Karen 57 and right handed. Well that explains it then. LOL I do know weÂre on the same page dear. No worries. YouÂve hit on the thing that is often missed with the "poking" method. You must have some void space beneath the poking device for it to go into, as well as, have the jug, bottle, whatever supported. I sometimes have visions of people trying to do this holding the container in their hands or on their laps and inadvertently giving themselves piercings. Really takes the fun out of it. Your "piercing board" is the perfect solution to avoid that problem. Sad that your hands are not what they should be. My recent adventure with a motorcycle and gravity have caused me to lose a step or three during the last couple of years. 17 broken bones (5 in my spine) and 6 months of rehab was not how I wanted to spend my 50th year. But I can still type. Spelling, not so much. And the titanium rods holding my back together are great fun. Monte the Battered

wow intolerant to beet sugar, and by the sounds of it, rather drastically intolerant. (is it anything like gluten intolerance? If so perhaps there are support groups our there that can help you figure out what is safe and what is not, as well as working to get companies to share the information on labels.) I'm intolerant of High Fructose Corn Syrup but it is only a mild intolerance. I don't think I'm likely to go to the hospital from consuming it, worst case is being doubled over with a horrible belly ach for a half an hour if I stupidly drink a can of soda on an empty stomach (or a big glass of Cool Aid or any other beverage high in that particular sweetener. As for the whole debate about cane v beet, I don't bake/cook/whatever enough to have much of an opinion about it. However, I did once try growing sweet sorghum. Didn't grow enough to try milling it or making it into syrup though and don't have the equipment to do so either. I understand processing sorghum (and probably cane too) is a pretty heavy task that can last several days even on a small scale.

Raeanne~This is already one spoiled baby! LOL She is the first grandbaby on both sides. She is only 6 hours from her DM's DPs so they get to see her way more often & of course they have done their share of spoiling. Of course, you wouldn't know that the DGSs weren't my biological ones b/c I spoil them as much or more. There is something about it--I just cannot help myself. We are going to babysit the youngest DGS while his momma is in school. That should be fun. (You should see the packages that we are taking for Valentine's Day for all 3 & then DGS #1's b'day is on Valentine's Day. Close to DeeMarie's! Please remember my DS on the 8th. That is when she has her surgery. They are going through the front of her neck to remove a vertabra & there is a slight chance that she might not make it & a slight chance that she would not be able to speak again. Dee~Sorry that you are under the weather. That is never any fun. I'll try to get back on here tomorrow before the Super Bowl starts--if I have finished with my packing. I have most of it done but am waiting on some clothes to dry. Since we have to go to a laundromat, I don't like to have my clothes dried there & prefer to have them hung up to dry. Have a Super day everyone--you must be since nobody is posting. :) Patti

Interesting discussion. I do think it depends on your culture, and different cultures have different drinking traditions. However, America tends to have a big consumer culture with various trends being pushed. I'm a late boomer who grew up in a middle American small town, and most people did not drink that much, and when they did, it was beer or if you were into the heavy stuff, hard liquor with maybe a little soda water or a splash of a soft drink, aka "rum and coke." There was however, a big push during the 60's for sophistication among the masses via advertising. My folks got a very swanky bar set for a wedding gift, and both had recipe books for cocktails in their libraries. They lived in San Francisco for a while so became big wine drinkers before it was trendy. I grew up drinking wine, unlike most of my peers. I remember my folks being into making daquaris, which were a popular MCM drink. We also hung out with some folks from Russia/Eastern Europe who put vodka in everything! And some Italians and others who made their own dessert wines and liqueurs. Those days seem quite sophisticated to me looking back on them. I'm allergic to beer, and I remember in college always being the weird one out because I either drank wine, which seemed too fru fru in college, or a mixed drink with vodka, which was pretty expensive! That was before the days of every kind of "cooler" and mixed drink being packaged and sold like soda pop. Hard root beer, hard fruit sodas, hard lemonade, etc. That is definitely driving today's younger generation's taste. I love all the mixed drinks, but they are expensive and full of calories in which I can no longer indulge. My bladder can't take much alcohol either. So, as usual, youth is wasted on the young. I wish I had lived in the days where I could have both the money and occasion to indulge in a cocktail or two on a semi-regular basis. Too often, and it isn't that special, IMHO. But can add a fun twist to a social gathering of friends.