Nice list Mrs. Mungo. Saw several I love on there. Mine change all the time. Love and Happiness by Al Green On the Edge by The Clogs I'd Run Away by the Jayhawks

joepastry.com bakingbites.com zestycook.com

I'm really thankful for this thread because my 10 year old just started a crying/angry/moody period and my husband turns to me all the time and asks ME if its okay. :P

I've never done butter, but I have oil. The applesauce mimics the softness the fat brings. It does not replace the taste of oil/butter. Therefore I would never completely eliminate the oil/butter in a recipe that relies heavily on them for taste (cookies or cake for instance). For this reason most people just sub out half of the amount. Fiddle around with it a while and see what you like best. Also, watch the amount of sweetener or add-ins like cinnamon in the applesauce. It can change the taste of the final product.

It depends on who's on the receiving end. I was an exceptionally 'good' kid. Never got in trouble. Never broke any rules/laws/requests. Not that it had anything to do with whether I agreed with my parents and teachers. I empathized with them. I was mature enough to see that they had a difficult job and that my time within their influence was short. They never made difficult rules (and my parents were very strict). I saw it as something to learn from before moving on. It was a good time to read, and learn, and dream. But I suppose you could say I rebelled against teen culture, with the idea that my peers should determine who I listened to, what I looked like, what I drank, who I slept with and when. I found my peers remarkably short-sighted. I'm not sure how to describe myself now. I often find myself on the 'hippie,' 'alternative,' 'weirdo,' 'intellectual' end of the scale. That could be seen as a rebellion against the popular culture. Of course I like to think of it as thinking before acting. :tongue_smilie:Questioning and analyzing. Its always amusing to see how many people enjoy the idea of being rebellious. As if anything else makes us less special or independent.

I'm sorry I missed this! It really depends on what you're looking for. For a pound of meat the salt amount is usually 1TBL. You can adjust that if you're watching salt. I start seasonings I like at 1/2-1 tsp and add more if I like. I've found most recipes need to be tweaked and Bruce Aidelis, a well-known sausage maker/author recommends the same. Basically your first few batches are mix, cook, taste, reseason, mix, cook, taste, until you have it right. Keep notes and see what you like best.

Aldis has a version of Special K vanilla almond cereal which I love. It's less sweet then the original even. wheat chex

Well, my parents were extremely conservative about movies and I turned out okay. :tongue_smilie: Really, some parents want the ability to introduce subjects (sex, language, violence, nudity) to their children because they know their children and feel they know the optimal time for them. We can all disagree about timing. We know what we're comfortable with and what our children would be.

Basic sausage: salt some kind of sweetener (brown sugar, maple syrup) Additions: pepper Italian seasonings (oregano, basil, onion, garlic, pepper) Some people like sage and fennel in their sausage. I have a book with a bunch of combinations if you want more ideas. For breakfast I usually mix in some salt and maple syrup. Shake in pepper lightly. Cook a tiny bite to taste. Fix seasonings. For Italian I throw in some Italian seasonings with less sweetener (or none at all).

Horrid children's gifts~dh's grandfather gave us a red clown doll. It's arms and legs all shot straight up behind it (as if it was rocking on its stomach) and when you wound it up the head revolved completely around while playing a jaunty tune. I'm not making this up. Someone manufactured that, someone kept it, and dh's grandparents thought of us when they saw it. We received it when ds1 was a baby and he was afraid of it. Dh would not let me throw it out. 4 years later I did so without telling him. Dh bought me a vacuum for the first birthday we were together ('I know we need one') and a roasting pan for Christmas one month later. I bought him a leather jacket. I don't get birthday gifts much lately, it's too close to Christmas, although a few years ago I got a book about Mr. Rogers from Goodwill and a package of M&Ms. This year I got a cake from Walmart. In his defense dh does have some good, incredibly thoughtful gift ideas. And then there are other times I think he's operating completely on tictacs and panic.

Last: The Bride Price by Buchi Emecheta...about an Ibo girl being married off in the '50s. Current: Children of God by Mary Doria Russell (continuation of the science fiction story The Sparrow); It by Stephen King (horror); Phantastes by George MacDonald (fantasy) Next: I need to finish up a biography of Houdini, a non-fiction book about 17 molecules that changed history, Cloudsplitter, and a random Elmore Leonard book my husband and I started.

It depends. I've made sourdough pancakes right afterward. For bread I like a more 'sourdough' taste so I wait at least 3-5 hours for an active starter to replenish itself. You can tell when its ready...it rises and gets very bubbly/holey. A good rule of thumb is to feed your sourdough the night before you wish to use it.

Yes, The Woman in White or The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins are wonderful!~ I'm reading Cloudsplitter (historic fiction @ John Brown), A Thread of Grace (literary fiction WWII Italy), The Bride Price (African fiction) right now. I'd recommend any of them.

It's hard for me to imagine sleeping separately. We both consider sleeping together to be at least as important to our sense of closeness and intimacy as sex. Sleeping together, holding each other is a powerful feeling for both of us. The same factors which help infants regulate their sleep while co-sleeping (breathing, skin to skin, heartbeat) play a part in that. Neither of us sleeps well apart now. I suppose the day may come. Sometimes you have to be practical. But I'm not willing to give it up without a fight.

Generally with curly you want all the internal moisture you can get. Honey doesn't create moisture, it just protects and conserves what's already there. Honey is a humectant and so makes a good conditioner. I've used it many times along with my conditioner. Of course my hair is straight and fine so that means I never use it on the scalp and rinse well. I wouldn't use honey with oils. That would overwhelm your hair. thelonghaircommunity.com has a lot of information on their forum. Some people there are interested in natural hair care.

I use Stoneyfield yogurt as a starter. I freeze it in 1/2 cup portions and thaw the night before. Stoneyfield has a lot of probiotics. Check the back of the carton. Often it will list the ones added.

I wouldn't recommend Red November for this age group. It's a bit harder to play and it has drinking/getting drunk and its very easy for players to die in the game. Pandemic is fine for this age group if he plays with adults (my kids love it). Castle Panic is fun for boys (everyone trying to trade cards and fight ogres and trolls). The maker of Pandemic has a new game out...Forbidden Island I think...where all the players try to keep the island floating while they collect cards which mean they've found the islands 4 treasures. Fun. There's at least one Lord of the Rings cooperative game, and Shadows over Camelot where everyone goes on Quests and tries to protect the castle.

37 and I'm wearing one right now. :tongue_smilie: If its a skirt I'm more conservative (within an inch or two of my knees) but skorts of that length are fine.

Used 100ez for 3 out of 4 of my boys. By lesson 20 they were reading BOB books and by lesson 30 or so we had transferred to simple library books and did not need to finish the program. It is scripted, some people need that, but my goodness, no one has to complete everything! Follow your child! With my boys we rarely repeat anything unless they need the practice and we never did the writing segments. One of my boys disliked the rhyming segments so we skipped them. As long as he understood the concept of blending there was no need.

A nice sandal or a mule. Boots work as well. It depends on the type of skirt, but I find that those 3 work with almost anything.

Settlers can be a bit long for a 6 year old. If you like it a version like Simply Catan will shorten the play time. Try boardgamegeek.com. Lots of interesting games explained there. Favorites around our house: 7 year old-- Stone Age Claim It Factory Manager (that's probably a bit old for most kids but he likes it for some reason) Dominion Chateau Rocquefort* Coloretto Ticket to Ride* Chinatown Bohnanza* Clue* * works well for this age group 9 year old-- Wings of War Arabian Nights Also recommended: Blokus Pandemic Incan Gold Ubongo 10 Days in the USA (or Europe, Asia, Africa) Zooloretto

If you like a natural look, I would recommend going to the library and picking up Bobbi Brown's books. You don't have to buy her cosmetics (I don't) but I found her style and technique very helpful when starting out.

Sorry Ginger, I eradicated both simultaneously. ;) Three years, four kids and the brain starts to wear down a bit. The bishops weed is prettier, IMO, especially the varigated kind.

Inter-library loan works in systems. So who is in the system really depends on where you live. It is not nation-wide. I'm sure some cross borders...but that depends on the which libraries banded together when the local ILL was started. In Wisconsin we're broken into regions. I can order from the south-central library association, not the northern region, Milwaukee, or Illinois. However, ask about WorldCat. It's a nationwide system where you can request books that are not available in your system. I've been able to find rare books on my son's condition from universities a few states away or detailed historical texts that aren't available nearby. Remember, just because the person checks out your books does not mean they are a 'librarian.' Times are tight and many small library's can't afford the salary of a librarian (or can just afford one to manage the library). The person you spoke with may be a tech trained on the system. She wouldn't have the detail you need if the subject had never come up before. Keep asking. Or even email a librarian at your old library. One of them can tell you.

This oatmeal bread is very good, and you can sub in half whole wheat flour with little change in the flavor. http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2006/11/oatmeal-toasting-bread-baking.html I'm also a fan of Hammelman's recipes for sourdough and wheat breads.