That is easy peasy to answer! I LOVE milk chocolate so very much. I have tried to love dark chocolate because of the healthy benefits, but I just don't like it. Sigh.

Wowza! You look fantastic! Are you saying you lost 120 pounds????

We haven't bought a new dishwasher in 14 years! I know there are many new features for dishwashers now. What do you like about yours? Dislike? Any particular brands/models that you would recommend? Thank you!

Dh is a college prof who has worked extensively with with East Asian students. He recommends Understanding China: A Guide to China's Economy, History and Political Culture, by John Bryan Starr. He just came out with a third edition last year, so it should be up-to-date.

I learned how to do it from this site: http://greekfood.about.com/od/greekcookingtips/ht/strainyogurt.htm The volume is decreased by half, but it is worth it to get the creamy consistency. I thaw some cherries or peaches the night before and add them...so delicious!

I always use skim milk. It may be a little thinner than if you used higher fat milk. I make Greek yogurt after it cools, so it doesn't matter if it's thinner anyway. Yum!

Wow, definitely something to think about. I hadn't though that MT would be outsourced to India. It just seems so wrong. Thanks for the heads up. I hope you get to keep your job!

Saran Wrap sprayed with no-stick spray. Just peel it off carefully and it will be fine.

I used to work in medical transcription, but that was 20 years ago (hard to believe it was so long ago). I would like to get back into it but definitely need to go through training again, as I have forgotten much of the terminology, and I'm sure technology has changed since I've done it. I would like to take on on-line training course. Has anyone heard of Meditec or been trained by them? I've read some good things about the course and internship, but I am cautious about jumping in with a company that merely looks good on "paper". Even if you haven't used Meditec, do you know of reputable on-line training courses for MT? I would love to hear about your training, experience and work situation. Thank you.:)

I use this and keep the cut side up against the end. It is adjustable and fits longer loaves as well. http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-Adjustable-Bread-Keeper/dp/B001BB2LMM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1295021502&sr=8-4

Thank you! I just joined. More accountability is always a good thing! :) Looking forward to checking in.

Very cute! We enjoyed that.:)

From what I understand from friends around the country, it very much depends on your store and the mangement of it. You can pretty much tell after you walk in whether it will be acceptable to you or not. Our Aldi is clean, well stocked, smells fresh and the staff is friendly and helpful. I gather from some that not all Aldi are like that. I have never had a problem with the meat, and I am pretty picky. I just checked the pork chops and ground beef that I purchased yesterday, and there are no weird things in it like a previous poster has seen. I wonder what kind of meat has those things in it?? (If you know, will you please let me know? Bleh.) Our produce is usually good. Sometimes you get a bad orange or the lettuce isn't as crisp as Wegmans, but the prices are so good. My favorites: pretzels (I prefer .99 Aldi brand to Snyders or Rold Gold!), caramel rice cakes, all baking products, canola oil, dairy products such as sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese (prices can't be beat), chocolate chips, tortilla chips, salsa, hummus (like it more than the expensive brands), chicken/beef broth, pepperoni, canned fruit (our Aldi has fruit in its own juice or in pear juice w/ no added sugar), and we use their ziplock bags. I even like their laundry detergent (Tandil). Oh yeah, we love their frozen bags of stir fry veggies, asparagus spears and whole green beans. These are my routine Aldi purchases, but I know there are many other things that go into the cart. I've never taken anything back. : ) We save a ton by shopping there.

I started Weight Watchers last on Friday. So far, so good. I am at the point where I just can't stand it anymore. Nothing fits comfortably, I hate walking around and find myself being very lazy, and I am always tired. Hopefully the pounds will come off at a nice rate and I can continue exercising but without pain. That will be great! Good luck to everyone. We're all in this together!:grouphug:

No, I wouldn't tell her. She would feel the need to apologize, and she doesn't have anything to apologize for. Honestly, I would also be afraid she'd tell other potential customers who would not hire my daughter because she didn't take care of her bird. kwim? I'm sorry this happened. Your daughter must be so sad. :(

Gerbils are great! We have had many throughout the years. They are usually friendly and curious, although they don't really bond with their owners because they need to have a "mate" and they will bond with them. Two females have worked well for us. The pet store owner assured us of the sex, and we were quite glad he was correct. Sometimes they squabble but for the most part, they snuggle and get into mischief together! We clean their cage once a week (a 10-gallon aquarium), but we have gone as long as two weeks. They do not smell at all! They are the only rodent we have had that does not smell. Pine or cedar shavings are cheap, but they are not good for gerbils (allergies). We use CareFresh. You'll also want to give them a fair amount of unscented toilet paper so they can shred it for their nest. We buy the same food that the pet store uses for their gerbils, just the basic gerbil/hamster food. They don't need premium food, but we occasionally buy it for a treat. They are little piggies when it comes to sunflower seeds and will gorge themselves on them if given too many. I love to watch them dig through their food to find the seeds. We have never had a gerbil aggressively bite, only when they thought my son's finger was a carrot. Ouch! If you get them young, they will get used to you quickly. We started by having the kids put their hands flat, palm-up in the cage and letting the gerbils crawl over their hands. Then we put seeds in their hands. Gerbils will generally not be cuddly and will not like to be picked up. However, they are friendly and will crawl all over your hand. Gerbils are very fast and will escape any way they possibly can! We have a screen cover for our aquarium and have never had a problem with them escaping, but that doesn't mean they haven't explored all possibilities! They chew everything, so I recommend a glass water bottle. Don't bother with a food bowl unless it's glass. They'll just chew it up. They like to bury their food anyway, so there's really no need for a bowl. They are great recyclers! They get our cereal boxes (torn in half, which they run through delightedly and eventually chew), toilet paper and paper towel tubes. They must chew or their teeth will overgrow. We also put a wood house in, and that lasts about three months. http://www.amazon.com/Super-Pet-Woodland-Medium-Hamster/dp/B0009WH8ZE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1293739964&sr=8-7 We do not tire of watching our gerbils explore their home. It is so much fun to watch them after we clean their cage because they want to see everything you've done! They run around, run through the tubes, frantically shred their toilet paper for nesting, dig tunnels and completely rearrange their home to their own satisfaction. Then, they will munch on some food and settle in for a nap, one on top of the other. We love our gerbils (can you tell?!) and would love to answer any other questions you might have. :001_smile:

Wowza! We have three phones on the family plan, 700 shared anytime minutes (free nights and weekends), unlimited texting. We do not have data packages. We pay $132/month with taxes and fees. My ds20 is going to be added soon, and that will increase it by about $14/month - a total of four phones for $146. We do get a 10% discount through my husband's college. I think our bill is ridiculous. Yours seems crazy! Why is it so high? Data packages?

You can accessorize your phone in almost any color. Here there are kiosks in the mall with an insane amount of cases/skins to choose from. You can get anything from glittery hot pink to leopard skin. Quite impressive!

I just got a new phone (LG Cosmos Touch) from Verizon. It is a touch screen with a slider to text - the best of both worlds! There is NO monthly internet requirement. (This is a change from last year - they dropped the data package requirement.) I LOVE this phone! If you have Verizon, I would highly recommend it.:001_smile: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=5566&changingCompletedOrder=&capId=&phoneTopRated=

There are 6 of us. We usually have three different vehicles going separately to church. (Dh teaches SS and youngers go with him, I stay home until service, and olders go to college SS at pastor's house). I am the one who gets into the sanctuary first, so I save five seats until everyone gets out of their SS classes. If I didn't do that, we couldn't sit together as a family. I don't see why people would be annoyed by that. Would they rather we have to sit apart?:confused:

That is what we do too. :001_smile:

Raisin toast and chocolate milk.

We use it sometimes around here. It didn't occur to me that it might bother people.:confused:

We have friends who had: boy girl boy boy boy boy boy boy boy It was amazing. That poor girl was our babysitter, and really, she just wanted a little sister!

I watched a show on the Food Network that was all about bacon. They specifically visited a place that made and sold chocolate covered bacon. Here is a place that sells it for $12.95/half pound. My wallet and my waistline would suffer, but it's bacon...and chocolate...!:drool: