We had a similar thing happen a few years ago. Our card never was stolen but a few thousand $$ charges were made on it in Rhode Island. The CC company notified us of suspicious card activity just a day or so after the charges were made and all we had to do, aside from worry ;) was sign an affidavit that we had not made those charges. The CC company handled everything else.

I'm hard put to choose one of the many I got. None were expensive but each was something I had wanted and I feel spoiled to have received so much. Close to top of the list was that dh chose a book for me... the first time ever! He checked my shelves to find an author I liked, and ended up buying me the most recent Elizabeth George book - Careless in Red (Inspector Lynley). He also wrote the to/from tags on each of my gifts so I received a gift from each member of the family including our pets. Cute! :001_smile: The toppest top of the list has to be the letter dh wrote telling how much he loves and appreciates me. :001_wub: Definite warm-fuzzy moment when I read it. Dh also wrote each of our dc a letter. Ulitmately it was the gift of effort and thought that dh put into making me feel appreciated and special.

This is the same way I've always roasted parsnips. Keep an eye on them, they cook faster than roast potatoes and because they're dryer than potatoes they can go from done to burnt quickly. They're not difficult to cook at all, honest!

Yum! That sounds like a delicious menu. Do we have a drooling smilie? hehe. Just plain old baking stuff here. Yesterday I made mincepies and sausage rolls... and we've eaten them all already. OOPS! Today Dh made a batch of those chocolate oatmeal drop cookies (dunno the name) and I did the first batch of chex-snackmix. That won't last long. Tomorrow I'll make more mince pies, sausage rolls, andes-mint cookies, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, maybe a coconut cake or gingerbread cake and probably prep as much of the Christmas meal as possible. Christmas is almost completely about food in this house :D ETA: Can you share the recipe for the squash/leek turnovers? I used to make leek turnovers years ago but never tried them with squash.

I don't bother much with dh's pockets but I do try to do so for my youngest ds. He's forever stuffing things into his pockets that I don't want tossed in with the laundry. If I miss something I make sure to remind my ds it's *his* responsibility to empty things from his pockets if he wants them safe :D

Congratulations, that's great news! :D

I've seen them at World Market stores and most British import stores stock them for Christmas.

:iagree: The very best way to enjoy Christmas pud is with cream. Amazingly rich and delicious.

More advocation of training, constantly being there to stop them and correct them immediately. If you have a safe area for kitty to stay overnight and when you're out of the house it makes things easier too. Kitty claws are very sharp because they're so fine. I use regular fingernail clippers when my kitties claws are fine like that. Clip them often, at least once a week to keep them manageable and get the kitten used to having things like this done. I look forward to seeing pictures! You can also post them in an album on the Vet group. :) HTH

I'd go for the lego and pay the shipping costs IF you think your ds's really would like lego. It's a decent play value gift that all the boys can enjoy at some time in the coming years. That knowledge seems to make it easier (in my mind) when thinking of extra expense such as shipping. Some of the sets are hard to find in stores so you'd not necessarily find the ones they want locally anyway. HTH

$400-$500 $100 for each of the dc, $100 for dh, and less than $100 on gifts for others (parents, grandparents, etc). I budget for all gifts throughout the year so it's all covered and no debt.

Mine usually has carrots included but you could easily leave them out. Brown the roast a lot, you want that dark caramelized meat flavour! Add 2 chopped onions, 4 cups good beef stock (more if you want more gravy), 1/2 tspn marjoram, 1/2 tspn thyme, 1 bay leaf, lots of pepper. I fresh grind some and also toss in some whole peppercorns but you can grind it all if you prefer. Simmer 1 &1/2 hours add another chopped onion, check the level of your liquid, add more stock if necessary (or water but that will reduce the flavour a bit). This is when I add carrots, but you'll skip that step. Cook 1 hour more. Remove bayleaf. If you want the gravy thicker, add a small amount of cornstarch slurry and cook a few minutes until the gravy is thickened. We prefer to let some of the liquid evaporate and the gravy is concentrated and very rich. Add salt if needed. Oh... and I do this in a heavy based pot on the cooktop or in a crockpot with lid removed towards the end to allow the gravy to thicken a bit.

My favourites are Realm and Paris. Neither of them are as expensive as Chanel #5, thankfully!

One year my children made snowman cookies from store-bought white covered oreos. All you need is a really small amount of melted chocolate and orange coloured white chocolate for decorating. Or you can also use icing instead, something that sets hard such as royal icing. Dab a dot for each eye and multiple dots in a curve for the mouth, in the middle put a carrot shape (just a dot that's pulled sideways to a point) for the nose. They were so easy to make and looked great.

Honey flavoured candy? Book about bees or recent decline of? Fruits from trees pollenated by bees? Books of homeopathic honey cures?

When my lot were young I bought art smocks that were based on the backward shirt idea but a plasticky material with knitted cuffs and collar. Paint bled through ordinary shirt fabric when my kids used them. I bought the plastic ones in the UK years ago but I've seen similar things here over the years in school supply stores, online stores and even places like walmart and toysrus from time to time. HTH

How about some adding some curry powder and throwing in some cooked veggies and/or meat. Serve over rice. yum!

One of my favourite reads this year was I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak. I really enjoy Zusak's work.

I highly recommend Libera they are an English boys choir from London.

Glad that part worked, hope the laptop's okay. You can blame it on me if you need to "But Brit said to..." :D

Try holding down the power button for 5 or more seconds, that might shut it down. I'm NOT knowledgeable about pc's at all, I don't know if this will damage anything... I only know it's how mine shuts down using the power button. HTH

It's mashed potato mixed with cooked cabbage, salt and pepper. You can also add other meat or veggie leftovers if you like. Throw it all into a hot frying pan and brown it up a bit. Not much different to a potato pancake really.

Potato bread, cottage pie, shepherds pie, bubble & squeak, potato pancakes. We rarely have mashed potatoes leftover.

Well we *were* gonna have a family gift of a wii system but due to obsessive video game behaviour of a certain few who shall not be named ;) Dh returned the wii a few days ago. We had to laugh at the reaction of the lady at the customer service desk. She just could not fathom someone returning a wii. :blink: Now I've gotta start shopping at a time I thought I was done. dd(18) Bomber/Puffer jacket ds(16) Unsure... probably a new cellphone. He accidently melted his by setting it down on a radiator at a friends home. Oops! ds(13) New bike. His bike was stolen a few months ago after he left it out at the front of the house overnight. They also each get some sweet treats in their stocking and a book I have chosen for them.

Dell.. because dd's boyfriend works there :D Of course we don't actually own a Dell. My dd's laptop is very cheap Acer, mine is an even cheaper Compaq, both were purchased pre-boyfriend. :lol: Seriously... we're both happy with our laptops but they're each only a few months old. Is there any other deciding factor, such as software included or where you'll purchase the laptop? (Some offer their own warranty over and above the manufacturer warranty.)