We were surprised how inexpensive PCs were last year. Crazy inexpensive...and no need for upgrades and everything simply transferred over easy as pie. We toyed with the Mac idea, I've worked on them in the past, but purchased another PC for under $400 with a printer. Personally, I'm now for spending less as technology seems to change quickly. Our last PC left me feeling completely guilt free. No tomatoes...it was a Walmart end of the year model clearance. Check out all your options. I think computers are like cars...They all get you where you want to go, and some people need to be in love with theirs while others think of them as a means of transportation. kwim? Just my opinion though...and I'm just not one to get all excited over an electronic purchase. :001_huh: My dh and son do though;).

Rotisserie chicken is one of my favorites and stretches a long way in my house. My ds always wants the legs first and I serve the first round with baked beans, rice or baked potatoes, green beans, salad and garlic bread or corn bread. Ds always wants to get more than one chicken and I find it time saver later to do it. ;). Then I take the meat off the bone and pop the carcase in the pot for stock. If there is a ton of meat, I freeze some and use the rest during the week. Variations for the remaining meat are: BBQ chicken chicken salad chicken-a-la-king served over rice (I make my own white sauce, saute some onions add veggies and pimentos and wa-la. Great when it gets cold here.) chicken fried rice chicken stir fry served with rice chicken noodle soup is always easy homemade chicken pot-pie

:hurray: I'm encouraged by this. Reluctantly I found the Sam's savings in bulk vs. coupons the same. Now I've grown to love having a stocked pantry, and really have no idea anymore how much we spend per week to feed ourselves, except for the perishables. I used to spend an average of $225 but that included many non food items:001_unsure:. Sam's also saves me quite a bit on dishwasher detergent, Jet dry, TP, paper towels, laundry det and other cleaning items. I had to get used to the giant bottles though and the big cost at the time of purchase. However, we save so much over time. Great thread everyone! Good wishes~

So many questions, it seems like the more we know...the more we don't know. I wonder if Tamiflu could also decrease an immune response and the mono virus is also something to consider. I can't imagine not treating a high fever without Tylenol or another fever reducer. It's scary to think people could face this virus more than once.

Wanted to add that the above loaf is very flexible. I've used a wheat combo, bread flour etc and I tweaked the baking to fit my dd's needs with braces. No pizza stone, and I bake in a Pyrex dish with a lid for 15 minutes then take the lid off for the remainder keeping the dish with water in the stove to keep the crust from getting to hard. Lyn, gave me the tip of using the dough for rolls and pizza crust..Thanks both turned out well.

The Master Recipe: Boule (Artisan Free-Form Loaf) Makes four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved. 3 cups lukewarm water 1 ½ tablespoons granulated yeast (1 ½ packets) 1 ½ tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt 6 ½ cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measured with the scoop-and-sweep method Cornmeal for pizza peel 1. Warm the water lightly: It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature, about 100’ F. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours. 2. Add yeast and salt to the water: 3. Mix in the flour—kneading is unnecessary: Add all of the flour at once, measuring it in with dry-ingredient measuring cups, by gently scooping up the flour, then sweeping the top level with a knife or spatula. Mix with a wooden spoon or in mixer. Don’t knead! This step is done in minutes and will yield dough that is wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of the container. 4. Allow to rise: Cover with a lid (not airtight) that fits well to the container you’re using. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse or at least flattens on the top. Approximately 2 hours, depending on the room’s temperature and the initial water temperature. Longer rising times, up to about 5 hours, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and is easier to work with than room temperature dough. So, the first time you try our method, it’s best to refrigerate the dough overnight or at least 3 hours, before shaping a loaf. 5. Baking day! The gluten cloak: don’t knead, just “cloak†and shape a loaf in 30 to 60 seconds. First, prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal or whatever your recipe calls for to prevent your loaf from sticking to it when you slide it into the oven. Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with flour. Pull up and cut off a 1 pound grapefruit-size piece of dough, using a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off; it’s not intended to be incorporated into the dough. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten out and adhere during resting and baking. The correctly shaped final product will be smooth and cohesive. The entire process should take no more than 30 to 60 seconds. 6. Rest the loaf and let it rise on a pizza peel: Place the shaped ball on the cornmeal-covered pizza peel. Allow the loaf to rest on the peel for about 40 minutes it doesn’t need to be covered during the rest period. Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise during this period; more rising will occur during baking “oven springâ€. 7. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450’ F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread. 8. Dust and slash: Unless otherwise indicated in a specific recipe, dust the top of the loaf liberal with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1/4 inch deep cross, “scallop†or tick tic toe pattern into the top, using a serrated bread knife. 9. Baking with steam: After a 20minute preheat, you’re ready to bake, even thought your oven temp isn’t up to full temp. With a quick jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone. Quickly buy carefully pour about 1 cup of hot water from the tap into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust in nicely browned and firm to the touch. Because you’ve used well dough, there is little risk of drying out the interior despite the dark crust. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sent†when initially exposed to room temp. Allow to cool completely preferable on a wire cooling rack, for best flavor, texture and slicing. 10. Store the remaining dough in the refrigerator in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next 14 days: You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. Refrigerate unused dough in a lidded storage container. Variation: Herb Bread. Add 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves or 2 fresh and ½ teaspoon dried rosemary to the warm water mixture. Amaze your friends with the “6-3-3-13†rule: If you want to store enough for eight one-pound loaves herer’s a simple mnemonic for the recipe: 6,3,3, and 13. It’s 6 cups water, 3 tablespoons salt, 3 tablespoons yeast and then add 13 cups of flour. Store in 10 quart lidded container. Lazy Sourdough shortcut: When your dough bucket is empty, don’t wash it! Immediately re-mix another batch in the same container. In addition to saving clean up, the aged dough stuck to the sides of the container will give your new batch a head start on sourdough flavor. Just scrape it down and it will hydrate and incorporate into the new dough. Baguette Makes 1 large or 2 small baguettes 1 pound Boule dough Whole wheat flour for the pizza peel 1. Preheat the oven to 450’F with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising b read. 2. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 pound piece. Dust the piece with more flour and shape into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Once it’s cohesive, begin to stretch a d elongate the dough, dusting with additional flour as necessary. You may find it helpful to roll it back and forth with your hands on a flour-dusted surface. Form a cylinder approximately 2 inches in diameter. If the loaf won’t fit on your pizza peel or stone, cut it in half to make two smaller baguettes. Place the loaf/loaves on a pizza peel covered with whole wheat flour and allow to rest for 20 minutes. 3. After the dough has rested, paint water over the surface of the loaf using a pastry brush. The water prevents the knife from sticking in the wet dough, and an authentic baguette isn’t flour-dusted on the top crust. Slash the loaf with longitudinal cuts that move diagonally across the loaf, using a serrated bread knife. 4. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm to the touch. 5. Allow to cool on a rack before cutting or eating.

Channeling PSarah.... :tongue_smilie:"I would not eat it in a box, I would not eat it here or there, I would not eat it anywhere." Glad to hear you tossed it. We had a very long round of food poisoning a few years ago due to a faulty refrigerator thermometer. It was awful to say the least. I nearly wept as I tossed everything down to the pickles.

Poor baby, Seth. I'm praying for him and his family.:grouphug:

:iagree: And many cities have laws re; the number of pets per property.

I was wondering how you all were this morning...continued prayers. :grouphug:

If you have time, update us later.

:grouphug:Prayers for your little one.:grouphug:

This is what we've moved to and getting our lessons done regularly, on time without a rush is a blessing.

:grouphug:Prayers here.:grouphug:

I buy what ever is on clearance at any store. BB&B, Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Sam's etc. A friend of mine uses bulk wash cloths for dinner napkins and I have to admit they look cute and work very well. Think of this as a trial and error test. You'll find what works for you. I'm not a lover of rags because they get tangled up if they aren't sewn, but I do use them as clean and toss rags...(Think toilet:tongue_smilie:)

Cutie.

Either, but I find it easier to have a small basket in the laundry for dish cloths, towels and my cloth napkins. (This eliminates the smelly dish cloths from yucking up my pretty towels.) I picked one up at the dollar store; when it's full I do a small load of them alone because I detest sorting and it save me oodles of time. My kitchen has big drawers and I don't even fold em...gasp. I'd use a basket if the drawer wasn't an option. For the kitchen towels I love to use hand towels because they absorb more and a big stack of wash cloths are great for cleaning and soaking up big messes. They also wash well. My kitchen towels are easy to spot by color so they don't get mixed up with the face cloths. Disclaimer...I still use paper towels, but way less of them and I did ditch them for a few years.

Congratulations...:party:

:grouphug:Praying here.

:grouphug:This hits me in January...

:grouphug: Thanks for the update.

:iagree: A CC class might also fill the bill or one parent working an early day and the other a later one if they work outside the home.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Little kids do have a way of bouncing back into action that is precious to moms. I hope the rest of your clan is up and at soon.

:iagree: Check to see if an on-line charter school like K12 is available in their area. In many places it's free. Charter school at home would offer some checks and balances.

:grouphug:Prayers for a safe trip there and back.:grouphug: