Don't feel limited by the selection of shower curtains in stores when it comes time to spiff up the bathroom. The April issue of Better Homes & Gardens shows several ways to customize a curtain:

• Leave the bathroom aisle and head to the table linens department to look for stand-in shower curtains. Table cloths that are about 72 inches square will work. Attach the tablecloth and a liner to the shower rings using drapery clips.

• Craft a valance for a plain white shower curtain. Find a fabric you like, or use a table runner as the valance to save some sewing. You might need a grommet kit to add holes to the valance for the rings.

• Add bold racing stripes to any shower curtain by stitching one or two rows of cotton belting to the bottom or side. If you don't sew, iron on the belting with fusible bonding.

• Attach strands of white, flat capiz shells to a natural-fiber shower curtain. Instead of plastic rings, the beige hemp curtain in the magazine hangs from macramed twine loops.

• Another photo in the magazine is a good reminder to save unusually shaped clear or colored bottles whenever you come across them. A collection of such mismatched vessels, with one graceful fern frond in each, makes a calming arrangement on a mantel. In summer, these same bottles would look cheerful sporting orange, pink and yellow zinnias.

I have to laugh at some of the organization tips magazines offer frazzled homeowners. For example, this issue of Better Homes & Gardens suggests "mealtime magic" of planning and shopping for several meals at once. Well, that makes sense. But then the magazines advises sorting the "nonperishable ingredients for each meal, including side dishes, into bins or baskets. Attach a label and tuck in the recipe."

It seems it would take just as long to sort and label as to pull a couple of cans and a package of pasta out of the cupboard at mealtime. Plus you have to buy bins in which to put each meal's ingredients. Plus you have to find a place to store all the bins. And this is a good idea because?