A foot of snow ensures that we won't leave the house. I enjoy cooking, so I made Parmesan garlic pretzel bites, and a beef stew in the crockpot. Perfect lazy snowy comfort food. I think I will also make some apple pumpkin dessert. I've been watching tv but in a bit I plan to go read and take a nap.

Are you comfortable giving them your shutterfly login information?If they have your username and password, they should be able to upload photos directly to your account.

Today's audible daily deal is "Heroes and Legends: The Most Influential Characters of Literature" from the Teaching Company, for only $4.95. http://www.audible.com/pd/Classics/Heroes-and-Legends-Audiobook/B00IB17PMG

The company my sister works for has a similar policy, though I do believe time off has to be approved (or at least it is required that you let your supervisor know when you will be gone/returning). She could certainly take advantage of the policy more when her position involved lots of computer work, as she could work from home/while traveling. It is not as easy now, as she is in HR and does actually need to be in the office when there are interviews and meetings. (In general, the company still has a very generous vacation policy, so she gets plenty of time off.) I had one employer that did have a standard vacation/sick day policy in the handbook, but in reality, employees could take sick/personal/vacation days as needed. For me, this meant that some years I would take more vacation/personal time, and some years I took less. But it was never something I had to worry about, or calculate.

Definitely. And chocolate has antioxidants. It's practically a health food. I'm currently eating a serving of vegetables with these Pumpkin Hershey Kiss Cookies. http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2014/08/pumpkin-hersheys-kiss-cookies.html

But there's free shipping! Perhaps for that price amazon has perfected their drone delivery system...

Tonight: Roast chicken w fresh herbs, beet salad, strawberry cobbler Monday: turkey white bean chili Tuesday: we will be out, so something on the way, or I will be super organized and pack us up something Wednesday: fried rice w leftover chicken, carrots, and snow peas Thursday: steak, grilled zucchini w balsamic, potatoes That's as far as I've gotten.

That's funny. My sister (born in 1988) is named Emily. I got to choose her name. So, 7 year old me certainly didn't think it was old fashioned.

My aunt is in the middle of writing a series of books - gentle read romances set in rural Maine. The third book officially comes out today, and as a promotion, she is offering the first book for free on Amazon. It is called Hens and Chickens and tells the story of two women who, after they are downsized from their corporate job, move to Maine to raise chickens. It's a sweet story with a fun cast of characters. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008OPDZ78/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1405776375&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40 Hope you enjoy!

Yes, with audible, you are purchasing the book. The audiobook downloads to your device. Since audible is owned by amazon, my audiobook library is automatically on any kindle I own (that has audio capability). Audible has an app for iphone/iPad that is very easy to use (and that's how I do most of my listening). I don't know if there is a limit on number of devices you can have an audiobook on (like there is for kindle books for example), but I've not had any problems having the book on multiple devices. And you can burn the files to a CD, though I've never done that so can't speak to how easy it is.

I use mason jars for most things. (Leftover soup, chicken stock, cooked beans or meat, etc.) I do still use ziplock bags (or preferably vacuum seal bags) for things like frozen fruit and veg.

I use mason jars. (I use mason jars for just about everything...) Also easy to microwave (just take off the lid), and I don't have to worry about microwaving plastic.

Yes, this. When you first sign up for a subscribe and save item, you can choose how frequently - and it will tell you what is the most common. But it is super easy to change frequency, skip a shipment, change the month etc. The savings really start when you have 5 subscriptions in a month, then you save 20%. I've found things like $2 bottle of hand soap that qualify and if I only have 4 things one month, I can add that to get the full savings. (One item we get every month is cat food, at $30 a bag, so the 20% is considerable at that point...)

I'm so sorry Rosie. My heart goes out to you and your daughter.

That's such great news!

My first thought (my fave on-the-go meal/snack) is hummus and veggies and pita chips or crackers. If you freeze individual portions of hummus, it will act as a bit of a nice pack for the veg, and will prevent it from spoiling before lunch time. You can also freeze individual portions of applesauce and water bottles, etc to help keep things cool. What sorts if things do you like to eat? Any dietary restrictions?

What do you do for weight training and other exercise? How often? Did you find a correlation between how much exercise you did and how quickly you lost the weight? (I know many people say that diet is far more important than exercise when it comes to losing weight.)

I'd try the carrot orange. DP has had jalapeño ice cream before and really enjoyed it.

Amazon has both of those available as add-on items, and the super shiny is eligible for subscribe and save as well.

Now see, I love those phases because then it is obvious that I didn't dress the child! It's the not-quite-so-bad outfits, the ones that are a little mismatched, that always have me wanting to scream, "I did not pick these clothes out!" I am severely lacking in style, however, so a child who wants to put together their own outfits is (almost) always welcome.

Handicap accessible toilets are required by law and found everywhere. The issue is logistics of entering the public restroom to get to that stall. Does she enter the men's restroom, or take her dh into the womens? Personally, I would use the womens restroom due to the added privacy of stalls for anyone using the toilet. Would that make your dh uncomfortable? If he would prefer to use the men's, then I would do as pp suggested and call in before entering, or ask someone to clear the restroom for you.

$34. Can't complain!

Is there anything he started eating more of, to offset the verboten items? Potatoes, corn, or rice to make up for no gluten? Were you using any dairy substitutes, esp corn or spy based ones?

There was an animated movie, Donkey X that was on netflix for a while (still may be available). http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0419704/

This. Gives lots of instruction/explanation of cooking methods, ingredients, etc. Recipes are basic, whole foods (but no strange ingredients), with lots of variations. More of a learning to cook book than just recipes.