You can also set out a bowl of vinegar (balsamic or apple-cider work well) with a few drops of dish soap in it. The dish soap breaks the surface tension, so the fruit flies will drown when they come to eat.

I take it out daily. During what I think of as fruit-fly season (generally August - September here), I will keep it in the refrigerator or outside the back door if I've put fruit scraps in. At that time of the year, I find it helpful to wash fruit as soon as I get it and to store it all in the fridge. But as soon as there is fruit, onion, or wine around, they'll be back around it. It's November now, so I'm surprised you're still having trouble. It's going to be cold the next few days--maybe try leaving it outside when you're not actively using it, wash all the fruit that's in the kitchen now, run soap down the garbage disposal to get any out of there and give the population a chance to die off? Edited to clarify: If we're in the midst of fruit-fly season, I will put fresh compost in a bowl as I generate it while cooking, and then I'll dump that bowl in my normal bin that I've left either outside the back door or in the fridge. The rest of the year the bin lives under the sink. I did get a bucket that has a tighter-fitting lid than the city-provided ones I've seen.

I shake out the toaster over the sink before putting it away. I am curious about the toaster thing because I keep seeing people mentioning how they wouldn't want to get the toaster out each day. I get my favorite frying pan out every single day, but I still wash it, dry it, and put it away after each use. How is putting a toaster away more work than putting away a regularly used pan? That question is for all of you folks who need your toasters out all the time!

I do think hers looks a bit sterile, but I also noticed she doesn't have a huge amount of counter space. All she shows is the counter on each side of her sink and the little bit next to the stove. With limited space, it does make sense to have less sitting out--if you have space for it elsewhere. Some of her places to store things seem very impractical. How often is someone going to pull out a heavy KitchenAid mixer that's stored over the fridge? That seems crazy (and dangerous). I'm a fan of bare-ish counters, but I don't want to have to open a drawer to grab another spoon while cooking, and I sure don't want to have to pull out a step stool to get the mixer out.

Yes, and I pretty much do. I do sometimes put some flowers or a candle on the island, and I currently have a fruit bowl at one end of the kitchen. I can't stand counters that have stuff all over them. It just looks cluttered and dirty to me. When I walk into my kitchen, I want to notice how pretty it is, not all the stuff that doesn't have a home!

It's easy to go back and forth between the parks on the same day. The entrances are directly across a plaza from each other. It's not like at Disney World where it's a big production to go from one to another.

If you could afford it and they would want it, that would be a nice way to go.

Wow. That seems really harsh. There are all sorts of reasons people may drive their kids to another neighborhood to trick or treat. Your answer kind of reminds me of the entitled woman's complaint to Dear Prudence about kids from poorer neighborhoods coming to her wealthier one. I see kids trick or treating who aren't from my neighborhood, and I'm happy to give them candy. Why would I begrudge kids a treat on the one day of the year they'll come to my house asking for one?

I've measured when I really want bins that fit a space well. More often I just use a combination of bins and things not in bins. For example, I have saucepan lids in a small basket, but the saucepans are just sitting next to the basket. I have pillow protectors in a small bin, but pillowcases are just folded to fit the space and stack next to the bin in the drawer. I have a small basket of washcloths for cleaning sitting next to some cleaning supplies. That way I get the organizational benefits but without having to try to fit every weird space in my home exactly.

I'd drink it if it didn't smell or taste fermented. I'd guess that fermentation would be the most likely thing to happen with all those fruits in there.

DH takes a cloth napkin in his lunch bag with the glass container. He uses the napkin to pull the container out of the microwave. The cloth napkin goes back in the bag with the container after lunch. If he didn't have the cloth napkin, I'd think he could just use a couple of paper towels or napkins.

Ok, thanks, Redsquirrel! I'll give it a try.

Can you walk me through how to use the hydroquinone? Pretend I'm a total idiot because when it comes to this, I am. Do you just apply it to the dark spots or can you apply it all over? I have some very tiny age spots that I'd be unable to just get it on them, plus I have some other spots where the boundaries are ill defined. I'm very pale normally, fwiw.

Amazon Fresh is different than the subscription items, but I'm not sure which you're referring to. I've never used Amazon Fresh myself, but I know many, many people who do and love it. I've been very tempted to try it out because of the ease of just having crates of groceries show up on your doorstep. The folks I know who use it have commented that the produce and meats are good quality, and I know they have some sort of insulating system to keep cold items cold. I've heard that they have many local, specialty items available. If you try it, come back and let us know!

Usually granite installers do not install anything other than the granite and the sinks and whatever is necessary to support those things. I wouldn't expect them to install faucets, soap dispensers, etc. Those would typically be done by the contractor or someone working for him, not the stone installer. If it's not part of a kitchen remodel where you have a contractor working there, I'd hire a handyman.

It really is about calories in vs. calories out, so if you're not losing weight, you're not at a deficit. In your case, it would seem you're not eating at as much of a deficit as you thought you were. That could be due to improper tracking of food or exercise (or both). Your loss of 4 pounds over 11 weeks works out to about 1/3 of a pound a week and an average daily deficit of about 180 calories. If you would like to lose a pound a week, you'll need to consume about 320 fewer calories on average per day. One question would be whether you're really consuming as few calories as you think you are. How are you measuring? Weighing is much more accurate than measuring cups. Do you make most of your own food, or do you eat out regularly? Also, how are you tracking your exercise? MFP asks you to choose a level of daily activity--sedentary, lightly active, etc. If you took your level of exercise into account when you chose your daily activity level, then you should not be tracking exercise calories and adding them back to your food intake (I don't know if you're doing this or not). Also, be aware that the calorie burns for exercises listed on MFP are ridiculously high, so most folks there recommend eating back at most half of your exercise calories--and that's only if you listed your daily activity as sedentary. Myfitnesspal has message boards where you can get advice from people who can actually look at your food diary to see what's going on. Here's a good thread at MFP to read if you haven't.

I've linked this page twice before, but I'll do it again. CDC Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Hospitalized Patients with Known or Suspected Ebola Virus Disease in U.S. Hospitals I would not feel comfortable walking into an Ebola patient's room wearing essentially the same protective equipment that my dental hygienist wears to clean my teeth (gown, face mask, eye protection, and single pair of gloves). Since two nurses have now been diagnosed with Ebola after wearing that, I'm surprised that the PPE recommendations haven't changed yet, despite some assurances that the CDC was reconsidering how to protect health workers. Those folks are putting their lives on the line to help people. They deserve much more protective gear. Really? You expect a local hospital and a local government to have as much (or more) expertise in caring for Ebola patients as the CDC? Of course local hospitals need to be able to rely on CDC recommendations!

Not "required." I don't think any of the CDC recommendations are required, and I'm not sure if they can even "require" something in that context since hospitals set policies. If you look at the CDC links in that article or in the link I posted ( I think I'm the one you're referring to), you'll see that the most they have are recommendations, not requirements. The CDC uses the word "required" once in that context, but it is under a section titled "Recommendations." I think there may be a lot of gray area in that second recommendation below, copied from the CDC site: All persons entering the patient room should wear at least:Gloves Gown (fluid resistant or impermeable) Eye protection (goggles or face shield) Facemask Additional PPE might be required in certain situations (e.g., copious amounts of blood, other body fluids, vomit, or feces present in the environment), including but not limited to:Double gloving Disposable shoe covers Leg coverings I do wish that the CDC recommended at least a buddy system to check for proper PPE usage and removal. They list it under things to consider, but we're talking about people's lives when using a system that has high potential for very costly errors.

I held onto too-small clothes for a few years. I finally pitched it all this past winter. About two months later, I found the gumption to lose weight. I'm now down almost 30 pounds, and I don't regret throwing out all of that clothing, even though it would fit now. In fact, I think taking charge of my life by throwing that too-small stuff out helped me get psychologically ready to take charge of my health and lose weight!

I've been wondering that too. If there end up being lots of cases, I realize it might not be feasible, but with so few at the moment, it would. There are two facilities that currently have Ebola patients but that have not had any workers get sick--Emory and Nebraska. I wonder if that's because those places have higher-level containment procedures to protect hospital staff.

Yes. This. The BBC article where the CDC director points the finger at the health worker who's ill shows someone dressed in a "protective Ebola suit." The thing is, that's not at all what the CDC recommends. The CDC's recommendations seem much less protective than that suit. Here are the CDC's personal protective equipment recommendations: All persons entering the patient room should wear at least:Gloves Gown (fluid resistant or impermeable) Eye protection (goggles or face shield) Facemask Additional PPE might be required in certain situations (e.g., copious amounts of blood, other body fluids, vomit, or feces present in the environment), including but not limited to:Double gloving Disposable shoe covers Leg coverings Why are the CDC's recommendations so minimal, and why is the director so quick to point fingers at someone on the front lines who got ill?

Here's another blog to try: You Look Fab It also has forums where you can post pictures and get advice. I find it very helpful for figuring out which key pieces will help me look more updated for fall. I used to know this stuff automatically, but I don't read fashion mags like my 20-year-old self did, and this blog helps fill in the gaps!

But those of use with lots of orders don't necessarily buy more things. I had 60-some orders, but I wouldn't have made 60 shopping trips to a store for it. Many of my orders were one or two items that would have been purchased during a regular shopping trip at a higher price if I hadn't bought them from Amazon. Because I have Prime, I don't save things up for big orders, I buy items as I think of them. For example, the other day, I noticed we're running low on dishwasher detergent, so I ordered that, and it will count as an order all by itself.

65 in the last 6 months :svengo: It doesn't work out to be any more expensive for me than going to brick-and-mortar stores (and cheaper than the gas, for sure!), and I can't beat the convenience. That number won't be dropping any time soon. :thumbup:

I bought an InstantPot when it was a bit cheaper (preordered new model and had to wait a few months for it to arrive), and I absolutely love that thing. I have barely scratched the surface of what it can do, but to me it's been worth every penny to be able to set things up to pressure cook and then leave them, knowing the pot will do the rest. It's like a crockpot on steroids. If you pull the trigger, you'll probably love it, at least if you already do pressure cooking. Oh, and was yesterday a day ending in y? If so, I'm sure I ordered something. Half of my household supplies come from there. I'm on a first-name basis with my UPS man, and he recognizes me when I'm out and around town.