Thanks for that link, mtn, although I wasn't surprised at the two lists and mostly already follow that guideline for what I buy organic. Years ago I read an article by someone who had visited a strawberry farm and was aghast at the protective suits the farmers wore due to the pesticides they were using. Ever since then I've made sure never to buy berries that aren't organic but it's not always easy to find them here. Whole Foods is hit or miss - some days they have them, some not. Even most of the local,produce stands aren't organic! I want to support my local growers but often can't. We had a great butcher that carried grass fed meats but sadly he closed. I think his high prices prevented him from getting the number of customers necessary to stay open. The area I need most improvement is our meats, eggs and dairy. I don't buy processed foods (rarely ever even go to the regular grocery store), and do well with produce, it's being able to find reasonably priced "healthy" meats, poultry and fish that kills me. Funny conversation at the dinner table last night. Somehow we started talking about tv dinners that were so popular in the 70s. Dh and I were trying to describe them to the kids when one of my kids chimed in, "so kinda like lunchables for adults?". Lol - exactly! Years ago my kids would ask why I never bought lunchables, and of course I explained why. Then one of my kids had the chance to taste one while at a friend's house and said it was awful and was thankful for my homemade lunches!

Someone asked on a different thread how it's going. I don't want to hijack the other thread, but it's been WONDERFUL!!! My days are so much less stressful & DH is now spending his evenings in a bad mood, trying to learn 6th grade math (at least the lessons SD is being assigned)~She lied about turning in an assignment & when he told her to redo it to humor him since online shows a zero, she wrote a bunch of math answers on the page & handed it to him, knowing he is not great at multiplying fractions ~ so he asked me to explain one word problem "If you give each cat 3/4 cup of food & you have 16 1/2 cups of food, how many cats can you feed?" SD said 2. so he knew that was wrong & I looked at the page & saw all the answers were wrong, she had written down anything that looked like a math answer & I guess she figured daddy isn't good with math so he won't check it... so he got out the text book & started learning the lesson so he can check it. I thought that was GREAT! and he's getting his mom involved by taking SD everyday during Thanksgiving week, while he's at work. (let her put her money where her mouth is since she has acted like I am just so evil to SD because I don't let her do anything or I won't buy her whatever she wants.... grandma gets to step up & taste it now) SD has to do remedial work for each failing grade. She failed every academic class, except social studies teacher bumped her to a D-, even though she had 54%. (I thought 54% was an F) but whatever, so the school requires her to do 'tutorials' online for each failed grade. MIL is going to have her do them from her house & he will drop her off on his way to work, pick her up on his way home. BM wanted to have her for the weekend to go cut their Christmas tree but DH told her no, she has to stay here to do school stuff because of her grades. I thought that was a great consequence... to miss out on something she really wanted to do since she just acts like she could care less when we take things away or don't do things with her. It's interesting to see DH realize just how much stuff I really did for her... a lot more than he thought! Even stuff like taking care of her bus fee. SD 'lost' the paper at the end of October. I asked her to get another one but she didn't so I didn't pay it. Finally the bus driver told her she had to pay to ride the bus & DH has to wait until he gets paid again to pay it... so he tells me that I am going to have to pick her up from school. NO I'M NOT, YOU HAVE TO. So then he says, well can you call the school & let them know I'll take care of it next week? NO, YOU CALL THE SCHOOL & TELL THEM YOURSELF. I think he's finally getting it... all the stuff I do, but get ignored by SD until she wants from me, lied about to her mom & grandma by SD to try & get me in 'trouble', the power struggle over homework, the daily lying about everything, the stealing... Now he knows why I am fed up & done. I was worried he would resent me putting it back in his lap but I think he's developed a better appreciation. SD on the other hand completely ignores me. She waits until I am giving the baby a bath to come out of her room & ask DH for anything. She does not talk to me at all. She comes to my office after work & sits there pretending to study when I am looking. (others have told me she grabs a book when she sees me coming) and she will talk to my dad when I leave the office for any reason. That part of dealing with her is still unpleasant but I've decided to ignore it & let it go. She doesn't have to talk to me & it really doesn't bother me too much anymore. It used to bother me a lot because I wanted us to have a relationship but she has made up her mind & now I wonder if she has ever really liked me from day 1. I think back to the manipulative things she's tried since the beginning & wonder if the times that we did get along were genuine or fake? But I don't spend too much time thinking about that anymore either. She's a product of her parents & I'm still very sad for her, but there is nothing I could have done to change what her mom puts her through & how she reacts to it. That's my update.

I am happy to now have room in my kitchen for a TV. I do a lot of cooking, and it's nice to have one there while I'm prepping, cooking, and cleaning. I live alone, so I'm the only one to affect my decision. Right now I'm just sitting mine on my island so I can see it cooking and prepping, though it's behind me when I'm at the sink or loading the dishwasher. It was sitting unused in my bedroom (I thought I would want one there, but I didn't), so now it's finally getting some use. It's one of 2 TVs in my home - the other is a 38" in the living room. I haven't had cable in years, so the TV only connected by a power plug and a USB plug for the Chromecast I use with it.....and that means it will be easy to move around, or away, should I want the space for other people or things. Actually, there's a 2' long piece of counter next to my fridge that would be a good fit; it's the space where I roll out pastry (custom height), but I don't use it for that very often. I haven't really gotten around to decorating much; I've only really been able to use this space in the last month. I'm even still waiting for the cushion to go on the bench behind the table. It looks really empty in this picture - I never really thought of it until I see it here.

Think a bit more broadly, deb. In the US, cell carriers are in the process of stopping so called 3G transmissions. Some have already done so. Someone whose old phone works only with 3G will not have a working phone when their carrier stops supporting that signal. In my case, they're "forcing me" in a manner of speaking to get a new car. I have a car whose internet connectivity (like for current traffic info and other useful features) uses a 3G cellular signal. It's not changeable and not upgradeable and the signal ended about 2 months ago. I plan to buy this year's edition of the same car. I like it and would have kept it but for this issue.