We had four kids and two busy parents growing up. We always made enough for everyone to eat. "Leftovers" were divided onto plates, wrapped with Saran, and put in the fridge. As the missing people got home, they heated their plate in the micro or the oven (make sure your plates can go in the oven, and remind everyone to take the plastic wrap off). That way we all ate the same dinner, but could eat it as we needed. Another good thing to do is wash and prepare veggies so they can be grabbed easily. Wash, trim, and cut celery into sticks, peel and cut carrots, etc. These can be eaten as is, with dip, cut a little more to put into stir fry, cut even more and added to salads or other dishes. Other good choices are meals you can "build". Brown and season meat for tacos. Shred the cheese. Wash and shred the lettuce. Chop the tomatoes and the onions. Make spanish style/tomato rice. Put it all in separate containers in the fridge. Then each person can build their own taco, soft taco, burrito, whatever as needed. Scoop some meat onto a taco shell or flour tortilla, zap for a minute or two. Zap a scoop of rice for a minute or two while adding toppings to the heated taco/whatever. Or cook spaghetti noodles and rinse with cold water and put in the fridge. Make your sauce and put it in the fridge. Cut up the stuff for salad and put it in the fridge. Prepare garlic toast, but don't cook it and put it in the fridge. Each person can mix sauce and noodles, heat in microwave while browning the garlic bread in a skillet/toaster oven/broiler, whatever. Soups, stews, and chilis that you can heat as needed (or even leave on the stove on low if the waiting time is not TOO long), fresh bread or rolls, and salad greens are also good. Each person serves themself when they come in.

June: You just reminded me of those early days. My DH, too, would often try to shove us all together, thinking we'd see in one another what he sees in each of us, and that we couldn't help but bond and genuinely love one another. I don't think his plan worked, lol. How could it? The BM lied about me being the reason they didn't work it all out. I wouldn't be accepting of TOW, either. Later, when she 'fessed up, too many hurts had occurred - it was several years later, sadly. Cawfe: You're right in that I don't want to go where I'm not wanted. I don't want to be w/o my boys, who definitely not wanted, either. If I have to ask my parents to stay w/ the kids, I'd MUCH prefer to use it for a nice dinner out w/ DH alone or another movie as other than Sat, it's been YEARS since we've seen a non-kids flick. And, DH is supposed to relieve mom on Wed. afternoons, but it has yet to happen. I think I'm telling her to go for PT on Wed. afternoons for her shoulder... If I ever tried to stick Dh w/ something for the kids, he'd just miserably fail. Even now, he's supposed to be helping w/ the nighttime routine per counselor. Some nights he's OK, some I do it alone, but if he's tired and I'm not done w/ the older two, he just plops the 3 y.o. in our bed and goes to sleep. Well, that's NOT really doing the bedtime routine, you know? Or his other stunt is letting them stay up really late watching a movie in bed til they fall asleep from exhaustion...grrrr! I could never trust him to do this routine during school! Southern: I, too, was a fan of Jackie's. Ironically, I believe she and Christina had a very strained relationship. I felt for both sides and I was just a kid back then! But, regardless, Jackie handled herself w/ class - no doubt about that...and no one can criticize one's grace under pressure, right? Oh well, the 'date' is hours away. OSD must be so excited - probably having a pedicure over her lunch hour... Thanks for all the support and advice! I just needed to bat this thing around - will post more when I know what transpires tonight. Oh, and I'm thinking of bagging up all the junk in her room w/ the laptop and handed it to DH as he heads out to get them tonight. She never came to clean up - I know you're all shocked beyond belief, lol. Oh, yeah, Jackie might not be this tacky - but I have a feeling if Christina had wanted anything she left behind, it'd be in the land fill by now....lol. Dana

In the way you describe what you want your kitchen to do, I would recommend a range top and separate wall ovens. You can then pick the appliance that best fits your needs for each part. If an oven goes out you are not stuck replacing the whole thing. I can't really recommend a DF range. I have a 36 Wolf DF and it works great but if you search blue enamel chipping on this forum, there are plenty of posts about wolf blue enamel woes in the wall ovens and ranges. You can pay a lot of money for a range and it only lasts 4.5 years. If you like to use cast iron, I would definitely consider a Blue Star rangetop. Cast iron has some great characteristics but they do not conduct heat as well as something like heavy copper or aluminum. BS has the star shaped burners and they will spread the burner ports across the the bottom of the pan better than ring burners, especially if you can match the pan size to the burner. You might even consider a 48 inch rangetop. An additional benefit for prostyle rangetops is extra room front to back. You will be able to use a little bit bigger griddle too. You might want to have BS put 2 burners the same size front to back or side by side depending on how you use the griddle. I use a heavy 7 guage aluminum Royal Industries griddle for something like grilled sandwiches. It conducts heat well so is pretty even and is 15x23". It will also season but not as quickly as iron or steel. You can also get a Chef King steel griddle but it is heavy. There are also some that are fitted and I think BS has one. The BS Platinum comes with a cast iron griddle overlay and a grill overlay. If you are used to cast iron and the way it seasons, I think you will like the way the top of the BS seasons too. As far as an oven goes, I would certainly consider convection. It is a learning experience as to how it works but well worth it. I use it where it will benefit what you are cooking. Convection is different oven to oven. By moving air, it is drying to what you are cooking. This is great for things you want to brown but not so great while something like a cake needs to rise. If you want the benefit of baking trays of cookies, a third element is helpful in even heating and this is mostly found in an electric oven. It will usually have its own mode like "pure convection" but also works in the other modes. This is also marketed as True or European convection. The Platinum range has a gas element but not sure how that works in relation to making the heat even. You can get a simple gas or electric oven with convection, no baking modes but it is likely the fan will just turn on and off rather than variable speed so that you get a slower fan speed for baking and higher for roasting. The air movement will also increase the rate of heat transfer, making things cook a little quicker. Most ovens turn the convection fan(s) on during preheat to help even out the temperature quicker. I have an Electrolux wall oven that preheats to 350 in 7 minutes and bakes very evenly. If I am baking a cake or something that needs even heat, I let it preheat for 30 minutes to stabilize. Even with convection the heat radiating from the walls of the oven is very important. They have just redesigned the Elux oven but made it with dual fan and you can leave the racks in now for self clean. Some people like Bosch and Gaggenau as well. I would read the use and care manuals online as you can learn a lot.

My ex used to say, " You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose." When my daughter was potty training we were at a restaurant with my mom. DD was in diapers because I hadn't wanted to deal with the outing. My (now) ex took her to the bathroom. When they came back to the table, DD excitedly told me "I'm going the mando [going commando; i.e. no underwear]!" as she lifted up her skirt to show me. I see what's coming almost in time to catch her skirt before it's all the way up. Ever since, we use "going the mando" for going commando.