Yes, FOAS, I agree about multiple servings per meal. But, the next time you order pasta in a restaurant make a guage of how much is on the plate knowing that 1/2 cup is 1 serving. Here, a plate usually has 2-3 cups (I've had plates with even more than 3 cups). That's too much pasta & it's also likely white pasta. I'd be surprised to learn that Americans are not getting enough grain in their diets. Whole grain? Yes, not enough but white flour products...no. Many people who eat the huge plate of pasta for dinner also have had a large sandwich for lunch (likely a roll that's more than the 2 servings of bagged sandwich bread) and possibly more grain for breakfast (English muffin, toast, cereal, donut). Also, with the pasta dinner...often it is served with a crouton containing salad & garlic bread...more grain servings. I eat 5 meals/day...always have. I started doing that when I was young because I was always hungry. Eventually, found out I had thyroid problems, had surgery, but still continued with the 5 meals/day just much smaller. I was fortunate in that my jobs allowed me to duck away somewhere & eat pretty much whenever I felt the need. I know/understand that not all jobs have the benefit of flexible schedules. Still, mid-day snacks can quite easily be upped to mini-meal status. Something like hummus/pita crisps & a piece of fruit. One benefit of more meals/day is to help keep blood sugar levels even & not get ravenous unless you're a lumberjack, or equivilent. Piling all your grains (carbs) into an evening meal is also not condusive to weight loss. Better to have that restaurant pasta meal at lunch. My point is that I believe that due to supersizing many Americans do not realize what's a "serving". Our perceptions are also supersized. While I'm ranting (and I'll quit after this)...people also eat too fast! It takes our bodies about 20 minutes of chewing to feel satiated. If we gulp our meal in 12 minutes we'll likely still think we're hungry even after an appropriate amount of food. If we just stop eating though our bodies will eventually catch up with our forks & register that we're full. So, just slowing down is a great weight management tool. Eating too fast is a pitfall of many singles & families that don't eat meals together. Eating together around a table & enjoying a conversation naturally slows down our eating. My DH is struggling with this issue now. After 6 years of living apart Mon-Fri he had started gulping his dinner down in front of the TV. Now, together full-time he's being forced to slow down because I'm talking to him. He'll still gobble a sandwich when he's alone in 3 minutes flat. :) /t

Here is what I recommend... 1. Go out and look at houses in your area to see what the prices / availablity of homes you would want to buy is like. 2. Have a realtor come in and give you market analysis of your home along with suggestions of what you should do to market it (i.e. rip down all your wallpaper). 3. Get the home market ready by listening to what your realtor tells you about fixing up. 4. List your home and keep paying attention to listings of homes you would like. 5. Look at houses you are interested in. 6. You could offer contingent on sale but that is basically a waste of everyone's time if you are not under contract to sell. Therefore you basic option is to hope houses stay available until you sell, which is very common in this market. 7. If you get an offer, you should only accept if you are relatively confident the house you want is avialable. 8. Simultaneously negotiate on your current home and home you want to buy (orally). 9. Only accept and sign when you are happy with terms on both sides. If you have a buyer and are under contract, I would ask to make the purchase contignent at this time, in case your buyer's financeing does not come through. This contingency is more acceptable to sellers in a buyer's market, due to the fact you have a contract in hand. That is how I did things, inclding the contingency. I did wind up between homes for 2 weeks though, due to the fact that since I had a contingency, my seller did not want to pack their home until they knew for sure I closed.

Scott, forgot to mention the other day that I am glad that you and your son was not hurt during the storm. I had a close friend that lost his little girl many many years ago during a bad thunderstorm. She was opening the door as a power line came down and the electricity arced from the ground up through the door. She'd be in her thrirties now, if she were still with us. I'm REAL careful now, especially since I now live in the lightning capitol of the world. I've seen lightning "balls" move through a room after it entered an outlet where a lamp was plugged in. When it comes to sensing "ghosts" I once saw a documentary about a study the military did, with the belief that humans actually have extra senses in addition to ESP. It is believed that some people can still tap into some of that, but over thousands of years,( due to not using our full senses), have lost most of our abilities in that regard. Most of us still have good gut feelings though, which I believe is part of all of that. Cats are fascinating creatures. My vet thinks I'm a bit soft in the head when I mention that I feel they communicate with each other via telepathy. I've witnessed where nothing else could explain certain behaviors. One of my cats also knows the second I open my eyes in the morning, and he is not anywhere near our room at the time. I can also put the flea control on one of them, out of sight and smell, and immediately the rest of them know and go hide. There was a story in either a magazine or newspaper one time that told of a cat that lived in a nursing home, for the benefit of the people that had to live there. The nurses knew when someone was going to die soon because that cat would go and sit with that person, and not leave their side until after they passed on. Haven't figured out who the conversation police are, but I think we've made it clear that we are all pretty independantly minded, and don't care what they think, or even if they like us for that matter. We're certainly not hurting anyone, nor are we bogging down the forum. Worked on floor plan stuff this weekend. I was very cranky and not very pleasant to be with. My poor husband! He knows I like lofts and told me to design one in. (Anything to get me out of my bad mood....). But, you know, I keep talking to people that have awfully huge electric bills this year that have lofts in their homes. The other thing that made me think twice was looking at some really cute tiny log cabin package deals with the Cracker Style Log Home people. The kits are a fraction of what it would cost to build a nicely finished loft, AND it would be considered an outbuilding for tax purposes. We would just factor in the materials rather than get a kit, since I feel it's a bit less expensive to do that, and I can get the windows I want through Home Depot. (I like Andersons). I do think we are getting close to hammering out the blueprints. If I have trouble posting the floor plan idea, would it be O.K. to e-mail it to one of you? Sandy

Hi s y, I can't say how much I love this space! It's been amazing, but there are a few irritations that I need to remedy. One big one is the fact that it's detached from my house, with no good covered pathway between the two. I often find myself jumping out of bed because I forgot to lock things up, which isn't bad in the summer, but during Oregon's rainy season, well you can imagine. :) I'm researching solutions that will allow me to remotely control the door lock, heater, music and lights. I'm looking closely at the Brilliant Smart Home solutions. I think the Brilliant Control panel and switches will be a good start towards what I'm envisioning. https://www.brilliant.tech/home?tab=system