Oooh, that sounds good!

I rarely bag produce, especially big stuff like corn. I think it's a waste of plastic bags. ETA: I see I'm not the only one. As for germs, I'm going to wash it before eating it anyway, so... *shrug*

Spanish tortilla: potatoes, onions, eggs. Yum. Google for several examples but pretty basic. Gazpacho also works well with yellow onions.

I bought not just one, but TWO packs of chopped hazelnuts one holiday season. Those suckers are EXPENSIVE! And then I couldn't remember why. Looking back, I THINK I was going to make a fruitcake or something, but at the time, I kept looking at those nuts in the pantry... Sadly they went bad before I could use them. Wish I still had them to make that dark chocolate nutella-like spread that someone posted the other day.

You can also report pins like that. If you click on the thumbnail, on the right side there's a button for "Report Pin", and it gives you options. There's been a lot more spam recently, and there also seem to be some people who think Pinterest is a good way to collect provocative pictures. Not sure if they don't realize that Pinterest is totally public, or if they just don't care.

Sounds like X-Rated. Delish!

I had mine done a few years after college. I had "twilight sleep" anesthesia, not sure the technical term. I don't remember the recovery of the actual surgery being that bad, but my biggest problem is that apparently I don't respond well to anesthesia. And/or having to fast. I threw up on the way home [poor friend who drove me--of course I was still bleeding; to this day, I'm not sure how much of a stain I left. :( ]. My roommate was out of town that weekend, the only soup I had in the house was minestrone [bIG mistake] and I ended up calling my mom to come over to help get some food in me that wouldn't make me want to hurl. Oral surgeon blamed the pain meds, but since I threw up before I'd had any of them, I know it was either the anesthesia or else just the fasting. I had a similar problem when I underwent general for back surgery a couple years ago, only then I was in the hospital. I kept asking them to just give me some toast or crackers, but no... *sigh* Anyway, I don't remember much more about soreness or anything. Do you know much about your oral surgeon's rep?

I think the bigger worry is just the jam "melting" and making a mess. I had that happen even with an icepack.

Don't beat around the bush: flat out ask them, "How much of a refund are you going to provide for you mistakes?" or even "I understand. I'm sure you understand I expect a refund of $X to make up for your errors." If the first person can't/won't, ask to be passed up the line until someone can/will. :/ Sorry you're going through this. We're contemplating a bed purchase soon...

I've watched a grand total of maybe 45 minutes of the Olymics, mostly at the gym. We don't have cable, and my DH has been working overtime and hasn't been able to help me patch through to BBC. Wait, do you mind explaining that sentence a bit more? We still have our Dish from when we had Dish Network, still hanging out on the side of our house. Could we do something with that?? There were dramatics? Linkie? Or keywords to search for? I've seen a few minutes of kayaking or canoing slaloms at the gym and Midas, and a couple gymnastics routines on Youtube. That's it. I like the gymnastics, diving, synchronized swimming... you know, the artsy-fartsy sports! :lol: But I guess not enough to do the legwork to see them...

Are there any waffle makers that have plates that can be removed for cleaning? My old waffle maker was such a pain to clean we rarely used it. My SIL recently gave us one that makes animal shaped waffles, which is ok but they're really small, and the outer case gets REALLY hot. And it's still annoying to clean.

Ours is between 12-15% of take-home pay. That is groceries and other consumables [paper products, cleaning products, etc.]. Our income is generous, and there are only the 4 of us. I subscribe to the belief that I'd rather pay the grocer/farmer now than the doctor later, so I do spend on CSA subscription year-round, get good meats at our local organic market, and buy few packaged foods and mostly gluten-free when I do.

I had surgery to trim a bulging disk in 2006. It was almost immediately effective. The worst part was the post-surgery nausea. I had difficulty following the post-op instructions, which I found confusing. Don't sit too much, don't lie down too long, don't stand too long, no bending down or reaching up, no lifting [i had a 2.5yo at the time O.o]... Um, ok, what CAN I do? But like Sawuk I had no choice. I had to crawl to the bathroom, I was on pain medications every 2 hours and it still only barely took the edge off [i cycled between percocet and tylenol, I think it was, plus muscle relaxers]. I slept a lot because of the drugs, but never felt rested because of the pain. I couldn't sit, couldn't stand up straight, could only lie on my tummy and even that caused me pain. The drugs made me constipated, but sitting on the toilet was torture and my toddler always followed in there and I would cry trying to get him to leave so he didn't have to see me crying in pain trying to go potty. I was scared about the surgery, but I'd already put it off for 1.5 yrs because I was nursing [long story, I managed to make enough of a recovery with chiropractic care and physical therapy in that time to be off the meds, but then I had a relapse that was worse than the original episode]. Recovery was fairly easy, and within a month I was helping my hubby paint a room [i did the parts I could reach without bending or stretching]. Your surgery sounds a lot more complicated than mine, but if you've found a specialist, I'm sure it'll be fine. My surgeon is considered one of the best in this area. His bedside manner sucked, the wait in his waiting room for a consult was over 2 hours ie excruciating, and as I said, I found his post-op instructions impossible. But anyone "in the know" who's seen my incision says it looks fantastic, and other than some lingering weakness and sciatica that I can usually manage, I'm loads better. Good luck!

When I was seeing a therapist and she told me she thought I was likely ADD, I was very skeptical as well. Reading some of Dr. Amen's works, where he compares brain scans of "normal" brains and those of people with ADD, made me feel... better. Like it was a real thing and not just poor character or something. OTOH, one of the things my therapist worked with me on is the idea that ADD doesn't have to be a curse. There are ways to work with it and take advantage of the added creativity and "outside the box" thinking it brings us. :grouphug: Good luck

We just refi'ed at 3.125 for a 15year fixed. I don't remember what the fees were, but there were some. We went through Wells Fargo who was already our mortgage lender. I might have been able to shop around for a deal with no fees, but....

I voted 7-9, but 2 of those are the huge Ikea Expedit shelves that are 6'X6'. Then again, the others aren't all full of books, so maybe it balances out. ;) OTOH, my Expedits are full, and that's where the majority of our books are. Not sure what I'm going to do as I acquire more books... There's no more room. *sigh*

Great. Now I want Chinese food. :lol: ETA: Several people mentioned crab rangoon. I think that's a regional thing. First time I got them, I thought they were the weirdest thing ever! :lol: I still don't like them much, so personal tastes and all. I wish there were a good Chinese place around here that DELIVERS! The only one that does went through a management/ownership change a few years back, and it just isn't as good anymore. :/

I used some lentils that were almost choral color before cooking. I didn't think to smash them. The texture was ok to me, but there just wasn't much meat flavor. I did add an egg to help it all stick together better. They didn't really roll, so I just scooped them out with a Pampered Chef scooper thing [not the ice cream one; the one for cookie dough and such], and baked them on cookie sheets. Soaking beans is easy. It just takes time to remember. A good 24 hour soak in water with a little vinegar really helps reduce the gassiness issues beans can cause. Before cooking, drain the soaking water away and rinse really well. Thanks everyone for your ideas. I really like the ideas of mushrooms. If I chop them really small, they won't notice [they claim not to like them]. I've done shredded carrots and onions and such. For browned meat that works well. I'm curious about the burger idea above [the one that needs to be frozen first; gotta go reread!]. I just bought a wallet-full of pastured meat [chicken, ground beef & turkey, and sausages], and I'm really hoping to make it last a full month.

I have been experimenting with stretching ground meat 1) to save money [pastured/grass-finished meat is $$$] 2) to increase fiber and decrease meat intake and probably another reason I'm forgetting. I cooked 1C dry lentils and without thinking, dumped the whole thing in my pound of bulk sausage [luckily this was a traditionally-raised package of meat] and made meatballs. Hubby and I agreed: I tried to stretch it too far. So any tips on the proper ratio of meat to stretcher? I'm mostly planning to use lentils to keep the amount of carbs down and the protein up [i know lentils have carbs, but I think they're better for us than rice or bread crumbs]. But DH also said that growing up, a lot of the ladies in his community used course ground or even lightly chopped peanuts.

I used to love mine. I trimmed the stem all the way off. But since my second son was born, my flow has been too heavy to use it. I was having to empty it every hour or two, and still having leaks. Tampons/pads aren't any better, but somehow they're easier to change, esp. if I'm out in public. [On a side note, next week I get a Mirena, and I'm really hoping it takes care of this excessive flow so I can go back to using my Diva.]

MrsBasil, I don't know if it's weird or not, but for months after my cat of 10+ years died, I would "see" her out of the corner of my eye. It was comforting in a way to think that her "spirit" was still here. Whether that spirit was a ghost or just my own memories of her causing visual reflexes or something, I dunno. When we got 2 other cats this past winter [4 or 5 years after the other died], I started seeing her again for a bit. I chose to interpret it as my kitty-baby coming back to check these new cats out for me. Maybe I'm weird. I dunno. We all find comfort in different ways.

No I meant [well, I mean, that is likely the case too] that the recommended total daily does of acetometiphan[sp?] changed in the last couple years, which impacted the amount given every 4-6 hours. That may not have impacted children's dosing though, I dunno. Carrie, as far as I know from my sister [a pharmacist and mother] it is weight, but for a younger baby, they might go with the lower dose as a precaution. Melissa, did you find out what you needed?

Didn't Tylenol dosing recs change recently? I'd look to make sure you get the most up-to-date dosing info. If your doc isn't available, pharmacists often know more than the docs about dosing.

Have you looked at Astrid? Another poster rec'd it to me. I'm still figuring out all it will do and not do, but it has promise.

My DS is 8. We are about to start our 3rd year homeschooling. 1st year he did Rosetta Stone Spanish. He did it, but didn't love it. 2nd year he studied Latin in a co-op setting. Teacher was awesome, but even she didn't like the book they used. Now DS says he wants to drop Latin [i was thinking about getting Lively Latin or another friend loaned me "Getting Started with Latin"]. I told him--truthfully--that I don't really care if he drops Latin [we'll still study it some indirectly though MCT LA], but that I do want him to study A foreign language. My thinking is that he has plenty of time to pick a language and browsing them at this age is a good way to decide which he'd like to pick long-term. I figure by about the middle school years, he should decide on a language he'd like to study in-depth. If he does choose to drop Latin, I was thinking about trying him on Chinese. We're planning a trip to Taiwan next spring, so it seems like a good time. I have Rosetta Stone Chinese [that I bought for myself, but haven't been rigorous about using], but it's not the most exciting way to learn a language, is it? I think part of the problem to date has just been the dull instruction [as I said, his Latin teacher is EXCELLENT, just my son didn't like the book]. I read my younger DS a Kai Lan book last night. It seems like it's geared to younger kids. Is there anything like Kai Lan that would help my 8yo learn a little Chinese? Something both my 3yo and the 8yo could enjoy together?