If you like chicken, you can cook up a lot of breasts, freeze individually, and use them in salads, casseroles, soups, etc. I cook up a pot of beans. They can be used in so many ways also, depending on type you cook....could be used in chili or taco salads, etc. When you make spaghetti sauce, double/triple your recipe and freeze the extras for another time. Make two lasagnas and freeze one without baking it. Do the same when making meatloaf. Hardboiled eggs keep for several days when refrigerated. Add to salads, make egg/chicken/tuna salad for sandwiches, or just use as a quick snack. If you like rice, you can also cook extras and keep in fridge for a few days or even freeze. (I let mine thaw in fridge overnight before using.) I live alone and have many meals in my freezer. I keep them sectioned off from other items in there so they don't get lost in the shuffle. All are labeled and dated. Good luck.

I have pavers with no sand problem and I like them a *lot*...much more than concrete and there wasn't a great price differential...Shop around pricing-wise. I purchased the pavers at Ackerstone in Corona (just north of Riverside, if I'm not mistaken)where they sell overruns to the public at greatly reduced rates on Friday morings (other than that, they only sell to contractors). I had my landscaper install them. I ended up sealing them a year after they were installed. I didn't have sand problems either before or after they were sealed. My only regret is that I should have gone with a lighter color as they get hot (less so than similarly-colored concrete, but more than my light cantera coping).

Hi Penny, OK... right off the bat I *HAVE* to ask; Is your bank providing you with an experience financial loan officer (not a loan salesman... but a financial planner & analyst that can weigh out your numbers & options and show you what they mean?) These questions are EXACTLY what a good planner knows how to sort out for their clients. If not... I have to ask... WHY are you GOING to that bank? (.... and then coming to ask us 'out in space' for analytical advice without the internal specifics? GRANTED; I am appreciative of your respect for me... but I'm still blind to most of your details, and you've not engaged me to your fiduciary responsibility... that is something you deserve!) Your 1st question is on market timing... whether the market for locking is more likely to reward you if you are patient, punish you, or be neutral. I certainly have my own market opinions, but I can't suggest what's best for you without knowing more of your financial situation (not just your loan rates & balances) as your total picture would tell me your stability, your security, and your income strengths. Your 2nd question relates to how much interest (points) makes sense to prepay in order to secure a permanent longterm lower cost of interest. The answer to that depends on what your alternative returns are in the accounts that you would be starving to withdraw those points from... as well as whether you have sufficient safety reserves to even consider such a strategy. TRULY... there is no question that a drop in your mortgage interest rate ought to be beneficial... but do you know what your blended household costs/rate of consumer credit and insurance coverages are? Do you know what kind of cash burden any consumer account amortizations may be creating? You could be overpaying on other consumer interest accounts, and may have too little of deductibles on certain insrance policies (potentially from a perceived lack of cash reserves... reserves you may be raiding to consider paying those "points.") You see... its not a "one thought" analysis... and if you are only talking to mortgage salespeople at the bank (regardless how truly friendly & well-meaning they may be,) you are as likely to "get it dialed in just right" as a random walker is going to make it from NY to LA. I'd suggest taking the time to find a worthy advisor you can trust. (HINT: that means my opinion is you are likely to be rewarded for doing so more than any potential punishment from rate market fluctiations.) Luck, Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

Curious about those of you with those deep cereal bowls similar to what mtn posted...do they fit well in your dishwasher? I've had the same cereal bowls for 17 years. They were part of a set we got when married...I think they are Pfaltzgraff. Just last week I noticed that somehow we are done to 5 bowls out of the original 12 though I don't remember losing/breaking seven of them! They are just a plain white bowl, however mine have a wider rim and aren't as deep. What I LOVE about them is that they fit perfectly in not only my first old Kenmore dishwasher but also in my newish Kitchenaid dishwasher. I can nestle them in the middle of my top rack and they fit perfectly inbetween the plastic divider things. None of my other bowls seem to fit so well, and when I looked recently at open stock cereal bowls, most seemed to be similar in shape to what mtn has. I know those will take u so much room in my dishwasher since they can't really be "stacked" like my other bowls (IOW, they go between the slots just like plates but in my upper rack). Not sure if I'm explaining myself well... I already run my dishwasher daily since I have four kids so two meals at home plus prep dishes etc makes the dishwasher fill up quickly. If I had to make more room for the bowls, I'd have way less room for other dishes, glasses, etc. Just wondering how you fit those deeper bowls into your DW. I'll see if I can take a picture - think my DW is running right now though as I forgot to turn it on this morning.