If you want some very amusing reading that makes your hair stand on end, I heartily recommend "Superwoman". It was written in the 70s and she has lots of cleaning recipes, many of which contain kerosene. :blink: Really, once you get past the Pollan-esque basics (eat food that actually contains food, etc), it's mostly a matter (for me, anyway) of always asking how I can do something better, identifying my assumptions and challenging them, finding my comfortable place. So, for me, I prefer glass drinking vessels. Stainless is good, too, but I take exception to bottles lined with proprietary chemicals (read: we won't tell you what. Just trust us.). Sometimes, though, plastic is the best option for an application so I go with that labeled BPA free. Or, in the quest to not use disposable paper products: we used cloth diapers, have reusable microfiber cloths instead of paper towels, cloth napkins, hankerchiefs, etc, but queue the screeching brakes at replacing toilet paper. I split the difference there by using brands that are made from recycled paper.

:lol: So true! And that is why I'm going with a hybrid of Bootcamp for Lousy Housekeepers and Motivated Moms this year. BLH has me scheduling blocks and MM reminds me what needs to be done in those blocks. Because, really, if I check my email for the next FL assignment I will see the Staples ad. So I'll need to check that out before I can delete it. Which will remind me that I need to check our printer ink supply. And then I will see the cut & fold paper airplane I printed, which will remind me that I was looking for the kitchen scissors... :lol:

Ohhh, yes. I do that all the time. We were having dinner with friends a couple weeks ago and she found one of those difficult nouns: Her: "So I was at the shop the other day and saw the cutest... ... ..." Her husband: "buffering... buffering..." Her: "... boxes for storing whatever in" yadda, yadda :lol: I laughed. Hard.

We got a Lenovo K1 before Christmas. It's the same size and has the same rating on CNet as an iPad. We've installed the Kindle and Nook apps, it plays video, and my husband was looking at apps to mark up PDFs so we can use it for math, etc. So far, so good. (I've not had an issue doing anything I've wanted to do at all)

I have a case of those in my freezer, for quickie cookie fixes. They're really tasty. Had no idea they're dairy free, too!

Gluten Free Goddess is GF/DF. If you run across something with butter (old recipes) just use Earth Balance. You can get vegan chocolate chips, etc, usually at places like Whole Foods. http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/09/gluten-free-cookie-recipes.html?m=1 You're such an awesome friend.

This is the middle aged version of "dude, where are my pants?!?!" isn't it?

We had this last night too. My neighbor's college kids had a party. I'm SO tired because the fireworks went on for a long time and then (since its unusually mild) they partied outside until well after 1am. Ugh. I need my sleep. Me, too! Our was a single j@ck@ss with an air horn and what sounded like cherry bombs. He hauled out of the house onto the otherwise quiet, dark street just as I was falling asleep. And then one of the members at work texted me. :001_huh: Dude. 5:00 am, text away. Midnight? Better be an emergency.

It does, actually, in the same way that emotional stress can cause hives. A body under attack overreacts to pretty much anything that comes along - the defenses are already activated, you know? Also, to add to yummy food ideas, roasted potato cubes make an excellent substitute for croutons on salads. We did that a lot before I (and, by extension, the rest of the family) went gluten free last year.

Oops

We just folded a bunch of laundry so we could get into our bed. Shockingly, the police didn't even have to come to break up the festivities. :tongue_smilie:

Lots. What are you looking for?

Yes. San-J gold label comes GF. I have a big bottle of it sitting on my counter. :)

I enjoyed The Green Barbarians enough to check it out of the library twice. I don't recall any tinfoil hats being donned, which I also find off putting. (Not a fan, for instance, of Nourishing Traditions, for that reason)

:lol: Ok, I'll PM it to you. (Plan To Eat is a meal-planning site and you can browse friends' recipes)

I'm ahead of you. We have pizza night every Friday (the husband and kids just had leftover pizza for lunch, in fact). I have an AWESOME pizza crust (and fabulous biscuits) recipe for you. Are you on Plan To Eat?

Yep. The DC07s were all identical, but for the attachments. Mine snaps apart... Hang on a sec, and I'll upload a pic. Ok, so the purple one in the front and the not-purple one in the back/side. (Avert your eyes from the dust.)

:iagree: we have hardwood throughout, and area rugs in the foyer and living room. I use the bare floor attachment and, between the super long cord and hose, can almost loop all the way through the downstairs. Bonus: when you suck something up that sticks in the J loop, the whole thing easily snaps apart to retrieve it. The only drawback I've found in the past 10 years is that it never fails to demonstrate how disgusting we are. I swear, it HAS to be sucking dirt from the crawl space through the gaps in the floorboards.

Yes, handbags are handbags, purses go into handbags and often have a clever little metal closure. Trousers are lower body, full length garments not otherwise specified, eg not jeans. And rubbers protect one's dress shoes from inclement weather. I don't dress any of them, but a bag scarf has come and gone many times over the past century. Off the top of my head, I wonder if they didn't start as a decorative option to avoid pinning a Kleenex to one's head to go to Mass (something my mother and aunts did on occasion in the 1950/60s when they found themselves unprepared).

:lol::smilielol5::lol: My husband makes the occasional giant chicken references, even.

^ That. He just goes upstairs until be feels better. If he needs something, I bring it up so he's not infecting the rest of us (I'm probably playing Typhoid Mary here). Same drill as when I'm sick, really.

My kids schlep laundry -hampers down, baskets up- make their beds, haul wood, move dishes into/out of the dishwasher, tidy their rooms (allegedly) and the living room, sweep , vacuum, and fight over who "gets" to clean the bathrooms. The 10 yo makes breakfast/lunch pretty regularly. I have felt guilty before, about asking them to do "too much". I got over it. And, frankly, the more they have on their lists, the less they balk. There's apparently some line where the inconvenient interruption in their day is replaced by regular activities of the day, you know?

This is cousin to the "Might as Well" syndrome associated with reonvating an old house. "If we're fixing X, we might as well do Y..." Good grief.

It's the dementia of having small children. I think homeschooling extends it. You can hide something from me completely by covering part of it with a piece of paper. I have said to my children (and the dog) "Don't worry about whose name I said. I'm looking at you, so I'm talking to you." "Dishwasher" became my all-purpose noun at Lowe's the other day. We were buying paint. For the bathroom.

I'm also not a fan of tampons, and my Diva cup and I are at a standoff since the last time I (grudgingly) used it and it FLIPPED OVER. :glare: I do use (and like) Sea Pearls, though. When I'm out, I have a second, pre-moistened one in my purse and just switch them out if need be. (God forbid my purse should be snatched :lol:) I may try flipping the Diva inside out to make it shorter, though. Never thought of that, but my main issue is that it's just slightly too long, even trimmed.