Bread pudding and baking soda

Given that 1) I have 2 small kids and 2) we live in a third-world country, I spend most of my days just trying to keep up with the basics of food, laundry, and childcare. But lately I've had a little extra time to problem-solve, and it's been exciting!

First problem: what to do with the "heels" of our bread. We eat a LOT of bread, not because it's easy to come by here but because my kids love it. Toby begs for "pee-bee bubber and jejjy" sandwiches, and I oblige more often than I care to admit because...well, it's easy and he'll eat it without a fuss. So we go through a lot of bread, BUT no one wants to eat the heels. And since I can't bear to throw them away (it is homemade bread after all), I've been collecting them in a bag in my freezer and racking my brain for something to do with them. The only thing I could think of was making bread crumbs, which we probably wouldn't use. Then the light bulb: bread pudding!

I've eaten bread pudding maybe twice in my life, but Jonathan loves it. So I found a simple recipe, added a teaspoon of cinnamon (because almost everything is better with cinnamon), and popped it in the oven. Oh, my, was it ever good! Moist, just sweet enough--we didn't even miss the sauce, which I was too lazy to make. =) Granted, it wouldn't have been nearly as good without the craisins I've been hoarding for something special. (Thanks, Namestnik family!) Still, it's definitely something I will make again...maybe even next week since I still have a sizeable collection of bread heels.

My little helper

Problem #2: an exfoliant. I've been looking for some kind of skin exfoliant ever since we moved and just haven't been able to find anything. I'd done some searching online for homemade exfoliants, but they all seemed to require messy, expensive, or exotic ingredients. I looked again today and found this website. First recipe? 2 teaspoons of ground oatmeal (easily done in the blender), 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and enough water to make a nice paste. That's it! It worked great, didn't feel too abrasive on my skin, and took maybe 2 minutes to mix up. Fantastic!

Have you had time to problem-solve lately? Any tips to share for the rest of us?