Dawna, I feel your pain. Our area is serviced exclusively by a small local outfit we like to call the Green Acres Telephone Company. When we first moved here, that phone company was the *only* ISP with a local phone number to my area, so I was stuck with them, and they knew it. I am talking about taking twenty minutes to get logged on, getting bumped off about every 45 minutes, and automatically getting knocked off everytime you tried to dowload or send any large files. As for the telephone itself, well, the repair guys are nice, but the service absolutely sucks, with the phone going out at least once a month lasting anywhere from 40 minutes to the entire weekend. the worst was last summer, when it went off every Friday and stayed off at least until Sunday for seven weeks in a row! When they finally tracked it down, it seems that "someone in the office" was accidently throwing a swith before they went home and shutting off my service...I tell you, mere words cannot convey the frustration. On top of that, I have replaced 4 modems in less than three years, and everytime I've been told it's a "power surge" that they blame on another utility. (It's never *our* lines, it's the Evil Electric Compnay) I will say that part of that is my fault for not having a top of the line surge protector, but still, nothing *except* the modem - connected to *their* phone line - was ever damaged. Now, the DSL they laid last spring is supposed to be active here, that is, actually available at my home, but I'm so fed up with them that I refuse to buy it. call me stubborn, but I'll be hanged before I give those people more of my money to frustrate me with. Because our home is in a valley, we aren't within sight of any towers, meaning absolutely NO cell phone service, though my neighbors 1/2 mile away on the hill have it. I've been told a previous owner ordered satelitte television that ended up being so unreliable he finally ripped the dish off the house and took it back to town. (As an aside, we don't get television reception either, but eh, who cares about that?) At any rate, as soon as I found another ISP who could provide dialup access to my area, I dropped them. The amazing thing is that even without upgrading, I am logging on in a matter of seconds, not minutes, staying on as long as I care to, and at a speed that makes it possible to dowload music and video and be ableto enjoy them the same day! Ha! The point of the story (bet you were wondering if it had one, huh?) is that if you are stuck with dialup, it might help to switch your ISP.

We have the Sweetheart waffle maker at home and a larger Breville at our vacation place. They are both easy to clean. Just spray a little Pam before the first waffle and then wipe off when you're done. You might want to consider how many people you will usually be serving when you select one. The little Sweetheart makes 1 waffle - when my DD was little she'd eat half, freeze the other half and then pop it into the toaster when she got home from school. Now that she's older she eat the entire waffle. If you think you'll be serving several people remember you can only make one at a time so you might want to check how many waffles it can make each time.

Our situation is similar to jakabedy. When DH and I met, I was 40 and had been working in my career for 5 years. I owned my own townhouse and two cars. He was recently out of law school. Then his career did better than mine, but that dropped off thanks to the economy. I changed jobs to move here with him. After a couple of years my current job went from a 12-month to 9-month academic year, which sounds good but I also lost 25% of my pay along with it--not so good. So, now he is doing a little better than I am, but the botttom may drop out again. We are not sure if this is a bubble or not. He would also like to go out on his own, but feels leaving isn't going to happen right since they are doing better. We are still nowhere near where we were when we got married 6 years ago. I am fortunate this year I've got some summer salary for research. But, we feel we can't plan anything like a vacation because the economy may go south again. I think for at least the next 5-10 years we will be living like this. Luckily, we have a modest house, and my student loans will be paid off this year, but we are going to need a new furnance/AC in the near future. We are keeping it maintained, but its days are numbered. But I know several women with advanced degrees with their DH in a lesser paying career: PhD in Engineering with a minister, MD with a social worker, attorney with grad student/SAHD. Most women I know work and there are very few SAHM's. I do worry about my students, where are they going to go after graduation and what kind of student debt they will have to carry. This is going to have a huge impact on the economy. BTW, I am very clear with my students that we are still paying loans at our ages and what that means as far as how we live. Here is a link that might be useful: student debt

Truthfully, I have the same issue. I have silicone caulk in the 'change of plane' area between the wall and the shower base and I have to redo it every year or two. Is IS a colossal pain! I had asked about it on the bathroom forum and there were those who insisted that if I had silicone caulk there was no way that mildew (or mold) could form. Well come and visit...there's always some to look at. I had my bathroom redone about 8 years ago and I think I'm up to the 4th time to replace the caulk. Yes, you can replace just the missing sections of grout. I like to scrape out a little bit more around the area, mix up my grout and then add the rest needed. Helene