sure will be glad to see the results of your day! I find it efficient to do one thing one day, and then another thing the next time. Otherwise, you're working twice as hard for half the product. I'm a believer in the crockpot apple butter after this year. I mentioned in an earlier post the recipe for dumping everything in, let it stand, cook for a few hours, then run through the blender. EXTRA easy! Couldn't be less trouble. I hear lots of people talk about no-seals, and my DIL (who cans a LOT) always has one or two in a batch. It's been 2 or 3 years since I've had a no-seal, and I think my routine has a lot to do with it. You won't find it in any book, but it isn't contradictory by any means, and it certainly works. after I fill the jars, I run a clean, wet finger around the sealing rim until it "sings". Amazing what that finger will find - bits of food, a grain of salt, a hairline crack - that a clean cloth simply will not. It also "snags" on residue of rubber from the last sealing ring, and will not sing until you scrape it off - the most common thing I find. Then I place the dome lid on the jar, drop the ring over it, and, holding the dome lid in place with one finger so it doesn't move around on the sealing surface, screw the ring down. Worth a try.

Ravencajun - I'm not sure how putting my tag in the URL will work for me bc.t he way I am tagging is to tag potentially 3-20 items (bookmarks) for one person's gifts. So let's say I have found 14 items that I might want to get my mother-in-law (Mary). If I tag Mary, there are 14 items with that tag. So if I type Mary in the URl, I wouldn't think it would bring up 14 sites. I guess it depends on how you use tags. I'm using them to store groups of ideas for a single tag. Another use I plan to try soon is to categorize recipes this way. So I might have a tag that gives me the recipe source (cooking forum, barefoot contessa, magazine etc.), and also by type (like appetizer, salad, vegetable, entree) and perhaps by specific ingredients. So when I go back to search, I'm not trying to bring up just one bookmark, but the entire group of bookmarks I've made for that category. I have also wanted to get Foxmarks to sync my bookmarks across computers, but I read one review that made me hesitate. It suggested that Foxmarks could sell this information - for companies that want to follow market trends, etc. Do you have any concerns about that information being stored someplace other than your own computers? Another question I have in terms of security with foxmarks is that it would be very handy to store information - passwords, address, phone, etc that I have to enter each time I fill out information on line. But again, I wasn't sure what was safe and what wasn't. Any guidelines as to what information you would safely store in foxmarks? Thanks. Lynn.

Some really great ideas here. A few I use- For air layering, I often pin sections of plants into the substrate with paperclip halves, nice U shape, and in a few weeks or so there are enough roots to cut the stem for an already rooted cutting. For training vining plants on a trellis, cheap hair clips work beautifully. For pots with huge drain holes, I cover with a bit of old window screen to keep the soil from washing out. Clear plastic cups with drainage holes punched in the bottom are great for rooting cuttings. Cheap, and you can tell at a glance how the root system is progressing. Ziplock bags are great for rooting many types of cuttings, and make emergency humidity tents for that one plant you forgot to water on the hot windowsill... whoops. I used to have an issue with knocking over small pots on windowsills when they git dry, or top heavy pots with bamboo u hoops. (I grow mostly Hoyas), then I started putting a few rocks in each pot to weigh them down. Just be sure it doesnt impact water retention too much. Havent knocked over a pot since. That is all I can think of for now.

I am writing to you grandmother to grandmother. I just moved from a 3 BR home with large FR to an apartment. It sounds like you will be living in the place alone. My input is in regard to your safety (I am 70). First the tub and shower: The most common accident elderly people encounter is a fall in the tub. Why not replace the tub with a generous shower with wide door, a grab bar and maybe a bench at the end. Also think about mobility if you ever have to depend on a walker or wheelchair… wide doors and smooth floors throughout. And no throw rugs anywhere. I did what you are describing with my clothes… no dresser for me. Everything is in the closet, including twin hanging hampers that pull out from a shelf. As soon as one is full, I know I should do a load of darks or lights, And for the nightlight idea, I found one at Home Depot for $10. Plugs in any outlet. It's dark in the daylight and bright as you want at night thanks to a dimmer switch. Love it. Electrical outlets don't have to be at ankle height… put them waist high and you won't have to bend over (ugh!) every time you want to plug in anything. For light in the closet you don't need to wire it if you select a battery-powered button light. Paint the inside of all cabinets and closets bright white to reflect as much light as possible. Now about the sofa bed. I bought one that has an air mattress instead of the dreaded mother-in-law bar. Comes with its own electric pump and blows itself up in seconds. Ethan Allen makes it. Not cheap. But because it doubles as the sofa, you don't need a bed, box springs and mattress plus outer bedding -- think economy that way. And for naps you don't need to open it. In fact, it you do something with a sofa bed idea you don't need the separate bedroom. Now you'd truly have a great room and it would feel so spacious. Make a fabric folding screen to add color and when you have visitor it would ensure privacy. And the entertainment center… you can watch TV while you work at the kitchen table if you can angle the TV… maybe an adjustable wall mount would work. For seating if you don't do the sofa bed you may like a chair-and-a-half (or two of them). Extra wide with enough room for a 4-year-old on your lap. It's a perfect grandmother chair. Why not have a big wide sink to accommodate your canning pots instead of twin sinks? Plus you can bathe a baby in a big sink!