I've quit buying them since I'm trying to improve our diet. So now I make ours. Granted they aren't as tasty as the puchased ones but I can pronounce every ingredient. Wheat (or rye or any other flour you like), oil, salt, water, and seasoning. I have made garlic wheat and caraway rye. They don't last long either but they are much cheaper than the ones in the store. Here's the one I've used. http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--1973/homemade-crackers.asp

I would say no, only because my laundry soap recipe uses both so they must do different things.

I know this will be very difficult since you also have a baby but I wait until they are good and tired (but not melting) and then I lay down with them. Usually within 15 minutes they are out. Of course the tricky part is a) not falling asleep yourself and b)timing this so the baby is asleep so you can escape long enough to lay down with the older. My oldest is 11(but I also did this when he was 9 with the last baby) so I can leave the baby with him when I need to lay down with the toddler but yours may or may not be responsible to "watch" the baby while you aren't there to visually watch.

My husband has high cholesterol and we are trying to improve it through diet changes rather than medicine if possible. I've seen quite a bit of information about using fish oil suppliments but I did a search on vitacost, I got 401 choices. Can someone help me narrow this down? He would do better with a pill than a liquid. If he gets "fish burps" that I have read some talk about, he won't take it. I saw many recommending Nordic Naturals but they seemed very expensive (although I'm not sure how long a bottle lasts). So can someone help me out and figure out what kind of fish oil (I have seen cod liver oil, Omega-3, super omega-3, salmon, arctic krill, etc). I have no idea what I should be getting or what a normal daily dosage should be (they vary from 500mg to 2000mg). How do I select a good quality, affordable (preferably less than $10 month) fish oil? I just don't know what to look for. Thanks for any advice you can offer.

I would order chocolate and hubby would order apple cheesecake.

I made this last year when it was posted here. It's only an okay cake. It came out really gummy. If I was totally desperate for chocolate it would work but since I always have chocolate chips on hand and they taste far better, it's highly unlikely I will ever be that desperate that I need to make it again.

Well I have always held onto things because I didn't want to have to rebuy things if I needed it down the road. This became a problem because I has saved so much stuff that I couldn't find anything so I was rebuying it because it was easier than trying to find what I had. Once I realized that I started pitching things. I have found once I started it has been much easier to let go of stuff. And the more I get rid of the more I WANT to get rid of things because it is just so much easier to manage my house without it. I started decluttering about a year and half ago and diligently worked for an hour a day for several months (then got pregnant and had a baby and everything came to a screeching halt). Honestly off the top of my head I can't tell you ONE thing I have missed. I can't even remember what I got rid of. I have the items itemized for my donations for tax records but otherwise, I doubt i could even tell you what that stuff might have been and I made many trips trips to goodwill. Now that baby is a bit older, I'm make in decluttering mode. I only get about 15-30 minutes a day on good days but I'm getting there. My goal is one bag for the garbage or one box/bag for goodwill a day. It's amazing that I can get rid of that much stuff and my house still feels like it's overflowing. So start small, get rid of things you really hate or know you will never use. Once you start it gets easier to keep pitching.

I still have the apple peeler from pampered chef that no matter how I adjust it, it still takes off at least 1/4 inch of apple instead of just the peeling. The apple thing that is suppose to core the apple and cut in 8 pieces. The iron to make rosettes. The Pampered chef deep dish pizza stone and the bar pan stone. The butter dish(2 of them), gravy boat, tea pot, and flour/sugar canisters (that don't have airtight seals), the chip and dip bowl that I have simply because they match my dishes. The old fashioned meat grinder that I tell myself I will use to grind giblets when I make stuffing (except that I have never made stuffing from scratch in the 12 years we've been married). That's what I can think of off the top of my head that's still hanging around. I had more but I have taken MANY boxes of stuff to goodwill (the workers actually recognize me I've been there so much) over the last year as I'm attempting to thin my household. It seems stuff enters my house faster than I can empty it out.

I haven't been to all of these but some that my group has sponsored Weather station post office fish hatchery large farm cheese making plant sewage plant (I've heard this was MUCH more interesting that it sounds but I couldn't make it to know for sure) bee keepers Our state university has tours of lots of different departments - we went and say the extensive bug collection at the entemology department I'm sure there are others but that's all I can think of right now.

Our state refund money is counted as income on the federal taxes every year. The reason is that each year we can deduct the amount of taxes withheld from our earnings for state taxes. So if we had $4000 withheld by the state we can lower our income by that amount (via itemized deductions). But if we get $1000 back from the state than the federal government didn't get to collect taxes on it. So the next they count the $1000 as income so they can get their share of it. Anyways that is standard in my state if you itemize. I don't know what CA laws are but it wouldn't surprise me if they did something similiar.

Does making bread in a machine alter the characteristics of the bread significantly? I am using the exact same recipe, with the same wheat, milled in the same mill, baked in the same pans in the same oven. The only thing that has changed is that I'm trying to use my new Bosch to mix it instead of kneading it by hand and now my bread is terrible. http://tadmitchell.com/cookbook/wheatbread.html I have been making this recipe (I make 1 and 1/2 recipes since my pans are quite large) by hand for many months. It has turned out every time and we love the flavor of it. I just got my Bosch last week and I've tried twice and both times it hasn't worked well. The first time I didn't knead it as long as the recipe stated because I was worried about overkneading it. The second time I ran the machine exactly the recommended times. Both times the dough was extremely sticky and I couldn't form it into a loaf. Just plopped the gooey mess in the pan. Both times it rose well and completely overflowed my pans. Then I tried baking it. When made by hand, the dough took 32 minutes. When made in the machine, it took about 45 minutes to get the bottom done (by which time the top was burnt and I even covered it with foil the second time). The crust was also much tougher (even the bottom which wasn't burnt). THe second time the bread dropped in the oven which I'm guessing was a result of the gluten being overdeveloped. So why does the mixer change so many characteristics about my once good bread? I'm sure if I experiment long enough, I will get something to work but my kids are not happy with my burnt tough crusts. I waited to buy a mixer until I was sure I could keep up with making our bread but so far the mixer is NOT making me happier.

Well I know it seems like everyone on here loves Costco. One just opened here last fall and I've been there twice to "check it out". Both times I left very UNimpressed. Granted I have a Sam's membership and it really isn't any different than that but I don't use my Sam's card much either. If you like to buy lots of processed foods than you can save money over the smaller packages of processed food that grocery stores sell but if you cook mostly from scratch then you probably won't find much there. I do okay on the household supplies (ziplock bags, laundry/dishwasher soap, vitamins etc) but if I watch for sales and use coupons it comes out about the same. I've been buying alot of my food from country life (http://www.clnf.org). I am part of a co-op and we have to spend $400 to get the free shipping. I think United food is another food co-op but they won't let you see their prices until you are already a member so I can't even tell if I WANT to be a member (it just seems wierd to me the way they have it set up). I think you could call either of these companies and see if there are any groups in your area that you could ask about joining. I've also heard people mention Azure standard but I haven't dealt with them either. I've just started buying a 1/4 of a beef last fall and this year I will buy a half. I will probably look into pork too. Once I start getting my meat in bulk, I will seldom need to go to the store for anything other then milk or eggs and fresh veggies in winter. I find my biggest grocery savings comes by staying out of the grocery store.

If it's hot outside, then straight from the container, if it's cold out then I put in a bowl with some spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese and heat it up until melted. Stir and you have delicious lasagna soup (without noodles of course).

Well first of all, you have a whole lot of littles. That is going to take a tremendous about of time and energy every day. And that's okay, because they are only little once and you need to enjoy this time as much as possible. As far as school, I read in one of Mary Pride's books that she considers what most publishers put in science and social studies as just twaddle (her word). That has always stuck with me and really relieved me of much guilt about getting it all done. I now won't even consider doing either of those subjects until 3rd or 4th grade (basically when they can read fairly well independently). Basically until then, we do math, bible, and whatever grammar/phonics/writing activities I feel are appropriate. The other stuff is much easier when they are older because they are capable of reading more on their own and don't need mom to "teach" them everything.

Both the basmati and jasmine rice I have call for 2 parts water to 1 part rice. I've had crunchy rice when I didn't cook it long enough. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour for me. It is chewier than white rice though.

Noise and mildew smell are the top two complaints with Front loaders. Noise was a huge issue for me because our washing machine is in our bathroom and all three bedrooms are within a few feet of it. So it needed to be reasonable quiet because I frequently toss a load in right before bed. After researching, what I learned was that front loaders were designed to be installed on cement floors. When you put them on a wood floor (which is basically anything not in your basement), the floor has more give and the machine will bounce and vibrate. I only know 3 people with front loaders and everyone of them complains about noise and "walking". After much researching, I found out the Samsung with vibration reduction technology(VRT) was "suppose" to be quieter and was the only manufacturer who said it was designed for second floor installation. Of course I couldn't find anyone with personal experience but I gambled anyway. I LOVE my Samsung. It vibrates for about 10-15 seconds when the spinning first starts and then the VRT takes over and is quiet. And it NEVER walks the floor. So while I'm not experiencing the noise, from my research and the few people I know who have them, what you are describing sounds very normal for the machine.

I'm always telling my kids I'm canceling their birthdays so they can't grow up on me so fast. No one ever likes my idea :001_smile:. It sure does go fast.

Since I'm not a morning person, I use the yogurt maker with the individual jars. Then I don't have to deal with portion control for the kids when I'm barely awake. I use 5 cups of milk, take out 1/7 of it for my starter jar and then use 1 tsp vanilla and 1/3 cup sugar for the remainder. But your individual tastes my vary.

We'll finish the end of April. My parents own a greenhouse and we work for them in May and the first two weeks of June. Then we have school for two weeks. A week off for church camp, a week of school, two weeks off for the kids church camp and Bible Quizzing finals and then back to school full time in August. We just start and stop books whenever. New books come out as soon as the old one in that subject is finished. We don't really have a beginning or ending to our school year or even when we "switch" grades. I can't even decide what "grade" to call my oldest since he works on a spread of 6 grade levels between his strongest subject and weakest subject. School and life are so intertwined we just consider it all a forward progression.

I bought a food strainer off ebay that was suppose to be brand new. It leaked around the handle. When I dismantled it, I discovered this tiny rubber band piece was totally worn (the last of several clues that this item was not new). I went to the manufacturer's website and the replacement piece was 50 cents. Fine, that's cheap enough, but then the shipping fee was over $8.00 to send it UPS. I called the company hoping I could convince them to just put into an envelope (it was a rubber band no more then a half inch in diameter). They were so nice and sent it for free. They mailed it in a padded envelope and even then it was less than $2.00. I probably would have just lived with the leak before I spent 16 times the price of the item on shipping but I am glad I took the time to call.

This is so funny because my first thought when reading the OP question was lots of soups and salads and then my next thought was meat and veggies and I could give up making all those boring side starches. I was just raiding the fridge for a late night snack and all my crew left from supper was mashed potatoes not a vegetable or piece of protein in sight.

I started making my own bread last summer and have been enjoying the process. My hubby who has complained about wheat bread that I bought from the store even seems to enjoy my whole wheat stuff. And I love my whole wheat tortillas so I have motivation to continue making things at home. The grain mill I have is ancient. I have no idea what kind. It's a large wooden box and easily weighs 40 pounds. I don't keep it on my counter because it is huge but I also despise moving it around because it is so heavy. I don't mill grain as often as I would since it's a pain to move (and leaves quite a bit of flour around). Also I can only do about 4-6 cups of flour before i have to stop. It gets hot and the flour seems a bit gummy. I'm guessing it's overheating the flour and potentially destroying nutrients but I really don't know. I have no information about the mill or how to use it. It was given to me, so I'm making use of it because it was FREE. I also don't make bread as often as I might because with two very small children, I don't always have the time to get my hands in dough for 15 minutes. But it's not like we NEED the bread, we can always eat something else. So I've been contimplating for months on whether or not to by a bosch mixer and nutrimill grain grinder. It would probably make my life easier but I haven't used either. I do have a grain grinder and I still wouldn't make more than two loaves of bread at a time (which I can easily knead by hand). Hubby is fine if I buy them. Part of me wants to because at the very minimum I wouldn't have the flour mess everytime I grind something and it should be easier to do small amounts of specialty grains (without the hassle of the heavy mill I have) but at the same time they cost ALOT of money for something I can accomplish with the tools I already have. I'm practical by nature so this seems like such a whim to me but at the same time, saving my time isn't a whim either. Thoughts from those who do or don't have them. We are also looking at replacing our stove and dishwasher this year so this would be a third big expense in a single year. I'd love your thoughts on this.

I know several families around here who believe that their girls should not work outside the home and thus prepare their daughters to do exactly as your daughter is doing. The ones I know believe their daughters needs to remain under the leadership of their fathers until they get married and come under the leadership of their husbands. The exception is that older daughters may go work for other families (i.e. the handmaidens in the Old Testament). So even though this may not be what you have planned for your daughter, this seems to be the role she is most happy in. And there's no reason you can't work with that. Although around here biology and Algebra I would be considered basic requirements for graduation from the schools, there also is so specific set of requirements for homeschoolers. If your state doesn't require a specific set of skills, I don't know that I would push it. I would be much more concerned about life skills. Can she do the math for running a household (bills, taxes, etc)? I think those are much more necessary than doing Algebra (although I personally think Algebra is lots of fun, I understand everyone doesn't share my viewpoint). It sounds like you have trained her well and she has a heart of service. I would let her serve.

We used Page Plus last year. They run on Verizon phones and Verizon networks. When you bought the minutes in bulk they were as little as 6 cents a minute. It worked good for us. The only reason we don't use it right now is that my husband switched jobs and they gave him a cell phone to use.

We have no TV here. Our kids are little and are all in bed between 8:00 - 8:30. Supper is all cleaned up by 6:00. Two nights a week we are in church, most nights on the weekend we play family games. One night a week they have swimming and the other two nights are spent with my husband working with the older kids on Bible verses (they are in Bible Quizzing and our oldest will learn close to 300 versus by the time this season is over- he's just over 200 now. The next two are at about 50 verses each(which has been quite challenging since one of those can't read yet)). So it easily takes a couple of hours to run 3 kids through all their material. But the kids love this time with their dad and are all very exited during Bible Quizzing season(October-July). I am SOOOO glad we don't have a TV, I don't know how we would have the time to watch it. And of course if we had one, people would watch it, which means other things wouldn't be getting done.