In my pantry storage (stuff that will last a year or more) I have spaghetti sauce pasta noodle/rice mixes (think rice a roni or Knorr's) mac and cheese salad dressing canned oranges (or any other canned fruit you like) olives/pickles jam hot chocolate mix mayo, bbq sauce, ketchup mustard etc boullion, salt, peppercorns canned coconut milk any other sauces or condiments you may use (such as stir fry sauces or Worcestershire sauce) ramen/rice noodle packages freezer pops (the ones that are shelf stable in long clear tubes which have saved me innumerable times when a kid got sick and I have no popsicles ) Jello For 6 months+ items crackers chips juice rice, flour, sugar (these will last longer but I don't like to push it because I worry about bugs) peanut butter nuts chocolate chips gingerale (again sick kid item that I never want to be out of) granola bars My freezer stash (storage duration will depend on if you have a self defrosting freezer or not. The self defroster feature makes things deteriorate much faster. Without it most of my stuff will last for a year or more). blueberries grapes (frozen grapes are some of my kids favorite snacks) bananas strawberries french fries assortment of meats butter (I wrap it in plastic and then in a zip lock to help prevent absorbing odors) quick food/snacks for those times I just don't have it in me to cook. cooked beans (I buy dry beans and cook up 4-5 pounds at a time and then freeze, much cheaper than buying the canned ones) broth (every roast or hunk of meat gets boiled after pulling the meat and the broth gets frozen till I make soup, beans, or just needed for another recipe)

I'm just so excited how my indoor cucumbers are doing. These "babies" are now 3 inches long. Won't be much longer and I will be able to start harvesting. There is easily 40-50 of them on the plants already. Continuing to pick lettuce about twice a week. Some of the downstairs greens are close to being ready. I think I'll be able to add some arugula in this week. I got potatoes planted last week but they still haven't shown any greens. I expect 10-14 days so hopefully I'll see something by the end of next week. The culantro, cilantro, basil and spinach are all starting to sprout. The tomatoes are really slow growing (they are only an each tall despite being planted 3-4 weeks ago) so it will be a long way off on them but I'm still hoping they will produce before it's time to move outdoors.

Yes! I've been dealing with some extra hard things this year and some days it's such a struggle. I did do a winter garden this year and it helps so much, I really hate to think how bad things would have been without it. Between the extra light and simply seeing my little planties grow, it really does help boost my spirits and of course having yummy fresh veggies helps too. Even if you aren't into growing things, is there any botanical gardens you could visit. Just getting int he warmth and seeing greenstuff might help.

When my sixth kid was born, our largest vehicle only seated 7. We couldn't afford a larger vehicle. None of my kids were old enough to drive at that point. But there wasn't that many places where everyone went together. Mostly we took two vehicles but when they was cost prohibitive, I jerry rigged an extra seat (not recommending this approach just stating what we did). It took about 3 years before we could buy a bigger vehicle. It honestly wasn't that big of a deal. Now with older kids and "only" have 3-4 kids with us, we almost never use the bigger vehicle since it cost so much more to run. In your case with older kids who already have other transportation, I would absolutely go for the smaller vehicle.

Aldi was $4.42 a dozen today. Costco was $3.19 a dozen. They had them in 5 dozen boxes or 7.5 dozen boxes, limit of two. They also had some in 2 dozen container but they may have been organic, I didn't look that closely since the price per dozen was quite a bit higher (but I don't remember exactly just that it was more than I was willing to pay)

I do not and the cuffs is the one thing I mentioned to DD that was a concern to me. But they looked okay on the plus side model so I'm hoping it won't be an issue.

I really like the Cassie dress. If it came in a different color, I think I would be done with this project but Olive just isn't my shade (I'm definitely inot darker and/or cooler shades). But this site does have some very nice choices. Thank you!

That is very pretty and one of my daughters is wearing a sweater dress but unfortunately after 6 kids, I do not have the body shape that can pull off anything like this is as it shows all the bumps and bulges.

Definitely like the heel better on this one but would have to pick a different color. They don't have 11s in this color.

I like the look but I'll admit that seems like a really high heel. I've worn a high heel for exactly three hours in my entire life and vowed never to wear heels again. So I'm willing to consider some heel, I'm unsure about my ability to walk in that match heel since I have no practice with it. Also wear an 11 (I usually need wide for any kind of dress shoe) which just adds to the "fun" of shoe shopping for me. And thank you so much for all your suggestions. You have no idea how much I appreciate the help of gotten on this thread!

Good to know, I will look into the bamboo tights and see. I wear both dresses and skirt/shirts but I'm very casual so 99% of what I own is not appropriate for the occasion. I'm totally fine with skirt/shirt options too but since I'm still starting from scratch on that option, I haven't seen anything yet that caught my attention. Possibly? I will have to look. I generally just try to avoid occasions where it matters what I wear so haven't spent much time actually trying to find suitable items.

No not that conservative, I'm Pentecostal. Colors are fine, prints are fine, sparkly is fine. Most people wear hemlines at the knee but since I'm always cold, I prefer them to be longer (mid calf is about as short as I want to go).

Good to know the Dr. Scholls are not comfy. I'll cross them off. I can't think of any activity in life that I find more unpleasant than clothes shopping. I can't really explain how much I deeply detest it. So if I can in way, shape, or form avoid a store I'd prefer that option. But I do recognize I may not get that option and if I have to break down and enter a store, I guess I'll have to work myself up for it.

I actually don't wear any jewelry of any kind so the dress is going to have to hold it's own. The wedding is in Las Vegas, but since our religious group is very conservative, assume everyone in attendance will be as far from the stereotype of Las Vegas as possible. Son said colors were baby blue or maybe light blue he wasn't really sure. We've asked to get a picture of the bridesmaid dresses because we figured, son isn't going to be very helpful on this.

I have not but I don't think they will be absorbent enough. I have a silk undershirt that I wear under sweaters but based on how that sometimes feels from a dampness perspective when I take it off, I think my feet will still break out. While they are far less sensitive than when I was younger, I will do anything, dress any way, look as ridiculous as necessary, anything to avoid triggering a breakout. Once a breakout gets started, it takes months to settled down because I simply cannot not itch the dumb stuff.

I'm glad someone is enjoying this even if it not's me. While many complain on this board about daily cooking chores, I will happily cook all day long, just please don't make me clothes shop! I'll still have to do the try it on and find an appropriate cami for underneath which for me is still daunting enough.

Duly noted! I will scratch the JJs house ones. While I liked them they were a bit more formal than I was hoping for but I don't have a good image in my head of what would be appropriate. Never had to dress for this role and my son isn't exactly helpful in giving me fashion guidance.

Probably not. I have a "permanent" imprint on my lower legs from the socks. It takes hours and hours of no socks before it even looks remotely normal. So the boots allow me to cover the socks but also hide my weird looking ankles/lower legs.

But at least zucchini dies off each year, its the plants that spread each year that are the most dangerous! I planned to plant strawberry spinach until I read how agressively it spreads.

My skin issue is Dyshidrotic Eczema and only affects hands and feet so my other clothes can be synthetic. The feet one is tricky because it has to keep them warm without allow moisture to sit on the skin because basically my feet are allergic to my own sweat.

I am not a seamstress but I have someone who takes jeans, cuts them open and fills the gap so all my jeans are ankle length. For winter I have a set of six fleece lined jeans where the fill in is a double layer of fleece (as I said I get cold easily). For the rest of the year, the fabric is double layer, mostly flannel but a couple of some cotton type. I have ONE with a single layer of fabric that I only use on the hottest of days (like 90+). Are they fashionable? Absolutely not, but since I care nothing about fashion, they work for me.

That is beautiful! I also found another style in slate blue that I really like too. Thank you!

I've never heard of these before but they look really nice. If your feet sweat, are they good about absorbing the moisture? Because anything that keeps my feet even slightly damp causes the rashes.

Absolutely! I'm not actually wearing a t-shirt right now. It's far too cold, my cold weather shirt of preference is waffle knit shirts and I've found fleece lined waffle knit shirts at Costco. It's like a dream come true!

Funny thing, I OWN this exact dress in this same color. I had kind of forgotten about it so hadn't considered it but will keep it in mind if I don't find something better.