Certain styles of utilikilt are on sale. Just ordered one for my ds who's been asking for one for a while. I didn't want to spend $150 for an item that might get him sent home from class, but for $100 I decided to spring for it. Now if I could just convince dh. :) http://www.utilikilts.com/Holiday-Sale/

My extended family has ALWAYS had Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of the afternoon. My dh' family does as well. I'm not sure why your MIL sticking with a tradition she might have experienced for 60+ years is making "things as complicated as possible." Since you seem to want to spend Thanksgiving with both families, it's time to change your expectations &maybe have the main meal with one family, & then later having pie with the other.

I'm still not over the fear. :) I've canned chicken, chicken broth, & beans in mine and followed directions precisely. But when I opened the jars to use, I boiled everything for 10 minutes. Just in case. :D

We apparently drive ours into the ground, too. We joked about leaving the keys in our van, hoping it would get stolen - but the gear shift isn't working right and we don't think a thief could figure out how to put it in reverse!

It's hard. When our first dog was very old & sick, we knew we had to put him down. We brought him home from the vet that day, planning to spend a couple more days with him before letting the vet put him down. He died in his sleep that night. :( :grouphug: to you & your ds.

In 2011 we owned two older high mileage cars. We paid $6k in car repairs that year. In 2012 we added a 3rd car - old, but low miles. It turned out not to be such a great deal - we've spent $7k in car repairs so far this year. And one car needs new tires, and another needs an expensive oil leak fixed, so if we got those things done in December we'll be up to $8k this year. I am so tired of these expensive repairs. I am really baffled at Dave Ramsey's advice to everyone to buy a beater to save money. We definitely could've made a car payment for what we paid in repairs. And did I mention the number of times I've been stranded because of a non-operational vehicle? So it's not just the money. Dh wants to go out & buy a new truck this weekend and I am trying to think of reasons to say "no" but honestly I think we need to trade all the beaters in and start fresh!

Both. Some colors are kept around forever, but others get retired. If you want to replace something that's retired, it can be $$$.

I love Fiestaware, too. I have 25 place settings. But someone needs to tell my Fiestaware that it's supposed to be impossible to break. ;)

I love plantoeat, too. I found out about it through a thread on this board. :thumbup1:

You probably DID have it at some point. We've had $1500 included on our plan for years (used it with ds a few years ago). For 2013, they are dropping it from the current provider's plan. My dh' company is switching insurance providers, and the new plan doesn't have it either.

In & Out. I never, ever, eat at any of the others listed. Well, now that I think of it our car broke down in August and we were stranded for 5 hours...we ate dinner at a Taco Bell (and they were nice enough to make a plain chicken soft taco for my dog) and then snacks later at Sonic...so I guess desperation overrides my "never" comment.

I wondered at that, too. Who are the 2 birthday women that get a huge publicly announced party given by church members? I thought the original email was odd/inappropriate.

Well, I love one from America's Test Kitchen, Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake. On this link you have to scroll down the page to a "see the recipes" tab. They say theirs is better than others because you drain the pumpkin in a paper towel before baking, and that makes the texture better - it would be too soggy otherwise. Happy baking.

Agree with fhjmom - get bids. We got 3 bids when we repainted a couple of years ago, and they were all within 15% of each other. So I'd suggest 2 bids to get a good idea. It's going to vary based on where you are and how big the house is, but you are definitely looking at some number followed by three zeros.

I don't like the daybed/trundle idea for a regularly used living space. I've never seen a daybed that didn't look like, well, a bed. And no matter how many cushions you put on, it's not comfortable for seating.

This would be a deal breaker for me, too (and I like dogs). We looked at a house a few years ago and the first thing we noticed was loud, aggressive barking from the yard next door. I thought "no way" and almost walked away. Then we realized it was from the house we were looking at - so the dog was leaving with the owners! - so it was OK.

Well, that was poor planning! :tongue_smilie: We just got cable 3 weeks ago - the upcoming election helped us decide! Dh isn't home yet; off to see if I can figure out how to open a wine bottle myself or get my 16yo to do it. :001_huh:

We have USAA, too. I *highly* recommend them to anybody who's eligible. Our auto insurance with them has tripled in the last 3 years (from about $100/mo to $300/mo). But we added 2 teen drivers, and went from 2 to 4 cars, including 1 brand-spanking-new car. We even increased coverage since we decided our liability was too low. I got a couple of quotes from other companies recently- and they were both $1000s/year higher. Call USAA if you or your parents have ever been military to see if you're eligible!

Yes, I'm sure this contributed to the problem. The recipes I've used always stress that you MUST use the amount of sugar as written. You reduced it by two-thirds, yikes!

Here are a couple of gems from a receptionist in my sister's office: "He's incognito" (meaning incommunicado) or "I can't tell you per se" when she meant simply "I don't know!" And some of my other favorites: "That's all water under the bridge over troubled waters" "Six dozen of one or half of the other" "Is his preaching topical or suppository?" (meaning expository!)

That's fantastic! I agree with you on the portion control thing...the times I've been most successful in losing weight haven't been trying this or that diet...it's been simply eating less! :party::party:

Is there a way to get a sample week? It looks like the website has a minimum period of 3 months.

Read your policy - the details! Ours has a clause that says services received from non-participating providers while in a network hospital will be paid at network rates. I'm not sure if it applies to ER visits; mine was a surgery. As soon as I called them on it, they adjusted immediately.

:grouphug: Hugs & prayers.

I see them in SoCal. A friend of mine has kids in public school sports. They have huge banners above their garage that say "Seahawk track star Susie Smith". Which I think is not a great idea simply b/c they have banners for both their son & daughter, and I wouldn't want strangers driving by to know my kids' full names. :001_huh: