We buy the big bags of mixed fruit from Sam's Club (I think it's peaches, strawberry, mango and pineapple, we often add frozen blueberries for their antioxidants).....add a small amount of 100% juice (or water when we're out of juice) and blend into a smoothie. I'd say that was probably the most often used recipe we have! We've made soup quite a few times as well....works for small batches obviously, but when you're not feeling well and want soup it's a godsend as I refuse to buy canned soup because of the sodium content among other reasons. For that you just throw in whatever veggies you have on hand a little broth or water and whir-away until it's hot then drink.

Mine always have an alcohol smell, and taste (DD wanted to know what just vanilla tasted like.....she didn't like it, but loves the flavor in things!). Of course, I've never had a liter last for two years!

I know it's hard to wait for him to realize that you're a great catch especially when you knew so quickly that he was....but be careful that you don't come on too strongly, to quickly and scare him away. I'd get him a birthday card but avoid anything too obviously a declaration of your feelings.....and maybe make him a cake. But go slow and enjoy the process.

Nope, not the only one....we were gifted a set a couple years ago, kids played with it quite a bit that first day (honeymoon period, lol) and after that it basically just sat around occasionally being used mostly when they were bored with whatever else was out......so I packed it up, stuck it in the closet and I think it's still in there somewhere, lol. I should probably pull it and out and sell it to all you fans!

I think your son showed a great deal of respect and restraint.....my ds doesn't have the physical pain that your son does, but doesn't like to be touched a lot......sadly I think my son would have hauled off and whacked uncle after the first "leave me alone" didn't work. Does Uncle not know of ds's condition? If so, I'd probably be quite angry that he'd deliberately continue when asked to stop.....if not, then it's time to enlighten him so that he understands why it's even more important that he stop when this particular child requests it. I would agree that Uncle should have stopped regardless of a medical reason because ds had politely requested stop.....but we all know people like Uncle who just don't know when to stop. Hopefully if he's aware of the medical reasons then he'd make more effort to stop himself. Hopefully. As for your son, I'd make sure he's aware that HE did everything right....respectful and polite requests to stop should have worked, but that there are some people who just don't respect requests like they should and that Uncle was out of line. I worry that your son being told to leave the room would make him feel he did something wrong. I'd hate for him to feel that way. :grouphug:

Congratulations! A suggestion for a name....miracle in Malay is keajaiban. How about naming her Kea? It would be pronounced K-ah.

how do you search for recipes by a users name? I don't have an account but search for recipes there occasionally....do you have to pay for an account to be able to see users?

You can learn more about the new law here: http://www.astm.org/Standards/F963.htm

It's a convenience if you don't want to struggle with making copies (and for most that includes a trip to the copy shop or DH's office, lol). Some don't like the dark stip that copies from the book would have because the original doesn't lay flat because of the binding....they perfer to not have to take their book apart to make decent copies. I always have the binding cut off my books so that I can put them into binders and in some cases protection sheets, so then making copies is easy. The pages of the book are rather thin and there is some bleed through from the page behind...so for some that's a bother too. Not so much to me. I don't think I'd pay $20 for it, because you STILL have the cost of printing ink/paper in addition. I'd spend the $20 on the Enrichment4U supplement. THose are some fun activities.

:grouphug:

I always find that baked good frozen and reheated have a drier and more rubbery texture....so whenever possible I freeze, thaw, rise and bake. of course if by some odd chance we bake too many and have to freeze the baked ones that isn't going to stop me from eating them, lol. Come to think of it, not much would stop me. Plus of course there is the incredible smell of baking cinnamon rolls filling the house...zapping them the smell just doesn't last long enough, lol.

Putting them online is wonderful, so convenient and easy to find, access from anywhere, etc.....but please don't forget to keep a REAL copy. Many a website has come and gone and a couple years ago a storage site went under overnight and people lost all their family photos and other important documents (and a friend lost generations of recipes in her "simplify my clutter" when the site went under with her only copies). I have mine on a backpage of our personal website, so I can access and share them from anywhere....but I have a copy of our entire website on several DVDs....one here at home, one at DH's office and one clear across the country. Growing up in hurricane country you quickly learn to have important documents far far from home because in the blink of an eye your entire town, including the bank safe deposit boxes, can be leveled. Pick specific dates each year to update it that way the worst that can happen is you lose the photos/recipes/etc since the last update. We're lucky that we have a family birthday every third month, so after we do the birthday photos, etc, I burn another DVD with the previous stuff and everything through that person's birthday. I send a copy to Grandma across country so she can see the birthday and the previous two months activities. When a DVD gets full I write PERMANENT on it, and Grandma knows she can throw away any old ones that don't say Permanent. We also have scanned copies of important papers on one of these DVDs.

I have no experience with gfcf, but the regular type can definitely be put in the fridge in the pan....in fact, instead of doing the last "rise", I cover with plastic wrap or foil, put them in the fridge over night and they do an incredibly slow rise, lol. In the morning bring them to room temp before putting in the oven (30 minutes is typically more than enough). For freezing, I take them out of the pan after the fridge rising and wrap them in foil and then put the foil into a freezer bag. This frees up my pan but they will keep the shape of the pan so later I can unwrap and plop the frozen rolls directly into the same pan. Let thaw in the fridge overnight, bring to room temp and bake as always. I hope that your husband enjoys his treat!

Come on over...the more the merrier. :)

Ok, Chocolate Cake sounds like a totally awesome way to start a new year....unless of course, your resolution is weight loss, lol.

Wow, that's an amazing line up of food!

We haven't done traditional Christmas dinner for many years. We're having Tempura and homemade sushi for Christmas dinner. Eve dinner is nachos, lol. While the seafood sounds sensational, with one child not liking it that won't work completely.....but how about making a buffet type meal. Some seafood and some of whatever the other child likes. Of course this works best if the kids are old enough to help you, otherwise it's too much labor making basically two meals! For the poster that was bummed because the restaurant's are closed.....how about ordering it today and reheating it tomorrow? Obviously some Mexican meals do better than others for this, but an enchilada casserole will actually taste better the next day.....Fajitas are wonderful to reheat.....just be sure to have the restaurant package the items separately so that you don't have to pick out the condiments from the meat. Most restaurants that also do catering are able to do this quite easily, smaller restaurants may only be able to do a platter so aren't the best choices for reheat.

Ooo, I love cheese fondue. Do you have a favorite recipe to share?

I'm set on my foods for Christmas eve, Christmas morning and Christmas dinner....now it's time to look ahead to New Years Eve! We usually do a light dinner and then snacky (read junk) food until midnight when we pop open Sparkling Cider and watch Dick Clark (painful to watch him now, but still tradition!). So what do you eat/drink/be merry with on NYE?

As I recall part of the reason SL went "private" was also because there was a lot of discussion on their boards about OTHER programs.....I was there because of the discussions about TWTM which is used within SL. While I can understand that from a business point of view.....they are paying for the forums so why should they be promoting other products that they don't sell, BUT that action caused me to stop even considering SL for my family. And then there is our own wonderful Susan who allows us to discuss other programs and even recommend things other than WTM....while it may have cost her a few sales, frankly, I find I love this board BECAUSE it's not heavily promoting one product as being THE answer. I enjoy, and perhaps even, NEED to hear about other products....and yet after all these years, I still come back to WTM. My first edition is very love-worn, and there isn't much room in the margins anymore.....and while I was confident that I knew what I wanted based on that edition, I bought the new edition anyway! And have bought her writing program as well.....all because of the recommendations of this board....and Susan herself answering my questions by PM. There is a lot to be said about being confident enough in your product that you don't mind the mention of a competitor. Susan is wise enough to know that WTM won't work for everyone....but also wise enough to know that some may THINK it won't work for them, but eventually The Hive will bring them into the fold, lol. I didn't realize that Singapore had gone private....back when I was making the switch to Singapore I found much better information on several other forums, including this board, than I did on Singapore's website. Perhaps it has improved now that they are paid and therefore can spend more time on it....but as I recall it took a couple of days to get answers from Jennifer (I think that was her name) and by then I already had the answers from here. I wish these companies well, but I can't imagine paying to learn about a product. All that said: THANK YOU SUSAN (and the rest at PHP) FOR MANY MANY YEARS OF GREAT INFORMATION, FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT HERE ON THESE BOARDS.

Here's hoping you get your Christmas wish! And good luck in the new house!

Who Me?

Here's mine: 10 cups dry milk powder 4 cups powdered sugar 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder 2 cups non-dairy creamer (I make my own flavored creamers, see below) Use 3-4T of mix with a cup of boiling water. You can also add mini marshmallows to the mix. I've also been known to thrown in a handful or three of the mini chocolate chips. CREAMERS: I use a canning jar with a screw top lid to shake to mix, and for storage. Don't worry about the liquid extracts....shaking vigorously will cause the liquid to be completely absorbed. Base recipe: 1 cup plain non-dairy creamer powder plus 1 cup of powdered sugar. To this base, add these ingredients to make each flavor: Amaretto (personal fav): 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoon almond extract. Mint: 1 teaspoon peppermint extract. To make it "Bavarian Mint" add 1/2 cup cocoa. Vanilla: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Get the idea, lol.

When we first moved to Arizona we lived in a rural area that had 1 grocery store, 1 movie theatre (1 show a week) and a lot of antique stores for the tourtist driving through on their way to snow country, lol. And that was about it. But we had 8 acres of useable land and another 4 acres of timberland. It was GLORIOUS to have all that space to spread out and run and explore and play. Not being able to hear or even really see our neighbors after decades of living in the suburbs with houses 20 feet apart was glorious! We moved in, settled in, and thought we'd made a great decision to get out of the city. Then reality started creeping in......it was an hour commute for my DH....both ways. That put his normal 9 or 10 days into the 11 or 12 hour days. Basically meant the kids barely saw him.....he left before they were awake and got home so late that I would have dinner literally waiting for him....so no playtime before dinner....and after dinner there was less than an hour before bedtime for the little ones. Not exactly quality time during the week....but the weekends were great because of all that land to run and chase and play ball, etc. Except when he had to mow all that land, lol...that was a half day job. And reality for the kids and I sunk in too......the local library had exactly one bookshelf (kid height and about 10 feet long) of children's books. So, we started buying books, but that got expensive, and of course with little kids you need zillions of books to read aloud to them, and while we love to re-read them, not all of them are worthy of keeping. So, we had to trek into town once a week to a decent library.....70 minutes away, each way. I combined that with trips to full service grocery stores (the one in town was a glorified market really), the bank (town had one bank with ridiculously high month fees no matter what your balance), the post office (we could leave stamped mail out for the postman to pick up, but you couldn't yet buy postage through the mail, or mail packages etc). And all the other errands that we used to do throughout the week, now had to be consolidated into one day. So it was a long day....audio books helped a lot of course, but kids just really don't want to do errands all day long and even the lunch time stop at the park to eat and run wasn't enough. And then there was the homeschool groups.....we lived on the land for almost 2 years and we never did find another homeschool family, let alone a group. There were two churches to choose from and one of them ran a school, but even the non-school one didn't have any homeschoolers. The in town ones were a long drive of course, and there wasn't always time to go on "errand day"....and of course to really be a part of a group you have to see them more than just once a week for a 2 hour park time. There wasn't much to do in town after you'd seen the one movie (which sadly was rarely kid appropriate since they had to go for "popular" which meant not G rated). There were a few nice restaurants for a night out, but dinner and home isn't very festive for birthdays and visitors, etc. So....we finally came to the conclusion that this wasn't for us with young kids...they need more opportunities...museums, science centers, art, plays, music concerts in the park, a decent library, and shopping (even though I'm not a big fan of just shopping to shop, having to drive an hour to get shoes was too much). And we moved back into town. We miss the land to run around in, but compensated by spending more time at the huge park just a mile away.....and if we wanted a change there were a dozen other big parks and lots of little ones all over town. Lots of culture and field trips to be had at the drop of a hat, rather than planned out to be fit into errand day. Friends that can drop in on us, and us on them, minutes after a phone call. Co-ops. And Daddy's commute is 20 minutes in bad traffic, so he's home an hour before normal dinner time, and there are a couple hours after dinner. And we can go have lunch with him occasionally. So....my story is really to remind you to weigh more than just playtime in the backyard and a commute to a job. Are there enough of the other essentials to keep you near home and not on the road every week just for the must-do-errands? Is there a homeschool community that you can join. You don't list the ages of your children, so this may not be applicable to you yet....but think ahead to all their ages and stages. We were lucky that when we finally decided to move we had no trouble selling....we had three offers the first week....all from folks wanting to retire away from city life! But....the economy has definitely changed and you may find it difficult to sell land over the next many years....so you may have to stay whether it's working for you or not. That small town has hardly grown in the seven years since we left....it's got a second grocery, and lost the movie house....otherwise it's pretty much the same. I miss some aspects of it....and we may just retire there some day....but I know we made the right choice for a growing family by moving closer to what we felt was important to give to our children. I know others on this board feel the chance to explore and run around outweigh the museums and such....and so it's definitely a decision based on family needs and preferences....but it's one that we hadn't thought through as completely as we would now. That 45 minute commute sounds small now....but daily for DH or weekly for you, may not be so small a year from now when you need a new car because you've racked up 30k on the old one, lol. If all things are equal....I'd take the land anyday. Good luck with your decision!