Thanks! I have the food all planned from the cookbook. It's a yummy spread!

We're having a Redwall themed birthday party for ds turning 11. Any game ideas you could offer would be welcome! Thanks!

The Great Plains IgG is so easy and will tell you. The only thing it missed for my friend's child who has severe allergies to many foods was something she hadn't eaten in years.

sorry - this is too late now. My fave is this one. be sure to make the mashed potato bowls: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/company-beef-stew-10000000599255/

Can you find the one you want on craigslist? We got our whirlpool there. We do silverware on door. No troubles.

would plastic stacks of drawers help to organize makeup that you don't use daily? I use these for all of our extras too. I have them labeled with scotch tape and a sharpie. Our medicines are in these too. Categories for us are things like headache, itch, eyes, teeth...

The best piece of child training advice I ever got might have been this one: Inspect don't expect. I know we want to be able to expect. We want to not have to inspect. But until kids are very old, many of them need us to inspect daily in order for these habits to become ingrained. So if I don't inspect, now I consider it my fault because I haven't done all it takes to train them well. This stares me in the face frequently. I often forget to keep up my part of this equation and have to start over.

Allergies here too. We stopped eating cereals. Now we eat organic rice or organic oats. Azure Standard has delivery now to our area and has fabulous prices on large quantities of these. We keep dried unsweetened coconut flakes in house and use them to make coconut milk when needed for recipes. I recently read it is better if you heat it in the water first then process it. But I haven't tried that yet. It's just nice to have it around when needed.

This doesn't answer your question, but I thought of it when I read your post: My brother in law got an atari last year. It is not the old plug into a tv kind. It is this console with the joy stick that you plug into your computer and it simulates a free standing unit. It is really cool for a gamer. It has pac man and all of the games we played on atari when I was a kid. Super fun and different.

The BEST way we have bought legos second to our consignment sale has been craigslist. Do you live in a city large enough to have a good local craigslist? We created a search with an email alert for what we wanted. We waited to get a huge set from someone cheaply. We ended up finding someone in a nearby city selling $700 worth of legos for $90. No boxes. We had to ask a family member in that city to pick it up for us and it all worked out so smoothly. Ds was thrilled. Don't let the crazy sellers on there scare you off.

sunflowerlady - can you message me how this works? I have dark brown hair. I'd love to try henna but have been chicken.

I buy from esalon.com at the recommendation of this forum. It is so helpful to start there!

I made mine the night before last and froze it for Thanksgiving. It is easy and so delicious. We use the recipe for apple pie filling for any apple pie. Yum! No need to stir up trouble. Just make the stuff and make the best you can make.

Ravin-would any of them sell to me as well? If so, can you message me? Thanks!

I'd like to find a new source for these. If you do, what is the cost per dozen? And how many max could you sell if you sell them? Thanks!

Thanks!

don't try the baking soda. It is really damaging to the hair. If you google it and find posts where people have tried it long enough to see the outcome, that is what they report. I tried it for several weeks. The apple cider vinegar rinse does help.

Or a pair of these onion goggles: http://www.myspicesage.com/onion-goggles-rsvp-p-579.html and a bottle of organic onion powder

While we are at it, if you guys want to laugh out loud for hours, read the comments on this gadget: http://www.amazon.com/Hutzler-571-Banana-Slicer/dp/B0047E0EII/ref=pd_sim_k_4

Oh! This: http://www.amazon.com/Chefn-StemGem-Strawberry-Stem-Remover/dp/B002XOHZWC/ref=pd_sim_k_1 We love it. It really works well to remove just enough hull and leave the yummy strawberry for eating.

I'm breaking the rules as this one is $50. But for those of you wanting a gift for someone who loves to bake special treats, we received this as a gift and love it: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/ebelskiver-filled-pancake-pan/?pkey=e%7Cebelskiver%7C5%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C2&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-Feature_Recipe_Rule-_- There are tons of recipes on the site for them too. Our favorite is cinnabons. William Sonoma and Crate and Barrel are my go to stores for buying fun gifts. We love these cutting mats. I often have 6 of them in the dishwasher: http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=31026&catId=22 These prep bowls: http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=9792&catId=123&parentCatId=&xPrntItmId=1023 or these: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/set-of-12-storage-bowls-with-clear-lids/s380520 How about a bamboo salt cellar and a big bag of celtic sea salt and a salt grinder? We buy the salt from saltworks. Like himalayan too. So much healthier than mortons! We like a salt cellar like this: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/acacia-salt-cellar/s618822 We had the glass one first and broke it. This salt but we buy enormous bags: http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Sea-Salt-Society-Coarse/dp/B000SWTKV0 I use an oxo grinder for it.

the best thing that ever happened to our laundry system was to read Raising Olives blogpost about their system. Because of something I read there I think I started this: gave each kid a hamper and do each kid's clothes separately. This means I never have to stare at the labels to see what size it is and whose it is. My older two now do their own laundry when they need it. I do dh's and mine when the bin of lights or bin of darks is full. And I do the youngest child's with ours. Middle son's gets done when his bin is full. I also stopped buying the boys light colored clothing. Everything they own is dark except for white tees they wear under church shirts. So much easier to not have to sort theirs into lights and darks and they don't stain the darks so easily.

Amazon is an amazing company. If you call and ask them to refund the shipping, it is likely that they will.

That show is ridiculous. do we have a thread on how we can reasonably save money? I need to search for it or start one. I've started reading Mr Money Mustache. While we aren't doing life as he does, it has challenged me to think about what I am spending money on and ask myself if it is really worthwhile. I thought I was a bit frugal before, but am compelled to try harder to not try to buy happiness.

I give this book often too!