-692-6700.
–M.D.
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