tisha - i have tried healthy choice, wasnt too happy with them but i never had the lean cuisine. stouffers and hungry man are okay tho. thanks for the link to hormel. i will have to give those a shot. susy - i dont know how you do it. you are the busiest person i know and still have time to look so good! it is plain not fair! LOL, i have tried those "just meats" your talking about and that is exactly what i got, too. 4 slices of turkey and tons of greasy, yuky gravy. have you tried the prepared meats in the meat section? now they arent too bad. i got a rolled pork honey mustard roast already that was pretty tasty. that was an easy meal. just shove it in the oven with some potatoes and a pot of corn. i made it so much we sort of got sick of it... i do cook larger roasts and than freeze some for another meal, meldy. trouble is that doesnt happen to often in this house. i like making stews and pot pies in the winter, but i am not a fan of left overs. hub likes them, so nothing goes to waste but like you said, who wants to eat stew all week? mj, i bet you are like me in that you could make a meal out of raw veggies and fruit? when hub works late i just love it. i dont have to cook ( even frozen meals) and i can make a meal out of a piece of cheese, some crackers and a bowl of blueberries. there is certainly a lot of votes for lean cuisine. i must try some. we arent talking diet meals here now are we? because i surely am not on one nor do i worry too much about my salt intake ( maybe i should?) so the meals dont have to be 'special diet" meals. i agree tho, that the portions arent big enough for me in any meal that is in the frozen section. i have to laugh at those 'family' size meals that say serves 4 or so. ha! that just about feeds hub! the deli chicken at wally world is tops and we get one of those about 2 a month. it is lovely with rice and a veggie. marie calendar is one of our favs too, gabriell. it sounds as tho you have the same problems i have. there are days when my back plain up and refuses to allow me to cook. those days hub has to fend for himself. geez, dare i say i dont iron either? g

Hi - er, not sure what the status of this plant is, but I noticed that you had some dangling questions here that I thought I'd try to help you with. If you still have the tiny rosettes that fell off and they're still alive, I'd just stick them in some cactus soil, don't water it and leave them in a bright sun-filled area, but not direct sun, while they root. Oh, and leave the stem on, just put the whole stem in your cactus soil. After a couple of weeks you can give it a tug to see if they're rooting, but another way you can tell is if you can see new leaves developing from the center, then that is an indicator that it has rooted. I THINK you can give it a little water then, but maybe google this plant, because summer is supposed to be dormancy period for them (which I know conflicts with what I just said about new leaves growing. hey, we're experimenting here!) As for the dead branches that are shooting off the main stem, I would just gently take them off the stem. Mainly because you don't want to waste any nutrients possibly going to those stems, also because they're kind of unsightly, and thirdly, on the very off chance that at some point down the line they may be spots where new rosettes form! Lastly, if you have a spot outdoors to put it, I would put it there. I haven't had too much luck with my aeoniums inside the house, even when I put them in a sunny window, but the ones that are outside always seem to do better. That said, it looks like yours might be small enough that it's ok to have them inside. Good luck!

Well, the one Ronnie is growing is a real winner,I'm sure we ALL PRAY he has success. :) I have some that don't seem to have names, but that are breathtaking. Then a gal sent me one, which is called "Wisteria Tye Dye" and, is speckeled. Then there's some Ronnie sent me,(he's been very generous), I am anxious to get in the ground, like Blue Silk,Fusino momo,(that s could be a j). :) Anywho, my stand bys like Akasuki no umi, and Shiruki ao, which I call "Love is Blue" There's no way I could let a spring go by without planting these two, and both have varigated leaves. One vine I collected from is white with brownish pink lines exploding from the center, which I call"Chocolate Explosion", really interesting. The Tye Dyes, purple,blue,and pink,and several mix's that have some that look like "Star of India", but the colors are more vivid. The trick for me is to get them in the ground early, even if it's cool, that way they seem to have time to soak in the damp spring weather, and come up at different times, just not plant TOO late. A couple of mine were lost last year because I got them in the ground late, and they didn't set seed just like you mentioned. I'm not one for starting seeds inside very much. Oh, - I have a camera now, but have'ft to figure out how to post pics. Karyn, seems like you have the same problem as I do, SO many, SO little space. "If there's a will , there's a way"!!! :) Fran, Ron has had so many useful ideas, I love the one he gave you, it also works great for Moonvine, which I had trouble getting seeds to before. Now I have a ton, due to his good pointers. Last year I let a lot of my MG seeds come up that had just dropped, and If I liked the vine, I would let it grow, and if I had one that came up that wasn't that special, I would pull it out. Only problem, I have never really met a MG I didn't like. Even the Noah is really neat, but goodness is it invasive! Just to see a MG poking it's little stem out of the ground is so exciting, and you wonder what it's going to look like, that is, if it comes up in MY garden anyway! :) arum

Joanie, what brand of solid surface are you looking at? I have been looking at countertops for 4 months, and have definately found that at least in our area (northeast) granite and solid surface are priced very close. The budget solid surface colors are very limited as well. We actually had plan to go with an LG clor that was on special. I was really drawn to the seamless aspect of solid surface. When the price came in after templeting I was shocked. They charge an arm and a leg for integrated sink and backsplash. By the time it was all said and done it would have been more than a basic granite by about 25%, even more if I wanted everything completely seamless. So I'm back to the drawing board myself.