In years past I have had quite a few big out door parties. My back yard alone is about 1/2 an acre....and ringed with bushes and trees and gardens. The best solution I found was something called "skeeter beater"...granular stuff you sprinkle around a few hours before the party. It worked fairly in combo with yard guard....but every flower it got on became discolored in a day or 2...some leaves too...spotted. New growth and flowers covered it up but.... If I were doing sometning like that now, I would start now being vigilant about any water. I would have a dunk in every birdbath and pool and ask my neighbors to do the same. And I would start soon with spraying every few days to reduce the population. I know...I hate to put that much poision into the air but.... Then the day of....I would do lots of Yard guard....fans aw far as I could string them. Not blowing from the shrubbery into the crowd but from the crowd to the shrubs. and I would have a table with every type of repellant I could think of. No citronella candles...gag! I don't know what your time frame is, but skeeters become most active at dusk, It won't be too bad before that time and once it gets good and dark they sort of go to sleep. So perhaps a second run around the perimeter of the yard about 7:00 would further knock them back. Good luck....sounds lovely! Linda C

Things are coming along. I think you have to choose between the scrolly lamp and the candlestick trio, as one side needs something more weighty. Personally, I would keep the candlesticks (as they could be used in many ways) and find a lamp with more weight. The little wall hutch looks very nice, and the whole space is feeling warm and welcoming. If you have a Hobby Lobby in your area, check for their weekly sales on frames, etc. If you can get a standard size frame (a simple black one would work), one size up from the current art piece, you can have a mat cut for almost nothing, in your choice of the instock matting colors. I certainly understand the waiting for funds thing, but just wanted to give you a heads-up on a relatively inexpensive alternative. The frame you have now seems very nice -consider having a piece of mirror cut for it and using it either horizontally or vertically. As for a name for the pheasant, what was your granny's name? Perhaps you can adapt that in some way?

Merry Christmas Ginny- Not much time this busy morning for posting, and this is probably too late to be helpful. Recipes for soft dinner rolls are as common as flip-flops in the summer, every common post-WWII cookbook like Betty Crocker, Good Housekeeping, Pillsbury, and the web sites for the yeast companies, will all have recipes for white dinner rolls made with active dry yeast. Prior to that, the homemaker used fresh yeast, and those are the soft white dinner rolls I remember my mother making. If I close my eyes I can still recall the wonderful smell you can only get by using fresh yeast, which is all but unavailable these days. Wal-Mart carried fresh yeast during November and December, and that was the last time I could find it in local stores. It's been at least 15-years since I last bought fresh yeast. The one thing those recipes have in common, and the one tip I can give when making them, is to use all-purpose flour like Gold Medal or Pillsbury, which are National Brands. That was the type of flour used. It wasn't until the advent of the automatic bread machine in the late 1980's that "bread flour" was available for household use. Nearly any recipe that has butter and milk in it will be the one to pick. Avoid using King Arthur All-Purpose or Robin Hood All-Purpose flour because they are higher in protein. If that is the type of flour you have to use, add a little more butter to the recipe (1/2 to 1 T.) to help cut the gluten-development. Hard rolls require flour milled from high-protein hard wheat flour (like bread flour), while soft rolls are best made with flour that is a mix of soft wheat and hard wheat - like National Brands of all-purpose flour. I have a rather interesting bread machine recipe for Soft White Bread that uses 1 cup of white cake mix, which is milled from low-gluten soft wheat, and that is the "secret" ingredient for soft bread. Before going gluten-free, when I wanted to make soft dinner rolls using whole wheat flour (I mill my own flour), I used a 3:2 mix of hard white wheat and soft white wheat (or used a low-gluten flour for the soft wheat like spelt or einkorn). I've been gluten-free for 4-years as of Jan. 1. I now find the smell of bread repulsive. For me, flour was a poison to my body, and for many people it's an addiction. The two isles of the store I try to avoid are the detergent isle due to the onslaught of all the toxic fragrances, and the bread isle. Best of luck on your gluten-free journey. My best advise is to stay clear of processed gluten-free foods due to the high-glycemic flours and starches they are made from. I use coconut flour and nut flour for baking, and have recently added banana flour to the mix, along with milling my own gluten-free flours from a variety of grains/seeds/beans, and I keep rice flour and starches, which are common to all-purpose g-f mixes, to a minimum. When I use rice flour, I soak, sprout, and dry brown rice myself, and mill it into flour to reduce the arsenic found in rice. Nearly all commercial g-f mixes and foods contain cheap, high-glycemic, rice flour. So you are trading one issue - gluten - for another potential issue - blood glucose (and diabetes). I've even been considering a 10-day grain detox to see if I should also eliminate corn from my diet. But I need to get through today, and get the visiting family on their way back to their homes (12-hours away) before the snow storm hits Saturday, before I can even contemplate a detox plan (lol)! -Grainlady

Oly I was just finishing up! I’m going to give you all the ingredients without amounts because there really isn’t a recipe. Soup is so forgiving that way. This is basically Ashkenazi Jewish peasant soup so when you have more of one thing and less of another that’s the way you make the soup that time. Very general measurements would be equal amounts of all vegies, roughly double that in pre-cooked barley and meat in the quantity you desire. Stock will depend on how thin/thick you like your soup and how much you want to s-t-r-e-t-c-h it ! Mushroom/Vegetable (Beef) Barley Soup Beef cut into bite sized cubes (can be chuck, short ribs or any other flavorful cut that requires long slow cooking and won’t turn to mush. My grandmother used beef shin but I never see that anymore Beef stock &/or Mushroom stock &/or Chicken stock (homemade if you have it) – use low sodium so you are in charge of the seasoning. I usually use a combo of beef and mushroom but sometimes make it with all chicken and then leave out the meat or use chicken meat instead. If you’re doing a meatless version which is also very traditional, use all vegie or mushroom stock for a vegan friendly version. Barley – I love the snap of hulled barley but will mix in a bit of pearled which acts as a thickener for the stock. It can be made with all pearled – that’s what I grew up eating. Peeled chopped carrot Chopped celery Chopped onion – optional Crushed garlic Dried shitake mushrooms, soaked, strained and chopped fine, use the soaking liquid with the broth. Salt & pepper to taste, a bit of dried thyme &/or bay leaves In a large pot brown the beef in batches in a bit of olive oil, set aside. Soften the carrot, celery, (onion if you use it) in the same pot in a bit more olive oil. When they are softened and just starting to turn golden add in the garlic and cook a bit longer. Pour in the stock, add the beef, barley and mushrooms. Bring to a boil then turn to a simmer for 2 – 3 hours. You can call it done right there and that’s very traditional or…. Add in sliced seared button or cremini mushrooms (I never do but a Jewish grandma would) Add in a can of diced tomatoes (depends on my mood) Add in tomato paste – I always add at least a teaspoon when I make this with beef as it just adds a nice richness to the broth. For a really large pot I’ll add a one of the small cans. Skip it if you use chicken.